1962 World Series History of the San Francisco Giants

in 1962, after memorable pennant chase dodgers resulted in second three-game playoff series dodgers (after 1951) giants again won coming behind 3 runs in ninth inning of game 3, giants brought world series san francisco lose 4 games 3 new york yankees. seventh game went bottom of ninth inning, yankees ahead 1–0. matty alou on first base , 2 outs, willie mays sliced double down right field line. right fielder roger maris got ball , rifled throw infield, preventing alou scoring tying run , keeping him @ third base.

with speedy mays on second, base hit next batter, willie mccovey, win series giants. mccovey hit screaming line drive right @ second baseman bobby richardson, snared after step or two, bringing series sudden end. earlier in inning, failed sacrifice bunt felipe alou nobody out had kept brother matty, couldn t advance second, scoring on mays two-out double. finally, richardson not positioned catch drive until moved 3 steps left in reaction mccovey s foul smash on preceding pitch.

giant fan (and resident of nearby santa rosa) charles schulz made reference real world in 1 of peanuts comic strips afterward. in first 3 panels of 12/22/62 strip, charlie brown , linus sitting on porch step, looking glum. in last panel, charlie brown cried heavens, why couldn t mccovey have hit ball 3 feet higher? weeks later, on january 28, 1963, same scene reappeared in strip charlie brown exclaiming, or why couldn t mccovey have hit ball 2 feet higher?