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1962 BOSTON RED SOX
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In 1962 although the results of the team were dismal, there were some outstanding batting feats and rare pitching performances made by individual Sox players. But Tom Yawkey paid out more than three million dollars in bonus money and got little in return for it. The National League added two new teams, the New York Mets and the Houston Colt 45s. In the off-season, the Sox traded one mediocre shortstop, Don Buddin, to the expansion Colt 45s for theirs, Eddie Bressoud. But without Jackie Jensen and Vic Wertz, the Sox were without a power hitter. Jim Pagliaroni had a league-leading 10 errors, one more than Russ Nixon in 1961. These defensive lapses appear to have contributed to the Red Sox’ decision to elevate catcher Bob Tillman to the major-league roster in 1962. Their story revolved around the two no-hitters thrown by Bill Monbouquette and Earl Wilson. Wilson, already in his 10th season with the Red Sox organization, returned from a stint in the Marines to earn a starting spot in the rotation. And the first intimidating relief pitcher of the era, Dick Radatz, made his Sox debut. At 6 feet 6 and about 250 pounds, Radatz, who reportedly was first called "The Monster" by Mickey Mantle, was an overpowering reliever. He led the league in saves, while striking out better than one batter per inning on average. His fastballs arrived at 95 miles an hour, and he commonly pitched multiple innings in relief. When he held a baseball it looked like a tennis ball. He didn't just throw fast, he threw hard and heavy ball that overmatched most hitters. In his first appearance, he struck out eleven of the first twelve batters he faced.
The Red Sox lost their opener, 4-0, against Cleveland at Fenway on April 10th. Carl Yastrzemski was the only player able to reach second base against Dick Donovan. Bill Monbouquette shut-out the the Indians, 4 to 0 in the second game of the season on April 11th with the Indians. The game was won in the 12th inning, when Yaz led off with a triple. After Frank Malzone and Russ Nixon were intentionally walked, Carroll Hardy came up and blasted a game-winning grandslam home run. In Baltimore, Dick Radatz struck out the side (Jim Gentile, Jackie Brandt and Brooks Robinson) on April 14th. On April 15th, after losing two games in Baltimore, Yastrzemski and Radatz led the Sox to a win in the last game of the series. Yaz made a sensational throw to Jim Pagliaroni to snuff out the tying run and halt an Oriole rally. With the bases loaded in the seventh inning and the Sox up 5-2, Charlie Lau sliced a double down the left field line. Two runs crossed the plate as Yaz judged the carom off the wall perfectly and fired the ball on one hop to nail Jackie Brandt at the plate. With the lead cut to one run, Radatz kept the O's hitless over the next two innings and picked up his first save, and a 5 to 4 win. Over 4 2/3 innings in two games, he struck out eight, while giving up one hit and walking two. Lou Clinton had quite a day on April 19th. He knocked out a triple and had a grandslam homer in a 9 to 5 win over the Tigers.
Memories came alive when members of the 1912 World Champion Red Sox returned to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Fenway Park on April 21st. Thomas J O'Brien, the nine-year-old grandson of Buck O'Brien assisted Mayor Collins in getting the proceedings underway. Some of the 1912 contingent who were on hand, where Duffy Lewis, Harry Hooper and Smoky Joe Wood. Against the Senators at Fenway on April 24th, Pete Runnels socked out two homers in a 4-1 victory, a four-hitter by Galen Cisco. In the next game, on April 25th, Gene Conley helped himself as he a Frank Malzone homered. The Sox won, 7 to 1. Chuck Schilling and Eddie Bressoud pulled off their 13th doubleplay in the homestand, as the Sox again beat Washington, 8 to 7, on April 26th. Radatz got the win, his first. He had struck out 11 batters in his 6 2/3 innings of relief thus far. In Chicago, Eddie Bressoud hit in his 13th straight game, a team record for hits at the start the season, on April 27th. The next day, Bressoud knocked out three hits, running the record to fourteen.
The Sox lost five straight on the road before finally beating the Senators in Washington on May 3rd. The score was 7 to 4 and one of the runs came on a steal of home by Carroll Hardy.
