BASEBALL'S WEEK
Injuries do not appear in the standings, but they often affect them. While Baltimore's Jim Gentile rested an injured hand, Marv Throneberry took his place at first base. In two games Throneberry went 1 for 7, also made a mental error that lost a game. All in all, it was not safe being a first baseman in the AL. Five of the league's regulars—Gentile, Norm Cash of Detroit, Roy Sievers of Chicago, Bill Skowron of New York and Vic Wertz of Boston—were hurt. NL players were not immune either. Philadelphia Second Baseman Tony Taylor (dislocated thumb) and Pitcher Robin Roberts (trick knee) were put on the disabled list. Still, LA led the majors in casualties with 30. Things were so bad that in order to replace Catcher Norm Sherry the Dodgers had to get Doug Camilli of Spokane out of the hospital. There were no serious injuries, although several players had their pride bruised, in the All-Star Game. All that talk about Candlestick Park's wind seemed to be just so much hot air—until the eighth inning. Then the winds came and with them four errors and a balk (Stu Miller was literally blown off the mound) by the NL in two innings. In the bottom of the 10th, however, Hank Aaron singled, Willie Mays doubled, Roberto Clemente singled and the NL had two runs and a 5-4 win.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
To combat the wind and cold, some San Francisco fans bought shearling-lined Candlestick Coats, recently marketed by a local company. "Similar coats," an advertisement said, "have been found useful in climbing Everest and the Jungfrau." Happy with their new coats, these hardy souls were also pleased by the Giants' two wins in three games with Pittsburgh. It took a grand-slam homer by Clemente for the Pirates to win even that one game. Milwaukee, too, won only once, thanks to fine relief work by Carlton Willey. St. Louis had the better relief pitching in the final two games—as well as Carl Sawatski's ninth-inning home run one day and an eight-run inning the next—to press within a game of the fifth-place Braves. Philadelphia beat Los Angeles in two of three and closed to within 28 games of the league-leading Reds. Chris Short pitched a complete game, the Phillies' first in 35 tries. The losses were as costly as they were embarrassing for the Dodgers, since they dropped six games behind Cincinnati. The Reds won two of three one-run games from the Cubs. Each Cincinnati homer or win at Crosley Field triggered a clangorous recording over the loudspeakers. Included in the deluge of noise were a woman's screams, bagpipes, bells, a siren and a creaking door. Chicago's lone win was in an 8-7 10-inning game in which Don Elston turned in his best relief job since June 2.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
It took Willie Kirkland of Cleveland five days to hit four consecutive home runs. He hit three straight in the final game with Chicago before the All-Star break. In his first official at bat in his next game, five days later, he hit one off Pedro Ramos of Minnesota. Billy Martin, now with his seventh major league club, made up for his failing arm by taking charge of the Twins' infield. Ted Lepcio, last year labeled by then-Philadelphia Manager Eddie Sawyer as "the worst player I ever saw," helped, too. His grand-slam home run beat the Indians and Kirkland 9-6. Chicago hit four homers in one game against New York but lost 9-8, for the second time in three games. Those wins kept the Yankees barely in front of the Tigers. Chicago's ERA (4.31) was its worst in a decade, but Baltimore (3.56) took over the league lead in this department. Baltimore's best pitching of the week was wasted, however. Boston beat the Orioles 3-2 and 2-1 and took two of three games as Don Schwall won his eighth and Gene Conley pitched a four-hitter. Detroit's Jim Bunning also had a four-hitter as he beat the Twins 2-1 for his 10th victory. One-hit relief by Los Angeles' Art Fowler, plus Ed Sadowski's 12th-inning homer, gave the Angels their only win. Pete Quesada, Washington owner, pointed with pride to his Senators' 38 victories and said, "Our record is a springboard, not a pillow." Kansas City GM Frank Lane gave the team the first inspirational-type clubhouse talk of his career. Kansas City then jumped on Washington's springboard and swept its first double-header in 12 tries.
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TWO PHOTOS
REGULARS AT LAST are Bobby Malkmus (Phils) and Joe Koppe (Angels). Both drifted around majors before earning steady jobs.