RetroSimba

John Sipin went from Cardinals prospect to Japanese star

August 3, 2026 by retrosimba

John Sipin was taken late in the earliest amateur baseball draft, a 55th-round pick of the Cardinals in 1965.

From that humble beginning, the slender, slugging infielder had some notable experiences during his baseball career, including:

_ Being groomed by Sparky Anderson. Sipin was on two Cardinals farm teams Anderson managed and reached the majors with a Padres club Anderson coached.

_ Sharing a National League record with Willie McCovey. Sipin and McCovey are the only National League players to hit two triples in their big-league debuts.

_ Forming a potent power duo with Sadaharu Oh. Sipin played nine seasons in Japan. In 1979, Oh (with 33) and Sipin (with 27) were the top two home run hitters for the Yomiuri Giants.

Down on the farm

John Sipin was from Watsonville, a California agricultural center in the Pajaro Valley near Monterey Bay. Watsonville, a sanctuary city, is the company headquarters of Monterey Mushrooms, Driscoll’s (a prominent producer of berries) and Martinelli’s (a leading maker of sparkling apple cider and apple juice).

A wave of Filipino migrant farmworkers came to the area in the 1920s and 1930s. Sipin’s father, Johnny Imperial Sipin, immigrated from the Philippines, married Ethel White (whose family moved to California from Arkansas) and got a job managing farmworker camps. Johnny stood 5-foot-4. His son grew to 6-foot-2 and became a standout in baseball, basketball and golf.

After graduating from Watsonville High School in 1964, John Sipin attended Cabrillo College. On the recommendation of scout Bill Sayles, the Cardinals chose the strong-armed shortstop in the first amateur baseball draft, in June 1965, and he reported to their minor-league spring training camp in 1966.

Assigned to St. Petersburg, managed by Sparky Anderson, Sipin became the shortstop and helped the club win 19 in a row. “A key hitter during the streak was John Sipin,” The Sporting News noted. Anderson told the Santa Cruz Sentinel, “I never saw an infielder with a better arm.”

After 31 games at St. Petersburg, Sipin was promoted to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and continued to impress. Cardinals minor-league hitting instructor Joe Medwick told the Cedar Rapids Gazette that Sipin showed signs of being a power hitter and had one of the “quickest bats” he’d seen among prospects.

Though lanky, Sipin had strong wrists that enabled him to generate bat speed.

The Cardinals liked his bat (14 home runs, 63 RBI) and arm, and put him on their 40-man big-league winter roster after the 1966 season.

Position change

Sipin was the shortstop for Sparky Anderson again in 1967, with Modesto. Though he clouted 19 home runs, he made 51 errors in 123 games.

When Sipin reported to Arkansas in 1968, manager Vern Rapp shifted him to second base. “I feel more suited to second base,” Sipin said to The Sporting News.

Sipin led Texas League second basemen in putouts, assists and double plays, and was named an all-star.

With the National League adding franchises in Montreal and San Diego for 1969, Sipin hoped to be taken in the October 1968 expansion draft, preferably by the Padres, and given the chance to play in the majors for a team in his home state. “I thought they were going to take me,” he said to The Sporting News.

Instead, the Padres passed on Sipin and took another Cardinals infield prospect, Jerry DaVanon, who played high school and college baseball in San Diego.

Dazzling debut

While Sipin began the 1969 season as the second baseman for Warren Spahn’s Tulsa farm team, the Padres opened their inaugural season with Roberto Pena, a former Cubs and Phillies shortstop, as their second baseman.

Padres manager Preston Gomez and coach Sparky Anderson, a former Phillies second baseman, determined the expansion club needed an upgrade at second. Anderson advocated for Sipin.

On May 22, 1969, the Padres dealt Jerry DaVanon and Bill Davis to St. Louis for Sipin, 22, and Sonny Ruberto. “Sipin comes highly recommended,” Gomez told The Sporting News. “He can make the double play, and that’s what we need … The kid has a great arm. We’re working with him to improve his range.”

Two days later, in a game against the Cubs at San Diego, Sipin debuted as the Padres’ second baseman. Batting second, he faced Ken Holtzman in the first inning and tripled. His next time up, in the fourth, Sipin tripled again versus Holtzman. Boxscore

Sipin joined Willie McCovey as the only National League players to triple twice in their big-league debuts. McCovey did it for the Giants against Robin Roberts of the Phillies on July 30, 1959, at San Francisco. Boxscore

(Two American League players also tripled twice in their first games in the majors: Bill Irwin of the 1912 Tigers and Roy Weatherly of Cleveland in 1936. Boxscore and Boxscore)

Sipin was one of the first players of Filipino descent to reach the majors. The first was Bobby Balcena. Born in California to Filipino parents, he had two at-bats for the 1956 Reds. The only Philippines native to play in the majors was Bobby Chouinard. Born in Manila, he pitched for four big-league clubs from 1996-2001.

Sipin followed his two-triple game with a three-hit performance against the Cubs. Boxscore

On May 30, Sipin’s first home run, in the 10th inning against Dan McGinn, gave the Padres a 3-2 win at Montreal. He hit another homer versus the Dodgers’ Don Sutton. On July 30, Sipin had a double and a single against Bob Gibson at St. Louis. Boxscore, Boxscore, Boxscore

Sipin remained the Padres’ second baseman until August when a back ailment required hospital treatment and he was shut down for the season. Sipin made 54 starts for the 1969 Padres, committed just seven errors in 477 innings but batted .223 and had no triples after his first game.

