The Pre-Game
ETHAN — Over the past couple of weeks, I have become more than slightly obsessed with an out-of-print book by German theologian Jurgan Moltmann, The Theology of Play. As I listened to the game, I heard echoes of Moltmann’s assertions of the importance of play, how play is the ultimate expression of our freedom.
Written in 1970 and translated to English in 1972, Moltmann said, “The modern achievement-centered society has therefore for its own sake widened the scope given to games and free play by extending vacation time. As the term ‘vacation’ implies, we get away for a while to become better achievers and more willing workers.” Moltmann elaborated on our Puritanical desires to be workaholics, stressing that we have reduced the meaning of our existence to the works of our hands.
“Like the creation, man’s games are an expression of freedom, for playing relates to the joy of the creator with his creation and the pleasure of the player with his game. Like creation, games combine sincerity and mirth, suspense and relaxation. The player is wholly absorbed in his game and takes it seriously, yet at the same time he transcends himself and his game, for it is after all only a game. So he is realizing his freedom without losing it.”
To sum up his 75-page brilliant narrative, “Joy is the meaning of human life, joy in thanksgiving and thanksgiving in joy…When a man sees the meaning of life only in being useful and used, he necessarily gets caught in a crisis of living, when illness or sorrow makes everything including himself seem useless…So the stakes in the game are not realizations, successes, and accomplishments but the endless beauties and liberties of the finite concomitants of the infinite joy of the creator.”
From Moltmann’s perspective, we begin to understand the quote attributed to Eric Liddell in Chariots of Fire, “When I run, I feel His pleasure.” Playing makes it possible to free ourselves from selfishness and self-pity and enable us to see and experience the world as it is — full of wonder. Which sounds exactly like French philosopher René Descartes, “Wonder is the first of all the passions.”
That is exactly how it felt when I was standing in left field in the Grip’N’Rip Baseball League, anticipating every pitch being hit my way. I was wholly absorbed in each moment, taking the game seriously, finally not obsessed with the constant inner-dialogue that usually accompanies every waking moment. Win or lose, after the last out, I was able to relax and interact with the opposing team, grateful for the chance to get back on the field and sweat.
And that is how it has been listening to these games and reading Rance’s observations, a creative exercise in increasing joy and wonder. As Moltmann would say, those moments of joy must be thoroughly celebrated.
RANCE — I’m listening to this game by 1960 rules. Out of curiosity and necessity, I will attempt to place some restrictions on myself in order to experience the broadcast as a listener would have in 1960… Sort of.
Rance’s 1960 Rules:
1. I won’t have a bunch of browser tabs open. I will concentrate on the game.
2. No pause button. Radio listeners in 1960 couldn’t pause the game for any reason.
3. Alright. I can use the pause button a maximum of three times. I’m going to have to need a bathroom break, and at some point I will pause to eat dinner with my wife, Ashley. Other than that, no pause button.
4. I can have the Yankees and Pirates’ numerical rosters open in a web browser to make sure I am spelling all names correctly. I still have trouble with Clem Labine.
5. I can look at the timestamp on the audio file so that I may go back to transcribe Jack Quinlan and Chuck Thompson AFTER I am done listening to all nine innings.
6. I may only drink sparkling water during the game. I have LaCroix blackberry cucumber. It is the closest thing I could find to Saratoga Vichy mineral water.
7. No rewinding or fast forwarding. Those are old timey terms from the ‘90s that we used to use when referencing tapes and VHS cassettes.
8. I’m on the honor system for all of this, so you all will just have to believe me when I write about adhering to the rules.
I am listening to the game on my laptop with headphones, seated in a recliner in our living room, which has been my modus operandi throughout the series. Ashley is working on a master’s degree and studies a lot, so I can’t make a bunch of noise in our house.
“Can the Pirates bounce back from the devastating pummelings of the last couple of games?” Chuck Thompson asked, rhetorically.
“Baseball men” were split in their opinions of whether or not the Pirates would be able to snap out of it and make a run at the Yankees.
Roger Maris has injured ribs from a collision with Pirates catcher Hal Smith at home plate, but Maris hit a home run in batting practice on his second swing that day, so Stengel opted to stick with him in the lineup.
The First Inning
R — Yankees manager Casey Stengel starts Bob Cerv in left field, Roger Maris in right and Yogi Berra behind the plate. Elston Howard, the first black Yankee, is on the bench. In my opinion, Elston Howard got the shaft.
