RetroSimba

To be or not to be: How Bill Mazeroski took center stage

March 5, 2026 by retrosimba

Famous for the Hollywood ending he brought to a World Series, Bill Mazeroski was a natural for a part in a movie.

Seven years after hitting a walkoff home run for the Pirates in the ninth inning of Game 7 in the 1960 World Series against the Yankees’ Ralph Terry, Mazeroski was hired to make an out in the film “The Odd Couple.” Actually, the role required he make three outs _ with one swing.

Two ex-Cardinals, Ken Boyer and Jerry Buchek, had parts, too.

An eight-time National League Gold Glove Award winner at second base during his 17 years (1956-72) with the Pirates, Mazeroski was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001. He was 89 when he died on Feb. 20, 2026.

Casting calls

In 1967, filming began for “The Odd Couple,” a comedy about two bachelors sharing a New York apartment. Walter Matthau played a sportswriter slob, Oscar Madison, and Jack Lemmon was the persnickety roommate, Felix Unger.

One scene had Oscar covering a baseball game for his newspaper. At the crucial point of the game, with the score 1-0 and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, a press box phone rings. Sports reporter Heywood Hale Broun, playing himself, answers. The caller asks for Oscar and says it’s an emergency. Oscar reluctantly leaves his seat and takes the receiver. The caller is Felix. He tells Oscar he’s planning to make frankfurters and beans for dinner, so skip the ballpark hot dogs. As Oscar’s back is turned, the batter hits into a rare game-ending triple play. Oscar screams at Felix for causing him to miss the key moment in the game for such a trifling phone message.

The filmmakers arranged for the scene to be shot at New York’s Shea Stadium before the start of a Tuesday afternoon Pirates vs. Mets game on June 27, 1967. Seeking authenticity, they opted to use major-league players for the triple play segment on the field rather than actors. Each player participating received $100, the Screen Actors Guild minimum at the time.

Pirates outfielder Roberto Clemente was offered the role of the batter who hits into the triple play, but he declined. “They will use my name in the movie and exploit me for $100,” Clemente said to The Pittsburgh Press. “Not for me.”

Clemente told the New York Daily News, “They insult me. One hundred dollars. One hundred lousy dollars. That’s what they wanted to pay me? Who do they think they are trying to fool? They think Roberto Clemente was born last week?”

Mazeroski was asked to replace Clemente. “They must have seen me run,” the slow-footed Pirate quipped to the Associated Press.

Pirates base runners for the scene were Donn Clendenon at first, Matty Alou at second and Vern Law at third. (On the advice of his agent, Maury Wills turned down an offer to be a base runner).

A director’s dream

“Director Gene Saks set up three cameras in the back of the press box to shoot down on Matthau and the field,” the New York Times reported. A 75-person crew was given only 35 minutes to complete the shot after cameras were in place.

According to Newsday, as the ballplayers took their positions, Matthau turned to a real sports reporter and said, “I’ll bet a quarter we don’t get it on the first take.” The reporter nodded. Six minutes later, he took Matthau’s money.

On the fifth pitch from Jack Fisher, Mazeroski grounded sharply to third baseman Ken Boyer, who stepped on the bag and threw to Jerry Buchek at second. Buchek whipped the ball to first baseman Ed Kranepool, completing the triple play.

The Mets “had completed in seconds what most film companies require hours, sometimes days, to accomplish: an entire scene,” Newsday noted. Video

On with the show

As soon as the filming stopped, the Mets held a pregame ceremony in which 8,000 Bronx Little Leaguers honored outfielder Ron Swoboda as their favorite player. Then, in the first inning, Swoboda slammed a three-run home run.

The Pirates added a comical touch to the game as well. Gene Alley and Jose Pagan batted out of turn. When Mets manager Wes Westrum informed the umpires of the gaffe, the Pirates defaulted two third-inning runs. The Mets won, 5-2. Boxscore

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, when “The Odd Couple” had its Pittsburgh premiere at a charity benefit in 1968, the gold $5 tickets read: “The Odd Couple, starring Bill Mazeroski and Jack Lemmon.”

As a big-leaguer, Mazeroski never hit into a triple play, but he did help turn two triple plays. Both occurred in games against the Reds. Boxscore and Boxscore

Posted in Hitters, Games, Opponents | 6 Comments »

How Roy Face discovered Stan Musial still was The Man

February 28, 2026 by retrosimba

Roy Face had Stan Musial’s respect, but Musial had his number.

In his book “Stan Musial: The Man’s Own Story,” the Cardinals standout named Face the relief pitcher on his all-time team of players he saw during his 22 years in the majors.

A pint-sized right-hander with an exceptional forkball, Face “had confidence, courage and control,” Musial said.

In 16 seasons with the Pirates (1953 and 1955-68), Tigers (1968) and Expos (1969), Face totaled 191 saves and 104 wins. He led the National League in saves three times, posted an 18-1 record in 1959 and had three saves in the 1960 World Series for the champion Pirates.

Musial, though, had a .472 career on-base percentage (15 hits, 10 walks) against Face, according to retrosheet.org. The most noteworthy of those hits was a walkoff home run in the heat of the 1960 National League pennant chase.

Face, who remains the Pirates’ franchise leader in saves (186) and games pitched (802), died on Feb. 12, 2026, at 97, eight days before his 98th birthday.

Sandlot sensation

Elroy Face was from Stephentown, N.Y., near the Massachusetts state line. The town was named for Stephen Van Rensselaer, a founder of the Albany (N.Y.) public library and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), a private research university.

Face grew up in a working-class household. In the book “We Played the Game,” he told author Danny Peary, “My father was a carpenter by trade, but at times worked in the woods cutting logs and in a factory. My mother was a homemaker, but worked briefly gathering eggs at a chicken farm.”

At age 5, Face had rickets and his “bones were soft and bent” and his “body was racked with pain,” according to The Pittsburgh Press.

During his childhood, “I wasn’t a baseball fan and couldn’t have named 10 players in the big leagues, but I was the first in my family to play ball,” Face said to Danny Peary. “We didn’t have Little League, so I just played pickup ball.”

