Ranpitsu

SI 1968: Drysdale suspected of ball tampering after breaking a record

I was a little surprised to discover this afternoon that Sports Illustrated has broad online archives of its back issues. The following is from an article by William Leggett in the June 17, 1968 issue called “The Season of the Zero Hero”. (1968 was dubbed the “Year of the Pitcher” since overall batting average fell to an all-time low of .237; Carl Yastremzemski won the AL batting title with .301, the lowest ever for a league leader.)

It involves Don Drysdale breaking the consecutive scoreless inning streak record on June 8th (previously held by Walter Johnson who threw 55 2/3 shutout innings in 1913) and getting a little guff from the home plate umpire.

The first man Drysdale faced in the third inning was Roberto Pena, a small shortstop. Pena tried to bunt and fouled the pitch off but eventually Drysdale induced him to hit an easy ground ball to third base. The big crowd exploded and Drysdale turned his back, folded his arms across his chest and looked out toward center field for 20 seconds. The record was now his. He turned to work to [Phillies pitcher Larry] Jackson, and Jackson raised his hand in a virtually unseen wave of salute to Drysdale, who acknowledged it by holding his palm open toward Jackson. Two pitches later Jackson singled, but Drysdale struck out the next two hitters and the crowd was wild. Only this time Drysdale’s triumphant march was halted by Plate Umpire Augie Donatelli. Off came Drysdale’s cap after a brief exchange of words. Donatelli rubbed his hand through Drysdale’s hair, then over his forehead, then into the cap. [Phillies manager Gene] Mauch, an off-season golfing partner of Drysdale’s, had insisted that he was putting grease or Vaseline on the ball—a charge that Giant Manager Herman Franks also had made recently.

According to Donatelli, ” Mauch started to complain and said, ‘He’s putting grease on the ball.’ I asked him where he was getting it from and Mauch said, ‘The back of his head.’ I went to Drysdale and said, ‘Don, do you have Vaseline on the back of your head?’ He said, ‘What do you mean?’ I said, ‘You know the rule, and if you touch the back of your head again I’m going to have to fine you.’ Don said, ‘Augie, I’m sweating like hell out here. That isn’t Vaseline; that’s sweat. Just tell me what the hell I can’t do.’ When Drysdale first came up to the majors he was no bargain, but he changed and we umpires appreciate that. He could have punched me in the mouth when I started to inspect him.”

Two other pitchers also had scoreless streaks of 40+ innings that year: NL Cy Young winner Bob Gibson (St. Louis) had a span of 47 from June 2-26 and Luis Tiant (Cleveland) went 41 straight without surrendering a run from April 28 to May 17. [Source: ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia, 4th edition]