RetroSimba

Stan Musial is the reason I have been a St. Louis Cardinals fan since 1963, when I was 7 years old.

My paternal grandfather immigrated to the United States from Poland before World War I and settled in Bayonne, N.J. He was a proud Polish-American. During the 1940s, when Musial won three National League batting titles and led the Cardinals to four pennants and three World Series championships, my grandfather became a Stan Musial fan. Musial’s father also immigrated to America from Poland.

My father was a Brooklyn Dodgers fan, but he, too, rooted for Musial. The Dodgers fans at Ebbetts Field in Brooklyn respected Musial so much that they gave him the nickname, “The Man.”

My grandfather and father wanted me to see Musial play in person, so they purchased three tickets for the Cardinals’ last scheduled 1963 appearance in New York. On Aug. 8, 1963, a Thursday afternoon, we were among the 8,309 who went to the Polo Grounds to see the Cardinals play the Mets.

Musial was 42 and speculation was he would retire after the season. The Polo Grounds had been the home field of the Giants when they were based in New York and Musial hit well there.

“There’s something sentimental about this old place,” Musial said in an Associated Press story published before the game. “For one thing, I’ve always been a Giants fan. When I was a kid, Carl Hubbell and Mel Ott were my heroes. I’ve enjoyed playing here because of the short fences and the nice crowds. Now, this is goodbye. It’s a bit sad.”

During our drive into New York from New Jersey, my grandfather and father told me stories about Musial. To a 7-year-old, that was enough to convince me Musial was the greatest baseball player. And, because he played for the Cardinals, my 7-year-old’s logic said, they must be the greatest baseball team.

Before a pitch was thrown, I was devoted to Stan Musial and the Cardinals.

When the starting lineups were announced, my grandfather and father were disappointed Musial was being given the day off against Mets left-hander Al Jackson.

Still, being at a big-league ballgame was thrilling for me and I recall taking in the sights and sounds from our second-deck seats on the first-base line.

In the ninth inning, with the Mets ahead, 3-2, the Cardinals had a runner on first with two outs when our wishes came true. Musial was sent to bat for pitcher Bobby Shantz.

I recall focusing on the figure at the plate and seeing Musial in his famous batting crouch, the number 6 looking huge on the back of his jersey.

Jackson walked Musial on four pitches, and I was satisfied to see the plate appearance. Gary Kolb was put in to run for Musial before Curt Flood grounded out, ending the game.

In January 2012, while interviewing Jackson at the Mets’ training facility in Port St. Lucie, Fla. he stunned me by bringing up that Aug. 8, 1963, encounter with Musial.

I was asking Jackson about Flood and Jackson said:

“Great defensive player. He was a great hitter, too. Here was a man who got 200 hits every year. But asking about Flood reminds me of when I was still pitching for the Mets and we were playing the Cardinals in the Polo Grounds. I had a one-run lead in the ninth inning. There were two outs (and a runner on first base) and here comes Stan Musial to pinch-hit.

“I always said, ‘My momma didn’t raise no fool.’ Flood was due up after Musial. And as good a hitter as Flood was, I thought about how years back, (pitcher) Harvey Haddix had told me how dangerous this man Musial was in the clutch. And so I said to myself, ‘I got a one-run lead in the ninth inning. This man is not going to beat me.’ I threw four pitches outside and he went on to first base. I got the next man, Flood, to ground out. Game over.” Boxscore

The summer of 1963 also was the first year I began collecting Topps baseball cards. My maternal grandmother and my mother would buy them for me in waxpacks for a nickel apiece. Never once had I found a Stan Musial card in a pack.

A few days after my Polo Grounds experience, a friend told me he had a 1963 Topps Stan Musial card. I told my father about it and he instructed me to find out what my friend would accept in a trade. My friend, a Yankees fan, wanted the Yankees team card. I had it, and my father decided to help me broker a deal.

