In his spring training stint with the Cardinals, Mike Caldwell appeared to be a pitcher whose career was in decline. Shelled early and often, Caldwell showed no signs of developing into what he would become: a 20-game winner who would torment the Cardinals in the World Series.
Caldwell’s five-month stint as a Cardinal is a tale of a late bloomer who was in the wrong organization at the wrong time.
In March 1977, Caldwell, 28, was considered a leading candidate to fill a role in the Cardinals’ bullpen. Instead, he was traded before he got a chance to appear in a regular-season game for St. Louis.
Giant troubles
Caldwell, a left-hander, made his major-league debut with the 1971 Padres. He had a 13-25 record in three seasons with the Padres before he was traded to the Giants for slugger Willie McCovey.
In 1974, his first year with the Giants, Caldwell had a breakout season, posting a 14-5 record and 2.95 ERA.
After the season, Caldwell had surgery to remove bone spurs in his left elbow. When he returned, he struggled. “I lost some movement on my best pitch, the sinker, and I tightened up some and came sidearm at times,” Caldwell told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
By 1976, Caldwell was having troubles in the Giants clubhouse as well as on the mound. “I didn’t get along with a couple of the coaches and they took it personally,” Caldwell said.
The Giants’ pitching coach was the former catcher, Buck Rodgers.
Caldwell reached a low point on April 28, 1976, when Doug Clarey hit a home run, the lone hit of his big-league career, against him in the 16th inning, lifting the Cardinals to a 4-2 victory.
Caldwell finished 1-7 with a 4.86 ERA for the 1976 Giants. “I lost my confidence, tried too hard _ overthrew, I guess you’d say _ and I didn’t do very well,” Caldwell said.
Hope rekindled
On Oct. 26, 1976, the Giants traded Caldwell, pitcher John D’Acquisto and catcher Dave Rader to the Cardinals for pitcher John Curtis, outfielder Willie Crawford and utility player Vic Harris.
“I’m just glad to get away from a bad situation,” Caldwell said of leaving the Giants.
The Cardinals slotted Caldwell for the bullpen. “It’s common knowledge that the problem with the Cardinals last year was that middle relief and late relief, except for Al Hrabosky, couldn’t get the other clubs out,” said St. Louis manager Vern Rapp.
Said Caldwell: “I have no illusions. I’ve got to prove I’m good enough to make the staff.”
Bad audition
On March 12, in the Cardinals’ 1977 spring training opener against the Mets, Caldwell pitched two innings and gave up four runs. Three days later, Caldwell pitched an inning against the Dodgers and yielded three runs.
The Cardinals didn’t pitch him much after that.
On March 29, 1977, the Cardinals traded Caldwell to the Reds for pitcher Pat Darcy. In eight spring training innings, Caldwell yielded nine earned runs.
“Rapp called me in and told me, ‘Don’t get mad. You’re going to a contender,’ ” Caldwell said. “I wasn’t mad about that. I just thought he should’ve had some respect for me as a pitcher. That’s all I wanted: Throw me out there to see what I can do.”
Right fit
The Reds weren’t too impressed with Caldwell either. Three months after they acquired him, the Reds dealt Caldwell to the Brewers.
In 1978, Caldwell got a break when the Brewers named George Bamberger their manager. Under Bamberger, who had been a pitching coach for the Orioles, Caldwell fulfilled his potential. He was 22-9 with a 2.36 ERA and 23 complete games for the 1978 Brewers.
“Lots of people had given up on me,” Caldwell said to The Sporting News, noting he was traded by four clubs, including the Cardinals. “Maybe the people who gave up on me were responsible in an indirect way for my coming back. I knew I could pitch and I hope those who gave up on me will say now, ‘Well, he had the guts to battle back and win.’ ”
The third-base coach for Bamberger’s Brewers was Buck Rodgers, with whom Caldwell had feuded in his last season with the Giants. In 1980, Rodgers replaced Bamberger as Brewers manager.
Old wounds
Early in the 1982 season, Caldwell had a run-in with Rodgers aboard a plane, The Sporting News reported. In June 1982, Rodgers was fired and replaced by hitting coach Harvey Kuenn. Rodgers said disgruntled players had “tried to stab me in the back.”
Kuenn led the Brewers to the 1982 American League pennant and a matchup against St. Louis in the World Series.
Five years after he’d been dealt by the Cardinals, Caldwell would be facing them on baseball’s biggest stage.
Series drama
Caldwell, nicknamed “Mr. Warmth” by teammate Gorman Thomas because of his sometimes grumpy nature, was Kuenn’s choice to start Game 1.
Caldwell responded with a three-hit shutout in a 10-0 Brewers victory. Boxscore
Cardinals first baseman Keith Hernandez said he thought Caldwell was throwing a spitter, an illegal pitch. “He might have been throwing me screwballs, but I never saw a screwball drop like that,” Hernandez said.
Caldwell said he threw “natural sinkers.” Regarding the spitball accusation, Caldwell replied, “I look at it as a compliment. If the ball drops so much that they’re accusing me of throwing a spitter, I’ve got pretty good stuff.”
With the Series deadlocked at 2-2, Caldwell started Game 5 and again was the winning pitcher. He yielded 14 hits and two walks in 8.1 innings, but the Cardinals stranded 12 and the Brewers won, 6-4. Boxscore
The Cardinals won Game 6, setting up a deciding Game 7.
Clinging to a 4-3 lead in the eighth, the Cardinals had runners on first and second, two outs, when Kuenn lifted Moose Haas and replaced him with Caldwell. Darrell Porter and Steve Braun responded with RBI-singles, stretching the lead to 6-3, before Caldwell got Willie McGee to ground out.
Bruce Sutter set down the Brewers in order in the ninth, clinching the championship for the Cardinals. Boxscore
RetroSimba 
It’s too bad he didn’t get back on track while he was still on our team. On the Brewers all time pitching stats, only Jim Slaton ranks ahead of him in wins, shutouts, and innings pitched. Mike is tops however, in complete games and wins by a lefty. Both games that he pitched against us in the WS were bitter pills to swallow. It’s best not to say anything about game 1! Give him credit in game 5. There wasn’t one inning in which we didn’t strand someone. When he needed to make an out he made it. It’s interesting though, how things play out in the game of baseball. Heading into the WS, Darrell Porter had registered only one hit against Caldwell. And Steve Braun had never batted against him.
Good insights, thanks. I didn’t realize Mike Caldwell still remains among the leaders in so many categories all-time among Brewers pitchers. Good stuff on Caldwell vs. Darrell Porter and Steve Braun prior to the World Series.
14 hits in 8 and 1/3 innings of a World Series game. Today, that would be a “pitcher count” of seven or eight.
Good point.