Random Cubs Recap: June 10, 1962
by Al Yellon on Jan 4, 2012 12:20 PM CST
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I decided to try another real old date for a recap, this time setting the year range at random.org from 1954 to 1962 -- the first year because it was Ernie Banks' first season, the last was just before the Cubs finally broke their consecutive non-winning season drought in 1963.
The random number generator gave me this date, which was a Sunday doubleheader against the expansion Mets.
And Ernie played a key role, as it turned out.
Thank heavens for the New York Mets. Sort of.
If not for the Mets, the Cubs would be the worst team in the National League, and almost the worst in baseball (the Washington Senators are a bit worse than the Cubs as of today).
On the other hand, the Mets have won only 15 of their first 53 games since being created as an expansion team this year. Four of those wins have been against the Cubs, and the Mets were riding a 17 (!) game losing streak coming into this weekend's series at Wrigley Field.
Naturally, in this awful Cubs season, that meant the Mets would break the streak, which they did by winning Friday's first game; the Cubs only won Friday's second game because it got dark. It's been 14 years since the Tigers became the last of the "original 16" (how odd that sounds!) teams to put in lights; P.K. Wrigley still refuses, wanting to be a "good neighbor".
Do you think we'll ever see lights in Wrigley Field? It doesn't seem possible.
Anyway, the Mets were threatening to take four out of five in this extended series forced by a May rainout, until Ernie Banks -- thank heavens for Ernie -- slammed a three-run homer to tie the second game of today's doubleheader in the bottom of the ninth inning. He got that chance only because Mets 3B Rod Kanehl -- who had been inserted for defense -- made an error on Dick Bertell's easy grounder that should have ended the game with a 4-1 Mets win. Instead, a rattled Craig Anderson walked Bob Will, setting up Ernie's heroics.
The Cubs won the game, in front of the remnant of the second-biggest crowd of the year so far (16,332) when Billy Williams hit a one-out double in the last of the 10th; after another out and an intentional pass to Ron Santo (who's having a rough year; will he ever amount to anything?), Andre Rodgers singled Billy in with the game-winner.
Of today's first game, the less said the better; it was the Cubs' ninth one-run loss this year, and second in this series to the Mets. The only run was driven in by Kenny Hubbs; I really like the way he plays, hustling all the time and playing outstanding defense, and at 20 he looks like a keeper and could man second base at Wrigley well into the 1970s.
1970s. Is it going to be that long before we have a winning team? Or beat the Mets on a consistent basis? The visitors from New York are gone; they won't be back in Chicago until the last three games of the season. Tomorrow, Don Cardwell -- who seems to have permanently lost his no-hit form he showed in his Cub debut two years ago -- will face the visiting Pirates in the first of a three-game set.
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BlueMike: Santo's No Good
I’m BlueMike. This Santo is a bum. He’s got a line of .248/.333./.410. You’ve got to get more offense out of the third base position.
Good things come to those who wait... and wait....and wait.
What are those two numbers
after the batting average?
by Josh Timmers on Jan 4, 2012 12:56 PM CST up reply actions
While Batting Average Is Far More Important
I Included in the second line this silly statistic that determines how often a hitter gets on base. You know he could get a hit, walk, get hit by a pitch. I care more about how often a guy hits his way on base. Who really cares if a guy walks a lot? You’ve got to be a real man and hit your way on base in my opinion. Don’t take free passes and clog up the bases. Then, in the third line, there’s this other silly statistic about dividing total bases by at-bats. That’s got something to do with how much power a guy has. I really don’t care about that, either. I’d rather have a .300 hitter with no power who hardly walks than some bum like Santo, who hit home runs and walks but can’t hit for much of an average. He’s only hitting .248 for crying out loud. Maury Wills is more my type of player. M-V-P! I’m with the modern way of thinking in 1962.
Good things come to those who wait... and wait....and wait.
Getting base via a walk is definitely unproductive.
All it does is clog up the bases.
IF IT TAKES FOREVER!!
by Cubfansince1957 on Jan 4, 2012 8:52 PM CST up reply actions
Yes, and that means they need ANOTHER hit to move him over into scoring position
Gimme solo home runs all day! At least you get to see someone running around the bases.
