Posted on 10/17/2019 3:54:19 AM PDT by a little elbow grease
On July 19, 1955, Vernon Law was the starting pitcher in the Pirates' 4-3 win over the Milwaukee Braves. ... Law started and pitched the first 18 innings before being lifted for a pinch-hitter. In those 18 innings, he allowed nine hits, two runs -- only one of which was earned -- two walks and 12 strikeouts.
On July 19, 1955, Vernon Law was the starting pitcher in the Pirates’ 4-3 win over the Milwaukee Braves. Law, nicknamed The Deacon, was not the winning pitcher and didn’t even get a complete game on that Tuesday night at Forbes Field. But the absence of those barometers of success does not diminish his stunning accomplishment.
In this era of pitch counts, side sessions and all-around babying of pitchers, what Law did in 1955 is breathtaking in its magnitude.
The game went 19 innings. Law started and pitched the first 18 innings before being lifted for a pinch-hitter.
In those 18 innings, he allowed nine hits, two runs -- only one of which was earned -- two walks and 12 strikeouts.
ElRoy Face, the great reliever who was a teammate of Law’s, recalled the performance with awe. “He threw over 200 pitches,” he said.
Pitch counts are a relatively new statistic to baseball and no one was counting that night. But it’s pretty certain Law threw at least 200 pitches and probably closer to 250 to the 64 batters he faced.
Law’s pitching opponent that night was Lew Burdette, the same pitcher who dueled with Haddix four years later.
It was no weak lineup that Law faced that night. Batting back-to-back at three-four were Hall of Famers Eddie Mathews and Hank Aaron. Bobby Thomson ('51 Playoff game) batted fifth.
(Excerpt) Read more at post-gazette.com ...
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Yep.
lol
‘So even though I grew up in Illinois, I got to watch Mazeroski park the walk-off that sunk the hated Yankees’
I grew up in Jersey, the Yankees very back yard, and was sitting in class for game 7; we had no TV in the room, but my teacher, avid Yankee fan that he was, has a transistor radio stuck to his ear for a while...after some time sitting entranced with his class engaging in general mayhem, he got up and walked out into the hall, returning a minute later and said “The Pirates won’...I erupted in cheering, looking back, it probably hurt his feelings, but he was a grown man, and I was 11 years old, so...
Yes our nuns would let us watch the World Series too.
Yes our nuns would let us watch the World Series too.
Not only that, but the kicking shoe had a wooden block inside to make the front of it flat. Dempsey essentially had a croquet mallet for a foot which meant he could get great distance but he was not very accurate. I would lump him in with pitcher Antonio Alfonseca who was born with six fingers on his pitching hand - he was an oddity but the oddity didn't exactly help him.
BTW, Detroit Lions great Alex Karras was asked why nobody rushed Dempsey on that famous kick. He said, "We were too busy laughing. Nobody thought he could make it." Also, the New Orleans coach said he got confused about which side of the field they were on or he would have never sent Dempsey out there. At the time, the NFL record was like 55 or 56 yards.
The tragedy of Maloney was how his career ended. I think he was 29 when he ruptured his achilles. He tried to come back but was through. Today, he would be pitching full strength the next year. He would have been in his prime pitching for The Big Red Machine.
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LOL
The anniversary of Mazeroski’s home run just passed.
As they do every year a handful of the faithful gathered on the University of Pittsburgh campus at that wall it went over, the last remaining piece of Forbes Field, to listen to a recording of the play-by-play of Game Seven.
You can grow your muscles but not tendons and ligaments.
Don’t forget Warren Spahn and Stan Musial!
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I think Spahn was around 42 years old when he took part in that beauty. He had one cool windup......... and Marichal.... UNREAL. Those were the good old days of baseball.
I believe that baseball was never better than in the early 60's.
Correctamundo! Born 4/23/21. If he hadn’t blown out his arm by then, he wasn’t ever going to.
Yes!!! Two all time favorites of mine. Wonderful people, great, great baseball players!
Spahnie had a little elbow grease. And could Marichal ever swing a bat! Just ask Johnny Roseboro.
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I am a lifetime Pirate fan........ watched everyone from around 1953 to now. For a couple of decades we had some pretty damn good seats about 15 rows behind the Pirate dugout on the first base line.
It was a God-send to observe/study players like Clemente, Stargell, Maz, Groat, Virdon etc. Very educational ....... helped me play the game for money later in life.
Nevertheless, when they closed old Forbes Field against the Cubs with a double header ....... I hung around, and some old friends from the ground crew gave me the "throw down" homeplate (from the Pirate bullpen down the right field line. It's now out on our driveway still looking good ...... about ten miles from its origin.
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LOL. I remember that Sunday afternoon pretty well (August of '65). That was a little embarrassing for baseball, but great theater.
;-)
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