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Behind the scenes: How Jerry Walker helped Cardinals

Posted in Executives, Games, Pitchers, Prospects on July 23, 2024| 5 Comments »

A right-handed pitcher and protege of Cardinals ace Harry Brecheen, Jerry Walker became the right-hand man to Cardinals general manager Walt Jocketty.

Walker was involved with professional baseball most of his adult life. At 18, he went from high school to the majors with the Orioles and was nurtured by Brecheen, the pitching coach who’d been a World Series standout with the 1946 Cardinals.

At 20, Walker became the youngest pitcher to start in an All-Star Game. He played eight seasons in the American League with the Orioles (1957-60), Athletics (1961-62) and Indians (1963-64).

After his playing days, Walker managed in the minors, then returned to the big leagues as a scout and went on to become a coach and general manager. For 13 years (1995-2007), he was an executive in the Cardinals’ front office, advising Jocketty on player personnel.

Mighty leap

Born and raised in Ada, Okla., Walker was a high school baseball phenom, posting a varsity pitching record of 52-1 and leading his club to state titles in 1956 and 1957. He hit .529 as a junior and .526 his senior season.

Most big-league teams tried to sign him, including the Red Sox, who projected Walker as a third baseman, but he chose the Orioles, in large part, because of Brecheen, an Ada resident. “Brecheen had a great deal to do with Walker’s decision,” the Baltimore Sun noted.

Brecheen told the newspaper, “I’ve known the boy and his family for a long time … I thought when I saw him in high school that he had the best curve of any kid I’d ever seen.”

After signing with the Orioles on June 28, 1957, Walker joined a pitching staff with the likes of former Negro League fastballer Connie Johnson, World War II combat veteran Hal Brown and ex-Dodgers standout Billy Loes.

A week later, Walker made a jittery big-league debut at Boston’s Fenway Park. With the Red Sox ahead, 6-2, Orioles manager Paul Richards sent Walker to pitch the seventh. He issued walks to the first two batters _ two-time American League batting champion Mickey Vernon and Jackie Jensen (past and future AL RBI leader) _ and went to a 2-and-0 count on Frank Malzone before being relieved by Art Ceccarelli, a winless left-hander. Malzone mashed a pitch that soared over the the head of right fielder Tito Francona for a triple. Boxscore

After three relief appearances, Walker made his first start, facing the hapless Athletics at Kansas City. Nervous and overanxious, he didn’t last an inning. Boxscore

Breakout game

A month later, after a few relief stints, none longer than two innings, Walker got his second start, this time at home, against the Senators. Though destined to finish in the basement, the Senators had Roy Sievers, the slugger from St. Louis who would lead the American League in home runs (42) and RBI (114) that year.

Pitching with the poise and stamina, Walker shut out the Senators for 10 innings and got the win, 1-0. He allowed four singles and a walk, totaling 111 pitches.

“Here is a kid who had never pitched nine innings in his life,” Paul Richards said to the Baltimore Sun. “The high schools where Jerry played limit their games to seven innings.”

Brecheen told the newspaper, “We knew he had a lot of ability, and he’s got a lot of heart.”

Walker dressed quickly after the game and dashed out of the clubhouse. As the Sun explained, “With a pocketful of hot change, the quiet-spoken, crew-cut kid was busting out all over in his (eagerness) to reach the nearest coin telephone to place a long-distance call to (his parents in) Oklahoma.” Boxscore

Seeing stars

After a tune-up season in the minors at Knoxville (18-4, 2.61 ERA) in 1958, Walker was one of three 20-year-old pitchers (Jack Fisher and Milt Pappas being the others) who contributed to the Orioles in 1959.

Walker sizzled early, winning his first four decisions, including a five-hitter against the Yankees. He struck out Mickey Mantle three times. Boxscore

In a rematch in July, Walker again beat the Yankees, fanning Mantle three more times and totaling 10 strikeouts for the game. “For 20 years old, you’d have to say the young man was amazing the way he struck my men out,” Yankees manager Casey Stengel said to the Sun. Boxscore

(Though he whiffed 12 times versus Walker in his career, Mantle had an on-base percentage of .500 _ 13 hits and 11 walks _ against him and slugged four home runs. Of Walker’s four career wins versus the Yankees, three came in 1959.)

A month later, Stengel, the American League manager, chose Walker to start in the All-Star Game at Los Angeles. Walker got the win, allowing one run in three innings. He twice retired the Cardinals’ Ken Boyer, struck out Eddie Mathews and got Willie Mays and Ernie Banks to ground out. Boxscore

Working overtime

On Sept. 11, 1959, the first-place White Sox, headed for an American League pennant, were at Baltimore for a Friday doubleheader on Westinghouse Night. As the Sun noted, “The air was electric with tension.”

Jack Fisher shut out the White Sox in the opener, 3-0, limiting them to three hits. Boxscore

Walker started Game 2 against a lineup headed by future Hall of Famers Luis Aparicio and Nellie Fox. He gave up two singles in the first but the White Sox never advanced another runner as far as third the rest of the night.

White Sox pitchers Barry Latman (9.1 innings) and Gerry Staley, the ex-Cardinal, were superb, too, but Walker was better. He pitched 16 scoreless innings and the Orioles prevailed, 1-0, when Brooks Robinson’s two-out single versus Staley, 39, drove in Al Pilarcik from third.

