RetroSimba

Great expectations followed David Green from Nicaragua to the United States, creating golden opportunities along with a multitude of pressures.

Green had successes, but his drinking held him back, and his recklessness had devastating consequences.

A member of the Cardinals’ 1982 World Series championship team, Green was 61 when he died on Jan. 29, 2022.

Dad’s influence

Green’s father, Eduardo Green, was an outfielder on the Nicaraguan national teams in the 1940s and 1950s. Nicknamed “The Black Gazelle,” Eduardo was described by sportswriter Edgard Tijerino as having “the soul of a ballet dancer” and “the reflexes of a panther,” according to the Society for American Baseball Research.

In 1951, Eduardo joined the Dodgers at their minor-league spring training camp in Daytona Beach, but left because of the racism he encountered in Florida.

Eduardo and Bertha Green had 10 children. One of their five sons, David, was born in Managua, Nicaragua, and named in honor of his paternal grandfather, a missionary who immigrated from Jamaica.

Like his father, David Green developed into an exceptional athlete. “Soccer was my best sport,” he told the San Francisco Examiner.

He played baseball, too, and Eduardo advised him to pursue a career in the sport.

Prime prospect

David Green was playing for the Nicaraguan national team in 1978 when he caught the attention of Ray Poitevint, the Brewers’ director of scouting and player development. “He’s got Willie Mays’ physical abilities,” Poitevint told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Green was 17 when he signed with the Brewers in September 1978.

“He has all the tools _ not only to be a big-league player, but a big-league star,” Poitevint said to The Sporting News. “If you were a betting man, you would have to bet on this kid.”

Eduardo Green died in September 1980. His son had just completed his second season in the Brewers’ farm system and was rated their top prospect.

Whitey Herzog, Cardinals manager and general manager, envisioned Green as a center fielder who could become the centerpiece of the team.

The Brewers wanted to make a trade, but were reluctant to give up Green. 

In the book “You’re Missin’ a Great Game,” Herzog said, “He was so good that some of the Brewers executives damn near came to blows over giving him up.”

Years later, Herzog told Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he’d heard from a Brewers scout that Green had a drinking problem, but Herzog wanted him anyway.

In his book “White Rat: A Life in Baseball,” Herzog said, “He was absolutely the key to the deal.”

On Dec. 12, 1980, the Cardinals traded two future Hall of Famers, Ted Simmons and Rollie Fingers, and a future Cy Young Award winner, Pete Vuckovich, to the Brewers for Green, Dave LaPoint, Lary Sorensen and Sixto Lezcano.

“I had a little buyer’s remorse afterward,” Brewers general manager Harry Dalton told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “I wondered if I had done the right thing.”

Ups and downs

Promoted to the Cardinals in September 1981, Green was the first National League player born in Nicaragua. The first in the American League was Orioles pitcher Dennis Martinez in 1976.

Green, 20, got his first big-league hit, a single, against the Pirates’ Luis Tiant, 40. Boxscore

At spring training in 1982, Green “probably was the Cardinals’ best player in camp,” The Sporting News reported, and he won the center field job.

“He had more raw ability than any young player I’ve ever managed,” Herzog said in “White Rat.” Video

Green, 21, began the 1982 season with a flourish, hitting .381 in April. His batting mark was at .316 on May 7 when he tore a hamstring.

While Green was on the disabled list, Willie McGee took over in center. McGee did so well he kept the job when Green returned.

The Cardinals sent Green to the minors for two months so that he could play every day. He was back with the Cardinals for their pennant push.

In the pivotal Game 2 of the National League Championship Series against the Braves, Green led off the ninth inning with a single, moved to second on a bunt and scored the winning run on Ken Oberkfell’s hit. Boxscore

Facing the Brewers in the World Series, Green had two hits, a double and a triple, in Game 5 versus Mike Caldwell. Boxscore

Dealing with change

At spring training in 1983, Herzog told The Sporting News, “We’ve got to find a place for Green. It’s almost a must.”

Toward the end of spring training, McGee separated a shoulder and began the season on the disabled list, opening a starting spot for Green in the outfield.

In June, after first baseman Keith Hernandez was traded, Herzog moved right fielder George Hendrick to first and Green took over in right.

