Early in his Hall of Fame career, Pirates slugger Willie Stargell experienced a humbling stretch of futility against the Cardinals.
Stargell struck out swinging in seven consecutive plate appearances versus the Cardinals in September 1964.
Recalling the embarrassment he felt, Stargell told the Atlanta Constitution, “I literally went home and cried.”
Can’t connect
On Sept. 24, 1964, the Cardinals (84-67) were five games behind the first-place Phillies (90-63) when they opened a five-game series against the Pirates at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh.
Stargell, 24, was in his second full season with the Pirates. Though he displayed astonishing power, he was vulnerable to left-handed pitching. He also was hampered by torn cartilage in his left knee and bone chips in his left elbow.
The series began with a Thursday doubleheader. Bob Gibson started the opener and pitched a complete game in a 4-2 Cardinals triumph. Boxscore
In his last at-bat in the game, Stargell struck out. (Stargell had more career strikeouts (41) than hits (38) versus Gibson, including a whiff for the last out of Gibson’s 1971 no-hitter.)
Left-hander Ray Sadecki started the second game of the doubleheader and pitched a five-hit shutout in a 4-0 Cardinals victory. Boxscore
Stargell struck out in all four of his plate appearances versus Sadecki, giving him five consecutive whiffs for the night. (Stargell had three hits, all singles, in 50 career at-bats versus Sadecki and struck out 22 times against him.)
“Sadecki completely handcuffed Willie Stargell,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
In Game 3 of the series on Friday night, another left-hander, Gordon Richardson, made his sixth start of the season for the Cardinals.
Stargell fanned his first two times at the plate against Richardson, stretching his strikeout streak to seven.
He ended the futility with a single against right-handed reliever Ron Taylor in the seventh, drawing a mocking ovation from the crowd.
The next time up, in the ninth, Stargell struck out facing right-handed knuckleball specialist Barney Schultz. Boxscore
Sultans of swish
That was Stargell’s last at-bat of the season. He missed the Pirates’ final nine games, including the last two of the Cardinals series.
While the Cardinals completed a five-game sweep of the Pirates, the Reds won five in a row against the Mets, and the Phillies lost four straight to the Braves. With a week left in the season, the Reds were in first place, 1.5 games ahead of the Cardinals.
On the last day of the season, the Cardinals clinched the pennant, finishing a game ahead of the Phillies and Reds.
Stargell underwent knee surgery on Sept. 30, 1964. For the season, he hit 21 home runs and struck out 92 times. He hit .295 against right-handers and .188 versus left-handers. Stargell had 16 hits and 32 strikeouts against left-handers in 1964.
The only time Stargell led the National League in most times striking out in a season was 1971. Stargell whiffed 154 times that year, but also led the league in home runs (48) and extra-base hits (74).
Stargell struck out 1,936 times in his big-league career. The only left-handed batters who struck out more were Reggie Jackson (2,597), Jim Thome (2,548) and Adam Dunn (2,379).
Stargell is tied with another left-handed batter, the Cardinals’ Stan Musial, for career home runs (475), but Stargell struck out almost three times as much as Musial did (696).
According to Baseball Almanac, pitcher Sandy Koufax of the 1955 Dodgers holds the National League record for striking out in the most consecutive plate appearances (12). The last of those 12 strikeouts came against the Cardinals’ Ben Flowers.
The National League record by a batter other than a pitcher for striking out in the most consecutive plate appearances is nine. The three players who did that were Adolfo Phillips of the 1966 Cubs, Eric Davis of the 1987 Reds and Mark Reynolds of the 2007 Diamondbacks.
RetroSimba 
Three singles in 50 career at bats against Sadecki. Perhaps if the Giants had used Sadecki more frequently against Pittsburgh in 1966, the May 8 trade wouldn’t have seemed so lopsided.
Yes, you may be right. The Giants finished 1.5 games behind the pennant-winning Dodgers in 1966. The Giants’ title chances were set back when they lost three straight to the Pirates Sept. 18-21. The Giants started 3 right-handers in those losses: Gaylord Perry, Bobby Bolin and Ron Herbel. Ray Sadecki made one appearance for the Giants against the Pirates in 1966. It was a July relief stint in which he faced 2 batters, including Roberto Clemente, and retired both. Though Sadecki didn’t pitch well when he first joined the 1966 Giants, he had a good September, posting a 3.80 ERA in 4 starts.
Taking into consideration how crazy the 1964 NL Pennant race was this is a great post. The injuries to Willie Stargell made a huge difference. During the first 10 games between the Cardinals and Pirates, Willie Stargell had 10 hits in 16 at bats, 2 homeruns and 8 rbi’s. The Pirates won 6 of those games. The Cardinals swept the final 7 games limiting Stargell to just 2 hits in 18 at bats.
The Cardinals continued dominating the Pirates at Forbes Field in 1965, winning all nine games, and going 5-4 against them in St. Louis.
Good research, Phillip. Thanks for sharing.
“I literally went home and cried.”…..It’s refreshing to hear that ballplayers are human too. I had no idea Stargell struck out so much, but that list of most k’s by left handers is a mini HOF roll call minus Dunn, but i think he hit more than 400 home runs too.
Side note legend about Stargell. He apparently hit bombs over the right field fence of Jarry Park that landed in a swimming pool. Not something you want to land on your head.
Thanks, Steve. According to the Montreal Gazette, Willie Stargell indeed was the first player to hit a home run into the swimming pool outside Jarry Park in Montreal.
On July 16, 1969, Stargell hit a Dan McGinn slider over the the scoreboard in right and out of the park. “It bounced once on the pool deck and splashed in to the water,” the Gazette reported. “A fully-clothed youngster dived into the public pool to fetch the ball.”
You don’t think that youngster was Gary Trujillo, do you, Steve?
According to The Pittsburgh Press, the ball was estimated to have carried 495 feet.
In the lede to his game story, Ted Blackman of the Gazette wrote, “Splish-splash and the Expos took the bath.”
Stargell told The Pittsburgh Press that he was “mad” when he hit the homer, because the week before, at Pittsburgh, McGinn threw a fastball that struck the bat handle, then his hand.
“The pitch took this thumbnail off,” Stargell said. “I shook it and blood was squirting everywhere. Then I looked out at him and he was laughing. That he shouldn’t have done. I vowed right then that the next time I faced him I wasn’t just going to hit one. I was going to hit one deep and far.”
In 226 at-bats at Jarry Park, the Expos’ home from 1969-76, Stargell hit 17 home runs there, according to retrosheet.org.
And if Gary fetched the ball, it’d be great! I’d be right behind him and we could phone you up and then we could all sit on a porch and sip whisky and beer and talk sports and the hopeful return of baseball to Montreal.