I invited my friend to meet me and my father in our yard and to bring the Musial card. When I offered the Yankees team card in exchange, my father sensed hesitation from my friend. Thinking fast and sorting through my stack, my father told me to include a card of Yankees catcher Johnny Blanchard in a two-for-one deal.

I was aghast. My father told me it was a good deal. So I handed over both cards and got the Musial one. It is shown here. Musial autographed it for me in 1989.

Read Full Post »

(Updated Jan. 1, 2018)

Erik Pappas can speak authoritatively about the highs and lows of being a professional baseball player.

A Cardinals catcher in 1993 and 1994, Pappas started his St. Louis career with a flourish (a 16-game hitting streak) and ended it in a slump (0-for-33).

A baseball and football standout at Mount Carmel High School in Chicago, Pappas was named Illinois prep baseball player of the year in 1984. The Angels selected him in the first round in the June 1984 draft, ahead of Mark McGwire, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine.

Pappas never advanced out of the Angels’ farm system. (“They gave up on me real quick … I never felt wanted with the Angels,” he later told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.) The Cubs signed him and he made his big-league debut with them in 1991, playing in seven games before returning to the minors.

After stints in the minor-league systems of the Royals and White Sox, the Cardinals signed Pappas on the recommendation of their Class AAA Louisville manager, Jack Krol, and invited the catcher to spring training in 1993.

The Cardinals committed that spring to the catching tandem of Tom Pagnozzi and Hector Villanueva. Pappas hit .250 in nine spring training games and was sent to Louisville to open the season.

Determined to show the Cardinals he belonged, Pappas hit .338 with four home runs in 21 games for Louisville. When Pagnozzi tore cartilage in his left knee in May, Pappas, 27, was promoted to St. Louis.

The Cardinals were planning to return Pappas to Louisville after Pagnozzi recovered, but Pappas changed those plans with his 16-game hitting streak from May 14 through June 5. It was the longest hitting streak by a Cardinals catcher since Ted Simmons had a 19-game stretch in 1975.

Five times Pappas kept the streak alive by producing a hit in his last at-bat. He did that on June 2, 1993, when he hit a RBI-double off the Dodgers’ Todd Worrell in the seventh inning at St. Louis, giving the Cardinals a 5-3 lead.

In the ninth, the Dodgers scored a run off closer Lee Smith and had Eric Davis on first base with two outs. Davis was riding a streak of 34 consecutive successful stolen base attempts. Pappas was 0-for-8 in runners caught attempting to steal.

“Pap comes out to me and says, ‘Don’t worry about Davis.’ I said, ‘Bull,’ ” Smith told the Post-Dispatch.

As expected, Davis broke for second. Pappas’ throw arrived at the second base bag before Davis did. Davis was out, the streak was broken and the game was over, a 5-4 Cardinals victory preserved. Boxscore

“That was unreal,” Cardinals first baseman Gregg Jefferies said. “Everybody in the stadium knew (Davis) was going and Pap makes a great throw.”

Pappas’ hitting streak was snapped by Reds pitchers Jose Rijo and Greg Cadaret on June 6, 1993. Boxscore A week later, June 14, Pirates center fielder Andy Van Slyke broke his right collarbone while helping Pappas get his only big-league home run.

In the fourth inning at St. Louis, Pappas drove a Denny Neagle pitch to deep center. The ball glanced off Van Slyke’s glove and skimmed into a flower bed for a two-run home run as Van Slyke slammed into the wall, breaking the collarbone. Boxscore

A couple of days later, Pagnozzi came off the disabled list and Villanueva was sent to Louisville.

Pappas completed the 1993 season with a .276 batting average, 12 doubles and 28 RBI in 82 games for St. Louis. He started 53 games at catcher and also made 10 starts in right field and one at first base. He caught 41 percent of the baserunners who attemped to steal against him. The Cardinals were 29-24 in games Pappas started at catcher.

The Cardinals committed to opening the 1994 season with Pagnozzi and Pappas as their catchers, but Pagnozzi again tore cartilage in his left knee while reaching for a pitch in spring training. Cardinals manager Joe Torre declared Pappas the Opening Day starter and selected Terry McGriff to be his backup.