"IN THEO WE TRUST"
The Cubs lost their Triple-A franchise
in Houston with the Colt 45s taking the market and cheap PK Wrigley didn’t replace it. The Cubs only have four farm teams with the top team being in San Antonio.
San Antonio is bad. I don’t see any help coming from their. This “College of Coaches” idea really looks terrible when you look at the stated reason for it: allowing the minor leaguers to get major league coaching by rotating the managers through the system. There isn’t anyone in San Antonio worth getting major league experience.
Maybe the only guys worth looking are in Class B Wenatchee in the Northwest League. Outfielder Billy Cowan looks like he’s got game—he’s hitting over .300 and he looks like he could hit 20 home runs this year. He’s a potential corner outfielder. The other guy to watch in Wenatchee is infielder Paul Popovich. He doesn’t hit much, but he’s a good glove and could play shortstop after Andre Rodgers. He’s more of a second baseman though, so unless something happens to Hubbs, he’s blocked there.
How about that kid Lou Brock?
Seems like he has decent speed and might be of some help in the outfield. Hopefully he can hit enough to stick in the big leagues with this club!
If you think you've seen it all...just wait!
by CubFanSince1970 on Jan 4, 2012 3:17 PM CST up reply actions
Don't Think Much of Brock
I don’t think he can do a good job battling the sun and wind in right field at Wrigley. The Cubs already have Billy Williams playing left field. Maybe, the Cubs can trade Brock for a quality pitcher.
Good things come to those who wait... and wait....and wait.
The Cubs love power hitters, though.
If they can’t get him to hit for power, might as well trade him for some pitching help.
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Umm
Brock started both games of the double-header in center field. He’s been in the majors all season. Haven’t you been watching the games?
Sure I have!
I watch every game on WGN when i get home from school!
Anyway, I say we keep him (Brock) and see what he can do for a complete season. I can see him easily stealing 20-25 bases per year for us.
If you think you've seen it all...just wait!
by CubFanSince1970 on Jan 4, 2012 3:33 PM CST up reply actions
I don't know, we have the potential to compete in a few years.
If we could get a #2 or 3 pitcher for him with a proven track record maybe we should pounce on it.
This was the time when the games
were not dissimilar to the “3 Stooges” episodes that followed on Ch 9 with Ray Rayner as host at the Odeon Theater.
After all, they were all in black & white.
by San Diego Smooth Jazz Man on Jan 4, 2012 3:46 PM CST up reply actions
Bob Bell
It was Bob Bell (a.k.a Bozo) who played Andy Starr of the Odeon Theater. I remember Brickhouse mentioning Bob Bell was coming up to bat for the Reds one time, and VInce Lloyd telling him it was GUS Bell, that Bob would be on after the game.
"It's a funny old world. Man's lucky if he gets out of it alive." W.C. Fields
You know what?
I was mixing up the Dick Tracy show which Rayner hosted, which came on later.
Happens when we age.
by San Diego Smooth Jazz Man on Jan 5, 2012 12:07 PM CST up reply actions
I've had my eye on Ernie Broglio for a long time now.
I’ll bet we could work a deal with the Cards. And this Brock kid can fade into the obscurity that is probably his destiny.
IF IT TAKES FOREVER!!
by Cubfansince1957 on Jan 4, 2012 8:53 PM CST up reply actions
I'd rather
trade young & erratic (Brock) for young and erratic (Gibson). Sounds like an even swap to me.
"It's a funny old world. Man's lucky if he gets out of it alive." W.C. Fields
I don't know about that Gibson guy. We'll likely regret trading for him for decades.
Broglio’s a proven commodity. I don’t think we can go wrong trading for him.
IF IT TAKES FOREVER!!
by Cubfansince1957 on Jan 4, 2012 9:19 PM CST up reply actions
Brock In Center
I don’t like Brock in center. He’s killing the team there. If you did move him over to right field, he’d have to deal with that sun and wind at Wrigley. I guarantee you this! He will never be much of a center fielder or right fielder in the big leagues.
Good things come to those who wait... and wait....and wait.
It's a pity the '62 Cubs were stuck with two great offensive talents born to play left field.
Billy was almost as bad as Brock trying to handle right and center at Wrigley.
