Struck Out: The Fall of the 1964 Phillies

Gene Mauch

“… The Collapse. In the next game, manager Gene Mauch rode Robinson, Ruiz and the rest of the Reds hard from the dugout, yelling over at them constantly about Ruiz and his stealing home the night before. The Reds responded with Frank Robinson hitting a two-run homer off Chris Short, who had to be taken out in the fifth inning. The Phillies lost and their lead was down to 4+1⁄2 games. … Joe Torre drove in three runs with two triples due to misplays in the outfield in a 5–3 loss, the fourth in a row. Then Chris Short pitched on two days’ rest in the next game, the Phillies lost, and the losing streak was at five, with the lead now down to a game-and-a-half. … With the fourth loss against the Braves and the 7th loss in a row, the Phillies dropped to second and the Reds, having swept a doubleheader, took first place by 1 game. The Cardinals were right behind, a game-and-a-half out of first place. The Phillies had lost every game of their last homestand of the season. The crucial series came when the now second-place Phillies traveled to St. Louis to play the Cardinals after their losing home stand. They dropped the first game of the series to Bob Gibson by a 5–1 score, their eighth loss in a row, dropping them to third place. The Cardinals would sweep the three-game set and assume first place for good. … Echoes of the 1964 season. The 1964 Phillies are immortalized in American pop culture via numerous book chapters, magazine articles, and newspaper columns. At least three full-length books are devoted to the 1964 Phillies: non-fiction books The 1964 Phillies: The Story of Baseball’s Most Memorable Collapse by John P. Rossi and September Swoon: Richie Allen, the ’64 Phillies, and Racial Integration by William C. Kashatis; and a novel based on the 1964 Phillies collapse titled ’64 Intruder, by Gregory T. Glading, which centers on a Phillies fan going back in time and preventing Chico Ruiz from stealing home in the ‘Phold’s’ first loss. …”
W – W – The Collapse, etc.
SABR – Beyond Bunning and Short Rest: An Analysis of Managerial Decisions That Led to the Phillies’ Epic Collapse of 1964
YouTube: Struck Out: The Fall of the 1964 Phillies