RetroSimba

(Updated Oct. 20, 2025)

Seeking a first baseman, the Cardinals gambled on Andres Galarraga, hoping a nurturing environment and a stretch of good health would benefit him.

On Nov. 25, 1991, the Cardinals traded pitcher Ken Hill to the Expos for Galarraga.

Glory days

Nicknamed Big Cat, Galarraga had size (6 feet 3, 235 pounds), quick reflexes and right-handed power. He fielded with the gracefulness of Keith Hernandez, drove in runs with a consistency reminiscent of Tony Perez and Orlando Cepeda, and was hailed by Whitey Herzog and Mike Schmidt as a potential Hall of Famer.

Playing youth baseball in his hometown of Caracas, Galarraga impressed a local scout, Francisco Rivero. In 1979, Rivero told Felipe Alou, managing in the Venezuelan winter league, that Galarraga, 17, could hit with power. Alou invited the teen to a team practice. “When the kid showed up,” Alou recalled to the Toronto Globe and Mail, “I was shocked. He was so incredibly fat.”

Then Alou got another surprise. “His swing was beautiful,” Alou said to the Globe and Mail. “His reactions and instincts were incredible, and his speed for his size was phenomenal. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I thought that if he could do what he did then with all that fat, there was no telling what he could do if he lost weight.”

On Alou’s recommendation, the Expos signed the player known in Spanish as Gato Grande and sent him to a farm team in the United States. “I didn’t speak one word of English,” Galarraga recalled to The Sporting News. “Not one. I was completely lost and very scared.”

Galarraga, 24, was in his seventh season in the minors when he got called up to the Expos in August 1985. A month later, he hit his first home run, a 445-foot drive into the center field bleachers at St. Louis against Kurt Kepshire.

The next year, Galarraga launched another rocket at Busch Memorial Stadium, a home run versus Ray Burris that hit the wall above the Stadium Club in left, some 75 feet above the field, and came within inches of landing in the upper deck, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

In 1987, Galarraga hit his first walkoff home run in the majors, beating Ken Dayley and the Cardinals in the 13th inning.

Galarraga pummeled Cardinals pitching for three consecutive seasons, hitting .354 against them in 1986, .406 in 1987 and .353 in 1988. “If he doesn’t get hurt, he could wind up in the Hall of Fame,” Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog said to the Washington Post. “He’s the best first baseman playing the game today.”

In 1988, when he managed the National League all-stars, Herzog insisted on Galarraga being on the team. “If he doesn’t go, then I’m not going to manage,” he told the Montreal Gazette.

Herzog called Galarraga “one of the best righthanded-hitting first basemen in this league since Gil Hodges,” according to the Post-Dispatch

Galarraga averaged 23 home runs and 88 RBI each year from 1988 to 1990 with the Expos. He also won Gold Glove awards for his fielding in 1989 and 1990.

In 1988, Galarraga led the National League in hits (184), doubles (42), total bases (329) and extra-base hits (79).

Phillies slugger Mike Schmidt told The Sporting News, “Galarraga is fabulous … Believe me: He might be in the Hall of Fame someday.” Expos executive Jim Fanning said to United Press International, “If there was a mold of (Orlando) Cepeda and (Tony) Perez, he’s cut from that same ilk. He already plays first base better than either of them did.”

For 11 consecutive years (1978-88), Keith Hernandez, with the Cardinals and Mets, won the National League Gold Glove Award at first base. The player who broke his string was Galarraga.

The biggest negative was he struck out too much. Galarraga struck out the most of any NL batter in each of three consecutive seasons: 1988 to 1990.

By 1991, his performance declined significantly. Plagued by a pulled groin muscle and coming off arthroscopic knee surgery, Galarraga batted .219 with nine home runs in 95 games for the 1991 Expos and was booed often by fans in Montreal.

“He got into the habit of trying to pull the ball too much,” Expos manager Buck Rodgers told The Sporting News. “When he’s hitting well, he hits the ball to center and right-center.”

Potential trouble

The Cardinals were in the market for a first baseman because Pedro Guerrero, who held the position in 1991, was 35, had a bum shoulder and didn’t field well.

Wally Joyner and Bobby Bonilla were available free agents, but Cardinals general manager Dal Maxvill told the Post-Dispatch, “We have decided we are not going to bid on any major free agents.”

Instead, the Cardinals pursued a trade for Galarraga. “We’ve been trying to make this deal for two months,” Maxvill said.

