1965 - The Amazin' Mets Reach A New Level of Zaniness
A true story that could never happen in baseball today
CROSLEY FIELD, CINCINNATI - June 16, 1965
The Sports Time Traveler is following the 1965 Mets day-by-day. The Mets were here in Cincinnati’s old Crosley Field the last 2 nights to take on the Redlegs. This story is primarily about the incredible game that took place 2 nights ago and will conclude with the game from last night.
This morning, in the June 16, 1965, New York Times, Arthur Daley, in his Sports of the Times column, was so motivated by the game from 2 nights ago that he wrote a piece about how the Mets are channeling the old Brooklyn Dodgers, “peculiar brand of zaniness.” Daley wrote that, “The New York Mets have established themselves as the obvious heirs to the Daffiness Boys... (2 nights ago) the Mets produced another dilly in Cincinnati.”
What exactly happened that so inspired Daley?
There was a pitcher’s duel. But this was no ordinary match-up.
The Mets’ starter was 35 year old Frank Lary, a 2-time 20 game winner for Detroit in another era, but now just hanging on barely to a big league career.
The starter for Cincinnati was 25 year old Jim Maloney, who has been one of the elites in the National League the past 2 seasons. And Maloney is off to a great start here in 1965. In his first trip to the mound back in April, he threw a 1 hit shutout against the powerful Milwaukee Braves. He was 5 - 0 with an ERA of 2.05 in late May.
But then he hit a rough patch, losing 2 games. In his last start, he was knocked out in the 5th inning after giving up 5 runs and 11 hits.
Luckily for Maloney his next assignment was the game 2 nights ago against the New York Mets. The Mets came into the game with a record of 20 - 39, worst in the league. They had a team batting average of just .232. They had lost their last 10 consecutive games. And in those 10 games, they scored just 12 runs. It couldn’t have been better therapy for Maloney to turn things around again.
And Maloney did just that.
In front of a home crowd of just 5,989 on a Monday evening, Jim Maloney struck out the Mets’ leadoff batter Bill Cowan. And he breezed through the top of the 1st 1-2-3.
In the 2nd, he issued a walk to Ed Kranepool, then retired the next 3 batters, 2 by strikeouts.
In the 3rd, he struck out the side.
In the 4th, he faced just 3 batters and picked up his 7th K.
In the 5th, he had another 1-2-3 inning, including 2 more K’s.
He had yet another 1-2-3 inning in the 6th.
All this time the Mets’ starter Frank Lary was pitching like it was 1956, when he won 21. Lary had held the Reds to just 4 hits and no runs. was also holding the potent Reds’ lineup from scoring.
Mets 0 Reds 0 - End of 6 innings
In the 7th, Maloney retired the Mets in order again and notched his 10th K. Lary gave up a single, but held the Reds scoreless again.
In the 8th, Maloney struck out the side for the 2nd time in the game. He now had 13 Ks. But Lary held serve and the game remained tied at 0 - 0.
In the 9th, Maloney had yet another 1-2-3 inning and raised his strikeout total to 15!
Now the Reds could win the game with a run in the bottom of the 9th. The Mets’ Larry Bearnarth came in to replace starter Frank Lary, who had been removed for a pinch hitter in the top of the 9th.
Vada Pinson led off against Bearnarth and flew out to the Mets’ Johnny Lewis in right. Next up was one of the most dangerous hitters in baseball, Frank Robinson. Robinson walked. The winning run was on 1st base and the National League’s leading hitter, Gordy Coleman, came to the plate. Coleman came into the game batting .354. But Bearnarth got him to hit a foul pop to catcher Jesse Gonder. With 2 outs, up came Deron Johnson. Johnson came into the game batting .316 and was 3rd in the NL in RBIs with 41. Bearnarth got Johnson to ground out.
Mets 0 Reds 0 - end of 9 innings
It was a bit of a rarity. The game was going into extra innings with no score.
But something even rarer was taking place. Something that had only been done 4 times previously in major league baseball history.
Jim Maloney was taking a no-hitter into the 10th inning. Maloney had not allowed a hit in the first 9 innings.
In the top of the 10th, Maloney mowed down the Mets 1-2-3 yet again. And he notched 2 more K’s to reach 17. Maloney had now set down 19 consecutive Mets’ batters.
In the bottom of the inning, Bearnarth allowed a single to Reds’ catcher Johnny Edwards. Edwards now had 2 of the Reds’ 6 hits in the game. Chico Ruiz was brought in to pinch run for Edwards. The next batter, Leo Cardenas, bunted Ruiz over to 2nd. The winning run was now in scoring position.
With 1 out, Reds’ manager Dick Sisler allowed Jim Maloney to bat. Maloney helped himself by hitting a grounder that moved Ruiz to 3rd base. With 2 outs and the winning run on 3rd base, the leadoff batter, Tommy Harper, stepped in.
Harper was batting .275 and was 1 for 3 in the game. He hit a grounder to Mets’ 3rd baseman Charley Smith. Lou Smith, wrote in the Cincinnati Enquirer, “It was an easy play, but Smith fired low to first base and only a fine pickup by young Ed Kranepool saved the situation for the Mets.”
Ed Kranepool told Joe Trimble of the New York Daily News, “It was a do-or-die thing. It took such a long bounce in front of me that I just had to scoop it and hope.” Kranepool had saved the game and extended it to the 11th inning.