Lion Maru

Sipin had stellar minor-league seasons in 1970 and 1971, but the Padres never brought him back to the majors.

Learning to handle breaking pitches and hit to the opposite field, Sipin batted .301 for Salt Lake City in 1970 and led manager Don Zimmer’s club in total bases (237), slugging (.510), runs (74), doubles (31), homers (20) and RBI (80).

After spring training in 1971, Sipin was with the Padres on Opening Day, but, when he got to the ballpark, management informed him he was being sent to Hawaii. Sipin batted .318 for Hawaii and was the team leader in total bases (262), hits (174) and doubles (26).

Sipin found his comfort zone at his next stop: Japan. He signed with the Taiyo Whales of the Japan Central League in 1972 and became one of the country’s most popular players. Like Ted Simmons, who was nicknamed “Simba” with the Cardinals, Sipin let his hair grow long and was called “Lion Maru,” because he resembled a Japanese TV action hero who was able to transform from a ninja swordsman into a lion-headed warrior.

His play on the field helped earn him fan support, too. As Taiyo’s second baseman in 1972, Sipin, 25, became the first foreign player to win a Japanese Gold Glove Award. He also slugged three grand slams.

Grateful to be playing where he was appreciated, Sipin learned to speak fluent Japanese. “I’m content to stay over there,” he told the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

After six successful seasons (1972-77) as Taiyo’s second baseman, Sipin was traded to the Yomiuri Giants, cut his hair and became Sadaharu Oh’s teammate. Oh and Sipin often batted back-to-back.

In 1979, the Associated Press called Sipin “the most consistent American to play in Japan.” He retired after the 1980 season. In 1,036 career games in Japan, Sipin produced 1,124 hits, including 218 home runs, and batted .297. He three times clouted 30 or more homers in a season.

Sipin went on to have a second career in real estate in Japan and California.

Posted in Games, Hitters, Prospects, Records, Trades | 10 Comments »

A first for St. Louis: Two teams together in top spots

July 27, 2026 by retrosimba

On a typical sweltering July afternoon in St. Louis, baseball fans soothed themselves with refreshing thoughts of a possible October World Series between the Browns and the Cardinals.

On July 22, 1922, St. Louis teams simultaneously were atop the standings of the American League and National League for the first time.

The Browns (53-37) had a .589 winning percentage in the American League and the Cardinals (57-35) had a .620 winning percentage in the National League. Their closest pursuers were New York clubs _ Yankees (.559) in the American; Giants (.612) in the National.

Though the title hopes evaporated and New York teams prevailed, St. Louis experienced a baseball euphoria in 1922. As the St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted, “With two teams in first place, we feel safe in saying there are more baseball followers in St. Louis than there are Democrats in Georgia.”

Tale of two teams

The 1922 Browns and Cardinals were dissimilar teams.

The Browns were managed by Lee Fohl, a former catcher with a fourth-grade education. The Cardinals’ manager was Branch Rickey, a former catcher with a law degree from the University of Michigan.

The Browns had good pitching (a league-leading 3.38 ERA) and the Cardinals didn’t (a 4.44 ERA that was the second-highest in the league).

Browns fielders ranked in the top half of their league in fewest errors committed (199); the Cardinals made the most errors in their league (240).

Their commonality was hitting. The Browns led their league in runs (868), hits (1,684), triples (94), RBI (785), batting average (.310) and slugging (.453). The Cardinals were league leaders in doubles (280), RBI (787) and slugging (.444).

Each had a .400 hitter _ Browns, George Sisler; Cardinals, Rogers Hornsby.

As Peter Golenbock noted in his book “The Spirit of St. Louis,” “Arguments arose in bars all over St. Louis as to who was the better hitter: Sisler or Hornsby.”

(Hornsby and Sisler respected one another. In his book “My War With Baseball,” Hornsby selected Sisler on his all-time team and said, “He is the greatest fielding first baseman I ever saw … He could hit hard to all fields and was an exceptionally good base runner.” In 1928, Sisler was the Boston Braves first baseman when Hornsby was their player-manager. According to the Post-Dispatch, Hornsby said he was one of Sisler’s “strongest admirers.”)

Sisler in 1922 led the American League in runs (134), hits (246), triples (18), stolen bases (51), batting average (.420) and produced a 41-game hitting streak.

Hornsby achieved the Triple Crown in 1922, leading the National League in batting (.401), home runs (42) and RBI (152). He also was the league leader in runs (141), hits (250), doubles (46), on-base percentage (.459), slugging (.722) and had a 33-game hitting streak. His dominance was reflected by his 450 total bases _ 136 more than the runner-up, Irish Meusel of the Giants at 314. Only Babe Ruth (457 with the 1921 Yankees) has had more total bases in a season than Hornsby.

Besides Sisler, the 1922 Browns featured Ken Williams, who swung a 48-ounce bat and led the league in total bases (367), home runs (39) and RBI (155). Williams had more homers than strikeouts (31) that season. He also swiped 37 bases. Two other 1922 Browns hitters of note: Marty McManus (.312, 34 doubles, 109 RBI) and Baby Doll Jacobson (.317, 16 triples, 102 RBI).