“That two 20-year-olds should pitch 25 scoreless innings in one night against the league leaders, even the light-hitting White Sox, borders on the unbelievable,” wrote Ed Brandt of the Sun.

His colleague, Lou Hatter, offered, “Walker’s performance was extra-special, incredible and then some.”

Walker told United Press International, “I could have pitched another couple of innings.” Boxscore

He finished the year 11-10 with a 2.92 ERA, but never had another winning season in the majors.

On the move

In 1960, Walker suffered from allergies “that sapped his strength,” the Sun reported, and posted a 3-4 season record. “From what they told me, I guess I was allergic to just about everything,” Walker told the Kansas City Times. “They gave me some shots and also some pills to take regularly. The shots are a long-range treatment and the doctors seem to think they should clear up the trouble completely in two or three years.”

Traded to the Athletics in April 1961, he spent two years with them, went 16-23 and got dealt again, to Cleveland, where he played his final two seasons in the majors. A highlight came on July 13, 1963, when Walker pitched four scoreless innings of relief, helping Cleveland teammate Early Wynn, 43, get career win No. 300. Boxscore

In May 1964, Walker was loaned by Cleveland to the Cardinals’ Class AAA farm club, the Jacksonville Suns, managed by Harry Walker (no relation). His teammates included pitchers Mike Cuellar, Bob Humphreys, Gordon Richardson and Barney Schultz, who went on to help the Cardinals win a pennant and World Series championship that season.

Walker was 10-9 with Jacksonville, including a one-hitter in a 1-0 victory versus Richmond in 10 innings. Called up to Cleveland in September, he pitched his final big-league games that month.

Still in the game

Walker was a manager in the Yankees’ farm system for six seasons (1968-73) and his pitchers included a pair of future American League Cy Young Award winners _ Ron Guidry and LaMarr Hoyt. Walker was a Yankees scout from 1974 to 1981, then became their pitching coach for parts of the 1981 and 1982 seasons.

From 1983-85, Walker was Astros pitching coach. His staff ace was Nolan Ryan.

After a stint from 1986-91 as special assignment scout for the Tigers, Walker was promoted to general manager by club president Bo Schembechler and tasked with rebuilding the roster. As Gene Guidi of the Detroit Free Press noted, “Walker stepped into a tough spot in Detroit. He wants to make the Tigers a better team but he has few marketable players to trade and a limited spending budget to pursue free agents.”

In Walker’s first season as general manager, the Tigers were 75-87. They improved to 85-77 in 1993, but the franchise underwent an ownership change, and Walker was fired in January 1994.

Cardinals influencer

In November 1994, Walt Jocketty, who replaced Dal Maxvill as Cardinals general manager, hired Walker to be the club’s director of major league player personnel. “He was the first guy I hired in St. Louis,” Jocketty told the Cincinnati Enquirer.

“Walker’s duties will feature special assignment scouting and recommendations to Jocketty,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Three years later, in February 1997, Walker was promoted, with the title of vice president of player personnel. The Post-Dispatch referred to him as Jocketty’s “right-hand man.”

According to the Cardinals 1997 media guide, Walker “assists Jocketty in personnel matters with the major league club and he is also responsible for overseeing the Cardinals player development and scouting activities.”

One of the up-and-coming Cardinals staffers in 1997 was a scouting assistant, John Mozeliak. According to the Post-Dispatch, Walker was a mentor to Mozeliak.

During Walker’s 13 years with the Cardinals, they won two National League pennants (2004 and 2006) and a World Series title (2006).

In October 2007, Jocketty was fired and replaced by Mozeliak. “One of Walt’s strong points was how he used his people,” Walker told the Post-Dispatch. “He allowed Mo (Mozeliak) to be involved, to increase his responsibilities.”

When the Reds then hired Jocketty to be team president and general manager, he brought in Walker to serve as his special assistant for player personnel.

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Say hey! Cardinals made a pitch for Willie Mays

Posted in Executives, Hitters, Trades on June 23, 2024| 11 Comments »

Imagine Willie Mays and Stan Musial in the same Cardinals lineup. The Cardinals could. They tried to make it happen.

In June 1957, the Cardinals offered the New York Giants a combination of cash and players for Mays, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported.

In the authorized biography, “Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend,” author James S. Hirsch wrote that Giants owner Horace Stoneham “seriously considered the deal but didn’t pull the trigger because of the club’s pending transfer to San Francisco.”

Opportunity knocks

The Cardinals opened the 1957 season with rookie Bobby Gene Smith as their center fielder, but he struggled to hit and, in desperation, the club shifted Ken Boyer from third base to fill the hole in center.

Meanwhile, the Giants were looking to move from New York. In 1956 and 1957, the only major-league team that drew fewer fans than the Giants was the Washington Senators.

As Mays biographer Hirsch noted, “Unlike their money-losing years from 1948 to 1953, the Giants did squeak out profits, but they could not keep pace with their Gotham rivals. Between 1947 and 1956, the Giants earned $405,926; the Dodgers earned $3.5 million, and the Yankees, $3.6 million.”

