RetroSimba

Four years after pitcher Joaquin Andujar was sent away by the Cardinals, manager Whitey Herzog wanted to bring him back and give him a chance to earn a spot in the starting rotation.

In May 1989, Andujar wrote to the Cardinals, apologized for his behavior and asked to come back.

Herzog advocated for Andjuar’s return, but the front office wasn’t interested.

Spurned by the Cardinals, Andujar pitched successfully in a senior professional league, earned a tryout with the Expos but failed in his attempt to get back to the major leagues.

Good, bad, ugly

Andujar was a stalwart of the Cardinals’ staff from 1981-85. posting a 68-53 record. In 1982, he earned 15 wins in the regular season and three wins in the postseason, including the clinchers in the National League Championship Series against the Braves and the World Series versus the Brewers. Andujar had 20 wins in 1984 and 21 wins in 1985.

In his last year with the Cardinals, Andujar fell out of favor with management because of drug use and an on-field temper tantrum in Game 7 of the World Series against the Royals.

At a September 1985 federal trial of an accused drug dealer in Pittsburgh, Andujar and former Cardinals Bernie Carbo, Keith Hernandez, Lonnie Smith and Lary Sorensen were among major-league players identified as cocaine users. A month later, Andujar was ejected from the decisive game of the World Series for his tirade directed at umpire Don Denkinger.

Embarrassed by Andujar’s behavior and concerned he had become a divisive clubhouse presence, the Cardinals traded him to the Athletics on Dec. 10, 1985, for catcher Mike Heath and pitcher Tim Conroy.

After posting records of 12-7 in 1986 and 3-5 in 1987 with the Athletics, Andujar pitched for the Astros in 1988. He was 2-5 for Houston, became a free agent after the season and remained at home in the Dominican Republic when he received no major-league offer.

No, thanks

In April 1989, as the Cardinals neared Opening Day, Herzog sized up his starting pitching and openly lobbied for the club to sign Andujar. “I wish we had him now,” Herzog said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

A month later, with the Cardinals in need of a No. 5 starter, Herzog pressed again for the team to sign Andujar.

“Herzog has hoped the Cardinals and Anheuser-Busch would reconsider their stance on not having Andujar around anymore,” the Post-Dispatch reported on May 20, 1989.

Knowing he needed to repair relations with upper management, Andujar, with the help of agents Alan Hendricks and David Hendricks, wrote a letter to Cardinals chief operating officer Fred Kuhlmann, “apologizing for his actions and hoping for a job,” according to the Post-Dispatch.

Herzog said Kuhlmann wrote Andujar “a polite reply,” but made it clear the club was uninterested, a stance supported by general manager Dal Maxvill.

“He can’t pitch,” said Maxvill. “He hasn’t pitched well since we sent him” to the Athletics.

Herzog wanted to place Andujar, 36, with the Cardinals’ top farm club at Louisville, give him a chance to work into shape and bring him to St. Louis in the summer.

“There’s nothing to lose,” Herzog said. “There are a lot of veteran pitchers who haven’t had as much success as he has.”

Super senior

In July 1989, the Post-Dispatch published a story from Cox News Service, which sent a reporter to visit Andujar in his hometown of San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic. Andjuar said he was supplying food and water to the poor as well as donating baseball equipment to youth players.

“It’s time the people know the good sides to Joaquin Andujar, not only the bad side,” Andujar said.

Asked whether he’d play again in the big leagues, Andujar replied, “I can still throw 90-something miles per hour, but I said last year somebody wanted Joaquin Andujar out of baseball and you see that’s true. If they don’t want me, I don’t want to play.”

A few months later, after the 1989 major-league season ended, Andujar joined the fledgling Senior Professional Baseball Association for players older than 35. Playing for manager Earl Weaver’s Gold Coast Suns in Pompano Beach, Fla., Andujar was 5-0 with a 1.31 ERA. Impressed, the Expos signed him to a minor-league contract in December 1989 and invited him to their big-league spring training camp in 1990.

“If they give me the ball and leave me alone, I can win 20 games,” Andujar said to the Associated Press. “I’m not going to play in the minor leagues. I’m not a minor-league pitcher.”

Au revoir

After reporting five days late to Expos spring training camp, Andujar, 37, had root canal surgery. He pitched in two exhibition games, yielding two earned runs in five innings, and was released on April 3, 1989, before the season began.

In an interview with the Toronto Globe and Mail, Andujar said, “I’m being blackballed” and mocked the Expos for releasing him.

“I’ve never seen a crazy ballclub like Montreal, believe me,” Andujar said. “They’re out of their minds. They’re all miserable _ from the manager to the bat boy.

“That club doesn’t know what they’re doing. Everybody in the world knows I can help a club like that one.”