In high school, Face experienced two years of varsity baseball, pitching and playing short and second. “I realized I had special talent when I was 8-1 and pitched a shutout to give us our first league title,” Face told Danny Peary.

Face quit high school at 18 and spent a year and a half in the Army as a mechanic. After his discharge, he got a job in an Oldsmobile garage and played sandlot baseball for a town team in New Lebanon, N.Y.

During Labor Day weekend 1948, Phillies scout Fred Matthews was vacationing in the Berkshires when he went to see a sandlot game. Face pitched and Matthews offered the 20-year-old a contract for $140 a month.

Assigned to the Class D Bradford (Pa.) Blue Wings, Face primarily started and was 14-2 in 1949 and 18-5 in 1950, but the Phillies exposed him to the minor league draft and the Dodgers selected him. After two years in the Dodgers’ farm system, including a 23-9 mark for Class A Pueblo (Colo.) in 1951, Face was plucked by the Pirates in the December 1952 Rule 5 draft.

During the winters, Face studied carpentry and became a union carpenter. “Swinging that hammer, I figure, gives me more strength in my right arm,” Face told the Associated Press.

Fork in the road

Baseball’s rules required that the Pirates pitch Face in the big leagues in 1953 or offer him back to the Dodgers. The Pirates had little to lose in keeping him. Relying on two pitches, fastball and curve, the rookie appeared in 41 games, including 13 starts, and was 6-8 with a 6.58 ERA for a club that finished 50-104.

At 1954 spring training, Joe Page, the former Yankees closer who hadn’t pitched in the majors in four years, was attempting a comeback with the Pirates. Face watched how Page threw a forkball and learned to throw the pitch, a forerunner of the split-fingered fastball.

“To throw a forkball, you hold the ball between your (index) and (middle) fingers and let it slide through,” Face told Danny Peary. “I had long fingers and just wrapped them around the ball. You wouldn’t get the rotation you got on a fastball. On the fastball, you had your fingers behind the ball, giving it force. Page would move the ball so that one of his fingers would catch on one of the seams and he’d get a little pull on the seam to break it in or break it out. I’d throw it with the same delivery as my fastball. I’d throw it three-quarters speed so batters couldn’t tell it apart from the fastball. Usually it would sink, but sometimes it moved in and out, (or) would shoot upward. I didn’t vary it on purpose. I threw it the same way every time, aiming for the middle of the plate, and let it take care of itself.”

Face was sent to the minor-league New Orleans Pelicans in 1954 to work on developing the forkball for a team managed by Danny Murtaugh. Brought back to the majors in 1955, Face was a workhorse. He relieved in nine consecutive Pirates games in September 1956, going 3-1 with a save in that stretch. Face also started occasionally until Murtaugh became Pirates manager in August 1957 and made him a fulltime reliever.

“I was often asked how I could stand the pressure of going into a game in late innings with men on base and a one-run lead,” Face said to Danny Peary. “I always felt the pressure was on the batter. I had eight guys helping me and he was all alone. He not only had to hit the ball, but hit it where someone wouldn’t catch it. My philosophy was to throw strikes and let them hit the ball and have my teammates do their jobs. I never felt scared on the mound.”

On a roll

Face led the league in saves for the first time in 1958. He was successful on 20 of 23 save chances.

“By now I had four pitches: a 90 mph fastball, a curve, the forkball and a decent slider, which I developed in 1957 and 1958,” Face told Danny Peary. “Because I had good control, I threw all pitches on all counts. I’d throw harder stuff to a breaking-ball hitter and more breaking stuff to a fastball hitter. If a guy had me timed on the fastball, I might throw my slider at the same speed and the little bit of movement took the ball to the end of the bat instead of the sweet part.”

His money pitch, though, was the forkball. In “We Played the Game,” Face said, “There was no such thing as a good forkball hitter. Some batters would swing a foot over it. I was hurt by hanging curves and sliders, but not with the forkball if it broke properly.”

In describing Face’s forkball to The Pittsburgh Press, Dick Groat, who batted against him after being traded from Pittsburgh to St. Louis, said, “Coming at you, it looked exactly like a fastball. Then when it got to the plate, it absolutely died.”

Face became famous in 1959 because of his 18-1 record. He won his last five decisions in 1958 and his first 17 in 1959, giving him 22 consecutive wins. Face lost to the Braves on May 30, 1958, and didn’t lose again until Sept. 11, 1959, to the Dodgers. He made 98 appearances in a row without a loss.

(Rube Marquard holds the record for most consecutive wins in a season, with 19 for the 1912 Giants. The mark for most consecutive wins over two seasons is held by Carl Hubbell, who won 24 straight for the 1936-37 Giants.)

In “We Played the Game,” Face said, “1959 wasn’t my best season … I had my share of luck … I could easily have gone something like 12-7.”

Face blew nine of 19 save chances in 1959 and allowed 53 percent of inherited runners to score, but Pirates batters rescued him with runs, setting up wins.

Big blasts

On Aug. 26, 1960, the Pirates were in St. Louis to open a three-game series with the Cardinals. First-place Pittsburgh (75-46) had a 6.5-game lead over the Braves (67-51) and was 8.5 ahead of St. Louis (66-54). Face, who would be successful on 24 of 29 save opportunities in 1960, was a big factor in the Pirates’ success.

Batting third in the Cardinals’ order for the Friday night series opener was Stan Musial. It had been a strange, stressful year for the 39-year-old seven-time National League batting champion. In May, during a slump, manager Solly Hemus benched Musial indefinitely. Frustrated, Musial told Bob Broeg of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he would accept a trade to Pittsburgh and end his career near his hometown of Donora, Pa. The deal didn’t develop and, after a month on the bench, Musial was restored to the lineup.

On Aug. 11 at Pittsburgh, Musial slammed a two-run home run in the 12th inning against Bob Friend, propelling the Cardinals to victory.

Two weeks later, Friend was the starter in the series opener at St. Louis. Musial beat him again, with another two-run homer that gave the Cardinals a 3-1 win.

