RetroSimba

(Updated Sept. 17, 2022)

From a Cardinals perspective, Mark Littell was a younger, clean-cut, right-handed version of Al Hrabosky. When given the chance to swap Hrabosky for Littell, the Cardinals acted.

On Dec. 8, 1977, the Cardinals traded left-handed closer Hrabosky to the Royals for Littell and catcher Buck Martinez.

Littell, 24, was nicknamed “Country.” He had a low-key personality, an all-American look and excelled at striking out batters.

Hrabosky, 28, was nicknamed “Mad Hungarian.” He was a high-strung showman who grew a Fu Manchu, performed self-psyching theatrics on the field and excelled at striking out batters.

Both relievers became available on the trade market for different reasons.

Littell slumped in the second half of the 1977 season and lost the closer role.

Hrabosky feuded throughout the year with Cardinals manager Vern Rapp and openly defied team owner Gussie Busch on the club’s facial hair ban.

Made in Missouri

Littell was born in Cape Girardeau, Mo., and grew up in the town of Gideon in the southeast corner of the state. “Population 800,” Littell told The Sporting News. “Soy beans, cotton and wheat.”

His father was a farmer and his mother was a nurse. Littell worked on his father’s farm and developed strength. “I plowed, planted and loaded soy beans _ 60-pound sacks, 500 or 600 a day,” Littell recalled. “I liked farm work.”

As a youth, Littell went to Cardinals games in St. Louis with his family. Among the players who made the most memorable impression on him were Stan Musial, Bob Gibson, Curt Simmons, Minnie Minoso and Bill White.

“We used to come to see the Cardinals six, maybe 10, times a year,” Littell told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “… I saw Musial get a game-winning hit with two out in the ninth inning … I can still visualize him hitting that ball. He went the opposite way with it, between shortstop and third base.”

Ups and downs

Littell, 20, debuted in the major leagues with the 1973 Royals. He was the closer in 1976 when the Royals won the American League West title under manager Whitey Herzog. Littell was 8-4 with 16 saves and a 2.08 ERA.

“Without Mark Littell, we never would have made it as far as we did,” Herzog told the Kansas City Star. “He is the first relief pitcher in Royals history who was consistently able to come in and really slam the door.”

Littell suffered a setback in the 1976 American League Championship Series against the Yankees. With the score tied 6-6 in the decisive Game 5, Littell yielded a ninth-inning home run to Chris Chambliss that clinched for the Yankees their first pennant since 1964.

Undaunted, Littell was dominant in the first half of 1977, posting a 2.59 ERA with 12 saves.

He struggled, however, in the second half of the season. Littell had a 5.20 ERA and no saves after the all-star break and was replaced as the closer by Doug Bird.

Still, in 104.2 innings, Littell struck out 106 batters and yielded 73 hits.

“His ratio of strikeouts and hits to innings pitched is remarkable,” said Cardinals general manager Bing Devine.

Quality swap

At the 1977 baseball winter meetings, the Royals were seeking a left-handed power pitcher to pair with Bird in the bullpen. The Cardinals were willing to trade Hrabosky, who was 6-5 with 10 saves and a 4.38 ERA in 1977.

“I talked to all the National League managers and they told me Hrabosky was messed up last season because of his troubles with Rapp,” Herzog said. “They told me he still is an outstanding pitcher. We think he is.”

When the Royals offered Littell for Hrabosky, the Cardinals agreed.

“Now we have a left-hander coming out of the bullpen who can blow people away,” Herzog said.

Admitting he and Rapp “definitely had personality conflicts,” Hrabosky said of the trade, “The only sad thing about the whole thing is I’m leaving St. Louis as a bad guy.”

Asked his reaction to the deal, Cardinals catcher Ted Simmons told columnist Dick Young, “In the past, when there was a personality difference, this team would unload a man for a song and a prayer. This time we at least got value for Hrabosky.”

Said Devine of Littell: “If we need a strikeout, he’s the man to bring in.”

Results are in

“Going from the Royals to the Cardinals shook me up a little,” Littell said to the Kansas City Star, “but at least I stayed in the same state and around an area I’m familiar with. The cities are a little different, but I still see a lot of my friends at both places. St. Louis is a little conservative and Kansas City is more progressive.”

Littell requested uniform No. 17 from the Cardinals, but the club had retired that number in honor of Hall of Fame pitcher Dizzy Dean. Littell took No. 32 instead.

In 1978, Littell was 4-8 with 11 saves and a 2.79 ERA for the Cardinals. In 70 relief appearances, he had 120 strikeouts in 97.1 innings, becoming the first Cardinals reliever with 100 strikeouts in a season.

Hrabosky was 8-7 with 20 saves and a 2.88 ERA for the 1978 AL West champion Royals.

In 1979, Littell was 9-4 with 13 saves and a 2.19 ERA for the Cardinals. Hrabosky was 9-4 with 11 saves and a 3.74 ERA for the Royals.

After that, the careers of both pitchers declined.

Hrabosky ended his playing days with the Braves, totaling seven saves in three years (1980-1982).

Littell, who underwent elbow surgery in 1980, had four total saves in his final three seasons (1980-1982) with the Cardinals.

Overall, in five years with St. Louis, Littell was 14-18 with 28 saves, a 3.31 ERA and 233 strikeouts in 261 innings.