A surprising aspect of the Cardinals’ 1982 season was they succeeded without a big contribution from a pitcher considered a key to the starting rotation.
In March 1982, the Cardinals were counting on right-hander Andy Rincon to be a consistent winner.
Instead, he spent much of the season in the minors and wasn’t with the Cardinals when they won the National League pennant and the World Series championship.
Ticketed for majors
Born and raised in California, Rincon played high school baseball in Santa Fe Springs, near Los Angeles, and was a teammate of Mike Gallego.
The Cardinals chose Rincon, 18, in the fifth round of the 1977 June amateur draft.
In 1980, Rincon pitched for Class AA Arkansas, earning 10 wins during the regular season and two in the playoffs for the Texas League champions. After the final game, he left Little Rock to drive home to California.
Cardinals general manager Whitey Herzog, who scouted the Arkansas team, wanted Rincon to join the Cardinals for the final month of the season. Herzog said “it looked like Andy had the best arm in the organization,” interim Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Hoping to contact Rincon before he got to California, the Cardinals alerted authorities in Texas to be on the lookout for him, The Sporting News reported.
Rincon was stopped for speeding in El Paso, Texas, and immediately brought to traffic court. According to the Post-Dispatch, when Rincon gave his name in court, the judge replied, “Oh, you’re the guy we’ve been looking for,” and told him to call the Cardinals.
Herzog informed Rincon to take a flight from El Paso to Philadelphia and join the team there. Rincon paid a $23 traffic fine, parked at the El Paso airport and boarded a plane. “All my stuff is in the car,” he told the Post-Dispatch.
From Philadelphia, the Cardinals went to Chicago and Rincon, 21, made his debut for them there, pitching a five-hitter in a win against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Boxscore
“Who is he, anyway?” Cubs shortstop Ivan DeJesus asked the Post-Dispatch.
Rincon made three more starts for the 1980 Cardinals and finished 3-1 with a 2.61 ERA.
Bad break
Herzog, who returned to managing the Cardinals in 1981, had Rincon in the starting rotation to begin the season. After four starts, he was 2-1 with a 2.22 ERA. Rincon was the “Cardinals’ best pitcher in the first month of the season,” The Sporting News declared.
On May 9, 1981, in a start at St. Louis, Rincon was cruising to his third win. He shut out the Pirates for seven innings, drove in three runs and had a 13-0 lead.
In the eighth, Phil Garner led off and hit a line drive that struck Rincon in the throwing arm. The ball caromed to third baseman Julio Gonzalez, who fielded it and threw out Garner at first base. Rincon suffered a hairline fracture of the right forearm. Boxscore
Rincon (3-1, 1.77 ERA) was placed on the disabled list. Two days before the players went on strike on June 12, Rincon received medical clearance to resume pitching, The Sporting News reported. “He was throwing the hell out of the ball,” Herzog said. “I couldn’t see anything wrong with him.”
The Cardinals sent Rincon to their Class AAA Springfield (Ill.) farm club so that he could pitch during the strike, but it was too much too soon and he strained his right shoulder.
“Being weak in my forearm put more strain on my shoulder,” Rincon told The Sporting News. “If I’d just backed off and been more patient, things might have been better.”
In eight starts for Springfield, Rincon was 1-3 with a 6.55 ERA. Instead of helping the Cardinals after the strike ended in August, Rincon was reassigned to Arkansas and was 0-2 with a 6.75 ERA in two starts there.
“We wanted him to pitch, but he wasn’t worth a damn down there,” Herzog said to the Post-Dispatch.
Cardinals first baseman Keith Hernandez criticized Rincon for not working hard enough to come back from the injury and help the club in 1981, The Sporting News reported.
“He might be right,” Rincon said. “I feel like I did let the guys down.”
Missing out
Despite the setbacks encountered in 1981, Rincon was viewed by Herzog as “the key to the pitching staff” entering 1982 spring training, The Sporting News reported.
After working daily during the winter on a Nautilus machine and in aerobic exercises, Rincon, 23, reported to spring training fit and healthy. “I feel great,” he said. “I want to be the stopper of our staff. I want to pitch the tough games.”
The Cardinals entered the 1982 season with a starting rotation of Rincon, Bob Forsch, Joaquin Andujar, Steve Mura and John Martin.
“Rincon potentially is the Cardinals’ best starting pitcher,” The Sporting News declared.
In his first start of the season, Rincon pitched a three-hitter to beat Ferguson Jenkins and the Cubs at Wrigley Field, but his performances unraveled after that. Boxscore
Lacking command, he had more walks (25) than strikeouts (11). In his last start, against the Dodgers, Rincon “incurred Herzog’s displeasure for failing to hold runners on” and “missing a hit-and-run sign,” The Sporting News reported.
