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Warren Spahn and his Cardinals connection

Posted in Games, Managers, Pitchers on January 29, 2011| 7 Comments »

(Updated May 3, 2026)

Hall of Fame left-hander Warren Spahn never pitched for the Cardinals, but his final games as a pitcher were with the St. Louis organization.

Spahn, who had 363 big-league wins, primarily with the Braves, got his first try at being a manager in 1967 with the Cardinals’ Class AAA Tulsa Oilers.

The Oilers were a team of former big-league veterans (pitcher Tracy Stallard, outfielder Joe Christopher) and a few prospects (pitchers Mike Torrez and Wayne Granger).

By August, Spahn’s pitching staff was weakened by injuries. So, at 46, he placed himself on the active roster and into the starting rotation.

Spahn had made his last big-league appearance in 1965, with the Giants. He pitched in three games with the Mexico City Tigers in 1966.

Former Braves catcher Joe Torre told Cardinals Yearbook in 2014, “Spahn was easy to catch, a walk in the park, because his control was impeccable.”

As Jim Brosnan noted in his book, “Great Baseball Pitchers,” when Spahn was in his prime “the path of his pitches was seldom straight. They wiggled, they sailed, they sank, they curved. Sometimes they looked faster than they were, for Spahn … changed the speed of his pitch without changing his motion during the delivery.”

On Aug. 7, 1967, a Monday night in Tulsa before a crowd of 4,238, Spahn started against the Hawaii Islanders and their 30-year-old right-hander, Bill Haywood. Catching for Tulsa was Pat Corrales.

Tulsa scored four times in the first. When Spahn held Hawaii scoreless through the first three innings, it appeared the old master was headed for a successful comeback. Then it fell apart. Hawaii scored a run in the fourth and four in the fifth, taking a 5-4 lead. After Spahn departed with one out in the fifth, the game unraveled in the hands of the bullpens. Tulsa won, 14-13.

Spahn’s line: 4.1 innings, 4 hits, 4 runs (3 earned), 4 walks and 4 strikeouts.

Five nights later, Aug, 12, Spahn started again, at Oklahoma City against the 89ers before a gathering of 1,028. When he left after two innings, Oklahoma City led, 3-0, and went on to win, 3-2, handing Spahn the loss in the last start of his professional career.

Spahn’s line: 2 innings, 3 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk, 1 strikeout.

Spahn also made a relief appearance, consisting of two-thirds of an inning, for Tulsa. In his three games for the Oilers, Spahn was 0-1 with a 6.43 ERA.

Spahn remained as Tulsa manager until 1971, but he never pitched again.

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George Crowe was Cardinals mentor to Curt Flood

Posted in Games, Hitters on January 22, 2011| 2 Comments »

George Crowe was a pinch-hitter and reserve first baseman for the Cardinals from 1959-61. He played a more valuable role to the team as a mentor to Curt Flood.

Acquired by the Cardinals from the Reds in an October 1958 trade, Crowe was 37, a veteran who had played in the Negro National League and who broke into the majors in 1952 with the Boston Braves.

Flood, 21, was in his second full season in the majors in 1959 and still trying to establish himself as an everyday center fielder. His fielding was superb, but his hitting was inconsistent. Cardinals manager Solly Hemus was giving time to veteran Gino Cimoli in center field.

In his book, “The Way It Is,” Flood said, “During 1959 … I was playing in fewer games and having trouble hitting above .250. I now became more worried about my swing, and more receptive to help.

“The coaches were willing to coach, but were not good enough theoreticians or communicators to do me much good. As usually happens when a player needs assistance of that kind, I finally got it from another player _ George Crowe, who knew batting theory and was more articulate about it than anyone else on the Cardinals … George straightened me out. He taught me to shorten my stride and my swing, to eliminate the hitch, to keep my head still and my stroke level. He not only told me what to do, but why to do it and how to do it. He worked with me by the hour.”

In his book, “Stranger To The Game,” pitcher Bob Gibson said, “Flood … benefited from the soft wisdom of George Crowe, who was an independent, unconventional thinker and a father figure to both of us when we came up.

“Although Crowe never played regularly with the Cardinals, he was an established home run hitter and he knew one when he saw one. He also knew that Flood, at 165 pounds, wasn’t one … So Crowe talked Curt out of being another Willie Mays and gently persuaded him to guide the ball to right field in pursuit of .300.”

A left-handed batter, Crowe hit .301 with eight home runs in 77 games for the 1959 Cardinals. Four of those homers were as a pinch-hitter. He had 21 RBI with his first 24 hits for St. Louis.

