To bolster a bullpen rated a laughingstock, the Cardinals added a practical joker.
On Nov. 30, 1970, the Cardinals acquired reliever Moe Drabowsky from the Orioles for infielder Jerry DaVanon.
Drabowsky, 35, was a notorious prankster nearing the end of his pitching career.
To some, he was a fading journeyman. To the desperate Cardinals, he became a bullpen ace.
Little relief
The 1970 Cardinals had 20 saves, fewest in the National League. The league champion Reds, led by former Cardinal Wayne Granger, had 60, and the East Division champion Pirates, led by former Cardinal Dave Giusti, had 43.
Slow to recognize the growing importance of a closer and deep bullpen, the 1970 Cardinals finished at 76-86, 13 games behind the Pirates. Inadequate relief pitching wasn’t the sole reason for the poor record, but it was a factor.
The Cardinals’ best reliever, Chuck Taylor, had eight saves in 1970. Frank Linzy, who the Cardinals got from the Giants, contributed two saves, but yielded more hits (66) than innings pitched (61.2) and more walks (23) than strikeouts (19).
Looking to add a veteran reliever to join Taylor and Linzy in 1971, the Cardinals landed Drabowsky.
On the move
A right-hander who began his big-league career with the Cubs, Drabowsky was known best to Cardinals followers as the pitcher who gave up career hit No. 3,000 to Stan Musial in 1958. After injuring his elbow, Drabowsky went from the Cubs to the Braves, Reds and Athletics.
His manager with the 1963 Athletics was Eddie Lopat, the former Yankees pitcher whose ability to change speeds and throw from a variety of motions and deliveries made him a consistent winner.
Lopat changed Drabowsky’s approach to pitching, convincing him to focus on five c’s: comfortable grip, confidence, challenging the batter, control, concentration.
“I give Ed Lopat all the credit in the world for helping me,” Drabowsky told The Sporting News. “Actually, he saved me.”
Working on methods Lopat taught him, Drabowsky found his form during a return to the minors. He was 8-2 with a 2.44 ERA for the Athletics’ Vancouver farm club in 1965. The Cardinals purchased his contract after the season, but the Orioles selected Drabowsky in the November 1965 Rule 5 draft before he had a chance to pitch for St. Louis.
The Cardinals’ loss was a significant gain for the Orioles. Drabowsky was 6-0 with six saves for the 1966 Orioles and helped them win the American League pennant. In Game 1 of the World Series versus the Dodgers, Drabowsky relieved Dave McNally and pitched 6.2 scoreless innings for the win. Drabowsky struck out 11, including six in a row. His performance sparked the Orioles to a sweep. Boxscore
Fun and games
The Royals selected Drabowsky in the American League expansion draft in October 1968, but the Orioles reacquired him on June 15, 1970.
Joe McGuff of the Kansas City Star wrote, “Drabowsky will be missed. In addition to his pitching ability. Drabowsky was a leader on the Kansas City team. The young pitchers looked up to him and he was always ready to help them in any way he could.”
Orioles general manager Harry Dalton told the Baltimore Sun, “We know Moe as not only a good relief pitcher, but one of the most popular players to play here.”
The Sun described Drabowsky as a “peerless practical joker” and an “instigator and target of matchless fun and levity.”
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Drabowsky, during his first stint with the Orioles, planted live snakes in uniforms hung in the lockers of three teammates. Another time, while in the Orioles’ bullpen, he called the visiting Athletics’ bullpen and, impersonating the voice of their manager, Al Dark, ordered pitcher Lew Krausse to start throwing. One of his favorite stunts was to tie a $10 bill to a long, thin string, find cover and yank the money away from unsuspecting persons who reached for it.
Teammates enjoyed trying to turn the tables on Drabowsky. When he went to his locker for the first time after he rejoined the Orioles, “instead of a uniform, he found a white groundkeeper’s suit, plus yellow raincoat and rain hat for use in tending the field when the weather is inclement,” the Sun reported. Stuffed in the locker were rakes, shovels and brooms for infield manicuring.
Drabowsky was a good fit on and off the field for the Orioles, who won the 1970 American League pennant. He was 4-2 with one save, and right-handed batters hit .177 against him. In the World Series versus the Reds, Drabowsky appeared twice, pitched a total of 3.1 innings and yielded one run.
Cardinals card
Figuring they’d gotten want they wanted from Drabowsky, the Orioles were willing to deal, and the Cardinals were first in line to take him.
Initially, it looked like a bad move. Drabowsky was terrible in spring training, posting an 11.25 ERA in Grapefruit League games, but the Cardinals put him on the 1971 Opening Day roster.
Drabowsky was a different pitcher in the regular season. A win versus the Dodgers on June 23, 1971, gave him a 5-0 record and 3.31 ERA for the season. He also lived up to his reputation as a prankster.
