Civility in baseball part of bygone era

By David Mullen

It is considered by many to be the greatest baseball game ever played. Baseball historian and former Sports Illustrated writer Jim Kaplan even wrote a book about it called “The Greatest Game Ever Pitched: Juan Marichal, Warren Spahn, and the Pitching Duel of the Century.”

On a typical cold and damp early July evening at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park, the aging ace of the Milwaukee Braves Spahn, 42, sparred with “The Dominican Dandy” and Giants budding superstar Marichal, 25, in a game for the ages. For four hours and 10 minutes, the two pitched a 16-inning gem that will never be repeated in baseball history. 

What happened after the game may never be replicated either.

Memories of the game are as foggy as the outfield that evening. What we do know is in addition to Hall of Famers Spahn and Marichal, the Braves batting order included Hall of Famers Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews, and the Giants lineup touted Cooperstown-bound Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and Orlando Cepeda. 

Although not Hall of Famers, the two lineups also included some impressive players like Lee Maye, Denis Menke, Del Crandall, Harvey Kuenn, Ed Bailey and Felipe Alou. Yet the two pitchers from different generations and cultures pitched one scoreless inning after another. Buffalo-born Spahn smoked cigarettes and chewed Beechnut gum in the dugout. Marichal, the pride of Laguna Verde, D.R., begged manager Alvin Dark to keep him in as long as the other team had an old man on the mound.

My first ever live professional baseball game would be at Candlestick Park a year later against the Los Angeles Dodgers. I know because my dad kept score and I still have the program. 

I have witnessed several hundred baseball games and have seen some classic moments. I watched Vida Blue make baseball relevant again with his panache and blazing fastball in 1971. I saw Cal Ripken hit for the cycle at Arlington Stadium and then cap off his magnificent career with a home run at the All-Star Game in Seattle. I was there when Nolan Ryan reached the 5,000-strikeout pinnacle and when Barry Bonds hit home run No. 70 in Houston. 

I was sitting behind home plate at the Oakland Coliseum for Game 3 of the 2001 ALDS when New York Yankee Derek Jeter flipped a misplayed outfield throw toward catcher Jorge Posada as Jeremy Giambi decided to try to score standing up. The Yankees won the game and later the series. “Slide, Jeremy! Slide!” A’s fans still yell over what many feel was the greatest defensive play baseball has ever witnessed. 

And there are too many other moments to recant and remember. But I can’t imagine a game played with such resolve and degree of sportsmanship than the Spahn vs. Marichal clash.  

Say what you want about baseball. “It’s too slow.” “It’s too boring.” “It’s too long.” Everyone is entitled to an opinion. But one thing the game always had was a sense of civility. OK, brushback pitches, animated arguments with umpires and on-field brawls have always been a part of the game. And yes, that is the same Marichal who took a bat to catcher John Roseboro’s noggin, causing a chaotic scene at Candlestick in 1965.   

But graciousness in baseball — and sports in general — is part of a bygone era. During a two-week period recently, Boston Red Sox utility player Franchy Cordero — on his third team in six seasons with a lifetime batting average of .224 — hit a walk-off grand slam to beat the Seattle Mariners. As a message to the opposition, Cordera flipped his bat so high that Logan International Airport saw it on the radar. After the game, Cordero said, “I did it! I did It!” It was his first home run of the year.

In the Arizona Interscholastic Association 2A baseball championship game at beautiful Tempe Diablo Stadium, spring training home of the Los Angeles Angels, a Benson High player punched a member of the victorious Scottsdale Christian baseball team in the handshake line following Christian’s 6-5 win. 

New York Yankees third baseman Josh Donaldson, never considered a candidate for a UN post, called Chicago White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson “Jackie,” after Anderson, in a Sports Illustrated profile, said, “I kind of feel like today’s Jackie Robinson.” 

Anderson and White Sox manager Tony LaRussa said Donaldson’s comment was “racist.” Donaldson issued a statement of apology but was still suspended for one game by MLB.  

In pregame warmups, Cincinnati outfielder Tommy Pham walked up to Giants DH/outfielder Joc Pederson and slapped him in the face over an offseason Fantasy Football dispute. The players and coaches squared off … during batting practice. Pham received a three-game suspension. “He did some [expletive] I don’t condone,” Pham told The Athletic. “So, I had to address it.”

As Tuesday, July 2, 1963, became Wednesday and a National League curfew approached (an inning couldn’t start after 12:50 a.m.), Willie Mays hit a home run through the left field mist in the bottom of the 16th inning for a Giants 1-0 victory. 

The veteran Spahn went to the visitors’ clubhouse and sought out the young Marichal to provide his dueler with some helpful recovery tips. Spahn had thrown 201 pitches and Marichal a whopping 227. 

“He [Spahn] said to be careful in your next start,” Marichal related in broken English. “He said, ‘I know you pitch every fourth day, but try to take an extra day.’ I only got one. It was almost mandatory to pitch every four days.”

Today, if a starting pitcher goes six innings and gives up three earned runs or less, it is considered a “quality start.” Marichal pitched 16 shutout innings. 

Spahn hurled 15 and 1/3. But not just because of the incredible pitching performance, one can’t imagine a gesture with such class and grace as Spahn showed Marichal coming from today’s baseball players. In baseball, civility has gone the way of the sacrifice bunt, let alone the 16-inning complete game.