The Anniversary of One of Greatest Pitching Duels Ever! Spahn vs. Marichal, July 2, 1963

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 The Anniversary of One of Greatest Pitching Duels Ever! Spahn vs. Marichal, July 2, 1963

“It was a slider that didn’t do anything!”- Warren Spahn, commenting many years later on the pitch he threw to Willie Mays that ended one of the greatest pitching duels of all time.

This week marks the 55^th anniversary of one of the game’s great classics, matching two of the best pitchers in baseball history. Some of you “seniors” out there might actually remember this game. It was played on July 2, 1963 at Candlestick Park before 15,921 fans between the Milwaukee Braves and San Francisco Giants. The starting pitchers were Warren Spahn for the Braves and Juan Marichal for the Giants. The Dominican Marichal was a 25-year-old fire-balling right-hander who was having his first great season. Spahn was a crafty 42-year-old lefty veteran who was having the last great year of his Hall-of-Fame career. Both won over 20 games that year, yet neither would not get a single vote for the Cy Young because a lefty named Sandy Koufax. 

In July of 1963, the defending National League champion Giants were a powerful team packed with future Hall-of-famers. Their stacked lineup propelled the Giants to the most wins in the National League during the 1960s. The Braves were two-time National League pennant-winners in the late ‘50s (with a World Sereis championship in 1957), and were still a force to be reckoned with. All four of the National League’s top home run leaders played that night: Aaron (44), McCovey (44), Mays (38), and Cepeda (34). All told, there were seven future Hall-of-Famers on the field: In addition to Spahn and Marichal, Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews, Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, and Orlando Cepeda; plus HOF umpires Ken Burkhart and Jocko Conlon.

The game stated at 8:00 and both pitchers appeared to be in great form. It was scoreless through nine and went into extra innings. As the extra frames mounted, neither pitcher showed signs of tiring. In the bottom of the 13th, Giants’ manager Alvin Dark approached Marichal and asked him how he felt. Juan looked out at the “old man” Spahn warming up to pitch the 13th inning and told his manager in no uncertain terms, “See that old guy out there? He’s 42! I’m not coming out of this game until he does or until we win!”

Both pitchers navigated in and out of trouble as the game entered the 15th inning scoreless. Marichal set the Braves down in order in the top of the frame. During the inning, Braves manager Bobby Bragan actually let Spahn bat for himself! Marichal again set down the Braves in the top of the 16th. As he walked off the field, he said to Willie Mays, “Alvin is going to take me out before the old man.” Willie just looked at him and said, “Don’t worry … I’ll end this thing for you!”

…And so he did. Four hours and ten minutes after it started, the classic pitcher’s duel ended dramatically when Mays laced one of Spahn’s offerings over the fence and trotted around the bases, one of his 660 home runs. 

We will never see another pitcher’s duel like this marathon contest again, with the starting pitchers going all 16 innings. Amazingly, Marichal threw 227 pitches that night, and Spahn threw 201! Spahn went 23-7 in 1963 (at age 42) matching Christy Mathewson for most 20 game winning seasons with 13. He is the winningest lefty in baseball history with a record of 363-245 over his 21-year career; while Marichal, 25-8 in 1963, went 243-142 over his 16 year career.

After the game, Spahn’s teammates greeted him with their own tribute. Teammate Bob Sadowski, best described the scene: “When Spahn finally arrived in the dugout after a TV interview, everyone stood, applauded, and lined up to shake his hand. If you didn’t have tears in your eyes, you weren’t nothing!”

Quite a tribute. Quite a game…

Photo Credits: Sporting News, The Baseball Book; and public domain

Info: Excerpts edited from an article by Andrew Baggarly, July 2, 2013 on Comcast Sportsnet Bay Area: http://www.csnbayarea.com/blog/andrew-baggarly/july-2-1963-spahn-vs-marichal-best-pitchers-duel-ever

Gary Livacari

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