Rincon (2-3, 4.73 ERA) and Martin were sent to the minors, and John Stuper and Dave LaPoint replaced them in the Cardinals’ rotation.
At Class AAA Louisville, Rincon was 5-8 with a 5.09 ERA. When it came time to call up players to help the contending Cardinals, Louisville manager Joe Frazier told Herzog he didn’t think Rincon merited a chance.
“What Frazier said is good enough for me,” Herzog told The Sporting News.
Without Rincon, the Cardinals went on to win their first World Series championship in 15 years.
Still trying
Rincon never got back to the majors.
At spring training with the Cardinals in 1983, Herzog became unhappy with the number of runners stealing bases against Rincon and wanted him to change his pitching delivery. “I could steal on him, and I’m 51 years old,” Herzog told the Post-Dispatch.
Eric Rasmussen, 31, edged Rincon for the final pitching spot on the Cardinals’ Opening Day roster.
Rincon reported to Louisville, experienced elbow pain and was limited to 31 innings pitched in 1983. Granted free agency after the season, he signed with the Pirates and spent 1984 in their farm system, pitching a no-hitter for Hawaii.
Rincon went to spring training with the Orioles in 1985, but, when his arm didn’t respond, he went home. He sat out the 1985 and 1986 seasons, had shoulder surgery late in 1986, and was sidelined again in 1987.
In 1988, Rincon pitched in Mexico, then joined Fresno, an unaffiliated Class A club that had become a refuge for former big-leaguers seeking comebacks.
Cardinals scout Fred McAlister saw Rincon pitch at Fresno and signed him to a minor-league contract for 1989. “It’s a chance,” Rincon told the Post-Dispatch. “That’s all I want.”
Assigned back to Class AA Arkansas, from where he first made the leap to the majors nine years earlier, Rincon, 30, ended his playing days with a 1-0 record and 4.21 ERA in 11 relief appearances in 1989.
RetroSimba 
John Fulgham, then Andy Rincon. From promising to “Whatever happened to…?”
Yes, it is unfortunate that both talented pitchers had such debilitating injuries. Born and raised in St. Louis, John Fulgham was a first-round draft choice of the Cardinals in 1976.
Rincon had moxie for keep coming back, or at least trying. Who made the rehab rush in ’81, the Cardinals or Rincon himself?
I bought into the Rincon hype, and like 6stn mentioned Fulgham in ’79 too. I guess I forgot about how Rincon was already being pegged as an ace.
Also, if ol’ #37 was so critical of Rincon, I wonder what his thoughts were on Silvio Martinez’s efforts in helping the ’81 team??? Who made Keith the voice of the team? No mention of his opinion on Sixto Lezcano’s contribution, or lack thereof?
Always enjoy your write ups! Thank you.
Thanks, Tim. I agree that it’s impressive that Andy Rincon persevered.
From the credible sources I read, it appears the rehab rush was the decision of the Cardinals, who wanted him to be pitching in competition during the strike.
I was surprised Keith Hernandez was so openly critical of Andy Rincon in 1981. According to the Post-Dispatch and The Sporting News, Hernandez wasn’t alone in those feelings. The Cardinals qualified for shares from the playoff pool money in 1981 and Rincon was voted only a small share by the players. (John Fulgham, for example, got a full share, even though he spent the season on the disabled list.). Again in 1982, Cardinals players voted to give Rincon only a small share from the playoff pool.
One can only wonder what might have been. I was also thinking that with the way they handle pitchers today, with the score 13-0, Rincon probably would have been taken out for a reliever.
Good point, Phillip.
I’d never heard of Andy Rincon. On that 1980 Travelers team was a pitcher named Jeff Little, who’d been the Giants’ #1 pick in the ’73 draft, generally regarded as the greatest draft class ever. The Giants’ SoCal area scout recommended that they take Eddie Murray.
Thanks, Marty. I was not aware that the Giants ignored their scout’s recommendation on Eddie Murray.
According to baseball-reference.com, Jeff Little was drafted in the third round by the Giants and, sure enough, a few picks later in that round the Orioles took Eddie Murray. Also drafted in that round after Little were Floyd Bannister and Mitchell Page.
Jeff Little made his big-league debut with the Cardinals in September 1980. He pitched in 7 games for them and was 1-1 with a 3.86 ERA. After the season, the Cardinals dealt him to the Twins.
Something always seems to go wrong when a Rincon is rostered by STL…I had high hopes for Ricarrdo Rincon in 2006 but then he got hurt early on and was out for the year. I can’t argue with the waybthe season ended of course!
Thanks for reading and for commenting. Ricardo Rincon is a blast from the past. You’re right about his potential. After pitching in 67 games for the 2005 Athletics, he pitched in just five games for the 2006 Cardinals. He went on to pitch in the Mexican League until he was 42.