The Red Sox came home and beat the Chicago White Sox, 13-6 on May 4th, scoring 12 runs in the 5th inning. Russ Nixon pinch-hit for Mike Fornieles in the inning, singled and scored. The Sox sent 16 batters to the plate and so Nixon came up again, and once again singled and scored. In the next game, on May 5th, Yaz rapped out three hits to interrupt Early Wynn's quest for his 300th win. Radatz saved an 8-3 win and still had not allowed an earned run. Gene Conley's clutch pitching and the timely hitting of Jim Pagliaroni, Eddie Bressoud and Gary Geiger won the first game of a May 6th doubleheader, 3 to 2. It was their sixth straight win at home. A team who makes a mistake against the Yankees, usually will lose and that is exactly what happened to the Sox in New York on May 9th. Bill Monbouquette took a no-hitter into the seventh inning. A bunt for a base hit, an error, a walk and a double with the bases loaded, meant a 4-1 loss for Monbo. On May 12th, the Sox beat the Tigers in Detroit, 5 to 1. Gene Conley pitched 6 1/3 innings, gave up four hits, and earned the win. Radatz pitched the rest of the game and didn't give up anything, but knocked out his first major league hit that scored two runs. The Yankees came to Fenway and got humiliated, 14 to 4 on May 15th. Nine runs in the sixth inning was one of the most disastrous innings the Yankees would encounter. In the inning Yaz and Runnels each had two hits. The Sox had been playing .500 ball, but then lost every game they played over the next week at Fenway and were 8 1/2 games when they went on the road. It was their longest losing streak at home, in 56 seasons. In the process, they were embarrassed by losing five straight to the Angels. On May 19th, Bob Tillman became the 30th player in baseball history to hit a home run in his first major league at bat. A doubleheader with the Angels, the next day, was interesting. It pitted Don Schwall against Bo Belinsky, the rookie pitcher who had already thrown a no-hitter two weeks before. Belinsky gave up two hits and beat Schwall, 1 to 0. The Sox finally won a game on May 23rd. Behind the four hit pitching of Earl Wilson, they beat the Twins, 6 to 1. The next day on May 24th, the Sox beat the Twins again, 7-5, but only 1124 fans were in the stands, the lowest attendance since Tom Yawkey had bought the team. The Sox pounded the Orioles at Fenway on May 26th, 12-6. The "powerless" Sox knocked out 13 hits for 27 total bases. Homers were hit by Yastrzemski, Geiger and Tillman. Yaz added a double and Carroll Hardy had three hits with two doubles. The Sox looked good again in Minnesota on May 28th, as Earl Wilson shutout the Twins on two hits, by a 3-0 score. It was his second victory of the season over Minnesota. Chuck Schilling's three-run homer in the sixth inning broke a 5-5 tie and the Sox beat the Twins again, the next day, 8 to 5. Bob Tillman also homered in each of his first to trips the plate. Schilling had an average under .200, but showed signs of emerging from the slump. On May 29th, his sixth-inning homer broke a 5-5 tie and gave the Red Sox an 8-5 win over the Twins. But after winning five of their last seven games, the Sox played uninspired baseball once again, and were swept in a doubleheader by the Angels on May 30th.
