1962 San Francisco Giants

[McCovey]

Ok, you "oldtimers" tell us about the legendary '62 team. :D I've heard about this great team all my life. I wish I was alive to see them play. For you youngsters the '62 team is the greatest SF Giants team of all time. This team had Mays, McCovey, Marichal, Cepeda, and a young rookie named Gaylord Perry (though he was not a major contributor in '62).

Here is the complete team roster.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/SFG/1962.shtml

[SF Kid]

Well the '62 Giants had all the tools. Came up about two inches short of winning it all. Forty six years later we're still waiting in San Francisco.

I hate Maury Wills. He was a big problem in '62 and even before.

I remember watering down the infield at Candlestick. I remember Juan throwing to first base when Wills was aboard like 10 times in a row. When he did that at Dodger stadium the fans were not amused. Classic.

Harvey Kuenn was a big part of that team. And, Ed Bailey had a knack for coming up with big hits at the right time. He was a clutch hitter for the Giants.

And fuck Bobby Richardson is all I can say. The Giants should have won the championship. A game of inches indeed. :o

[Bear]

The Kid does live in the past. We were both in high school and not at home when the series was played. I can remember going to the games that summer and having the feeling something really great was about to happen. The great was beating the Dodgers to get to the series the bad was Bobby Richardson's catch of the McCovey line drive. It was a great year for baseball in San Francisco that ended wrong.

[McCovey]

Well the '62 Giants had all the tools. Came up about two inches short of winning it all.
Now, here's a good question. If McCovey's liner had gotten through the infield would Willie Mays have tested Roger Maris' arm in right field? From what I've read Maris had an exceptional throwing arm.

[SF Kid]

All you need to know about that is "say hey".

We would have won the series if that ball got through.

[Bear]

All you need to know about that is "say hey".

We would have won the series if that ball got through.


We think. Nothing is for certain.

[McCovey]

Do you guys remember who was the third base coach on that play? I think he would have sent Willie since Matty Alou would have already scored the tying run so at worst if Willie was thrown out at the plate the game would have went into extra innings. With a World Series title just 90 feet away you would have to go for it I would think.

[SF Kid]

I have no idea who the 3B coach was. Willie could still fly in those days and Roger Maris' arm was good but...we would have won.

[McCovey]

I'm just curious was the '62 World Series televised locally in the Bay Area?

[SF Kid]

Yes it was.

[Bear]

Yes it was.

But we were not here to see it!:(

[SF Kid]

But we were not here to see it!:(This is true but I know because I received reports from San Francisco daily.

[McCovey]

Where were you guys that you missed the World Series? :shrug:

[Bear]

Where were you guys that you missed the World Series? :shrug:

In high school in Southern California (Boarding School). Villanova Prep!:eek:

[McCovey]

In high school in Southern California (Boarding School). Villanova Prep!:eek:
The World Series wasn't televised in Southern California?

[Bear]

The World Series wasn't televised in Southern California?

Yes, but not where we were. You are talking 47 years ago.

[McCovey]

Yes, but not where we were. You are talking 47 years ago.
Oh ok. For some reason I thought you and the Kid grew up in the SF Bay Area.

[Bear]

Oh ok. For some reason I thought you and the Kid grew up in the SF Bay Area.

We did both born and raised by the Bay. But we went to boarding school for high school in So. Cal to Villanova Prep. in Ojai Valley just east of Ventura. That is a whole different story.:cool:

[SF Kid]

We didn't miss the WS. We jsut didn't get to see it on TV. Now that really sucked ass.

[Bear]

We didn't miss the WS. We jsut didn't get to see it on TV. Now that really sucked ass.

No the Kid and the Bear were tuned in on their little portable radios but the Giants were not to win. Who thought then we would still be waiting for a WS title 47 years later? For sure not the Kid and the Bear! :(

[SF Kid]

One thing I remember about going to school in So Cal. I used to get the newspaper (LA Times) but the Giants games were normally shown as "late" ...that used to piss me off. Ojai wasn't a Metropolis where the late edition of the Times was to be found early in the morning.