The Giants, Hirsch added, “made money only because of their increasing media revenue, receiving $600,000 a year for their television rights.”

In May 1957, National League club owners gave permission to the Giants to move from New York to San Francisco and for the Dodgers to transfer from Brooklyn to Los Angeles after the season.

A month later, the Cardinals made their pitch for Mays.

High stakes

Cardinals executive vice president Dick Meyer and general manager Frank Lane had the approval of Cardinals owner Gussie Busch to attempt a deal for Mays.

“Mr. Busch told me that I was a good general manager and that I ought to get Mays,” Lane told the Globe-Democrat. “I told him I’d try.”

Meyer said to the newspaper, “We were really anxious to get Mays … When we first told Lane to see what he could do about getting Mays, we fixed the cash price at $500,000. That apparently wasn’t enough and we authorized Lane to increase the ante.”

Lane said negotiations started with Giants vice president Chub Feeney and then club owner Horace Stoneham got involved.

“We made four offers for Mays, including one totaling $1 million,” Lane told the Globe-Democrat.

That offer was: $750,000 cash, outfielder Wally Moon, one or two other players on the Cardinals roster and several in the minors, the Globe-Democrat reported.

(According to the Federal Reserve inflation calculator, $750,000 in 1957 would be the equivalent of about $8.1 million today.)

Mays, 26, already had sparked the Giants to two National League pennants (1951 and 1954) and a World Series title (1954). In 1957, the Gold Glove center fielder would have another stellar season, leading the league in triples (20), stolen bases (38) and slugging percentage (.626). He slammed 35 home runs and scored 112 runs that season.

What a duo he and Musial would have formed. Musial, 36, won his seventh league batting title in 1957. He hit .351 and Mays was second at .333. Musial also was the 1957 league leader in on-base percentage (.422) and Mays was runner-up (.407). Musial had 29 home runs and 102 RBI for the 1957 Cardinals.

Mays and Musial had a bond. According to Mays’ biographer, the three players Mays followed as a youth in the 1940s were Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams and Musial. When Mays traveled with the Negro League Birmingham Black Barons in 1948, he attended his first big-league game at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis and got to see Musial hit.

On a plane to an All-Star Game in the mid-1950s, several black players were in the rear, playing cards. According to Mays’ biographer, Musial approached them and said, “Deal me in.” That was his way of telling those players they belonged. “That told me how classy he was,” Mays said, “and I never forgot that.”

Wrong time

The Giants’ gave “serious consideration” to the Cardinals’ offer for Mays, the Globe-Democrat reported, before opting to decline. Lane said to the newspaper, “Feeney told me the last time we talked about a Mays deal that it was out of the question. As I recall, Chub told me that if they traded Mays and then moved to San Francisco, the people out there would throw them into the bay.”

Stan Isaacs of Newsday wrote that moving the Giants to San Francisco “wasn’t nearly as shocking” as considering a trade of Mays to the Cardinals. 

The San Francisco Examiner noted, “Willie certainly must be a lot of baseball player to be worth that kind of money. Since the offer made by the Cardinals was turned down, it must be assumed Stoneham thinks Willie is worth even more.”

Stoneham told International News Service he “appreciated” the offer. In explaining why he rejected it, Stoneham said, “The money was not important. We’re not broke … What we want … above all else is a winning ballclub. All ballclubs have one special player … and to us it is Willie who is that ballplayer. We can build a team around Willie. Maybe that’s the answer to why we didn’t trade him to the Cardinals or anyone else.”

Then Stoneham, in that 1957 interview with International News Service, added, “Maybe we will sell him about 15 years from now, if somebody has a few ballplayers nearly as good.”

Fifteen years later, in May 1972, the Giants dealt Mays, 41, to the Mets for pitcher Charlie Williams and $50,000.

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How 28 equaled 30 for Cardinals’ Dizzy Dean

Posted in Executives, Games, Pitchers on June 17, 2024| 13 Comments »

Dizzy Dean was plenty good for the 1934 Cardinals, but he needed a helping hand from an influential source to achieve 30 wins.

In two June relief appearances Dean made for the 1934 Cardinals, National League president John Heydler credited him with wins in both, even though other pitchers appeared to qualify instead.

If not for Heydler’s unconventional decisions, Dean would have finished with 28 regular-season wins in 1934. Instead, he got 30, becoming the last National League pitcher to achieve the feat.

Save or win?

On June 21, 1934, at St. Louis, Dean beat the Dodgers, pitching a complete game and boosting his season record to 10-3. Boxscore

Two days later, with the Dodgers ahead, 3-0, in the sixth inning, Bill Hallahan relieved for the Cardinals and gave up a run, extending the Brooklyn lead to 4-0. In the bottom half of the inning, Pat Crawford batted for Hallahan and delivered a two-run single, capping a five-run rally that put the Cardinals on top, 5-4.

Dean entered in the seventh, looking to protect the lead. Hallahan figured to be in line for the win if the Cardinals held on. Dean did the job, holding the Dodgers scoreless the last three innings. Boxscore

Official scorer Martin Haley, baseball reporter for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, awarded the win to Hallahan because the Cardinals were ahead when Dean was brought in.

As the St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted, “The official scorer, in naming Hallahan, was abiding by the scoring rules, which provide that ordinarily a pitcher shall be credited with the runs scored by his team in the inning, or innings, he pitches.”

