In Montreal, where the predominant language is French, he’s “Un Dominicain Coriace.” In his homeland, where Spanish is spoken, it’s “Un Dominicano Duro.”
Regardless of the locale, Joaquin Andjuar, the self-proclaimed “One Tough Dominican” pitcher, could back up his image with astonishing results.
One such instance occurred on April 27, 1984, for the Cardinals against the Expos at Montreal. Brushed back by a pitch, Andujar retaliated by belting the next delivery for a home run that put the Cardinals ahead for good.
Head games
For the Friday afternoon game at Olympic Stadium, the Expos produced a lineup that included Pete Rose in left, three future Hall of Famers _ Gary Carter at catcher, Andre Dawson in right, Tim Raines in center _ and a probable future Hall of Fame manager at first, Terry Francona.
The player who drew Andujar’s attention (and ire), though, was the Expos’ spunky second baseman, Bryan Little. Batting with one out and none on in the first inning, Little bunted for a single. He advanced to third on a hit by Raines and scored on Dawson’s sacrifice fly.
Andujar didn’t think much of a batter who used a puny bunt to get on base against him. When Little came up again in the third, he was sent spinning to the ground by a fastball. “He was throwing at me,” Little told the Montreal Gazette.
Andujar expected the Expos to seek retribution because when he batted in the fifth he wore a helmet with a protective ear flap, an unusual choice for him, when he dug in from the right side of the plate. “I didn’t want to get hit in the ear,” Andujar told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Sure enough, Steve Rogers’ first pitch to him was a fastball near the head. Umpire Bruce Froemming warned Rogers he’d be ejected if he threw another like that.
My way
Andujar had his own system for determining which side of the plate to take as a batter. Though a right-hander, he sometimes batted from the left side, as he did in his first plate appearance of the game against Rogers.
According to the Post-Dispatch, Andujar said he batted from the left side versus right-handers when there were runners in scoring position because, “I make better contact left-handed.” He generally went to the right side when he was bunting or trying to slug a home run.
Usually, Andujar was trying for the long ball.
Cutting loose with savage cuts, he struck out 315 times in 607 career at-bats in the majors. As Rick Hummel of the Post-Dispatch noted, “If one watched Andujar swing his 40-ounce bat as if he were trying to beat a rug, one wondered what would happen if bat ever met ball.”
After throwing the brushback pitch to him, Rogers found out.
On with the show
Andujar powered the next pitch to deep left for a home run, breaking a 2-2 tie.
“He was pumped up and I threw a bad pitch right in his wheelhouse,” Rogers told the Post-Dispatch. “I was trying to throw a slider away and I threw a spinning nothing ball, middle in.”
Milking the moment, “Andujar majestically flipped his bat aside and watched his homer sail over the wall,” Rick Hummel wrote. “Then he literally walked the last 90 feet in his home run trot, pausing to step dramatically on home plate before continuing to the dugout.”
Cardinals infielder Ken Oberkfell told the Montreal Gazette, “We were all stunned … Now we’re going to have to listen to him talk about his power for a week.”
Andujar finished with a complete-game win. (His first 10 decisions versus the Expos all were wins and he ended his career with a 15-6 record against them.) Boxscore
Power supply
A career .127 hitter in his 13 major-league seasons, Andujar had five home runs, including two versus Rogers. With the Astros in 1979, Andujar homered against Rogers at Montreal. Boxscore
In addition to the two home runs off Rogers, Andujar hit another against the Expos _ in 1979, an inside-the-park poke versus Bill Lee at the Astrodome in Houston. Boxscore
Andujar’s first four home runs were right-handed. His last, a grand slam at St. Louis against the Braves’ Jeff Dedmon, was from the left side. Like Babe Ruth, Andujar called that shot.
RetroSimba 
Joaquin Andujar jars a memory in me of him pitching in the World Series, maybe against the Royals? and him freaking out on the umpire over balls and strikes. I remember thinking what a competitor! Not too many switch hitting pitchers I would think. His slow trot around the bases after hitting one musta been rarer back then. I like the enthusiasm that players from the Dominican Republic bring to baseball and appreciate that they take a risk and try their hand at baseball in America though it depletes talent from their league back home.
