RetroSimba

(Updated May 25, 2020)

In 1974, when the Cardinals’ 5-foot-9 shortstop, Mike Tyson, arrived at spring training at about 185 pounds, teammates called him “Hoggie” because he was “considerably overweight,” The Sporting News reported.

His year went downhill from there.

During the Cardinals’ first regular-season road trip in 1974, Tyson was assaulted and robbed in his hotel room.

On April 17, 1974, with the Cardinals in Philadelphia to play the Phillies, Tyson was in his room at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel when he received a call from someone who identified himself as a maintenance man, asking whether the air-conditioning was working.

“I said, ‘No,’ ” Tyson told The Sporting News. “They said they’d be right over. About 10 minutes later, there was a knock at the door and when I opened it I was facing a shotgun and a handgun.”

Two men tied Tyson’s hands and taped his mouth, according to The Sporting News.

In a 2020 interview with Stan McNeal of Cardinals Gameday Magazine, Tyson recalled, “It was going through my mind that they were going to kill me right there.”

Tyson said he felt better when one of the men asked him if he could breathe all right with the tape on his mouth. “I figured, ‘OK, they’re not going to try to do anything terrible.’ ” Tyson recalled.

The robbers ransacked the room and fled with Tyson’s wallet, containing $80 in cash and two credit cards.

Tyson managed to free himself and call police. Soon after, a suspect was arrested after trying to use one of the credit cards to buy clothes.

Five months later, two men pleaded guilty to robbery charges. According to The Sporting News, the gun used was a toy pistol.

Meanwhile, Tyson struggled on the field. He hit .200 in May. By June, the Cardinals, “concerned about shortstop,” according to The Sporting News, made trade offers for Don Kessinger of the Cubs and Bud Harrelson of the Mets, but both proposals were rejected. The Cardinals reportedly offered Tyson and pitchers Alan Foster and Mike Garman to the Cubs for Kessinger.

Desperate, the Cardinals had coaches Vern Benson and George Kissell “hit ground balls by the bushel” to outfielder Luis Melendez each day in the hope of converting him into a shortstop, but that experiment was scratched.

Instead, the Cardinals stayed with Tyson as their shortstop. He hit .180 in July.

Tyson was especially inept against the 1974 Reds, hitting .065 (2-for-31) overall against them and going hitless (0-for-15) at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium. He also batted . 111 (4-for-36) versus the Braves.

Tyson did hit .360 against the Astros and .344 versus the Padres.

For the season, he batted .223 and made 30 errors at shortstop.

After the season, the Cardinals acquired Ed Brinkman to be their shortstop for 1975, but he flopped and Tyson ended up playing more games at shortstop for the 1975 Cardinals than any other infielder.