S-O-M 1961

  4/17/1961, a big night in Hollywood as a waiting nation found out who would win film's biggest achievement, the Oscar. On this night, there was also a ballgame at the Coliseum between the Cardinals and the Dodgers. The envelope, please: And the winner is: Don Demeter of the Dodgers, whose grand slam off Bob Gibson in the 1st gave the Dodgers an early lead. And the winner is: Frank Howard of the Dodgers, whose 2 homers built the Dodger lead to 7-0. And the winner is: Johnny Podres of the Dodgers, who shut down the Cardinals on 3 hits. And the winner is: Julian Javier of the Cardinals, whose 2-run homer provided the Cards with their only runs. LAD 9-7-1 STL 2-3-0

On the day before the 1961 Academy Awards, the Dodgers gave a performance the Academy would like to take back. P Stan Williams just flat-out missed the strike zone against lefty Pirate bats, walking 6 in 4-1/3 innings (the 6/5 part on his lefty ADV card) en route to a 7-2 Pirate victory. Williams' line was worthy of a classic film, the one about demon possession and threw up pea soup; here then, is the Exorcist line: 6 hits, 6 walks, 6 earned runs. Successive Dodger pitchers would add to that walk total, also bringing up another Hollywood classic: "10." Bo Derek certainly had far better form there.  Final from the Coliseum, PIT 7-8-2 LAD 2-7-0  

Thanks to some well-timed or ill-timed rolls, the 1961 Phillies are, drumroll please... 4-2. Yup, the same Phils who lost 23 in a row that season find themselves 1/2 game behind MIL at the end of the 1st week of the 1961 season, after dropping 2 of 3 to the Dodgers, then sweeping(!) the Giants in 3 straight. The scores were, 1-0, 3-1 and 2-1 behind solid pitching by the Phil starters and a sudden Giant failure to get the key hit. In the 1-0 game, the Phils could only muster 2 hits off Mike McCormick, while a Harvey Kuenn error let in the game's only run.  Art Mahaffey, Dallas Green and Robin Roberts did their part to limit the Giant bats of which one was missing, Orlando Cepeda, who was plunked earlier in the series. Yes, the law of averages will catch up to the Phils eventually, so enjoy this surprising 4-2 start for what it is, a surprise. Speaking of surprises, here's one more: SFG is 1-5.  S-O-M results are via the ADV version.   

  From time to time, I will include some mostly made-up promos and newscasts from 1961 to go with my game recaps, such as this for the popular Dinah Shore show, which was a long-running hit, also known as the Chevy Show because of it's sponsor. Here's a "promo" for the April 16  telecast, which featured an "All-Star" lineup and James Garner: DINAH (singing): "Take Me Out To The Ball Game." "Be sure to join me this week as I welcome the handsome James Garner, that incredible piano duo Ferrante and Teicher and stars from the Los Angeles Dodgers, including Leo Durocher, Don Drysdale and more. Don't miss because, "It's One, Two, Three Strikes You're Out at the Old Ball Game! MWAH!" NBC:  "Don't miss Dinah and her very special guests in color this Sunday at 9/8 Central time." (NBC Chimes) Durocher had jokes? Have to check it out on YouTube, I guess.

  I just came here to start a new Blogspot account, only to find out this one is still active and I am also still working on that 1961 S-O-M project that I keep restarting. One year later, I'm still on opening week 1961, currently on April 16, so here's what happening so far:  -Mickey Mantle has 6 home runs in 5 games -Early Wynn pitched a 1-hitter at the Tigers, though he walked the bases loaded and walked in a run in the 9th -Gordy Coleman of CIN hit three homers in consecutive innings (4/5/6) in a win over STL, while Bill White, Ken Boyer and Stan Musial went b-2-b-2-b -PHI is currently 3-2, WSH 4-2, SFG and CLE both 1-4 That's about it in a nutshell, the one thing that is different in this reboot, more trying to stay true to the S-O-M rules, especially dealing with pitcher fatigue and getting the usual video tutorial from watching S-O-M and Inside Pitch games on YouTube. You get the true game action, even if the p-b-p guys do get a little over-the-top and threaten to ba...