Oct. 4, 1962 - The San Francisco Giants were given a hard push by the New York Yankees today and went tumbling off Cloud Nine. The Yankees, who rarely falter when baseball’s highest prize is at stake, defeated the National League champions, 6-2, in the opening game of the 1962 World Series. A crowd of 43,852 in sun-drenched Candlestick Park saw Ralph Houk’s Bombers prevail behind the splendid pitching of Whitey Ford (pictured), who beat another left-hander, Billy O’Dell. Cletis Boyer broke a 2-2 tie with a home run in the seventh inning, and from there the American Leaguers began to move. They routed O’Dell while scoring two runs in the eighth, then jarred a one-time teammate, Don Larsen, and Stu Miller for another run in the ninth. Meanwhile Ford, provided with a two-run lead by Roger Maris’s double in the first inning, turned in another of his patented performances. The southpaw yielded 10 hits, but was almost always in control as he registered his 10th World Series victory. In the second inning, however, Ford’s record for consecutive scoreless innings came to an end when the Giants scored their first run. Ford had gone 33 and 2/3 World Series innings without giving a run. Willie Mays alone seemed to regard Whitey as not too great a problem. Getting three hits, Willie the Wonder scored the Giants’ first tally after singling and drove in the other in the third with another single.
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