Apr. 10, 1963 - Ed Bailey, the talkative 31-year-old catcher from Strawberry Plains, Tenn., hit a pinch-hit grand slam home run in the eighth inning today to bring the National League champion San Francisco Giants an 8-7 victory over the Colt .45s at Colt Stadium in Houston. The 92-degree temperature was the hottest April 10 in Houston history and likely the hottest opening day any major clubs have ever experienced. The Colts, who had collected 15 hits but only 1 for extra bases, held a 7-4 lead when righty reliever Don McMahon lost his control in the eighth. Willie Mays started the inning with a walk. After Willie McCovey hit into a force-out, McMahon walked Tom Haller and Felipe Alou. Then Giant manager Al Dark sent in Bailey to hit for José Pagan, and the rest was history. As the ball rocketed off Bailey’s bat and cleared the fence in right field 360 feet from home plate, the 12,469 fans stopped their whooping and hollering — except for a contingent of Giant fans who let go with yells and airhorns. Juan Marichal had started the 3 hour 8 minute game and left with nobody out in the third after allowing 8 hits. He was charged with five runs, four of them earned. But right-hander Gaylord Perry provided several innings of strong relief, followed by the equally competent Jim Duffalo. Orlando Cepeda, who collected three hits, knocked in two runs for the Giants. Felipe Alou got another pair with his second homer of the season, a tremendous fourth-inning shot that went three quarters of the way up the bleachers in left. But Bailey, always a fine man in the clutch, was the hero. Three of Bailey’s 17 homers last year were pinch hits, and one of them, last June 26, was a grand slam that tied a game against the Reds at Candlestick. “Now listen, one game doesn’t make a season,” said Bailey after the game. “Why, I beat out a bunt one opening day, which just goes to show you the kind of thing that can happen.”
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