Chapter Four


The Mighty Giants

This photo shows my usual “high kick” delivery. I modified this delivery later in my career because I was experiencing mechanical problems and it was hard on my back. However in 1960 with the Cardinals, my high kick delivery was as smooth as silk, and I had a very free and easy delivery. There was no break up in my motion at any point, and the more energy I put into it, the faster I could throw. Pitching was almost effortless. That’s when I really had it together. That year I had no bad appearances in relief with an E.R.A. of 1.29. But once I got messed up in 1961, I never again restored that great feeling nor the perfect mechanics (timing, coordination, rhythm, etc.), even though I had some fine years.

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5 67

“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing”

James 1:2-4

Chapter Four


The Mighty Giants

Here I am laying down a bunt. With the right technique, I considered bunting rather easy, just like catching a ball. In high-school, I would dare the pitcher to throw a ball that I couldn’t bunt, even if it was at me or behind me. The only year I got to hit much was when I was a starting pitcher in 1957. That year I hit .259. As a relief pitcher, your opportunities to take batting practice or hit in a game were very limited, so my hitting was poor. But I could always bunt the ball with or without practice.

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5 67

“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing”

James 1:2-4

Chapter Four


The Mighty Giants

Even though I was traded several times in my career, I never had access to any of my old uniforms. I do have several uniforms now, but they were given to me at “Old Timers” events. I did receive a phone call several years ago by a man down south who thought he had one of my old uniforms when I was with the Giants. It was number 39 with my name embroidered inside the shirt tail. I thought maybe he was going to ask for a lot of money for it, but he simply asked if I would like to have it. He sent it to me free of charge and I gave him a lot of baseball stuff.

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5 67

“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing”

James 1:2-4

Chapter Four


The Mighty Giants

The Giants loved to hit, but they did not put much emphasis upon the fundamentals of the game like sacrifice bunts, hit and run, stealing bases and other such fundamentals. My disappointment with the Giants was their lack of team work, team spirit, and attention to small details that can win and lose games. In spite of their “Hall of Fame” talent, they seemed content by coming in 2nd place every year. Part of this was a problem from the top down and some of the pampered Super Stars.

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5 67

“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing”

James 1:2-4

Chapter Four


The Mighty Giants

This Giant card has a major blunder. You will notice that it states my E.R.A. in 1966 as being 5.37. My actual E.R.A. was 2.66. Just a small error of 2.71 earned runs per game. Cards sometimes just deal with facts, but not always. At least the comments on the card were not bad, but if I was the number one relief pitcher on the Giants that with an E.R.A. of 5.37, I would hate to see what the rest of the staff was doing.

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5 67

“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing”

James 1:2-4

Chapter Four


The Mighty Giants

Gaylord Perry claimed to be religious and I would kid him a lot about throwing the “spitter”. I would say, “Gaylord, what are you going to say to the young kids who ask if you throw the spitter, are you going to lie to them?” In fact, he had the whole club lying for him. He was seldom if ever caught throwing this "illegal" pitch. He admitted all of this in his book, “The Spitter and I.” He ended up winning over 300 games. Aside from all of the faults of the Giants, Gaylord was one of the greatest competitors I have ever played with or against.

jump to chapter

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5 67

“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing”

James 1:2-4

Chapter Four


The Mighty Giants

Some of the superstars with the Giants--all “Hall of Fame” players. The other “Hall of Fame” player was Willie Mays, who was probably the greatest center-fielder of all time. Willie played shallow center field and could not only catch balls up against the fence but also catch bloopers hit over the infield. He also had a great arm. It was a given that Marichal would win 20 games a year. Willie McCovey was a popular player with the fans because of his ability to hit home runs. But his fielding was bad. Willie Mays hit 8 home runs off of me (most all with the bases empty), but McCovey never hit a fair ball off of me. I struck him out every time I faced him. He would not even hit batting practice with me throwing to him. He thought I would put him into a slump.

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5 67

“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing”

James 1:2-4