Crowe’s eighth-inning solo homer off Art Fowler snapped a 5-5 tie and lifted St. Louis to a 6-5 victory over the Dodgers on April 25, 1959. Fowler retired 11 in a row before Crowe’s blast deep into the pavilion in right-center. Boxscore

Two weeks later, on May 7, Crowe ripped a three-run, pinch-hit homer over the pavilion roof against the Cubs’ Moe Drabowsky in a 4-3 Cardinals victory. Stan Musial won it for St. Louis with his 400th career homer. Boxscore

And on Aug, 13, 1959, Crowe belted a pinch-hit grand slam against the Dodgers’ Roger Craig. Boxscore

“Crowe has fulfilled all of our expectations,” Cardinals general manager Bing Devine told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch during the 1959 season. “… He’s intelligent, likes to win and accepts his part-time assignment well.”

Crowe slumped to .236 in 73 games in 1960. When his big-league career ended, after playing in seven games for the 1961 Cardinals, Crowe held the major league record for career pinch-hit homers (14).

In October 1961, the Cardinals signed him to scout for them.

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Cardinals vs. Reds: An Easter night to remember

Posted in Games, Opponents on January 19, 2011| 1 Comment »

(Updated April 3, 2020)

On April 3, 1994, the Cardinals and Reds opened the major-league season with a controversial Easter night game at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium.

Because of the weather (39 degrees at first pitch, with steadily falling temperatures after a day of rain and snow flurries), the game probably shouldn’t have been played, but ESPN was televising a season opener for the first time and had heavily promoted it, so every effort was made to proceed as planned.

Reds owner Marge Schott and many Reds fans were opposed to their team opening the season on a Sunday night.

The Reds traditionally opened their season with a weekday afternoon game, starting with a parade in the morning. Cincinnatians adored the tradition and treated the day like a holiday.

To many Reds fans, the Sunday night opener was unacceptable and some expressed dissatisfaction by boycotting. The announced attendance was 32,803 in a stadium that seated almost 55,000. It was the smallest Opening Day crowd in Riverfront Stadium’s 24-year history and the first time the Reds hadn’t sold out a season opener in 10 years.

Schott and the Reds had agreed to the game when first approached, but Schott tried to renege when she learned the city wouldn’t host a parade before a night game.

“ESPN and Major League Baseball will have their Opening Day tonight,” Schott told the Associated Press. “The Reds’ opener is Monday.”

Schott, back in charge of the club after serving an eight-month suspension for racially offensive conduct, ordered no bunting adorn the stadium for the night game. There were no player introductions. A Cincinnati radio station urged fans to display banners criticizing ESPN.

Jon Miller, who broadcast the game for ESPN with former Reds second baseman Joe Morgan, said, “I don’t understand how they would downplay the Sunday game. It’s a marketing person’s dream: the Sunday opener and the traditional opener (Monday). What more could you want?”

Schott urged fans and her team to treat the opener like an exhibition. She spoke about the importance of the parade that would be held Monday morning. “We’ll have 20 more floats than we’ve ever had before,” she said. “The Air Force is coming in. Oh, and we’re going to have 300 pigeons, so keep your hat on.”

The Cardinals’ Ray Lankford, the first batter of the 1994 season, lined a 3-and-2 pitch from Jose Rijo over the left-center field fence for a home run. Video

It was the first time in eight years a leadoff batter opened the season with a homer. (Dwight Evans did it for Boston against Detroit’s Jack Morris in 1986). It also was the first time a Cardinal hit a homer in the first inning of the first game since Darrell Porter launched a three-run shot off Houston’s Nolan Ryan in 1982.

“I was just anxious to get going,” Lankford said. “When I was in here stretching, I started thinking about being the first batter of ’94. I wanted to do something. I couldn’t have asked for anything better than that to open the season.”

With the score 3-3 in the fourth, Cardinals pitcher Bob Tewksbury, a notoriously poor hitter, swung at a first-pitch fastball and lined a two-run, two-out double to center off Rijo, putting St. Louis ahead to stay, 5-3.

“I wasn’t going to give him a chance to throw a slider,” Tewksbury told The Cincinnati Post. “I was going to swing early and often. If I take that first pitch, I’ll never see a fastball.”

The unsung hero for the Cardinals was reliever Vicente Palacios. In the seventh, with St. Louis ahead 6-4, the Reds loaded the bases with two outs and Reggie Sanders at the plate. Sanders had homered in his previous at-bat, and there was a strong sense this was the moment for the Reds to strike. Palacios struck out Sanders and the Cardinals went on to win. Boxscore

“It didn’t seem like opening night at all,” Tewksbury said. “Part of that I think is because it was a night game and part of that was that Marge treated it like she didn’t want it to be the opening game.”

Said Reds catcher Joe Oliver: “It was the first game this year and it just seemed like a middle of the season game. It was sort of disappointing. We got hyped and went out there and the place was half full.”