Joining Hornsby in the Cardinals’ attack were Milt Stock (.305, 33 doubles), Specs Toporcer (.324) and a couple of rookie .300 hitters called up in August, Jim Bottomley and Ray Blades.

Turning taunts to cheers

On June 26, 1922, the Browns (40-28) held first place in the American League, while the Cardinals (34-29) were in second behind the Giants (39-23) in the National. Then the Cardinals won 23 of their next 29, averaging six runs per game. The last win in that stretch was the one that moved them into first place in the National while the Browns remained atop the American.

The Cardinals did it with a stirring rally against the Braves.

In the third inning, the scoreboard at Sportsman’s Park showed the final from Cincinnati: Reds, 3, Giants 2. That meant the Cardinals could climb past the Giants and into first if they won.

The Braves, though, had other ideas. They scored three runs in the fourth, stretching their lead to 5-1. Many among the crowd of 15,000 reacted by “heaving taunts” at the Cardinals, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported.

The mood in the stands remained grim when the Cardinals batted in the eighth, trailing 8-3. Facing Frank Miller, a reliever working his sixth inning, Milt Stock led off with a single and Harry McCurdy walked, but Spec Toporcer’s deep liner to right-center was snared by Walton Cruise, a former Cardinal, for the first out.

Joe Schultz, batting for pitcher Jeff Pfeffer, was next. Schultz was a marvel for the 1922 Cardinals. He hit .384 at home and .363 overall with runners in scoring position. As he had all season, Schultz delivered, booming the ball over the head of left fielder Al Nixon for a two-run double, cutting the Boston lead to 8-5.

The next batter, Max Flack, popped up to second baseman Hod Ford for the second out. Then the Cardinals got a big break. Jack Smith bounced a grounder to Ford for what should have been the inning-ending out, but Ford made a wild throw and Smith was safe at first on the error, with Schultz scooting to third.

The mistake extended the inning and allowed Rogers Hornsby to bat. Hornsby lashed a double, driving in Schultz and making the score 8-6. Smith moved to third. Up next was Heinie Mueller, a St. Louisan who had driven in a mere five runs all season. After getting ahead in the count 2-and-0, Mueller looked for a cripple pitch and got it. He singled to center, sending Smith and Hornsby home and tying the score at 8-8. “Upon this, pandemonium broke loose” in the stands, the Globe-Democrat reported.

Braves manager Fred Mitchell lifted Frank Miller, who faced 26 batters in his relief stint, and brought in a rookie, Tim McNamara. Les Mann ran for Mueller. Del Gainer, the first batter to face McNamara, tapped a ball toward third for an infield hit. Then Milt Stock stroked his second single of the inning through the right side, scoring Mann and giving St. Louis a 9-8 lead.

“Bedlam and pandemonium and all its kindred companions broke out in earnest,” the Post-Dispatch reported.

According to the Globe-Democrat, “frenzied fans smashed straw hats, hurled scorecards onto the field and all but tore the stands into pieces.”

Bill Sherdel, who pitched 10 innings in a win two days earlier, was brought in to work the ninth for St. Louis. He held the Braves scoreless, saving the win that put the Cardinals into first place. Boxscore

That afternoon, in Philadelphia, the Browns stomped the Athletics, 10-1, and boosted their lead over the Yankees to 2.5 games. Boxscore

“For the first time in 21 years, since the American League was organized in 1901, the two St. Louis teams simultaneously occupy first place in the major leagues,” the Globe-Democrat noted.

New York, New York

Soon after, the Giants and Yankees were helped by trades made with the Boston clubs. On July 23, the Red Sox dealt third baseman Joe Dugan to the Yankees for four players and $50,000. Dugan hit .286 for the 1922 Yankees and .385 with runners in scoring position. On July 30, the Braves sent pitcher Hugh McQuillan to the Giants for three players and $100,000. McQuillan earned six wins, including one against the Cardinals, for the 1922 Giants.

Meanwhile, the Cardinals went into a tailspin, losing five in a row, including four to the Giants, after the comeback win against the Braves. The Cardinals were 8-14 in August, including 4-11 at home. Their record after July 22 was 28-34.

The Giants (93-61) were National League champions. The Reds (86-68) placed second and the Cardinals (85-69) and Pirates (85-69) shared third.

The Yankees (94-60) prevailed in the American League, one win better than St. Louis (93-61). The Browns lost 14 of 22 against the Yankees during the season.

The World Series was all Giants, who swept to the title.

Posted in Games, Hitters | 16 Comments »

Christy Mathewson nearly made St. Louis his baseball home

July 20, 2026 by retrosimba

Early in his big-league career, when he was well-regarded but not yet perhaps the top pitcher in the game, Christy Mathewson planned to leave the New York Giants and join the St. Louis Browns.

In 1902, his second full season in the majors, Mathewson was stuck on a bad Giants team. The 1902 Giants were last in the big leagues in hitting (.237) and runs scored (405) and made the most errors (338) in the National League. They finished 48-88 _ the worst record in the majors.

This was during a period when the American League and National League were raiding each other for players. After the 1901 season, for instance, multiple Cardinals _ second baseman Dick Padden, shortstop Bobby Wallace, left fielder Jesse Burkett, center fielder Emmet Heidrick, and pitchers Jack Powell, Jack Harper and Willie Sudhoff _ were enticed to defect to the Browns.

