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This is Retro Sports Radio. Visit RetroSeasons.com for more sports history.

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The turnstiles clicked a merry tune at Milwaukee's County Stadium on an August evening in 1961.

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The standing room only throng of 40,775 was the biggest stadium crowd in two years.

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Reserved seats had been sold out for weeks, and the fans lined up hours before the game at the bleacher entrances.

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The Braves were far off the National League pent-up base, and their rivals, the Chicago Cubs, were deep in the second division.

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But that didn't matter. Fans came from the city, the suburbs, Chicago, and even further.

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They came to see a pitcher bid for a victory that would put him in a charm circle.

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Lefty Jack Curtis was a Cub starter. He was only three years old when his pitching rivals started his pro baseball career.

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But that didn't make the Milwaukee pitcher's job any easier. For four innings, the two Southpaws racked up zeros on the scoreboard.

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The Braves pushed one run across in the fifth, and the Cubs matched that tally in the sixth.

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In the eighth inning, County Stadium came alive, and Geno Somoli walked a home run to give the Braves the lead.

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A hush fell over the crowd as the pitcher walked to the mound to start the ninth inning.

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He was only three outs away from victory. André Rogers was the first batter, and he was erased on four pitches.

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Only two hours to go. Jerry Kendall was the next, and he laced a low-liner to center.

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But Geno Somoli raced in and made a great sliding catch for the second out.

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Ernie Banks was in the bat rack for the Cubs. He had been benched for a couple of days, but was sent up as a pinch hitter.

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Banks grounded one hard to third, but a bad throw by Eddie Matthews gave Ernie a life.

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Another pinch hitter, Jim McAnany, stepped to the plate. He looked at a couple of balls and then sent a fly to right field.

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Hank Aaron moved over a couple of steps and pulled it in. A finisher story in 60 seconds.

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The game was over, and the pitcher, Warren Spawn, had reached a milestone in his long and meritorious career.

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Only a dozen pitchers before him had won as many as 300 games.

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Now Spawn joined a slight group of pitching greats, which include Cy Young, Christian Matheson, Walter Johnson, Eddie Plank, and Mephie Grove.

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But Spawn admitted later that it was the toughest game, even though not the most important game, he had ever pitched.