Bill Virdon led off for Pittsburgh from the left-handed batter’s box against 24-year-old right-hander Ralph Terry, “the pride and joy of Big Cabin, Oklahoma.”
Let me tell you about Big Cabin, Oklahoma. The modern pride and joy of Big Cabin is a truck stop to accompany the speed trap bordering on highway robbery that the Big Cabin Police Department operates. The police department consists of a couple of old, dingy police cars and cops who write tickets without mercy. Under no circumstances should anyone ever speed in Big Cabin on Highway 69.
E — Big Cabin. The exit where Jamie and I departed I-44 to begin the southward part of the journey to Waco. The 10-hour trip was difficult, allowing us to come back to Missouri only a couple times each year while I was in school at Baylor working on a Master’s of Divinity degree that will be paid off before the coming of the next millennium. We came home one Christmas, having to stop multiple times as the ice-sleet-snow mixture froze over windshield wipers and started freezing over on the inside of the windshield. That was an exhausting, white-knuckled trip. We didn’t get any tickets in Big Cabin, however. I don’t miss that drive at all.
R — While writing about Big Cabin, I spaced on how Bill Virdon got out — (He struck out) — and caught Dick Groat flying out to second base. I want to rewind and it’s the top of the first inning. I’m already fouling up these 1960 rules.
Roberto Clemente is batting, and Jack Quinlan tells us that Harvey Haddix is starting tomorrow for the Pirates against “to be determined” for the Yankees. Casey Stengel continues to treat his pitchers like CIA operatives. Terry strikes out Clemente, and I collect my thoughts during a Cadillac commercial. I also happen to know that Art Ditmar is going to pitch for New York.
Bob Cerv hits a single out to center field, which makes Casey Stengel look correct and Rance Burger look incorrect for saying Berra should be in left field with Elston Howard catching, but the game is young.
Tony Kubek continues a great World Series with a double to left field. The Yankees hold Cerv at third base. Vernon Law is looking shaky in this Game 4, and the Yankees look (alright, sound) every bit as hot at the team that shellacked the Pirates in the last two outings.
Roger Maris took a big cut for strike one as Jack Quinlan relayed Vern Law is well known for quotations.
“I have never met a man who is not my superior at something,” Law was quoted as saying. Yes, I did transcribe that successfully without using the pause button. Yogi Berra still is subject to quotation often in and away from baseball, so it’s interesting to hear that the minister qualified to “baptize, marry and administer the sacraments,” in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was known to spin quotes along with curveballs in a pivotal era of baseball.
Roger Maris flew out to Roberto Clemente in shallow right field, and Clemente showed off his throwing arm by zinging home a throw to Bob Mazeroski, the Pittsburgh catcher. The runners hold up, and we remain scoreless.
Law then walks Mickey Mantle. Retrospectively, it’s kind of funny that Pittsburgh pitched to the single season home run record holder, Maris, but wanted no part of the Mick.
Yogi Berra grounded into a double play with the bases loaded, proving that Rance Burger was right and that Elston Howard should be in this lineup. Berra hit the ball down the third base line to Pirates third baseman Don Hoak. Hoak stepped on the third base bag to force out the runner Kubek, then fired the ball across the diamond to Dick Stuart at first to get Berra “by an eyelash.”
I’m going to work “by an eyelash” into a game in the Grip’N’Rip Baseball League sometime in 2020.
E — I strongly relate to Pirates fans in this Series. They felt exactly like I felt during the 2014 World Series. That was the season of Sungwoo Lee, the season I got to catch his first pitch, the season of the best postseason game I’ve ever seen. Every single pitch, every single at bat, every single play was an adventure. I lost so much sleep that postseason and don’t regret any of it. “It’s just a baseball game,” some of my coffee shop friends told me. And so many of my other friends were already obsessing over other sports. When the Royals lost that Series, I was in a little bit of a funk for a few weeks and still hold a significant grudge against that west coast team.
The Second Inning
E — The Pirates get their first baserunner of the game with a 2-out walk to Smoky Burgess and Hoak steps up to the plate. It’s noted that it’s only 301 feet down the left field line, which makes me feel like I could take one out at Yankee Stadium with a favorable wind. Hoak hits a sharp line drive to left which Cerv tracks down and the Pirates, again, are held scoreless.