Don Schwall's record fell to 1-6 after losing to the A's to start the month of June. He had retired only five batters in his last start in Minnesota, and against the Athletics on June 1st, allowed four runs in three innings of work. He only had pitched an average of five innings in 11 starts with an ERA of 5.34 On June 2nd, the Sox signed slugger 18 year old, George Scott, right out of his high school in Greenville, Mississippi. Meanwhile the Sox put up five runs in the eighth inning to beat the A's, 5 to 2, in Kansas City. At Fenway, Frank Malzone homered in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Sox a walk-off 2 to 1 win on June 6th in the first game of a doubleheader. On June 7th, in the last of the seventh inning, the Sox were trailing the Tigers, 4 to 3. Gary Geiger (.189 BA) thge belted a game-tying homer into the right field grandstand. In the next inning Bob Tillman drilled a triple to center field. Carroll Hardy's line drive to left brought him in for a 5 to 4 victory. The Sox took 2-of-3 from the Tigers, but for the three games, the attendance was a total of 11,047, an average of 3682 fans per game. On June 8th, hitting .219, Chuck Schilling was hit by a pitch, breaking his left hand. It was a month before he returned. The next day, on June 9th, Gary Geiger crashed into the center field wall while chasing a fly ball. He was carried off on a stretcher. Not that this had much of an impact on his season because the next day, Geiger started both games of a doubleheader. Dick Radatz pitched six scoreless innings of relief, followed only two days later by 8 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. When Bob Tillman homered on June 10th, it was his 9th in 86 at bats, one of the best starts ever by a Red Sox catcher. It came in the 11th inning against the Indians and gave the Sox a 4 to 3 walk-off win. It was the only game the Sox won in their five game series as the Indians pounded Sox pitching, scoring 51 runs. Billy Gardner was traded from the Yankees on June 12th for Tom Umphlett and cash. That day, the Sox beat the Orioles, 4 to 3. Frank Malzone homered and had three RBIs. But it was Gary Geiger, who threw a runner out at the plate in the ninth inning to preserve the win, who was the star. The next day, Don Schwall won only his second game of the season, 4-0, by beating the Orioles with a two-hitter on June 13th. Gardner, contributed a double, a single and a walk. The most productive pitcher on the staff was Gene Conley with a 6-6 record. He shutout the Tigers in Detroit, 3 to 0 on June 15th. Pete Runnels (.346 BA) was the Sox most productive hitter thus far, slamming out two hits and driving in a run. Earl Wilson was the only other pitcher to earn some recognition. He had blossomed into a bona fide major league pitcher, winning his fourth game, 4 to 2, in Detroit on June 16th, striking out seven batters. Ike Delock shutout the Tigers, 5-0, in the second game of a doubleheader on June 17th. Then in Cleveland, against the red hot Indians, Monbouquette put it all together, beating the Tribe, 4 to 2, on a four-hitter on June 18th. During the second game of a doubleheader in Cleveland on June 20th, Mike Fornieles tied a modern AL record by hitting four batters in one game. Carroll Hardy's two-run homer and Radatz's one-hit relief job over 3 1/3 inning, gave Earl Wilson his fifth win by a score of 3 to 1 against the Indians on June 21st. Wilson gave up two hits and struck out five and gave the Sox a split of the series. Delock (3-0, 2.41 ERA) pitched another fine game in Baltimore, beating the O's, 2-to-1 a six-hitter in 10 innings on June 22nd. Yastrzemski had hit safely in 11 of the 12 games played against Baltimore, batting over .400 against them. The Sox concluded their road trip winning eight and losing five, including a sweep of the doubleheader played against the Orioles on June 24th. Gary Geiger banged out two homers in the first game and Bob Tillman hit a homer that won the game in the ninth inning, 3-2.
Lou Clinton, batting .097 belted out two home runs, one his second grandslam of the season, and knocked in six runs on June 29th. The Sox beat Kansas City 9 to 3. Pete Runnels had two hits and was hitting .342, second in the American League. Clinton had a homer and a triple the next day. Eddie Bressoud bombed two homers and a double, and Geiger and Yastrzemski had four hits apiece, as the Sox bombed the A's for 18 hits and a 12-6 victory on June 30th.
Against the Minnesota Twins on July 2nd, Eddie Bressoud bounced a ball into center field that scored two runners with the tying and winning runs, to win the game, 4 to 3. Then in a July 4th doubleheader, Lou Clinton went on a rampage. He knocked out seven consecutive hits in the two games. In the first game after grounding out, Clinton singled, doubled and hit a home run into the center field bleachers. In the second game, he hit a two-run homer, then singled, doubled and singled. In his last 23 at bats, Clinton had 16 hits. Earl Wilson and Bo Belinsky met again in Los Angeles on July 6th in a highly touted re-match of the two no-hit pitchers. The Sox pounded Belinsky for 11 runs in the first four innings and won the game 12-7. The Sox swept the Angels and Pete Runnels wielded the hot bat, batting .475 against the halos. As a result he took over leadership in the AL batting race with a .340 BA. Stan Musial and Maury Wills led the National League All Stars to a 3-1 victory in the first of two All Star games in Washington on July 10th. Bill Monbouquette was the only Red Sox player on the AL squad and didn't make an appearance.
