The Giants Bring the Lumber

By David Marasco

While the Giants may not always have great pitching, they have always had big bats. Barry Bonds is but the latest in a proud tradition that stretches back over a century to New York City. As an example of the Giants' slugging prowess, only four times in Major League history has a team hit five home runs in an inning. Two of these four times the team has been the Giants.

On June 6, 1939, the Cincinnati Reds rolled into the Polo Grounds. They sent to the mound Johnny VanderMeer, a man who a year earlier pitched back-to-back no-hitters. Whatever VanderMeer had in 1938, he didn't bring it to the Polo Grounds in 1939. Of the first seven men who came to the plate, six singled. The odd man out hit a sacrifice fly. Mel Ott being thrown out while trying to steal meant that VanderMeer's line read 2/3 of an inning rather than 1/3. In comparison to what would happen later, VanderMeer's outing wasn't that bad, he kept all of his hits to singles.

Peaches Davis was the man who relieved VanderMeer. He tipped his hat as to what would happen later by giving up an upper-deck shot to Joe Moore in the second, and another homer to Mel Ott in the third. Davis started off the fourth inning in promising fashion, retiring the first two batters. Then the roof caved in. Harry Danning hit a home run to extend the lead to 7-0. Mel Ott walked and Zeke Bonura singled. Frank Demaree then hit the second homer of the inning to push the bulge to 10-0.

That was it for Peaches. The Reds went to the bullpen again and brought in the ironically named Wesley Livengood. Livengood was described by the New York Times' beat writer as being "hitherto a batting practice pitcher." A quick check of Total Baseball shows that Livengood's career consisted of 5 games for the Reds in 1939, for a total of 5 and 2/3 innings. The first man he faced was Yankee legend Tony Lazzeri, now playing for the Giants. Lazzeri was able to draw a walk, and scored when Burgess Whitehead homered. Manuel Salvo, the Giants' starting pitcher, put a ball to the wall in right. Ival Goodman chased the ball around the Polo Grounds, but by the time he got the ball back to the infield Salvo had an inside-the-park home run. Joe Moore then stepped to the plate and promptly jacked one into the upper deck for the Giants' third consecutive homer.

The Reds eventually got out of the inning, but went on to lose by the score of 17-4. This was the first time that a team had hit five homers in one inning. Modern readers will be amused to know that the crowd of 7405 showed "endurance and patience" with the intolerably long 2 hour 33 minute game.

The Giants second big inning came on August 23,1961, and once again the Cincinnati Reds were the victims. The matchup for the night was Joey Jay (18-7) facing the Dominican Dandy, Juan Marichal (12-7). Joe Amalfitano, the first batter of the game, hit a home run to put the Giants on the board in the first. Jay and Marichal then hunkered down for a pitcher's duel. After giving up the dinger to start the game, Jay retired the next 19 men to come to the plate. Marichal was in the process of spinning a three-hitter. In the 8th the Giants added another tally when Orlando Cepeda doubled and was plated by Jose Pagan's single.

The top of the ninth opened with the Giants enjoying a 2-0 lead. Willie McCovey started the debacle with a double. Mays then popped out to short-right field, the second baseman making the catch. McCovey took off for third on the play, and scored when the throw to third was wild. When Orlando Cepeda and Felipe Alou hit back-to-back homers, the call went out to the bullpen. With the score standing at 5-0, Jim Brosnan came in to relieve Joey Jay.

Brosnan was able to induce a fly out from John Orsino for the second out of the inning. It would be the only out that he would record. Pagan then singled to center, followed by a Marichal single to center. With men on first and second, Joe Amalifitano singled off of the third baseman's glove, scoring Pagan, sending Marichal to third. Jim Davenport then hit an inside-the-park home run for the third homer of the inning. When Willie McCovey singled, that was the straw that broke the camel's back. Bill Henry came in to pitch, behind by the score of 9-0.

Henry's first task was to pitch to Willie Mays. Whatever he tried, it was a failure as Mays hit a homer to left. Cepeda then singled to center. Felipe Alou hit the ball to third, but the third baseman once again had some problems and everyone was safe. John Orsino then homered for the fifth and final Giants home run of the inning. Pagan struck out to retire the side. In the ninth the Giants faced three pitchers, sent 15 men to the plate, had 11 hits, benefitted from 2 errors and left none on base. They won the game by the final score of 14-0.