Pappas hit safely in each of the Cardinals’ first four games of the 1994 season. Then he went hitless in 33 at-bats. He caught just one of 16 baserunners attempting to steal.

On May 5, Pagnozzi came off the disabled list. After 15 games started at catcher and with his batting average at .091 (4-for-44), Pappas was demoted to Louisville.

“I got an opportunity to start and I didn’t take advantage of it,” Pappas said. “I cut my own throat … I was hoping to have a career here.”

Said Torre: “If he’s going to find his (batting) stroke, he’s got to find it as a regular player … I told him, ‘Go get straightened out and we’ll see what happens. We’ll see you in September, or sooner, if something happens.’ We just couldn’t get anything to relax him.”

Pappas never played in another major-league game, but he did spend one more day with the Cardinals.

When it became certain the players would go out on strike in August 1994, the Cardinals called up Pappas from Louisville for their final game on Aug. 11 at Miami. They did this, St. Louis journalist Rick Hummel reported, “because (Pappas) makes $140,000 on a major-league contract. If the strike would last the rest of the season, the Cardinals would save about $40,000 in Pappas’ salary.”

Pappas didn’t play in his one-night stand, the strike did last the rest of the season and the Cardinals avoided paying Pappas $40,000.

“It’s a business, simple as that,” Pappas said.

In 2013, Pappas rejoined the Cardinals’ organization as a minor-league hitting coach. He coached the Peoria Chiefs in 2013 and the Springfield (Mo.) Cardinals in 2014 and 2015. Pappas joined the Orioles’ organization in 2016 as a hitting coach for their Class A affiliate, the Frederick (Md.) Keys.

Previously: Cardinals rookie pitchers tested Joe Torre in 1994

Read Full Post »

Manager Whitey Herzog bluntly opposed the notion of the Cardinals signing Bob Horner to replace Jack Clark. Too bad management didn’t listen.

Desperate to fill a hole in their lineup because of the surprise departure of Clark to the Yankees as a free agent, the Cardinals took a chance on Horner, signing him to a one-year, $950,000 contract on Jan. 14, 1988, despite Herzog’s warnings Horner “can’t hit and can’t field.”

The move turned out to be one of the Cardinals’ biggest personnel flops. Plagued by a damaged left shoulder, Horner, playing first base and batting cleanup for the 1988 Cardinals, lacked Clark’s pop, hitting three home runs in 60 games. By mid-June that year, he was through as a major-league player.

Clark, the slugger who powered the Cardinals to two National League pennants in three years, indicated after the 1987 World Series he hoped to stay with St. Louis, but as talks dragged on he became miffed by the club’s negotiating tactics. Though the Cardinals eventually offered him more money than the Yankees did, he signed a two-year, $3.5 million contract with New York on Jan. 6, 1988.

“If they (the Cardinals) had made the same offer earlier, it would have been done,” Clark said to the Associated Press. “But it was too late … I just had enough of it. All I kept hearing was that I was a one-dimensional player … I didn’t like the abuse I was getting. Things just broke down to the point where it was time for a change. It wasn’t about money. I was offered more money by St. Louis.”

Without Clark, the Cardinals lacked run production. In 1987, St. Louis had averaged 5.3 runs per game with Clark in the lineup and 3.6 per game when he wasn’t playing.

Cardinals general manager Dal Maxvill tried luring free-agent Gary Gaetti to replace Clark, but Gaetti, a third baseman, didn’t want to switch to first base, so he re-signed with the Twins. (Seven years later, the Cardinals did sign Gaetti and he played third base for them from 1996-98.)

Maxvill also approached the Dodgers about slugger Mike Marshall, but when they asked for infielder Jose Oquendo and reliever Ken Dayley in return, the talks ended, Maxvill told Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Horner, 30, wanted to return to the majors after playing for the Yakult Swallows of the Japanese Central League in 1987. He rejected Yakult’s offer of a multi-year contract after he hit .327 with 31 home runs in 93 games for them.

