On This Date in Sports August 22, 1965
In collaboration with the Sportsecyclopedia.com
San Francisco Giants pitcher Juan Marichal strikes Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Johnny Roseboro over the head with his bat during a 3rd inning argument at Candlestick Park.
In a shocking display of violence, Juan Marichal of the San Francisco Giants strikes Los Angeles Dodgers Catcher Johnny Roseboro with his bat in a game at Candlestick Park. After a verbal altercation, Marichal felt Roseboro was buzzing his head when returning the ball to Sandy Koufax on the mound. Roseboro would need nine stitches to close a gash on his edge as Juan Marichal was ejected and later suspended ten games.
Dating back to the Brooklyn Bridegrooms move to the National League in 1890, the Giants and Dodgers have one of the bitterest rivalries in all of sports. Playing together in New York it was the battle of Brooklyn against Manhattan whenever they played each other during the regular season. Perhaps no battle was more famous than the 1951 tiebreaker playoff. That season the Giants rallied from 13 games back and beat the Dodgers in a three-game playoff capped by Bobby Thompson’s home run off Ralph Branca. This started a six-year period in which the Dodgers won the pennant four times, with the Giants winning twice. That reign ended in 1957 when the two teams both left New York for California with the Dodgers moving to Los Angeles and the Giants moving to San Francisco.
As much hatred as there was between the boroughs of New York, the same ill will continued out West as the two biggest cities in California made for a natural battle ground, with the Dodgers representing Southern California and the Giants representing the North. The rivalry was especially good in 1962 when the teams again finished the season tied for first place, with the Giants again advancing to the World Series by winning a three-game playoff.
Late in the 1965 season, the Giants and Dodgers were battling for the pennant again, with Los Angeles holding a slim game and a half lead as they played the final game of a three game weekend series at Candlestick Park with each team sending their best pitcher to the mound. The Dodgers struck first scoring single runs in the first and second on RBIs from Ron Fairly and Johnny Roseboro. The Giants got a run back in the second inning on a home run from Cap Peterson. Meanwhile, things were heating up as Juan Marichal threw a purpose pitch high and tight to Maury Wills when he came to the plate in the second inning. Wills had led the game off with a bunt single and scored the first run. Koufax responded by throwing one over the head of Willie Mays. In the third inning, things took a turn for the worse when Marichal delivered a knockdown pitch to Fairly leading to both dugouts being warned about purpose pitches. With the warnings issued Koufax could not hit Marichal or send a message, so Roseboro behind the plate took matters into his own hands and buzzed the Giants pitcher when throwing the ball back to the mound. This led to an argument which ended when Marichal struck the Dodgers Catcher over the head with his bat touching off a 14-minute bench clearing brawl. After the dust settled Sandy Koufax seemed to be shaken up, as he issued two walks and a three-run homer to Willie Mays, who helped play peacemaker at the end of the fight. The Giants bullpen provided stellar relief as Ron Herbel and Masanori Murakami combined to allow just one run on three hits to win the game 4-3.
Despite the shocking images and Roseboro receiving nine stitches to mend a gash on his head, Juan Marichal is only given a ten-game suspension and fined a then record $1,750. Marichal struggled down the stretch after his suspension, posting a record of 3-4 as he finished his year with a record of 22-13. The Dodgers meanwhile would win the pennant and World Series, finishing the season with a record of 97-65, two games better than the Giants at 95-67.
In the years after the incident, Juan Marichal and Johnny Roseboro reconciled and became friends. At an Old Timer’s Game in 1982, Roseboro stated he felt no ill feelings toward Marichal, who retired in 1975 but was still waiting for induction into the Hall of Fame, with some voters holding the bat wielding incident against him. The words of Roseboro seemed to help Marichal as he got his Hall of Fame call a year later. In 2002 when Johnny Roseboro died at the age of 69, Juan Marichal would serve as one of his pallbearers.