[Bear]

Ojai wasn't a Metropolis for sure. They did not even have one stop light in that berg in the early 60's:nono:

[TkleMstr52]

Haha

[McCovey]

When I think of Ojai I think of Steve Austin...:)

[TkleMstr52]

When I think of Ojai I think of Steve Austin...:)

Stone Cold?? :pound: Used to be my favorite, when I watched wrestling!! HAHA

[McCovey]

Stone Cold?? :pound: Used to be my favorite, when I watched wrestling!! HAHA
No! The Six Million Dollar Man!

[SF Kid]

You mean Austin 3:16 says..."I'm gonna kick your ass"... :pound:

[TkleMstr52]

Haha, thats the one

[Bowler Bob in Brisbane]

Do you guys remember who was the third base coach on that play? I think he would have sent Willie since Matty Alou would have already scored the tying run so at worst if Willie was thrown out at the plate the game would have went into extra innings. With a World Series title just 90 feet away you would have to go for it I would think.

Yes, I believe that third base coach Whitey Lockman would have sent Mays, all the way around from second base, but I guess we'll never know, will we.

I was 8 years old when my dad, a Municipal Railway bus driver, who jus happened to be driving the #15-3rd & Kearney Candlestick Park run took me out of school to attend the 7th game of the World Series.

He also took me out of school for my first ever Giants game on Opening Day in 1962, when the Giants shut out Warren Spahn, Hank Aaron & the Milwaukee Braves, 6-0.

In that 7th game of the '62 World Series it was Lockman's decision to stop Alou at third base, after Mays' double to Roger Maris in right field.

I remember all of the bus drivers that I was standing with behind Lower Reserved Section 1 at the time saying that Alou would have been thrown out at home, by second baseman Bobby Richardson if Lockman had gone ahead and waved him in.

To me it really did look like Richardson was ready to gun Matty down after the relay throw from Maris, had he been sent home.

I guess the mindset at the time was that it made more sense to play conservatively by having runners at second and third with two outs and Big Mac coming to the plate, poised to be the hero, rather than being run out of the inning, the game, and ultimately, the Series.

Whitey probably figured why take a chance on losing the game by getting Matty thrown out at home plate, which in hindsight 47 years after the fact, is still a questionable decision.

With the Giants down 1-0, in the bottom of the 9th inning, Matty Alou, who came in the game to pinch hit for reliever Billy O'dell, led off the inning with a bunt single to Richardson.

Now facing the top of the order, Yankee starter Ralph Terry then struck out the next two Giants' batters, Mateo's brother & left fielder Felipe, and then 2nd basemen Chuck Hiller, bringing the great Willie Mays to the plate with 2 outs and Matty Alou at first base.

Willie greeted Mr. Terry with an opposite field double to right, which in turn moved Matty over to 3rd base.

I've still to this day not seen the kind of crowd reaction at Giants game like I saw at that moment, it was incredible!

But what happened after that joyous moment has still got to be the single most painful moment that I’ve ever experienced as a San Francisco Giants fan, even worse than being at Dodger Stadium on the last day of the 1993 season!

The sight of Bobby Richardson snaring Willie McCovey’s line drive to end Game 7, and the 1962 World Series, will be eternally etched in my mind, as if it happened only yesterday.

And so with hindsight being 50/50 (that’s my version of the saying, lol.), it’s still just pure speculation as to whether or not Mays would have actually scored from second on a base hit by McCovey, had he gotten the ball out of the infield, and not into the outstretched glove of Bobby Richardson.

And speaking of Willie… Happy 78th birthday, Mr. Mays!

Cheers,

Bowler Bob in Brisbane

[Bear]

Great post and good to see you posting again. Also wonderful photo.:beerbang:

[McCovey]

Bowler Bob! Where have you been buddy?

[SF Kid]

Outstanding Bob. Great post. Brings back some serious memories. Plus that photo is a gem. Sweet.


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