You probably know by now that 1964 is not one of my favorite childhood years.
I’m a native Philly guy – from west Philadelphia born and raised. I grew up rooting for my hometown baseball team, the Phillies. I remember my dad taking me to see games at Connie Mack Stadium.
In 1964, my beloved Phillies were rolling. We built a six and a half game lead in the race for the National League pennant with just 12 games left to play. Twelve freaking games between us and the World Series. Of course we proceeded to lose 10 straight games. The St. Louis Cardinals won the pennant and went on to beat the New York Yankees in seven games in the World Series.
I was crushed. I felt like there would be no tomorrow. Oh, the humanity. How could my Phillies choke like that?
I just happened to be surfing on the Internet the other day to see highlights for this date, June 4, in sports history. It turns out that Los Angeles Dodgers pitching great Sandy Koufax tossed his third career no-hitter in beating the Phillies 3-0 in Philadelphia on June 4, 1964.
I’m totally not surprised. I’m happy that Koufax added to his stellar career, but I wish it could have been against another team. The 1964 Phillies broke my childhood heart.