Ralph Terry, relying primarily on a fast ball and slider, had retired the first 17 San Francisco Giants batters. Visions of Don Larsen, who had pitched a perfect game against the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1956, danced in the minds of New York Yankees fans. But not for long.
Giants pitcher Jack Sanford, a right-handed batter who finished his career with a .158 batting average, stepped in to face Terry. He promptly lined a clean single into right-center field to end the dream.
The Yankees had scored a run in the top of the fifth inning. The way they scored is a prime example of why a strikeout is not just another out.
Bill Skowron and Clete Boyer each singled to put Yankees on first and third with no outs. Pitching carefully to Terry, Sanford walked his mound opponent to load the bases with Yankees, bringing up Tony Kubek, with Bobby Richardson on deck.
Sanford got out of the jam by retiring Kubek on a double-play ground-out and Richardson on a foul pop fly to first baseman Orlando Cepeda. Skowron scored on Kubek's double play. He would not have scored on a strikeout.
Almost all fans know about Willie McCovey's ninth inning line drive that second baseman Richardson caught to end the Series, but a much better and equally important play is rarely mentioned.
In the seventh inning, with one out and the bases empty, Willie Mays hit a line drive to left field that appeared to be a certain double, but Tommy Tresh made a great lunging catch for the second out. McCovey followed with a drive to center field that went for a triple. Without Tresh's play, the Giants would have tied the game.
Terry was dominant, not walking a batter, allowing only four hits and never putting more than one Giant one base until the ninth inning.
Shutting out the Giants, a strong offensive team with hitters such as Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and Orlando Cepeda removed the stigma, at least to some extent, that Terry couldn't stand pressure from.
It was Terry that had given up Bill Mazeroski's home run in 1960. In the 1961 World Series, Terry was the only pitcher the Cincinnati Reds beat. Staked to a 6-0 in Game 5, the Reds kayoed him in the third inning.
Jack Sanford beat him in the second game of the 1962 Series, although Terry pitched well. He finally won a World Series game when he beat Sanford in the fifth game, 5-3 on Tresh's three-run eighth inning home run.
Then, in the most important game any team can play, he shut out the Giants.
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