May 6, 1963 - “Everything that possibly could go against us went against us — that balk call, the play at the plate, the force play at second, the call on the steal of home. We couldn’t have been wrong on all those plays.” So spoke manager Johnny Keane in the visitor’s clubhouse yesterday after his Cardinals came from behind to beat the Reds, 7-4, in the second game of a doubleheader after dropping the tough-luck opener, 5-4. “Ray Sadecki pitched better [in the opener] than he has since the 1961 season, and Bob Gibson threw well Saturday,” Keane said. “If we can get those two going, we’ll be tough because we proved we have a bunch of battlers who can fight back.” By salvaging the final game of the four-game series, the Redbirds remained in a second-place tie with the Giants with both clubs behind the league-leading Pirates. A couple of former American Leaguers, Bobby Shantz and Leo Burke, played big parts in the 10-inning nightcap victory in which Stan Musial (pictured) and Curt Simmons delivered again. Shantz, who took over in the seventh after Simmons was removed for a pinch hitter, closed the door until the tenth when he already had a four-run lead. He allowed one hit. Burke, filling in for injured Ken Boyer, lined the hit that scored the go-ahead run in the tenth. Three more runs followed on a passed ball and Gene Oliver’s two-run homer off Al Worthington. Musial had kept the Redbirds alive earlier, tying the score with a single off Bill Henry. The key call that killed the Cards in the opener and fired up Keane’s Irish temper was the first-inning balk called by plate umpire Ken Burkhart on Sadecki. There were two out and runners on first and second when Sadecki turned and fired to third to catch the runner trying to steal third. Burkhart yelled “Balk,” and the next batter, John Edwards, hit a grounder that struck the first-base bag and went into right. Result: three runs in the inning instead of one. “Burkhart said I already had made a move toward home when I threw to third,” Sadecki said. “That’s impossible. I can’t possibly move toward the plate and throw to third too. I just backed off the mound before throwing.”
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