MEL’S MAD DASH – Stottlemyre hits inside-the-park slam vs. Bosox
JULY 20 1965
Mel Stottlemyre will have quite a few days to recover from the disease of inside-the-park home run hitters. It’s called cotton mouth and it strikes somewhere between third and home.
“By then,” said the Yankee lanky from Washington State, “my mouth was dry and I was so tired I didn’t know if I was going to slide or fall.”
It was the fifth inning and Stottlemyre was protecting a 2-1 lead against the Red Sox when Joe Pepitone walked, Clete Boyer singled and Roger Repoz walked.
Stottlemyre caught Bill Monboquette’s pitch and drove it on a wicked line between the left fielder Carl Yastrzemski and center fielder Jim Gosger.
The merry whirl began as Pepitone, Boyer and Repoz made it home with ease. Around second came Stottlemyre, a quick head glance, then on to third.
In the coaching box at third, Frank Crosetti watched the ball bounce against the left-field wall 437 field from home plate.
“I knew they had to make two relays on the throw and Stottlemyre was a good base runner so I sent him,” said Crosetti.
“I was surprised to see him sending me,” said Stottlemyre, “but I just picked up his sign and went.”
Stottlemyre slid and the ball skidded under the glove of catcher Bob Tillman as so often happens in the confusion of such plays.
“A lot of things have happened to me in this last year,” said Stottlemyre, who joined the Yankees last Aug. 11, “but I guess I’ll remember this longer than most.”
Stottlemyre won the game, 6-3, for his 10th win, but the inside-the-park grand slam was more memorable than the victory.
“I’ll probably go home, go to sleep and suddenly start thinking about it,” he said.
The feat is fairly unique. The Yankees have hit 179 career grand slams, three by pitchers with Spud Chandler and Don Larsen preceding Stottlemyre. No records are kept on inside-the-park homers, but old hands are certain it’s a Yankee pitcher’s first.
“That home run,” said Jim Bouton, “will make the rest of us look bad.”
POST-SCRIPT
Stottlemyre was an effective hitter with the Yankees during his 11-year career, batting .160 with seven homers and 57 RBIs in 749 at-bats. His best game at the plate came Sept. 26, 1964, when he pitched a two-hitter in a 7-0 win over the Senators and went 5-for-5, becoming just the eighth pitcher in the 20th century with five hits in a game.
