Signed Dale Long autograph picture circa 1960 (photo from famousfix.com)
Dale Long – 1B – 1960 – # 7
Dave Philley- OF – 1960 – # 32
They Were Giants?
By Tony the Tiger Hayes
These short-lived Giants were a pair of badass hitters. Even their names: “Long & Philley” gave opposing pitchers fair warning they weren’t dealing with routine milksop batsmen.
The burly tandem – who each hold or share major league records – were grizzled roughnecks with square jaws, crew cuts and massive forearms.
In 1960, Long and Philley were added to gird the bench of a highly talented, but largely peach-fuzzed faced San Francisco team.
Why Were They Giants?
The Giants were a thrilling act in 1959 – their final season at Seals Stadium. With a lineup power packed with back-to-back Rookies of the Year (Orlando Cepeda and Willie McCovey) and the iconic Willie Mays leading the charge, the Giants were contenders until the later stages of the campaign.
All they seemingly lacked was a No. 1 starting pitcher and a veteran presence on the bench as the club moved into a new Candlestick Park.
With future ace Juan Marichal ready for the bigs, the only box left unchecked was the bench.
That need was fulfilled with the addition of the left-handed swinging Long and switch-hitter Philley – both coming aboard in cash transactions with the Cubs and Phillies respectively.
Before & After
By the time he joined San Francisco, Philley had established himself as one of the games elite pinch hitters.
But before that, he was a regular for several American League clubs, including the renowned 111-win, 1954 Cleveland Indians whom the underdog Giants famously swept in the ‘54 World Series.
The sturdy Texan would play for eight clubs including, coincidently, both Philadelphia clubs, over 18 seasons.
As a pinch hitter he would bat a sterling .296 – collecting 92 lifetime sub safeties.
Philley still holds the AL record for most pinch-hit hits and at-bats in a season (24 and 72 respectively) for the 1961 Baltimore Orioles. And he shares the major league record (Rusty Staub) for most consecutive pinch hits with eight when he was a member of the 1958 Philadelphia Phillies.
Long set a conservative game streak of his own in 1956, slugging home runs in eight straight games for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He held the record by himself for 31 seasons. The mark has since been duplicated by Don Mattingly and Ken Griffey, Jr.
While not as accomplished a pinch hitter as Philley, Long did launch eight career long balls in the pinch – including three as a Giant – to augment his 132 career round trippers over ten seasons.
After leaving San Francisco, Long played for the Yankees and faced the Giants in the 1962 World Series. Long had a RBI single off the bench in Game 1, a 6-2 New York win at Candlestick Park (10/4/62).
They Never Had Their Own Bobblehead Day. But…
The high expectations of the 1960 Giants never materialized in the standings.
After getting off to a good start, the club stalled in June, losing eight of 12 games. Manager Bill Rigney was ousted and the club limped to a disappointing fifth place finish.
Both Long and Philley were gone by that point – peddled off to the Yankees and Orioles respectively near the end of the ‘60 season.
Though he crushed those three pinch homers for the Orange & Black, overall Long batted a disappointing .167 in 37 games. Philley hit a similar .164 in 39 tilts.
On August 6 at the home of the eventual world champion Pirates, the Giants played a game that encapsulated the entire trying season. After the clubs had traded the lead five times, the Giants came to bat in the top of the ninth of the see-saw affair trailing 5-3.
With one out, Philley was sent up to pinch hit for C Bob Schmidt and he promptly muscled a single into the outfield off Bucs starter Vernon Law.
Giants skipper Tom Sheehan then inserted McCovey to bat in place of SS Andre Rodgers, but Law managed to fan Big Mac.
With the club down to it’s final out, Sheehan turned to his third straight pinch hitter and sent Long to bat for P Sherman Jones.
Long wasted little time reminding the Steel Town faithful of his ‘56 exploits, crushing a towering shot into the Forbes Field bleachers to tie the contest.
The Giants would take the lead in the 10th when Cepeda blasted his 19th home run of the season – a two-run dinger – off Law who was miraculously still in the game, and San Francisco took a 7-5 lead into the bottom of the 10th.
Alas, it was not to be as Pittsburgh plated three runs in the bottom of the frame to win 8-7.
And that was basically the Giants season in a nutshell.
Giant Footprint
After World Series hero Madison Bumgarner left the Giants in 2020, word leaked out that while under contract with San Francisco the iron-armed pitcher had secretly competed in calf roping competitions, using a alias.
But he wasn’t the first Giant to employ the arts of the Cowboy. Philley actually owned and personally operated his own Texas-based 557-acre cattle ranch.
After tending to his steers all offseason he would report to spring training with his hands already pre-calloused. Of course he would have laughed at any thought of using batting gloves.
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