RetroSimba

In 1998, the Cardinals were so eager to unload outfielder Ron Gant and reliever Jeff Brantley that they paid the Phillies $6 million to take the underperforming malcontents off their hands.

Gant and Brantley responded with a series of toxic salvos. Brantley ripped pitching coach Dave Duncan and Cardinals fans. Gant accused manager Tony La Russa of being unethical, immoral and a racist.

The attacks proved baseless. The accusers looked classless.

What both players were attempting to camouflage was their skills had eroded from the days when they were all-stars.

Seeking a transformation after failing to qualify for the postseason in 1997 and 1998, the Cardinals made a flurry of transactions on Nov. 19, 1998. They signed two free agents _ outfielder Eric Davis and reliever Scott Radinsky _ and traded Gant, Brantley and pitcher Cliff Politte to the Phillies for pitchers Ricky Bottalico and Garrett Stephenson.

To seal the deal, the Cardinals agreed to pay $5 million of the $11 million Gant was due on the last two years of his contract and $1 million of Brantley’s $2.8 million contract for 1999.

True grit

Though they hit 223 home runs, the 1998 Cardinals finished in third place in the National League Central Division, 19 games behind the champion Astros. Gant hit 26 home runs in 121 games, but struck out 92 times in 383 at-bats and hit .240. Brantley, expected to be the closer, produced 14 saves, but also had eight blown save chances, gave up 12 home runs in 50.2 innings and posted an 0-5 record and 4.44 ERA.

On the eve of the trade, Cardinals general manager Walt Jocketty told St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz, “We want more guys who are gritty and hard-nosed.”

Eric Davis had survived colon cancer surgery and Scott Radinsky had fought Hodgkin’s disease. “They’re very strong-willed and competitive and they’re battlers,” Jocketty said to Post-Dispatch reporter Rick Hummel. “That’s the type of people you want to bring to this club.”

After the trade, Brantley told Hummel that when he reported to spring training with the 1998 Cardinals “my arm still hurt.” Brantley had shoulder surgery in 1997 while with the Reds.

Boos for Brantley

Brantley said he was mishandled by Duncan and mistreated by the fans.

“My relationship with Duncan was absolutely terrible,” Brantley said to Hummel. “Whether it was my fault or his fault, I don’t know.”

Said Duncan: “All I can say is that it was not an ideal working relationship. It wasn’t because I didn’t try to make it work.”

Regarding the booing he received, Brantley said, “It’s kind of sorry to take a guy coming off major arm surgery and make him a scapegoat for your ballclub. … I’m not very happy the way I was treated. I was treated grossly unfairly in that ballpark.”

In a parting shot, Brantley said of Gant: “He’ll be glad to get a new place without all the head games and mind games.”

Big whiff

Gant, however, was uncomplaining when interviewed by Hummel about the trade. “There were times I didn’t do my job because of my injuries,” said Gant, slowed by a right hamstring injury in 1998. “… I would have liked to have been with the Cardinals. I had a great time here.”

Said La Russa of Gant: “He would have flashes where you saw what he could do and he could dominate a game and then he would swing and miss a lot where it was tough for him to help.”

A month after the trade, Gant sparked controversy when he told Philadelphia media that Mark McGwire, who hit 70 home runs that year, hampered others in the Cardinals lineup by batting third in the order.

Responding on a St. Louis radio show, La Russa said of Gant, “It was whiff, whiff, whiff. I really hope he goes to Philly and whiffs for them like he whiffed for us. And we’ll see what excuses he makes.”

La Russa also commented on Brantley’s earlier criticism of Duncan. Said La Russa: “Duncan went to bat for him a hundred times.”

“What really ticks me off is that these are the two guys that we, as an organization, worked harder for than anyone else,” La Russa said.

Getting personal

Gant waited to respond until he reported to Phillies spring training camp in February. He told the Philadelphia Inquirer that La Russa has “no morals or values. That’s just the type of person (La Russa) is. Anybody who treats (shortstop) Ozzie Smith like he’s a kid coming up from the minors has no ethics or morals to him.”

In an interview with Hummel, La Russa responded: “You can say I’m a stupid manager. But unethical? Immoral? That’s very strong stuff. That’s like lying, cheating and stealing. Did I do all those things to Ozzie Smith?”

Gant continued his attack in subsequent interviews. “I have nothing against St. Louis,” Gant told reporters. “It’s just the person I was playing under. He didn’t get along with Rickey Henderson. Royce Clayton didn’t like him. Ozzie Smith, he treated like he was the worst person on earth.”

Asked whether there was significance in that Gant and the players he mentioned are black, Gant replied. “Yeah, there is.”

A stunned La Russa responded: “He’s getting lower than cheap.”

Several black players, including former Cardinals outfielder Brian Jordan, defended La Russa and angrily discounted Gant’s accusations. Dave Stewart, a black pitcher who played for La Russa, said, “To call Tony a racist is off base.”

Wrote Miklasz: “Gant continues to embarrass himself by blaming someone else for his failure to earn the $15 million paid to him by the Cardinals over the past three seasons … In my 20 years as a sportswriter, I have never seen a baseball manager protect a player the way Tony La Russa covered for Gant.”

Fade away

Soon after that, Gant issued a half-hearted apology: “All I can say is I apologize to my fans and the families involved. … I apologize to anybody who might have been hurt.”

In May, just before the Phillies played the Cardinals for the first time in 1999, Gant, asked about the controversy, told the Post-Dispatch: “I’ve been told not to comment on that anymore. That whole situation is over. We both said things that we regret.”

By then, though, Gant was being booed regularly by Phillies fans. He entered that series against the Cardinals with a .223 batting average. In July 2000, the Phillies traded Gant to the Angels. He bounced from there to the Rockies, Athletics and Padres before playing his final season in 2003.

Brantley pitched in 10 games for the 1999 Phillies, posting a 1-2 record and 5.19 ERA. He had a 5.86 ERA for the 2000 Phillies and a 5.14 ERA for the 2001 Rangers before retiring as a player.