On Saturday night, for Game 2 of the series, a standing-room crowd of 30,712, the Cardinals’ largest at home since July 22, 1956, came out. With two outs and the score tied at 4-4 in the bottom of the ninth, Musial batted against Face. Musial fell behind in the count, 1-and-2, then walloped Face’s next pitch over the pavilion roof in right for a game-winning homer.

As the ball fell out of view behind the lights, the roar of the crowd reached a crescendo and left no doubt “that Mr. Musial is the most popular thing in St. Louis since tap beer,” Hank Hollingworth noted in the Long Beach Press-Telegram. Boxscore

Musial watched the finale on Sunday afternoon from the shade of the dugout, but the Cardinals won, 5-4, against Harvey Haddix, sweeping the series and moving within 5.5 games of the Pirates. Boxscore

“I don’t get a particular kick out of beating the Pirates,” Musial said to The Pittsburgh Press, “but I do my best. If we can’t win the pennant, naturally I want the Pirates to win because it’s my hometown (team).”

Pittsburgh prevailed, winning the pennant for the first time since 1927. In the World Series against the Yankees, Face saved Games 1, 4 and 5.

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers | 9 Comments »

Free spirit Rube Waddell became a St. Louis sensation

February 22, 2026 by retrosimba

Before Grover Cleveland Alexander or Dizzy Dean or Bob Gibson, the St. Louis pitcher who enthralled the hometown fans was Rube Waddell.

United Press described the eccentric left-hander as “the Peter Pan of the game, a boy who never grew up.”

Waddell had his prime (1902-07) with the Philadelphia Athletics, winning 131 and leading the American League in strikeouts each year. He spent his last three big-league seasons with the St. Louis Browns.

Facing his former team, Waddell struck out 16 Athletics, then an AL single-game record. As an encore, he dueled for 10 innings with Walter Johnson and fanned 17 Washington Senators.

A natural

George Edward Waddell was from Bradford, Pa., near the New York state border. The town is closer to Buffalo (78 miles) than it is to Pittsburgh (154 miles).

According to the Baseball Hall of Fame, Waddell got the nickname Rube because “he was a big, fresh kid.”

He was a stud, too. A “magnificent physique,” Tigers manager Hughie Jennings told the Detroit Free Press.

According to Harry Grayson of Newspaper Enterprise Association, “Rube’s hand wrapped itself around a baseball as though it were a marble.”

John Wray of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote, “He had an arm like Hercules.”

Waddell used those physical gifts to pitch with velocity and movement. His fastball was exceptional, and he also spun an assortment of curves, drops and shoots.

At 20, Waddell got to the majors with Louisville of the National League in 1897, becoming a teammate of fellow rookie Honus Wagner. He went on to pitch for Pittsburgh and Chicago in the National League and had stints in the minors, including at Milwaukee, where Connie Mack was manager.

In 1901, Mack took over the Athletics and acquired Waddell a year later.

Special stuff

With the A’s, Waddell had 21 wins or more in four consecutive seasons (1902-05) and topped 300 strikeouts two years in a row (1903-04). No other pitcher had consecutive 300-strikeout seasons until Sandy Koufax (1965-66). In a July 1902 shutout of Baltimore, Waddell became the first American League pitcher to strike out the side on nine pitches, according to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Boxscore

The A’s were American League champions in 1902 and 1905. The pennants “were won mainly through the efforts of the Rube,” Mack told the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Waddell won 24 for the 1902 A’s after joining them in June. In 1905, he was the American League leader in wins (27), ERA (1.48) and strikeouts (287). In a July 4, 1905, doubleheader at Boston, Waddell won in relief in Game 1, then started Game 2 against Cy Young. It lasted 20 innings. Both starters went the distance, with Waddell prevailing. After the last out, he turned cartwheels from the mound to the dugout. “Rube Waddell was the best left-hander of all time,” Cy Young said in 1943, according to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Boxscore and Boxscore

Nap Lajoie, a five-time American League batting champion who totaled 3,243 hits, said of Waddell to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, “I never faced a better southpaw … I believe he had more speed than any other left-hander I ever batted against.”

Generous heart

Waddell was kindly, carefree, foolhardy, gullible and an inveterate carouser.

“He was entirely without inhibitions, and he acted on any impulse,” baseball author Mac Davis wrote in the Inquirer. “He disappeared for days to go fishing. Often he vanished in the middle of a game to chase fire engines, march in town parades or play marbles with children.”

Columnist Harry Grayson noted, “Waddell loved to pitch, but baseball rated fifth on his list of passions. Ahead of the game, in the order named, came fishing, drinking, tending bar and running to fires, with or without a fireman’s hat.”

Waddell’s “greatest delight was to assist in fighting fires,” the St. Louis Star-Times reported. “When not playing baseball, he loitered about fire engine houses and was always one of the first to find a seat in the hose van or to climb onto the engine when an alarm sounded.”

When the A’s had a day off in Washington, Connie Mack and a friend heard bells as fire engines raced to answer an alarm. “We pulled up in front of the building and I couldn’t help but admire the bravery of one fireman who perched on the window of the second story and poured water into the flames from a hose,” Mack said to Arthur Daley of the New York Times. “I watched him for a while, looked a little closer and, by golly, it was Rube Waddell.”

Waddell wrestled an alligator during spring training in Florida and was bitten on the hand while clowning with a circus lion in Chicago.

One of his favorite stunts was to enter a saloon flourishing a baseball and touting it as the one used in the 20-inning win against Cy Young. “It was a different ball every occasion,” Mack told Arthur Daley, “but it always was good for a few drinks.”

Having cashed a paycheck, Waddell liked to visit a saloon, buy drinks for himself and rounds for the house until his pockets were empty, then go behind the bar, don an apron and serve customers, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported.

Waddell likely was an alcoholic. According to the Globe-Democrat, “He had been known to consume a quart of whiskey before breakfast.”

According to The Sporting News, “Friends and admirers kept him full of alcohol from morning until night.”

Connie Mack told Arthur Daley, “I often had him arrested for his own good.”