Haley apparently had second thoughts, though, because that night he filed a report to Heydler, a former umpire, and asked him to make a decision on who should be the winning pitcher. Dean, the fourth Cardinals pitcher of the game, was the only one who held the Dodgers scoreless.

Rules to pitch by

Here is how Major League Baseball defines how a pitcher qualifies for a win:

“A pitcher receives a win when he is the pitcher of record when his team takes the lead for good _ with a couple rare exceptions. First, a starting pitcher must pitch at least five innings (in a traditional game of nine innings or longer) to qualify for the win. If he does not, the official scorer awards the win to the most effective relief pitcher.

“There is also a rarely used clause where an official scorer can deem a relief pitcher’s appearance ‘brief and ineffective.’ (For example, if a reliever relinquished a one-run lead by allowing three runs, but was still in line for a win after his team scored four runs in the following inning _ that may qualify.) If that’s the case, the scorer can award the win to a pitcher who followed that ‘brief and ineffective’ pitcher. Which relief pitcher earns the win specifically is also up to the judgment of the official scorer.”

Verdict is in

On the morning of June 27, 1934, Heydler declared Dean the winning pitcher of the June 23 game. “Dean pitched great ball … to protect (a) one-run lead,” Heydler ruled. “Hallahan pitched one inning rather poorly.”

According to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, “Hallahan himself suggested that the credit go to Dean.”

St. Louis newspapers supported Heydler’s decision.:

_ St. Louis Star-Times: “Hallahan, like Diz, entered the contest as a relief pitcher but, unlike Diz, failed to hold the foe in check.”

_ St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “It was (Dean’s) strong arm and determination, his pitching skill and his fielding agility that made it possible for the Cardinals to win.”

Heydler’s ruling gave Dean a season record of 11-3.

That afternoon, the Cardinals played the Giants at St. Louis. The groundkeeper’s thermometer at Sportsman’s Park recorded 115 degrees on the field, the New York Daily News reported.

Dizzy started for the Cardinals and labored into the ninth inning. With the score tied at 7-7, the Giants had runners on first and second, two outs, when Jim Mooney relieved Dean.

Mooney, an ex-Giant, got the Cardinals out of the jam when he fielded Mel Ott’s sharp grounder and threw to first for the third out. Ott’s comebacker “almost knocked the pitcher down,” the Post-Dispatch reported, but he made the play.

Facing 43-year-old reliever Dolf Luque in the bottom half of the ninth, Cardinals catcher Bill DeLancey drove a pitch onto the pavilion roof in right-center for a walkoff home run. Boxscore

Decisions, decisions

Though Mooney had done the job, retiring a future Hall of Famer with the outcome on the line, and was still in the game when Delancey hit his homer, official scorer Martin Haley awarded the win to Dean.

“He had toiled 8.2 innings under a blistering sun and had pitched shutout baseball from the third to that ninth,” the Post-Dispatch noted.

He also may have pitched with a hand injury. According to Dean, an X-ray showed a small piece of bone chipped off the knuckle, the Globe-Democrat reported.

Seeking cover for his decision, Haley again asked Heydler to make the final ruling. Heydler agreed with him. Dean got the win, improving his season record to 12-3.

In his book “Diz,” Dean biographer Robert Gregory wrote that the two rulings giving wins to Dean “were controversial” and the Giants “were said to be particularly indignant.”

Dean finished the 1934 regular season with a 30-7 record. In 33 starts, he pitched 24 complete games, including seven shutouts, and was 26-5. He was 4-2, including the two Heydler rulings, in 17 relief appearances. In three starts against the Tigers in the 1934 World Series, Dean was 2-1, including a shutout in Game 7.

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How Joe DiMaggio helped Tony La Russa

Posted in Executives, Games, Hitters on February 21, 2024| 12 Comments »

In a spring training camp with Reggie Jackson, Rick Monday and Sal Bando, another hitter who caught the eye of Joe DiMaggio was Tony La Russa.

In 1968, DiMaggio was in a green and gold Oakland Athletics uniform, giving instruction to players. La Russa was trying to make the team as a reserve infielder and return to the majors for the first time in five years.

DiMaggio became one of La Russa’s biggest boosters.

Bay Area bonanza

After the 1967 season, the Athletics moved from Kansas City to Oakland. Club owner Charlie Finley approached Joe DiMaggio and offered him a front-office position with the title of executive vice president. DiMaggio accepted, signing a two-year contract.

In explaining why he took the job, DiMaggio said to the Associated Press, “Probably the biggest thing was the shift of the club to Oakland. It’s only 25 minutes from home (in San Francisco).”

During the previous six years, DiMaggio had been a visiting batting instructor at Yankees spring training in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., but when club co-owner Dan Topping asked him to take a fulltime job, “I turned him down,” DiMaggio said to The Sporting News. “I decided to join Mr. Finley and the A’s because it was home.”

Frank Lane, former general manager of the Cardinals and Kansas City Athletics, said to the San Francisco Examiner, “The smartest move Finley made when he moved to Oakland was to hire DiMaggio. That gave the club instant prestige.”

