Routine Moments in Baseball History: July 29, 1963

Welcome to Routine Moments in Baseball History, a running weekday feature that looks back at plays that have been ignored by the history books because history books only talk about things that are important or interesting. Today's installment is "Jerry Adair Grounds Out to Short."

Baseball is sometimes accused of being boring, which is sometimes not far from the truth. After all, it's possible to have a baseball game during which nothing much happens. But many of these contests aren't boring, they're tense. Some people, unfamiliar with the sport, might be immune to the energy crackling with every pitch, the nervousness of the players on the losing team as they run out of outs, the pressure bearing down on the pitcher not to give up a home run that would suddenly burst the game wide open. A long string of one-two-three innings might have some people changing the channel; others will be putting their fists in their mouths out of anxiety.

So it was with the game the Detroit Tigers played against the Orioles in Baltimore 41 years ago. It was an utterly inconsequential game in terms of the standings, but it had that roiling-beneath-the-surface drama that makes baseball so interesting. The visitors scored a single run in the first, then it was a straight pitchers' duel between the Tigers' Mickey Lolich and the Orioles' Robin Roberts, both of whom went all nine innings. Lolich was in the rookie year of what would be a great 16-season career, spent almost entirely with the Tigers, that included an amazing three-win performance in the 1968 World Series; Roberts was a future Hall of Famer noted for his durability and accuracy—he pitched 251 innings in 1963, and routinely threw over 300 innings a season in the 50s. Together, they simply mowed down batters—only seven men reached base all game—and it was still 1-0 in the bottom of the ninth, when second baseman Jerry Adair came to the plate.

Now, this game ended just about as dramatically as a baseball game can end: With one man on base and the home team down to its last out, pinch hitter Dick Brown knocked Lolich's pitch into the stands and the Orioles won 2-1, just like that. The tension was relieved, the dam of emotion and joy and pain everyone watching the game was holding onto broke apart. I mention this because I want you to know that this game was really, really good and the long string of outs led to a true moment of triumph (or defeat, depending on how you look at) and you would have been fortunate to have witnessed it.

That home run, however, could not have existed without the events leading up to it, the almost unnoticeable swings and misses and poorly hit balls that rested easily in gloves. So let's remember not Brown's blast, but Adair, two batters before him—squinting down at Lolich, swinging a mighty cut, and topping the ball right into the infield, where it easily bounced into the shortstop's glove.

This has been Routine Moments in Baseball History. Follow Harry Cheadle on Twitter.