15. Utility infielder Chet Trail, who had no prior major league experience, appeared on the Yankees' World Series roster to fill the opening created by an injury to Tony Kubek. Trail did not play in the series (Phil Linz played in place of Kubek), and Trail never appeared in a major league game during his career. Both Berra and Keane were St. Louis natives, though neither had ever played for the hometown Cardinals; Berra's entire playing career was spent in New York, while Keane played in the Cardinals' farm system but never reached the major leagues as a player. Yankees After winning the American League pennant in 1963, the Yankees faced strong challenges from the pitching-rich Chicago White Sox and up-and-coming Baltimore Orioles in 1964. On August 22, the Yankees were in third place, games out of first. Led by recently called up pitcher Mel Stottlemyre (who went 9–3), and helped by the post trade deadline acquisition of relief pitcher Pedro Ramos (2–0 with seven saves for New York) from Cleveland, the Yankees went 27–8 to take a game lead with five to play. After losing two games in Detroit, the Yankees clinched the pennant on the next-to-last day of the season with an 8–3 win over the Indians. Cardinals The Cardinals were coming off a second-place finish in 1963, and their road to the World Series was even more dramatic than that of the Yankees. After a season-long four-way race among the Cardinals, San Francisco Giants, Philadelphia Phillies, and Cincinnati Reds, the Phillies appeared to have the pennant in hand as they built a game lead with 12 games to play. But they proceeded to lose 10 straight games. With two games remaining, four teams still had a mathematical chance to win the pennant. The Giants were the first to be eliminated when they lost on October 3 to the Cubs, 10–7. The Cardinals lost to the lowly Mets, 15–5, while the Phillies ended their 10-game losing streak with a 4–3 win over the Reds. Going into the last day of the season, the Cardinals and Reds were tied for first and the Phillies were one game back; the Phillies hoped to force the first three-way tie in major league history by defeating the Reds and hoping the Mets would beat the Cardinals. The Phillies did their part by defeating the Reds, 10–0, but the Cardinals overcame an early