Today, senior ESPN writer, David Schoenfield provides a link to a recently discovered color video of the final three innings of Cinncinnati Reds pitcher Jim Maloney's ten inning no hitter of 8-19-1965 against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. The game score ended up 1-0, Reds. The rarity of colored TV video of that era is explained in his article but there are a lot of other interesting features in that game that illustrate how much baseball has changed in some of our lifetimes. There is also the interesting appearances in this game by a young Pete Rose who wears no helmet while batting, a young benchwarming future Hall of Famer Tony Perez, the Cubs Hall of Fame threesome Ron Santo, Ernie Banks, and Billy Williams, all in their prime and last but not least Hall of Famer Frank Robinson as a young Red's slugger.
Maloney throws 187 pitches striking out twelve, walking ten and hitting a batter, going to a 3-2 count on an incredible 14 batters. He appears to be throwing harder than heck but is all over the place with a fastball and a big breaking curve. He uses the big leg kick windup common in those days.
Some of the differences in the game besides the obvious one of allowing an ace pitcher to throw 187 pitches on a hot August day include:
Several batters not wearing batting helmets.
Reds wearing white caps and uniforms.
The Cubs pitcher Larry Jackson batting for himself with two outs and two on in the bottom of the ninth although he was a poor hitter, the score was 0-0 and the Cubs had just pinch hit for the number eight hitter. The announcer acts like it's no big deal.
Virtually no mention of stats such as batting average, Hrs, RBI's, strikeouts or all the other stuff we are inundated with today. I think there was one batting average mentioned. Of course maybe they were mentioned the first time up but I doubt it having watched many old video's before.
The two Cubs announcers dressing up as characters in a Hamm's beer commercial
The announcement that Reds announcer Waite Hoyt would be retiring that year--Waite Hoyt was the ace of the 1927 Yankees--wow!
Announcers speculating that with two on Frank Robinson might sac bunt even though he had hit a triple off the wall the time up before and was a monster hitter in the 60's.
Rose, a second baseman then, hitting a grounder that Banks moved far off first to grab and then bobbled and the announcer instantly calling it a hit then naming the official scorer who decided it was an error. One less hit for the future Hit King!
Very little time between innings compared to today's tv games
And of course no lights at Wrigley so they are playing a day doubleheader that were so common in those days- with most of the fans wearing white, not team apparel.
I know this old stuff is not everyone's cup of tea but the baseball historian in me loves this stuff during this time of year before my son's season starts after the World Series is over.
