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A clever bit of baserunning by Gene Clines fooled Cardinals center fielder Jose Cruz and helped the Pirates to a comeback victory.

An outfielder who played 10 seasons (1970-79) in the majors, primarily with the Pirates and Cubs, Clines hit for average and ran well.

He was especially effective against the Cardinals. A career .277 hitter in the majors, he batted .316 versus the Cardinals.

Hit and run

A right-handed batter, Clines was 19 when he was picked by the Pirates in the sixth round of the 1966 amateur baseball draft. He reached the majors with Pittsburgh in June 1970.

In his first three big-league seasons, Clines, used mostly as a backup outfielder and pinch-hitter, batted .405 in 31 games in 1970, .308 in 97 games in 1971 and .334 in 107 games in 1972.

Clines figured he’d earned a shot to be a starter. “All He Does Is Bat .300,” declared a headline in The Sporting News.

What he didn’t do was hit home runs. He totaled one in his first three big-league seasons.

The Pirates went to spring training in 1973 with outfield openings in right and left.

Clines was bypassed for both.

Pirates manager Bill Virdon chose a catcher, Manny Sanguillen, to be the Pirates’ 1973 Opening Day right fielder, replacing the late Roberto Clemente, and a first baseman with creaky knees, Willie Stargell, to play left.

“It seems like they don’t have any plans for me,” Clines said to The Pittsburgh Press.

Virdon explained that playing Stargell in left opened a spot at first for another slugger, Bob Robertson. Virdon said he liked Sanguillen in right because he threw better than Clines and was a better run producer.

“A home run and RBI man can give the team more of a boost,” Virdon told The Pittsburgh Press. 

Timely triple

The Pirates opened the 1973 season at Pittsburgh against the Cardinals. St. Louis led, 5-2, until the Pirates scored five runs in the eighth inning.

Batting for pitcher Jim Rooker, Clines’ triple against Diego Segui drove in the tying and go-ahead runs. Clines hit the ball into the gap in left-center. Lou Brock attempted a backhanded grab, but the ball bounced off his glove.

“That ball was catchable,” Brock said to The Pittsburgh Press. “When it hits off the glove like that, you’ve just got to hang on.”

Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “You got to make those plays if you’re going to win.” Boxscore

Faked out

Two days later, in their second game of the season, the Cardinals led the Pirates, 3-2, in the bottom of the ninth.

With one out and none on, Clines batted for pitcher Nelson Briles and singled against starter Rick Wise. Rennie Stennett followed with a single to center.

Center fielder Jose Cruz gloved the ball just as Clines rounded second base. “No one in the stadium, particularly Jose Cruz, expected Clines to go to third,” The Pittsburgh Press reported.

Clines did what he called “a little stutter step” and appeared to be applying the brakes.

“A magnificent decoy,” Bob Smizik of The Pittsburgh Press observed.

Cruz dropped his arms. When Clines saw that, he shifted into high gear, bolted toward third and got there without drawing a throw.

“Cruz appeared befuddled, not knowing where to throw the ball,” Al Abrams of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette noted. “He could have thrown out the fleet Clines by 10 feet had he been thinking.”

Schoendienst told the Post-Dispatch, “If he throws to third, the runner has to stop at second.”

Virdon, a center fielder before becoming Pirates manager, said, “You don’t make any money holding the ball out there.”

Cruz explained to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “I heard Brock yelling, ‘Third base,’ but I thought it would be too late.”

Clines said to The Pittsburgh Press, “It’s a gamble, but I don’t think about being thrown out.”

Big run

The significance of Clines’ daring dash was illustrated when the next batter, Sanguillen, lofted a fly ball to medium right-center.

If Clines had held at second, Sanguillen’s fly ball would have been a harmless second out and the Cardinals still would have led by a run.

With Clines at third, Sanguillen’s fly ball became a scoring opportunity.

Stennett, thinking the ball might drop for a hit, moved part way toward second. Cruz, sensing he might nab Stennett, looked to first base, but no one was on the bag. First baseman Joe Torre had moved to the center of the diamond to cut off a throw if Stennett attempted to continue to second.

When Cruz hesitated, “I thought I could make it,” Clines told The Pittsburgh Press.

He raced toward the plate and easily beat Cruz’s throw, scoring the tying run.

In the 10th, Bob Robertson belted a home run against Wayne Granger, giving the Pirates a 4-3 victory. 

Asked about Cline’s performances, Virdon told the Post-Gazette, “You know, I think Gene is trying to give me some kind of message.”

Clines told The Sporting News, “I just want to remind them that I’m here and can do the job.” Boxscore

Gene the machine

Sanguillen eventually returned to catching, and Clines became the right fielder on June 15, but a month later he tore ligaments in his right ankle and was replaced by Richie Zisk.

Clines, who was hitting .291 before the injury, finished at .263 for the season, but he batted .368 against the Cardinals. It was one of four seasons in which Clines hit better than .360 versus the Cardinals. The others were 1971 (.361), 1975 (.364) and 1978 (.368).

In that 1978 season, when he was with the Cubs, Clines had a .500 on-base percentage against the Cardinals, getting seven hits and five walks in 24 plate appearances.

Clines was productive versus two of the era’s best pitchers _ Bob Gibson and Tom Seaver. He had the same career batting average against each (.364), producing four hits in 11 at-bats versus Gibson and the same versus Seaver.

On Sept. 1, 1971, Clines, the center fielder, was part of the first big-league starting lineup of all African-American and Hispanic players. Boxscore and Video interview

After his playing days, Clines coached for 20 years in the majors with five clubs _ Cubs, Astros, Mariners, Brewers and Giants.