When the Sox resumed play after the All Star break, Lou Clinton and Runnels continued their hot streak. In a doubleheader split in Kansas City, on July 12th, Clinton slammed a pair of home runs and a triple in the second game. Runnels produced the tie-breaking run in the 11th inning, that gave the Sox a 9 to 4 win. Runnels (.343 BA) had a three-run homer, two doubles and a single. The next day Dick Radatz won the game for the second day in a row. He pitched seven innings of magnificent ball in a 15-inning, 11-to-10 victory over the A's on July 13th. Clinton had five hits in seven trips including a three-run homer, a triple, a double and two singles. During his streak, he had hit nine homers with two grandslams. He started his surge batting .096 and was now hitting .308 On July 14th, Arnold Earley who had never started a major league game, shut out the A's for eight innings and Pete Runnels homered to lead the Sox to a 4 to 2 win. The Sox had won seven of their last eight games and were 6 1/2 games out. But it would be all down hill from this point. They started by losing one in Minnesota and then three straight to the Yankees at Fenway disappearing from the pennant race. Their pitching fell apart, but Carl Yastrzemski batted at a .391 clip, raising his average to .301, leading the team in homers (14), RBIs (57) and runs scored (58). For one game Don Schwall was the Schwall of the previous year. Against the White Sox at Fenway on July 20th, he was on the beam, limiting Chicago to a pair of singles in eight innings. He had an 8-0 lead going in to the ninth but tired and had to be relieved by Radatz, who got three straight batters to preserve an 8 to 4 victory. In four trips Clinton rapped out a triple and a single for .513 BA in 74 at-bats. Yaz was even better with two homers and a double.
After losing three out of the four games played in Yankee Stadium, the Sox headed to Washington. Off the field, one of the funnier events happened. After Gene Conley lost a particularly tough outing in the series finale, on July 26th, the team bus broke down in traffic near the George Washington Bridge. Conley and Pumpsie Green got off and headed to a the bar in the Hotel Commodore. After consuming a couple of beers, they missed the bus that took off without them. Pumpsie hopped a plane and caught up with the team in D.C., but Conley decided he wanted to go to Jerusalem and purchased a ticket. The fact that he didn't have a passport derailed his plans however. Meanwhile, in Washington the Sox were embarrassed dropping both ends of a doubleheader, 13 to 3 and 14 to 1. The next day it was 9 to 1. In their seven games on the road thus far, the Red Sox pitching staff gave up 62 runs. The Sox beat the Senators in the final game on July 29th, thanks to the strong pitch of Dick Radatz. Radatz came into the game to relieve Earl Wilson, who ha pitched a good game into the eighth inning. Radatz struck out three batters with the bases loaded to preserve a 4-2 win. Radatz had now struck out 91 batters in 75 1/3 innings. The second All Star Game was played at Wrigley Field on July 30th. The American League bombed the National Leaguers 9 to 4. Homers by Rocky Colavito, Leon Wagner and Pete Runnels were the big explosions for the AL stars. Runnels came to bat in the third inning as a pinch hitter, and took Art Mahaffey of the Phillies, into the left field bleachers to tie the score at 1-1.
