1963 Baseball Season

 

Highlights:

The 1963 Crimson Fire became the second team in 3RBL history to win two league championships and the first to do so back to back.  Led by a dominant pitching staff dominated by the finest pitching performance to date in 3RBL history, Crimson rode the golden arm of Sandy Koufax (31-7 1.81) to the league championship.  Matched with Whitey Ford (21-11 2.84), Juan Marichal (15-13 2.41) and Juan Pizarro (14-9 1.85) Crimson smothered opposing offenses to a league low of 441 runs scored and a 2.35 team ERA.

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Offensively, however, there was also another "second" in that Pittsburgh's Dick Groat notched his second batting title with a .358 average, 39 points better than second place teammate Roberto Clemente for a Pittsburgh that was equally as dominant on the offensive side.  Pittsburgh was one of only three teams to post a collective average greater than .250 and their .273 mark was 20 points better than Wexford and Highland, who tied for second.

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With all of the dominant pitching in the league there were three no-hit games pitched.  Two by veterans Cal McLish of Meadville and Mars Hill's Bob Friend while the third was newcomer Gary Peters, an exciting Highland rookie.  

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Presley Division:

With the help of a solid offense Pittsburgh reclaimed the top spot in the Presley Division.  Meadville battled the Vikings for the entire season but faded in the end to finish eight games back.  Philadelphia was hampered by an almost season long injury to Mickey Mantle to finish third, ten games ahead of Meadowbrook.  

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Pittsburgh was led by Dick Groat's .358 batting average and supported by Orlando Cepeda (.308-32-123) and Roberto Clemente (.319-21-96).  Dick Ellsworth (19-8 2.07) was the staff leader.  

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Meadville's strenght was its starting staff as Warren Spahn (16-10-2.39), Ralph Terry (17-10-2.07), Jim O'Toole (16-13-2.95) and Jim Maloney (13-14-3.51) rolled on game after game.

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Philadlephia was led by Steve Barber (21-10-2.51) on the hill and Elston Howard (.269-35-112) at bat and behind the dish.

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Meadowbrook is a team in transition but Johnny Callison (.278-32-107) showed promise as a coming star.  Jim Bunning (11-11-3.72) led a struggling staff.

 

Brando Division:

Crimson roared to a 108 win season falling one game short of tying Mar Hill's 1960 record win total.  Lansing and Mars Hill tied for second with 75-87 records, a very distant 33 games behind.  Providence struggled through a 54 win season for hits second straight 100 game losing season but the team has built a foundation and appears ready to move up.

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Crimson was not a high average team but did have the punch to support its hurlers as Norm Cash (31), Ed Bailey (28), Felipe Alou (25) and Roger Maris (22) all provided steady home run power.  

 

Lansing's offense also centered around power as Pete Ward, Frank Howard and Vada Pinson all hit 23 homers.  Pinson led the trio with a .271 average while Ward (.260) and Howard (.210) lagged behind.  Ken McBride (16-13-2.86) was the top pitcher.

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Mars Hill's "Old Warrior", Bob Friend (13-16-2.62) again led the pitching staff while the offense struggled.  George Altman's .292 average was the only regular to bat over .250 and Ernie Banks and Boog Powell's 28 homers tied for the club lead.

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Tommy Davis' .298 average was Providence's best and Joe Pepitone's 26 homers was the only total over 20 and one of four to exceed ten.  Providence did not have a double digit winner and only relievers Larry Bearnarth, Ron Perranoski and Jack Spring had winning records.

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Dean Division:

Highland held off a determined Surf City to vault past the previous season's winner and take the division.  Highland boasted the second best offense and the second best pitching in the league which would eventually result in the second best overall record and second place in the post season tournament.  Highland received a tremendous rookie season performance from Gary Peters who posted a 21-4 record and 2.21 ERA to anchor the staff. Veterans Robin Roberts (21-4 2.56) and Curt Simmons (16-8 2.74) formed a formidable trio for the Flyers.  Henry Aaron led the offense with a .304-41-104 mark and along with fellow gardeners Wes Covington (.302-28-90) and Don Lock (.241-23-81) formed a powerful outfield.  

 

Power has long been the emphasis in the Dean Division and no team personified it more that Surf City.  Newly acquired Beach Boy Willie Mays led the league with 46 homers, one more than teammate Harmon Killebrew's 45.  Jimmie Hall (34) and Don Mincher (23) topped the 20 mark and every position player had more than 11 on the season and Surf City's 249 homers as a team led second place Crimson by 73.  Larry Jackson (21-8 2.32) and Ray Herbert (20-8 3.25) led the staff.

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Inland Empire and Wexford have the longest win-less streaks in the league and this season was no exception but the tide may be turning in their favor.  Inland Empire had four solid starting pitchers this season in Milt Pappas (14-14 2.82), Johnny Podres (13-10 3.46), Jack Kralick (12-10 3.56) and Billy O'Dell (10-13 3.03).  Joel Horlen should develop in 1964 so the 66ers pitching combined with the power of Stuart, Stargell and Allison should be rising in the standings.  

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Wexford is coming together also.  Original Wanderer Al Kaline (.294-18-87) had a solid season and combined with Bill White (.311-27-107), Ron Santo (.290-21-118) and Carl Yastrzemski (.290-18-72) are a coming team.  Maury Wills (.289 & 41 SBs) and rookie Pete Rose (.265) formed a solid keystone combo and Tom Tresh (.261-19-72) posted a solid sophomore season.  Pitching is still a bit thin but lefties Sam McDowell, Mike McCormick and Wilbur Wood promise improvement ahead.

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Post Season:

Crimson blew past Surf City as Koufax and Marchial opened the series with 1-0 shutouts.  The Beach Boys' bats warmed once they returned home but so did the Fire as Ford defeated Surf City 4-1 and Koufax closed the series out with a 9-4 win.

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Highland's Gary Peters defeated Pittsburgh 2-1 to open the series but Ernie Broglio evened the series with a 3-1 win over Curt Simmons.  Pittsburgh returned home and literally threw the series away.  Key errors by what had been a first rate defense all season dropped three in a row and Highland moved on to the finals.

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Marichal shut the Flyers out in the first game but Peters came back and evened the series.  Koufax won the third game 1-0 over Simmons and Marichal defeated Drysdale 3-1 to put the Fire one game away.  However, Peters won again as he defeated Ford 1-0 and Simmons followed suit with a 2-1 win over Koufax.  Marichal was the man as he again sut the Flyers out 5-0 to win the championship.

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Marichal was the MVP of the post season with a perfect 4-0 record and 0.25 ERA.  Pittsburgh's Dick Ellsworth, oddly enough, was unscored upon in two starts, well at least there were no earned runs scored against him, but his defense was not up to the task and he was 0-1.

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Earl Battey batted .455 in 12 plate appearances and Dick Groat hit .375 in 22.  Henry Aaron was the most consistent hitter in the tournament with a .326 mark in 51 plate appearances.  Crimson's Ed Bailey and Norm Cash led all batters with three home runs.