Washington vs Cleveland 1962

 My next APBA series consisted of two American League teams squaring off using the basic game. After the old Washington Senators moved to Minnesota in 1961 This 1962 Washington Senators team was an expansion team that later became the Texas Rangers. They finished last with a record of 60 - 101. The Cleveland Indians finished with a record of 80 - 82.

  

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GAME 1: Location, Cleveland, Ohio, Cleveland Municipal Stadium

On the mound for the visiting Senators is Don Rudolph a C pitcher. Toeing the rubber for the home team Indians is Jim "Mudcat" Grant a D pitcher. Needless to say this is not a pitchers duel.

Cleveland puts up a single run in the second on a solo shot by Gene Green. Each team scores one in the third. In the fourth the Indians put up three on another solo shot by Green and a two run blast by Gerald Kindall. This dropped Rudolph to a D pitcher. 

With the score 5 to 1 Cleveland, the Senators put up a 5 spot in the top of the 5th culminating with a three run shot off the bat of Jim King. Unfortunately for the Senators that would be the last of their scoring as Bill Dailey (D), Jim Perry (D), and Frank Funk (B) would shut them down for the final 4 innings. 

Cleveland went on to score single runs in the 5th, 6th, and 7th to come away with a 8 to 6 victory. Dailey got the win and Funk got the save. For the Senators their relievers of Marty Kutyna (D) and Steve Hamilton (C) were unable to keep the Indians from scoring. Kutyna took the loss.

GAME 2: Location, Washington DC, DC Stadium

This game saw Sudden Sam McDowell (D) on the hump for the visiting Indians and Claude Osteen (C) hurling for the hometown Senators.

The hometown team struck first with a 2 run single in the 3rd off the bat of Chuck Hinton. In the top of the 5th Cleveland tied the game with a two run homerun from Woody Held. 

After Osteen was lifted for a pinch hitter in the 6th the Indians got to reliever Pete Burnside (D) with one unearned run and a steal of home from Al Luplow. They surprised the Senators when John Romano took off for second on the double steal and Luplow made it home safely.

The Senators came back with two of their own in the bottom of the 7th on a two run homer from Harry Bright. But in the top of the 8th Cleveland tallied one run and the Frank Funk (B) closed it out for a two inning save and his second of the series.

GAME 3: Location, Washington DC, DC Stadium

The final game was all Cleveland with a 10 to 2 bashing of the hometown Senators. Starter Dick Donovan (B) for Cleveland pitched a complete game for his first win of the season. Starter Tom Cheney (C) only made it through 3 innings and gave up 6 runs. Relievers Ed Hobaugh (D), Steve Hamilton (C), and Jim Hannan (B) pitched the remaining 6 innings with Hobaugh not giving up any runs.

The offense for Cleveland was lead by homeruns from Jim Mahoney a solo homerun in the first, Willie Tasby a 3 run shot in the second and Chuck Essegian a two run blast in the 3rd.

That's it for this summary Cleveland took all three from Washington. My next series and recap will be the 1957 Giants versus the 1957 Cubs. Mays vs Banks. Look for my writeup on that series.

Milwaukee vs Pittsburgh 1962

 Today, I'm going to share APBA recap of my three-game series between the 1962 Milwaukee Braves and the 1962 Pittsburgh Pirates. In this particular series I played the Master Game of APBA baseball.

 

Game 1 took place at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. It was a matchup between #4 starters for each team with Bob Hendley taking the mound for the visiting Braves and Harvey Haddix hurling for the home Pirates. This game was not a pitcher's duel.

In the top of the first the Braves scored 4 runs but the Pirates came back with 2 of their own in the bottom of the frame. In the top of the fifth with the score Milwaukee 4 Pittsburgh 3 the Braves scored 3 more to take a 7 to 3 lead. In the bottom of the 6th with Hendley still on the mound the Pirates broke out the bats and scored 4 off of Hendley and 3 off of reliever Claude Raymond to take a 10 to 7 lead heading into the 7th. In the 8th inning with both starters out of the game a costly error by Dick Groat allows the Braves to score 4 runs to take an 11 - 10 lead. With Nottebart pitching for the Braves in the bottom of the 8th the Pirates looked to pitch hit for pitcher Olivo. They call on Jim Marshall who only had 2 homers in 116 plate appearances, with a man on Marshall hits a two run shot to put the Hometown Pirates in the lead 12 - 11. The Pirates call on Roy Face to close it out in the top of the 9th, and he shuts down the Braves' bats for the save.

For the Braves Hank Aaron, Joe Adcock and Eddie Mathews all homered. For the hometown Pirates both Virdon and Marshall homered and Clemente was 3 for 5 and drove in 4 runs.

Game 2 switches to County Stadium in Milwaukee with each team having their aces take the mound. For the visiting Pirates Bob Friend takes the mound and for the home team Braves Warren Spahn toes the rubber.

No scoring in this until the bottom of the third when Frank Bolling hits a two run homer. In the top of the fifth the Pirates score three unearned runs thanks to an error by leftfielder Gus Bell. In the bottom of the 7th Bell redeems himself by driving in Del Crandall with a triple. The score remained 3 to 3 until the top of the 11th when the Pirates score three runs off of reliever Nottebart. The Pirates called on Roy Face to close out the bottom of the 11th and earn his 2nd consecutive save.

For the Pirates Clemente was 2 for 5 with 2 RBIs and a triple, and Skinner was 2 for 6 with two RBIs and 2 doubles. For the Braves besides Bolling's homer and Bell's triple Hank Aaron was 2 for 5 with 2 singles. This game was more about the pitching than the hitting with friend striking out 8 in 8 innings and Spahn not giving up an earned run in 9 innings of work.

Game 3 stays in Milwaukee for the final match-up between these two teams. The Pirates are going for a sweep and the Braves hope to salvage one win in the series. This match-up saw each team throw their number-two starters: Earl Francis for the Pirates and Bob Shaw for the Braves.

This was a true pitcher's duel. Only 10 hits between the two teams and only two were extra base hits (doubles). In the top of the 5th the pirates broke a zero zero deadlock when Mazeroski doubled, after Schofield walked Francis advanced Mazeroski to third with one out Skinner hits a sacrifice fly for the only run of the game. The pitching trio of Francis 6 innings no runs 2 hits, Olivo 2 innings 1 hit and for his third consecutive save Face 1 inning no hits the shutout the likes of Aaron, Adcock and Mathews and the rest of the Braves who only mustered 3 singles. For the Braves Shaw pitched a complete game, only gave up the 1 run on 7 hits. This game was quite the contrast to game one which saw 23 runs total. 

When I finish my next match-up the 1962 Washington Senators versus the 1962 Cleveland Indians I'll post another recap. In the meantime go and roll some games of your own.