When the Browns made Mathewson an offer in July 1902 to switch leagues and join them after the season, he accepted. He took a $500 cash bonus and signed a contract for 1903. To sweeten the arrangement, the Browns also signed the Giants’ catcher, Frank Bowerman, for 1903.

If Mathewson had pitched for the Browns, maybe the franchise would have been a perennial contender instead of an also-ran, but he instead stayed with the Giants and tormented the rest of the National League, most especially the Cardinals.

Bucknell to big leagues

Christopher Mathewson was from Factoryville, Pa. His father, Gilbert Mathewson, served as a drummer boy for the Union Army during the Civil War under the command of his uncle, Col. D.N. Mathewson.

A big man on campus at Bucknell, Christy Mathewson was class president, majored in forestry, sang in the glee club, belonged to two literary societies, and played football, basketball and baseball.

A right-hander, Mathewson, 19, reached the majors with the Giants in 1900, but lacked command, walking more batters than he struck out. His ERA that season was 5.08. Mathewson’s first decision was a loss in a five-inning relief stint against the Cardinals at St. Louis in August 1900. He got his first big-league hit, a double, in that game but gave up five runs. The Cardinals’ leadoff batter, John McGraw, would soon become like a second father to Mathewson as manager of the Giants. Boxscore

The next season, 1901, Mathewson improved considerably, earning 20 of the Giants’ 52 wins. One of those was a no-hitter against the Cardinals at St. Louis. Boxscore

Meet me in St. Louis

Mathewson again was the Giants’ top winner in 1902 but the team was such a mess that he also was needed as an emergency fill-in at first base (three starts, four errors) and right field (three starts).

Meanwhile, the 1902 Browns, stocked with ex-Cardinals, were headed toward a second-place finish in the American League. The Browns fielded well (most putouts in the league) and had quality pitching (third-fewest runs allowed).

In July 1902, about the time the Giants hired John McGraw to take over as manager, Browns owner Robert Hedges convinced Mathewson to defect to St. Louis after the season. Mathewson signed “in the latter part of July and took our money,” Browns manager Jimmy McAleer told the St. Louis Republic.

Hedges acknowledged Mathewson and Bowerman would be Browns in 1903, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. According to the St. Louis Republic, Hedges had the signed contracts of Mathewson and Bowerman in his office safe.

“We will certainly have Mathewson and Bowerman and probably one or two other National Leaguers,” Hedges told the Republic.

Then something unexpected happened.

Give peace a chance

The roster raids became too costly for some team owners. As St. Louis Star-Times columnist Sid Keener noted, “It was a free-for-all scrap, with the players reaping the profits.”

Club owners met in January 1903 and attempted to reach a peace treaty. “The factions were battling back and forth, trying to arrange a satisfactory agreement,” Keener reported.

Hedges was the key. For two days, he refused to return Mathewson and Bowerman to the Giants. When he changed his mind, the American League and National League signed a peace agreement on Jan. 10, 1903, ending the roster raids. According to the St. Louis Republic, Mathewson and Bowerman were required to return the bonuses Hedges paid them during the summer.

“I lost a pennant for St. Louis in that deal,” Hedges said to the Star-Times, “but I brought about peace in the baseball world.”

Ace of diamonds

With John McGraw in his first full season as their manager, the Giants made a stunning transformation, winning 84 times in 1903 (36 more wins than they had the year before) and placing second. Mathewson won 30, the first of his four seasons with 30 or more wins.

The Browns went backwards, posting a 65-74 mark in 1903. It would be 20 years before they would match the second-place finish of 1902.

McGraw led the Giants to nine National League pennants and three World Series titles. Mathewson pitched on four of those pennant winners. In the 1905 World Series, he shut out the Athletics three times. In 11 World Series starts for the Giants covering 101.2 innings, Mathewson had an 0.97 ERA.

In a stretch from 1904-08, Mathewson won 24 consecutive decisions against the Cardinals. In one of those wins, his 33rd of 1904, he struck out 16 Cardinals. Boxscore

(The only other pitcher to win 24 in a row against one club is Carl Mays, who did it against the Athletics from 1918-23.)

Mathewson had a 52-23 record (with nine shutouts) versus the Cardinals. He won 26 at New York and 26 at St. Louis.

Mathewson also was dominant against the Reds, winning 22 consecutive decisions versus Cincinnati from 1908-11.

He was a master at studying batters, finding their weaknesses, and delivering a wide variety of pitches with command of the strike zone.

Mathewson had a stretch of 68 consecutive innings without a walk in 1913. Johnny Evers of the Cubs told the Star-Times that year, “I don’t believe Mathewson pitched the same way to me twice all season. He might start out by dinking one a little on the inside, another on the outside, come across with a fadeaway and then shoot a fast one across the plate while I was waiting for something else. The next time I went up, Christy was liable to start out with a fadeaway, dink a slow one on the inside, follow with a fast one and then another fadeaway. Consequently, you never could be prepared for the next ball. Matty knows exactly what you can’t hit and takes advantage of said fact.”

As Mathewson told the Star-Times, “The pitcher is in a duel of wits with the man at the plate. There is as much mixture of brain as there is of delivery.”

Mathewson and Grover Cleveland Alexander share the National League record for most career wins (373). Only Cy Young (511) and Walter Johnson (417) have more. Mathewson also ranks third all-time in career shutouts (79). The top two are Walter Johnson (110) and Grover Cleveland Alexander (90).

