Interesting story about the Joe Morgan listed above who played for the Phils in July/1960 and had a VERY forgettable month with the team. Few remember him but I suspect when former Phillie great Robin Roberts heard his name it was not with fond memories.
Hard to believe but back in the day [I was only 8!] parents not only allowed their kids to drive to local park and recreations center in the summer but allowed them to go on field trips with the recreation leaders. On July 21, 1960 I was allowed to attend a Giants-Phillies game at Candlestick Park on a bus, along with probably 40 other youngsters. I didn't even play baseball yet, had never seen or heard of any major league players and likely had never even seen a baseball card. But I wanted to go with my friends to the game and what I witnessed was almost baseball history.
Not only did the Phils, behind Roberts, win the game 3-0 BUT if not for Joe Morgan might well have tossed a no-hitter, which would have been the only one he ever tossed in the big leagues. The only hit for the Giants was a hard hit smash in the 5th inning off the bat of Felipe Alou, a smash that Morgan misplayed. It was charitably called a single and it ultimately was the only hit the Giants garnered that day. I remember Roberts shaking his fist at the score keeper, then comfortably seated in the scoreboard. He must have known his stuff was excellent that day as it came in the 5th inning and there was no hint that a lineup featuring Mays, Cepeda and Kirkland would all go hit less.
Though I had no idea of any of the players then, I later studied the box score and realized that no less than 5 of the Phillies that day [Callison, Gonzalez, Taylor, Amaro and Dalrymple] would eventually all be key starters during that ill-fated 1964, the year I truly became a phan.
In yet another interesting twist of circumstances, the next game I ever saw was a Giants-Phillies game on July 4, 1964. The Phils won that day also, 5-2 and the winning pitcher was none other than Jim Bunning. Roberts and Bunning were arguably the two greatest righties of the modern Phillie era and both are enshrined in the Hall of Fame and they were the very first Phil hurlers I ever saw pitch.
By the way, Morgan was gone the first week of August, 1960 and would be replaced by one Alvin Dark at 3rd base, the very same Dark who would manage the Giants in 1964...as the rival of Phillies skipper Gene Mauch!