As Hughie Jennings, the Tigers’ manager, noted to the Detroit Free Press, “If he hadn’t possessed superhuman strength and a constitution of iron, he wouldn’t have lasted as long as he did.”

Money meant little to Waddell. He spent it, or gave it away, as soon as he got some. Browns owner Robert Hedges resorted to doling out a dollar or so at a time to Waddell rather than pay his salary in lump sums. “Waddell hardly knew from one year to the other what his salary was,” The Sporting News noted. “The club paid his board bills and gave him a daily allowance of spending money, $1 or $2.”

The top salary Waddell got was $3,000. According to the Globe-Democrat, “Waddell had no realization of the value of money and was always so deeply in debt and so greatly in need of funds that he was willing to sign for any salary offered him provided he could get a few dollars in advance when he needed.”

While acknowledging that Waddell “was his own worst enemy,” Connie Mack told the Inquirer, “He was the best-hearted man on our team … When a comrade was sick, Rube was the first one on hand to see him and the last to leave. If he had money, it went for some gift or offering to the sick man.”

In a game at Boston on July 1, 1904, a Jesse Tannehill fastball hit A’s batter Danny Hoffman just above the eye. Hoffman fell to the ground in a heap. According to the Post-Dispatch, “Rube was the first man to his side. He lifted the unconscious player from the ground in his powerful arms as though Hoffman were a mere boy and carried him from the field … He spent the entire night by the (hospital) bedside of Hoffman.” Boxscore

Bound for Browns

Connie Mack was Waddell’s most ardent supporter but even he lost patience with the pitcher. In February 1908, the A’s sold Waddell’s contract to the Browns for $5,000. “Carousing with his Philadelphia friends caused Waddell to be (dealt),” the St. Louis Star-Times reported.

Waddell, 31, still was a top pitcher. He’d won 19 with a 2.15 ERA for the 1907 A’s.

In going to St. Louis, Waddell was reunited with his former A’s teammate, Danny Hoffman, who recovered from the beaning in Boston and joined the Browns.

On April 17, 1908, Waddell made his Browns debut in a start against the White Sox at Chicago and pitched a one-hit shutout in a 1-0 victory. Boxscore

A week later, in the Browns’ home opener, Waddell beat the White Sox again, with a four-hitter. Boxscore

The first time Waddell faced the A’s he beat them with a five-hitter at Philadelphia. Boxscore

A record and a comeback

On July 29, 1908, the A’s were in St. Louis and, oh, how the tables had turned. The Browns (53-38) were in second place, seven games ahead of the A’s (44-43), and Waddell again was starting versus his former club.

The A’s looked helpless early on, striking out often. The Browns led, 1-0, through five innings, but they encountered trouble in the sixth.

The umpire, 5-foot-7 Tommy Connolly, had his view of the plate obscured by Browns catcher Tubby Spencer. The first two A’s batters in the sixth drew walks. “Possibly Rube’s curves were too sharp for Little Tom standing behind Big (Tubby) Spencer,” the Post-Dispatch reported. “Connolly looks like a midget. He has to peek around, or under, (Tubby’s) arms to see the ball coming.”

The rejuvenated A’s scored three times in the sixth. Then, in the seventh, Waddell zoned out. With a runner on third and two outs, Eddie Collins topped a grounder to first baseman Tom Jones, who moved in, gloved the ball and turned, looking for Waddell to take the toss at first. Waddell, however, stood frozen on the mound as the runner from third streaked home, extending the A’s lead to 4-1.

Trying to cover his gaffe, Waddell dropped to one knee and pretended he had something in his eye. “The pretext was so palpable that not a teammate came near him to inquire what was wrong,” John Wray noted in the Post-Dispatch. “Tom Jones approached within 10 feet and threw his handkerchief on the ground in front of the kneeling pitcher, walking back to first base without a word to him.”

According to the Globe-Democrat, “A large number of persons left the park in disgust, thinking that the Browns stood no chance of winning.”

More drama, though, was still to come.

In the ninth, Waddell fanned Topsy Hartsel for the record-setting 16th strikeout of the game, but the pitcher didn’t stick around to watch his teammates bat in the bottom half of the inning. Waddell went to the clubhouse and began to undress. He took off his shoes and socks, then heard a roar. The Browns were threatening.

“Barefooted, Rube rushed to the fence between the grandstand and bleachers,” James Crusinberry reported in the Post-Dispatch. “From his place behind the fence, he madly waved a towel,” urging his teammates on.

A combination of five hits and an error resulted in four runs, lifting Waddell and the Browns to a 5-4 triumph. Boxscore

High speed

According to Connie Mack and Nap Lajoie, the only pitcher of that time with more velocity than Waddell was a right-hander, Walter Johnson of the Senators. On Sept. 20, 1908, Johnson and Waddell were the starters in a game at St. Louis.

Waddell whiffed 14 in nine innings but the score was tied and he and Johnson had more work to do. Waddell fanned three more in the 10th, the last one with the bases loaded, giving him 17 strikeouts. In the bottom half, Danny Hoffman lined a single, scoring Tom Jones from second for a 2-1 Browns victory. “Rube Waddell had more sheer pitching ability than any man I ever saw,” Johnson said, according to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Boxscore

Waddell completed the 1908 season with a 19-14 record, a 1.89 ERA and 232 strikeouts. That remains the Browns/Orioles franchise record for most strikeouts in a season. Also, no other Browns/Orioles pitcher has matched Waddell’s 17 strikeouts in a game or his 16 whiffs in nine innings.

The 1910 Browns season was Waddell’s last in the big leagues. He totaled 193 wins with a 2.16 ERA. Waddell struck out 19.8 percent of all batters faced. The major-league average is 9.3, according to baseball-reference.com. In 1946, Waddell was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Posted in Games, Pitchers, Trades | 9 Comments »

How Cardinals gave Sonny Jurgensen a frightful pounding

February 16, 2026 by retrosimba

Like a fabled Wild West gunslinger fast on the draw, Sonny Jurgensen had the quickest release of any quarterback.

“Swaggering onto the field and then back into more or less a pocket, he would pump quickly and release,” Gordon Forbes of the Philadelphia Inquirer observed. “The ball would spiral beautifully, like a horizontal top, sometimes incredibly close to the defenders and almost always against the chest of (the receiver).”