Posted in Executives, Games, Opponents, Pitchers, Records | 15 Comments »

Why Mike Ramsey was next best thing to Ozzie Smith

July 13, 2026 by retrosimba

During a critical point in the 1982 division title chase, the Cardinals lost shortstop Ozzie Smith for two weeks because of an injury. To replace the Gold Glove Award winner, manager Whitey Herzog chose Mike Ramsey, a utility player with the physique of an exclamation point and a swing he described as “my dork stroke.”

Rising to the challenge, Ramsey fielded flawlessly and performed with steely sturdiness. As Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch aptly noted, “The iron man was the thin man.”

When St. Louis played five games totaling 46 innings in three days (Sept. 17-19) against the Mets, Ramsey was the only Cardinal to play every inning of each game. St. Louis won all five.

In the 14 consecutive games Smith sat out from Sept. 11 through Sept. 23, Ramsey was the St. Louis shortstop in every inning of every game. He made no errors in that 129-inning stretch and the Cardinals won 10 of the 14 games. St. Louis, in second place when Ramsey replaced Smith, was in first, with a 4.5-game division lead, when Ramsey completed his stint as the starter.

In the book “Whitey’s Boys,” Whitey Herzog said, “Unbelievable … Everybody thought when Ozzie got hurt that we were done, but that wasn’t the case.”

Late bloomer

A college shortstop at Appalachian State, Ramsey was chosen by the Cardinals in the third round of the 1975 amateur draft, but Garry Templeton was the top shortstop in the St. Louis system then.

Ramsey had knee surgery in 1976, made 44 errors with Arkansas in 1977 and another 41 with Springfield (Ill.) in 1978. The Cardinals gave Ramsey a look near the end of the 1978 season, but he floundered at Springfield (hitting .221) in 1979 and was benched in favor of Ron Farkas. Ramsey had a “terrible year,” Cardinals general manager John Claiborne told the Post-Dispatch.

“My mental state wasn’t good then,” Ramsey recalled to Larry Harnly of the State Journal-Register of Springfield, Ill. “I couldn’t put it together. I was 24 and 25, but in my mind I was a young kid. I didn’t go about my job the right way … I got down mentally. Different people mature at different times, and I matured late.”

Left off the Cardinals’ 40-man roster after the 1979 season, Ramsey was available to be drafted, but no team took him. Back at Springfield in 1980, “I knew then I had to show them I could play,” he told the Journal-Register. “I knew I had to do it then, or I might have had to think about quitting after the 1980 season. I turned it around. I started to grasp what I had to do. I took things more seriously.”

In May 1980, second baseman Ken Oberkfell got injured and the Cardinals brought up Ramsey to replace him. He got a boost from coach Dave Ricketts, who helped him with his hitting. “He has put it into my head what I have to do,” Ramsey said to the Journal-Register. “I have to lay off high pitches and I have to hit the ball on the ground.”

From May 26 to June 11, Ramsey hit safely in 12 of the 13 games he started at second. He produced four hits in a game against the Mets at New York. Boxscore

Whitey Herzog, who replaced Ken Boyer as Cardinals manager in June 1980, liked Ramsey. In June 1981, when Garry Templeton told Herzog he was too tired to play the day after a night game, Herzog started Ramsey at shortstop. In August, after the Cardinals suspended and fined Templeton, then moved him to the disabled list, Ramsey took over. He made 27 starts at shortstop for the 1981 Cardinals.

During a Cardinals series at Montreal, Ramsey met a Canadian woman, Merle Yos. “I was playing second base and I flirted with her as I came into the dugout,” Ramsey recalled to the Journal-Register. “I’d look into the stands. I asked her out. We had a long distance relationship. Her dad is a big Expos fan.”

In February 1982, the couple married.

Doing the job

Ramsey, 28, had two extended stretches during the 1982 season when he filled in as a Cardinals starting infielder.

When an injured Tommy Herr was out for a period from May into June, Ramsey replaced him at second base. He hit .358 in May and .308 in June. For the season, Ramsey made 35 starts at second with the 1982 Cardinals.

After Herr returned, Ramsey went back to his utility role. He played second, third, shortstop and even some left field.

On July 25 at St. Louis, Herzog started Ramsey at shortstop against the Astros. Don Sutton was Houston’s starting pitcher that day and Ozzie Smith, who had a .136 career batting mark against him, got a day off.

With the Astros ahead, 1-0, in the second, the Cardinals had two on, one out, and Ramsey at the plate. A switch hitter batting left, he worked the count to 3-and-1. Sutton decided to make the next pitch a fat one. “My chances of getting him out were good enough that I could throw him a strike,” Sutton told the Post-Dispatch. “The worst I would get was a single or a double.”

Instead, Ramsey walloped it over the wall. “I just floated around the bases,” he told the Post-Dispatch. The three-run blast was his first big-league home run. Ramsey told reporter Rick Hummel, “I used to hit them out in wiffleball when I was 10 years old. It was a real small area.”

Referring to the home run as “a fluke,” Sutton said to the St. Louis newspaper, “Who’s the last guy on their ballclub you figured would hit a home run?”

