Phillies pitcher Art Mahaffey: Ruiz’s move came at perfect moment
By Sam Carchidi, The Philadelphia Inquirer | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
That fraction of time,
Mahaffey, 76, is retired from an insurance business he operated. He and his wife, Janet, spend much of their time doting over their 7-year-old granddaughter, Ashley.
But in 1964, the slender righthander was on the mound when the
With two outs, Ruiz on third base, and future Hall of Famer
Mahaffey's motion was interrupted, however, because as he was about to deliver the pitch, he saw Ruiz breaking for home out of the corner of his right eye.
"I'm winding up, and as my arm is at the top, I see him running home, and everything stopped in my arm; he was in my exact [vision] spot as I was throwing," Mahaffey said the other day. "I stopped my arm, and the pitch went low and outside."
The pitch sailed to the backstop, past lunging catcher
"Ruiz couldn't have timed it any better," Mahaffey said, the pain in his voice evident, even 50 years after it happened. "If he did it a hundredth of a second sooner or later, it would have been a different pitch."
And maybe a different outcome -- to that game, and that star-crossed season.
After the game, the righthanded-hitting Robinson said he was surprised to see Ruiz coming -- and that the ball beat the baserunner to the plate. "I thought he would have been out" if it wasn't a wild pitch, Robinson said.
Even though the
"My mind went blank with anger," he said after the game.
Said Mahaffey: "If I throw a strike, Robinson swings and bashes his head off. It was the stupidest play."
But it became the symbol of the '64
"All we needed was to get one win, and it would have broken the spell," Mahaffey said of the 10-game slide.
Teams can go decades before losing a game on a steal of home. Amazingly, it happened to the Phils twice in three games. Two nights before Ruiz's daring dash,
In
"If the
Mahaffey said the players felt as if they let the city down.
"That winter was awful," he said. "Whenever you left the house, everybody was bringing it up."
It doesn't happen as often now, of course, but "it's never forgotten in
Mahaffey, who still holds the
Instead of being on the golf course, he spends lots of time with his young granddaughter. "
They go to the playground, play at a local Chuck E. Cheese's, do arts and crafts together, and Mahaffey and his wife have taken
While at
"She said, 'Pop-Pop, put your hand on my heart,' " said Mahaffey, smiling at the memory.
The former pitcher, who has been searching unsuccessfully for video of his playing days to show his granddaughter and wife, complied.
"Pop-Pop, that's where you are today and where you'll be for the rest of my life," she said.
Mahaffey, teary-eyed, then placed
It seems
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