He was 10 in the summer of 1964, the summer of the Beatles and “Mary Poppins,†Cassius Clay and the Civil Rights Act, “Au H2O†and “All The Way With LBJ.†But, really, it was the summer of one singular thing, because to a 10-year-old, each and every summer was constructed by the gods or moons or by whoever made the calendar for, solely and simply: baseball.
“I had no responsibilities except to get up in the morning and find somebody to play ball with,†said Stephen Dicht, 70. “Have lunch, find some other kids to play with. And then wait for the ballgame to come on.â€
And 1964 was the best of all his summers, for his hometown team was playing wonderful baseball. A pennant seemed probable. This surely would be the year for … the Philadelphia Phillies.
Meanwhile in St. Louis, Lewis Levey was 22 and “kind of trying to find out where I was and everything.†He had just graduated from college. He took a job in field construction. He’d play ball that summer, too — corkball with some of the carpenters from work. And Levey followed his beloved Cardinals “intently,†sometimes even going to games by himself.
People are also reading…
It was a thrilling St. Louis summer — Ken Boyer drove in everybody, Bob Gibson struck out everybody and the fans fell hard for the latest acquisition, Lou Brock, and the latest rookie, Mike Shannon.
But back then, there weren’t playoffs; just a World Series. Even though the Cardinals were well above .500, as autumn settled in, so did reality.
On September 20, the Cards were 83-66, tied for second place with Cincinnati. And the Phillies, famously, were 90-60 — up by 6½ games with 12 games to play.
“For Philadelphia, it was a layup,†said Levey, 82. “An absolute layup.â€
Sixty Septembers later, Dicht can recite the Phillies lineup. Levey can rattle off all the Redbirds. Both fans have vivid memories of these dozen days that transformed their young lives — and have stuck with them their entire lives.
As a young athlete, Levey always wore No. 14 for Boyer. Dicht, who was raised in Northeast Philadelphia, always wore No. 6 for Johnny Callison, who hit 31 home runs in for the ’64 Phillies. And both guys had youthful memories of listening to a transistor radio in bed, while falling asleep to the lullabies that were baseball broadcasts.
These baseball teams were part of their identities.
The background
The Cardinals hadn’t been to the World Series since 1946 — when Levey was only 4.
The Phillies hadn’t been to the World Series since 1950 — Dicht hadn’t been born.
Neither Dicht nor Levey could’ve comprehended what they were about to experience in September of 1964.
As the 90-60 Phillies returned home from the West Coast, the Reds met them for a crucial three-game series. In Game No. 151, the Phillies and Reds were scoreless in the sixth when …
“Chico Ruiz!†said Levey from a St. Louis coffeeshop.
“Chico Ruiz,†said Dicht by phone from the Jersey Shore. “The Philadelphia version of (the Yankees’) Bucky Dent.â€
The Reds’ rookie Ruiz was on third in the top of the sixth. Inexplicably, he stole home … with superstar Frank Robinson at the plate.
“If Frank Robinson had hit the ball, it would have killed him!†Dicht said.
“If Frank Robinson had hit the ball, it would have killed him!†Levey said.
The Reds won the game, 1-0.
It began a Phillies’ 10-game losing streak.
“The curse of Chico Ruiz,†Dicht said.
The Reds swept the Phillies in three. And the Braves swept the Phillies in four.
In Game 154, the Braves’ Joe Torre hit a solo homer in the top of the 10th. But another future Cardinal, the Phillies’ Dick Allen, hit an inside-the-park solo homer in the bottom of the 10th. But the Phils blew it in the 12th. Even though the Braves were out of the race, they used starting pitcher Tony Cloninger to get the save.
The next night, the Braves used Hall of Fame starter Warren Spahn to get the save.
“ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ were playing it like it was the World Series,†Dicht said.
And the Phillies were playing like they were going to miss the World Series.
In the final game of the Braves series, Dicht’s favorite player Callison hit three home runs. Three home runs! But Cloninger, this time as a starter, got the win in the 14-8 affair.
“And the Phillies fell out of first place for the first time,†Dicht said. “I remember watching that game and just being so sad. It was like — I don’t think I had lost a relative up to that point, so I didn’t know (sadness). … It was just so sad — like we had everything invested.â€
Showdown in St. Louis
The Phillies’ final three losses of the 10-game losing streak happened in St. Louis. It was in Game Nos. 158, 159 and 160.
The surging Cards were on a five-game winning streak — all five coming in a long series at Pittsburgh.
In the first Phillies-Cards game, Gibson won.
In the second Phillies-Cards game, Ray Sadecki won — it was his 20th victory of the year and propelled the Cardinals to first place for the first time (with four games left to play).
And in the third Phillies-Cards game, Curt Simmons won — the St. Louis starter was a longtime Phillies pitcher.
And with that win, the Cards were in first place (92-67), up on Cincinnati by one game with three games to play. The Phillies were 2½ back.
“The Phillies, Levey said, “were ‘pholding.’ P-H.â€
The final fling
The Cardinals had three home games left … against the miserable Mets.
Yet the Cardinals lost the first game, 1-0, in a pitchers’ duel between Gibson and the unlikely standout Al Jackson.
And Sadecki was shelled in the second game.
So the entire season came down to one day — Oct. 4, 1964.
Entering that day, the Cards and the Reds were tied for first, at 92-69.
The Phils were one game back, at 91-70.
And the Phillies were playing the Reds!
So, a Phillies win and a Cards loss would’ve meant a three-way tie with the season over.
“I remember watching from my living room, black-and-white TV,†Dicht said. “Hoping for a miracle.â€
The Phillies did win their day game to finish 92-70.
But the Cards won, too.
“I was there,†Levey said, “on the first-base side, in the first deck. Curt Simmons started. The Cardinals were losing 3-2 in the fifth. So what do you do? ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ went to No. 45! Gibson pitched the next four innings.
“When the Cardinals won (11-5), my recollection is I just got giddy. I said, ‘Oh my God!’ … They did bring police out on big, big horses. … The fans stormed the place. There’s a famous photo of all the fireworks and balloons going off.â€
The Cardinals, of course, went on to beat the Yankees in the 1964 World Series.
And Boyer edged Callison for the MVP award in the National League.
As for the Phillies, “I was very optimistic the next year — I thought, ‘Well, they were close,’†Dicht recalled. “But it was never the same. It was, like, magical for 150 games (in 1964). And they never got the magic back.â€
The Phillies wouldn’t make the postseason again until 1976. They made the World Series, finally, in 1980, defeating Kansas City.
Dicht became a lawyer in the Northeast. Levey became a real estate developer based in St. Louis — he founded the company called the Paragon Group. Each man has been married for decades. Dicht has three kids, Levey has two.
“They’re all diehard Cardinal fans,†Levey said. “My grandson in New York, who just started college this year, he’s so into the Cardinals. I mean, he follows every single game. It’s totally full-circle.â€
Dicht has followed the day-to-day developments from 60 Septembers ago in a Facebook group he created. He has 3,400 members who share stories each day.
The group? It’s called “Memories of the 64 Phillies.â€