RetroSimba

The Cardinals had Willie Montanez in their organization, lost him, got him back, lost him again and made another attempt to reacquire him.

On April 8, 1970, the Cardinals sent Montanez to the Phillies as partial compensation for Curt Flood’s failure to report after being traded.

A first baseman and outfielder in the Cardinals’ farm system, Montanez became a prominent player for the Phillies.

He spent 14 seasons in the majors with nine teams, but not the Cardinals.

Big leap

Cardinals scout Chase Riddle, who signed Steve Carlton and who also opened the talent pipeline for the club in Latin America, discovered Montanez in Puerto Rico. Montanez signed with the Cardinals on March 1, 1965, a month before he turned 17. He spent the 1965 season with a Cardinals club managed by George Kissell in the Florida Rookie League.

Years later, Montanez admitted he too often flashed a temper in those development years. “I was really bad then,” Montanez said to the Philadelphia Daily News. He also told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “I wouldn’t take anything from anybody and I’m sure that’s what held me down in the minor leagues.”

Left off the Cardinals’ 40-man major-league roster, Montanez was selected by the Angels in the November 1965 Rule 5 draft. The move was a surprise because Montanez had little professional experience and, under the rules, would have to remain with the Angels throughout the 1966 major-league season or be offered back to the Cardinals.

Montanez, 18, was on the Angels’ Opening Day roster and made his debut in the majors on April 12, 1966, as a pinch-runner for Norm Siebern. Boxscore

He appeared in eight games for the Angels, had two at-bats and struck out both times. On May 5, 1966, the Angels returned Montanez to the Cardinals, who sent him to their farm club at Rock Hill, S.C. A month later, in June 1966, Rock Hill placed Montanez on a 10-day inactive list so he could return to Puerto Rico and graduate with his high school class, The Sporting News reported.

From 1966-69, Montanez made a steady rise through the Cardinals’ system. In 1969, he hit .375 in 14 games for Class AAA Tulsa before he fractured his right knee sliding into second base, ending his season.

Compromise solution

In October 1969, the Cardinals traded Flood, Tim McCarver, Joe Hoerner and Byron Browne to the Phillies for Richie Allen, Cookie Rojas and Jerry Johnson. Flood refused to report and filed an antitrust lawsuit, challenging baseball’s reserve clause.

At spring training in 1970, when it became obvious Flood wouldn’t reconsider, the Cardinals and Phillies opened talks regarding a player to replace him in the trade. The Phillies were interested in third baseman Mike Shannon, the Post-Dispatch reported, until medical tests revealed he had a kidney ailment.

With Shannon unavailable, the Cardinals submitted a list of players for consideration, but the Phillies rejected it because “we felt the players listed were no better than the players we already had,” Phillies general manager John Quinn told the Post-Dispatch. “In some cases, we felt they weren’t even quite as good as the players we had.”

The Phillies suggested to the Cardinals some alternative names, including Montanez. Phillies manager Frank Lucchesi had seen Montanez while managing winter baseball in Puerto Rico and urged the Phillies to take him, the Sporting News reported.

“Montanez was more or less a compromise name,” Cardinals general manager Bing Devine told the Post-Dispatch.

The Phillies got Montanez and the right to choose another Cardinals prospect. On Aug. 30, 1970, the Phillies took pitcher Jim Browning.

Fantastic Phillie

Montanez spent the 1970 season in the minors before being called up to the Phillies in September. He went to spring training in 1971 “with only an outside chance of winning a job as a utility man,” The Sporting News reported.

Instead, Montanez was the surprise of training camp and opened the 1971 season as the Phillies’ center fielder.

On April 25, 1971, when the Phillies were in St. Louis to play the Cardinals, Montanez made an over-the-shoulder catch of a Jose Cardenal liner and “collapsed to the warning track, the breath knocked out of him by the head-on collision with an unyielding wall,” the Philadelphia Daily News reported. Boxscore

Five months later, on Sept. 13, 1971, Montanez had five hits and a walk in six plate appearances against the Cardinals at St. Louis. Besides two singles and a double, Montanez hit two home runs. The first, against Reggie Cleveland, tied the score in the seventh and the second, against Don Shaw in the 10th, gave the Phillies a 6-5 victory. Boxscore

Montanez finished the 1971 season with 30 home runs and 99 RBI for the Phillies. The next year, he tied for the National League lead in doubles (39).

Near deal

In May 1975, the Phillies traded Montanez to the Giants for Garry Maddox.

Montanez didn’t like San Francisco’s weather or its stadium, Candlestick Park. He chose to play the 1976 season without a contract. The Giants, concerned Montanez intended to play out his option and become a free agent, decided to trade him. Montanez’s agent, Dennis O’Brien, told the Giants his client would play in St. Louis, Pittsbugh, Philadelphia or New York, the Post-Dispatch reported.

On June 12, 1976, the Cardinals and Giants made a deal “on the condition that Montanez would sign with the Cardinals,” the San Francisco Examiner reported, but the Cardinals backed out when Montanez indicated he would stay unsigned.

“Montanez’s agent called and said we appreciate the opportunity but we’ve decided to play out our option,” Devine told the Post-Dispatch.

Montanez said to the Examiner, “I never did say I’d sign with the Cardinals … I might have signed with St. Louis if the price had been right.”

According to the Examiner, the Cardinals intended to send Reggie Smith to the Giants for Montanez. The Post-Dispatch reported the Cardinals would have sent Smith or Keith Hernandez.

A year earlier, the Cardinals traded Ken Reitz, a San Francisco native, to the Giants. Hernandez, also a San Francisco native, told the Post-Dispatch he wouldn’t have been surprised if he had been dealt to the Giants for Montanez. “They’re looking for Bay Area products,” Hernandez said. “That’s why they got Reitzie. They’re looking for people who’ll bring fans into the park.”

The next day, June 13, 1976, the Giants traded Montanez to the Braves for Darrell Evans. Two days after that, the Cardinals swapped Smith to the Dodgers for Joe Ferguson.

Extra mustard

Montanez batted .275 with 1,604 career hits for the Angels, Phillies, Giants, Braves, Mets, Rangers, Padres, Expos and Pirates. He developed a reputation for flamboyant catches and bat flips.

Bill Conlin of the Philadelphia Daily News concluded Montanez “has all the subtlety of a peacock.”

“He walks toward the plate twirling his bat, almost like a baton,” The Sporting News noted.

Padres second baseman Tito Fuentes said, “He’s headed for the hot dog hall of fame. Nobody else is close to him.”

Said Montanez: “Some players do those things, they call them colorful. I do them, they say I am a hot dog.”