Ramsey’s rocket lifted the Cardinals to a 4-3 victory. “I was happy it came off a guy that good and that it wasn’t a cheap home run at all,” Ramsey told Rick Hummel. Boxscore

(A month later, Sutton was traded to the Brewers and helped them win the American League pennant. He started Games 2 and 6 of the World Series, but the Cardinals won both.)

Ramsey’s only other big-league homer was a solo shot against the Cubs’ Chuck Rainey at Wrigley Field in 1983. Boxscore

Play to win

In a Sept. 10, 1982, game against the Mets, Ozzie Smith ranged far to his left, dived and gloved a hard-hit ball, preventing a run from scoring. The next day his injured right thigh kept him from playing. That’s when Ramsey became the St. Louis shortstop.

“I’ll just play hard and stay within my limitations and try not to be Ozzie,” Ramsey told the Post-Dispatch.

Smith was nicknamed The Wizard _ as in Wizard of Oz _ because of his brilliant fielding, but Ramsey provided magic, too. The unheralded utilityman was a marvel of consistent excellence while performing under the pressure of a title chase.

As Rick Hummel noted in the Post-Dispatch, “He did the nearly unthinkable. He almost made one forget that Ozzie Smith was not there.”

Though he initially struggled at the plate after replacing Smith, Ramsey recovered and hit .385 over a four-game stretch against the Mets and Phillies. “I’ve got my stroke, my dork stroke, back now,” he told Rick Hummel.

Smith returned to the lineup on Sept. 24 and the Cardinals went on to win a division title and then the National League pennant.

In the World Series versus Milwaukee, Ramsey mostly watched from the bench until the decisive Game 7. In the sixth inning, he ran for Gene Tenace and scored the go-ahead run on George Hendrick’s single. Whitey Herzog kept Ramsey in the game at third base, replacing Ken Oberkfell. Ramsey played the final three innings of the Cardinals’ championship clincher. Boxscore

At spring training in March 1983, Tommy Herr had arthroscopic left knee surgery. When the reigning World Series champions opened the 1983 season, Ramsey was their second baseman. Boxscore

“Mike Ramsey is the best utilityman in baseball,” Whitey Herzog declared to the Post-Dispatch.

Told of the manager’s comment, Ramsey replied, “He’s just being kind to me.”

Ramsey made 47 starts, including 36 at second, for the 1983 Cardinals.

In July 1984, Ramsey was traded to the Expos for Chris Speier. Ramsey played his final big-league games with the Dodgers in 1985.

Cardinals director of player development Ted Simmons hired Ramsey to be an instructional coach in 1989, then promoted him to minor-league manager.

Ramsey managed for 14 years in the farm systems of the Cardinals (1991-95), Padres (1996-99), Rays (2000-01) and Giants (2002-04). Among the players he managed were Joe McEwing, Dmitri Young, Carl Crawford and Matt Cain.

Posted in Games, Hitters | 11 Comments »

Like a true champion, Bill White kept his promise

July 6, 2026 by retrosimba

In September 1964, the folks at Webster Groves Christian Church in suburban St. Louis asked Cardinals first baseman Bill White to be the featured speaker at a youth banquet on Oct. 15.

White said yes. His calendar for mid-October was clear of any baseball obligations. The Phillies led the National League and seemed uncatchable. The Cardinals figured to be done when the season ended.

In his book “Uppity,” White said, “At the time, I never dreamed we’d be in the World Series and that we’d win the championship the same day as the banquet.”

The Phillies, though, had their title dreams turned into nightmares. They collapsed down the stretch and the Cardinals clinched the pennant in the season finale. The World Series against the Yankees went to a decisive Game 7. Played on Thursday afternoon, Oct. 15, at St. Louis, the Cardinals won, 7-5. White contributed two hits and scored a run, helping St. Louis to its first World Series title since 1946. Boxscore

Party time

Revelry ensued in the Cardinals’ champagne-soaked clubhouse. In his autobiography “Stranger to the Game,” pitcher Bob Gibson called the celebration “out of the ordinary.” Catcher Bob Uecker was “at center stage in the clubhouse, wearing an usher’s cap, dancing a polka, mimicking (club owner) Auggie Busch and grabbing Harry Caray’s microphone to interview himself,” Gibson recalled.

In his memoir “Oh, Baby, I Love It,” catcher Tim McCarver said, “I remember Bob Uecker, without a stitch of clothing on, dancing to the dumbest song I’d ever heard _ ‘Pass the Biscuits, Miranda.’ He was dancing all by himself, somehow putting modern moves to this idiotic song that, for some reason, had been the 1946 Cardinals’ rallying song. Uke could dance, too.”

The club arranged for a victory dinner that night at Stan Musial & Biggie’s restaurant on Oakland Ave.

Bill White would like to have joined fully in the fun, but he couldn’t. He had that youth banquet to attend.

White was ready to leave the clubhouse when someone said manager Johnny Keane was looking for him, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. White stopped by the manager’s office and found him talking with reporters.

“Did you want to see me, John?” White asked.

“Yes,” replied Keane. “I wanted to give you this.”

The manager walked over to White and hugged him. White returned the hug.

For the record

While his teammates headed to Musial’s restaurant, White drove to the church banquet. “A commitment is a commitment,” he said in his autobiography. “The banquet organizers were frankly surprised to see me, but happy to have me.”

