(Updated Nov. 27, 2021)
Before he gained fame with the Pirates for pitching 12 perfect innings against the Braves and earning two World Series wins versus the Yankees, Harvey Haddix began his career with the Cardinals and was their ace.
A left-hander at 5 feet 9, 160 pounds, Haddix “relied on technique instead of strength,” the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.
On May 26, 1959, at Milwaukee, Haddix pitched 12 perfect innings, retiring the first 36 batters he faced, but lost when the Braves scored an unearned run in the 13th. Boxscore
The Pittsburgh Press called it “the greatest of all baseball tragedies” and, years later, Marino Parascenzo of the Post-Gazette hailed Haddix as “a little guy with a big heart, big enough to pitch baseball’s greatest game and absorb one of baseball’s greatest disappointments, both in the same day _ and come up smiling.”
A year after his Milwaukee masterpiece, Haddix started and won Game 5 of the 1960 World Series at Yankee Stadium, and he pitched the ninth inning of Game 7 and got the win when Bill Mazeroski hit a walkoff home run for the Pirates. Boxscore
Those feats overshadowed the achievements of his early years with the Cardinals when he had a 20-win season, led the National League in shutouts and was selected to three all-star teams.
Catapult to success
Haddix grew up on an Ohio farm and signed with the Cardinals in 1947 after attending a tryout camp in Columbus. He pitched four seasons in the Cardinals’ system and was 18-6 for Class AAA Columbus in 1950 before serving in the Army.
After military service, the Cardinals brought Haddix to the major leagues. In his debut in a start against the Braves on Aug. 20, 1952, at St. Louis, Haddix got the win, singled, stole a base, drove in a run and scored a run in a 9-2 victory. Boxscore
Haddix was matched in his debut against Braves starter Lew Burdette. Seven years later, Burdette was the opposing pitcher who held the Pirates scoreless for 13 innings while Haddix was perfect for 12.
Haddix “bears a strong resemblance” to teammate Harry Brecheen in “size, pitching technique and ability,” Bob Broeg of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
Brecheen, nicknamed “The Cat,” earned 128 wins in his Cardinals career and was the 1948 National League ERA leader. Because he appeared to be a younger version of “The Cat,” Haddix got tabbed “The Kitten.”
Years later, according to Broeg, Cardinals outfielder Enos Slaughter said, “You know how much I think about Brecheen. Harvey is even better.”
Big winner
Haddix was 2-2 with a 2.79 ERA in 42 innings for the 1952 Cardinals. He maintained his rookie status in 1953 because he had pitched fewer than 45 innings in the major leagues.
Haddix posted a 20-9 record for the 1953 Cardinals, led the league in shutouts (six) and finished second to Dodgers infielder Jim Gilliam in balloting for the Rookie of the Year Award. Haddix also batted .289 with 11 RBI.
Haddix’s best pitching performance in his 20-win season was a two-hit shutout of the Phillies in a 2-0 Cardinals triumph on Aug. 6, 1953, at St. Louis.
Haddix held the Phillies hitless for eight innings. Richie Ashburn, leading off the ninth, attempted to bunt Haddix’s first pitch, fouled it off and got booed. “That’s what he’s paid to do, try to win,” Haddix said.
With the count 1-and-2 on Ashburn, Cardinals catcher Del Rice called for a slider, but Haddix shook off the sign and threw a curve. Ashburn lined the pitch to right for a single.
“He wouldn’t have hit that curve if I had got it where I wanted it _ down,” Haddix said. “It was high, though, and he should have hit it.”
With one out, Del Ennis bounced a single into left, but Haddix got Granny Hamner to ground into a game-ending double play. Boxscore
Haddix got his 20th win of the season on Sept. 25, 1953, in an 11-2 Cardinals rout of the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Boxscore
He became the first Cardinals pitcher to achieve 20 wins in a season since Howie Pollet was 20-9 in 1949.
Master craftsman
In 1954, Haddix was 18-13 for the Cardinals. From May 8, 1954, to June 23, 1954, Haddix won 10 consecutive decisions and lowered his ERA from 4.17 to 2.85. He allowed one run in the last 36 innings of the streak.
On July 1, 1954, at Milwaukee, Haddix was struck on the left knee by a Joe Adcock liner and was carried off the field on a stretcher. “I never threw the same after that,” he told author Walter Langford.
Haddix was 12-16 for the 1955 Cardinals, but was chosen for the All-Star Game for the third consecutive year. He pitched three innings and retired Ted Williams on a groundout to end the fifth and got Mickey Mantle on a groundout to start the sixth. Boxscore
The next year, Haddix appeared ready to give the Cardinals another good showing. On April 25, 1956, he pitched a two-hit shutout in a 6-0 Cardinals victory against the Cubs at St. Louis. Boxscore
Two weeks later, the Cardinals traded Haddix and pitchers Stu Miller and Ben Flowers to the Phillies for pitchers Murry Dickson and Herm Wehmeier.
In five seasons with St. Louis, Haddix was 53-40 with a 3.65 ERA and 12 shutouts. “He had the misfortune to be the Cardinals’ best pitcher at a time they didn’t have enough,” wrote Broeg.
Haddix went on to pitch for the Phillies (1956-57), Reds (1958), Pirates (1959-63) and Orioles (1964-65). His pitching coach with the Orioles was Brecheen, a reunion of “The Cat” and “The Kitten.”
Haddix was 40 when he pitched his last big-league game and he finished with a career mark of 136-113.
Haddix became a pitching coach for the Mets (1966-67), Reds (1969), Red Sox (1971), Indians (1975-78) and Pirates (1979-84).
With the Mets, Haddix was the first big-league pitching coach for Nolan Ryan and Tom Seaver. When Frank Robinson became the first African-American manager in the big leagues with the 1975 Indians, he chose Haddix to be the pitching coach. In 1979, the Pirates won the World Series championship with Chuck Tanner as manager and Haddix as pitching coach.
In winters, Haddix returned to his Ohio farm near the village of South Vienna. “Haddix was a good rifle shot,” Broeg wrote. “Back home in Ohio, they considered him a hero after a neighbor’s bull went on a rampage and threatened life and property. Haddix delivered a bull’s-eye shot with only a .22-caliber.”
A year before he died at age 68 in January 1994, the Associated Press reported, Haddix, needing an oxygen tank, talked about his smoking habit.
“I was a three-pack-a-day man,” Haddix said. “That was my friend. My wife and kids didn’t travel with me. I could handle the drinking part of it, but not the cigarettes.
“I loved cigarettes, but they finally got to me.”
[…] Reds traded Post to the Phillies for pitcher Harvey Haddix in December 1957 but reacquired him in June 1960 when Hutchinson was the Reds’ […]