June 29, 1964 | BARRY BOWE

“The Cage”

The pilot episode of Star Trek – written by Gene Roddenberry and titled “The Cage” – was released 51 years ago today. The date was June 29, 1964.

NBC rejected it for being “too intellectual” and “too slow.”

While Leonard Nimoy was cast as Mr. Spock, his character displayed youthful exuberance rather than being logical and reserved. But the captain of the starship USS Enterprise was Captain Christopher Pike played by Jeffrey Hunter – and not Captain James T. Kirk played by William Shatner.

But rather than trashing the concept, NBC commissioned a second pilot – which became “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” Much of the original footage from “The Cage” was later incorporated into the first season two-parter called “The Menagerie.”

Jeffrey Hunter

Jeffrey Hunter fractured his skull in a fall in his home and died in 1969.

William Shatner, on the other hand, is alive and well and a living legend who is still filming commercials.

On to Houston

After beginning the road trip by splitting four games with the Cardinals, the Phillies moved from St. Louis to Houston to begin a two-game set with the Colt 45s. The teams had played seven games against each other thus far with the Phillies winning six and losing one.

The Colts were tied for eighth place and 11 games out of first. They were coming off a four-game series with the Cubs in which they lost the first three games before salvaging the final game.

A pair of seven-game winners faced each other in the series opener:

Art Mahaffey (7-2)
Bob Bruce (7-4)

Bob Bruce, making his 12th start, faced the Phillies back on May 29th and lost 7-6. On that occasion, he gave up three earned runs on seven hits in four innings. Bruce had two complete games and one shutout under his belt.

Despite jumping off to a 7-and-2 start on the season, Art Mahaffey had been complaining about tenderness in his pitching arm for the last three weeks and Gene Mauch had been giving him extra time off in between starts. Still, he got roughed up his last time out. Before being lifted in the second inning, he allowed seven of the 11 batters he faced to get on base.

Bob Bruce retired the Phillies in order in the first inning.

With one out in the bottom of the first, Art Mahaffey hit Nellie Fox with a pitch. But Fox was forced at second for the second out when Mike White hit a ground ball to Richie Allen at third.

White then moved to second on a wild pitch and scored when Walt Bond singled to put the Colts on top 1-0. But the inning was far from over.

Joe Gaines singled and Bond moved to third. After Gaines stole second, Rusty Staub drew a walk to load the bases.

Bob Aspromonte then hit a grand slam off Mahaffey to make it 5-0 Houston ─ his eighth home run of the year.

Mahaffey got Jerry Grote on a ground ball to the shortstop for the third out, but it was now obvious that something was wrong with his arm.

In the top of the second, Wes Covington singled with one out and moved to third when Clay Dalrymple followed with a double.

The runners held when Roy Sievers tapped a ball back to the mound for the second out, but Cookie Rojas singled Covington home to put the Phils on the scoreboard 5-1.

With runners on first and third and two outs, Gene Mauch sent Danny Cater up to pinch-hit for Mahaffey, but Cater grounded into a force to end the inning.

Cal McLish (0-0) came in to pitch the bottom of the second for the Phillies.

McLish was a 38-year-old veteran the Phillies acquired from the Chicago White Sox two years earlier in 1962. McLish made his pitching debut in 1944 with the Brooklyn Dodgers. In his two years with the Phillies, he went 11-5 and 13-11, but he’d been nursing a sore arm since spring training. This was his first outing of the season.

McLish and Bruce traded zeroes thru the top of the fifth.

In the bottom of the fifth, Mike White led off with a single to center. One out later, Joe Gaines reached first on an error by Richie Allen which allowed White moved to third.

Rusty Staub hit a ball back to the mound. McLish gloved it and went for two, but Tony Taylor’s relay to first was too late to get Staub. Mike White scored an unearned run on the play to raise the lead to 6-1 Houston.

From there, Bruce (8-4) closed out the Phillies on four singles over the final four innings to pick up the win.

Art Mahaffey (7-3) took the loss. But worse – the Phillies placed Mahaffey on the Disabled List after the game.

In another transaction, the Phillies sold Johnny Klippstein to the Minnesota Twins. Klippstein went 2-2 in 12 relief appearances with a 5.64 ERA and one save.

Giants Lose

At Candlestick Park, the Giants opened a X=-game series with the last-place Mets with a 4-3 loss.

Al Jackson (4-10) topped Bobby Bolin (2-3) when the Mets rallied for two runs in the top of the ninth and Jackson finished a three-inning stint in relief of Jack Fisher with 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth.

Catcher Jesse Gonder’s two-run shot won it for the Mets.

The loss kept the status quo with the Giants remaining ½ game ahead of the second-place Phillies.