Scoring on Sacrifice Fly from second base 1960-1969.

Joe Pepitone

Positions: First Baseman and Centerfielder

Bats: Left  •  Throws: Left

6-2, 185lb (188cm, 83kg)

Born: October 9, 1940 in Brooklyn, NY us

Died: March 13, 2023 (Aged 82-155d)

High School: Jay HS (Brooklyn, NY)

Debut: April 10, 1962 (Age 21-183d, 11,926th in major league history)
   vs. BAL 1 AB, 0 H, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB

Last Game: May 25, 1973 (Age 32-228d)
   vs. STL 3 AB, 0 H, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB

I had recalled that Joe Pepitone was playing center field in Cleveland and let Willie Kirkland score from second base on a sacrifice fly. I found a game which confirmed this in every way except that Pepitone was playing first base, his usual position. Tom Tresh was playing center field in place of Mickey Mantle who had broken his foot and tore ligaments in Baltimore June 5, 1963 trying to catch a home run by Brooks Robinson in the 6th inning. Pepitone moved from first to center in that game after Robinson's home run. In the 8th inning Jack Reed entered to play center and Pepitone moved back to first base. Mantle next played August 4, 1963 when he pinch hit a home run in the 7th inning of game two of a double header in Yankee Stadium in the early evening. Mantle didn't play center again until game two in Detroit September 2, 1963.

Here is that sacrifice fly game when Kirkland scored from second base:

Friday, July 5, 1963

Start Time: 8:04 p.m. Local

Attendance: 27,598

Venue: Cleveland Stadium

Game Duration: 2:19

Night Game, on grass

Cleveland Indians 4, Yankees 1

SF: Tito Francona (2, off Jim Bouton); John Romano (3, off Marshall Bridges).

It was the sacrifice fly by Romano that scored Kirkland from second base. It happened in the 8th inning with the Indians leading 3-1. Kirkland led off with a walk and was sacrificed bunted to second. Joe Adcock then walked. Romano then:

Flyball: CF/Sacrifice Fly (Deep CF); Adcock to 2B; Kirkland Scores

I then tried to find another game in which it was Pepitone who let that happen while playing center field for the Yankees. I especially suspected 1967 and 1968 when Mantle switched to first base to save his ailing legs and Pepitone became the Yankees regular center fielder. Pepitone started 122 and 87 games in center in those seasons, the most of any Yankee. I found no such game.

I did, however, find several such incidents in the decade 1960-1969. They are documented in this post. The data is derived from stathead.com, although with some difficulty. Click this link to see it in full.

In nine games (5 in 1963) one runner scored from second. In four games, TWO runners scored: from second and third. The table is in two parts:

March 30, 2022 received from Cliff Blau:

In the seventh inning of this game, we show Charles scoring from second on a lineout to LF.  Per the 5/4/1963 KC Times, Charles had gone to third on Jimenez's single to right-center.
<https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1963/B05030KC11963.htm>Retrosheet
Boxscore: Kansas City Athletics 3, Boston Red Sox 1

_________________________

So, that first game (May 3, 1963) below is in question:

Date	Batter	Tm	Opp	Pitcher	Score	Event	Inn	RoB	Out	RBI
1963-05-03	George Alusik	KCA	BOS	Bill Monbouquette	down 1-0	Out	b7	12-	0	1
1963-07-05	John Romano	CLE	NYY	Marshall Bridges	ahead 1-3	Out	b8	12-	1	1
1963-07-13	Harmon Killebrew	MIN	BOS	Bob Heffner	tied 0-0	Out	b1	-2-	1	1
1963-07-27	Frank Malzone	BOS	LAA	Dan Osinski	tied 0-0	Out	b1	12-	1	1
1963-09-03	Ken Boyer	STL	PIT	Tommie Sisk	tied 0-0	Out	b1	12-	1	1
1964-08-30 (2)	Jim Ray Hart	SFG	@MLN	Tony Cloninger	tied 1-1	Out	t6	-2-	1	1
1966-04-14	Willie McCovey	SFG	CHC	Bob Buhl	down 2-1	Out	b1	12-	0	1
1967-08-21	Tommy Helms	CIN	@SFG	Frank Linzy	ahead 0-1	Out	t9	12-	1	1
1969-06-14	Dick Green	OAK	@BOS	Sparky Lyle	ahead 7-20	Out	t9	-2-	1	1
1961-07-09 (2)	Jim Pagliaroni	BOS	@NYY	Jim Coates	ahead 0-5	Out	t4	-23	1	2
1964-07-17	Jesse Gonder	NYM	@STL	Ron Taylor	down 7-5	Out	t7	-23	1	2
1964-08-20 (2)	Johnny Callison	PHI	PIT	Al McBean	tied 1-1	Out	b8	123	0	2
1967-07-23	Brooks Robinson	BAL	@WSA	Dick Lines	ahead 3-5	Out	t11	123	1	2

Play Description	Scored	Field	Fielder	Date	Batter
Double Play: Lineout: LF/Sacrifice Fly; Del Greco out at 1B/LF-1B; Charles Scores	Charles	LF	Carl Yastrzemski	1963-05-03	George Alusik
Flyball: CF/Sacrifice Fly (Deep CF); Adcock to 2B; Kirkland Scores	Kirkland	CF	Tom Tresh	1963-07-05	John Romano
Flyball: CF/Sacrifice Fly; Versalles Scores	Versalles	CF	Roman Mejias	1963-07-13	Harmon Killebrew
Flyball: CF/Sacrifice Fly; Schilling Scores	Schilling	CF	Jim Piersall	1963-07-27	Frank Malzone
Flyball: CF/Sacrifice Fly; Groat Scores; Musial to 2B	Groat	CF	Bill Virdon	1963-09-03	Ken Boyer
Flyball: CF/Sacrifice Fly; Mays Scores	Mays	CF	Lee Maye	1964-08-30 (2)	Jim Ray Hart
Flyball: CF/Sacrifice Fly; Mays to 2B; Gabrielson Scores	Gabrielson	CF	Ty Cline	1966-04-14	Willie McCovey
Flyball: RF/Sacrifice Fly; Rose Scores	Rose	RF	Jesus Alou	1967-08-21	Tommy Helms
Flyball: RF/Sacrifice Fly; Cater Scores	Cater	RF	Joe Lahoud	1969-06-14	Dick Green
Flyball: LF/Sacrifice Fly; Geiger Scores; Yastrzemski Scores	Geiger/Yaz	LF	Yogi Berra	1961-07-09 (2)	Jim Pagliaroni
Flyball: CF/Sacrifice Fly; Altman Scores; Christopher Scores	Altman/Christopher	CF	Curt Flood	1964-07-17	Jesse Gonder
Flyball: CF/Sacrifice Fly (Deep CF); Wise Scores; Gonzalez Scores/unER; Wine to 2B	Wise/Gonzalez	CF	Manny Mota	1964-08-20 (2)	Johnny Callison
Flyball: LF/Sacrifice Fly; Aparicio Scores/unER; Snyder Scores	Aparicio/Snyder	LF	Hank Allen	1967-07-23	Brooks Robinson

The very first one resulted in a double play. The last one happened in the 11th inning. If anyone can supply details about why any of these happened, I'll update this post.

I found none in 2021. Does anyone know of any?