In nine seasons with the Braves before his year in Japan, Horner compiled a .278 batting mark and averaged 24 home runs a year.

To Maxvill, who had been a coach with the Braves from 1982-84, Horner became the best available replacement for Clark. When Hummel called Herzog to seek his reaction, Herzog replied, “I don’t like Horner. Of his lifetime homers, about 70 percent were hit in Atlanta. He never could hit in St. Louis. He can’t hit and he can’t field.”

“I just don’t think Horner is the answer,” Herzog said. “I don’t know what he’d hit in our ballpark. He’s a fly ball hitter. He never did hit much on the road.”

Horner had hit 142, or 66 percent, of his big-league homers in Atlanta. Though he had a .325 career batting mark in 118 at-bats at St. Louis’ Busch Stadium, he had hit just five home runs there.

The combination of Herzog’s resistance and Horner’s demand of a multi-year contract cooled the Cardinals’ interest. Horner had offers from the Braves and Rangers, but the Junction City, Kan., native preferred St. Louis. Concerned the opportunity would slip away, Horner called Maxvill and said he’d take a one-year contract. Maxvill said that was fine but a deal needed Herzog’s buy-in.

Horner called Herzog and they spoke for about 20 minutes. He told Herzog he wanted to be a Cardinal, that he could help the club and would sign for less than what Clark had wanted. Herzog gave his approval. The deal was announced the next day.

“It’s been a dream of mine to play for the Cardinals,” Horner said to United Press International. “What an absolute fit for me.”

Asked how he felt about Herzog’s initial remarks about him, Horner said, “No player wants to hear comments like that in the paper about him. After talking to Whitey last night, I was very convinced he wanted me on the St. Louis Cardinals.”

Said Maxvill: “Whitey has been consulted all along, is in complete agreement and is enthusiastic about Bob being with us.”

Herzog still had concerns. He explained to Hummel that Cardinals pitchers facing Horner at Busch Stadium were instructed to give him pitches away so he’d be more likely to hit to the deep outfield gaps rather than pull balls over the wall. “He’s got a good home run swing, but will he be able to hit the ball out of the park in right-center and left-center?” Herzog asked.

A decade later, in his book “You’re Missin’ a Great Game,” Herzog said, “Horner had been a 30-dinger guy for the Braves, but that was in their old Launching Pad ballpark. It didn’t take a genius to see that Busch, with its deep power alleys and humid air, was too big for him.”

The Cardinals opened the 1988 season on April 4 at Cincinnati. Herzog recalled the poor impression Horner made that day.

“I called him Buddha,” Herzog said. “He was a little on the portly side and spent a lot of quality time slouched in his chair in the clubhouse … I had a rule that everybody took infield before the game, but I didn’t see Horner out at first base, so I went to the clubhouse to find him.

“There he sat, in one of his deep trances. I said, ‘Hey, Bob, what the hell are you doing? You’re supposed to be taking infield.’ He looks up at me, blinks like an old frog on a lily pad and says, ‘I’m tired.’ A hundred-and-sixty-two games left to play and the man is gassed.”

Horner went homerless in 31 games at St. Louis in 1988. His three homers that season all were solo shots on the road.

In 60 games for the Cardinals, Horner batted .257 with 33 RBI before his left shoulder gave out. He appeared in his final big-league game, June 16, 1988, producing a pinch-hit, RBI-double in a Cardinals victory at Pittsburgh. Boxscore

Horner underwent two shoulder surgeries that summer. The Cardinals started 10 players at first base. In August, they solidified the position by acquiring Pedro Guerrero from the Dodgers for pitcher John Tudor.

After the season, Horner wasn’t offered a contract by the Cardinals. The Orioles invited him to spring training, but on March, 9, 1989, Horner, saying shoulder weakness limited his ability to play, announced his retirement.

Read Full Post »

(Updated Sept. 20, 2023)

In 1973, the year he turned 24, Ted Simmons achieved an ironman feat that remains largely unappreciated and mostly unmatched.

