RetroSimba

Consistently confrontational, Al Hrabosky was involved in controversy right down to his very last homestand as a Cardinals pitcher.

In 1977, Hrabosky, the so-called “Mad Hungarian,” was involved in a series of incidents, including feuding publicly with manager Vern Rapp, getting suspended by the club for refusing to meet with the manager and incurring the wrath of team owner Gussie Busch by defying a ban on facial hair.

Hrabosky also sparked an on-field brawl in May that year when he hit Cesar Cedeno of the Astros with a pitch.

On Sept. 26, 1977, Hrabosky capped his tumultuous season by throwing a pitch at the head of Warren Cromartie of the Expos in the opening game of the Cardinals’ final homestand.

An Expos pitcher, Wayne Twitchell, peeved by what he perceived to be an intentional assault of his teammate, waited outside the Cardinals’ clubhouse to confront Hrabosky after the game.

Tough ninth

The Expos and Cardinals entered the ninth inning of the Monday night game at St. Louis with the score tied at 5-5. Among the highlights to that point were Garry Templeton’s two-run inside-the-park home run against Twitchell in the sixth and Gary Carter’s three-run home run for the Expos in the seventh against Eric Rasmussen.

Rawly Eastwick yielded singles to the first four Expos batters in the ninth. The last of those consecutive hits, by Ellis Valentine, drove in a run and put the Expos ahead, 6-5.

With the bases loaded and none out, Hrabosky relieved Eastwick.

The first batter he faced, Carter, pulled a curveball to left for a single, scoring two and giving the Expos an 8-5 lead.

“The count was 2-and-2 and he had just blown one by me,” Carter said to the Associated Press. “I consider myself a fastball hitter and I was surprised to get the curve. He got it up some and I waited for it.”

Danger zone

Next up was Cromartie. Hrabosky threw a fastball that sailed directly toward Cromartie’s head. Cromartie raised his arm to protect his face and the ball struck his right wrist.

“If he hadn’t got his hand up, it would have hit him right here,” Expos manager Dick Williams, pointing to his temple, said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Valentine tried to charge from the dugout to the mound to get at Hrabosky, but he was restrained by teammates. Players from both clubs gathered on the field but no fights erupted and no one was ejected.

“He threw at him,” Valentine said. “Everybody on the ball club knew it.”

Hrabosky stayed in the game and completed the inning. The Expos added a run on a sacrifice fly by pitcher Don Stanhouse. The Cardinals failed to score in their half of the ninth and the Expos won, 9-5. Boxscore

Face to face

Hrabosky exited the dugout through a hallway to the clubhouse. As he approached the clubhouse door, he was surprised to see Twitchell there.

Twitchell, 6 feet 6, 215 pounds, pointedly told Hrabosky, 5 feet 11, 185 pounds, that hitting Cromartie with a pitch right after yielding a two-run single to Carter “was very poor timing.”

“I asked what the hell he thought he was doing,” Twitchell said. “He said it was unintentional.”

Several Cardinals had gathered in the hallway on their way to the clubhouse. “I was drastically outnumbered,” Twitchell said.

Asked whether he was seeking a fight, Twitchell said, “If that’s what it came to, but he wouldn’t swing.”

Twitchell departed and went to the Expos clubhouse.

“He hung a pitch and Carter gets a hit,” Twitchell said of Hrabosky. “Now he’s going to take it out on the next hitter? If you are going to brush back a hitter, there’s no worse place you can put the ball.”

Hrabosky declined to comment to reporters.

Said Cardinals manager Vern Rapp: “There was no intent. What does a guy want to hit him for with two men on and nobody out?”

Hrabosky pitched in three more games for the Cardinals. After the season, he was traded to the Royals.

Previously: Bake McBride was a menace against Wayne Twitchell

Previously: Gary Carter and his two 5-RBI games against Cardinals