Art Shamsky..3HR's..+1..

8ate · Feb 14, 2010

Art Shamsky once came in to hit 3 HR's against the Bucco's;Cinti Reds at Crosley Field(a realstadium).Then first at bat next game hehit a HR; 4 st8at bats for HR; still riding the bench though...

Listeningto the OLD Gunner;I still remember those games.. those old Pirates could get 11 hits;not score a run...

Rememberthe "Green Weenie"

Honestly, do not know why I attribute the Palm Ball to Elroy Face; clearly the forerunner of today's closer...What would he make today; worked as a carpenter in Pa.after retiring; lol..

Remember Bob Veale...

Darned; Those Pirates of the sixties were something...

jmho

gl

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billhill999 · Feb 14, 2010

I was at Shea Stadium with my dad as a little kid when Bob Moose threw a no-no against the Mets.

8ate · Feb 14, 2010

Was there ever a no-hitter thrown at Forbes Field????

Remember they just put the batting cage in center field..!!..lol

They played a better game back then..

billhill999 · Feb 14, 2010

Fast foward a decade, Gene Alley, Dave Cash, Manny Sanguillen, Richie Hebner, Vic Davalillo, Dal Maxville, Steve Blass, Nelson Briles, Doc Ellis .............

Don't even get me started with the "we are family" team of Stargell, The Candy Man, Bill Madlock, Rennie Stennet, Dave Parker...............

This Yankee fan was always a closet Pirate fan.

wilheim · Feb 14, 2010

Art Shamsly goes wild...I remember reading about it.

That game was played on Friday, August 12, 1966..

Boxscore..

Despite Shamsky's heroics the Pirates won the game 14-11 in 13 innings. Shamsky came into the game in the 8th inning

Shamsky went deep against three Buc hurlers:1 off Billy O'Dell, 1 off Elroy Face, 1 off Al McBean. There were 11 roundtrippers hit during the marathon.
1 by Willie Stargel and 1 by Roberto Clemente of note.
Also of note: Pete Rose hit a HR off Bob Veale the starter for Pittsburg.
Tommy Sisk got the win and Billy McCool was the loser, both in relief (obviously)).

What a game - 15 runs, on 19 hits, 11 of which were homers. I remember Crosley Field had a hill in front of the leftfield fence. Very strange (see pic below).

Shamsky hit the 4th HR two days later on August 14th pinch hitting in the 7th inning for Johnny Edwards against Bucs Ace right hander Vern Law.

The HR by Shamsky was a two run shot and the only runs Law gave up that night as the Pirates rallied to win the game 4-2 on a 2 run home in the top of the 9th by Manny Mota off Sammy Ellis. Gene Alley had walked to start off the 9th that knocked out Don Nottebart in favor of Ellis who promptly yielded the game winner to Mota the first hitter he faced.

Pete Mikkelson got the win throwing two innings of 1 hit scoreless relief after Law took a seat after going seven full and losing 2-1 thanks to Skamsky's Pinchhit 2 run HR in the bottom of the 7th. and the unfortunate Nottebart took the loss as Alley scored the winning run and was aboard due to the walk by Nottebart.

On August 13th Jim Maloney threw a 2 hit shutout for the Reds as he beat the Bucs 11-0. Shamsky didn't play in that game.

Boxscore..

The terrace in front of the left field fence was an incline that started 20 feet from the left field wall and gradually increased until it reached the four feet grade at the wall. It is hard to see in this photo in left field from the foul line on out.

wil.

8ate · Feb 14, 2010

btw;
Billy O'Dell lives here in South Carolina, about thirty miles from me
whereI live; I work with a woman who is his daughter; she has a Billy O'Dell Baseball card in hard clear plastic on her desk...
...

gl

You know; the game Roberto Clemente hit 3 HR's; the Pirates lost.

gl

billhill999 · Feb 14, 2010

Clemente was the best right fielder I ever saw.

FairWarning · Feb 14, 2010

billhill999 said:
Clemente was the best right fielder I ever saw.