“He never puts his body into a throw,” receiver Pete Retzlaff told the Philadelphia Daily News. “He uses the arm, and that’s all. That’s why he can get rid of the ball so fast when he’s falling down or being tackled.”

Yet, for all his considerable skill in mastering the release, not even Jurgensen could overcome porous pass protection and a savage St. Louis Cardinals blitz.

In a 1964 game against the Cardinals, Jurgensen was sacked eight times _ the most sacks he suffered during 18 seasons in the NFL.

One of football’s all-time best passers as well as a notorious bon vivant, Jurgensen was 91 when he died on Feb. 6, 2026.

Name of the game

Christian Adolph Jurgensen III was from Wilmington, N.C. Everyone called him Sonny. As Jack Kent Cooke, who owned the Washington NFL franchise, told the Los Angeles Times, “Sonny Jurgensen is a perfect juxtaposition of words. Sonny Jurgensen. It rolls. It’s euphonious.”

At New Hanover High School (also the alma mater of Roman Gabriel), Jurgensen was captain of the football, basketball and baseball teams. He played college football at Duke and his poise and pin-point passing carried the Blue Devils to road wins against Ohio State and Tennessee.

According to the Durham Herald-Sun, Duke backfield coach and former NFL standout Ace Parker told Philadelphia Eagles general manager Vince McNally, “Jurgensen is one of the finest pro quarterback prospects I’ve seen in years.”

The Eagles chose Jurgensen in the fourth round of the 1957 NFL draft, but at his first training camp, “I was like a scared rabbit,” the quarterback recalled to the Philadelphia Daily News.

Jurgensen made four starts his rookie season but then Norm Van Brocklin arrived from the Los Angeles Rams and became the Eagles’ No. 1 quarterback. For three seasons, Jurgensen sat and learned from the Dutch master. Van Brocklin “had a tremendous influence on my career,” Jurgensen told the Daily News.

After leading the Eagles to the 1960 NFL title, Van Brocklin turned to coaching, taking over the Minnesota Vikings. His understudy, Jurgensen, stepped up to the starting role with Philadelphia.

Good times roll

Jurgensen liked to have fun and was fun to watch _ cool, bold, with a gambler’s disposition on the field. “When Sonny Jurgensen walks, you can hear the dice rattle,” Bruce Keidan of the Inquirer wrote.

Once, while wrapped in the arms of defensive tackle Bob Lilly, Jurgensen was about to go down when he slung a behind-the-back pass to Pete Retzlaff for a gain of 14 yards. Another time, according to Jack McKinney of the Daily News, Sonny was “rushed from the right, switched the ball to his left hand, stiff-armed the defensive end and drilled a pass, left-handed, to Billy Barnes” for 12 yards.

There seemed something special about everything Jurgensen did. As Ray Didinger of the Daily News put it, “The way he knelt in the huddle, picking at the grass as he called the next play. The way he swaggered to the line, looking over the defense with those smirking, pool hustler eyes.”

Jurgensen had the panache of a quarterback but the paunch of an offensive lineman. “He had this belly that spilled from beneath his numeral 9 like flour from a torn sack,” wrote Ray Didinger. Bob Quincy of the Charlotte Observer noted, “He excused his belly as his only sure blocker.”

“The paunch is deceptive,” Jurgensen told Shirley Povich of the Washington Post. “It’s simply the way I’m built.” Or, as he said to the Inquirer, “You don’t throw the ball with your stomach.”

The heavy belly was offset by a light heart. He liked a good laugh and looked for a good time. Once, when the Eagles were stinking up the field during a home game, frustrated fans began a chant, demanding Jurgensen’s backup, King Hill. “The only thing I resented about it was I noticed my wife was leading it,” Jurgensen said to the Inquirer. “”She’s a King Hill fan.” A Washington Daily News reporter once complimented Sonny on appearing thinner and asked what diet he was on. “Cutty Sark and water,” Jurgensen replied.

Beer was a favorite, too. “Sonny has a warm spot in his heart for malt, hops and barley,” Bruce Keidan wrote, “and years of indulging that affection have left him looking as though he recently swallowed a keg of draft, barrel and all.”

Bob Quincy noted, “Jurgensen diligently trained in nightclubs and corner pubs, cool retreats where he could strengthen his elbow.”

With the Eagles, Jurgensen twice led the NFL in passing yards. He also threw a league-best 32 touchdown passes in 1961. (The only Eagle with more touchdown tosses in a season is Carson Wentz, with 33 in 2017.) In a 1962 game versus the Cardinals, Sonny had five touchdown throws, including three to Tommy McDonald. Video

Joe Kuharich became the Eagles head coach in 1964 and he wanted a different quarterback. When Jurgensen was traded to Washington for quarterback Norm Snead, “the bartenders in Philadelphia all wore black arm bands,” wrote Dave Burgin of the Washington Daily News.

Run for your life

The Washington team Jurgensen joined was a mess. “He played for Washington when a solid offensive block was rarer than a tax cut,” Bob Quincy wrote.

On Sunday afternoon, Oct. 4, 1964, while the baseball Cardinals were beating the Mets in St. Louis to clinch the National League pennant on the last day of the season, the unbeaten football Cardinals were at District of Columbia Stadium to play winless Washington.

It was a dark, rainy day in D.C. and the mood of the fans matched the weather. Jurgensen and his teammates were jeered and booed during player introductions. Then, early in the game, Washington’s best offensive lineman, guard Vince Promuto, injured a knee and was unable to continue. The Cardinals capitalized, sending blitzers in waves against the overmatched Washington line.

According to the Charlotte News, the Cardinals were “blitzing one, two, and sometimes even three, linebackers on the same play.” Cardinals head coach Wally Lemm told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “That’s the most (blitzing) we’ve done in some time, but we had to do it against a quick thrower like Jurgensen.”

Blockers provided “horrible protection for poor Sonny,” the Washington Daily News reported, and, even with a quick release, Jurgensen couldn’t escape the rush. In addition to being sacked eight times for losses totaling 66 yards, he was intercepted twice. Pat Fischer returned one of the picks for a touchdown.

