Willie Mays birthday 1972
May 6, 1972: Legendary San Francisco Giants OF Willie Mays enjoys a slice of birthday cake that was presented to him by the Phillies on his 41st birthday. (Mays would be traded to the Mets five days later.)
The Angels make quick work of Milwaukee, beating the visitors at Anaheim Stadium, 2-0. Andy Messersmith’s two-hit masterpiece takes only one-hour and thirty-one minutes to complete, making the contest the quickest nine-inning game in franchise history.
The Angels make quick work of Milwaukee, beating the visitors at Anaheim Stadium, 2-0. Andy Messersmith’s two-hit masterpiece takes only one-hour and thirty-one minutes to complete, making the contest the quickest nine-inning game in franchise history.
Ted Williams and JOE DiMaggio May 6, 1969 – Oakland Coliseum.
Different uniforms, Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio. May 6, 1969 – Oakland Coliseum. @ET-DC@eyJkeW5hbWljIjp0cnVlLCJjb250ZW50IjoicG9zdF90YWdzIiwic2V0dGluZ3MiOnsiYmVmb3JlIjoiTGVhcm4gTW9yZSBhYm91dCB0aGUgdGVhbXMsIHBsYXllcnMsIGJhbGwgcGFya3MgYW5kIGV2ZW50cyB0aGF0IGhhcHBlbmVkIG9uIHRoaXMgZGF0ZSBpbiBoaXN0b3J5IC0gLSAtIC0gLSAtIC0gIiwiYWZ0ZXIiOiIiLCJsaW5rX3RvX3Rlcm1fcGFnZSI6Im9uIiwic2VwYXJhdG9yIjoiIHwgIiwiY2F0ZWdvcnlfdHlwZSI6InBvc3RfdGFnIn19@ Play by Play, Box Scores, News Paper Reports and other links Other Resources & Links Baseball-Reference Box Score
Willie Mays gets a 569 Pound birthday cake
May 6, 1968 Belated Willie Mays birthday photo of when the 1968 Houston Astros gifted him a 569 lb. birthday cake, each pound representing his home runs at that time.
1968 – Judge Roy Hofheinz gives San Francisco’s Willie Mays a 569-lb. cake for his 37th birthday. Rusty Staub serves the dessert with six RBIs in a 10-2 Houston win.
1968 – Judge Roy Hofheinz gives San Francisco’s Willie Mays a 569-lb. cake for his 37th birthday. Rusty Staub serves the dessert with six RBIs in a 10-2 Houston win.
Dave Nicholson hits a tape measure home run that lands on the back of the left field roof before bouncing out of Comiskey Park
Dave Nicholson hits a tape measure home run that lands on the back of the left field roof before bouncing out of Comiskey Park in the White Sox’s 6-4 victory over Kansas City. The outfielder’s monstrous shot becomes the source of a great exaggeration when unidentified team officials announce the ball traveled 573 feet, landing outside the Chicago south side ballpark.
Jim Bouton fires shutout in just his second apparence in MLB
May 6, 1962, Rookie Jim Bouton makes his first career start, his second career apparence and fires a 7 hit shut out beating the Washington Senators 8-0 at Yankee Stadium. All the offense he would need will be provided in the first inning as Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle hit back to back homers. Mantle…
5/6/1961: The Senators were rained out in Cleveland in the bottom of the second inning. In the first frame, the Tribe’s Woodie Held smashed a grand slam over the right field fence off Hal Woodeshick. The blow came with no one out. The Nats scored an unearned run in the second, leaving the score 4-1 at the time of the postponement.
5/6/1961: The Senators were rained out in Cleveland in the bottom of the second inning. In the first frame, the Tribe’s Woodie Held smashed a grand slam over the right field fence off Hal Woodeshick. The blow came with no one out. The Nats scored an unearned run in the second, leaving the score 4-1 at the time of the postponement.
Commemorating the three-year anniversary of his party-crashing heroics, Roberto Clemente again disrupts Willie Mays’s birthday celebration, if not quite so dramatically. Bob Stevens of the San Francisco Chronicle reports: “Only a spectacular catch by Clemente on a 400-foot blast by Mays in the 6th with the bases loaded and George Witt on the mound prevented San Francisco from making a genuine rout of the thing.” Circus catch notwithstanding, the Bucs’ bats fail to ignite as they suffer a 7 – 0 whitewashing.
Commemorating the three-year anniversary of his party-crashing heroics, Roberto Clemente again disrupts Willie Mays’s birthday celebration, if not quite so dramatically. Bob Stevens of the San Francisco Chronicle reports: “Only a spectacular catch by Clemente on a 400-foot blast by Mays in the 6th with the bases loaded and George Witt on the mound prevented San Francisco from making a genuine rout of the thing.” Circus catch notwithstanding, the Bucs’ bats fail to ignite as they suffer a 7 – 0 whitewashing.
As fate would have it, Roberto Clemente’s first visit to the newly-opened Candlestick Park coincides with the 29th birthday of his one-time mentor Willie Mays, and once again Mays’ student steals the spotlight. While all three Willies – i.e. Mays, McCovey and Kirkland – go deep to power San Francisco’s 5 – 1 win over Pittsburgh, it’s Clemente who gets the crowd’s attention with a shot to left center into the teeth of a vicious wind. Arnold Hano, California-based biographer of both Mays and Clemente, witnesses this moment: “Clemente’s bat hit the ball, and the result absolutely clubbed the crowd into awed silence for a long moment. Right into that wet whipping wind the ball carried. Right on through, hit 120 feet high in a long soaring majestic parabola that came down finally over 450 feet away. There is just no way of telling how far Clemente’s home run blast would have traveled had it not been for that wind. Suffice it to say partisan Giant fans suddenly broke their shell-shocked silence and let loose a gigantic roar. For two innings the stadium buzzed. For days the Giants talked about it. Even today if you slip up behind a Giant pitcher and suddenly whisper in his ear: ‘Remember the home run Clemente hit?’ he’s likely to jump as high as if he’d been caught putting spit on baseballs.”
As fate would have it, Roberto Clemente’s first visit to the newly-opened Candlestick Park coincides with the 29th birthday of his one-time mentor Willie Mays, and once again Mays’ student steals the spotlight. While all three Willies – i.e. Mays, McCovey and Kirkland – go deep to power San Francisco’s 5 – 1 win over Pittsburgh, it’s Clemente who gets the crowd’s attention with a shot to left center into the teeth of a vicious wind. Arnold Hano, California-based biographer of both Mays and Clemente, witnesses this moment: “Clemente’s bat hit the ball, and the result absolutely clubbed the crowd into awed silence for a long moment. Right into that wet whipping wind the ball carried. Right on through, hit 120 feet high in a long soaring majestic parabola that came down finally over 450 feet away. There is just no way of telling how far Clemente’s home run blast would have traveled had it not been for that wind. Suffice it to say partisan Giant fans suddenly broke their shell-shocked silence and let loose a gigantic roar. For two innings the stadium buzzed. For days the Giants talked about it. Even today if you slip up behind a Giant pitcher and suddenly whisper in his ear: ‘Remember the home run Clemente hit?’ he’s likely to jump as high as if he’d been caught putting spit on baseballs.”
