Irony and Serendipity

County Stadium

Exactly 54 years ago today, the Phillies set a major league record for futility by losing the first game of a Sunday doubleheader to the Braves at County Stadium in Milwaukee.

The score was 5-2.

Warren Spahn was the winner, Chris Short the loser, and that made it 23 straight losses for the Phils.

John Buzhardt would be taking the mound for the Phillies in the second game of the doubleheader. In a delicious bit of irony, John Buzhardt was the last Phillies pitcher to record a victory before the losing streak started. That victory came 23 days earlier in the second game of a twinight doubleheader on July 28 when Buzhardt pitched a complete-game, five-hitter as the Phillies beat the San Francisco Giants 4-3 at Connie Mack Stadium.

The Phillies then lost 22 straight games as the calendar flipped from one day to the next until it eventually reached Sunday, August 20.

In a delicious bit of serendipity, I can make the claim of being the only Phillies fan who attended that historic doubleheader at County Stadium.

Today, I’m going to tell you how I happened to be at County Stadium that day. Tomorrow, I’ll tell you why I happened to be there.

Boot Camp

I graduated from Clifton Heights High School in Pennsylvania in June, took a two-week vacation, and then went away to boot camp at the Great Lakes Naval Base in Illinois. The base is about 40 miles north of Chicago and about 55 miles south of Milwaukee.

Boot camp ran for 13 weeks. Halfway through those 13 weeks, everyone in my company got a 12-hour pass that entitled us to leave the base for – you guessed it – 12 hours. What we did and where we went during those 12 hours was left entirely up to our own resources.

Everyone in my company – except for me – headed south to launch an assault on the Red Light District of Chicago. Instead, I boarded a train and headed north to Milwaukee. Rather than getting dead drunk and – pardon my French – consorting with whores, I was going to watch the Phillies play a doubleheader against the Braves.

There was a practical reason for my decision. As part of a special Naval Academy program, I was ticketed to become an officer and didn’t want to risk ruining my opportunity by doing something stupid and getting in any sort of trouble.

Upon arrival in Milwaukee, I took a cab to County Stadium and bought a ticket. I sat behind first base about ten rows back. Because I was in uniform, the beer vendors served me beer even though I was only eighteen. So I spent the afternoon eating hot dogs, drinking beer, and watching the Phillies play baseball.

As previously mentioned, the Phillies lost the opener and extended the losing streak to 23 games.

Gene Mauch (L) and John Buzhardt (R)

In the second game, the Phillies fell behind 1-0 in the bottom of the third when weak-hitting shortstop Roy MacMillan homered to left. The Phillies then rallied for two in the fourth, one in the sixth, and broke the game open with a four-spot in the top of the eighth.

Johnny Buzhardt gave up nine hits, but he picked up the complete game 7-4 victory as the Phillies ended the losing streak at 23 games.

That’s how I happened to be in County Stadium that day. I then retraced my footsteps and made it back to base with two hours to spare.

Tomorrow, I’ll tell you why I was there.

As a tease, the why involves football and includes future Hall of Famers Roger Staubach and Floyd Little.

Barry Bowe is the author of:

• Born to Be Wild
• 1964 – The Year the Phillies Blew the Pennant
• 12 Best Eagles QBs
• Soon-to-be-published sexy, police procedural Caribbean Queen