Call to the pen
Fansided

MLB: My most memorable games

By Bill Felber

CHICAGO - CIRCA 1999: Randy Johnson #51 of the Arizona Diamondbacks pitches during an MLB game at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois. Johnson played for 22 years with 6 different and was a 10-time All-Star, a 5-time Cy Young Award winner and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2015. (Photo by SPX/Ron Vesely Photography via Getty Images)
CHICAGO - CIRCA 1999: Randy Johnson #51 of the Arizona Diamondbacks pitches during an MLB game at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois. Johnson played for 22 years with 6 different and was a 10-time All-Star, a 5-time Cy Young Award winner and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2015. (Photo by SPX/Ron Vesely Photography via Getty Images) /
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The statue of Ernie Banks outside the main entrance to Wrigley Field. (Photo by Brad Mangin/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
The statue of Ernie Banks outside the main entrance to Wrigley Field. (Photo by Brad Mangin/MLB Photos via Getty Images) /

Aug. 13, 1959, San Francisco Giants vs. Chicago Cubs, Wrigley Field, Chicago

It is the waning weeks of summer, I am about to enter fifth grade, and I have once again talked some suffering family member to drive me across town to watch the team I alone root for, the Cubs. We are about to witness the biggest offensive explosion of our personal lifetimes.

The outlook Is not promising. The Giants hit town leading the NL by two and one-half games. The Cubs are fourth, two games below .500. Worse, Cubs manager Bob Scheffing has nominated Art Ceccarelli, a left-hander of little repute, to face Giants ace Jack Sanford.

It shapes up as a mismatch. Ceccarelli will go 5-5 with a 4.76 ERA in 15 starts. Sanford is on his way to a 15-12 season and 3.16 ERA in 31 starts. Beyond that, Sanford is backed up by an offense featuring Willie Mays, Orlando Cepeda, and a soon-to-be Rookie Of The Year named Willie McCovey.

Scheffing’s Cubs lineup does have Ernie Banks, but his support amounts to George Altman, Walt Moryn, and a bunch of guys named Let’s Not Talk About It.

It is memorable, but not the way we anticipated. The Giants scored seven times in the first three innings, dispatching Ceccarelli, but that’s only good for a 7-6 lead because Altman homers in the bottom of the first, Sanford leaves after two batters with arm problems, Altman homers again in the second, and Dale Long homers in the third.

Then the Cubs get going. After Eddie Fisher, the third Giants pitcher, permits two singles to open the third inning, he is replaced by Stu Miller. Big mistake. Two run-producing groundouts and three intentional walks later, somebody named Art Schult singles Banks and Irv Noren home to give Chicago a 10-7 lead.

The rout is on. After the Cubs fail to score in the fifth – the only time that will happen all day – they add two more runs in the sixth, six runs in the seventh and a final two in the eighth. It is almost irrelevant that Mays, Willie Kirkland and Jackie Brandt have all homered for San Francisco, or that the Giants have run up nine runs of their own.

The final score is Cubs 20, Giants 9. It was the most runs a Cubs team would score in any game between 1955 and 1966.

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