In the fourth quarter, with the Cardinals ahead, 21-10, the angry crowd screamed for backup quarterback George Izo. Coach Bill McPeak gave the people what they wanted. On Izo’s first play, he was sacked for a safety. The Cardinals won, 23-17. Game stats

“Gee, fellas, even The Almighty needs time to throw the ball,” Jurgensen said to the Philadelphia Daily News.

(Sonny got his revenge. In a 1965 game at St. Louis, he completed 12 of 14 passes, including three for touchdowns, and was sacked just twice in a 24-20 Washington victory. Game stats)

Odd couple

When Otto Graham, the straitlaced former Cleveland Browns quarterback, became Washington head coach in 1966, Jurgensen quipped to the Daily News, “I hear he’s a stickler for discipline _ a non-smoker, a non-drinker and a non-cusser. We ought to get on famously. There are only a few of us left.”

Jurgensen thrived, though, on the field. During Graham’s three seasons with Washington, Jurgensen twice led the NFL in completions and passing yards. He also threw a league-best 31 touchdown passes in 1967. That remains the Washington franchise single-season record.

“He can throw as well as anyone I have ever seen, barring none,” Graham told the Inquirer. “He’s a student of the game. He knows more football than I do, I think.”

Jurgensen alone, however, couldn’t make Washington a winner. The franchise hadn’t achieved a winning season since 1955, when Jurgensen was in college.

Then Vince Lombardi arrived.

Golden arm

Lombardi was a Sonny Jurgensen fan. He admired Jurgensen’s quick release and accuracy. With the Green Bay Packers, Lombardi won five NFL championships. Bart Starr was his quarterback. In the book “When Pride Still Mattered,” Lombardi biographer David Maraniss wrote, “Starr had been his brain on the field, the most committed and disciplined of his ballplayers, but in terms of pure talent he was not in the same category as Jurgensen.”

At first Jurgensen worried his fondness for fun would anger Lombardi, but as David Maraniss noted, “Jurgensen’s reputation as a playboy did not bother Lombardi. If anything, it reminded him of his favorite son in Green Bay, Paul Hornung. (Hornung) might break curfew, but he had uncommon talent and did not waste it. He was the best money player Lombardi had coached.”

Hornung, the Golden Boy, told Jurgensen, the Golden Arm, “Sonny, you’re going to love the guy.”

Lombardi immediately showed confidence in the quarterback, treating him like a leader. Jurgensen, in turn, bought in to Lombardi’s system. “It placed the emphasis on reading the defense and giving the quarterback fewer plays but more options,” David Maraniss noted. “As soon as Jurgensen got into Lombardi’s system, the game seemed to slow down. What had been chaotic suddenly made sense; everything became clear and comprehensible.”

Jurgensen led the NFL in completions and passing yards in his season with Lombardi, and Washington achieved a winning season in 1969. Its 7-5-2 record (including a 33-17 thumping of the Cardinals) was much like the 7-5 mark Lombardi posted in his first season at Green Bay in 1959.

In one year, Lombardi had turned the Washington franchise into a winner, but he didn’t live to coach another season. He died in 1970 at 57.

With George Allen as head coach, Washington became a perennial contender. The team became NFC champions in 1972, but Jurgensen tore an Achilles tendon in Game 6 and Billy Kilmer took over. Jurgensen watched on crutches from the sideline as the Miami Dolphins completed a perfect season with a 14-7 triumph over Washington in the Super Bowl. Washington fans were left to wonder what might have been if Jurgensen had played.

Two years later, in 1974, when Jurgensen was in his last season as a backup to Kilmer, George Allen gave him a start against the Dolphins. Jurgensen completed 26 passes for 303 yards and two touchdowns, leading Washington to a 20-17 victory. “I was 40 years old but I felt 16 that day,” Sonny recalled to the Philadelphia Daily News.

Jurgensen was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1983 and became a popular Washington sportscaster, partnering with former linebacker Sam Huff for highly entertaining radio broadcasts of Washington football games.

Posted in Football, Games, Opponents | 9 Comments »

Ballhawk Clendon Thomas was handy man to have on a team

February 11, 2026 by retrosimba

As a college football player, Clendon Thomas scored touchdowns in bunches. As a NFL player, his primary job was to prevent touchdowns.

In three varsity seasons (1955-57) with Oklahoma, Thomas scored 36 touchdowns: 34 (rushing or receiving) as a running back, one as a punt returner and the other on an interception return as a defensive back.

In 11 years with the Los Angeles Rams (1958-61) and Pittsburgh Steelers (1962-68), Thomas had stints on offense as a receiver and a kick returner, but he primarily was a cornerback and a safety. He intercepted 27 passes and recovered 10 fumbles, returning one for a touchdown.

Some of Thomas’ best NFL performances came versus the St. Louis Cardinals.

Elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2011, Thomas was 90 when he died on Jan. 26, 2026.

Producing points

In his hometown of Oklahoma City, Thomas grew up in a neighborhood populated primarily with oil field workers.

At Southeast High School (also the alma mater of baseball players Bobby Murcer, Darrell Porter and Mickey Tettleton), Thomas played football but “we weren’t too good,” he recalled to the Los Angeles Times.

A sportswriter convinced Oklahoma’s football staff to give Thomas a conditional scholarship. Showing speed, versatility and an ability to reach the end zone, Thomas impressed head coach Bud Wilkinson. In 1955, his sophomore year, Thomas joined junior Tommy McDonald as Oklahoma’s varsity running backs. McDonald scored 15 touchdowns and Thomas totaled nine (eight rushing and one on a punt return). The twin touchdown terrors led Oklahoma to an 11-0 record. Thomas also played defensive back. Beginning with a 20-0 victory over Missouri, Oklahoma shut out four consecutive foes and became national champions.

