The Rise And Fall Of The Fabulous Phillies

Bunning, of course, was being counted on as one of the key men of the Phils' pitching staff. Always a grim competitor, he had pitched nine seasons in the American League for the Detroit Tigers and had had more strong seasons than weak ones. His lifetime record showed 118 wins against 87 losses, a no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox in 1958, a 20-game season in 1957 and a good enough aim at difficult hitters to finish one-two-three in the league for batters hit by pitches in six of his seven full seasons. At times Bunning had been accused by his opponents of sharpening his belt buckle so that he could scuff up the ball and thus get a better grip on it. He is one of the few men ever to get Mickey Mantle of the Yankees mad enough to charge from the batters' box.

Mauch explained to Bunning that his role in spring training was to get himself ready to step into the starting rotation and that he would not be used against National League clubs during the spring exhibition games. "When the National League hitters see you," Mauch told Bunning, "they will be seeing you for the first time and only when it counts." Mauch watched the 22 pitchers on his roster carefully, but he watched Bunning just a little more closely than the rest. Mauch liked the qualities he saw in his new pitcher. He admires fighters. ( Mauch was born in 1925, the son of a dedicated sports fan who had an intense interest in boxing; his mother told him that if Jack Dempsey had beaten Gene Tunney in their first fight in Philadelphia in 1926 Gene's father might have changed his son's name to Jack.)

The first part of spring training went well for the Phillies. They hustled and by their constant chatter lifted one another. Allen's bat slapped balls all over Jack Russell Stadium in Clearwater, and he hit long drives over the outfield fences. Bunning got himself into shape and in three appearances against American League teams gave up only six runs. One day late in March, Mauch stood in his dugout just before an exhibition game and looked out at Bunning as the pitcher ran in the outfield to exercise. "We're going to war with each other, Jim and I, before this season is over," Mauch said. "It will be a good thing, too. He's a great competitor, but he'll say something to me about not pitching him enough or I'm taking him out when he doesn't think he should be taken out, and we'll just have to go at it." It was Mauch's highest form of compliment.

On April 9 the Phils broke camp and headed north through Chattanooga and Asheville, N.C. and then on to Philadelphia for their final exhibition game with the Baltimore Orioles before opening the season with the New York Mets on April 14. In Asheville, Mauch put Bunning into a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, a National League team, because he felt that Jim needed the work before his first regular-season start three days later. "Just go out and take a little walk in the sunshine," said Mauch. "Don't show them anything, just get yourself loose. To hell with this game." Bunning got loose and got the sunshine and threw nothing but "lollipops and cookies" to the Pirates, who collected 11 runs and eight hits in three and two-thirds innings. Upon seeing the result, some people in Philadelphia began to wonder just what kind of trade John Quinn had made.

Even before their final game of the exhibition season the Phillies felt that they could get off to a good start because the pitching looked good and the hitters were meeting the ball well. In that final exhibition game at home against the Orioles, the Phils had to face Robin Roberts, one of the heroes of the last Philadelphia team to win a pennant, the 1950 "Whiz Kids." Allen started at third base and a sizable crowd came out to see him, attracted by his fine showing in Florida in spring training. In the first inning Allen drove a Roberts pitch high up against the Alpo dog food sign atop the left-field roof some 400 feet away for a home run. The bench jumped up and down, and Mauch walked the length of the dugout clapping his hands.

And then the season began. Philadelphia's won-and-lost record in spring training had been only 11-13. A poll of the 10 National League managers indicated that the Phils would finish fifth. Of 232 members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America who answered a query from The Sporting News , only 10 picked Philadelphia to win the pennant, whereas 134 foresaw them finishing anywhere between fifth and eighth. Three writers picked them ninth in a field of 10. Yet the team showed cohesiveness and spirit, and Mauch said seriously, "It's possible for this club to win 92 games." A flow of betting money into Las Vegas chipped two points off their odds, and the Phillies opened the season at 6 to 1—but still fourth choice. People betting on them were considered to have a lot of hope in their hearts, a lot of money in their pockets and a lot of rocks in their heads.

Philadelphia did get off to a quick start. In winning 10 of their first 12 games the Phils seemed to be doing the impossible effortlessly. In one game the club rallied for four runs in the ninth inning to win 6-5 over Pittsburgh. Allen was hitting .430. Bunning was given three starts against three different teams. He pitched 26 2/3 innings in those starts, gave up only three earned runs and won all three games. Dennis Bennett, a left-handed pitcher at times difficult to handle but equipped with great skills, changed his mind slightly about pitching during the daytime. "I believe I am more effective at night," he had said. Mauch had replied, "I seem to remember that they play the World Series in the daytime." Bennett's second start of the season was in the daylight against Chicago, and he won. Pitcher Art Mahaffey hit his first major league homer with two men on base for a 10-8 win over the Cubs in a game played with a 24-mile-an-hour wind rushing toward the fences of Wrigley Field.

Pennants began to wave throughout the city of Philadelphia saying, "GO PHILLIES GO," and bumper stickers began to appear on cars. Individual Phillie players became widely known and admired. Cookie Rojas, the scrappy Cuban who could play eight positions; Clay Dalrymple, the sturdy young catcher; Jack Baldschun, the tireless relief pitcher; Ed Roebuck, another relief pitcher with the ability to hit a fungo fly ball higher than any man alive. People who had not rooted for a Philadelphia team since the A's left town in 1955 started going to Connie Mack Stadium regularly. Ticket outlets such as Horst and Lichty's in Lancaster, Pa., Roamer Tours in Reading, Pa. and Angelo's Barber Shop in Atlantic City, N.J. began to feel the press of requests for tickets far in advance.

At the All-Star break during the first week in July the Phils led the league by a game and a half, yet none were selected to the National League starting team. But Johnny Callison, the Phils' handsome young right-fielder, who had been gathering a fat portfolio of clutch hits right along, was called on to pinch-hit, and he slammed a three-run homer to give the National League a 6-5 victory. Naturally he did it with two out in the bottom of the ninth inning.

By the end of July, Philadelphia still held the league lead, still by a game and a half. Beating weak teams badly is a good way to win a pennant, and the Phils' record against the four bottom teams in the league—Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and New York—was 30-11. The only teams leading the Phils in head-to-head play were the Cincinnati Reds (6-5) and the St. Louis Cardinals (9-7), and the Phils held on to first place.