Simmons caught a staggering total of 1,352.2 innings for the 1973 Cardinals. To put the achievement in perspective, consider:

_ Hall of Fame catchers such as Johnny Bench, Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella and Ivan Rodriguez never caught that many innings in a season.

_ The only Hall of Fame catchers who topped Simmons’ 1973 total were Carlton Fisk, who caught 1,355.2 innings for the Red Sox in 1978, and Gary Carter, who caught 1,353.2 innings for the Expos in 1982, according to baseball-reference.com.

_ Yadier Molina, a multiple Gold Glove Award winner, caught a career-high 1,218.1 innings for the 2016 Cardinals. That’s 134.1 innings, or the equivalent of 15 games, fewer than what Simmons did for the 1973 Cardinals. Simmons’ 1,352.2-inning total is a franchise record. The next closest is Tim McCarver, who caught 1,261.1 innings for the 1966 Cardinals.

Randy Hundley holds the major-league record for most innings caught in a season. He caught 1,385 innings _ 32.1 more than Simmons _ for the 1968 Cubs.

Playing primarily on the punishing artificial surface of Busch Memorial Stadium, Simmons appeared in 161 of the Cardinals’ 162 games in 1973. He caught in 152 of those games.

“He’s about as strong a human being as I’ve ever seen,” Simmons’ teammate, Joe Torre, a former catcher, said to The Sporting News. “He’s so durable. That’s tough, catching every day in August and September.”

Looking back at Simmons’ endurance, teammate Mike Tyson said to Cardinals Magazine, “How’d he do it? He was a beast.”

Cardinals reliever Al Hrabosky told the Baseball Hall of Fame Yearbook, “His best attributes were his strong will to win and dedication to being out there every day.”

Shortstop Dal Maxvill said to Cardinals Magazine, “He wanted to be in the lineup every day. He was strong, he was young and he was a real gamer. He would take a foul ball off the shoulder _ chest protectors didn’t have flaps then _ and you could see he was in pain.”

Getting it done

Simmons played in every inning of the Cardinals’ first 91 games in 1973 before being held out of a July 18 night game against the Giants at St. Louis, The Sporting News reported. Although Simmons spent that day serving military reserve duty, he asked to be in the lineup that night, but manager Red Schoendienst decided to rest him.

Simmons established single-season career highs in 1973 for defensive chances (975), putouts (888) and plate appearances (690).

“There were days I felt terrible and I did wonderful, and days I felt wonderful and did terrible,” Simmons told Cardinals Magazine. “I realized fairly quickly there wasn’t any connection. Besides, it wasn’t going to do me any good to worry about it because I was going to play no matter if I felt good, bad or indifferent.”

Though playing the most demanding position on the field without hardly a rest, Simmons excelled on defense and offense.

He caught 50 runners attempting to steal in 1973. Only the Phillies’ Bob Boone, who threw out 54, had a higher total among National League catchers that year. Simmons ranked third in the league in percentage of runners caught attempting to steal (44 percent). Only Bench and Boone did better.

“He’s still not the smoothest catcher, but he gets the job done,” Torre said after the 1973 season. “He’s throwing better and catching better.”

Doing it all

Batting primarily in the cleanup position, Simmons led the 1973 Cardinals in batting average (.310), RBI (91), doubles (36), total bases (271) and slugging percentage (.438). He also tied with Torre for the team lead in home runs (13).

Impressively consistent, Simmons, a switch-hitter, hit .310 against right-handed pitching and .311 against left-handed pitching in 1973. “That was a great shot in the arm _ batting over .300 from both sides,” Simmons said. He struck out just 47 times in 619 at-bats.

“He doesn’t often look bad at the plate,” Cardinals coach Vern Benson said. “He’s so good at adjusting with one or two strikes.”

Rather than wane under the toll, Simmons grew more productive as the season progressed. After hitting .212 with no homers in April, Simmons batted .272 in May, .333 in June, .314 in July, .295 in August and a stunning .391 (43-for-110) in September when the Cardinals challenged the Mets for the division title.

