August a good month in 1964
August 1964 was a very good month for the Phillies. The team began it sitting atop the National League with a 59-41 record.
Cincinnati and St. Louis -- the clubs that would prove the Phillies’ closest competitors as the pennant race came down to the wire -- were 4 1/2 and 7 games back, respectively. By month’s end, Philadelphia had compiled a 78-51 record, leaving Cincinnati 5 1/2 games and St. Louis 7 1/2 games behind. As of Sept. 1, 1964, there were 33 games left on the Phillies’ regular-season schedule.
As the calendar turned from August to September, a sportswriter on the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote a column assessing the club’s current situation and speculating about its prospects to bring home the pennant in 1964. He wrote:
“Despite their recent road trip on which they lost four of six games, the Phillies logged their most successful complete month of the season, and posted their best August record since the pennant-winning 1950 Whiz Kids. The Phillies finished with a record of 19 victories and only 10 losses in August.”
But the sportswriter also cautioned the team would have to maintain a similar winning pace to keep first place in the National League:
”The Phillies hope to do better than the 1950 club during September and October, however. If they don’t, chances are they won’t win the pennant. The Whiz Kids won only 12 and lost 16 in September, then won their final game of the season on Oct. 1 to win the pennant. Unless the Phillies win at least half of their remaining games, their chances of beating out the Cincinnati Reds, San Francisco Giants and on-rushing St. Louis Cardinals aren’t overly bright. However, the Quakers are confident they’ll do better than that.”
Veteran power-hitting Frank Thomas was acquired in an early August trade to play first base. After the trade, the Phillies expanded a 1 1/2-game lead to 6 1/2 games.
Nuggets
Jim Bunning, 4-0, 1.68 ERA over 7 starts ... Chris Short, 4-2, 1.91 ERA, 6 starts ... Rick Wise, 4-1, 4.50 ERA, 6 games (4 starts).
Tony Taylor, .313, 13 RBI, season highs ... Frank Thomas, .333, 18 RBIs, 27 games ... Dick Allen, .306, 29 RBIs, season high with 6 homers for the month ... Wes Covington, .339, 20 RBIs, season highs ... Tony Gonzalez, .357 ... Johnny Callison, .272, club-high 21 RBIs ... Cookie Rojas, .304.
Aug.15 at the Mets, the Phillies turned their second triple play of the season: P John Boozer-SS Ruben Amaro-1B Frank Thomas. The first came May 17 at Houston.
Transactions
Aug. 7: Acquired 1B-3B Frank Thomas from the Mets for RHP Gary Kroll and INF Wayne Graham.
Aug. 15: Purchased LHP Bobby Shantz from Cubs.