Me too.

I remember the Pirates beating the Cubs 22-0 in 1975. Rennie Stennett went 7-7.

billhill999 · Feb 14, 2010

At the time (and I think it still is) a record for hits in a nine inning game.

wilheim · Feb 14, 2010

8ate

I know Roberto hit 3 homers in a 8-7 loss to the Reds and drove in all 7 runs for the Pirates that day. Boxscore May 15th 1967.

Sandy Koufax says Clemente hit him harder than any batter he ever faced.

Koufax said that the longest ball ever hit off him to the opposite field was “hit off me by Clemente at the Los Angeles Coliseum in 1961. It was a fastball on the outside corner, and he drove it out of the park; not over the fence, but he knocked it way out.”

Koufax went on to say that Clemente “could hit a PITCHOUT for a home run”.

On May 31, 1964 at Forbes Field, Clemente hit a home run off Koufax 30 feet high off the light tower in center field. Koufax said he couldn’t recall anyone hitting one longer off him.

Clemente was pure grace topped off with speed and power at the plate and in the field. No one ever made the throw from the rightfield corner to third base like Roberto.

Johnny Pesky (who has seen some baseball in his time) told writer Les Biederman of the Pittsburgh Press that the only hitter he had ever seen get solid wood on the ball time after time as much as Clemente was his [Pesky’s] friend Ted Williams. Quite a complement for Roberto given many baseball people feel Ted was the best pure hitter to ever play the game. Not to mention the last man to hit .400 in a season (.406 in 1941).

Finally I don't know how many people know this but hitting in Forbes Field was like hitting in the Grand Canyon. One of the reasons for Clemente's relatively low 240 career homer count.

wil.

joebatters · Feb 14, 2010

I grew up about 35 miles from Pittsburgh.....

how about 'a bloop and a blast'?
and 'think Hoover'?

VIEJODINOSAUR · Feb 15, 2010

How about Elroy Face and Dick Groat?

Forbes Field was one of the most spacious parks in baseball and was the home of the home run derby on television..

wilheim · Feb 15, 2010

Viejo Dinosaur

Two Posts up I mentioned how big Forbes Field was.

"Finally I don't know how many people know this but hitting in Forbes Field was like hitting in the Grand Canyon. One of the reasons for Clemente's relatively low 240 career homer count".

Face has been mentioned in the thread but Groat and Mazerowski has not got any mention.

SS Dick Groat was a two sport athelete named the league's Most Valuable Player in 1960 after winning the batting title with a .325 average for the champion Pirates.

From 1956 to 1962 he teamed with second baseman Bill Mazeroski to give Pittsburgh one of the game's strongest middle infields; he led the NL in double plays a record five times, in putouts four times and in assists twice. At the end of his career he ranked ninth in major league history in games at shortstop (1,877) and fourth in double plays (1,237), and was among the NL career leaders in putouts (10th, 3,505), assists (8th, 5,811) and total chances (9th, 9,690).

Also an excellent basketball player, He attended Duke University and is a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity. He was twice an All-American at Duke and was voted as the Helms National Player of the Year in 1952 after averaging 25.2 points per game.

Little known trivia: Groat played one season (Fort Wayne Pistons) as a guard in the National Basketball Association.

wil.

FairWarning · Feb 15, 2010

VIEJO DINOSAUR said:
How about Elroy Face and Dick Groat?

Forbes Field was one of the most spacious parks in baseball and was the home of the home run derby on television..

The old Wrigley Field in LA was the home of HRD.

VIEJODINOSAUR · Feb 15, 2010

I better start googling more before I post...thanks FW...

Don't ever get old...

8ate · Feb 15, 2010

VIEJO DINOSAUR said:
I better start googling more before I post...thanks FW...

Don't ever get old...

~~:<<

Hey you get old because you quit having experiences like Pirates baseball..;At least you did not think Elroy threw a palm ball instead of the correct forkball..!! Good to remember the happy things; fergit the rest..

jmho

gl

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