In an interview with the Baseball Hall of Fame magazine, “Memories and Dreams,” McCarver, who had returned to the Cardinals in 1973 as a utility player, recalled, “That year, Ted Simmons hit more balls hard than anybody I’ve ever seen in the course of a season. Honestly, I felt he could have gotten 350 hits that year.”

Dal Maxvill said to Cardinals Magazine, “Ted has said he learned a lot about hitting from his teammates. By watching Matty Alou from the left side, he learned how to get his hands into a position that led to countless line drives to right field. (From) Joe Torre, Ted says he developed an approach to fight off inside fastballs from the right side.”

Will to win

On a hot, humid Labor Day at Pittsburgh on Sept. 3, 1973, Simmons caught all 22 innings of a doubleheader (the first game went 13 innings) and produced three hits in each game, helping the Cardinals split.

“This is the closest I’ve ever been to a division title,” Simmons said to the Associated Press, “and I’m at the point where I’m willing to sacrifice everything to get there.”

The next night, Simmons made what Schoendienst called the “play of the game” when he stretched for a relay throw from second baseman Ted Sizemore and tagged out Richie Zisk at the plate, preserving a 4-2 Cardinals victory that moved them two games ahead of the second-place Pirates. Boxscore

Simmons had a 19-game hitting streak from Aug. 19 through Sept. 8. He hit safely in 36 of the 1973 Cardinals’ last 39 games.

Asked how he was able to perform so well in the season’s final four weeks when it would have been natural to weaken, Simmons said, “It was the thought of the $25,000 (that went to the World Series winners) and the Series ring.”

Read Full Post »

Julio Gonzalez gave the Cardinals an Easter treat.

A reserve infielder, Gonzalez hit a ninth-inning triple, igniting a winning streak that put the Cardinals on the path to the 1982 National League pennant and World Series title.

After winning their season opener at Houston, beating Nolan Ryan, the Cardinals erased most of the good vibes from that victory by losing their next three.

On April 11, 1982, a chilly, gray Easter Sunday in St. Louis, the Cardinals were looking to get back on track against the Pirates.

The Cardinals led 5-1 after seven innings, but the Pirates scored four in the eighth to tie and a run in the ninth to take a 6-5 lead.

After reliever Enrique Romo retired the first two batters, George Hendrick and Darrell Porter, in the bottom of the ninth, it appeared the Cardinals would lose their fourth in a row.

When Manager Whitey Herzog sent Orlando Sanchez, a third-string catcher, to bat for center fielder David Green, it seemed more desperation than inspiration.

Sanchez, though, coaxed a walk.

That brought up Gonzalez, who had entered in the top of the ninth to play third base after Mike Ramsey was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the eighth.

With one unlikely swing, Gonzalez turned around the Cardinals’ season.

Swinging at a high slider, he tripled to left, scoring pinch-runner Gene Roof with the tying run. Then, he scored the game-winner when Dane Iorg followed an Ozzie Smith walk with a single to left, lifting the Cardinals to a 7-6 victory. Boxscore

“Gonzalez’s hit was our biggest of the season,” Iorg said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “It was something we needed badly.”

Inspired, the Cardinals rolled to a 12-game winning streak that put their record at 13-3. That early-season surge helped propel them to their first postseason appearance in 14 years.

Despite his Easter heroics, Gonzalez rarely played after that, but he did finish with a flourish.

On Oct. 3, 1982, in the Cardinals’ regular-season finale against the Cubs at Wrigley Field, Gonzalez entered in the third inning as a replacement for second baseman Tommy Herr. Gonzalez went 4-for-5 and led off the 14th inning with a home run, giving the Cardinals a 5-4 victory. Boxscore

It would be the last at-bat of his Cardinals career.

Gonzalez didn’t play in the 1982 postseason. He was released in December after batting .241 in 42 games for the 1982 Cardinals. The Tigers signed him and he played in 12 games for them in 1983, ending his big-league career after seven seasons.

Read Full Post »