Giants sweep their way to KOD8 World Championship

The KOD8 World series would feature the 1961 Los Angeles managed by Douglas Zaner and the 1957 New York Giants, managed by Tom Davis.

Thursday, October 18, Game One at the Polo Grounds
The Angels opened the scoring in the top of the second when Giant starter Johnny Antonelli walked three straight hitters to open the inning. A double play ball and a strikeout got him out the inning down 1-0. A one out single by Hank Sauer in the bottom of the second looked innocuous enough, but Gail Harris was then safe on shortstop Joe Koppe's error. Singles by Daryl Spencer and Valmy Thomas each drove home a run and then Danny O'Connell's single drove home two more. Don Mueller drove O'Connell home with a double and the Giants left the second leading 5-1. In the third Sauer was safe on second baseman Ken Aspromonte's error. He moved to third on Spencer's single and scored on a wild pitch. O'Connell walked with the bases loaded and Eli Grba's day was done. His team had not helped him much as 5 of the seven runs he gave up were unearned. Antonelli got the win (5-2, 3.33) and Grba took the loss (7-1, 2.79) Giants 8 Angels 2.

Friday October 19 Game Two at the Polo Grounds.
In the bottom of the first, O'Connell walked and Mays singled. Rightfielder Albie Pearson misplayed the single and allowed O'Connell to reach third. From there, he scored on Mueller's ground out. The Giants added a run in the second on a solo homer by Valmy Thomas (3). In the sixth, Ken McBride led off with a walk. Two force outs at second later, Leon Wagner doubled home Rocky Bridges. Lee Thomas singled Wagner home and the game was tied. It remained that way until the 8th when Lee Thomas tripled and scored on Earl Averill's single. In the bottom of the 8th, pinch hitter Ray Jablonsky led off with a single. He moved to second on Red Schoendienst's walk. O'Connell grounded out to move both runners up a base and cause Willie Mays to be intentionally walked. Mueller then drove a ball into medium deep right field and Jablonsky easily scored the tying run. In the bottom of the 10th, Willie Mays again walked. He stole second and came home on a two out double by Gail Harris. Al Worthington got the win (5-1, 2.51. Jack Spring took the loss (2-2, 0.61). The capacity crowd stood cheering for nearly twenty minutes after the game, wondering if they would ever see their beloved Giants play in the Polo Grounds as the home team again. Giants 4 Angels 3

Sunday October 21 Game Three at LA Wrigley Field
The Angels returned home, hoping a change in scenery would mean a change in prospects. It was not to be. O'Connell doubled in the first, moved to third on Mays' single and scored on a sacrifice fly by Jablonsky. In the bottom of the second, Mays was injured diving for a fly ball and had to be replaced by Bobby Thomson. Mays was hitting .306. Thomson entered the game batting .147. Nonetheless, when Thomson approached the plate with two on in the top of the third he must have thought it was 1951 because he erupted on a Tim Bowsfield pitch and hit his fourth homer in just 35 at bats (and six hits). Valmy Thomas later drove in a run with a single. Wagner doubled home a run in the bottom of the third to make the score 5-1. Wagner and Lee Thomas combined to drive in two more in the 7th but the angels could get no closer. Ruben Gomex took the win (4-3, 4.07) Bowsfield the loss (4-1, 2.78) Giants 7 Angels 3

Monday October 23, Game Four at LA Wrigley Field
The Angels struck first this time. Averill led off the second inning with a walk. After two were retired, pitcher Jim Donohue doubled him home. With two out in the top of the 4th, Mueller, Jablonsky and Sauer singled, producing a tying run. When Koppe bobbled Spencer's ground ball, the Giants took the lead. In the 6th, the Giants added two more when Valmy Thomas doubled home Sauer from first and took third on the throw home. He then scored on pitcher Ray Crone's groundout. Ken Hunt led off the 9th with his 6th homer but that was it for the Angels. Crone got the complete game win (4-2, 3.93) Ryne Duren took the loss (1-2, 3.32) Giants 4 Angels 2

The Giants sweep through the playoffs and capture the KOD8 Championship.
--submitted by Tom Davis--

'61 Halos capture AL Flag in 6 over '61 Twins

10/08 - Wrigley Field - Los Angeles, California
Game 1 - Twins 3, Angels 1
Jim Kaat (5-3) continued his masterful post-season performance, tossing a 5-hit, 1-run complete game to give the Twins the first games of the ALCS. Earl Battey's 2-run 1st inning HR was all the cushion Kaat needed. The Angels answered with 1 run in the bottom half of the 1st. But after that, they managed only 3 singles the rest of the way. Kaat's 5th win lowered his season ERA to 1.32. Ken McBride (2-5) took the loss for LA.