When the Cardinals were in Cincinnati, Drabowsky hid a large, rubber snake in a towel in teammate Ted Simmons’ locker. When Simmons saw it, “he let out a scream and broke the Olympic high jump record,” the Post-Dispatch reported.
After Drabowsky discovered the bullpen phone at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis was hooked up to the main switchboard, he began making calls out. One night, Drabowsky called a movie studio in Hollywood and learned Sophia Loren was on location in Europe. He reached her at a hotel and said, “Is this Sophia? This is Drabo.”
“Drabowsky went on to explain he was a great fan of hers,” the Post-Dispatch reported. “They talked for about 10 minutes.”
Another time, Drabowsky called a restaurant in Hong Kong, said he was in St. Louis and asked if he could place a take-out order. According to the Post-Dispatch, the answer was no.
Drabowsky was all business on the mound. He led the 1971 Cardinals in saves (eight) and appearances (51) and was 6-1 with a 3.43 ERA. Right-handed batters hit .191 against him.
In 1972, he was 1-1 with two saves and a 2.60 ERA in 30 appearances when the Cardinals, who had dropped from contention, released him in August. The White Sox signed him and he finished his playing career with them.
RetroSimba 
The Alvin Dark phone call story is gold. He made three calls: the first to order Krausse to warm up, the second to tell him to sit down, and on the third he was caught. Presumably he was going to order Krausse to get up again.
Not a bad pitcher, either. His 1966-1969 seasons were first-rate.
Thanks for the insight. Moe must have been a darn good mimic: A guy from Poland, raised in Connecticut pulled off a believable imitation of the voice of Louisiana’s Al Dark.
I was at Veterans Stadium the night Drabowsky dropped his only decision of 1971. The Cardinals were trailing in the ninth when Lou Brock belted a two-run home run off former Cardinal Joe Hoerner. Drabowsky came on in extra innings and pitched 5 2/3 in relief. He walked Bobby Pfeil with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 16th inning. 1971 was Joe Torre’s big year. He came into the game batting .370 but went 0 for 5. My most vivid memory was of Drabowsky angrily kicking the turf as we walked off the mound after the Phillies walked off with the win.
Good stuff, Joe. Thanks for sharing the memories. It’s really great you got to attend that game. Here is a link to the boxscore: https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1971/B07310PHI1971.htm
That 1970 team was loaded with talent with Gibson, who won the Cy Young award, Torre, Brock, Dick Allen, Simmons, and Carlton, but management clearly didn’t understand the use of the bullpen. They had traded Dave Giusti to the Pirates for a 4th outfielder named Carl Taylor who spent one year on the team. Giusti had spent one year with the Cardinals as a starter but the Pirates made him their closer and he won nine games and saved twenty six. The next year he led the league with thirty saves. This was one of many bad moves that the front office made in the 1970’s and the team suffered for the entire decade.
Thanks, David. Well said about the amazing amount of talent on that 1970 team and how the Cardinals didn’t capitalize on it. The 1970 season also was the first for AstroTurf at Busch Memorial Stadium and, in addition to a lousy bullpen, the Cardinals had a defense unsuited for artificial turf, with Joe Hague in right field, Dick Allen at first base and third base, and a slowing Julian Javier at second.
And Shannon’s career-shortening illness complicated things, too.
Yes, that’s true. Good point. Remember too that just before it was discovered Mike Shannon had a serious kidney ailment, the Phillies and Cardinals had begun talks regarding the notion of the Cardinals sending Shannon to the Phillies as compensation for Curt Flood, who failed to report after being dealt 5 months earlier. The Cardinals were considering playing the 1970 season without Shannon anyway. As you note, Shannon’s absence from the lineup for much of 1970 complicated things for the Cardinals and created awkward defensive alignments. Five players made starts at third base for the 1970 Cardinals: Joe Torre (72), Shannon (45), Richie Allen (38), Phil Gagliano (4), Jerry DaVanon (3).
Not having a dependable bullpen hurt the team that year. When they scored 3 runs or less they had a record of 18-54. Even in games where they scored 5 to 7 runs their record was only 28-24. The 6 consecutive strikeouts and 11 total strikeouts that Drabowsky recorded in game 1 of the 1966 WS are still records for a relief pitcher. Is there any truth to the story that he gave then commissioner Bowie Kuhn a hot foot during the 1970 WS? Crazy!
Thanks for all the info. In answer to your question, yep, according to multiple sources, including the Associated Press and Baltimore Sun, Moe Drabowsky did give baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn a hotfoot in the Orioles’ clubhouse after they clinched the 1970 World Series title. Drabowsky recalled the incident in a 1989 interview with the Vancouver Sun: “Kuhn was talking to somebody and I snuck up and put a book of matches underneath his shoes. Then I got some lighter fluid and made a trail of it from his shoes to the trainer’s room. Then I lit it. All 20 matches ignited. Bowie looked like a battleship going down in the Pacific.”