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Will Clark had torrid start after trade to Cardinals

Posted in Games, Hitters on April 17, 2012| 4 Comments »

(Updated March 1, 2022)

In 2000, Will Clark produced four home runs in the first five games he played for the Cardinals.

A first baseman, Clark was acquired by the Cardinals from the Orioles on July 31, 2000, in a trade for minor-league infielder Jose Leon. The first-place Cardinals, seeking to secure the National League Central Division crown, saw Clark, 36, as a replacement for slugger Mark McGwire, who was sidelined because of tendinitis in his right knee. In 79 games with the 2000 Orioles, Clark batted .301 with nine home runs and 28 RBI.

San Francisco treat

With the Giants from 1986-93, Clark batted .299 with 1,278 hits in 1,160 games and an on-base percentage of .373. In the 1987 National League Championship Series versus the Cardinals, Clark batted .360 with nine hits in seven games. Nine months later, in July 1988 at St. Louis, Clark got into a tussle with Cardinals infielders Jose Oquendo and Ozzie Smith, who didn’t like the way he slid into second base.

Asked what he thought about Clark becoming his teammate, Oquendo, a coach with the 2000 Cardinals, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “Will is a nice guy. He knows the game, knows how the game should be played.”

Regarding their 1988 altercation, Oquendo said, “That’s all forgotten. We always have joked about it every time we see each other.”

Warm welcome

Clark was delighted to join the Cardinals and play for a contender. In an interview with the Baltimore Sun, Clark said his message to the Cardinals was, “I’ll do whatever you need me to do. That’s what team players do. That’s how you win, by going about things in a team concept. Whatever (manager) Tony La Russa and the Cardinals want me to do, I’ll do.”

La Russa told the Associated Press, “Will Clark is a winning-type of veteran. He should help us … (Clark) knows how to come up and get a base hit in a key situation. He’s a very competitive guy.”

Clark was in the second season of a two-year, $11 million contract. As part of the trade, the Orioles agreed to pay about half of Clark’s remaining salary for the season, the Baltimore Sun reported.

“There was a great deal of interest from Clark’s side to try to come here,” Cardinals general manager Walt Jocketty said to the Post-Dispatch. “He wanted to play on a winner.”

Columnist Tom Wheatley of the Post-Dispatch concluded, “Clark’s team-first attitude will fit right in.”

Sizzling slugger

In his Cardinals debut, Aug. 1, 2000, at Montreal, Clark entered the game in the sixth inning to play first base, replacing Eduardo Perez. In the seventh, Clark doubled versus Expos reliever Anthony Telford in his first Cardinals at-bat. Boxscore

Clark started at first base in each of the Cardinals’ next four games _ and he hit a home run in each. Here’s a look:

_ Aug. 2, 2000, Cardinals 10, Expos 7, at Montreal: Batting cleanup, Clark went 3-for-4 with a walk, two RBI and two runs scored. He hit a second-inning solo home run against Mike Johnson. Boxscore and video

_ Aug. 4, 2000, Braves 6, Cardinals 4, at St. Louis: In a preview of the NL Division Series matchup, Clark, batting sixth, hit a solo home run against Tom Glavine in the second inning on the first pitch he saw in his first home game as a Cardinal. Clark received a standing ovation from the crowd of 48,901 when he walked to the plate for the first time, and he got a curtain call after hitting the home run. Boxscore and video

“After that first standing ovation, in my heart I bonded with them already before I even stepped to the plate,” Clark said. “The change of scenery, the emotional lift it gave me, means a lot. The batteries have been recharged.”

_ Aug. 5, 2000, Cardinals 5, Braves 0, at St. Louis: Clark hit a two-run home run in the first inning against John Burkett, a former Giants teammate. Clark also drew two walks and scored twice. Boxscore

_ Aug. 6, 2000, Braves 6, Cardinals 4, at St. Louis: Clark’s solo home run against Kevin Millwood in the fourth inning was part of a 3-for-4 performance. Clark’s batting average after five games with the Cardinals was .643. Boxscore

“I’ve got a whole new attitude,” Clark said. “I’m loving life.”

In a profile of Clark after he joined the Cardinals, Sports Illustrated’s Kostya Kennedy described him as “St. Louis’ swaggering shaman, a wise head on the field and a spirited voice in the clubhouse.”