R — The estimated attendance for Game 3 was 70,000, which is about 3,000 more fans than Yankee Stadium’s official capacity of 67,000. I’m trying to picture what it would be like if U.S. Baseball Park in Ozark, with its capacity of 5,000 seats plus 2,000 more on the grass and on the concourses, were filled to capacity then multiplied by 10. These crowds must have been truly awe-inspiring sites to behold.
E — Random idea. Wouldn’t it be fun to max-out U.S. Baseball Park and set some kind of catch-playing world record as part of the book launch for A Year of Playing Catch? Coordinate it with the GRBL and the Battle for Bell…that would be quite a sight for the Ozark stadium.
R — We learn that Don Hoak wants to be a manager someday. I can’t stop and Google whether or not he did become a manager, because that would be against the rules. People with superior Don Hoak knowledge can go ahead and laugh at me. Hoak lined out to Bob Cerv in left field, stranding a runner.
Bobby Richardson hit a double down the left field line. Two of the three hits Law has conceded have been for extra bases thus far. New York seems to have a habit of collecting key hits down the left field line, but I am saying that anecdotally. I’m not actually able to pause and go back to review key hits to left field. I remember the rhubarb hit from Game 2, so I’m going to stick with my gut instinct and say that the Yankees get good results when hitting in the direction of left field. No damage done, however, as pitcher Ralph Terry grounds out and the inning is over.
E — Bobby Richardson is absolutely on fire. It’s time to start pitching around him.
The Third Inning
E — Through three innings, the Pirates are hitless. If I were watching this game live, I’d be reaching for Tums. Thankfully, the Yankees bats have cooled off slightly as well.
R — Ralph Terry strikes out Bill Mazeroski for his third strikeout of the game. He then gets No. 4 against Vernon Law. Bill Virdon bats to end the top half of this inning.
“Virdon is in the sporting goods business during the offseason with another Major League player, Jerry Lumpe,” Jack Quinlan said.
Jerry Lumpe, as I recall, is a member of the Springfield, Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. I will put his name on my list of stuff to Google when this game is over. I seem to recall Art Hains launching into a soliloquy about Jerry Lumpe once on an afternoon episode of his “Sports Talk” radio show in Springfield, but I can’t recall much about what Art had to say, other than I’m pretty sure it was positive.
E — Shortly after moving back to Springfield from Kansas City, I spent time with Jerry Lumpe, meeting him for lunch. He was absolutely delightful. Lumpe won the 1958 World Series with the Yankees and told me some stories about sharing the field with the Milwaukee Braves and Hank Aaron.
The Fourth Inning
E — The all-curveball inning. Thanks to his curveball, Ralph Terry isn’t having any trouble keeping hitters off balance and getting Pirates out. So, so many swings and misses, accruing five strikeouts through the first 4 innings.
R — “National League batting king” Dick Groat bats to lead off the fourth. Pittsburgh is still looking for its first hit. Not this time, as Groat flies out to Mantle in center field. Roberto Clemente then goes down on strikes, and Ralph Terry now has five strikeouts. Terry seems incredibly sharp. He’s working his way ahead in counts, and when he falls behind, he gets a batter to fly out softly. He’s off to a better start than Whitey Ford had in his shutout masterpiece the day before.
Tony Kubek, the shortstop, made a catch and throw on the run off a ball that deflected off the pitcher’s glove to get the final out of the inning. Jack Quinlan’s description was breathless. Derek Jeter who?
E — In the bottom half of the inning, I couldn’t believe what I heard. Mickey Mantle attempting a bunt with two strikes. That is the most preposterous thing I have heard so far this series. Mantle bunting. With 2 strikes. In the 4th inning of a scoreless game. In the World Series. Twitter would have roasted him. He tried a drag bunt, which went foul and resulted in a strike out. Wow.
R — Mantle, Berra, Skowron, “three sticks of dynamite” for Vern Law to deal with.
I once covered a series of hearings about a proposed limestone quarry in Osage Beach, Missouri. One of the expert witnesses who testified was a high-ranking employee of Dyno Nobel. Yes, that Nobel of Alfred Nobel fame, of Nobel Prize fame. Dyno Nobel is the definitive worldwide company for dynamite. Needless to say, I took pages of notes about dynamite and blasting for rocks during that testimony. I have no idea where that notebook is today, but I did retain some knowledge of how limestone quarry blasting is done. Would you like to learn? No… Well, alright, back to baseball.