Maxvill was confident of a turnaround. “I don’t buy it that a guy can be over the hill at 30 years of age,” he said to The Sporting News.

Expos general manager Dan Duquette wanted Cardinals pitcher Rheal Cormier, a Canadian, for Galarraga, the Post-Dispatch reported. “We talked long and hard about Cormier,” Duquette said. “They told me they would not give up Cormier.”

Hill, 25, was a good consolation prize. He was 11-10 with a 3.57 ERA in 30 starts for the 1991 Cardinals and led the staff in strikeouts (121). He yielded only 147 hits in 181.1 innings, but also issued a team-high 67 walks.

“At times, Hill pitches like Don Drysdale and at other times he pitches like Don Knotts,” wrote Post-Dispatch columnist Dan O’Neill. “… Hill is still young but patience is wearing thin.”

Said Cardinals manager Joe Torre: “It’s tough to give up an arm like Kenny Hill, but he’s been inconsistent.”

Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz thought the Cardinals made a bad deal.

“The Cardinals are taking a risk, sending Hill’s live arm to Montreal for Galarraga’s dead bat,” Miklasz opined.

Tough break

Galarraga raised hopes for a comeback with a strong spring training in 1992, batting .314 with 12 RBI in exhibition games. However, in the second game of the regular season, he suffered a cracked right wrist when hit by a pitch from Mets reliever Wally Whitehurst.

Galarraga returned to the lineup May 22, but he pressed at the plate and went into a funk. He entered July with a .185 batting average and no home runs.

“I came back and tried to do too much,” Galarraga told the Post-Dispatch.

His poor production prompted catcalls in St. Louis. “Every time he left runners on base the last two homestands, he walked back to the dugout to a chorus of boos,” the Post-Dispatch reported in early July.

Galarraga said to The Sporting News, “I thought about going home, giving up. I was so down … I just started letting everything bother me. A fan would say something, instead of ignoring it, I took it to heart.”

Cardinals hitting coach Don Baylor came to the rescue. He got Galarraga to open his stance and hit to the middle of the field. The swing came back _ and so did the results. Galarraga hit .300 in July and had 17 RBI in August. On Aug. 15 at Montreal, he had five RBI, including a grand slam against John Wetteland, and “silenced the many who were booing him,” the Post-Dispatch reported.

In his final 146 at-bats with the Cardinals, Galarraga hit .301.

Overall, though, for the Cardinals, Galarraga totaled 10 home runs and 39 RBI in 95 games. He batted .191 with runners in scoring position.

Hill was 16-9 with a 2.68 ERA in 33 starts for the 1992 Expos, who finished in second place, four games ahead of the Cardinals, in the NL East Division.

Rockies revival

Rather than bring back Galarraga at a salary of $3 million in 1993, the Cardinals bought out the option year on his contract for $250,000, making him a free agent. Galarraga accepted a one-year deal at a base salary of $600,000 from the Rockies, an expansion team that hired Don Baylor to be their manager.

“The big thing is Baylor,” Galarraga said to the Post-Dispatch.  “He helped me a lot in the second half last year. I’ll benefit from working with Baylor another year.”

With Baylor continuing to guide him, Galarraga was the 1993 National League batting champion, hitting .370 for the Rockies. He produced 22 home runs, 98 RBI and a .403 on-base percentage in 120 games.

During his five years in Colorado, Galarraga also led the league in home runs (47 in 1996) and RBI (150 in 1996 and 140 in 1997).

After joining the Braves in 1998 and hitting .305 with 44 home runs and 121 RBI, Galarraga, 38, sat out the 1999 season to receive chemotherapy and radiation treatment for a cancerous growth (non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma) in his lower back.

Given a medical green light to play in 2000, Galarraga was an inspiration, hitting .302 with 28 homers and 100 RBI for the Braves.

The cancer returned near a kidney in November 2003. Three months later, Galarraga, 42, had a stem cell transplant. He told the Palm Beach Post the procedure was “like they change the oil.”

In August 2004, seven months after the transplant, Galarraga signed with the Angels. He went to the minors to regain his form, then joined the Angels in September and played in seven games for them, closing out his career. He finished with 2,333 hits, 399 home runs and 1,425 RBI.

Galarraga hit 283 home runs after leaving the Cardinals. According to researcher Tom Orf, no one has hit more home runs after leaving the Cardinals. Albert Pujols hit 234 homers for the Angels and then 24 more in his second stint with St. Louis. Johnny Mize hit 201 after the Cardinals traded him.