"Elder White! Look at the talent on those Cubs!" Harry Caray, KMOX Radio, 4/22/62
"And you have to wonder – What's the matter with Broglio?" Harry, KMOX, 5/24/64
One week from today, Brock will take Al Jackson to the centerfield bleachers at the Polo Grounds.
He will join Babe Ruth as the only left-handed batters ever to reach that famous destination, and it’s worth noting the bleachers were 30 feet closer in Ruth’s day.
Incredibly, only one day after Brock’s hit, Hank Aaron also would reach the bleachers with a shot off Jay Hook. That Original Mets pitching staff was indeed amazin’.
"Elder White! Look at the talent on those Cubs!" Harry Caray, KMOX Radio, 4/22/62
"And you have to wonder – What's the matter with Broglio?" Harry, KMOX, 5/24/64
That was the beginning of the end for Brock with the Cubs.
After that home run, management thought he’d become a power hitter and started pushing him in that direction. When he was a failure, they were just waiting to deal him, just about anywhere.
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The star-crossed careers of Brock and Hubbs are perhaps the greatest "what ifs" in Cubs history...
Although the ‘69-’71 teams proved conclusively that no team, no matter how talented, could win under Phil Wrigley’s counterproductive leadership, the ‘62-’63 teams certainly had enough potential to compete with the Dodgers and Giants. I know you focus on ‘66 as the best team ever to lose 103 games, but I say it’s the ’62 squad.
After all, in ’66 Leo was just burning-off the oil slick he inherited from Wrigley and Holland, while the ’62 squad was organically-grown, with input from legendary talent evaluators like Grimm and Hornsby. Almost any other manager in the league could have won 90 games with the ’62 Cubs.
Alston, Dark, Murtaugh, Mauch, Hutchinson, Johnny Keane – the NL was loaded with managerial talent. So who did Wrigley entrust with all this young talent? 34-year-old Elvin Tappe, who doubled as the Cubs third-string catcher while serving as head coach. Tappe’s career ended on a 4-16 note after 20 games, as the job of head coach fell to the steady hand of Charlie Metro.
In any case, you almost couldn’t blame management for thinking of Brock as a power hitter. In the thin air of Arizona that spring, he hit a 500-foot HR off the great Warren Spahn. At the Cubs Friday the 13th home opener against the Cards, Lou led off with a jaw-dropping blast to right center that was 20 feet above the chain link as it exited the park over Sheffield.
Note also: that Polo Grounds shot was Brock’s seventh HR in ‘62 – not bad for a platoon player on June 17th. Unfortunately, he hit only two more the rest of that season, including one off the man with whom Lou’s name would be forever linked: Ernie Broglio.
Brock likely was a left-handed version of Jimmy Wynn, and with the right team, in the right ballpark, he probably could have matched Wynn’s power numbers, although we can be sure he and the Cards have no regrets over the way his career played-out.
"Elder White! Look at the talent on those Cubs!" Harry Caray, KMOX Radio, 4/22/62
"And you have to wonder – What's the matter with Broglio?" Harry, KMOX, 5/24/64
I dunno about 90 games.
I mean, the starting SS on Opening Day in ’62 was Elder White. Ernie Banks had a bad year. The pitching staff was, apart from Buhl and Koonce, atrocious.
A good manager might have managed the ’62 Cubs to about 70 wins, which would have presaged the 82-win 1963 team. But 90? Doubtful.
You’re right about Brock and Hubbs. If only the ’67 through ’73 teams had those two players.
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From here, the '62 Cubs roster looks suspiciously like the 92-win '64 Phillies...
…with the real Santo a good comp on paper to Richie Allen, Billy in the Callison role, Ernie more than a match for Roy Sievers & John Herrnstein, Hubbs similar to Tony Taylor, and Andre Rodgers looking good in comparison to Bobby Wine.
A manager like Gene Mauch would have brought logic and discipline to the Cubs, using Brock to the team’s best advantage, while bringing Santo, Ellsworth and Cardwell out of their season-long funk with his demanding presence.
In the bullpen, Elston, Schultz and Koonce matched-up well with Baldschun, Roebuck and Dallas Green and, finally, in the days of four-man rotations, Ellsworth and Cardwell might have formed a decent 1-2 lefty-righty punch at the top – not quite Bunning and Short, but good enough to fool the league until the last week of the season.
