June 14, 1964 | BARRY BOWE

Flag Day

President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed June 14 as Flag Day in 1916 and in 1949 National Flag Day was established by an Act of Congress.

On June 14, 1964, northern civil-right activists called Freedom Riders set out to educate and register black voters in Mississippi.

This would lead to an ugly chapter in race relations in the South over the next ten weeks.

Sunday Doubleheader at Connie Mack Stadium.

It was Chris Short (4-3) for the Phillies versus Galen Cisco (3-6) for the New York Mets in the first game.

Galen Cisco was making his ninth start. Despite his dreary record, his ERA was a solid 2.58 – the by-product of pitching for a last-place team. He pitched a four-hit shutout against the Dodgers just two starts back.

Chris Short beat the Pirates 4-1 in his last start. Over the course of the season thus far, he’d given up just 11 earned runs in 62 innings ─ good for a 1.09 ERA.

Short retired the Mets in order in the top of the first.

In the bottom of the first, Johnny Briggs led off with a walk. After John Herrnstein popped to short, Briggs picked up his first stolen base in the big leagues. Johnny Callison followed with a double allowing Briggs to score his first run in the big leagues and stake the Phillies to a 1-0 lead.

Short retired the Mets in the second and third.

In the bottom of the third, Briggs got his first hit as a starter when he led off with a single to left ─ he’d gone 2-for-4 as a pinch-hitter. Two outs later, Richie Allen hit his team-leading 13th home run to make it 3-0 Phillies. The two runs gave Allen a team-leading 32 RBIs.

In the top of the fourth, Chris Short lost his shutout when Ed Kranepool led off with his second home run of the season to cut the Phillies lead to 3-1 ─ and that was just the beginning of the end for Short.

• Ron Hunt walked.

• Joe Christopher singled and Hunt moved to third to put runners on first and third with nobody out.

• Charley Smith doubled, Hunt scored to cut the Phillies lead to 3-2, and Christopher moved to third. Second and third and still nobody out.

• After Dick Smith struck out for the first out, Roy MacMillan singled and Christopher scored to tie the game 3-3. Charley Smith moved to third to make it first and third with one out.

• After Chris Cannizzaro struck out for the second out, Galen Cisco doubled and Charley Smith scored to put the Mets ahead 4-3. Roy MacMillan also tried to score, but he was thrown out at the plate – Tony Gonzalez to Tony Taylor to Clay Dalrymple – to end the inning.

In the bottom of the fourth, Tony Taylor led off with a single and moved to second when Clay Dalrymple bunted him along.

Following a fast ball to Bobby Wine, catcher Chris Cannizzaro tried to pick Tony Taylor off at second. But Cannizzaro’s throw bounced in front of the bag and trickled into the outfield. Tony Taylor moved to third with one out.

Bobby Wine walked.

Wes Covington pinch-hit for Chris Short and walked ─ Cookie Rojas came in to pinch-run for Covington.

With the bases loaded and one out, Johnny Briggs recorded his first two big-league RBIs when he lined a single to right that put the Phillies back on top 5-4. Rojas advanced to third.

Casey Stengel replaced Galen Cisco with Larry Bearnarth (4-3) ─ his 23rd relief appearance. His last time out, five days earlier against the Cubs, Bearnarth pitched 10 innings of six-hit relief to pick up a 6-5 extra-inning victory. Let me repeat that: Bearnarth pitched 10 innings in relief. His ERA was 3.02.

John Herrnstein grounded out to second, but Rojas scored to make it 6-4 Phillies.

To start the top of the fifth, Gene Mauch sent Ray Culp (1-5) in to replace Chris Short. This was Culp’s fifth outing in relief, to go along with seven starts. He was still trying to find himself ─ witness his 5.62 ERA.

Culp and Bearnarth traded zeroes in the fifth and sixth innings.

In the top of the seventh, Bearnarth was lifted for pinch-hitter Jesse Gonder.

In the bottom of the seventh, Bill Wakefield (1-2) replaced Bearnarth. Wakefield was a 23-year-old rookie right-hander coming into this 21st game. His ERA was 3.48.

With one out, Richie Allen and Tony Gonzalez hit back-to-back singles to put runners on first and second with nobody out.

Tony Taylor tripled ─ his first of the season ─ to send Allen and Gonzalez across the plate. Taylor also scored when second-baseman Ron Hunt botched the relay throw to the infield – to make it 9-4 Phils.

In the top of the eighth, Ed Kranepool doubled. Ron Hunt singled and Kranepool moved to third. After Joe Christopher struck out for the first out, Charley Smith hit a sacrifice fly to close to the score to 9-5 Phillies.

Wakefield retired the Phillies in the bottom of the eighth.

In the ninth, Culp (5-2) retired the Mets in order to pick up the win ─ thanks to five innings of one-run, five-hit relief.

Galen Cisco (3-7) took the loss.

The Phillies were trying to sweep the doubleheader with Art Mahaffey (5-2) and Casey Stengel was countering with Al Jackson (3-8).

Jackson lost to the Phillies 5-3 on Opening Day. Since then, after splitting three of his first six decisions, he’d gone south and lost five consecutive decisions.

This was Art Mahaffey’s 12th start of the season. He’d won his last three decisions, one of them a four-hit shutout over the Pirates.

Art Mahaffey pitched a scoreless first inning.

In the bottom of the first, Tony Taylor led off with a single. Cookie Rojas bunted, but Taylor was forced at second. Rojas was safe at first.

Johnny Callison hit his sixth home run and it was 2-0 Phillies ─ Callison’s 26th and 27th RBIs.

Art Mahaffey and Al Jackson traded goose eggs until the Phillies came to bat in the fifth.

In the bottom of the fifth, Mahaffey helped himself with a one-out double. Tony Taylor singled, but Mahaffey had to stop at third. Cookie Rojas followed with a single and Mahaffey scored to make it 3-0 Phillies.

Mahaffey and Jackson both breezed through the sixth.

In the top of the seventh, Amado Samuel singled with one out. Mahaffey struck out Hawk Taylor, who was pinch-hitting for Al Jackson, for the second out. But then Jim Hickman cracked his sixth home run to cut the Phillies lead to 3-2.

Gene Mauch lifted Art Mahaffey and brought in Ed Roebuck (1-2), who had a 1.09 ERA and eight saves.

Roebuck gave up a single, but got out of the inning unscathed.

In the bottom of the seventh, Larry Bearnarth (4-3) came in to pitch and retired the first two batters. Then Cookie Rojas singled. Johnny Callison doubled and Rojas scored to make it 4-2 Phillies.

Over the eighth and ninth, Roebuck gave up a harmless single in each inning to earn his ninth save of the year and complete the sweep of the doubleheader.

Art Mahaffey (6-2) picked up the win and Al Jackson (3-9) took the loss.

That was three straight wins for the Phillies, three straight against the Mets, and 5-of-6 versus the Mets for the season.

In San Francisco, the Giants beat the Reds 8-2.

Ron Herbel (4-2) was the winner and Jim O’Toole (5-3) took the loss.

Orlando Cepeda (seventh) and Jim Ray Hart (sixth) homered for the winners.

But the sweep of the doubleheader allowed the Phillies to pick up ½ game on the Giants and move into first place by ½ game.

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