Tommy Davis’ career year came in 1962 when he led the league with a .346 average and 153 runs batted in. The table-setter for Davis and Los Angeles was shortstop Maury Wills.
Wills was historically great on the base paths, stealing a modern-day record 104 bases. No other team in baseball had as many thefts as the Dodger in ’62. In fact, no NL player had stolen even half of Wills’ total since Pittsburgh’s Max Carey in 1920. Davis and Will proved to be a dynamic duo for the ’62 Dodgers.
Los Angeles battled San Francisco all season long. From May 10 through the end of the season the two teams traded first and second place in the NL.
The Dodgers dominated the first ten games between the two clubs, going 7-3. That included a three-game sweep in Los Angeles at the end of July.
On August 10 the Dodgers headed to San Francisco with a 5 1/2 game lead. Winners of four in a row and eight of their last ten, the Dodgers looked to keep the pressure on.
The Giants were desperate. Another Dodger sweep would put San Francisco 8 1/2 games behind with six weeks to go. That’s when Giants manager Al Dark came up with an unconvention solution to slow Wills and the Dodgers.
The skipper directed the San Francisco grounds crew to keep the path between first and second base so watered down that base runners would be unable to get solid footing. Dark’s nickname the “Swamp Fox” was born.
The boys in blue complained about the soggy real estate to no avail. In the first game the Giants hammered the Dodgers 11-2. The team hoped Saturday would be different. Manager Walt Alston tabbed ’62 Cy Young Award winner Don Drysdale who was 11-0 with a save in his last 13 outings.
Davis put the Dodgers ahead with a three-run homer in the first inning. In a rare show of emotion, the usually level-headed Wills allowed his frustration to boil over. Arguing with plate umpire Al Forman about staying in the batter’s box, Wills was ejected in the third inning. The Giants rallied for two in the fourth and three in the sixth then held on to beat the Dodgers 5-4.
In the series finale, Davis tallied the team’s only stolen base of the series. The Giants won 5-1 to complete the sweep.
The two teams finished the regular season in a dead heat atop the standings. San Francisco prevailed in the three-game playoff to capture the pennant.
Had the Dodgers won just one of the August games played in soggy San Francisco, they would’ve claimed the flag. Perhaps the Giants grounds crew kept Los Angeles from winning their 15th pennant in Tommy Davis’ finest season.
In the collection is this letter written by Hall of Fame executive and National League President Warren Giles. Dated just a month after the grounds crew’s hijinks in San Francisco, it details the watering down of the base paths.
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