RetroSimba

(Updated April 11, 2020)

Uncertain whether outfielder Enos Slaughter could adjust to being a role player, the Cardinals decided to trade him.

Caught off-guard, Slaughter and teammate Stan Musial broke into tears.

On April 11, 1954, the Cardinals sent Slaughter to the Yankees for three prospects: outfielders Bill Virdon and Emil Tellinger and pitcher Mel Wright.

The trade occurred two weeks before Slaughter turned 38. He was the Cardinals team captain, a 10-time all-star who held the team record for games played (1,820) and RBI (1,148). Slaughter joined the Cardinals in 1938 and helped them to a World Series championship in 1942. After three years in the service, he returned to the Cardinals in 1946 and led them to another World Series title, scoring the winning run with his mad dash from first to home in Game 7.

In 13 seasons with the Cardinals, Slaughter batted .305 with 2,064 hits and an on-base percentage of .384. Known for his all-out hustle, he twice led the National League in triples (17 in 1942 and 13 in 1949). In 1942, he was the league leader in hits (188) and total bases (292). He also led the league in RBI (130) in 1946 and doubles (52) in 1939.

Slaughter showed no signs of slowing. In 143 games for the 1953 Cardinals, he produced 143 hits, 34 doubles, 89 RBI, a .291 batting average and .395 on-base percentage as the right fielder.

Youth movement

Slaughter went to spring training camp in St. Petersburg, Fla., in 1954 expecting to be a regular again in an outfield with Musial and Rip Repulski. He was surprised when, late in spring training, Cardinals manager Eddie Stanky told The Sporting News, “I’ll be satisfied if we can get 75 to 90 games out of the captain.”

Slaughter groused about the possibility of becoming a role player. Whether that was the normal grumbling of a proud veteran who didn’t want to concede playing time, or a tone of dark dissent that threatened to divide the team isn’t certain.

The Cardinals weren’t taking any chances. They wanted rookie Wally Moon to be the starting center fielder, moving Musial from left to right and Repulski from center to left.

Moon “is the best young prospect I’ve seen here in three years outside of Repulski,” Stanky told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Informed of the trade by general manager Dick Meyer and Stanky after an exhibition game, Slaughter sobbed.

Slaughter called the trade “the greatest shock I ever had in my life.”

“You give everything you’ve got for an organization and then you get stepped on,” Slaughter said to the St. Louis Globe-Democrat.

Crying game

In his book “Stan Musial: The Man’s Own Story,” Musial said, “In the clubhouse, when the rest of us got the word, we were stunned. Dressing even more slowly than usual, I was the last one out. At the lot where I parked my car … I found Slaughter, still wiping his eyes. We looked at each other _ and both burst into tears.”

In justifying the trade, Stanky said, “A player like Slaughter just can’t stand sitting on a bench.”

“We are building this club with young talent,” Stanky said, “I’m sold on the way Wally Moon performed for us. If we kept Slaughter, it would mean Moon would go back to the minors.”

Said Slaughter: “I’ll be around when a lot of these guys are gone. I’m not finished. I’ll prove it to them.”

According to newspaper reports, the trade was the most unpopular with Cardinals fans since the club dealt Rogers Hornsby to the Giants after winning the 1926 World Series championship.

St. Louis writers reflected the mood of their readers. Among the tributes to Slaughter:

_ Bob Broeg in The Sporting News: “There never was a more determined competitor or hustler than the last of the old Gashouse Gang _ a hard runner, brilliant outfielder, clutch hitter.”

_ Bob Burnes in the Globe-Democrat: “Slaughter was more than a ballplayer, as any Cardinals fan could tell you. He was an institution _ not only among the fans but among the players as well.”

_ J. Roy Stockton in the Post-Dispatch: “Enos was the best competitor the club had. He still was a standout for batting skill and hustle.”

Desperate move?

The Yankees, who had an outfield of Gene Woodling in left, Mickey Mantle in center and Hank Bauer in right, were delighted with the deal for Slaughter. “We gave up practically nothing for him, so why not take him?” Yankees co-owner Del Webb said.

Other baseball executives saw Slaughter as a fading talent. The Sporting News polled the seven National League general managers besides Meyer and each said he wasn’t interested in pursuing a deal with the Cardinals for Slaughter.

Buzzy Bavasi of the Dodgers, who were planning to put rookie Sandy Amoros into an outfield with Duke Snider and Carl Furillo, said, “Personally, I wouldn’t take Slaughter over Amoros, would you?”

In response to the Yankees, Frank Lane, general manager of the American League White Sox, scoffed, “You can’t pack Old Man Time on your back and still be a great ballplayer … It was a desperate move by them.”

Actually, it was a good move for the Cardinals and Yankees.

Moon hit a home run in his first at-bat for the Cardinals on Opening Day and went on to win the 1954 National League Rookie of the Year Award, generating 193 hits, 106 runs, 18 steals, a .304 batting average and a .371 on-base percentage.

The next year, Virdon came up to the Cardinals and won the 1955 National League Rookie of the Year Award.

Slaughter adjusted well to being a role player with the Yankees. He hit .355 with 12 walks as a pinch-hitter for the 1954 Yankees. He played in the major leagues until 1959, appeared in three World Series (1956, 1957 and 1958) for the Yankees and was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.