Thomas was college football’s leading scorer in 1956 as a junior, with 18 touchdowns (13 rushing, four receiving and one on a return of an intercepted pass from Paul Hornung of Notre Dame). Thomas averaged 7.9 yards per carry and 20.1 yards per catch. “He leans forward as he drives, his long legs knifing up and down, making him a hard man to tackle,” Deane McGowen of the New York Times observed. “Despite his long stride, he has the quickness of an open-field runner and can move laterally as well.”

The combination of Thomas and McDonald (12 TDs rushing and four receiving) carried Oklahoma to another national title in an undefeated 1956 season. Wins included 45-0 against Texas, 40-0 versus Notre Dame and 67-14 over Missouri.

Bud Wilkinson “taught me to reach down and do things I didn’t know I was capable of,” Thomas told The Daily Oklahoman. “He prepared us to win.”

Though slowed by a hip pointer his senior season in 1957, Thomas totaled nine rushing touchdowns. Oklahoma finished 10-1 for the year (Notre Dame snapped the Sooners’ 47-game win streak) and 31-1 during Thomas’ three varsity seasons. Video

Billy Vessels, the 1952 Heisman Trophy winner as an Oklahoma running back, told the Tulsa World in 1999 that Thomas “is probably the most underrated player we’ve ever had (at Oklahoma). He represented everything you wanted a college football player to be.”

L.A. days

The Los Angeles Rams took Thomas in the second round of the 1958 NFL draft, but he fractured his left ankle returning a kickoff for the college all-stars in an exhibition game against the Detroit Lions and was sidelined until November of his rookie season.

During his first three years with the Rams, Thomas was tried at halfback (“I’m a gangly kind, not the type they were looking for,” he told The Pittsburgh Press), tight end, split end and cornerback. He had some success as a receiver. In 1960, he caught a touchdown pass against the Cardinals, in their first regular-season game since moving from Chicago to St. Louis, and made seven catches for 137 yards against the Green Bay Packers.

Thomas returned fulltime to defense in 1961, starting at safety for the Rams, then was traded to the Steelers for linebacker Mike Henry in September 1962.

(Henry went on to an acting career, most notably as Tarzan in three movies from 1966-68. While filming a jungle scene, he was attacked and bitten on the face by a chimpanzee. Henry also had roles in “The Green Beret,” “Rio Lobo,” “Soylent Green,” “The Longest Yard” and “Smokey and the Bandit.”)

Multi-tasking

Thomas was the Steelers’ interceptions leader in 1962 (seven) and 1963 (eight). He picked off two Charley Johnson passes in a 1963 game versus the Cardinals.

During the 1964 season, the Steelers needed receivers, so head coach Buddy Parker asked Thomas to play both offense and defense. According to Roy McHugh of The Pittsburgh Press, Thomas, who owned horses on a ranch in Oklahoma, took a “bronco buster’s attitude” to Parker’s request. In other words: Bring it on.

“When I signed my contract,” Thomas told the newspaper, “I signed to play whatever position they picked for me.”

On Nov. 8, 1964, in his first game as a Steelers receiver, Thomas had four catches for 61 yards against the Cardinals. Consistently in the clear, Thomas would have had more receptions if quarterback Bill Nelsen had been on target. Thomas “knew what he was doing all the time,” Parker told The Pittsburgh Press, “and he ran his patterns as though he had been running them all season.”

Three weeks later, in a rematch with the Cardinals, Thomas intercepted a pass and made four catches for 113 yards.

Mike Nixon became Steelers head coach in 1965 and he continued to use Thomas as a receiver. In one of his best performances that season, Thomas had seven catches for 90 yards in a November game against St. Louis.

For his NFL career, Thomas averaged 17.4 yards per catch on 60 receptions. He also ran back kickoffs, averaging 25.1 yards on 22 returns.

However, as The Pittsburgh Press noted, “The Steelers’ defense was weaker without Thomas.” Restored fulltime to defense, Thomas finished his last three seasons at safety for Pittsburgh. “I’m glad to be back on defense,” Thomas told The Press. “I think I belong there and can help the team more.”

After his playing days, Thomas founded a chemical products company that manufactured water repellents for the construction industry.

Posted in Football, Games, Opponents, Prospects | 7 Comments »

How John Brodie got back his groove versus Cardinals

February 6, 2026 by retrosimba

An aching back couldn’t stop John Brodie from being a pain in the neck to the St. Louis football Cardinals.

After a hospital stay for back treatment, Brodie had one of his best games as San Francisco 49ers quarterback, passing for three touchdowns in a 35-17 triumph over the Cardinals.

The game also was noteworthy for the satisfaction two former Cardinals, John David Crow and Sonny Randle, got catching touchdown passes from Brodie against the team that traded them.

Brodie spent 17 seasons in the NFL, all with the 49ers. Only Joe Montana has more career completions and more career passing yards as a 49er than Brodie.

Brodie also played professional golf and was a sports broadcaster for NBC. He was 90 when he died on Jan. 23, 2026.

Rooted in the region

Born and raised in the Bay Area, Brodie was an athlete at Oakland Technical High School. The Oakland Athletic League named him first-team all-city in football (quarterback) and basketball (forward). He and Frank Robinson competed against one another in basketball. In Oakland Tech’s 58-50 victory against McClymonds in February 1953, Brodie poured in 17 points and Robinson scored 14.

Brodie told the San Francisco Examiner he planned to enroll at Cal Berkeley. He changed his mind and went to Stanford instead. Brodie shared quarterback duties on the freshman team. When he reported for varsity spring practice in 1954, he was sixth on the depth chart. His superior passing skills vaulted him to the top. Brodie became varsity starter as a sophomore. “We can’t recall any Stanford athlete in the past 10 years who has developed as fast as Brodie has in the short space of a year,” coach Chuck Taylor told the Peninsula Times Tribune.

As a senior in 1956, Brodie was the NCAA leader in total offense and passing. The 49ers made him the third overall pick in the first round of the 1957 NFL draft, taking him ahead of Jim Brown.

Tough crowd

Brodie spent his first four NFL seasons in competition with incumbent Y.A. Tittle for the quarterback job. In his book “Open Field,” Brodie recalled, “On the practice field and during games, the tension between Tittle and me continued to mount … It got to be a very unhealthy situation. We were both using up a lot of effort fencing with each other.”

