St. Louis was a special place for Juan Pizarro. He got his first and 100th wins in the majors there against the Cardinals.
A left-hander, Pizarro pitched 18 seasons in the big leagues. He was 20 when he got his first win in the majors for the Braves in a start versus the Cardinals at Busch Stadium. He also got his first big-league hit, a home run, in that game.
The Cardinals thought so highly of Pizarro that they tried to trade for him that season.
Ten years later, Pizarro, 30, got his 100th win in the big leagues for the Pirates in a start versus the Cardinals at Busch Memorial Stadium.
Prime prospect
Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Pizarro was signed by Braves scout Luis Olmo, the former outfielder.
In 1956, his first season in the minors, Pizarro, 19, was 23-6 with a 1.77 ERA for Jacksonville, a Class A club in the South Atlantic League. With future Cardinals pitching coach Mike Roarke doing most of the catching, Pizarro struck out 318 batters in 274 innings.
Rollie Hemsley, a former catcher who managed Charlotte in the South Atlantic League, told Sports Illustrated that Pizarro is “the nearest thing to Bob Feller I’ve ever seen.”
Bill Terry, the Hall of Fame first baseman who was president of the South Atlantic League, said, “He could be just as great as Warren Spahn.”
Big leap
While playing winter baseball in Puerto Rico, Pizarro said teammate Ruben Gomez, a Giants pitcher, taught him to throw the screwball. Pizarro added the pitch to an arsenal that included a fastball and curve. He reported to spring training with the Braves in 1957, trying to make the leap from Class A ball to the majors.
The Miami News declared Pizarro the most exciting rookie in spring training: “His every pitch is being watched with high expectancy.”
Pizarro posted a 3.31 ERA in five spring training games and made the Braves’ Opening Day roster. “He has proved to me he can pitch major-league ball,” Braves manager Fred Haney told The Sporting News.
After Pizarro’s final exhibition game, Haney said, “He’ll be another Warren Spahn some day.”
First win
The Braves opened the 1957 season on April 16, but Pizarro sat for three weeks before making his big-league debut in a start against the Pirates at Pittsburgh on May 4. He limited the Pirates to a run in seven innings, but Pittsburgh won, 1-0, on Vern Law’s two-hit shutout. Boxscore
Six days later, on May 10, Pizarro made his second big-league appearance with a start versus the Cardinals at St. Louis.
The start of the Friday night game was delayed 31 minutes because of rain and neither team took batting practice.
In the second inning, with the Braves ahead, 3-0, Pizarro swung at the first pitch he saw from Cardinals starter Sam Jones and hit the ball onto the roof of the pavilion behind right field for a home run.
Ken Boyer tagged Pizarro for a solo home run in the second. With the Braves up, 6-1, in the fourth, the Cardinals’ Wally Moon walloped a three-run home run in the fourth. The Moon shot carried out of the ballpark and across Grand Avenue before crashing into a window pane.
“He had to rely on his fastball and he had a tendency to relax when we had a pretty good lead, especially in the fourth,” Braves catcher Del Crandall told the Associated Press. “After that, he became more determined and began firing again.”
Though Pizarro wobbled, he never lost the lead and he continued to contribute with his bat. After Pizarro led off the sixth with a single, Eddie Mathews won a matchup of future Hall of Famers when he hit a two-run home run against reliever Hoyt Wilhelm. The ball cleared the roof and landed on Grand Avenue.
In the ninth, the Cardinals, trailing 10-5, loaded the bases with two outs, but Pizarro struck out Del Ennis and sealed his first win.
Pizarro gave up nine hits and issued four walks, but the Cardinals stranded eight.
Unimpressed, Cardinals manager Fred Hutchinson told the Associated Press, “He’d better be better than that. If that’s all he can do, then I’ve got news for him. He won’t stay up here … He was only throwing, not pitching.”
Cardinals backup catcher Walker Cooper, who at 42 was 22 years older than Pizarro, batted against him in the ninth as a pinch-hitter and singled. “I could hit that guy with baling wire at midnight with the lights out,” Cooper boasted.
Among the Cardinals held hitless by Pizarro were Al Dark and Stan Musial. Pizarro ended Dark’s 15-game hit streak. Musial, who entered the game with a batting mark of .403 for the season, was 0-for-4 with a walk.
Pizarro was “awfully quick,” Musial said. “There’s no reason why he shouldn’t be a winner up here.” Boxscore
No deal
Later that month, the Braves and Cardinals had trade talks focused on outfielder Del Ennis. The Associated Press reported the Braves offered three players for Ennis. They gave the Cardinals their choice of a starting pitcher, either Ray Crone or Gene Conley, plus reliever Dave Jolly and outfielder Chuck Tanner.
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Cardinals asked for Crone and outfielder Wes Covington, and the Braves countered with Conley and Tanner.
“Before I let a guy like Ennis go, I’d want a lot of pitcher in return,” Cardinals general manager Frank Lane told the Associated Press.
