RetroSimba

(Updated Sept. 28, 2019)

At the time, the Cardinals’ game against the Mets on Sept. 28, 1971, seemed of little importance. In retrospect, it was a significantly historic matchup because of the starting pitchers involved and what happened to them after the season.

In the next-to-last game of the 1971 season for both teams, attendance that Tuesday afternoon at Shea Stadium was 3,338. The Cardinals were assured of finishing in second place in the National League East Division; the Mets were battling the Cubs for third.

The starting pitchers were Steve Carlton for the Cardinals and Nolan Ryan for the Mets. What no one knew was this would be the last game each would play for his team.

In trades each team long would regret, the Mets sent Ryan to the Angels in December 1971 and the Cardinals dealt Carlton to the Phillies in February 1972.

Each pitcher would go on to enjoy a spectacular career that earned enshrinement into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Carlton finished with 329 wins, 4,136 strikeouts and four Cy Young awards. Ryan finished with 324 wins, 5,714 strikeouts and seven no-hitters.

Their pairing on Sept. 28, 1971, hardly was viewed as a matchup of baseball giants who should have been the cornerstones of their franchises for the next decade or more.

Instead, Carlton, 27, was seen by some as an underachiever. He had 19 losses the season before. Although he had experienced a turnaround in 1971, with 19 wins heading into the game against Ryan and the Mets, he’d lost two of his previous three decisions.

Like Carlton, Ryan, 24, clearly had talent but too often disappointed. He began the 1971 season with a big-league career record of 19-24. Entering the game against Carlton and the Cardinals, Ryan had won two of his last 13 starts and had a season record of 10-13.

Ryan’s lack of command hurt him immediately against the Cardinals. He walked the first four batters _ Lou Brock, Ted Sizemore, Matty Alou and Joe Torre, forcing in a run. When Ted Simmons followed with a single to right, scoring Sizemore and Alou, manager Gil Hodges lifted Ryan.

Ryan’s final appearance as a Met resulted in five batters faced, four walks and a hit without recording an out.

“It was the most distressing day of my life,” Ryan told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I never was so embarrassed.”

Said Hodges: “It seemed he was just throwing the ball because it had to be thrown.”

The Cardinals scored twice in the second inning. Carlton ignited the offense with a leadoff single. Handed a 5-0 lead, Carlton clamped down on the Mets. He pitched a seven-hitter, striking out eight, as St. Louis won, 5-2, for its 90th victory of the season. Boxscore

Carlton (20-9) became a 20-game winner for the first time in the big leagues and the first Cardinals left-hander to achieve the feat since Ray Sadecki in 1964. The complete game was Carlton’s 18th in 36 starts that season.

“There was a lot of skepticism about me before the season,” Carlton said to The Sporting News. “A lot of people didn’t think I could bounce back after last year (and the 19 losses).”

Carlton credited an effective slider with enabling him to beat the Mets.

“The Mets are like the Giants and the Reds for me _ they all wait for my fastball,” said Carlton. “My slider was good when I was warming up, so I decided to go with it.”

Ryan (10-14) was the subject of trade speculation soon after the season ended, but in an Oct. 9, 1971, story in The Sporting News headlined, “Mets Swap Ryan? ‘No Way,’ Says Gil,” Hodges denied the Mets wanted to deal the pitcher.

“We never have given any consideration to trade Nolan Ryan,” Hodges said. “You cannot give up this easily on a guy who has as much talent as he has. You would hate to give up on him and then see him develop into what he can be with some other club.”

On Dec. 10, 1971, Mets general manager Bob Scheffing traded Ryan, outfielder Leroy Stanton, pitcher Don Rose and catcher Frank Estrada to the Angels for Jim Fregosi, a shortstop whom the Mets planned to move to third base.

After the deal was made, Hodges reiterated to The Sporting News his belief Ryan had all-star potential. “When or if or how he’s going to do it, I don’t know. But he’s got ability,” Hodges said.

Fregosi hit .232 for the Mets in 1972 and was dealt to the Rangers a year later. Ryan earned 19 wins with nine shutouts, 329 strikeouts and a 2.28 ERA for the 1972 Angels.

Two months after the Mets traded Ryan, Carlton made contract demands, angering Cardinals owner Gussie Busch, who ordered general manager Bing Devine to trade Carlton.

In his book, “The Memoirs of Bing Devine,” Devine said, “Mr. Busch had a meeting with me and Dick Meyer, his right-hand man at Anheuser-Busch. And the team brain trust, if that’s what you want to call it, decided we ought to trade Carlton because we didn’t have him signed and he wanted too much money. Basically, Mr. Busch wanted him gone. I don’t want to cop a plea here, but getting rid of Carlton was not a deal that I initiated or tried to talk anybody into. It was just the relationship between Carlton and Mr. Busch.”

The Cardinals sent Carlton to the Phillies for pitcher Rick Wise on Feb. 25, 1972. Wise was 16-16 for the 1972 Cardinals. Carlton, pitching for a last-place Phillies team, was 27-10 with a 1.97 ERA, 329 strikeouts, nine shutouts and 30 complete games.

Previously: Mets messed with Steve Carlton’s sub-2.00 ERA