Sooners Stay On Top With 6-4 Victory(Columbia Daily Tribune, Tuesday May 11, 1954)
BOULDER, Colo. -- Missouri's Tigers stayed hot on the heels of the front-running Oklahoma Sooners in the Big Seven baseball race yesterday as they pounded out 19 hits in bombarding the Colorado Buffs, 11-5, while the Sooners were winning, 6-4, at Kansas State.
The victory gave the Bengals undisputed possession of second place and kept them a half game behind the Sooners, who wind up a six-game trip in Columbia this Friday and Saturday. The Oklahomans, after another game at K-State today, move to Lawrence for a two-game series with Kansas before meeting Missouri.
The Tigers, who have posted four straight conference wins, after losing their league opener to Iowa State, will send Bert Beckmann against the Buffs as they close their Western jaunt today. He'll be opposed by either John Quinlan or Hal Sprehe.
Emil Kammer became the first Missouri pitcher to go the route yesterday as he scattered nine Buff hits in posting his fourth victory to go with one defeat. The Tigers combed Colorado's ace, Ron Garramone, for 13 hits in six innings and collected six more off Bob Weber.
Buddy Cox, shaking off an early season batting slump, whacked a 375-foot home run with Bob Schoonmaker on base in the third, and singled twice in five trips to the plate.
Missouri jumped off to a 2-0 lead in the first inning on singles by Dick Dickinson, Todd Sickel and Jerry Schoonmaker, and a walk to Bob Musgrave. After the Buffs picked up one in the second on a walk and two singles, Cox' homer made it 4-1 in the third.
Frank Bernardi tripled in the Colorado third after Carroll Hardy had beat out a bunt and Jerry Keith had walked to pull the Buffs up to 4-3. That was as close as they got, however, as the Missourians added one in the fourth and staged a three-run rally in the sixth, which was highlighted by George Gleason's double with the bases loaded.
Dickinson walked, stole second and scored on Sickel's double in the seventh. A walk to Doerr, a sacrifice, and doubles by Dickinson and Musgrave produced the final two tallies in the ninth.
Whether he had ulcers or not, the coach let out the restraining rope at times. Still, the players knew he was in charge and respected him.
''Hi had probably one of the wittiest, driest sense of humors ever,'' Dickinson said. ''He had a way of putting you in your place if you got out of line, but he was a great coach.''
If a player had a mental lapse and made a stupid mistake, Simmons let him know about it. Some players took more of the brunt than others, but they had their moments in the sun.
''He used to ride Buddy Cox pretty well,'' Beckman said. ''In Colorado, Buddy had let a hop play him or something and Hi was pretty outspoken about it. Buddy was a pretty tough kid. He didn't appreciate Hi getting on him too much. So in Colorado, Buddy went out and hit a home run, and as he was rounding third, he raised his fist in the air and said 'How do you like that, you old son of a buck?' ''
(Columbia Missourian, March 14, 1994)
The biggest blowup on record from that year's Tiger team did require some double- takes. At Colorado, second baseman Buddy Cox had a ball get through him. He and Simmons had words after the Tigers came in. In his next at-bat, Cox
homered.
"He ran around the bases so fast, it was like he was running out an
inside-the-parker,'' Stewart said.
"When he came around third, you could see what he was doing. He rounded 'er out and crossed home plate, and he's lined up now with Coach Simmons on the
bench. And he runs, and they get into it again.''
There was reconcili-ation on the bus after the Tigers' victory.
Stewart recalls Simmons' remarks:
"Now, gentlemen, today in the heat of battle, I said something to one of the players, a derogatory comment, and I shouldn't have made it. I want to apologize to Buddy in front of all his team-mates and in front of everybody on this bus.''
"That was really good,'' Stewart said. "That meant something. And then just before he sat down, he called him the same name again, and he said he hit a
home run the next time up. Everybody's laughing like hell, and somebody says,
`Hey, grab Buddy so he doesn't grab him again! Grab Buddy!' That was the way that ballclub was.''
(Columbia Daily Tribune, May 14, 1994)
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