Cincinnati Post columnist Paul Daugherty wrote, “Riverfront Stadium had all the ambiance of a garage sale. At Schott’s behest, the Reds accorded the game all the pomp of a rain delay … By the time the Reds batted in the bottom of the ninth, it was close to 11 p.m. and there weren’t more than 10,000 fans still in the stadium. Maybe they were frozen to their seats.”

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Cardinals dealt Trevor Hoffman first defeat

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents, Pitchers on January 13, 2011| Leave a Comment »

(Updated July 29, 2018)

Trevor Hoffman’s first loss in the big leagues was to the Cardinals.

Hoffman, who retired Jan. 12, 2011, with 601 saves and was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2018, had his share of success against the Cardinals (six wins, 25 saves), but he had some spectacular setbacks, too.

Against teams whom he faced at least 10 times in his career, Hoffman’s ERA was highest vs. St. Louis (4.09 in 51 regular-season games).

Though he lost to the Cardinals three times in the regular season, none of those defeats occurred during his time with the Padres, whom he pitched for in 16 of his 18 big-league seasons.

Two of his losses to St. Louis came while with the Brewers (2009-10).

The other occurred in 1993 when he broke into the majors with the expansion Marlins.

On May 16, 1993, at St. Louis, Hoffman was brought in by manager Rene Lachemann to face the Cardinals in the bottom of the ninth of a scoreless game. With one out, Gregg Jefferies singled to center, stole second base and advanced to third on catcher Steve Decker’s errant throw. Hoffman issued intentional walks to Ray Lankford and Mark Whiten, loading the bases.

With Stan Royer, hitless in the game, due up next, manager Joe Torre called on Todd Zeile to bat. Zeile’s single to center scored Jefferies, giving St. Louis a 1-0 victory and handing Hoffman his first career loss. Boxscore

It would be 16 years before Hoffman lost to the Cardinals again in the regular season. On Sept. 8, 2009, at Milwaukee, Matt Holliday’s two-run, ninth-inning home run against Hoffman carried St. Louis to a 4-3 victory. Boxscore

The next year, on April 9 at Milwaukee, pinch-hitter Nick Stavinoha’s two-run home run against Hoffman in the ninth lifted the Cardinals to a 5-4 victory. Boxscore

Two other Cardinals home runs against Hoffman are noteworthy:

_ In Game 3 of the 1996 National League Division Series at San Diego, Hoffman entered in the ninth with the score at 5-5. Brian Jordan’s two-run home run gave St. Louis a 7-5 victory and a sweep of the best-of-five series. Boxscore

_ A year later, June 10, 1997, at San Diego, a matchup of two top relievers, Hoffman and Dennis Eckersley, became a debacle for both.

With the Padres leading 3-1 in the ninth, Hoffman entered and yielded four runs _ the last two on Delino DeShields’ two-out, two-run home run _ to put St. Louis ahead, 5-3.

Eckersley attempted a save, but Tony Gwynn’s two-out, two-run double tied the score at 5-5. San Diego won, 6-5, with a run in the 12th. Boxscore

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Bob Gibson vs. Billy Williams: Story of a classic duel

Posted in Bloggers, Games, Hitters, Opponents, Pitchers on January 12, 2011| 3 Comments »

(Updated on Jan. 15, 2025)

The Hall of Famer who hit the most career home runs against Cardinals ace Bob Gibson was Billy Williams, with 10.

Of the 257 regular-season home runs Gibson yielded in his career, 67 were hit by fellow Hall of Famers.

Williams, an outfielder for the Cubs from 1959-74, slugged more home runs (10) and drew more walks (24) against Gibson than any other player, Hall of Famer or otherwise. Williams batted .259 (45-for-174) versus Gibson.

In the book “Sixty Feet, Six Inches,” Gibson said, “Billy Williams probably hit me better than anybody, but even so, and despite the fact that he was left-handed, I went ahead and pitched to him because he had Ron Santo and Ernie Banks behind him and I didn’t want either of them hitting two-run homers. If Williams had batted cleanup, I’d have probably pitched around him more.”

Even in the two seasons in which Gibson won the Cy Young Award _ 1968, when he posted a 1.12 ERA, and 1970, when he recorded a career-best 23 wins _ Williams hit two home runs against him in each year.

Entering the Cardinals’ game against the Cubs on Aug. 4, 1968, Gibson had given up three runs in 101 innings before the Cubs scored five times on two home runs, including one by Williams. Boxscore

One of Williams’ most memorable home runs decided a showdown between Gibson and Ferguson Jenkins: In the 1971 season opener between the Cardinals and Cubs at Wrigley Field, Williams hit a home run off a Gibson fastball in the 10th inning for a 2-1 Chicago victory. Boxscore and Video

“Gibson and Williams were good friends and formed a mutual admiration society except when they faced each other in a game,” Bob Burnes of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat wrote in the 1986 Baseball Digest.

