The LuLac Edition #853, June 21st, 2009

PHOTO INDEX: COVER OF 1964 PHILLIES YEARBOOK FEATURING JIM BUNNING AND THE LINEUP THAT PARTICIPATED IN THE PERFECT GAME AGAINST THE METS, AND THIS BLOG EDITOR WITH JIM BUNNING AT A CARD SHOW IN WILLOW GROVE, PENNSYLVANIA IN 1893.

PERFECTION!

I was 10 years old in the summer of ’64 and was following the Phillies in their pursuit of the pennant. My association began when I was sick with a variety of illnesses that kept me quarantined in my bedroom. The combination of measles, mumps and chicken pox, all converging on me at the same time sidelined me from the rest of the world. My sister graciously and generously let me have her portable radio. It was about 10 inches in width, 6 inches in height, had two big knobs, one on the left for the volume and one on the right to change the station. The color of the exterior was tan with fake mahogany trim. It was manned by 10 C batteries and weighed about 14 pounds. This was my lifeline to the rest of the world. At night I followed my Cleveland Indians on WWWE (3We) and when they began to lose the game (as was their way back then) I tuned into the Phillies broadcasts on WILK. Unlike the Tribe, the Phils were winning. Sticking to the motto that “everybody loves a winner”, I began to tune in to the Phillies first and then check on the Tribe later. I usually began the night with Don Bruce’s “Bullpen” program then waited for Byrum Saam, Bill Campbell and Richie Ashburn to take the airwaves. The games I heard were exciting and new to me. The strategies of Gene Mauch as well as his platoon system were explained in great detail and I used the arguments to debate my father when he visited and my classmates when I returned to school. That spring I bought a Phillies baseball cap which had to be surgically removed by the end of the season. When school was finished, I turned to the empty lots and playgrounds of Pittston Junction and lived baseball 24/7. When there was no one to play with, I took my Pee Wee Reese lefthanders glove (that I bought by selling tooth brushes for the Stanley Company) and went to the front concrete steps in front of our house. I would take a big rubber softball and toss it against the wall. It bounced back in an erratic manner but that was okay with me. I could catch the ball on the fly and become Johnny Callison or Tony Gonzalez. If the ball took a few bounces on the ground, I was Bobby Wine, Tony Taylor or Ruben Amaro. When I muffed the ball, I became Richie Allen. (Sorry cheap shot there!) A short pop up made me Gus Triandos the second string catcher of the Phils and one of my personal favorites. If it wasn’t following the political conventions, it was baseball, baseball, baseball. On the subject of the Phillies I became an absolute bore. When I went on visits to relatives, my father admonished me before hand to talk of things other than the Phillies like what time it was and how was the weather today. Father’s Day weekend came and the Phils played the lowly Mets. As chronicled in Edition #852 of LuLac, the Mets swept the Friday night double header then lost to the New Yorkers on Saturday. Sunday came and I attended a Father’s Day Father and Son Breakfast at my departed church, St. John the Baptist in Pittston. That afternoon, I was aware the Phils would be facing the Mets in a double header. Jim Bunning was going to pitch the opener and a young 18 year old rookie, just called up from the Minors, Rick Wise would hurl the nightcap. The Yankees also were playing a double header on that day too. (Lost to history and Bunning’s feat was the fact that in the second outing, the game went 17 innings until the Yankees prevailed.) Frankly I was more interested in the second Phillies game rather than the first so I took to the front steps bouncing my ball in the blazing, hot summer sun. My father read the Sunday newspapers on the front porch. I have forgotten where my mother was on that day. At one point my father went in to watch the game. During the 7th inning, my father came out and advised me I should come in and watch the game. He informed me it was a Perfect game. I knew only too well what that meant having heard about Don Larsen’s perfecto in the 1956 World Series and had just read about Sandy Koufax’s no hitter over the Cubs in May of 1964. Each pitch made me a nervous wreck. In the bottom of the 8th, I left the living room and went back to the front steps trying to take my mind off of Bunning’s attempt. Finally, I returned to the TV just in time to see the last two outs. Jim Bunning had pitched a perfect game in a season that I felt was destined for the history books. 45 years later, I still remember how I felt about this achievement as a young fan. Much has happened since that day 45 years ago today. I had the pleasure of meeting Jim Bunning who talked about the day with me. The game has been documented as one of the great feats of baseball and I have used the box score and the players working as a team as an example in business lectures I have given in my career. My elation with Bunning as an athlete does not equal my admiration for him as a right wing Republican Senator. But the man had his moment, was on the Ed Sullivan Show that night and was elected to the baseball Hall of Fame in the mid nineties for his plus 220 wins. (100 in each league as well as a no hitter in each). As I grow older, I think of the rich heritage as well as the wonderful minutia of the game of baseball. I feel fortunate to have been alive for many great moments as well as the opportunity I had to share them with people in my life. Some have faded with time but the one that remains vivid and clear is Jim Bunning’s Perfect Game. The game coming at such a young age for me has grown in importance. I think of three things every Father’s Day. My father, how much I still miss him and Jim Bunning’s Perfect Game on that day. As the years have passed since that game, I treasure it more and more mainly because it involved two things that will always be constant in my life. The first being the influence and love a father can only give a child, the second being the perfect imperfection and unpredictability of baseball. Both being things of beauty.

THE LINEUPS

THE PHILLIES

J Briggs CF
J Herrnstein 1B

J Callison RF

D Allen 3B
W Covington LF
B Wine PR-SS
T Taylor 2B
C Rojas SS-LF
G Triandos C
J Bunning P
Totals 32 at bats, 6 runs, 8 hits, 4 bb.
THE METS

J Hickman CF
R Hunt 2B
E Kranepool 1B
J Christopher RF

J Gonder C
H Taylor LF
C Smith SS
A Samuel 3B
G Altman PH

T Stallard P
B Wakefield P

R Kanehl PH
T Sturdivant P
J Stephenson PH
Totals 27 up, 27 down, no hits runs or errors.

BUNNING ON SULLIVAN

This is the talent line up for the Ed Sullivan Show the night of Jim Bunning’s Perfect Game:
Ed introduces the 50 candidates for the title of "National College Queen," then announces the 6 finalists.

On film: Ed visits Debbie Reynolds at her home. In her screening room, they view scenes of Debbie dancing in "The Unsinkable Molly Brown"

Harve Presnell (Reynolds' co-star in "The Unsinkable Molly Brown") sings "I'll Never Say No" (live on stage)

John Byner (stand-up comedian)

Sally Ann Howes - sings "Let's Face the Music and Dance"

Allen and Rossi (comedy team)

Sally Ann Howes sings "Do Re Me" with children from the Lexington school for the deaf. The children also do a "Spring Medley"

Cameo: Ken Venturi (1964 U.S. Open champion)

Jim Bunning (baseball pitching star from Philadelphia) - is interviewed by Ed twice in show.

Trini Lopez - "Hello Dolly" and "What'd I Say" (both songs in English and Spanish)

Ed crowns the winner of the "National College Queen" contest --Royal National dancers of Sierra Leone - perform in tribal costumes.

BUNNING ON FILM

There’s not much film of the game. We found this on YOU TUBE. The first 20 seconds are of the last out for the Perfect Game, the rest highlights that fateful ’64 season.