RetroSimba

In his lone season with the Cardinals, Gino Cimoli achieved a standard no other St. Louis right-handed batter had matched in 20 years.

Cimoli hit 40 doubles for the 1959 Cardinals.

He was the first Cardinal to reach the 40-double mark since Stan Musial hit 41 in 1954 and the first right-handed batter to do it for St. Louis since Joe Medwick’s 48 in 1939.

Cimoli’s output placed him fourth in the National League in doubles in 1959, trailing only the Reds’ Vada Pinson (47), the Braves’ Hank Aaron (46) and the Giants’ Willie Mays (43).

Cimoli was an unlikely candidate to hit 40 doubles. In a 10-year big-league career, his next-best total was 22 doubles.

Acquired by the Cardinals from the Dodgers on Dec. 4, 1958, for outfielder Wally Moon and pitcher Phil Paine, Cimoli opened the 1959 season as the starting center fielder, ahead of Curt Flood.

In need of better corner outfield play _ the Cardinals had three first basemen (Stan Musial, Joe Cunningham and Bill White) playing outfield _ St. Louis sometimes shifted Cimoli to right or left and put Flood in center.

Cimoli played 95 games in center field, 56 in right and 47 in left for St. Louis.

Primarily batting second in the order, Cimoli had 145 hits in 143 games, batting .279 with eight home runs and 72 RBI.

On May 10, 1959, he went 7-for-10 with six runs, three doubles, a homer and four RBI in the Cardinals’ doubleheader split with the Cubs.

In the opener, won by the Cubs, 10-9, Cimoli was 4-for-6 with a double, homer and two RBI. Boxscore

In the second game, Chicago led 7-6 in the ninth before Cimoli’s RBI-double into the left-field corner tied the score. Flood followed with a single, scoring Cimoli with the winning run in St. Louis’ 8-7 victory. Boxscore

“It’s great to play every day,” Cimoli told the Associated Press. “I’m off to a good start (.349 batting average) and I feel I have a better future with the Cardinals than I did with the Dodgers.”

Desperate for pitching after finishing in seventh place with a 4.34 team ERA in 1959, the Cardinals dealt Cimoli and pitcher Tom Cheney to the Pirates for pitcher Ron Kline, an 11-game winner, on Dec. 21, 1959.

The deal backfired on St. Louis. Kline was 4-9 with a 6.04 ERA in 34 games for the 1960 Cardinals. Cimoli, used as a regular replacement for outfielders Roberto Clemente, Bill Virdon and Bob Skinner, helped Pittsburgh to the 1960 World Series title.