10/09 - Wrigley Field - Los Angeles, California
Game 2 - Angels 4, Twins 3
Two unearned runs in the bottom of the 7th turned out to be the difference, as the Angels evened the series. Ken Hunt put LA on the board first with a solo shot in the bottom of the opening frame, and the tripled and scored in the 3rd on a Leon Wagner single. But Minnesota answered with 1 in the 4th inning and 2 more in the 6th inning to move ahead 3-2. Than a Bill Tuttle error opened the door for the 2 unearned runs that put LA back on top, with the go-ahead scoring on a double-play grounder. Angels relief ace Art Fowler closed the door the last two innings to earn his 6th save. Tom Morgan picked up the win. But the real pitching hero for the Angels was Ryne Duren, who came on in emergency relief in the 2nd inning and pitched 4.1 innings after starter Eli Grba went down with an injury.

10/11 - Metropolitan Stadium - Minneapolis, Minnesota
Game 3 - Angels 1, Twins 0
After departing Game 2 after only 1.1 innings, Eli Grba (7-0) came back after the travel day to pitch a solid 8 shutout innings, yielding only 3 hits. Earl Averill's bases-loaded bloop single off Don Lee (2-1) plated pinch-runner Tom Satriano with the only run of the game, giving the Angels a 2-1 games lead in the ALCS. Art Fowler came on in the 9th to try and save the game. Versalles' lead off single was erased with a Earl Battey DP ball. But with Killebrew at the plate representing the tying run with 2 outs, the Minnesota sky opened up and poured rain for 138 minutes. Fowler's arm stiffened up, and Tom Morgan had to come on to get the last out. A walk to Killebrew put the tying run on 1st base. But a Bob Allison grounder ended the threat. Morgan's 5th save preserved Grba's 7th win. Lee took the loss.

10/12 - Metropolitan Stadium - Minneapolis, Minnesota
Game 4 - Angels 4, Twins 2
Los Angeles exploded for 4 first inning runs off Twins starter Jack Kralick (5-4). Ken Hunt set the tone with a HR to lead off the game. Four singles, a double, and a sac fly later, and the Angles were leading 4-0 before Minnesota came to the plate. The Twins immediately began to return the favor against Angels' starter Ken Bowsfield as they had 1 in and the bases loaded with no outs. But Bowsfield managed to escape without anyone else scoring to keep the score 4-1. After the 1st innings both pitchers settled down, with the Angles getting only 2 more singles, and the Twins only 1 more run on a Harmon Killebrew solo HR. Ron Kline, Jack Spring and Art Fowler tossed 3.1 innings of no-hit, no-run baseball to preserve the win. Bowsfield improved to 4-0 and Fowler picked up save #7. The loss was pinned on Kralick, who couldn't manage to climb out of the whole he dug for himself in the 1st inning.

10/13 - Metropolitan Stadium - Minneapolis, Minnesota
Game 5 - Twins 8, Angles 1
A Ken Aspromonte throwing error opened the door for 6 unearned 1st-inning runs, as the Twins won a laugher. Jim Lemon and Bill Tuttle homered off of hard luck loser Ken McBride (2-6). And with hottest KOD8 pitcher Jim Kaat on the mound, this one was over before the 1st inning even ended. The only bright moment for Los Angeles was Ken Hunt's 3rd HR of the series. But it was too little, too late. With his 6th win, Kaat (6-3) lowered his ERA to an amazing 1.22. The series moved back to the West Coast with the Angles up 3 games to 2.

10/15 - Wrigley Field - Los Angeles, California
Game 6 - Angles 5, Twins 1
Los Angeles clinched the AL pennant behind the pitching of Jim Donohue (5-0) and Ryne Duren, and a surprise 3-run HR by light-hitting veteran Ed Yost. The Angels jumped out on top 2-0 with first inning hits by Leon Wagner, Lee Thomas and Earl Averill. But when Thomas and Averill led off the 4th inning with walks, nobody in the stadium was expecting what happened next, as Yost parked one over the LF wall to put the Angels up 5-0. A bit shell-shocked, the Twins could only manage a single run on a Killebrew 9th inning solo HR off Art Fowler, who surrendered his first earned run in his last 19 appearances, spanning 24.1 innings. Camilo Pascual (5-3) suffered the loss, as the Angels won the series in 6 games.
--submitted by Douglas Zaner--

'57 Giants capture NL flag with sweep of '52 Braves

The National League Championship Series would feature the Boston Braves managed by Terry Priest against the New York Giants managed by Tom Davis.

