Escalation in Southeast Asia

The date was July 8, 1964, and the war in Vietnam was heating up.

The Pentagon announced that U.S. casualties had risen to 1,387 – including 399 dead and 17 MIA.

The average age of the fighting men killed in Vietnam was 22.8 years old.

All-Star Glow

Baseball was taking a day off to enable the players who participated in the All-Star Game at Shea Stadium to return to their teams.

All the Phillies who made the National League team played in the game:

• Jim Bunning pitched the scoreless fourth and fifth innings. He gave up a pair of singles, struck out four, and walked no one.
• Chris Short relieved Bunning but encountered a shaky sixth inning. He gave up a pair of singles to Mickey Mantle and Harmon Killebrew, and a two-run triple to Brooks Robinson. He was lifted after one inning.
• Johnny Callison popped to short as a pinch-hitter for Bunning in the bottom of the fifth and remained in the game to play rightfield.

Callison flew out to right off Dick Radatz in the bottom of the seventh, but he faced Radatz again in the bottom of the ninth. With two on, two outs, and the score tied 4-4, he hit a three-run walk-off homer to propel the NL stars to a 7-4 victory.

The Phillies would be returning to Connie Mack Stadium on Thursday to begin a six-game home stand with three games each against the Cincinnati Reds and Milwaukee Braves.

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