A major league fielding record is set by Boston’s 1B Dick Stuart as “Dr. Strange Glove” handles three 1st-inning grounders and tosses to P Bob Heffner for putouts each time. Stuart’s teammates and Fenway Park fans give him a standing ovation. The Yankees beat the Sox, 8 – 0. Heffner is just the second pitcher to have three putouts in an inning: Boston’s Jim Bagby (1940) is the other. Rick Reuschel in 1975 will be the next.
1962 – The Pittsburgh Pirates trade 1B Dick Stuart and P Jack Lamabe to the Boston Red Sox for P Don Schwall and C Jim Pagliaroni.
1962 – Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and Co. overpower Roberto Clemente’s Pirates with a devastating aerial assault and an assist from the Pirates’ very own fifth column, “Dr. Strangeglove”, Dick Stuart. “Vern Law was not around long,” writes Bob Stevens of the San Francisco Chronicle. “Chuck Hiller led off with a single and Jim Davenport forced him. Mays then hit a line drive, 420-foot home run for 2 – 0. With two down in the 3rd, McCovey belted a memorable shot over the left-field scoreboard. It was one of the few ever ripped into that area by a lefthander in the more than half a century existence of ivy-cloaked Forbes Field. The McCovey smash stood up for the victory, as Jack Lamabe, Tom Sturdivant and Earl Francis shut out the Giants on four hits until Stuart goofed in the 8th. The Bucs started to move in the 4th, when Bill Mazeroski singled home Clemente, who also contributed a dazzling throw from right field to cut down the sliding McCovey at the plate in the 6th.”
Houston has no monopoly on problematic weather, it would seem; in St. Louis, a messy, muddy game features 36 hits, 22 of them collected by the visiting Pirates, en route to a 17 – 7 rout of the host Cardinals. Chief offenders among the ungracious guests are Smoky Burgess and Roberto Clemente with 3 home runs, 2 doubles and 12 RBI between them. Burgess pushes home 7 with his 3 extra-base blows while Clemente, for the second consecutive season, reaches the right field pavilion roof at Busch Stadium. “The Pirates, better than the Birds as mudders, added some power to the plodding in the 2nd inning and scored five times,” writes Ed Wilks in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “Bob Skinner’s skimmer went through Julian Javier, but was ruled a hit, giving Julie the benefit of the doubt in the mud. Clemente gave the Cards no such benefit when he followed with a three-run drive to the pavilion roof. It was his seventh homer of the season and brought Bobby Shantz in from the bullpen. Clemente and Pittsburgh continued their streaks in the 4th. The Pirates scored for the fourth straight inning when Skinner walked, Dick Stuart grounded out and Clemente followed with a run-scoring single, his third consecutive hit.”
Just five outs shy of career shutout No. 53, Milwaukee starter Warren Spahn is denied when Dick Stuart delivers an RBI single, thus bringing home the bullet Spahn has just dodged. That bullet came off the bat of Roberto Clemente, a loud double just a few feet shy of clearing Milwaukee County Stadium’s left centerfield fence. Disappointed but undaunted, Spahn will settle for career win No. 301 – a complete-game 2 – 1 decision over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
1961 – Joe Torre’s “most embarrassing moment” comes today. The Braves’ rookie is victim No. 7 out of 27 on the season for Pirates right fielder Roberto Clemente, a somewhat sick total of outfield assists for a man seven years in the league. While nothing out of the ordinary for Roberto, this moment will be impossible to forget for Joe Torre, no matter how much he may want to: “I got a hit to right field and rounded first base as most runners do. Clemente picked up the ball, faked a throw to second and threw it so fast behind me to first base I was caught and tagged out. It was my most embarrassing moment on the field.” The sixth-inning, rally-killing baserunning gaffe is somewhat differently portrayed in Pirates beat writer Les Biederman’s contemporary account: “The only time the Braves had a chance to score on Harvey Haddix after the 1st inning came in the 6th inning when Torre singled to right with Frank Thomas on second. Torre rounded first and Dick Stuart cut off Clemente’s throw home and politely tagged out Torre. Then Clemente completed the inning by going to the 375-foot mark and spearing Joe Adcock’s long shot.” Whether Biederman or Torre’s account is most accurate, this remains a truly cringe-worthy moment and a valuable lesson for the young rookie, learned the hard way.
A bunt single by Dick Groat and a pair of tape measure two-baggers from Roberto Clemente and Dick Stuart provide all the support Pittsburgh starter Joe Gibbon needs in his complete game victory over the Milwaukee Braves. The Bucs batter the Braves, 9 – 1, and 9 doubles to none. Future Hall of Famer Hank Aaron keeps the Braves from being shut out with a home run, which carries, according to Pirate beat writer Les Biederman, “over the left-field fence on a low line as though shot out of a rifle.” Biederman adds that Pittsburgh’s opening-round moon shots target a couple of familiar Forbes Field landmarks: Clemente’s two-bagger is hit to the warning track at the 436-foot sign, while Stuart’s two-run double goes to the light tower in right center.
1961 – In their first meeting since Pittsburgh’s dramatic World Series win over New York, the Bucs, behind would-be World Series goat Bob Friend, beat up the banged-up Bombers, 9 – 2. The game’s first run comes in the bottom of the 2nd on Roberto Clemente’s bases-empty bomb over the left-field fence. Pittsburgh goes up 3 – 0 in the 3rd on Dick Stuart’s two-run shot, likewise to left field. By the 7th, the Bucs have built their lead to 8 – 0 before New York can push across its initial tally. Today’s win boosts the Bucs’ Grapefruit League-leading record to 13-5, while miring New York ever more deeply in the preseason cellar.
The Pirates are not big base-stealers, but aggressive baserunning is their stock in trade, as evidenced by today’s 10-inning, come-from-behind, walk-off win over Los Angeles, wherein Joe Christopher and Roberto Clemente combine to, in effect, steal the game. Los Angeles Times beat writer Frank Finch relates: “Christopher tied the score by racing in [from second] on Clemente’s infield single. Maury Wills fielded the bouncer and pegged to Gil Hodges. Clemente was safe by inches, and Christopher slid in a fraction of a second before Hodges’ peg to the plate arrived. Hitless in three previous trips and the target of boo-birds, Dick Stuart sliced a lazy fly ball down the right-field line. Clemente, of course, was off and running at the crack of the bat. Frank Howard lumbered over to pick up the ball, hesitated before throwing, and then fired wildly between third base and home as Clemente scored standing up. An accurate throw might have nailed the mercurial Puerto Rican, but the Pirates aren’t about to play this one over.”
Dick Stuart blasts three consecutive home runs, as the Pirates split with the Giants. Stuart drives in seven runs and joins Ralph Kiner as the second Pirate to hit three home runs in a game at Forbes Field. Jack Sanfordpitches a 3-hit shutout to give the Giants an 11 – 0 first-game win. With the 11 – 6 nitecap victory, Pittsburgh is three ahead of the 2nd-place Braves.
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