As The Sporting News noted, Finley and DiMaggio agreed to “an extremely loose arrangement as far as office responsibilities are concerned.” His duties were to include advising on personnel decisions and player transactions.

DiMaggio emphasized he wouldn’t do community relations and promotional tasks. “I’m not going around talking to groups or making appearances at banquets,” he told The Sporting News. “As I understand the job, I’ll be busy all of the time with player personnel, working on possible trades and serving as an adviser.”

At the baseball winter meetings in Mexico City in December 1967, DiMaggio “was much in evidence (as) the spokesman for the club,” The Sporting News reported. When Athletics manager Bob Kennedy asked him to be an instructor at spring training, DiMaggio said yes.

Advanced placement

On Feb. 26, 1968, when the Athletics had their first spring workout at Bradenton, Fla., DiMaggio, 53, was in uniform. According to the Bradenton Herald, he “posed obligingly for photographers, chatted freely with reporters and smilingly handed out autographs.” He also gave batting tips to a 22-year-old catcher, Dave Duncan.

United Press International columnist Milton Richman was impressed by how DiMaggio fit in. “He hangs his street clothes in the same simple wooden lockers as the players do,” Richman observed. “His locker is between those of coaches Sherm Lollar and John McNamara.”

DiMaggio became engaged in the instructor’s role. He enjoyed working with the players and connected with them.

“This kid Rick Monday is shaping up as a hell of a fine ballplayer,” DiMaggio said to Richman. “He’s only 22 and I like the way he swings the bat. He bears down all the time … This boy knows he’s good, but he’ll listen when you tell him something.

“There’s another outfielder, Reggie Jackson, I’ve been working with. He’ll take a little time to learn, but he’s going to be a good one, too.”

DiMaggio worked with Jackson on hitting, fielding and base running. “He’s such a symbol of greatness to a ballplayer, something to strive for, someone to get approval from,” Jackson said to The Sporting News. “It would be embarrassing not to hustle in front of such a man.”

After seeing DiMaggio swing the bat, Jackson told columnist Joe Falls, “He’s the Rope Man. He hangs out those frozen ropes.”

Asked about his approach to teaching, DiMaggio said to Jack Hand of the Associated Press, “There is no set way of hitting. One fellow bats one way, another has a different style. Honus Wagner, Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby all had different styles, but they followed the same fundamentals. The main thing is being comfortable, holding the head rigid, taking a short stride, having the bat ready to swing.

“You can’t tell anybody how to hit. Nobody ever tried to teach me. If I tried to bat like Stan Musial, all curled up in that crouch, I’d be wound up in a knot. It’s the same way with my wide stance. A lot of fellows couldn’t do it my way. I didn’t start out that way either.

“If I see a fellow who has a decided weakness, I’ll talk to him. I wouldn’t try to change a player unless he has been around a while and had not shown any improvement.”

Strong man

Tony La Russa was 18 when he debuted in the majors with the 1963 Athletics. He spent the next four seasons in the minors. Injuries played a part in stalling his career. He dislocated his right shoulder twice, tore ligaments in his right knee, and injured his back and throwing arm.

When he got to spring training in 1968, La Russa, 23, told the Oakland Tribune, “I worked pretty hard during the winter to strengthen the spots where I had my injuries. I feel 100 percent now and I don’t feel I’m injury prone.”

Working with weights at a Tampa gym, La Russa bulked up and was bigger than his listed weight of 175 pounds. The Bradenton Herald described him as having “tremendously thick forearms and wrists, and Ted Kluszewski-sized biceps.”

“I’m staying right at 195 pounds now and never felt better,” La Russa said to reporter Vince Smith. “I figured I’d better start doing something about building myself up. If I was bigger and stronger, I wouldn’t be getting hurt all the time.”

Second base was La Russa’s best position, but the Athletics had John Donaldson and Dick Green there. Manager Bob Kennedy viewed La Russa as a backup to Sal Bando at third and possibly Bert Campaneris at shortstop, and planned to play him at those spots throughout spring training.

(“I’m the most uncomfortable at third,” La Russa said to the Oakland Tribune.)

Asked about La Russa, Kennedy said to the San Francisco Examiner, “We’re looking at the kid as a top prospect for infield utility duty … We certainly don’t want to give up on him. We feel there’s a good chance he’ll help us.”

DiMaggio took an interest in La Russa. After watching La Russa take swings in the batting cage at spring training, he offered advice. “He told me he noticed I had a little hitch in my swing and I was letting the ball get by me before I had my wrists cocked,” La Russa told the Bradenton Herald. “When he tells me something like that, naturally I’m going to listen.”

DiMaggio said to the Herald, “I think he really has a chance to make it. When you get the injuries this kid has had since he started, you never really get a chance to get going. He seems to be in real good shape out here now. He swings that bat and he swings it pretty good.”

According to the Oakland Tribune, La Russa went on to lead the Athletics in hitting (.364) in spring training games and earned a spot on the 1968 Opening Day roster as a backup infielder.

Highs and lows

Near the end of spring training, DiMaggio agreed to Kennedy’s request to be a coach all season. “He will be on the bench with me,” Kennedy said to The Sporting News. “This entails a fulltime duty with the club. I can think of no better man to teach young hitters and young outfielders than Joe DiMaggio.”