Tittle was traded to the New York Giants before the 1961 season and led them to three consecutive East Division titles. Brodie took over as 49ers starter and became a scapegoat for the team’s failure to make the playoffs during the 1960s.

Though he three times led the NFL in completions and passing yards, and twice was tops in touchdown throws, Brodie was a frequent target of boos at San Francisco’s Kezar Stadium. He had 224 passes intercepted, 90 more than any other 49ers quarterback all-time.

His relations with the paying customers worsened when Brodie benefitted from an attempt to leave the 49ers. It happened after the 1965 season when the rival AFL tried to entice players to jump over from the NFL. Brodie, paid $35,000 in 1965, agreed to a three-year $750,000 offer from the AFL Houston Oilers.

Soon after, though, the NFL and AFL arranged to merge, voiding Brodie’s deal. When Brodie threatened to sue, jeopardizing the merger plans, the clubs rushed to appease him. The 49ers made Brodie the highest-paid player, with a four-year contract for $915,000. The Oilers agreed to pay about half the cost.

In Brodie’s first three games as the richest man in football, the 49ers went winless, including a 34-3 loss to the Los Angeles Rams, who intercepted Brodie four times. San Francisco fans responded with a collective boo.

“Brodie spent most of the 1960s getting booed,” the San Francisco Chronicle noted. The boos sounded “like waves of thunder rolling overhead,” Brodie said in his book. Boos weren’t the worst of it. Above the tunnel leading from the locker rooms to the field at Kezar Stadium, fans hurled bottles and cans at their quarterback. “Brodie had to wear his helmet after games as he ducked into the tunnel,” the Chronicle observed.

A teammate, linebacker Dave Wilcox, told the newspaper, “If we lost, you knew not to walk off the field with Brodie.”

In his book, Brodie recalled, “Stadium officials built a wire cage with cyclone fencing over the exposed part of the ramp. That didn’t stop some of the fans. They fell into the habit of dropping hot pennies through the mesh, aiming for the space between the back of the neck and the shoulder pads.”

Cardinals provide cure

Fans figured to be in a foul mood for the 49ers’ 1968 home opener against the Cardinals. The 49ers had looked awful in Week 1 at Baltimore. Former 49ers quarterback Earl Morrall threw two touchdown passes and led the Colts to a 27-10 victory. Brodie was intercepted three times and had no touchdown throws.

In the week leading up to that first home game, Brodie’s back stiffened. He spent Thursday and Friday in traction at a hospital. On Sunday, he was in the starting lineup against the Cardinals.

Brodie completed his first five passes. On second-and-nine from the Cardinals’ 29, receiver Sonny Randle came into the huddle and told Brodie to look for him. Randle exploded off the line and got between defensive backs Brady Keys and Larry Wilson. He caught Brodie’s throw and spun into the end zone for his 65th and last NFL touchdown reception. (Sixty of those came as a Cardinal.) It was special for him to score one against his former team. “This one had to be the biggest thrill of them all,” Randle told the San Francisco Examiner.

After the Cardinals tied the score at 7-7, the 49ers were at the 50. John David Crow, the former Cardinals running back who converted to tight end with San Francisco, told Brodie that safety Mike Barnes, filling in for injured Jerry Stovall, could be beaten over the middle. Crow caught Brodie’s pass at the 15 and ran into the end zone from there.

Gleeful about scoring against his former team, Crow flung the ball high into the stands. In those days, clubs discouraged that by making the player pay for the football. “I don’t care if the ball cost $100,” Crow crowed to the Chronicle. “I feel that good about it.”

Randle said he and Crow had talked before the game about wanting to play well against the Cardinals. “You like to feel you always put out 100 percent,” Randle told the Peninsula Times Tribune, “but today we reached down for a little more.”

When Brodie trotted off the field with 3:23 remaining and the 49ers safely ahead at 28-10, he received a standing ovation from the Kezar Stadium crowd. Later, in the locker room, Brodie winced from the pain in his back as he took off his shoulder pads. “When I’m out on that field, I don’t feel a thing,” he told the Peninsula Times Tribune, “but I can assure you it is hurting plenty now.” Video

From football to fairways

Brodie took the 49ers to the NFC title game in both 1970 (when he won the NFL Most Valuable Player Award) and 1971. His pro football career ended in 1973, but he wasn’t done with sports. Brodie was a football and golf broadcaster for 12 years with NBC. He also was an expert at bridge and backgammon and competed in the world dominoes championship. When he turned 50 in 1985, Brodie joined the Senior PGA Tour.

Golf was a passion for Brodie. According to the Los Angeles Times, he taught himself to play as a youth. At Stanford, he earned two varsity letters in golf.

Brodie played the PGA Tour in 1959 and 1960 during the NFL off-season, but made only nine cuts in 29 tournaments. Brodie “was good but not good enough,” Arnold Palmer recalled to the Los Angeles Times. “Maybe he was just a step or two away from where he actually could do it.”

In the 1959 U.S. Open at Winged Foot, Brodie shot 76-77 and missed the cut by three strokes, but was a stroke better than 19-year-old amateur Jack Nicklaus.

On the Senior PGA Tour, Brodie drove well, hit solid irons but wasn’t a good putter. He played in 230 Senior PGA Tour events between 1985 and 1998, winning once.

The victory came in 1991 at Los Angeles when Brodie prevailed in a playoff with George Archer and Chi Chi Rodriguez. On the first playoff hole, Brodie needed to make a four-inch birdie putt for the win. As Brodie eyed the shot, Chi Chi Rodriguez, ever the entertainer, “took out a handkerchief and placed it over Brodie’s eyes like a blindfold,” the Associated Press reported.

Brodie laughed and, with eyes wide open, sank the putt, triumphing over a field that included Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Lee Trevino and Billy Casper.

For Brodie, winning a pro golf tournament was as thrilling as anything he achieved in the NFL. “Golf is the most demanding sport in the world,” he told the Louisville Courier-Journal. “It’s the best and most challenging game to play.”

Posted in Football, Games, Opponents | 11 Comments »

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