Our Blog: 1964 NL Pennant Race

Having blogged about the 1951 NL Pennant Race and the 1967 AL Pennant Race, we now turn to one of the other great races, unless you were a Philadelphia Phillies fan at the time.The Phillies lead by 6 1/2 games over the Reds and Cardinals and 7 games over the Giants with 12 games to go in the 1964 season. The Phillies haven't won the pennant since 1950 and look assured of finally winning it this year. We will relive each of the 12 games for the Phillies, Cardinals, and Reds. Each day we will cover one day's worth of games, beginning with September 21st. See first day of blog. Here are the standings as play begins on September 29th.

Team	W	L	W-L%	GB
Reds	91	66	.580	--
Cardinals	90	67	.573	1.0
Phillies	90	68	.570	1.5
Giants	86	70	.551	4.5

Cardinals 4, Phillies 2.

The Cardinals win their 7th in a row and the Phillies lose their 9th straight before 27,433 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Ray Sadecki wins his 20th game of the year against 10 losses. He goes 6 2/3 innings, giving up 2 runs on 7 hits. Barney Schultz earns his 13th save, pitching 2 1/3 hitless and scoreless innings. The Phillies use 6 pitchers. Dennis Bennett starts and lasts only 1 1/3 innings, giving up 3 runs on 5 hits. He gets the loss, his 14th against 12 victories. For St. Louis, Bill White clouts his 19th home run of the year in the 6th inning with the bases empty. Also for the Cardinals, Dick Groat (32nd) and Julian Javier (19th) double. The only extra base hit for Philadelphia is a double by Cookie Rojas, his 19th of the year. The Phils are 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position. The Cardinals have 10 hits, 0 errors, and leave 6 on base. The Phillies have 7 hits, 0 errors, and leave 8. See Game

Pirates 2, Reds 0.

The Reds 9 game winning streak ends as Bob Friend pitches a complete game shutout before 10,858 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. The game has no score until the top of the 9th inning, when Bill Mazeroski hits a 2 out, 2 run single for the only runs of the game. Friend gives up 11 hits over his 9 innings, improving his record to 13 and 18. Billy McCool goes 8 2/3 innings for Cincinnati, but ends out losing. He's charged with 2 runs on 6 hits. He gets the loss, moving his record to 6 and 4. John Tsitouris pitches the last 1/3 inning. Roberto Clemente hits his 40th double of the year for the Pirates. Frank Robinson hits his 36th double for Cincinnati. The Reds are 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position. The Pirates have 6 hits, 0 errors, and leave 5 on base. The Reds have 11 hits, 0 errors, and leave 11. See Game

The Cardinals move into a 1st place tie with the Reds. The Phillies stay 1.5 games back. The Giants win See Game and move to 3.5 games back.