Lane said he was interested in Pizarro and another pitcher, Bob Trowbridge. The Braves wouldn’t give up Pizarro, and the talks ended.
On July 3, the Braves sent Pizarro to the minors to get more work. He went 4-0 and was back with the Braves on July 26.
Pizzaro lost twice to the Cardinals in 1957. The second of those defeats occurred on Aug. 18 when Musial beat him with a two-run home run in the 10th inning at Milwaukee. Pizarro never lost to the Cardinals again. Boxscore
Better with age
In his book “Stranger to the Game,” Cardinals pitcher Bob Gibson, who played winter ball with Pizarro in Puerto Rico, called him “an immensely talented” teammate.
On April 30, 1967, Pizarro, in his first season with the Pirates, started for them against the Cardinals and pitched a four-hit shutout at St. Louis for his 100th win in the majors.
Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst, who was Pizarro’s teammate with the Braves from 1957-60, told the Associated Press, “He used to be much faster but very wild then. He has much better control now. The big difference was in the old days if you stayed close to him you could beat him. Now he can protect a one- or two-run lead.” Boxscore
Pizarro was 3-0 with two saves and a 1.07 ERA versus the 1967 Cardinals, who won the National League pennant and became World Series champions. He earned saves in both games of a doubleheader against them on Labor Day, Sept. 4.
In 1971, Pizarro, 34, had one more gem versus the Cardinals. He pitched a six-hit shutout for the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Boxscore
“He makes pitching an art,” Cubs manager Leo Durocher said.
Pizarro finished with a career mark against the Cardinals of 7-2. Overall, he was 131-105.
I saw him pitch April 30, 1967. Made it look easy.
Oh, wow. That’s wonderful that you got to see Juan Pizarro pitch the shutout against the Cardinals in 1967. Thanks for sharing that. The four hits he allowed all were singles, and he retired the last eight batters in a row.
I remember Juan when he was pitching for the Red Sox and he was traded (along with Ken Harrelson!!) to Cleveland for Vicente Romo, Joe Azcue, and Sonny Siebert. I was shocked.
Also: “Moon shot”….you couldn’t resist, could you? ( =
Good memory. On April 19, 1969, the Red Sox dealt Ken Harrelson, Juan Pizarro and Dick Ellsworth to the Indians for Sonny Siebert, Joe Azcue and Vincente Romo. Harrelson was stunned and told the Boston Globe he would quit (he didn’t) rather than go to Cleveland. “I love this place,” Harrelson told the Globe, “and I intend to make it my home for good.” (He didn’t).Harrelson’s agent, Bob Wolfe, said his client would lose $500,000 in endorsements because of the trade.
Yes, all of my journalism mentors would cringe at the triteness of “Moon shot,” and would urge me to be more original, but I really couldn’t resist….
From 1963 to 1965 only the Dodgers and White Sox had a team ERA under 3.00 all three years. It’s pretty interesting, that Henry Aaron in his book, basically says that the Braves gave up too soon on Juan Pizarro. On September 17, 1971, not only did Juan Pizarro out duel Tom Seaver, he also scored the games only run with an 8th inning homerun.
Good stuff, thanks. Your Hank Aaron mention prompted me to do a little more exploring. You might be interested to know Aaron hit .500 (4-for-8) vs. Pizarro, including a home run.
Other fun facts:
_ Elston Howard had the most hits (25), most RBI (15) and most home runs (5) vs. Pizarro. Howard hit .385 against him.
_ Chuck Hinton, a career .264 hitter, batted .500 (18-for-36) vs. Pizarro. His on-base percentage against him was .591.
_ Eddie Kasko, who got his start with the Cardinals, hit .478 (11-for-23) vs. Pizarro.
I remember Juan Pizarro very well. I saw him pitch against my Red Sox back in the 1960s when he was a member of the White Sox. I also remember getting many of his Topps’ baseball cards back then. He was a damn good pitcher who never got the credit he deserved.
Good points all, thanks. Juan Pizarro was tough against your Red Sox. For his career, he was 8-4 with a 2.65 ERA vs. Boston. Pizarro was especially dominant against the Red Sox in 1963 (3-0, 0.67 ERA) and 1964 (2-0, 1.59 ERA) when he was with the White Sox.
Pizarro had arm trouble in his last two years with the White Sox. Couldn’t get along with Eddie Stanky, either, so the Pirates got him cheap.
Yep, The Sporting News reported on Nov. 12, 1966, “Juan Pizarro says he’d like the White Sox to trade him. He reportedly didn’t hit it off with manager Eddie Stanky and their relationship was said to be somewhat rocky.”
After Pizarro was sent by the White Sox to the Pirates, the Sporting News reported that Pirates outfielder Roberto Clemente had advocated for the pitcher and endorsed the deal.
Though the acquisition of Pizarro technically was a cash transaction, Pizarro was compensation for Wilbur Wood, who was sent by the Pirates to the White Sox a few weeks earlier, The Sporting News reported.