In 1962, the Atlanta Crackers, a Cardinals farm club, made an incredible stretch drive to win the International League championship and Junior World Series title.
Managed by Joe Schultz, the 1962 Crackers had a lineup that included Cardinals prospects such as catcher Tim McCarver, outfielder Mike Shannon, second baseman Phil Gagliano, shortstop Jerry Buchek and pitcher Ray Sadecki.
After a slow start, the Crackers were stuck in sixth place on Aug. 19, 1962.
“Most of the season, the Crackers were characterized by faint bullpen hearts and limp offense in crises,” Atlanta columnist Furman Bisher wrote in The Sporting News.
Though the Crackers rallied and finished the regular season in third place at 83-71, qualifying them for the four-team International League playoffs, several publications reported the Cardinals had decided to fire Schultz after the postseason and replace him with Harry Walker.
To the surprise of most, the Crackers eliminated Toronto in six games in the first round of the best-of-seven playoff series and advanced to face Jacksonsville.
Atlanta and Jacksonville split the first six games of the league championship series, putting the spotlight squarely on Sadecki, a talented but erratic left-hander who had developed a tag as a “problem child.”
Sadecki, 21, had opened the 1962 season with the Cardinals, but he had missed most of spring training in a contract dispute and never got untracked.
On June 5, 1962, in a relief stint in St. Louis against the Reds, Sadecki faced five batters, allowed five runs, committed two errors and was booed off the field. After the game, he was fined $250 by manager Johnny Keane, who called Sadecki’s performance “the worst display of effort I’ve ever seen on a big-league diamond.”
Sadecki continued to struggle, and on July 31, 1962, with a 6-8 record and 5.54 ERA, he was demoted to Atlanta.
The wake-up call worked. Sadecki was 7-1 with a 2.55 ERA in nine appearances during the regular season for Atlanta.
Needing an ace to start the deciding Game 7 against Jacksonville, Schultz chose Sadecki.
Sadecki was protecting a 3-0 lead with two outs in the eighth when he “was hit on the face by a liner off the bat of Jacksonville’s Tony Martinez,” The Sporting News reported.
“Fortunately, the ball struck Sadecki a glancing blow on the wrist first, slowing it considerably,” according to The Sporting News.
After Jacksonville filled the bases on two singles and a walk in the ninth, Sadecki was relieved by Ed Bauta, who retired the side, clinching a 3-1 Crackers win and moving them into the Junior World Series against the American Association champions, the Louisville Colonels.
With Sadecki accounting for two of the Crackers’ four wins, Atlanta clinched the seven-game Junior World Series.
With a 5-1 postseason mark, Sadecki finished with a 12-2 record in his two months with Atlanta.
Two years later, he was a 20-game winner, helping the Cardinals earn the 1964 National League pennant and World Series title.
Schultz was rewarded for Atlanta’s successful 1962 finish by being named to the coaching staff of the Cardinals.
“I’ve managed about 20 clubs in 13 years, counting winter leagues, and I’ve never had a team make such a terrific comeback,” Schultz said.
RetroSimba 
This is trivia, but . . . . I grew up with the Cardinals, certified as an avid fan in 1960. In 1967 I went away to college at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. Had heard about the Crackers, and I ventured over to see their field.
Ooops. The field was gone and replaced by the first K-Mart I ever saw, across the street from the neatest old Sears building that ever was. I made a lot of trips to that Sears and K-Mart, and always asked about the old Crackers team and stadium from the locals. They had a real fondness for the Crackers years in that neighborhood.
Also, during my years in Atlanta, I could always get the KMOX broadcast of the Cardinals on my car radio is I parked on top of the hill at Georgia Tech.
Ron:
I enjoyed reading those anecdotes. Thank you for sharing. I didn’t know what had become of the Crackers’ field. Glad to learn folks in the neighborhood maintained a fondness for the club. As a teen in Ohio trying to find the KMOX signal at night, I can relate to your experience atop the hill at Georgia Tech.
Mark
I heard a story of a 3rd baseman for the Crackers that committed so many errors, the coach pulled him. His replacement then began committing errors. Coach asked him what was his problem and he replied to the effect that ___ (original 3rd baseman) had “messed up” 3rd base so bad nobody could clean it up! Anyone know the details to this anecdote?
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