(Updated Jan. 10, 2022)
Outfielder Minnie Minoso spent most of his 17-year big-league career with the White Sox and Indians. When Minoso was acquired by the Cardinals after the 1961 season, it was believed he could be the key component in making St. Louis a pennant contender in 1962. Instead, Minoso, injury plagued, was a flop.
The Cardinals traded Joe Cunningham, a first baseman and outfielder, to the White Sox for Minoso on Nov. 27, 1961 _ two days before Minoso’s birthday. Reports varied regarding Minoso’s age. The Associated Press reported Minoso would turn 39 on Nov. 29, 1961, but added “some insist he is at least 42.”
St. Louis had finished 80-74 in 1961, 13 games behind the National League champion Reds. Minoso batted .280 with 28 doubles, 14 home runs and 82 RBI for the 1961 White Sox. The Cardinals saw him as their left fielder, joining an outfield of Curt Flood in center and Stan Musial in right.
Joe Reichler, reporting the trade for the Associated Press, wrote, “Johnny Keane, manager of the Cardinals, was almost as pleased by the acquisition of Minoso as he was when his daughter presented him with his second grandchild last week … Minoso, despite his age, is still one of the fastest men in baseball and swings one of the biggest bats.”
In The Sporting News, Oscar Kahan wrote, “The Cuban Comet, aged as he may be, supplies so many plus factors to the picture that the Redbirds’ outlook has brightened considerably.”
Minoso was a “little bit shocked” by the trade, according to United Press International. The wire service reported Minoso had purchased a $40,000 house in Chicago in 1961 and moved his family there from Cuba. He had been working as a goodwill ambassador for the White Sox during the off-season, selling tickets and promoting the club.
“I don’t know whether I’ll go to the Cardinals,” Minoso said. “I consider myself a free agent. I have a few jobs in mind. I have a lot of friends in Chicago and there are other things I can do in Chicago.”
Minoso eventually relented and opened the 1962 season as the Cardinals’ left fielder. He started two games before pulling a rib muscle in batting practice. It was nearly two weeks before he recovered.
Batting primarily sixth in the order, Minoso struggled, but Keane stuck with him. On May 11, a Friday night in St. Louis, Minoso was in left field when the Cardinals faced the Dodgers. In the sixth inning, with the score 2-2 and the bases loaded, Duke Snider launched a line drive to deep left-center. Minoso chased after it, skidded on the warning track and crashed headfirst into the concrete wall. The ball bounced away for a three-run triple. Boxscore
The collision with the wall left Minoso unconscious. His right eye was completely closed and his head and face were swollen and bleeding, the Associated Press reported. Minoso was carried off on a stretcher and rushed to a hospital. Doctors determined Minoso had a fractured skull and a fractured right wrist. The skull fracture, according to the Associated Press, was three to four inches long above the right ear.
According to The Sporting News, Minoso knew he was quite close to the wall, “but I don’t remember after that.”
Minoso was sidelined for two months before he returned on July 20 and struck out while batting for pitcher Bob Duliba. Boxscore
On Aug. 18, in the second game of a doubleheader against the Mets in New York, Minoso hit his only Cardinals home run, a solo shot off Ray Daviault in a 10-0 St. Louis victory. Boxscore
The next day, batting in the sixth inning, Minoso was hit on the left arm by a pitch from the Mets’ Craig Anderson and was lifted for a runner. Boxscore
Two days later, Aug. 21 at Milwaukee, Minoso appeared as a defensive replacement in left field in the eighth inning against the Braves, but his left arm became swollen. Doctors discovered Minoso had suffered a broken forearm when hit by the Anderson pitch. His season was finished.
In 39 games for St. Louis, Minoso hit .196 with one home run and 10 RBI.
In the book “We Played, the Game,” Cardinals catcher Tim McCarver recalled that Minoso “got so furious at himself after going 0-for-4 that he walked under a cold shower with all his clothes on, including his bat and his spikes. That was a sight.”
Minoso went to spring training with the Cardinals in 1963, hoping to earn a spot as a reserve, but on April 2, a week before the season opener, his contract was sold to the Senators for what The Sporting News reported as “in excess of the $20,000 waiver price.”
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I was at that game on May 11, 1961 at age 10 with my Dad, sitting in the general admission cheap seats high above 1st base. I recall Duke Snyder stepping to bat with bases loaded and my Dad grimacing and looking nervous. He said Snyder could do us major damage. When Duke hit that line drive to left center, everyone stood up, thinking the worst. Unfortunately the worst happened: not a grand slam, but everyone watching Minnie run head first into the wall chasing that ball. I’ve never seen an accident like that at a MLB game since and have seen probably a hundred ball games. Seldom do players get carried off a field on a stretcher. The ball park was stone quiet. Fans were stunned and am sure many prayed. I watched Snyder standing at 3rd after the center fielder finally threw the ball back in. Even he seemed a bit shook up. It’s still a very vivid memory. Too bad it’s a bad one… I think the Cards lost 7-2 that night.
Wow. That’s an excellent eyewitness account of what happened that night. Thank you for sharing it, Gerry.