RetroSimba

A candidate to replace Bill White as Cardinals first baseman, Moose Stubing had his path blocked by Orlando Cepeda for the second time in his career.

Stubing went on to have a long career as a coach and manager.

Nicknamed “Moose” because of his size, Larry Stubing was a Bronx, N.Y., native and a standout high school athlete. He rejected a football scholarship to Penn State and signed a professional baseball contract with the Pirates. Stubing stood 6 feet 3 and weighed 220 pounds.

After one season (1956) in the Pirates’ system, Stubing was sent to the Giants. He played eight seasons (1957-1964) in the Giants’ minor-league organization. The Giants had two future Hall of Famers, Cepeda and Willie McCovey, who were naturals at first base and there was no room at the big-league level for Stubing, a left-handed batter with power.

In April 1965, the Giants traded Stubing, 27, to the Cardinals for George Williams, a minor-league third baseman. White was the Cardinals’ first baseman then and he was coming off a successful 1964 season, batting .303 with 21 home runs and 102 RBI for the World Series champions. Cardinals general manager Bob Howsam, however, was looking for potential successors to White and Stubing appealed as a candidate.

The Cardinals assigned Stubing to the Jacksonville Suns, their Class AAA affiliate in the International League and made him the starting first baseman. Stubing, however, flopped, batting .209 with 13 home runs in 132 games. He was surpassed by another prospect, George Kernek, as the likely successor to White.

After the 1965 season, White was traded to the Phillies and Kernek was picked to replace him. Stubing was demoted to the Arkansas Travelers, the Cardinals’ Class AA club in the Texas League.

After a slow start in 1966, Stubing began hitting with consistent power and production for Arkansas. In a 51-game stretch in June and July, he hit .381. Of his first 19 home runs, 18 came in games won by Arkansas. By then, however, Cepeda was the Cardinals’ first baseman. He was acquired in May and Kernek was sent back to Class AAA.

Stubing finished the 1966 season with a .274 batting average and 25 home runs for an Arkansas team, managed by Vern Rapp, that won the pennant in its first season in the Texas League. A team photo in the Sept. 17, 1966, edition of The Sporting News showed Stubing standing between future Cardinals pitchers Wayne Granger and Mike Torrez.

Though Stubing did well at Arkansas, he no longer fit in the Cardinals’ plans. Howsam departed for the Reds and Stan Musial replaced him as general manager. Before the start of the 1967 season, the Cardinals sent Stubing to the Angels.

Joining the Angels was the biggest break of Stubing’s career. He made his major-league debut with them in 1967, but went hitless, with four strikeouts, in five at-bats. Stubing stayed in the Angels’ organization and eventually became a minor-league manager for them for many years.

From 1985-1990, Stubing was back in the major leagues as an Angels hitting coach. In 1988, when the Angels fired manager Cookie Rojas near the end of the season, Stubing filled in with eight games remaining, but the Angels lost all eight.