Subdeacon Joe Posted October 25 Share Posted October 25 With metrics we will never see this again " On July 2, 1963, baseball witnessed an unforgettable showdown that still echoes in MLB history. It wasn't just a game; it was a clash of titans—Juan Marichal of the San Francisco Giants and Warren Spahn of the Milwaukee Braves. Both pitchers delivered an extraordinary display of stamina and skill, going head-to-head for a mind-boggling 15 scoreless innings. Marichal, just 25 years old, hurled an incredible 230 pitches, while the veteran Spahn, at 42, threw 204. The two legends matched each other pitch for pitch, defying exhaustion, before the iconic Willie Mays finally ended the duel with a solo home run in the 16th inning, giving the Giants a 1-0 victory. It was a night of grit, determination, and pure love for the game. When Spahn was asked about the game later, he quipped with his characteristic humor, "I thought my arm was going to fall off!" But it didn't. Instead, it gave fans one of the greatest games ever pitched in baseball history. This game wasn’t just about the numbers—it was a battle of endurance, a display of two pitchers' refusal to back down, and a reminder of the raw, unfiltered beauty of baseball. #MLBClassics #PitchersDuel #BaseballLegends #WillieMays 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackwater 53393 Posted October 25 Share Posted October 25 Most pitchers don’t go much past five if they haven’t been knocked out already by good hitting! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted October 25 Share Posted October 25 From Wikipedia… Marichal dueled Warren Spahn, the 42-year-old Milwaukee Braves future Hall of Fame pitcher, in a night contest on July 2, 1963, at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, and the two great pitchers matched scoreless innings until Willie Mays homered off Spahn to win the game 1–0 in the 16th inning.[24] Both Spahn and Marichal tossed 15-plus inning complete games, something that had not happened before or since in the major leagues. Marichal allowed eight hits (all singles except for a double hit by Spahn) in the 16 innings, striking out 10, and saddling eventual career home run king Hank Aaron with an 0-for-6 collar. Spahn gave up nine hits in 15.1 innings, walking just one (Mays intentionally in the 14th, after Harvey Kuenn's leadoff double) and striking out two.[25] According to Marichal, manager Alvin Dark offered to take him out twice once the game reached the 12th inning. The second time, Marichal told Dark, "Do you see that man on the mound? That man is forty-two, and I'm twenty-five. I'm not ready for you to take me out."[26] The game, almost the innings-duration of two contests, lasted only 4 hours, 10 minutes. By coincidence, future baseball commissioner Bud Selig attended the game as a fan.[27] 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpo Posted October 25 Share Posted October 25 I'm missing something here. Maybe this is because I'm not a professional sports follower. But --- 6 hours ago, Subdeacon Joe said: With metrics we will never see this again What does metrics have to do with this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdeacon Joe Posted October 25 Author Share Posted October 25 (edited) 1 hour ago, Alpo said: I'm missing something here. Maybe this is because I'm not a professional sports follower. But --- What does metrics have to do with this? OK, how about sabermetrics or analytics? Everything, or almost everything, is now driven by statistics. To an extent that's always been true, box scores are simple metrics, but it's gotten a lot more complex now. We're seeing players, especially pitchers, in the dugout looking at their tablets, checking the stats/metrics/analytics of the upcoming players. Fielders looking up what a pitcher has thrown them in the past. From https://medium.com/@cclapp_49252/the-development-of-baseball-analytics-86e6bacc8570 A fine example. And you can bet that for each one of those Launch Angles the statistics gurus can show how many of what pitch from which pitcher produced it. Miguel Cabrera Launch Angles, Photo by Hitting Performance Lab Analytical Pioneers Before spreadsheets and algorithms took over the dugouts, a quiet revolution known as baseball statistics was quietly taking shape in the dusty archives of baseball history. Imagine a time when wooden ballparks reverberated with the crack of the bat and the game’s attraction was found in the dusty diamonds rather than the slick stats on a screen. Baseball statistics began as a modest endeavor, a haphazard attempt to use crude instruments to distill the essence of the game. The rudimentary scorecards known as box scores were used to record hits, runs, and mistakes. Back then, statistics were handwritten on parchment, vastly different from the sophisticated systems of today that analyze every play in detail. From the diamond dust sprung pioneers, those with an inquisitive desire to know more about the game than just the audience’s applause. One such notable was the 19th-century wordsmith Henry Chadwick, who used a pen to express his passion for baseball. Hailed as the “Father of Baseball,” Chadwick created the first box score and the basic statistics that would later become essential to the game’s survival." Edited October 25 by Subdeacon Joe 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackwater 53393 Posted October 25 Share Posted October 25 Joe! Did you leave a word out of your opening statement! Would you have said “With TODAY’S metrics…”? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted October 25 Share Posted October 25 1 hour ago, Alpo said: I'm missing something here. Maybe this is because I'm not a professional sports follower. But --- What does metrics have to do with this? Yeah yeah. You prefer feet and inches. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdeacon Joe Posted October 25 Author Share Posted October 25 (edited) 21 hours ago, Blackwater 53393 said: Joe! Did you leave a word out of your opening statement! Would you have said “With TODAY’S metrics…”? I suppose I could have. Or maybe "With today's reliance on metrics over gut instinct..." Gone, I think, are the days when a manager could tell a pitcher, "Look, kid, I know this guy has hit you the last 19 times you've faced him, but you can get him out, just relax, it's just like practice, concentrate on what YOU will do to him THIS time ." Then hand him the ball and saunter back to the dugout. Edited October 26 by Subdeacon Joe 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rye Miles #13621 Posted October 26 Share Posted October 26 (edited) On 10/25/2024 at 10:43 AM, Subdeacon Joe said: With metrics we will never see this again " On July 2, 1963, baseball witnessed an unforgettable showdown that still echoes in MLB history. It wasn't just a game; it was a clash of titans—Juan Marichal of the San Francisco Giants and Warren Spahn of the Milwaukee Braves. Both pitchers delivered an extraordinary display of stamina and skill, going head-to-head for a mind-boggling 15 scoreless innings. Marichal, just 25 years old, hurled an incredible 230 pitches, while the veteran Spahn, at 42, threw 204. The two legends matched each other pitch for pitch, defying exhaustion, before the iconic Willie Mays finally ended the duel with a solo home run in the 16th inning, giving the Giants a 1-0 victory. It was a night of grit, determination, and pure love for the game. When Spahn was asked about the game later, he quipped with his characteristic humor, "I thought my arm was going to fall off!" But it didn't. Instead, it gave fans one of the greatest games ever pitched in baseball history. This game wasn’t just about the numbers—it was a battle of endurance, a display of two pitchers' refusal to back down, and a reminder of the raw, unfiltered beauty of baseball. #MLBClassics #PitchersDuel #BaseballLegends #WillieMays That’ll never happen again! Edited October 26 by Rye Miles #13621 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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