RetroSimba

(Updated Dec. 16, 2025)

Jose Cardenal faced two daunting challenges with the 1970 Cardinals: (1) replace Curt Flood as the center fielder and (2) defend himself against comments from anonymous teammates who accused him of being selfish and lackadaisical.

Cardenal contributed significantly to a 1970 Cardinals lineup that included Lou Brock, Joe Torre and Dick Allen, but some teammates questioned his desire. Whether the criticism had merit or was based on stereotype is conjecture.

Traded for Pinson

On Nov. 21, 1969, the Cardinals traded right fielder Vada Pinson to the Indians for Cardenal. The Cardinals were seeking a center fielder to replace Flood, who a month earlier had been dealt to the Phillies.

In 12 years with the Cardinals, Flood batted .293, played on two World Series championship clubs and three National League pennant winners and earned seven consecutive Gold Glove awards.

Cardenal, 26, five years younger than Flood and Pinson, hit .257 with 26 doubles and 36 stolen bases for the 1969 Indians. The Cardinals became his fourth club following stints with the Giants, Angels and Indians. Cardenal had been in professional baseball since 1961 when he joined a Giants farm club at age 17 after leaving his home in Cuba.

According to Russell Schneider, who covered the Indians for The Sporting News, “Cardenal, who can be an outstanding fielder and better-than-average hitter when he wants, was a disappointment through most of 1969 … Jose has a tendency toward moodiness when things aren’t going well.”

Neal Russo, who covered the Cardinals, echoed that sentiment, writing that “Cardenal, a brilliant fielder, has a reputation for pouting because of such things as the manager shouting at him.”

Team player

Cardinals general manager Bing Devine sent scout Chase Riddle and assistant player development director John Claiborne to Puerto Rico to watch Cardenal in the winter league.

“Riddle and Claiborne said Cardenal had been doing a good job in the field and had been hitting the ball consistently to right field behind the runner,” Devine said. “He makes contact well. He’s good on the hit-and-run and he looks like he’ll be a good No. 2 man in the batting order.”

Said Cardenal: “I read where I would bat second behind a fast man like Brock. I thought I might be able to help him, my club and myself if I could hit the ball on the ground to the right side.”

Bob Broeg of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch described Cardenal as “a little center fielder with ants in his pants and with a throwing arm that could really skip a ball as fast as he’ll run on the new synthetic surface” at Busch Memorial Stadium.

Cardenal opened the season batting between Brock and Allen. He hit .353 in April and .366 in June.

Said Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst: “He can do everything. He’s one of the best players we have.”

Nasty talk

On July 13, 1970, Bob Broeg wrote in his Post-Dispatch column, “The Cardinals’ image isn’t helped when … a player like Jose Cardenal loafs or lopes to first base … The failure to go all-out with the ball in play has such a deadening effect.”

Asked about his reputation for moodiness, Cardenal told Post-Dispatch reporter Ed Wilks, “If you talk, they say you are … cocky, you talk too much. If you don’t talk, they say you are moody and you don’t want to talk. If I trust you, I talk … The best thing I can do is just smile and be quiet.”

Regarding being a Cardinal, he said, “I love it … It’s a first-class organization.”

In early September, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported Cardenal would be traded and quoted anonymous Cardinals players who called him a bad teammate.

Cardenal called a press conference to address the matter and said the accusations “broke my heart because they were so nasty.”

“Cardenal denied the charges that he played only when he felt like it, that he played for himself rather than for the team and that he did not hustle in the outfield or on the bases.” The Sporting News reported.

At a speaking engagement in Peoria on Oct. 31, 1970, Cardinals player Joe Hague criticized Cardenal and Allen for not being “winning types,” The Sporting News reported. Hague said Cardenal was “just not the type who will help make us a team in every sense of the word,” the Post-Dispatch reported.

Winning numbers

Based on statistics, Cardenal had a successful 1970 season. He batted .293 with 162 hits in 148 games, led the Cardinals in doubles (32), placed second in stolen bases (26) behind Brock (51) and was third in RBI (74) behind Allen (101) and Torre (100). Cardenal hit .342 with runners in scoring position.

After the season, the Cardinals acquired Matty Alou from the Pirates and projected him to play center field, with Cardenal moving to right.

Sent packing

Cardenal didn’t perform as well in 1971 as he did in 1970. Eager to give a starting spot to rookie outfielder Jose Cruz, the Cardinals deemed Cardenal expendable.

On July 29, 1971, Cardenal was batting .243 when the Cardinals traded him, infielder Dick Schofield and pitcher Bob Reynolds to the Brewers for infielder Ted Kubiak and minor-league pitcher Chuck Loseth.

“When they traded me, I was hurt and embarrassed,” Cardenal said. “They told me they wouldn’t trade me after the All-Star Game.”

Nearly a quarter-century later, Cardenal returned to the Cardinals as a coach on the staff of their manager, Torre, in 1994 and 1995.