The Skipper Responds
So I just heard back from Skip Pitlock. lol. I missed all the baseball this week. Still got a sour taste from last weekend’s games.
Anyway, this is great. Enjoy.
skip pitlock
To: me · Wed, Jul 16 at 1:25 PM
Message Body
Hi Craig,
Sorry for the nearly 2 month delay in answering your question about the game against the Houston Astros on August 8, 1970 when I hit an inside the park home run against Wade Blasingame in our park. I had to look back on the inning by inning stats. I thought that Blasingame had a no hitter up till then, but I just read that McCovey had the 2 prior hits off him. It was in the 5th inning that I hit a routine single off WB. But Cedeno tried to make a shoestring catch in left center. He dove but came up real short. The ball rolled to the wall. Cedeno had to pick himself up and go get it because Jimmy Wynn in left field did NOT move one step. I didn’t even have to slide at home. Word had it that Wynn was having a big problem with their manager Harry the Hat Walker. Wynn just stood still and watched the play. I was fortunate not to get the loss in this game. I was losing 5-1 in the 8th after John Mayberry hit a 2 run homer. But we scored 5 runs in the bottom of the ninth, capped by Mays 2 run walk off single. No, I didn’t get the win— Don McMahon did. I didn’t get the ball either. As far as 7 walks, my control was the reason that the Giants sent me down to Triple A in 1971 for 3 years before I escaped to the White Sox and emerged on their big league club for all of 1974. I was fortunate to play with 8 HOFers, 4 in 1970 and 4 in 1974. Mays was the best and Dick Allen was a close second! Thanks for your questions Craig, it gave me the opportunity to relive my youth from 55 years ago.
Skip Pitlock
______________________________
this is what I sent him:
Big Flavor
To: skip_pitlock@yahoo.com, and 1 other · Tue, May 27 at 10:15 AM
Message Body
Skip– Hi there, i have a non mortgage related question for you. I run a popular SF Giants blog that usually just banters back and forth about the game that day. Sometimes the bloggers start discussing old players or players who didn’t play very long for SF. Your name came up recently. I know you only played a single season for our team but one of the bloggers noticed you actually hit one home run in your career with SF. I looked up the box score, man that was quite a game that day!
I’m wondering if you might find a moment to share your memory of that game. I’m assuming you never got the ball you hit? You walked 7 that day, can you imagine that happening today? What was it like to play with Mays?
You certainly don’t have to answer any of those specific questions, just anything you like.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Wow, that’s great stuff!
Fantastic!!
That is so cool! Bet you made his day. I was at an April bat-day game against the Astros in 1971. And, man I remember listening to so many games late at night (for an 8 year old) on my little radio and hearing “Now pitching, Don McMahon.”
Jimmy Wynn was a big reason why we lost. We had something like a 6-1 lead and Wynn hit a 3 run shot to end up beating the Giants.
Speaking of nicknames, Toy Cannon is one of the great ones.
That was so cool. Even read it for the wife! Thanks Craig!!
Man, that made me smile big time, Flav.
Really awesome stuff. Thanks for sharing, Craig.
Very cool. Baseball gives us the stories of our lives….
Great reminiscence by Skip, that was fun to read.
Skip was right…
Jim Wynn, nicknamed “The Toy Cannon”, was a powerful hitter and outfielder for the Houston Astros, known for his prodigious home runs. Harry Walker was a manager for the Astros, known for his batting instruction, but clashed with Wynn over his hitting style. Walker preferred a more singles-oriented approach, while Wynn was known for his power.
Here’s a more detailed look:
Prior to managing the Astros it’s well known that Walker turned Matty Alou into a batting champ by giving him a big heavy bat and teaching him to slap the ball to all fields. After leaving the Giants he had almost 1,000 hits over the next 5 seasons…
The AI note above on Wynn is obviously incorrect. He hit 223 of his career HRs as an Astro/Colt .45 but only 101 of them were hit in Houston, 97 of which were at the Astrodome.
Also discovered that in his ML debut Pitlock faced Bob Gibson and gave up the first HR of his career – hit by…………..Bob Gibson.
Despite early Giants years when M Alou hit .260, he wound up with career BA of .307 and yes won batting title in 1966. Pirates under Walker finished 3rd twice in a row 1966-67 to pennant winning Dodgers while Giants in Herman Franks years were 2nd 4 times btw 1965-68.
Thanks Loo, good stuff. Thanks to flav for Pitlock story, cool he got back to you.
Really Grrrreat reporting Loo! Made my day .. going through severe Giant withdrawal .. plus a bout of bronchitis.. bed ridden & bored.
Great story on Skip Pitlock Flavor, glad he reached out to you that was amazing he did that!
I actually saw him pitch at the Stick in 1970 I was 14,they used him as a starting pitcher, he was a bit erratic but good stuff,he’ll he was a rookie,all rooks just getting their feet wet we’re up and down.My buddies and me were hoping he would stick around for some years, but Dipshit Owner Horace Stoneham was constantly moving players back then so it figured he moved on as well.I wonder if he ever had regrets about not being part of the 71 team (Chris Speier rookie season at SS , to this day I always thought Speier was the catalyst for that team with many stars with his added energy and Enthusiasm)thank god no more Hal Lanier!) that faced the Pirates and of course lost(Bob Robertson killed the Giants with clutch HR’s a unsung player when they had Pops,Clemente,Sanguillen (sp) and others ..
Giants went back to obscurity for many years after that 71 season..
SF Gate says Bill Neukom dead at 83. RIP. great pic of him and chi in bucket.
Oh man that’s sad I really liked Bow Tie Bill Neukom( local guy from San Mateo growing up and huge Giants fan) he was a key cog in the Giants 3-5 W/S runs!Pissed they forced him out later!🧡🖤⚾️
I think the last major thing Neukom did for the Giants was rep the team in an mlb hearing to determine if they had the right to prevent the A’s from moving to San Jose. This was long after Johnson the elder and other owners had fired him as managing owner. His professionalism impressed me.
His leadership, of course, made the success of 2010 possible and set up the successes thereafter. RIP.
Best thing about Neukom of course is he was a baseball guy through and through. Like Pete Magowan before him.
Sad to hear of his passing.
This braintrust of accountants, developers, and trust-fund babies leaves little to be desired.
They need to stay out of the way more.
Sucks. Good guy who at my request, personally pinned the 2010 championship button on me at Finnerty’s on trophy day. Like the wizard giving the cowardly lion his medal of courage…
That’s awesome. Wish there was a pic of that.
Toy Cannon is a great nickname, but Harry the Hat is legendary.
another email from the Skipper. Anyone know how to find the box score for this game?
Skip Pitlock
To: me · Thu, Jul 17 at 11:26 AMMessage Body
Craig,
Thanks for posting! I had to laugh when I started reading on that 1970 date. I was a terrible hitter, struck out most of the time. But my favorite game was a complete game victory over the Dodgers! Didn’t walk too many.
Skip
Baseball reference is so fun
https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN197008030.shtml
It’s definitely Pitlock-mania here. I wonder if Skip knew fellow Saluki, Clyde Frazier who might have already been gone. It’s close. Look at those BA’s. 1970 was a sick year for hitters, btw…
Thanks Unc, love these. always liked ken Henderson. Wes Parker too very underrated 1b.
Amazing that the Skipter was such a crappy hitter I have him down at 1-25 ..080 but the legend that he was he hit a HR off Astros Blasingame (sp) which of course puts him tied with are very own Duane Kuiper at 1 who hit his off of Steve Stone..
Also of his rare excellence he did have that CG win against the Dodgers so that makes him even more special in Giants baseball history!!