The close of play on August 31 found the Phillies leading the Cincinnati Reds by 5.5 games, the San Francisco Giants by 6.5, and St. Louis by 7.5. This was before divi­sional play, and teams in the 10-team National League played each other 18 times. So it would be hard make up ground, with teams still on the fringe of contention likely to split series, knocking each other out.

By September 5, the Cardinals were 8.5 games back, the largest September deficit ever to be overcome.

The Phillies were 12-9 between September 1 and 20—good enough to maintain most of their lead—but the avalanche began on September 21 with a 1-0 loss to the Reds at Connie Mack Stadium. A rookie named Chico Ruiz stole home for the only run of the game. Philadelphia lost seven in a row at home to the Reds and Milwaukee Braves, and when the Phillies got to St. Louis for a showdown series September 28, they were a game behind the Reds, who were tying to win the flag for manager Fred Hutchinson, who was dying of cancer but stayed close to the team as coach Dick Sisler took over.

The Cardinals' front office had all but given up on the season in mid-August when the team was at its nadir—11 games back. At the urging of special assistant Branch Rickey, owner August A. Busch fired general manager Bing Devine. Two months earlier, De­vine had pulled off one of the great trades in franchise history, acquiring Lou Brock, who hit .348 after coming over from the Chicago Cubs. And it was a poorly kept secret that Busch intended to fire manager Johnny Keane when the season was over, and hire Rickey's guy, Leo Durocher.

But what now? Keane had his three best pitchers lined up when the reeling Phillies came to town—and right-hander Bob Gibson and lefties Ray Sadecki and Curt Sim­mons all delivered victories. The Cardinals were suddenly in the driver's seat. All they had to do was handle the last-place New York Mets in the season's final three games.

But they lost the first two, by scores of 1-0 and 15-5, and it came down to the final game.

The Phils snapped their losing streak and beat the Reds twice with a rainout in be­tween, eliminating them. After the final game, with a glimmer of hope of forcing a make-up game (of Saturday's rainout) and a playoff series, Phillies manager Gene Mauch fiddled with the dial of the old radio in the Crosley Field clubhouse, trying to pick up the Cardinals' game on the strong KMOX signal. Gibson and the Cardinals ralled to beat the Mets, 11-5, and take the pennant.

Mauch managed into the 1980s but suffered similar disappointments in the ALCS with the California Angels, losing a five-game series after winning the first two in 1982, and a seven-game series after leading 3-1 in 1986. He never did reach the World Series.

The Cardinals went on to defeat the Yankees in the World Series, then Keane thumb­ed his nose at management and left to take over the Yankees, who had fired Yogi Berra.