The Cardinals front office was unhappy with Joaquin Andujar’s Game 7 meltdown in the 1985 World Series and traded him to the Oakland Athletics soon after, but Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog remained supportive of the pitcher. Four years after Andujar was sent away by the Cardinals, Herzog wanted to bring him back and give him a chance to earn a spot in the starting rotation. In May 1989, Andujar wrote to the Cardinals, apologized for his behavior and asked to come back, but the front office wasn’t interested. In July 1989, Cox News Service sent a reporter to visit Andujar in his hometown of San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic. Andjuar said he was supplying food and water to the poor as well as donating baseball equipment to youth players. “It’s time the people know the good sides to Joaquin Andujar, not only the bad side,” Andujar said.
I didn’t know Andujar’s meltdown resulted in him being traded. In my opinion, a player who gets busted for PED’s like Braun of the Brewers are the ones who should be traded as opposed to someone who freaks out at an umpire.
Back-to-back twenty-win seasons in 1984-85. Second half of the 85 season, he was just average. John Tudor did fairly well, though.
John Tudor hit no home runs in the big leagues but Tudor had a higher career batting average (.154) than Andujar did (.127).
Andujar pitched for the A’s for a few seasons but by 1987 he was washed up and was pretty much beaten like a rag doll in 13 unimpressive starts. Of course, we all know that he loved to imbibe (among many. many, many others of the era) on the “Hollywood Happy Powder” as Lindsey Buckingham from Fleetwood Mac so elegantly described cocaine.
RIP big dawg
Just a gentle reminder that today is a “getaway day” for most of the teams in the league if you like day baseball.
Joaquin Andujar won three of his first four decisions for manager Tony La Russa’s 1987 A’s, then lost four in a row. According to the Oakland Tribune, Andujar in 1987 suffered “a litany of injuries, beginning with a strain to the flexor muscle in his right forearm and continuing with a series of hamstring pulls.” He went on the disabled list four times in 1987. Oakland Tribune columnist Monte Poole wrote, “What we have is a 34-year-old pitcher nagged by a yielding body, an unyielding pride, an unsettling contract status and an uneasy psyche.”
Brings back some great memories from the Whitey Ball era. 1984 proved to be a disappointing year and if not for the 20 games that Andujar won plus the 45 saves by Bruce Sutter things would have gone a lot worse . Bryan Little for his career did pretty well against Andujar. 9 for 17 with 3 doubles and 4 walks.
Thanks, Phillip, for supplying those impressive career stats Bryan Little had against Joaquin Andujar. This from a batter who was 1-for-17 versus Marty Bystrom. Little also hit .400 (6-for-15) against Danny Cox.
There’s a story yet to be told about Andujar, and that has to do with BB’s. When he was with the Astros, pitching in a stadium where homers were rare, he consistently gave up about 5 walks per 9 innings. Then, upon joining the Cards mid ‘81, suddenly it all changes and he’s only giving up about 2 walks per 9, an efficiency he maintained for the next few years. What happened? Is it all due to having OZ behind him? Did Herzog read him the riot act? Is the food better in St. Louis (doubtful)?
Thanks for the good insights on how Joaquin Andujar pitched with much better command with the Cardinals than with Houston. His pitching coach in St. Louis was Hub Kittle. “I used to kick my leg high and look up,” Andujar said to the Society for American Baseball Research. “I wasn’t looking at home plate.” Kittle got him to stop that.
I have to admit when I see or hear his name now the meltdown in the World Series is the very first thing I think of. As with most athletes however, there is much more to their story than just one moment in a career.
In 1980, Joaquin Andujar began the season in the Astros bullpen. His first start of the year came on May 24 as a showcase versus the Phillies, who were looking to make a trade to bolster their rotation. The Phillies were considering a trade of first baseman Keith Moreland, outfielder Lonnie Smith and two minor-leaguers to the Giants for first baseman Mike Ivie and pitchers Ed Halicki and Gary Lavelle, the Philadelphia Daily News reported. The Phillies would send Ivie to the Astros for Andujar. The deal dissolved when Ivie went on the disabled list for mental fatigue. “He was the whole key, the only player Houston really wanted for Andujar,” wrote Bill Conlin in the Philadelphia Daily News.
In 1982, when the Cardinals edged the Phillies for the East Division title and then went on to become World Series champions, Andujar was 4-0 with a 1.43 ERA versus the Phillies, but for his career he was 8-11 against them.
Was there anything more exciting than having the pitcher hit a home run?
Indeed. It wasn’t that long ago, 2017, that Madison Bumgarner of the Giants hit two home runs on Opening Day against the Arizona Diamondbacks. He hit one versus Zack Greinke and the other against Andrew Chafin.
Nor was it that long ago (2021) when Bartolo Colon, 40+ years and 300+ pounds, muscled one (barely) over the left field wall in Citi Field.