After the event, White went to Musial & Biggie’s, where the party was going strong. “My teammates had a big head start on me with the champagne and other booze,” White recalled in his book. “I won’t say I was the only sober guy in the room, but I was one of the few. Maybe that’s why when Bob Howsam got up to give a little speech, I actually heard what he said _ and I didn’t like it one bit.”

Two months earlier, when the Cardinals were 62-55, nine behind the first-place Phillies, Gussie Busch fired general manager Bing Devine and replaced him with Howsam. From there, the Cardinals went 31-14, finishing in first at 93-69, one game ahead of both the Reds and Phillies.

Howsam “must have known something about baseball because later he led Cincinnati to success as the Big Red Machine, but hardly any of us liked the guy,” White said in his book. “As far as most of us on the Cardinals were concerned, it was Bing Devine, not Bob Howsam, who had made our World Series victory possible, not least of all by bringing in Lou Brock.”

In addition to Brock, Devine acquired White, Curt Flood, Dick Groat, Julian Javier and pitchers Roger Craig, Curt Simmons, Barney Schultz and Ron Taylor. With Devine in charge of baseball operations, the farm system developed Bob Gibson, Tim McCarver, Ray Sadecki, Mike Shannon and Ray Washburn.

“So when Howsam stood up that night in Stan & Biggie’s and told the crowd, ‘I just want to point out that this turnaround didn’t happen until I took over the team,’ I went into a slow burn,” White said in his book.

Team captain Ken Boyer rose next and said a few words. Then it was White’s turn. “We won this title for Bing Devine,” White told the room. “Bing put this all together. Bing is the reason we’re all here.”

As White recalled, “Howsam didn’t say anything. I knew he must have hated hearing that, but I didn’t care.”

Lifetime achievement

Bill White, 92, is the 2026 recipient of baseball’s Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award. O’Neal’s many accomplishments include being the scout who discovered Lou Brock for the Cubs and guiding him into the majors.

White is being honored for his work as an advocate for integration in baseball, and for his success as a player (Giants, Cardinals, Phillies), broadcaster (Yankees) and executive (National League president).

The attributes a recipient is required to possess were exemplified by White on the day the 1964 Cardinals became World Series champs: Character, integrity, dignity.

Posted in Broadcasters, Executives, Hitters | 13 Comments »

Lance Rentzel: The good, the bad and the ugly

June 29, 2026 by retrosimba

It was challenging enough for the St. Louis football Cardinals to cover receiver Lance Rentzel when quarterbacks the likes of Don Meredith and Roger Staubach threw to him. Then halfbacks started heaving passes and more bedlam ensued.

On Thanksgiving Day in 1967, when the Cardinals faced the Cowboys at the Cotton Bowl, Dallas’ big-play receiving duo of Rentzel and Bob Hayes shredded the defense. Hayes had four catches for 110 yards and two touchdowns. (He also returned a punt 69 yards for a score.) Rentzel had five catches for 145 yards and two touchdowns.

The play that broke the game open was a 74-yard touchdown pass from halfback Dan Reeves to a wide-open Rentzel in the third quarter. As Rentzel recalled to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, “I said to myself, ‘If you drop this one, keep going.’ I would have, too. Right up the stairs, through the stands and far away.”

Dallas rolled to a 46-21 victory. Video and Stats

(St. Louis wasn’t alone in being fooled by Dallas’ halfback option play. A month later, on Dec. 31, 1967, in the NFL championship game at Green Bay, Reeves completed a 50-yard touchdown toss to Rentzel. Video and Stats)

By 1969, a knee ailment limited Reeves’ availability, but the halfback option remained prominent in the Dallas playbook. In the season opener, two rookies, quarterback Roger Staubach and halfback Calvin Hill, made their NFL debuts against the Cardinals at Dallas. Rentzel caught touchdown throws from both.

In the first quarter, Rentzel beat cornerback Lonnie Sanders and connected with Staubach on a 75-yard touchdown reception.

Clinging to a 7-3 lead late in the third quarter, the Cowboys called for Hill to throw. As a Yale senior, the former high school quarterback threw the halfback option pass for four touchdowns.

“It should have come as no surprise to the Cardinals that (Hill) could throw, but it did,” Robert Morrison of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted.

Rentzel got behind safety Larry Wilson and Hill found him for a 53-yard touchdown. “How’d you like that spiral?” Hill said to the San Antonio Light. “It usually doesn’t do that in practice.”

Dallas won, 24-3, prompting Cardinals head coach Charley Winner to moan to the Star-Telegram, “They caught our guys with their pants down.” Video and Stats

Unfortunately for Rentzel, getting caught with his pants down became a more serious matter.

Golden boy

Thomas Lance Rentzel was raised in Oklahoma City. His father, Delos Rentzel, served as chairman of the Civil Aeronautics Board and Undersecretary of Transportation when Harry Truman was president. In 1948, Delos Rentzel ordered an end to segregation at Washington’s National Airport, where blacks were barred from the restaurant and coffee shop, the New York Times reported.

Lance Rentzel excelled in academics, athletics and music. He was an accomplished pianist. Accepted to Ivy League schools, Rentzel instead chose the University of Oklahoma because he wanted to play football for head coach Bud Wilkinson.

The experience was eye-opening.