E — Actually, I would love to learn more about dynamite.
R — As quickly as I could say, “dynamite,” Mantle and Berra are out, Berra on a grounder back to Vern Law. Moose Skowron hit a homer, “outta here way back,” and the scoreless tie is blown away by a bomb to right field. In 138 World Series games, the Yankees have hit 138 home runs. My word, but they live up to their “Bronx Bombers” moniker.
E — The 1960 Yankees set the single season record for most home runs by a team at 193. This year, the Minnesota Twins set the record which had previously been held by the 2018 Yankees. The 2018 Yankees hit 267 home runs. The 2019 Twins hit 307 homers. My friends Lori and Ryan are huge Twins fans and celebrated the team of the Twin Cities holding the record.
I tried Googling how many World Series games the Yankees have played in, even though they’ve gone a decade without playing in any, and how many home runs they’ve hit in those games, but couldn’t find the answer on a cursory search. Getting help from friends Daniel and Katie on Twitter, I learned they’ve played in 225 games and hit 216 home runs.
R — Law responds with a strikeout, but some damage has been done, and Pittsburgh finds itself training once again.
E — The Yankees are only up 1 – 0. If they score any more, I would have been a ball of anxiety.
The Fifth Inning
R — Gino Cimoli singles to right field with a ball that dipped in front of Roger Maris, and the Pirates have their first hit. Ralph Terry is mortal. Based on the way this series have gone, I would not have bet money on Gino Cimoli to be the first Pirate to hit today.
Cimoli then upended Yankees shortstop Tony Kubek when Smoky Burgess grounded softly to second base. Cimoli was called safe at second in one of those plays where you love to see it when it’s a guy on your team dumping the opposing shortstop, but yell about what a dirty bum the base runner is when it’s your team’s shortstop getting dumped.
E — I have vivid memories of George Brett, Frank White, and Hal McRae colliding into middle infielders. MLB has since changed the rules on sliding into second base, now known as the Utley Rule. During the 2015 playoffs, Chase Utley rolled into NY Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada who fell to the ground and broke his leg. Tejada couldn’t play in the World Series that the Royals would later win, which has distant echoes of Vince Coleman getting injured before the 1985 World Series. Thankfully, Kubek wasn’t hurt in the collision and the result is two men on, no outs. The Pirates have a chance to tie the game.
R — With runners at first and second, I burn my first use of the pause button. Bathroom break, another can of sparkling water, check dog, move laundry from washer to dryer, chap stick, quick conversation with my wife, and I’m back in the chair. Headphones back on, and that’s one pause button use charged to Rance with two remaining.
E — Hoak bunted, trying to advance the runners, for the first out. More Twitter roasting. Mazeroski popped up to the first baseman for the second out of the inning, stranding both runners again. More Tums popping.
Vernon Law, pitcher, now at the plate.
R — With two outs, Vernon Law helps his cause with an RBI double down the left field line that one-hopped to the fence. Cimoli scored the tying run. As a National League fan, it goes without saying that I love it when a pitcher can hit.
E — Pitchers who rake are awesome.
R — Ralph Terry goes at center fielder Bill Virdon with back-to-back curveballs in on the hands. This is righty against lefty, so the ball is breaking inward toward Virdon’s body.
E — Virdon’s been much more aggressive at the plate in this game, swinging at first pitch offerings. He swung at the first two curves Terry threw in this at bat and missed both.
R — Virdon hits the third curveball for a soft single to center field. Runners score from third and second, including Law turning on the wheels and coming home from second base, and the Pirates take a 3 – 1 lead. Virdon must have adjusted and figured out that curveball, unless Terry misplaced it. I don’t want to go Google it, but I want to go talk to Bill Virdon about that hit and how the sequence of pitches unfolded.
E — Virdon the hero again! The Pirates have their first lead since Game 1.
Moving into the bottom of the inning, the second half of the game is sponsored by Gillette, and Jack Quinlan describes the super blue blades. With so many friends participating in No Shave November, I regret that alopecia prevents me from growing any facial hair of substance. Most teenagers can grow better beards than I can.
