Portsmouth Spartans

June 30 was an important date in history. Here are just a few events that occurred on June 30 throughout the years:

• 1934 – The NFL’s Portsmouth (Ohio) Spartans moved to become the Detroit Lions.
• 1936 – Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell published.
• 1939 – Phillies lost 14-1 to the New York Giants in last game at Baker Bowl.
• 1955 – Johnny Carson Show debuts on CBS.
• 1965 – NFL grants the franchise that became the Atlanta Falcons.
• 1967 – Cookie Rojas played his ninth position since joining the Phillies as he pitched a scoreless ninth inning in a 12-3 loss to the San Francisco Giants .
• 1970 – Riverfront Stadium opens in Cincinnati.
• 1972 – Although the Cincinnati Reds were 11 games out of first place, they went on to win NL pennant.
• 1985 – The 39 remaining hostages from Flight 847 were freed in Beirut.

June 30, 1964

After dropping the first game of the series to the Colt 45s, Jim Bunning (7-2) was taking the mound to try to salvage a tie for the Phillies. Ken Johnson (6-6) was Bunning’s mound opponent.

Bunning and Johnson met back on May 18th when Bunning tossed a 4-0 shutout.

This was Ken Johnson’s 17th start. He recorded three complete games and one shutout.

Bunning, making his 16th start, was one start removed from his perfect game against the Mets on Father’s Day. As previously mentioned, he shut out the Colts on May 18th. He also had a no-decision against them on May 29th.

In the top of the first, Tony Taylor led off with a routine fly to left, but Walt Bond dropped the ball and Taylor wound up on second.

Richie Allen singled, Taylor scored, and it was 1-0 Phillies.

Johnny Callison lifted a routine fly to right, but Joe Gaines dropped the ball for the second error of the inning by the Colts. With runners on first and second and nobody out, Wes Covington drew a walk to load the bases.

John Herrnstein singled to right and everyone moved up a base ─ Allen scoring to up the lead to 2-0.

With the bases still loaded and still nobody out, Clay Dalrymple hit a sacrifice fly to deep center and the runners moved up a base. Callison scored to make it 3-0 Phils.

With runners on second and third and one out, Cookie Rojas grounded out to the pitcher for the second out – with nobody moving.

Ken Johnson walked Bobby Wine intentionally to get to Bunning, but Bunning crossed up the Colts by slapping a two-run single to make it 5-0 Phillies. The hit gave Bunning seven RBIs on the year.

Gordon Jones (0-0) replaced Ken Johnson and got Tony Taylor on a ground out to end the inning.

Nothing in the bottom of the first or top of the second.

In the bottom of the second, Joe Gaines drew a walk and Rusty Staub singled to put runners on first and second with nobody out.

Jerry Grote singled and Gaines scored to put the Colts on the scoreboard at 5-1.

With runners on first and second and nobody out, Dave Roberts pinch-hit for Jones and grounded into an inning-ending double-play.

In the top of the third, Don Larsen (0-2) took over for the Colts. He was making his 15th appearance, all in relief, and recorded one save. He pitched 2 2/3 against the Phils on May 29th, giving up one run on two hits and striking out three.

John Herrnstein led off with a single and scored when Clay Dalrymple followed with a double to make it 6-1 Phillies.

When Cookie Rojas grounded out to short, Dalrymple moved to third with one out. Bobby Wine singled and Dalrymple scored to make it 7-1.

After Bunning sacrificed Wine to second for the second out, Tony Taylor singled Wine across the plate to make it 8-1.

Bunning (8-2) shut out the Colts the rest of the way on two hits to pick up the win with his sixth complete game.

Ken Johnson (6-7) took the loss.

The win gave the Phillies a 7-2 advantage in the first nine games with the Colts.

Gaylord Perry Makes Rare Start

Gaylord Perry (6-3) shut out the Mets 5-0 on just three hits while making just his second start of the season.

Orlando Cepeda – his 13th – and Tom Haller – his seventh – both hit home runs for the Giants.

The win allowed the Giants to maintain their ½ game lead over the Phillies.

And that’s the way June ended. The Phillies finished the month with an 18-12 record. Adding the results together for April and May, the Phillies were 43-27 after the first three months of the season.(Excerpted from 1964 – The Year the Phillies Blew the Pennant by Barry Bowe.)