fire joe morgan. please.

i caught the last few innings of tonight's sunday night baseball game on espn.  cubs vs. white sox and dueling no-no's through 6+ innings.  the announcers (jon miller) eventually brought up sandy koufax's perfect game against the cubs on september 9, 1965 as it was the last time the cubs were no-hit, as well as the fewest total number of hits in a 9-inning game (1, as the cubs pitcher (bob hendley) threw a one-hitter but lost, 1-0).  joe morgan recounted how he was en route to los angeles to play the dodgers that evening and listened to the last two innings on radio.  he even mentioned that ernie banks was one of the last batters koufax faced.  'not the last maybe, but definitely one he faced in the last inning.'

think about that.  assuming that joe morgan knows what a perfect game is, he is saying, that in 1965, a year that saw ernie banks play in every game and hit 28 home runs, mr. cub was batting 7th or 8th in the lineup.  i am giving joe the benefit of the doubt that he knew lou klein had the sense to bat the pitcher last.  jon miller was quick to note that harvey kuenn was the last batter (as vinny said - '2 and 2 to harvey kuenn. one strike away. sandy into his windup - here' the pitch. swung on and missed! a perfect game!').  i will concede that morgan did hear banks come up to bat - he was in the 5th spot in the lineup and struck out with one out in the 8th inning.  but there's a big difference between 5th and 7th (or 8th) in the lineup, just as there's a big difference between a perfect game in the 8th and a perfect game in the 9th.  yes, memories fade, but disregard for the facts is most unbecoming of a baseball analyst.

i take solace that little joe went 1 for 12 in the series against the dodgers thanks to don drysdale, ron perranoski, claude osteen and johnny podres. sit down and shaddup!