In explaining why he accepted the role, DiMaggio said to the Oakland Tribune, “These kids we have are the major reason I’ve decided to coach. They’re just great. I’ve become attached to them and the club. I think I can do a service.”

In introductions before the Athletics’ home opener on April 17, 1968, DiMaggio got the loudest ovation from the crowd of 50,164. Gov. Ronald Reagan threw the ceremonial first pitch and was booed, the Oakland Tribune reported.

In the game that followed, Dave McNally of the Orioles held the Athletics to two hits _ a Rick Monday home run and pinch-hit single by La Russa. Boxscore

Three weeks later, after just three at-bats, La Russa was placed on waivers and went unclaimed. The Athletics sent him to their Vancouver farm club and called up outfielder Joe Rudi.

DiMaggio had a successful season as a coach. As The Sporting News noted, “Being a coach in uniform this year has enabled DiMaggio to escape a desk job with vague responsibilities and ill-defined duties, and make a real contribution to the team. His mere presence has inspired the young A’s players, who hold him in high esteem but not the overwhelming awe they showed him when he first appeared in spring training.”

The 1968 Athletics finished 82-80, but Bob Kennedy was fired and replaced by Hank Bauer, who had been DiMaggio’s outfield teammate with the Yankees. DiMaggio said he didn’t want to coach again in 1969, the last year of his contract, but Bauer convinced him to change his mind.

La Russa began the 1969 season in the minors at Des Moines, hit .306 and got called up to the Athletics in June after Dick Green tore knee ligaments. La Russa got only eight at-bats with the 1969 Athletics and went hitless.

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Why St. Louis Browns said no to Babe Ruth

Posted in Executives, Managers on July 28, 2023| 9 Comments »

The Sultan of Swat struck out in his bid to become St. Louis Browns manager.

After finishing last in the eight-team American League in 1937, the Browns were looking for a manager and Babe Ruth wanted the job.

Considering that the Browns drew a total home attendance of 123,121 in 1937, Ruth’s willingness to manage the team in 1938 seemed a special opportunity to infuse interest in the moribund franchise, but his overture was rejected.

Manager material?

Approaching his final years as a player, baseball’s home run king wanted to manage in the majors. Ruth and Yankees manager Joe McCarthy, who took over the club in 1931, didn’t get along. Ruth began campaigning for the job, but Yankees general manager Ed Barrow was happy with McCarthy and uninterested in Ruth as a field leader.

In his book, “Babe: The Legend Comes to Life,” author Robert Creamer noted, “Ruth’s obtuseness about the Yankees managing job was almost pitiful. It was obvious Barrow was convinced he was incapable of managing.”

Other clubs thought differently. Opportunities developed for Ruth to manage the Red Sox, Tigers and Athletics, but plans went haywire.

In the summer of 1932, when the Red Sox were on their way to a 43-111 record (and Ruth, with 41 home runs, was powering the Yankees to a pennant), they talked to him about becoming player-manager, but “Babe did not want to leave” New York, Creamer reported. “The Red Sox post came up again in 1933 when Tom Yawkey bought the club. Yawkey wanted to hire Ruth but was persuaded not to by general manager Eddie Collins.”

After the 1933 season, according to Creamer, “the Tigers definitely wanted him. Tigers attendance had been declining and club owner Frank Navin felt Ruth as player-manager would help the gate and possibly help the team.”

The Yankees agreed to a deal. They “were looking for a way to dump Ruth gracefully and this seemed an ideal situation,” Creamer reported.

Navin asked Ruth to come to Detroit to work out the details, but when Ruth left instead for a planned trip to Hawaii, Navin became annoyed and changed his mind. He acquired Mickey Cochrane from the Athletics to be player-manager. (Cochrane led the Tigers to the 1934 pennant and a World Series berth against the Cardinals.)

The Yankees offered to make Ruth manager of their Newark farm club, but he told them he didn’t want to go to the minor leagues, Creamer reported.

Ruth, 39, stayed with the Yankees in 1934, hit 22 home runs and lobbied to become their manager, but club owner Jacob Ruppert reaffirmed his commitment to Joe McCarthy. An angry Ruth told Joe Williams of Scripps-Howard’s New York World-Telegram, “I’m through with the Yankees. I won’t play with them again unless I can manage. They’re sticking with McCarthy, and that lets me out.”

Amid the hullabaloo his comments caused in Gotham, Ruth said sayonara and left with an all-star team for a goodwill tour of Japan. Connie Mack, who owned and managed the Athletics, was leader of the tour, but Ruth was given the chance to manage the all-star team.

According to Creamer, Mack, nearing 72, was considering stepping down as Athletics manager “and liked the idea” of Ruth replacing him. “Ruth’s presence would help the sagging gate, and Connie had always got along well with Babe,” Creamer noted.

Mack used the Japan tour as a test to see how Ruth would do as manager, but Babe got a failing grade, in part, because he feuded with teammate Lou Gehrig, creating divisions among the all-star group.

Promises, promises

In February 1935, soon after Ruth turned 40, the Yankees released him so that he could accept an offer from the Braves to become team vice president, assistant manager and player. Ruth accepted the proposal because he was convinced Braves owner Emil Fuchs intended to make him the manager in 1936, replacing Bill McKechnie.

