Baseball’s Ugliest Incident

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Johnny Roseboro Forgives Juan Marichal For Ugly Incident!

One of our readers, Frank Trujillo, recently asked for information on Johnny Roseboro, saying Johnny was “his dad’s favorite catcher.”  We’re always happy to answer requests, so here’s a little info about the catcher ranked 27^th all-time by baseball historian Bill James.

Johnny Roseboro is best remembered for his years with the Dodgers from 1957-67. He also played for the Twins (1968-69), and Senators (1970). Over his 14-year career, Roseboro hit .249, with 104 home runs, and 548 RBI. He had an outstanding .989 career fielding percentage and caught 112 shutouts, ranking 19th all-time. He caught more than 100 games in 11 of his 14 major league seasons. Roseboro was a six-time All-Star, a member of four pennant-winning teams, three World Series championship teams (1959, ’63, and ’65), two-time Gold Gloves winner (1961 and ’66), and caught two of Sandy Koufax’s four no-hitters. Known for his defensive skills, he led the league with a 60.4% caught-stealing percentage in 1964.

During his rookie year, he was a part-time back-up to the Dodgers’ great catcher, Roy Campanella. After Campy suffered the accident that ended his career in January, 1958, Roseboro got the starting job. In his first full season of 1958, he .271 with 14 home runs and 43 RBI, earning a spot on the All-Star team.  In 1959, Roseboro led National League catchers in putouts and in runners caught stealing, helping the Dodgers win the National League pennant and World Series championship. Under Roseboro’s guidance, the Dodgers’ pitching staff posted a league-leading 2.85 ERA in 1963, as the Dodgers won another pennant and World Series championship. Roseboro hit a three-run home run off Whitey Ford to win the first game.

Unfortunately, he’s probably best remembered for one of the ugliest incidents in baseball history which occurred on August 22, 1965 when Giants’ pitcher Juan Marichal clubbed him in the head with a bat (see photo below). Here’s a few words about the incident from the Comcast News Sports News web page:

“It all happened in the third inning with Marichal at the plate facing Sandy Koufax. The Dodgers’ pitcher was instructed to plunk San Francisco’s starter as retaliation for a few brush back pitches that happened earlier in the game. Knowing that it wasn’t Koufax’s style to bean a batter intentionally, Roseboro decided to do the dirty work. When throwing the ball back to Koufax, he intentionally buzzed Marichal’s head. ‘He threw a ball so close it tipped my ear’ Marichal told Bob Costas. So Marichal used his bat to exact revenge, hitting Roseboro on the top of the head at least twice and opening a two-inch cut that bled profusely. In a sign of how different times were in 1965, Marichal was suspended just nine days and fined $1,750.”

As ugly as this incident was, the good news is that Johnny Roseboro and Juan Marichal ended up as friends in later years. Roseboro even helped campaign for Marichal to get into the Hall of Fame and they often appeared together at Old-Timers’ games and charity events. So I guess it’s fair to say: “All’s well that ends well!”

Johnny Roseboro passed away on August 16, 2002.

-Gary Livacari

Photo Credit: “Sports Illustrated: The Baseball Book.” Others from Google search

Information: Excerpts edited from the Comcast Sports News Field of Dreams web site: http://fieldofteams.csnbayarea.com/2013/08/22/tbt-juan-marichal-attacks-john-roseboro-with-a-bat/;  and the Johnny Roseboro Wikipedia page.

Statistics from Baseball-Reference.com, Johnny Roseboro page.