Bill
Monbouquette The next day, Lou Clinton (.306 BA) banged out three singles in support of Schwall, who won his 5th game, 7 to 4, in Chicago on August 2nd. Radatz had a big day on August 5th in a doubleheader the Sox split with the Senators. In the first game, he came in and struck out the side in the ninth inning, but the Sox were behind 2-0 and lost. In the second game, with the score tied 4-4 after seven innings, Radatz pitched the last four innings scorelessly and the Sox walked it off in the 11th, 5 to 4. In the four games against the Washington Senators (July 29th, August 3rd, and both halves of the doubleheader), Radatz pitched a total of eight innings and struck out 17. Gene Conley won his 10th game and threw a four-hit shutout on August 8th against the Indians, winning 6-0. In the next game, Monbouquette also won his 10th game. He too shutout the Indians, 4-0, with seven strikeouts on August 9th. Ike Delock continued the shutout string on the third day. In the first game of a doubleheader with the Orioles, on August 11th, he threw a five-hitter and won, 3-0. Only two hitters got beyond first base. On August 14t, they swept a doubleheader from the Angels, 2 to 1 and 9 to 5. Lou Clinton's two run homer spoiled a brilliant pitching performance by Dean Chance in the opener. In the second game, the Sox sent 18 men to the plate in the first two innings. After splitting the series in Los Angeles with the Angels, Clinton had stayed hot, banging out his 11th and 12th homers. Pete Runnels was still leading the American League with a .333 BA. The Sox split a doubleheader with the Twins, in Minnesota, on August 17th. They lost the first game, but Clinton had three hits. The second game, which the Sox won, 9 to 4, was a homer barrage. Earl Wilson's 3-run homer gave the Sox a 3-0 lead. Clinton had one in the first game and one in the second game, along with homers by Eddie Bressoud and Gary Geiger. Dick Radatz finished the game, striking out four. In his last 42 1/3 innings, Radatz (1.77 ERA) had allowed only two runs and struck out 50 batters, running his season total to 109. In the next game, on August 18th, which the Sox won 12 to 4, the Sox belted another four home runs. Frank Malzone had two two-run homers, Clinton had three RBIs with a triple and a sac fly, and both Bob Tillman and Runnels had four baggers. The Sox had eight men get eight consecutive hits in the game. The record of ten in-a-row, is held by the 1901 Boston Americans. Ear Wilson won his 11th game in Kansas City on August 21st, 11 to 6. Bressoud, Yaz and Runnels each had three hits, with Yaz driving in five runs. Yaz brought home three runs with a home run. Yaz and Clinton had three hits apiece against the Tigers at Fenway on August 27th. Gene Conley won his 13th game and Radatz made his 52nd appearance in 133 games, getting nine of the ten batters he faced. The Sox won 7 to 4 with Yaz registering his 17th homer.
September started with the Sox playing .500 ball. The Sox dashed the pennant hopes of the Minnesota Twins on September 1st. On a walk, two singles and two more walks, the Red Sox pulled out a 5 to 4 win in the ninth inning. The Sox split a doubleheader with Kansas City, who led the American League in batting, at Fenway on September 3rd. Don Schwall allowed the just the lonesome singles and no walks in a 3 to 1 decision in the second game. The on September 5th, the Sox romped to a 12 to 4 win over the A's, thanks to a seven-run third inning. While the Yankees were racing toward another pennant, the Sox shocked them in a doubleheader defeat in New York, on September 9th. In the first game, the Sox bashed them 9 to 3. It was a masterpiece for Lou Clinton, both offensively and defensively. Clinton had a triple, double and single. He made four outstanding catches, two running hard to the right field line, and one where he robbed Roger Maris of a homer leaping into the right field stands. The second game was won on the back of Dick Radatz, 5 to 4 in 16 innings. Radatz pitched nine powerful innings for the first time, to get the win. He struck out nine, gave up seven hits and one run on a Texas leaguer bloop hit. Home runs gave the Sox a double victory at Tiger Stadium on September 12th, 8 to 6 and 6 to 2. Eddie Bressoud blasted a three-run homer in the first game and Frank Malzone knocked out a three-run homer in the second game. Both Radatz and Lou Clinton (3-for-4, RBI) were instrumental in the Sox beating the Yankees at Fenway on September 14th. With runners on first and second, and the Sox leading 4-1, Radatz was brought in and struck out Mickey Mantle. Then with the bases loaded he struck out Elston Howard. The next inning he struck out Bill Skowron and Dale Long. In the ninth inning he struck out Mantle again to preserve the win. Two days later, on September 16th, Clinton helped Gene Conley beat the Yanks again, 4 to 3. After giving up four consecutive base hits, Conley then retired the next 23 of the next 26 