R — Bobby Richardson is now 2-for-2, and has seven hits three and a half games of this World Series. Chuck Thompson and Jack Quinlan like to talk about how small of stature Richardson is, but he’s batting like Goliath. He’s now 7-for-15 in the series.
E — Quit pitching to Richardson, period. After Richardson singled to start the inning, Law struck out the side, one of which being another 2-strike foul bunt. More Twitter roasting.
R — Speaking of strikeouts, Vernon Law now has five of them across five innings as he gets Tony Kubek to get out of trouble. Pirates lead 3-1
The Sixth Inning
R — Chuck Thompson points out that Pittsburgh has not had a lead since Game 1, which was four days prior. In between we witnessed an avalanche of hits and runs by the Yankees.
Thompson seems to be hinting that it’s only a matter of time before the Bronx Bombers find their bats against Vern Law and put up some offense.
Someone is up in the Yankees bullpen, but Thompson is unable to see who it is and identify the man warming up. That must have been frustrating for him. I know I’m frustrated.
Thompson refers to Pirates catcher Smoky Burgess as, “the little round fella.” I recall a piece I read about Burgess in doing some of my reconnaissance work for this series with Ethan. I don’t remember everything that was in that piece, but the opening line of the biography was, “Smoky Burgess was fat.”
Geez. No faint praise there. Burgess showed off some warning track power with a 400-plus-foot shot out to center field that Mickey Mantle caught. Writers and broadcasters of the ‘60s could say things that we can’t really talk about in 2019, and I think that’s good. I’d rather write about an athlete’s ability or his personality than the build of his body.
E — Maris, Mantle, and Berra — “Three pretty fair bangers,” — hitting for the Yankees in the bottom of the sixth. I love some of the colloquial expressions Quinlan and Thompson use and find myself chuckling throughout the broadcasts. I would love to be described as a pretty fair banger, Rance, so hold on to that for me next year.
But the pretty fair bangers are retired in order.
The Seventh Inning
R — Don Hoak opens the inning with a “ringing single to center,” and Casey Stengel headed out to talk to Ralph Terry. I’m amazed that Stengel is going to leave Terry in this game after his hair trigger handling of pitchers up to this point. I want to know what Terry said to plead his case. Vern Law then grounded to third, where Gil McDougald backhanded the ball on the edge of foul territory. Hoak and Law both reach bases safely, including Hoak at third base.
E — Law’s second hit of the game, an infield single. Impressive.
R — This is the second mound visit this inning, though Stengel waited to make an indication to the umpire to go out to the bullpen. Bobby Shantz, a southpaw is coming in. Ralph Terry pitched very well up until Bill Virdon got ahold of his curveball in the fifth inning. He got a “good Yankee Stadium hand” from the 67,812 fans at the game, but I’m sure he would have traded the applause for some run support.
Shantz struck out Virdon on three pitches, relying on his curve. I’d imagine Virdon was not accustomed to a curve breaking away from him after seeing three Ralph Terry curves break in toward his body his last time at the plate. It doesn’t seem like the Yankees want to pitch anything straight to Virdon.
E — At the stretch, the Pirates lead by 2. More super blue blade commercials reminding me I should shave the seven or eight whiskery stubbles I currently have sometime in the near future.
R — Based on the advertising campaigns tied to this World Series, it seems to me that the average baseball fan in 1960 was interested in three things: 1. Baseball 2. Driving cars 3. Shaving. My list of things to Google now includes some facts on how much money Gillette dumped into this World Series for advertising, if such facts are out there on the internet.
Trailing 3-2, Casey Stengel sends up a left-handed pinch hitter, Johnny Blanchard. I’m thinking it’s got to be because he’s a lefty. The move paid off as Blanchard, batting for the pitcher, got a base hit.
E — Skowron’s lead-off double is followed by McDougald’s single to right, putting runners on the corners for Bobby Richardson who is the hottest player in the Yankees’ line-up. A groundout for the first out of the inning, but plates a run and brings the Yankees to within 1. After Johnny Blanchard singles as a pinch hitter, representing the go-ahead run, forkballer Roy Face comes in to put out the fire.
R — With runners at first and second, Pirates manager Danny Murtaugh made his second mound visit of the inning. Johnny Blanchard’s name sounds familiar to me, but I can’t place it. Yet another something to Google when the game is over. These self-imposed rules are killing me.