In addition to hiring Mauch, all Wrigley and Holland needed to do was trade George Altman to the Cards for Curt Flood. That move alone might have made us the team of the ’60’s.
"Elder White! Look at the talent on those Cubs!" Harry Caray, KMOX Radio, 4/22/62
"And you have to wonder – What's the matter with Broglio?" Harry, KMOX, 5/24/64
THANK YOU !
Since the LOU BROCK saga was just slightly ahead of the beginning of my Cubs
fever, I often wondered what was behind that fateful trade.
That was one of the reasons.
Mainly, Cubs management (such as it was) was way late in getting on the stolen base train that was getting going in the 1960s. They had no idea how valuable Brock could be in that way. They thought they could turn him into another Billy Williams, but you can’t do that if his abilities aren’t in that realm.
The Cardinals just let him loose on the bases.
Sigh.
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Hey Hey!
Good to see that the fans are finally coming to the games!
by San Diego Smooth Jazz Man on Jan 4, 2012 3:19 PM CST reply actions
I was there
I a actually attended this DH. IT was the only time my dad took me to a ballgame. June 8th being my birthday, this was my present. I remember the crowd was in shock when Ritchie Ashburn homered in game one, and I almost got a foul ball from my idol, Ron Santo, as we were seated in the upper deck on the 1st base side. My dad hated crowds, so we were leaving early in the 9th of game two and were standing right behind home plate when I begged my dad to at least watch Ernie’s AB. Even though he hit the tying homer, we still left. I made a promise to myself that I’d never leave a game I took my kids to, and was rewarded years later when Soto homered in that memorable game a few years back, that I happened to be at with my son & grandson.
"It's a funny old world. Man's lucky if he gets out of it alive." W.C. Fields
For some reason, I've always remembered Ashburn's home run that day...
It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, and with my brand-new driver’s license, I was cruising along Glenview Road toward the light at Harms with the radio blasting as Jack Quinlan nearly fell out of the WGN booth making the call.
I could look it up, but my guess is Richie didn’t have a home run in ’60 and ’61 when he was with the Cubs. Only the Cubs ’62 pitching staff could have enticed him to crank it up and go for the catwalk in right.
"Elder White! Look at the talent on those Cubs!" Harry Caray, KMOX Radio, 4/22/62
"And you have to wonder – What's the matter with Broglio?" Harry, KMOX, 5/24/64
You're correct.
In 1,040 plate appearances for the Cubs in 1960 and 1961, Ashburn hit zero homers. He wasn’t a power hitter to begin with — only 29 in 9,736 career PA.
He did walk 116 times in 1960, which is the most by any Cubs hitter in the last 99 years (tied by Sammy Sosa in 2001).
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Koonce
One kid who’s done a fine job in the rotation is Cal. Sure hope he sticks around a few more years. Altman is another guy who appears to be on the cusp of stardom. The future looks bright.
"It's a funny old world. Man's lucky if he gets out of it alive." W.C. Fields
The most significant event of this five-game series may have taken place during yesterday's rain delay...
…as Jack took a rare trip down from the booth to interview Casey Stengel in front of the home plate camera with some WGN flunky holding an umbrella over their heads. Ol’ Case looked a little uncomfortable with this arrangement but after all he is 72 years old, and certainly knows enough to stay out of the rain.
Anyway, this wide-ranging interview included discussion of the Cubs season-long failures, as Jack and Casey agreed the Cubs roster was loaded with talent. Stengel then gave a lengthy analysis in classic doublespeak while Brickhouse laughed, glancing at the TV audience to make sure we all were in on the joke.
Then came a moment possibly as significant to the history of Chicago baseball as Gabby’s Gloamer in ‘38. If you saw it, you won’t soon forget that once Stengel was finished talking, Jack responded with perhaps the most insightful diagnosis ever made of the Cubs ongoing problems when he said: “Casey, this team is just snakebit.”
Brickhouse surely is on to something there, although if you’ve been reading that series on the Cubs in the Daily News, Bill Furlong has been sticking the blame squarely on Mr. Wrigley, who wants to win so badly. Something tells me Furlong ain’t long for Chicago.
"Elder White! Look at the talent on those Cubs!" Harry Caray, KMOX Radio, 4/22/62
"And you have to wonder – What's the matter with Broglio?" Harry, KMOX, 5/24/64
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