Early in the 1935 season, though, Ruth became disenchanted. As Creamer noted, “His duties as vice-president seemed confined to attending store openings and other such affairs to get the publicity Fuchs said the club needed. As assistant manager, all he did was tell McKechnie when he was able to play. He soon found out Fuchs had no intention of forcing McKechnie out to make way for Babe.”

On June 2, 1935, Ruth quit the Braves. “I’d still like to manage,” he told columnist Grantland Rice, “but there’s nothing in sight.”

Support for Babe

Two years later, though no offers had come to him, Ruth still was determined to manage in the majors. The Browns looked to be a possibility.

In July 1937, Browns manager Rogers Hornsby was fired and replaced by another former Cardinals player, Jim Bottomley, who had no managing experience. Former Cardinals manager Gabby Street was hired to be a coach on Bottomley’s staff and provide him with on-the-job training. 

The Browns, 25-52 with Hornsby, were 21-56 with Bottomley and finished 46-108, 56 games behind the champion Yankees. “We had two managers in 1937, and we thought we made the right guess each time, yet we finished in last place,” Browns general manager Bill DeWitt Sr. told the St. Louis Star-Times.

According to Sid Keener of the Star-Times, DeWitt and Browns owner Donald Barnes “have been advised by stockholders and friends to make a big play for important publicity by hiring none other than George Herman Ruth, The Babe himself” to be the next manager.

“Ruth would have a powerful magnet at the box office _ at the start, anyway,” Keener advised. “The Babe, back in a major-league uniform as manager of the Browns, would go over in a big way for publicity.”

Advocating for the hiring of Ruth, John Wray of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote, “Some club might do worse than give The Bambino a workout. It could not go broke with a one-year experiment. The Bambino’s name might have some pulling power at the gate _ for a while.”

Wray’s Post-Dispatch colleague, L.C. Davis, suggested that choosing Ruth to manage “would make the turnstiles play a merry tune.”

Babe makes his pitch

In an interview with author William B. Mead for the 1978 book, “Even the Browns,” DeWitt (father of 2023 Cardinals owner Bill DeWitt Jr.) recalled, “Babe Ruth called me up. Out of the blue. I didn’t know him. Never met him. He said, ‘Hey, kid, this is Babe Ruth. I know you haven’t got a good ballclub, but I’d like to be your manager. I can’t get a job managing anyplace else, so I’d like to be the manager of the Browns.’ 

“I said, ‘Now, let me think about it. We’ve just about made up our minds on a guy. Let me talk to some people.’ I took his phone number.”

The guy Barnes and DeWitt wanted for the job was Gabby Street, not Ruth.

Regarding Ruth, DeWitt told Mead, “He would be a great attraction for a year, but we’d probably have to pay him a pretty good salary, and at the end of the year his attractiveness is gone. We had a lousy ballclub, and you know he’s not going to be a good manager, and we were going to try to develop some young players. So we decided not to do it.”

Barnes told the Star-Times, “We did not consider Ruth for a moment. Ruth is a great name in baseball _ or, was a great name _ but, after all, the public will only pay to see a winning ballclub.”

In comments to the Post-Dispatch, Barnes said, “We never had an idea of seeking Ruth as manager at any time. He is not the type we believe would make a successful leader.”

Sid Keener concluded in the Star-Times, “Ruth’s salary demand is considered the major stumbling block in his behalf. George Herman, no doubt, would request a contract calling for a salary in the neighborhood of $30,000.”

According to the Post-Dispatch, Joe McCarthy of the Yankees and Bill Terry of the Giants were the highest-paid managers. Each made $35,000.

Oscar Melillo, a former Browns second baseman who would become a coach for them in 1938, wanted Ruth to be their manager and told the New York Daily News, “Whatever the Browns paid Ruth would be back in the till the first time they played the Yankees in New York.”

Ruth said to the New York Journal-American, “The way I look at it, it must be because those owners want to keep the small-salaried guys in there as long as the public will stand for it.”

Street signed a one-year contract with the Browns for between $7,500 and $10,000, the Star-Times reported. The 1938 Browns were 53-90 when Street was replaced by Melillo with 10 games left in the season.

Missing out

In June 1938, the Dodgers hired Ruth, 43, to be a coach on the staff of manager Burleigh Grimes. It was a publicity stunt, but Ruth hoped it might put him in position to take over for Grimes. Instead, Leo Durocher replaced Grimes after the season and Ruth was out of a job. The chance to manage never came.

“I think I’d make a good manager,” Ruth told Jimmy Powers of the New York Daily News. “I’ve followed the game closely. I know men, I know batters, and I know pitchers.”

In his biography of Ruth, Robert Creamer wrote, “Could he have managed? Of course. Ruth had certain obvious qualities. He was baseball smart, he was sure of himself, he was held in awe by his fellow players and he was undeniably good copy. He may not have been a success _ most managers are not _ but he should have been given the chance.”

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No way to treat a lady (or anyone else)

Posted in Executives, Games on January 11, 2023| 6 Comments »

In the days before civil rights progress, the overt racism of the Cardinals took many forms, including during Ladies Day games at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis.