Hall of Famer and ex-Cardinal Rogers Hornsby was a hitting instructor with the Cubs when Williams was a prospect. In the book “We Would Have Played For Nothing,” Williams recalled, “One thing he said that always stuck is that when you get two strikes on you, you got to be like a goalie. You got to protect the outside. You got to protect the inside. You got to protect everything. So that’s what you did. You shortened your swing and you wanted to make contact. You didn’t swing for the fences. If you get your pitch on the first pitch, you swing for the home run, and that’s what I did.”

The Hall of Famers who hit home runs against Gibson in the regular season (listed in order of number of homers hit):

_ Billy Williams, 10

_ Hank Aaron, 8

_ Willie McCovey, 7

_ Willie Stargell, 5

_ Roberto Clemente, 4

_ Eddie Mathews, 4

_ Frank Robinson, 4

_ Ernie Banks, 3

_ Johnny Bench, 3

_ Orlando Cepeda, 3

_ Willie Mays, 3

_ Joe Morgan, 3

_ Ron Santo, 3

_ Duke Snider, 3

_ Bill Mazeroski, 1

_ Tony Perez, 1

_ Mike Schmidt, 1

_ Dave Winfield, 1

NOTE: In nine World Series games, Gibson yielded one home run to a Hall of Famer _ Mickey Mantle of the Yankees in 1964.

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Ryne Duren threw roadblock at 1964 Cardinals

Posted in Bloggers, Games, Opponents, Pitchers on January 10, 2011| Leave a Comment »

(Updated June 20, 2024)

Ryne Duren played a key role in nearly derailing the Cardinals’ National League pennant bid in 1964.

Duren was a hard-throwing, hard-drinking pitcher with the Yankees from 1958-61. In 1964, he was 35 and a middle-innings reliever with the Reds.

On Sunday morning, Sept. 20, 1964, the Cardinals were in second place, 5.5 games behind the Phillies and a game ahead of the Reds. Most figured St. Louis needed a win that afternoon in Cincinnati to keep alive its hopes of catching the Phillies and prevent the Reds from moving into a tie for second.

Ken Boyer’s two-run triple, solo home runs from Lou Brock and Dick Groat and a successful squeeze bunt by Bill White put St. Louis ahead 5-0 after three innings. When Mike Shannon led off the fourth with a home run, Reds starter Joe Nuxhall was replaced by Duren.

With St. Louis ahead 6-0, the Reds appeared beaten.

“I looked around the dugout and everyone was really down,” Duren told author Doug Wilson in the book “Fred Hutchinson and the 1964 Cincinnati Reds.”

“I got mad and said to everyone on the bench, ‘If you don’t want to compete, let’s just go home, but if you’re out here, let’s have a little life.’ ”

Duren backed his words with action, on the mound and at the plate, and his efforts changed the momentum.

He pitched four scoreless innings and held the Cardinals to three hits.

In the fifth, with the score 6-1, Duren batted with Leo Cardenas on first and two outs. An .061 career hitter who wore thick lenses on his glasses because of poor sight in both eyes, Duren was “a terrible hitter,” his former Yankees manager, Ralph Houk, said in the book “Season of Glory.” According to Houk, Duren “choked way up on the bat and it was like he was using a hammer to hit a nail. He swung at the ball like that.”

Nonetheless, Duren was challenged by his Reds teammates to get on base.

“I made up my mind I would take one for the team, which I did,” Duren said.

Duren leaned across the plate as Cardinals starter Gordon Richardson delivered his pitch. The ball struck Duren on the upper thigh and he was awarded first base. The Cardinals protested vehemently to no avail.

“He didn’t even try to get out of the way,” Reds pitcher Sammy Ellis said. “And there’s no way he would have gotten a hit. He couldn’t even see.”

Inspired, the Reds rallied against the flustered Richardson. Pete Rose singled, scoring Cardenas. Duren and Rose scored on Vada Pinson’s single. When Duren got to the dugout, all the Reds were on their feet to greet him.

Cincinnati tied the score in the sixth. Ellis relieved Duren in the eighth and, in the bottom half of the inning, Cincinnati scored three runs against closer Barney Schultz and won 9-6. Boxscore

“Frank Robinson (Reds outfielder) always gave me credit for waking the club up,” Duren said.

The Phillies beat the Dodgers that day and went into the final two weeks of the season with a 6.5-game lead over the Cardinals and Reds with 12 to play.

After that, the Phillies lost the next 10 in a row, Cincinnati won nine in a row and the Cardinals won 10 of their final 13. When the Phillies beat the Reds in the final two games, St. Louis won the title on the last day of the season.

Duren never pitched another game for the Reds after his performance against the Cardinals. He was released in April 1965 and pitched for the Phillies and Senators that season, the last of his big-league career.

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