Dick Allen capped one of his best performances for the Cardinals by hitting a grand slam against the pitcher who got traded with him to St. Louis.
On June 2, 1970, Allen had seven RBI for the Cardinals in their 12-1 victory over the Giants at St. Louis.
Allen had a run-scoring single and a two-run home run versus Giants starter Gaylord Perry. The grand slam came against Jerry Johnson, who was traded with Allen and Cookie Rojas by the Phillies to the Cardinals in October 1969 for Curt Flood, Tim McCarver, Joe Hoerner and Byron Browne.
On May 19, 1970, the Cardinals dealt Johnson to the Giants for pitcher Frank Linzy. Johnson was making his fifth appearance for the Giants when he faced Allen for the first time.
New look
Looking to shake up the Cardinals, who lost six of their last seven, manager Red Schoendienst changed the batting order for the series opener versus the Giants at Busch Memorial Stadium.
Schoendienst had been featuring a top five of Jose Cardenal, Julian Javier, Lou Brock, Dick Allen and Joe Torre. Against Perry and the Giants, Schoendienst went back to the batting order he used to open the season, with Brock in the leadoff spot, followed by Cardenal, Allen and Torre. Joe Hague batted fifth, and Javier dropped to the seventh spot, behind Ted Simmons.
“The big reason for the change is getting Allen back up there to No. 3 where he can hurt people even more,” Schoendienst told the Associated Press.
To the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Schoendienst explained, “I like to bat Cardenal second, especially against right-handers, because he has good bat control and can hit that outside pitch to right. and I want to be sure Allen gets to bat in the first inning.”
Played on a damp Tuesday night, the game attracted a crowd of 11,111, a number the Post-Dispatch described as “a poker player’s dream.”
Seven future Hall of Famers were in the lineups: Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and Gaylord Perry for the Giants, and Lou Brock, Joe Torre, Ted Simmons and Steve Carlton for the Cardinals. On the bench were three more: Schoendienst and pitchers Juan Marichal of the Giants and Bob Gibson of the Cardinals.
Carlton pitched a four-hitter and would have had a shutout if not for McCovey’s home run, a 420-foot drive into the bleachers in right-center. “I told myself to throw him a really nasty slider, but I hung it,” Carlton told the Post-Dispatch.
Carlton also contributed three singles. “That was just a little cream topping,” Carlton said.
Power source
Though Allen wasn’t a future Hall of Famer, he played like one.
In the first inning, Allen’s single versus Perry scored Cardenal from second.
In the fifth, Allen, a right-handed batter, sliced a Perry slider over the wall in right for a two-run homer. The ball “landed in the runway behind the right-field fence,” according to the Post-Dispatch. Impressed by Allen’s ability to drive the ball the opposite way, Cardinals coach George Kissell told the Post-Dispatch, “He hits them to right like a left-handed golfer.”
Allen had astonishing power, even though his right hand was weakened three years earlier when pieces of glass from a broken headlight on a car he was pushing severed nerves in his palm.
“I worked hard to get that hand so that I could use it again,” Allen told Dick Young of the New York Daily News. “I got a job as a bricklayer’s helper. For nothing. A friend of mine gave me the job. He wanted to pay me. He kept throwing money at me and I kept throwing it back. I wanted to work for nothing. It made me keep thinking of why I was doing it. I asked him for a slow bricklayer, though.”
Run producer
Allen and Perry faced one another frequently. Allen would finish his career with 30 hits and 31 strikeouts versus the spitball specialist.
Jerry Johnson was a different story. He was Allen’s teammate with the Phillies in 1968 and 1969, and for a brief time with the 1970 Cardinals. Johnson began the 1970 season in the minors, got called up to the Cardinals on May 1 and was 2-0 with one save in seven relief appearances for them before he was traded.
In the seventh inning, Johnson relieved Perry and deprived Allen of another RBI, striking him out on a slider with a runner on third and none out.
An inning later, Allen came up against Johnson with the bases loaded and hit a fastball into the seats in left-center for his fifth grand slam in the big leagues. He’d hit three more grand slams before his career was done. Boxscore
The home run would be the only base hit Allen would get in 12 career at-bats versus Johnson.
Allen had one other game with seven RBI. It occurred Sept. 29, 1968, for the Phillies against the Mets at Shea Stadium in New York. Allen hit a two-run home run versus Tom Seaver, a solo shot off Cal Koonce and a grand slam against Ron Taylor, the former Cardinal.
As I recall, Jerry Johnson went on to have a great year with the Giants in 1971. After that, nothing much, but the Cardinals could have used him in ’71.
Yes, Jerry Johnson led the division champion Giants in games pitched (67) and in saves (18). He also had 12 wins and a 2.97. One of the plethora of top relievers (Dave Giusti, Wayne Granger, Joe Hoerner, Mudcat Grant, Ted Abernathy, Ramon Hernandez) traded away by Bing Devine in his second stint with Cardinals.
You could move Torre and Allen in the batting order and still have them produce. It was a different story though, with Cardenal. As the number 2 hitter, his batting average was .350, but leading off, it fell to .242. Hitting in the number 5 or 6 spot, his batting average was . 260.
Thanks. Here is more on Jose Cardenal and his spot in the batting order: https://retrosimba.com/2016/03/16/jose-cardenal-and-his-tumultuous-time-with-cardinals/
Thank you for that great memory of Dick Allen. I just purchased a hard cover copy of “Dick Allen: The Life and Times of a Baseball Immortal”. I always loved watching Allen hit. I grew up a Red Sox fan, and Jim Rice always made me think of the American League’s Dick Allen. I have got to say this: Dick Allen not being in the HOF and Jim Rice in is a sham. You can’t have Rice in and not Allen. I hope this is corrected while Dick Allen is alive to appreciate it.
Brad.
Thanks for reading and for commenting, Brad. The Dick Allen book sounds like a good read. I’ll pick up a copy.