Roy Face, the pitcher who is the object of my fascination, is coming into the game. He’s “quite an entertaining young man who likes to sing and play the guitar,” according to Chuck Thompson. The announcer also tells us that Face looks like Buster Keaton.
Thompson said that Yankees were surprised as the speed Face put on his fastball in Game 1 in Pittsburgh. Some of the element of surprise is gone for the man who was a closer before there were closers, and then there’s the forkball.
Center fielder Bill Virdon made a tremendous catch on a play that was very well-described by Chuck Thompson. Virdon robbed Bob Cerv by “hurdling up into the air,” then “falling flat on his back.”
E — Again, Virdon’s defense saves the game. Virdon makes another Gold Glove play in centerfield, surely saving the tying run, even the Yankees’ fans applauded the effort. “What a clutch play,” said Thompson. “A great ovation for Virdon as he comes to the dugout.”
“You’ll read a few hundred words about that catch Virdon made. It’s one of the finest I’ve ever seen.”
R — Danny Murtaugh makes his third mound visit of the inning. I wonder if he’s tired of walking by now. The next time someone complains about the pace of baseball, I have a story about Danny Murtaugh to share.
I’m also impressed by New York fans giving Bill Virdon two good ovations in that inning, one when he made the catch and one when he returned to the dugout at the end of the inning. As often as the modern New York fan is portrayed as ruthless and selfish, but cheering an opposing player in a World Series is certainly a sporting act.
I use my second pause button of the game to get my laundry out the dryer at my wife’s request. Ethan Bryan is my friend, and this project is great fun, but I’m not about to get divorced over it. With my clean clothes secure to be put away later, I’m ready to close this game. I’ve got 39 minutes, and I intend to go the distance without interruption — just Elroy Face and me.
The Eighth Inning
R — “Jim Coates now pitching for the New York Yankees,” Chuck Thompson said of Jim Coates. That’s not much of a flattering introduction, but he goes on to mention that Coates won 13 games, including nine in a row, and “pitched cleverly.”
I take a peek at Jim Coates’ Wikipedia page as he logs an out of Roberto Clemente. Coates died at the age of 87 on Nov. 15, 2019, just 12 days prior to this writing. A sudden sense of sadness passes over me.
Coates’ obituary is a free-verse poem of rhyming couplets originally written in 2005.
I’ll stop breaking my own rules and go back to concentrating on the game in real time.
E — Face facing Mantle, and Mantle Ks. To my surprise, the crowd roared. There must be a pretty sizable Pittsburgh contention in New York.
R — Mantle, “really cuttin’ for the boondocks” struck out on a 3-2 pitch, which was on Face’s “Sunday pitch,” the forkball. Unless Chuck Thompson said “sundae pitch.” Ugh… I want to Google that so badly. Baseball is supposed to be relaxing for fans. I need to remember to make relaxation part of this experience and let some of the game simply be.
The Ninth Inning
R — Another spectacular catch in center field, this time by Mickey Mantle off the bat of Don Hoak. Mantle “hooked up both jets,” and made a one-handed catch on the run. This series has been a great experience for me to learn how truly great and talented at baseball Mickey Mantle was. I can understand what so many boys looked up to the Commerce Comet based on how he played.
Pirates skipper Danny Murtaugh made a defensive replacement, bringing in catcher Bob Oldis to replace Smoky Burgess behind the plate. Changing Roy Face’s battery-mate is an interesting move. Oldis, 91, has been a big league scout for a number of years.
The Springfield, Missouri influence on this game continues, as the Yankees send up pinch hitter Dale Long with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, trailing 3-2. Long worked the count full. He then flied out to Roberto Clemente in right field, the Pirates have evened the World Series 2 – 2 in “one of the most exciting, thrilling games of the series.”
Rance’s stuff to Google after the game:
Don Hoak, good manager or not?
Jerry Lumpe, Springfield, sporting goods
Gino Cimoli, general
Ralph Terry, pitching arsenal
Gillette advertising/1960 World Series advertising
Buster Keaton/Roy Face side-by-side comparison
Jim Coates, the “Pride of Northern Neck”
Sunday/Sundae pitch
Dale Long, general
E — The Series is tied, 2 – 2, and Virdon has played a key role in both victories.
Through 4 games, the Yankees have scored 32 runs; the Pirates have scored only 12.
Baseball is joyfully weird.