In his book “When All the Laughter Died in Sorrow,” Rentzel described an Oklahoma practice session: “I saw two players lose every bit of salt in their bodies and cramp up into coils of agony. They were rushed to the hospital. I saw another guy go crazy. He’d been knocked out and had been revived with smelling salts. When they stood him up on his feet, he went for Coach Wilkinson and began cursing him, then actually attacked him with his fists. The practice went on and on as though none of this were taking place … The regimen made us think we were prisoners on Devil’s Island. The pressure was tremendous.”

Rentzel found time for fun, though. As a sophomore in 1962, he wasn’t on the football travel squad. On the day before Oklahoma played Texas at the Cotton Bowl, Rentzel hitchhiked with friends to Dallas. “I didn’t want to miss the parties,” he recalled to William Gildea of the Washington Post.

At the game the next day, he was told he could suit up and watch from the sidelines. What he saw was Texas stuff Oklahoma’s running attack. Determined to spread the Texas defense, Wilkinson looked for a pass-catching threat. To Rentzel’s surprise, the coach sent him onto the field. Rentzel caught two consecutive passes _ the first for 38 yards and the next for 34 yards and Oklahoma’s only touchdown.

Troubling time

The Minnesota Vikings took Rentzel in the second round of the 1965 NFL draft. After trying Rentzel at running back early in training camp, Vikings head coach Norm Van Brocklin made him a receiver and also used him to return kickoffs. The rookie returned a kickoff 101 yards for a touchdown against the Baltimore Colts.

The Vikings had high hopes for Rentzel, but then came some disturbing behavior.

During Rentzel’s second NFL season in 1966, he was charged with having exposed himself to children on three occasions in St. Paul’s Highland Park area, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported. On Oct. 4, Rentzel, 22, pleaded guilty in St. Paul municipal court to a reduced charge of disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor, with no jail time. Judge James Lynch ordered psychiatric care.

Change of scene

The Vikings traded Rentzel to the Cowboys for a third-round draft choice. No one mentioned the St. Paul trouble. Instead, Rentzel cultivated an image of a glib, charming playboy. He was the Cowboys’ self-described “social chairman.” As the Post-Dispatch noted, “Disciplinary fines became so routine that Rentzel gave coaches $500 at the start of a season to apply to future fines.”

According to the Star-Telegram, a rookie receiver, Dennis Homan, said, “When I came to camp, I asked which receiver’s moves I should watch and they told me Rentzel. I watched his moves for three days and three nights. The days were OK, but the nights like to have killed me.”

Rentzel’s nightlife seemed all right with Cowboys management as long as he was catching passes and scoring touchdowns. As general manager Tex Schramm said to the Star-Telegram, “He’s young, single and good looking. What do you expect? There’s a difference between a guy going out and having fun, and one that goes out and has fights and is in trouble.”

In 1967, Rentzel was the team leader in receptions (58). The next year, ex-Colt Raymond Berry joined the Cowboys as receivers coach and sharpened Rentzel’s pass routes. Rentzel thrived, leading Dallas in receptions (54), receiving yards (1,009) and yards per catch (18.7), but his football feats took a backseat to his man-about-town persona. As Fort Worth writer Frank Luska put it, “Rentzel was stuck with the reputation that he’d rather chase a skirt than a football, that he’d rather make a pass than catch one.”

Living large

In May 1968, Rentzel met actress Joey Heatherton in Los Angeles during rehearsals for her summer TV show on NBC. Following a whirlwind courtship, they married on April 12, 1969, at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. Ushers in the wedding party included three of Rentzel’s football teammates _ Don Meredith, Craig Morton and Ralph Neely.

The year was gratifying for Rentzel on the football field, too. In 1969, he led the NFL in touchdown receptions (12) and yards per catch (22.3).

Then his demons reappeared.

Repeat offender

On Nov. 30, 1970, Rentzel was arrested on a charge of having exposed himself to a 10-year-old girl in Dallas. He pleaded guilty to indecent exposure and was sentenced to five years probation and mandatory psychiatric care. Judge John Mead could have sent Rentzel to prison but took into consideration no prior felony conviction. “I plan to work with my doctor until the problem is resolved,” Rentzel said to the Associated Press. “I promise that.”

In the book “When All the Laughter Died in Sorrow,” a psychiatrist described Rentzel’s behavior as “less an affliction than it is an impairment of maturation in a rather small area of personality.”

A month after his sentencing, Rentzel was traded to the Los Angeles Rams for Billy Truax and Wendell Tucker. That same day, the Cowboys dealt Pettis Norman, Tony Liscio and Ron East to the San Diego Chargers for Rentzel’s replacement, receiver Lance Alworth.

Joey Heatherton filed for divorce in September 1971 and it became final in 1972.

Life after football

After his second season with the Rams, Rentzel was arrested in a Los Angeles police raid and charged with possession of marijuana. He pleaded guilty and was suspended “for conduct detrimental to the NFL.”

Rentzel sat out the 1973 season, got reinstated in May 1974 and played a final season with the Rams that year.

“I had to realize that you can learn by mistakes,” Rentzel said to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. “I had to realize that no matter what happens to you or me or anyone else, the sun has a good track record for rising again tomorrow.”

Rentzel, who graduated from Oklahoma in 1965 with a degree in mathematics and an interest in computer science, relocated to the Washington, D.C. area, remarried and worked for a computer company before becoming a government contractor in technology. He was 82 when he died on June 7, 2026.

Posted in Football, Games, Opponents | 17 Comments »

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