RetroSimba

During his time in the Cardinals’ organization, Tommy Sandt won a labor grievance, played in the same infield with Tony La Russa and Jim Riggleman, and got traded for a pitcher who became a World Series hero.

Though he never played in the majors for the Cardinals, Sandt was in their farm system after being acquired from the Athletics.

It was an unconventional adventure.

Hanging in there

Sandt was chosen by the Athletics in the second round of the 1969 amateur baseball draft. He said he almost quit in 1973 when he was demoted from Class AA Birmingham to Class A Burlington, but Burlington manager Rene Lachemann convinced him to keep trying. “He saved my career,” Sandt told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Sandt hit .301 for Burlington and began to advance again. In 1975, his seventh season in the minors, Sandt was called up to the Athletics in June, made his debut in the majors as a defensive replacement at second base in a game against the Angels, and was sent back down. He hit .309 for Class AAA Tucson in 1975.

At spring training in 1976, Sandt was considered a longshot to earn a spot with the Athletics until he caught the attention of manager Chuck Tanner during a baserunning drill.

“The A’s wore white shoes then and I didn’t have any, so someone loaned me some new white shoes,” Sandt told the Pittsburgh Press. “I wore them to run the bases and came up with blisters. They started bleeding and Chuck told me to go in and change my shoes. I told him I’d gut it out. I didn’t know it, but Chuck told me later I made the club right there.”

Tanner confirmed to the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, “Tommy made my club that day. I figured if a guy will do that, he must want it bad.”

Sandt spent the 1976 season with the Athletics as a backup to second baseman Phil Garner and shortstop Bert Campaneris, played in 41 games and hit .209.

Instead of it being the start to a playing career in the majors, it turned out to be the end.

Money matters

Though Jack McKeon had become Athletics manager after cash-strapped club owner Charlie Finley traded Tanner to the Pirates, Sandt figured to be back with the team in 1977.

At spring training, Sandt got into a contract squabble with Finley. Rather than negotiate, Finley invoked a clause to renew Sandt’s contract and cut his salary by more than 20 percent. Under baseball’s labor agreement with the players’ union, Finley had the right to renew Sandt’s contract but the maximum he could cut a salary was 20 percent.

Sandt filed a grievance. Finley retaliated by selling Sandt’s contract to the Cardinals on March 26, 1977.

Off and on

The Cardinals assigned Sandt, 26, to their Class AAA New Orleans farm club. New Orleans opened its season with a double-play combination of Tony La Russa at second and Sandt at shortstop. In a game against Iowa, Sandt and La Russa each hit a home run.

La Russa, in his final season as a player before embarking on a Hall of Fame managing career, also was serving as a coach for New Orleans manager Lance Nichols. Ken Oberkfell eventually took over at second base. La Russa managed New Orleans for five games while Nichols was treated for lymphoma.

In the book, “Tony La Russa: Man on a Mission,” Oberkfell recalled a lesson he learned from La Russa and Sandt after Oklahoma City baserunner Lonnie Smith upended him on a slide into second.

“I guess it was kind of a cheap shot, but I didn’t really know any better and I didn’t think anything about it,” Oberkfell said. “I got to the bench after the inning and Tony and Tommy Sandt came up to me and said, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll get him for you.’ I was like, ‘Get who for what?’ That was a part of the game I really didn’t know much about.”

On May 28, 1977, an arbitrator who reviewed Sandt’s grievance against Finley ruled in favor of Sandt, declared the contract invalid and made him a free agent.

Sandt left the New Orleans club and went home, hoping to field offers. The Cardinals showed the most interest, and on June 18, 1977, they signed Sandt and sent him back to New Orleans.

The Cardinals also promoted Jim Riggleman from Class AA to be the New Orleans third baseman. Riggleman, a future Cardinals coach and big-league manager, and Sandt provided pop in the lineup. Four times, they combined to hit home runs in the same game.

Sandt was called up by the Cardinals when rosters expanded in September 1977, but never played in a game for them.

Moving ahead

The Cardinals were loaded with infielders at the major-league and Class AAA levels in 1978, so they loaned Sandt to the Blue Jays. Sandt was assigned to Class AAA Syracuse, a club managed by Vern Benson, a former Cardinals player and coach. Sandt played second base next to the shortstop, basketball’s Danny Ainge.

With his path to the Cardinals blocked by better prospects, Sandt was traded to the Pirates on Jan. 25, 1979, for a minor-league pitcher, John Stuper.

Stuper got called up to the Cardinals in 1982, became a member of the starting rotation and earned a complete-game win in Game 6 of the World Series, positioning them to clinch the championship the next night.

After three more seasons as a player in the Pirates’ farm system, Sandt became a minor-league manager for them in 1982. He managed for five seasons, including at Hawaii, where he was named manager of the year in the Pacific Coast League and helped a promising prospect, Barry Bonds.

In 1987, Sandt became a coach on the staff of Pirates manager Jim Leyland. Sandt was a Pirates coach for Leyland from 1987-96. Leyland kept Sandt on his coaching staff when he managed the Marlins (1997-98) and Rockies (1999). Sandt also was a Pirates coach for managers Gene Lamont (2000) and Lloyd McClendon (2001-02).

On Twitter, Pirates broadcaster Greg Brown called Sandt “a brilliant baseball man and as humble as they come.”

Asked by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette what three words described him best, Sandt replied, “Fun-loving, emotional, dedicated.”

As a coach, Sandt developed a reputation for being a master at using the fungo stick to hit balls to players during fielding drills.

Another coach, Rich Donnelly, told the Miami Herald, “There’s no one better with a fungo. If the fungo was a sand wedge, Tommy Sandt would be Tiger Woods.”