Game 1 Monday October 8 at the Polo Grounds. Weather is threatening.
Warren Spahn and Johnny Antonelli dueled through five innings, neither team being able to score. After Antonelli got Spahn to strike out to lead off the 6th, the teams were hit by a 70 minute rain delay. Antonelli took the mound, but he had lost his stuff and Sam Jethroe singled. Stu Miller came into pitch and one batter later, Sid Gordon was safe on Daryl Spencer's error. That left Miller to face future Hall of Famer Eddie Mathews. Mathews greeted the Giants' ace reliever with a double and scored both runners. In the bottom of the 7th Ray Jabonski doubled and scored on Don Mueller's two out single. The Giants tied it in the bottom of the 8th on Red Schoendient's two out solo homerun (4). Al Worthington took the mound and allowed one hit over the next three innings as the teams went into extras. Meanwhile the Braves bullpen worked themselves out of two on nobody out situations in both the 9th and 10th. The 11th looked to be easy as the first Giant lined to short. When Gail Harris hit a routine ground ball to short stop Johnny Logan, it looked like the prior two innings would be reversed and it would two out, none on. But Logan booted the groundball and Harris was safe. Valmy Thomas singled and Schoendienst followed with his fourth hit of the game to load the bases. Danny O'Connell flew to center but Jethroe's throw could not beat Harris and the Giants won 3-2 Worthington was the winner (4-1, 2.55). Virgil Jester took the loss (1-2, 1.61) Giants 3 Braves 2

Game two. Tuesday, October 9 at the Polo Grounds.
The Giants opened the first with five runs off Braves starter Jim Wilson, including a bases emptying double by Gail Harris. The Braves got three back in the third on solo homers by Jethroe (2), Gordon (11) and Mathews (13). All season long, Cy Young winner Curt Barclay had been turning over leads to his bullpen and all season long they have rewarded his faith. Not so on this evening. The darling on the bullpen, Stu Miller, who finished the regular season with a 0.58 era, proceeded to give up twice as many earned runs in one inning as he had all season. After a single and two walks loaded the bases with one out, Johnny Logan atoned for his error of the previous day with a grand slam homer, his first homer of the season. Daryl Spencer led off the bottom of the 7th with his second homer of the season. Two outs later, Danny O'Connell singled. Mueller singled and Willie Mays walked to load the bases, which Ray Jablonski promptly emptied with a double. Mathews led off the 8th with his second homer of the game (14) but O'Connell answered with a two run shot (2) in the bottom of the inning to finish the scoring. Inexplicably, Miller got the win (3-1, 1.43) with Marv Grissom getting the save (4, 3.86) Wilson took the loss (2-4, 5.95) Giants 11 Braves 7

Game three Thursday, October 10, Braves Field.
Ruben Gomez and Max Surkont were, for the most parts, brilliant in this contest. But the star of the game was Don "Mandrake the Magician" Mueller. The Giants tallied a single run in the 6th on a Spencer single, scoring Jablonsky who had doubled. That would be all Surkont would allow through 8 innings. In the bottom of the 8th, Gomez who had allowed only two hits to this point, surrendered a lead off single to Sid Gordon. After he walked Eddie Mathews, Marv Grissom was summoned from the bullpen. He struck out George Crowe, but gave up a bases loading single to pinch hitter Bob Thorpe. At this point in the game there was no reason to believe Mandrake would be a hero. He had grounded into three double plays leaving empty bases for Mays. But when Walker Cooper lifted a medium depth fly ball to Mueller in right, he partially redeemed himself by throwing out Sid Gordon at the plate. He fully redeemed himself in the top of the ninth, hitting a two out, three run homer (3). The Braves scored a meaningless run in the bottom of the ninth. Ruben Gomez was the winner (3-3, 4.10), Grissom earning a save (5, 3.93) Surkont took the loss (4-5, 2.47) Giants 4 Braves 1

Game four Friday, October 11, Braves Field.
After three mostly tight contests, this game seemed mostly anticlimactic, as the Braves bade a sad farewell to a city where they had played ball since the first season of the National League in 1976 and even before. Spencer tripled home two in the second and scored on Thomas' sacrifice fly. When Hank Sauer hit a grand slam (7) in the top of the fifth, the fans started saying their good byes. Mostly they were friendly wishes of good fortune as many fans are transferring their allegiance to the American League Red Sox. One of the owners was heard to say, "We simply couldn't compete with the Red Sox and Ted Williams. Mathews might be great but we got this kid in the minors, Henry "something or other", and he might be the best ever. Only I don't think he can help here in Boston. Just the realities of the situation." The Braves score in the sixth but were unable to manage a hit in the last three innings. Ray Crone was the winner with 7 innings of work (3-2, 4.35). Vern Bickford took the loss. (4-2, 3.65) Giants 7 Braves 1
--submitted by Tom "Crash" Davis--

KOD 8 MVP's and Cy Young Winners

KOD8 Season Award Winners

1. AL MVP - Harmon Killebrew 1961 Minnesota Twins
2. AL Cy Young - Eli Grba 1961 Los Angeles Angels
3. NL Cy Young - Curt Barclay 1957 New York Giants
4. NL MVP - Frank Thomas 1962 New York Mets
5. FIREMAN - Art Fowler 1961 Los Angeles Angels