Jawaharlal Nehru experienced pains in his shoulders upon arising at six o’clock in the morning on May 27, 1964.

Aides summoned his physicians, but the Indian prime minister suffered a heart attack and lapsed into a coma before the doctors arrived. Nehru never regained consciousness and died eight hours later.

Nehru during his days at Harrow School in England

Nehru and his guru Mahatma Ghandi conspired to form a political dynasty that dominated politics in India for decades as they strove for – and gained –independence from British rule.

United Nations Secretary-General U Thant, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson, Russian Premier Nikita Khruschev, and French President Charles de Gaulle all paid tribute to Nehru’s efforts to achieve peace in his country.

After absorbing their worst beating of the year the day before – a 13-4 beat-down at the hands of Vern Law and the Pittsburgh Pirates – the Phillies were trying to even the series with Art Mahaffey (2-2) on the mound. The Pirates were countering with Bob Friend (4-3).

Friend beat the Giants in his last start, a complete-game 9-2 victory. Mahaffey was lifted in the fifth inning of his last start complaining about arm problems. As a result, the Phillies shut him down for the last week.

Gene Mauch was playing a hunch by starting Cookie Rojas at second and Ruben Amaro at shortstop. Rojas and Amaro went a combined 4-for-5 in Tuesday’s loss after Mauch inserted them into the lineup midway thru the game. It was the first start of the season for both players. Tony Taylor and Bobby Wine were sitting out.

Bob Friend retired the Phillies 1-2-3 in both the first and second innings. Art Mahaffey gave up a double and walked a batter, but kept the Pirates off the scoreboard.

In the top of the third, Clay Dalrymple led off with a double. Two outs later, Gene Mauch’s sixth sense paid off when Cookie Rojas doubled to drive Dalrymple across the plate to make it 1-0.

Richie Allen followed with a single and Rojas scored to put the Phillies on top 2-0.

And that’s the way the game ended.

Art Mahaffey (3-2) showed no signs of any arm problems as he pitched a four-hit, complete-game shutout.

Bob Friend (4-4) took the loss.

In St. Louis, the Cardinals and Giants locked up in a classic pitching matchup featuring Juan Marichal versus Bob Gibson. Marichal (7-1) gave Gibson (4-1) his first loss of the season as the Giants nosed the Cards 2-1.

Back-to-back home runs leading off the game by Chuck Hiller (1) and Duke Snider (2) gave Marichal the slim margin he needed to win. The Cards lone run was supplied by Ken Boyer’s (7) solo shot in the second.

Thus, the Giants and Phillies remained tied for first place with the Cards and Pirates both dropping back into third place two games off the pace. The Braves slipped into second place on the strength of Hank Fischer’s (5-2) four-hit, 2-0 shutout over the Houston Colt 45s.

(Excerpted from 1964 – The Year the Phillies Blew the Pennant by Barry Bowe.)