Yankee batters. In the meantime, Clinton tripled in Yaz with the Sox' second run in the fifth inning and then brought in Conley with the winning run on a single in the eighth. Early Wynn was going for his 300th career victory, but the Sox hittersl stopped him from getting it on September 18th. They scored eight runs in the middle of the game, winning 10 to 5 in Chicago. Bill Monbouquette tossed a five-hitter against the White Sox, at Fenway on September 25th, shutting them out 4 to 0. In a September 30th doubleheader, on the final day of the season, Don Gile singled in the first game and then homered to win the game in the bottom of the ninth inning of the second game. The club finished in eighth place with 76-84 record, their worst finish since 1932. Pete Runnels won his second batting title with a .326 BA, topping the .300 mark for the fifth time. Yaz was more relaxed without the shadow of Ted Williams looming over him and batted .296, with 19 homers, 43 doubles and 94 RBIs, while playing outstanding defensively in left field. Frank Malzone had another good year, batting .283. He led the Sox with 21 homers, a career high, while knocking in team-leading 95 runs. Jim Pagliaroni missed nearly two weeks behind the plate after he was plunked on the elbow by Kansas City Athletics righty John Wyatt. The injury, combined with the club’s apparent decision to go in a different direction, limited Pagliaroni to just eight appearances (12 at-bats) over the season’s last 33 games. He batted .258 in 90 games. Pete Runnels topped himself in 1962 by winning his second batting title with his highest mark ever, a .326 BA. He added to those glossy numbers by hitting 33 doubles, good for eighth in the league, while playing in all 152 games and pounding out a career-best 10 home runs. Eddie Bressoud played in 153 of the team’s 160 games. He collected one or more base hits in each of his first 14 games. His .277 batting average was his best to date, as were his 14 homers, 40 doubles, 9 triples, and 79 runs scored. The 68 runs batted in proved to be the best season of his career. The downside was that the 28 errors he committed were the most among shortstops in the American League. Lou Clinton played in 114 games, with his .294 average just two points behind Yaz’s .296, placing him third on the team. Clinton drove in 75 runs, also third on the Red Sox, but it was his defense that was well documented. Dick Radatz saved 24 games, with an ERA of 2.24. Starting on opening day, Radatz struck out 13 of the first 27 batters he faced. In fact, over the course of his first dozen appearances, he did not allow even one earned run. He also averaged two innings pitched per appearance, providing a high number of quality innings. From May 13th through June 14th, he threw 34 consecutive scoreless innings. By year’s end, he had compiled a remarkable rookie record. He led the league in pitching appearances (62), games finished (53) and worked 124 2/3 innings. Radatz came in tied for third in "Rookie of the Year "voting. The Sporting News bestowed their “Fireman Award” on him. Chet Nichols' ERA was 3.00; he struck out 33 and walked 22. He worked in tandem with Radatz and the two were at times formidable. They finished April having worked 16 innings between them, almost evenly split, without an earned run yielded by either one.
Bill Monbouquette won 15 games and threw the no-hitter against the White Sox. He led the team with 153 strikeouts and had a 3.33 ERA. Earl Wilson also threw a no-hitter and finished the year with a 12–8 won-lost record and a 3.90 ERA. He pitched 191.1 innings and for the first time, his strikeouts outnumbered his walks (137–111). Wilson also became one of the first professional athletes to have an agent represent him in contract negotiations. The term "sophomore jinx" hit Don Schwall. His control problems made him trade bait by mid-season. He had developed the bad habit of throwing the ball before his left foot hit the ground and thus wasn’t following through as he normally should. Schwall's record fell to 9-15, with more walks (121) than strikeouts (89), completing only five of 32 starts, and his 4.94 ERA was almost two runs higher than it was last year. Ike Delock started the season slowly, with five consecutive no-decisions, until he put together three straight wins, two of them complete games. However, in a game against Minnesota, he tore ligaments in his right knee on a play while backing up home plate, causing him to spend 30 days on the disabled list. Gene Conley parlayed a productive spring and a resolve to control his alcohol use into a productive season. He recorded career highs in wins (15-14) and innings pitched (241.2). Meanwhile, a young local high school star named Tony Conigliaro was asked to come to a workout at Fenway Park in September. When the season ended, Conigliaro signed with the Red Sox for $20,000 on October 10th, at age 17.
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