Two months later, Green told the Post-Dispatch that an older brother, Edward, was jailed in Nicaragua. In September, Green’s mother, Bertha, and a younger brother, Enrique, joined him in the U.S.

Green led the 1983 Cardinals in triples (10) and had 34 stolen bases.

Wrong direction

Just before the start of spring training in 1984, Green’s mother died. That is when “Green’s downfall began,” the Post-Dispatch noted.

Herzog moved Hendrick back to right field and started Green at first base. In May, Green went into a funk. “He’s really gone downhill the last two or three weeks,” Herzog told The Sporting News. “His reactions were not good. Balls (thrown to him) were hitting him on the wrist.”

The Cardinals suspected Green’s drinking was to blame and convinced him to enter a rehabilitation center in St. Louis.

In “White Rat,” Herzog said, “The young man developed a real problem with alcohol. Everybody on the club knew it. He’d show up late, hung over real bad … His tolerance for booze was about zero.”

Green spent three weeks in the rehabilitation center. He told the Post-Dispatch, “I didn’t need to go, but I went anyway because somebody had to do it.”

Herzog told the Post-Dispatch, “He didn’t give himself much of a chance. You spend only 10 or 12 days there and you’re not going to be cured.”

In “You’re Missin’ a Great Game,” Herzog recalled an incident that occurred soon after Green completed his rehabilitation stint.

“I’m driving home from the ballpark and I end up a couple of car lengths behind him on the highway,” Herzog said. “He doesn’t see me. I’m keeping a safe distance. Pretty soon, here come the beer cans flying out of the car. One right after the other, every five minutes. We drove past the hospital where he did rehab. More cans!

“When they get hooked on this stuff, they turn into con artists. They’re conning themselves, and they expect you to swallow their bull, too.”

Moving on

In February 1985, in a deal that put them back on the championship track, the Cardinals traded Green, Dave LaPoint, Jose Uribe and Gary Rajsich for Jack Clark.

“Of all the players I’ve had the opportunity to manage, David Green has more ability than anyone as far as hitting, hitting with power, speed and throwing arm,” Herzog told The Sporting News after the deal. “Garry Templeton and George Brett are in that category, but Green has more power than either, he runs better than either, and he throws better than George.”

Asked about his time with the Cardinals, Green told the San Francisco Examiner, “They were expecting too much of me and then they didn’t play me. Sometimes they called me the franchise, then they played Andy Van Slyke. I think I did great in the outfield, then they moved me to first base.”

The Giants started Green at first base but he had a dreadful beginning to the 1985 season. His batting average on May 11 was .080.

“It’s a matter of concentration,” Giants hitting coach Tom McCraw told the Examiner. “I tell him something in the dugout, and he says, ‘Yeah,’ and by the time he gets to the plate he’s forgotten it.”

The Giants traded Green to the Brewers after the season, but he was released at the end of spring training in 1986.

Comeback try

After playing in Japan and Mexico, Green contacted the Cardinals and asked for a tryout with the Class AAA Louisville club.

Green signed in July 1987, hit .356 for Louisville and was called up to the Cardinals, who were contending for a division crown, in September.

The Cardinals projected him to compete for an outfield spot in 1988.

“This is my last chance,” Green told The Sporting News, “and I’m trying to take advantage of it.”

He was only 27 when he arrived at spring training in 1988, though speculation had swirled for years that his December 1960 birthdate was inaccurate.

In the book “Whitey’s Boys,” Herzog said, “David might have been a couple of years older than we thought he was. I don’t know anybody who has ever seen his birth certificate from Nicaragua.”

Cardinals general manager Dal Maxvill said to the Post-Dispatch, “He might be anywhere between 28 and 32, but I don’t care if he is 32, if he does the job.”

Green’s bid to make the Opening Day roster failed. Sent back to Louisville, he hit .216, clashed with manager Mike Jorgensen and was waived in June 1988.

Fatal accident

Seven years later, in January 1995, Green was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving in a car accident in suburban Country Club Hills, Mo. 

According to the Post-Dispatch, a passenger in the car Green struck, Gladys Yount, 85, of Jennings, Mo., suffered a fractured pelvis in the accident and died of a heart attack two hours later.

Green was charged with involuntary manslaughter and served six months in jail, the Post-Dispatch reported.

He went on to help operate a dog grooming business in south St. Louis and was a youth baseball instructor.