The Cardinals’ advertisements for Ladies Day games promised free general admission tickets at the gate to women 16 and older. Left unsaid was that the tickets were for whites only. Women of color who came to Ladies Day games were told they’d have to pay for tickets to sit in a segregated section of the ballpark.

The bigotry was the policy of the American League St. Louis Browns, who owned Sportsman’s Park, and agreed to by their tenant, the National League Cardinals.

Customer relations

Chris von der Ahe, who owned the St. Louis franchise that became the Cardinals, initiated Ladies Day ballpark promotions as early as 1883, according to MLB.com. He allowed women to attend games for free if they came with a male escort. The man had to buy a ticket.

That was the practice until 1909, when the National League banned Ladies Day promotions because team owners wanted all women to buy tickets instead of being admitted for free, MLB.com reported.

Two years later, in 1911, Helene Britton became the Cardinals’ owner. Defying the Ladies Day ban, she reinstated the promotion in 1912. Women were allowed to attend Ladies Day Cardinals games for free and didn’t need a male escort to do so, according to MLB.com.

Britton owned the Cardinals for six years before selling to a group of investors led by former team president James C. Jones. In July 1920, car dealer Sam Breadon became principal owner and moved the Cardinals from rundown Robison Field to Sportsman’s Park.

Until May 4, 1944, blacks, or anyone defined as Negroes, attending a Cardinals home game could purchase tickets only in segregated seating areas in the Sportsman’s Park outfield bleachers or behind a screen in the outfield pavilion. Blacks weren’t allowed to sit in the double-decked grandstand, meaning any seats behind home plate and along the lines. The Cardinals and Browns were the last franchises in the majors to end segregated seating.

Send in the crowds

During the Great Depression, the Cardinals regularly designated select weekday afternoon games as Ladies Day events, not for humanitarian reasons but because it was good for business.

“The concession proceeds are almost equal to the gate receipts on Ladies Day, for what the women save on admissions they appear to spend on refreshments,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported in July 1931. “They may attend for the bargain, but they buy plenty to eat and drink.”

An example was the Ladies Day game between the Braves and Cardinals on a Friday afternoon, June 12, 1931, at Sportsman’s Park. The paid attendance was 4,445, but the total attendance, swelled by the free Ladies Day admissions, was 17,927, according to the Post-Dispatch. Boxscore

The Cardinals experienced a boon in concession sales that afternoon because of all the women customers in the ballpark. As the Post-Dispatch noted, league rules required the home team to share with the visiting club 25 percent of each cash ticket sold, but the Cardinals kept all concession revenue.

“The reason for Ladies Day is that baseball clubs today have other things to sell other than baseball,” the Post-Dispatch reported in 1931.

Nowhere in its advertising of the many Ladies Day games did the Cardinals indicate that free admissions were for white women only. Apparently it was assumed that no one would expect black women to be allowed to sit in general admission areas rather than in the segregated outfield seats.

(According to the Cardinals yearbook, the club offered five ticket options. From cheapest to most expensive, those were: right-field pavilion, bleachers, general admission, reserved and box seat. After men complained about not getting the same free tickets as women, Sam Breadon declared on July 9, 1931, that any [white] man buying a general admission ticket to that Thursday’s Cardinals home doubleheader against the Reds would be given an upgrade to a reserved seat, the Post-Dispatch reported.)

Tears, not cheers

The Cardinals, who, like all big-league clubs, refused to sign black players, won the 1931 World Series championship. The St. Louis Argus, a newspaper serving the black community, used the opportunity to call them out for their racist Ladies Day policy.

In an October 1931 editorial that also was published in the Baltimore Afro American, the editors of the Argus wrote, “Following the Cardinals’ victory over the Athletics in the seventh game of the World Series, there was much rejoicing … We found no pleasure in the Cardinals’ victory. Not that we have anything against the members of the team … It is their home surroundings and environment which are so insulting to us. We make particular reference to the so-called Ladies Day.

“Colored ladies who venture to attend these games are insulted by being told at the gate, ‘This is Ladies Day, but …’ This statement is followed by a discourteous demand for 75 cents as a premium on her color if she desires to enter Sportsman’s Park to see a game of ball.

“This is an insult of the rankest sort, and we don’t see how any person of color could possibly, under any circumstances, find any pleasure in going to, or milling around, Sportsman’s Park.”

Noting that quality seats were denied to men and women of color for all Cardinals home games, the Argus editorial made clear, “This we have always regarded as an insult to the entire colored race. Therefore, games and other athletic sports at this park have no appeal to us. Hence, even the great victory of the Cardinals over the Athletics brought no pleasure to our heart.”

The editorial concluded with, “It is rather unfortunate that such a big team as the Cardinals has to claim as its home a park which is controlled by such little men as the owners of Sportsman’s Park. If the owners were real sportsmen, there would be no discrimination as to seats.”

In a sidebar, Bill Gibson of the Baltimore Afro American noted that discrimination at the World Series took place in other ways, too. He wrote, “When police officers were asked to help handle the crowd at the 1930 World Series in Philadelphia, some of the officers who arrived were black. (The Philadelphia police force was integrated in the 1880s.) White officers were allowed inside, but black officers were told their place was outside. In the 1931 World Series, when the same request was made for police help, it was put in writing, ‘White officers only,’ and the order was filled in that manner.”

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