July 3, 1962 - The Yankees put on a pyrotechnic display at the Stadium today. Paced by their famed M-M duo, they thrilled a crowd of 13,378 by exploding 5 home runs. Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris hit two apiece, and Bobby Richardson (left) hit the other. And yet, so tenaciously did Hank Bauer’s ninth-place Athletics fight back that the Bombers needed every last one of their homers before the 8-7 victory was theirs. As late as the eighth inning, the Yanks were trailing by three runs. Then, with a final surge, they scored four times. Maris drove in the first three runs with his second homer of the day. It was his 18th of the season and the 6th in his last 8 games. Like an echo to this shot, Mantle slammed his second homer of the game and his 13th of the season into the right-field stands. That won it for the league-leading Yanks, who increased their lead over the second-place Angels to half a game since the Angels were held idle by rain.
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