The story of Robin Roberts 286th and last major league victory is one for the ages. It is the story of one great pitcher passing the baton to another and the story of two old friends in the twilight of their careers patching together one more winning effort.
By August of 1966, Hall of Fame pitcher, Robin Roberts was just about at the end of the road. At 39 years-old, and with his once blazing fastball a distant memory, Roberts had been released by the Houston Astros on July 4 and hooked on with the Cubs as a player/coach for manager Leo Durocher's last place team. As a pitcher, Roberts was having indifferent success as a starting pitcher. As a coach, he became an advocate for a young pitcher who had just come over to the Cubs from the Phillies, Ferguson Jenkins.
Durocher had been using Jenkins almost exclusively in relief. Roberts felt Jenkins got hit around sometimes because he did not have confidence in his stuff. He encouraged Jenkins to throw his fastball more and he encouraged Durocher to try Jenkins as a starter. In late August, Jenkins joined the rotation as a starter, replacing the fading Roberts. On August 29, Jenkins was the starting pitcher against Tony Cloninger and the Atlanta Braves at Atlanta Stadium.
The Braves opened the scoring for the game in the second inning on a Gary Geiger solo home run. The game remained a 1-0 affair until the Cubs finally broke through with a run in the sixth on consecutive singles by Ron Santo, Ernie Banks, and John Boccabella. The Cubs took the lead in the seventh on a Don Kessinger sacrifice fly and the game went into the bottom of the ninth with Jenkins and the Cubs holding onto that one run lead.
In the ninth, Eddie Mathews led off with a double to center and Lee Bales ran for him. After Henry Aaron flied out, Joe Torre singled to left, with Bales stopping at third. At this point Durocher replaced Jenkins with Len Church. Rico Carty hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield and the game was tied and headed for extra innings. Church got the Braves out in the 10th and pitched into the 11th, but when Torre opened the inning with a walk, and Carty followed with a single, Durocher called on another former Phillie from the bullpen, none other than lefty Curt Simmons. Simmons, who had been Roberts longtime teammate, was also nearing the end of his fine career, spent mostly with the Phillies and St. Louis Cardinals.
Simmons got Geiger to bounce to third, where Santo touched the bag to force Torre. That was it for Simmons day of work, as Cal Koonce was called on to replace him. Koonce escaped the inning and the game rolled on into the 13th still tied at 2-2.
In the top of the thirteenth, Lee Thomas batted for Koonce and after Billy Williams popped out with the bases loaded to end the inning, Roberts came out of the bullpen to begin the bottom of the thirteenth. Robbie allowed two singles in the inning, but escaped by getting Felipe Alou to ground into a force-out, shortstop Don Kessinger to second baseman Glenn Beckert.
The Cubs rallied for two runs in the top of the 14th on a single by Banks, a double by Adolfo Phillips, and a pinch-hit RBI single by George Altman. Durocher allowed Roberts to bat for himself (he flew out to left) and so Roberts went to the mound with a chance to close down the victory, He did so by striking out Mike de la Hoz, getting Aaron to fly out to center, and after walking Torre, inducing Carty to fly out to right.
Thus ended Robin Roberts 286th and final major league victory. He would appear in one more game for the Cubs in September and close out his major league career. It seems just that the game included an excellent starting pitching performance by Ferguson Jenkins, who would go on to have a Robin Roberts like career, winning 20 or more games in six consecutive seasons for the Cubs and concluding his Hall of Fame career with 284 career victories, falling short of his mentor by two wins.
It also seems just that Roberts old friend (and next door neighbor in suburban Philadelphia), Curt Simmons, pitched in the game. Simmons would end his fine career the following year with a total of 193 victories. So, this Cubs game that saw three former Phillies pitch also saw three pitchers who racked up a combined total of 763 victories by the end of their careers. Some truly great pitching talent appeared on the mound for the Cubs on that day.
