In the first inning of an 8-0 rout of the Cubs at Sportsman’s Park, Cardinals left fielder Stan Musial becomes the first grandfather in big league history to hit a home run. The 42 year-old new grandpa accomplishes the feat in his first at-bat since the birth of his grandson earlier in the day.
In the Mets’ 4-2 victory over the Giants at the Polo Grounds, Carlton Willey retires the side in order, getting all three Alou brothers – Jesus, Matty, and Felipe – to make an out. The Dominican trio becomes the first three siblings to bat consecutively in the same inning.
Roberto Clemente provides a 420-foot footnote to a Sandy Koufax masterpiece. Roberto’s fourth career home run off Sandy is a typical Clemente clout off an atypical Koufax offering. “Koufax threw 133 pitches,” notes columnist Jim Murray. “3 were sliders, a pitch the Pirates didn’t know Sandy had picked up in the last ten days. Roberto Clemente hit one of them into Schenley Park and that moth-balled the slider for the night. But, as one of the Pirates observed, giving Koufax a new pitch is like giving Rockefeller a dime. Neither of them really needs it.”
The Angels’ Dean Chance loses his no-hit bid when Zoilo Versalles singles in the 8th inning for the only Twins hit. Chance wins, 5 – 0.
Against Hank Aguirre, Mickey Mantle clouts a 4th-inning home run, the 400th of his career, to tie the game, 1 – 1. The Yanks score two in the 9th off Aguirre to beat Detroit, 3 – 1. The victory, combined with a Minnesota loss, gives the Yanks a 3 1/2 game lead over the Twins. The surprising Angels are in 3rd place, four games back.
At Chicago, the Phillies score seven in the 7th, including Don Demeter’s grand slam, and notch six more in the 8th to beat the Cubs, 14 – 6. There is some solace for the Cubs as they introduce a pair of gems: Ken Hubbsdebuts with two hits and two runs and Lou Brock has one hit, one run and a pair of errors.
The Reds’ Bob Purkey allows just two hits in beating the visiting Cards, 5 – 2.
The Yankees sweep the Indians, 7 – 6 and 9 – 3, their 12th win in a row at home, and the Indians’ 20th loss in a row at Yankee Stadium. Mickey Mantle hits home run number 53 in the nitecap, while Roger Maris, homerless, stays at 56. The official scorecard credits Mantle with two runs scored: it will be discovered in 1995 that one of the runs should go to Bill Skowron. In the 2nd game, Clete Boyer sends a Jim Perry pitch into the LF corner that hits the lower deck of the grandstand and bounces back into play. While home plate umpire Joe Linsalata calls it a home run, the other two umps agree with Tribe CF Jimmy Piersall who contends the ball is in play. Boyer’s home run trot is interrupted at 3B with a tag out.
1960 – In Detroit, Mickey Mantle unloads a cannon shot for three runs in the 6th inning, the ball clearing the RF roof and landing in the Brooks Lumber Yard across Trumbull Avenue. New York pins a 5 – 1 loss on Paul Foytackthat moves them a half game in first place ahead of Baltimore, losers today. In June, 1985, Mantle’s blow will retroactively be measured at 643 feet, and will be listed in The Guinness Book of World Records at that distance.
Tim McCarver makes his major league debut at the age of 17 when he flies out to right field as a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning of the Cardinals’ 7-4 loss to Milwaukee at County Stadium. The high school backstop, who was scouted by Hall of Fame catcher Bill Dickey, turns down football scholarships from Notre Dame and Tennessee to play baseball.
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