Ryan Theriot’s sometimes shaky fielding in his first few weeks as Cardinals shortstop doesn’t compare with the first-half funk experienced by Garry Templeton in 1978.
Unlike Theriot (eight errors in his first 32 games in 2011), Templeton was being loudly booed by Cardinals fans for poor shortstop play that contributed to St. Louis’ dismal first three months of the ’78 season.
Jim Russo, a Baltimore Orioles scout based in St. Louis, suggested the Cardinals should demote Templeton to the minors “until he gets his head screwed on.”
Templeton, 22, made eight errors during a stretch in which the Cardinals lost 16 of 17 games from May 12 to May 29. As the Cardinals entered the all-star break on July 10, Templeton had committed 27 errors. He would finish the season with 40, a team record for a shortstop.
Templeton reached rock bottom on July 9 in the Cardinals’ last game before the break.
Playing in St. Louis against the Pirates, the Cardinals took a 1-0 lead into the seventh inning. Pittsburgh loaded the bases with one out against starter Bob Forsch, who induced Ken Macha to hit a routine grounder to Templeton for what appeared to be an inning-ending double play. Templeton booted the ball for an error and two runs scored, opening the door to a six-run inning for Pittsburgh. The Pirates won, 6-1. Boxscore
“It’s frustrating to get an effort like that from Forsch and then kiss it away,” Cardinals manager Ken Boyer told The Sporting News. “One play turned the whole game around.”
After receiving advice from his father, Templeton improved in the season’s second half, though he still made 13 errors. In early August, Boyer told The Sporting News, “For the last three weeks, (Templeton) has played shortstop better than I’ve seen it played. After making that bad play behind Bob Forsch a few weeks ago, he began to realize he had to play good defense if his pitcher was to win.”
In October, Boyer hired Dal Maxvill, the slick-fielding shortstop on the Cardinals’ pennant winners of 1967 and ’68, to join St. Louis’ coaching staff and instruct Templeton.
“When you’re young, you’re inclined to hurry throws or throw too hard,” Maxvill told reporter Neal Russo. “Often, you’re not concentrating on who’s the batter or who’s coming up next. Garry is bound to become a superstar _ it’s just a matter of experience with him.”
Said Boyer, after the Cardinals finished 69-93 in 1978: “The one thing that will make this a better ballclub is to take Garry Templeton and make him think defense first … I don’t think he’s fully got the impact of how important a shortstop is to a team.”
Though displaying brilliant stretches of play during his six seasons with St. Louis, Templeton remained error-prone, only once making fewer than 20 errors in a season:
YEAR GAMES AT SHORTSTOP ERRORS
1976 53 24
1977 151 32
1978 155 40
1979 151 34
1980 115 29
1981 76 18
For more on Cardinals history, see the posting about acting manager Joe Pettini at CardinalsGM
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