Tuesday marks the 50th anniversary of perhaps the greatest pitchers’ duel in major-league history, featuring future Hall of Famers Warren Spahn and Juan Marichal. From a review of Jim Kaplan’s book:
When baseball’s Mound Titans dueled
Ezra Shaw
On that night, in a showdown witnessed by a smallish crowd at Candlestick Park, the two future Hall of Famers dueled for 15 scoreless innings before Willie Mays homered in the bottom of the 16th to give the Giants and Marichal a hard-won 1-0 victory. Both pitchers threw over 200 pitches in the game, just one reason why we are unlikely to see this kind of marathon duel repeated in our lifetimes. What made the duel more remarkable was that Spahn was 42 years old when he refused to budge against the 25-year-old Marichal.
I haven’t actually read Kaplan’s book, but a lot of people like it. Spahn was incredible, actually pitched really well that season, right in line with the rest of his brilliant career. And then in 1964 he suddenly, and for no apparent reason, fell apart. But these were happier times, and here’s the thrilling box score.
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