In the top of the 11th, Maloney again came to the mound trying to extend his no-hitter further. He was in almost uncharted territory. Since the beginning of the “live ball” era in baseball in 1920, there had only been one prior game in which a pitcher allowed no hits through 10 innings. That was the famous Harvey Haddix 12 inning "perfect game” in 1959, in which Haddix had pitched 12 innings of perfect ball only to lose the game in the 13th.
The leadoff batter in the 11th was Mets’ right fielder Johnny Lewis. Lewis had struck out swinging in the 2nd, struck out looking in the 5th and struck out swinging in the 8th. That’s 3 times Maloney had struck out Lewis in 3 at bats. So commanding had Maloney been in his pitching that Lewis’s bat had never touched a pitch. He had not even had a foul tip in his 3 trips to the plate.
Lewis told Trimble, “I have never seen a man throw so hard to me. I just figured on a fast ball, and he threw it just at medium height.” Lewis swung, and for the first time in the game, his bat connected with the ball. And it connected flush. He drove the ball deep to straightaway centerfield.
Maloney told Jack Lang in the Jersey Journal, “I’d been pitching him inside and tight all night. But this time the ball got away from me. It was up and away and he hit it.”
The ball hit the top of the fence in centerfield, above a yellow line which is the concrete portion of the wall. In Crosley Field balls that hit above the yellow line are homers. Lewis told Trimble, “I didn’t know it was a homer until I saw the umpire signaling.”
The unthinkable had happened to Jim Maloney. He had lost his no-hitter in the 11th inning. Now he had to settle down and try to keep on going and play the game. The Mets were ahead 1 - 0, but it was still the top of the inning and no outs.
Maloney went right back to work. Next up was the Mets’ Ron Swoboda, a 20 year old rookie who is presently 3rd in the National League in home runs with 13. Maloney struck him out.
With that K, Jim Maloney had just tied Sandy Koufax, Bob Feller and Warren Spahn for the most strikeouts ever in a major league game at 18.
Next up was Mets’ shortstop Roy McMillan, who singled to center. But Maloney then retired the side on a double play.
In the bottom of the 11th, Bearnarth came to the mound for his 3rd inning of work. He had to face the heart of the Reds order, 3 of the best batters in the league - Pete Rose, Vada Pinson and Frank Robinson. Rose flew out. Pinson struck out.
Now the Reds’ were down to their last batter. Frank Robinson kept the game alive with a single. Next up was the NL’s leading hitter, Gordy Coleman. Bearnarth got him to hit a grounder to McMillan. He scooped it up and threw to Kranepool in time.
The game was over. The Mets had won 1 - 0. It was perhaps the most improbable victory in the Mets’ 3 years of existence.
Lou Smith of the Cincinnati Enquirer called it, “One of the most fantastic games in the history of the National League.”
Jim Maloney had joined the ranks of pitchers that have been credited with a no-hitter. But he had lost the game in 11 innings, allowing 2 hits in the 11th.
NOTE from The Sports Time Traveler
I have returned to the present to inform you that if you look up the list of official no-hitters, you will not find Jim Maloney’s June 14, 1965 game. Major League Baseball changed the rules on no-hitters in 1991 to exclude games in which the pitcher gives up a hit in extra innings.
Jim Maloney went on to record two more official no-hitters in his career. If you count the “unofficial” no hitter that would give him three. In the live ball era, since 1920, only 4 pitchers have thrown 3 or more no-hitters: Nolan Ryan (7), Sandy Koufax (4), Bob Feller (3) and Justin Verlander (3).
It is appalling to this writer that Jim Maloney is excluded from that list.
Now back to 1965.
Last Night’s Game at Crosley Field
Last night, one of the players Maloney tied for the all-time strikeout record took the mound at Crosley Field for the Mets. Warren Spahn, at 44 years old, is still pitching. He’s the winningest lefty pitcher in major league baseball history. And he’s still pitching well, although you can’t tell by his stats. He sports an un-Spahn like 4 - 7 record. He has an ERA of just 3.71. But Spahn has had quality starts in almost every outing this season.
Here’s the results of every Spahn start so far in 1965:
April 14 vs. Astros - No hits until 2 outs in the 5th. No runs through 6 innings.
April 20 at Dodgers - No runs through 8 innings. Allowed 1 run in a complete game win.
April 25 at Giants - No runs through 7 innings. Allowed 3 runs in a complete game win.
April 30 at Reds - No runs through 4 innings.
May 5 vs. Phillies - No runs through 5 innings. Allowed 1 run in a complete game loss.
May 11 vs. Cardinals - No runs through 6.
May 16 vs. Reds - 1 run through 4-1/3 innings.
May 20 vs. Braves - No runs through 4 innings.
May 24 vs. Phillies - 1 run through 7-2/3 innings. Allowed 2 runs in a complete game win.
May 28 vs Pirates - 1 run through 7 innings.
June 1 vs. Cubs - 1 run through 3-1/3 innings.
June 6 vs. Pirates - No runs through 4-2/3 innings.
June 11 vs. Dodgers - No runs through 4 innings. 1 run through 7-2/3 innings. Allowed 2 runs and 5 hits in a complete game loss.
In 9 of Spahn’s 13 starts he has not allowed a run through 4 innings.
In 7 of the 13 starts he’s allowed just 1 run through 6 innings.
Last night, pitching on just 3 days rest, Spahn threw 7 innings and allowed just 3 runs. The Mets supported Spahn with just 1 run and 4 hits. The Mets have only scored 14 runs in their past 12 games.
Spahn, despite a quality effort, had his record dip to 4 - 8.
Warren Spahn has got it going on here in 1965, but it’s tough going when you play on the Zany and Amazin’ Mets.