“Sarcastic, cantankerous and quick to carp in his chipmunk-pitched Louisiana drawl, Clark struts through the clubhouse razzing all men equally,” Kennedy noted.

Real deal

In a 2019 interview with Cardinals broadcasters Dan McLaughlin and Rick Horton, Clark recalled when he joined the team he was brought in to see La Russa, who said, “We let the players police themselves and that’s what I want you to do. I want you to run the clubhouse.”

Clark replied, “Sounds great to me.”

“I had a lot of fun doing it,” Clark said. “J.D. Drew and Rick Ankiel took some (verbal) beatings. Rick didn’t mention that in his book, I don’t think.”

McGwire returned to the Cardinals in September, but was limited to 14 at-bats for the month. Clark played in 51 regular-season games for the 2000 Cardinals and batted .345 (59-for-171) with 12 home runs, 42 RBI, a .426 on-base percentage and a .655 slugging percentage.

Sparked by Clark’s hitting, the Cardinals won the division title, finishing 10 games ahead of the second-place Reds.

Clark continued to deliver in the postseason. He hit a three-run home run against Glavine in Game 2 of the NL Division Series at St. Louis on Oct. 5. Boxscore In the NL Championship Series against the Mets, Clark led the Cardinals with a .412 batting average (7-for-17).

The Cardinals offered Clark a chance to return in 2001, but it would have meant being a utility player and learning to play the outfield. He opted instead to retire from playing.

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Jackie Robinson propelled Dodgers over 1947 Cardinals

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents on April 15, 2012| 3 Comments »

(Updated April 20, 2022)

In his first season in the National League, Jackie Robinson was a force against the Cardinals, especially in a key September series that secured the Dodgers’ bid to win the 1947 pennant.

Robinson integrated major-league baseball when he batted second and played first base in the Dodgers’ 1947 season opener on April 15 against the Braves at Brooklyn. Boxscore

The 1947 Dodgers would finish in first by five games over the defending champion Cardinals and Robinson was a big factor. In 23 games against the 1947 Cardinals, Robinson hit .309 with three home runs, four steals, 11 walks and 10 RBI. His on-base percentage was .381.

Proposed protest

Robinson faced the Cardinals for the first time in the regular season on Tuesday afternoon, May 6, at Brooklyn in the opener of a three-game series. Batting second and playing first base, Robinson went 2-for-5 (a pair of singles) with a run scored in the Dodgers’ 7-6 victory. Boxscore

The New York Herald Tribune reported some Cardinals players tried to organize a strike in protest of Robinson’s presence in the major leagues. National League president Ford Frick confirmed to the Associated Press that Cardinals owner Sam Breadon had informed him there was “a movement among the Cardinals to strike in protest during their series if Robinson is in the lineup.”

“From what (Breadon) told me afterward, the trouble was smoothed over,” Frick said.

Breadon, manager Eddie Dyer and several Cardinals players denied knowledge of any strike plan.

“I brought the matter up with two of my leading players,” Breadon said to the Associated Press. “They never intimated that such a thing was even thought of.”

Said Dyer: “The report my club threatened a strike against Robinson is absurd. At no time, to my knowledge, did my players consider such a foolish action. They never discussed it. No one ever discussed it with them.”

Dodgers manager Burt Shotton told the United Press he didn’t believe the Cardinals had intended to strike. “I would have known about it had anything been done,” Shotton said.

Stanley Woodward, sports editor of the New York Herald Tribune, defended the accuracy of the report as “essentially right and factual.”

“The denial by Sam Breadon … is so spurious as to be beneath notice,” Woodward wrote.

in his 1948 book, “Jackie Robinson: My Own Story,” Robinson said, “We played our early May series with the Cards without any overt bad feeling. By and large, the Cardinals treated me as merely another ballplayer.”

Attracting a crowd

Robinson’s first visit to St. Louis with the Dodgers came two weeks later. In his book “1947,” Dodgers broadcaster Red Barber said, “St. Louis was the tough town. If there was to be trouble for Robinson, it figured to be in St. Louis. Robinson knew in advance he would not be permitted to stay in the Chase Hotel with the rest of the team. He was to have a room in town with a Negro family. He would come and go to Sportsman’s Park on his own, and depart by himself.”

Robinson’s first game at St. Louis occurred on Wednesday afternoon, May 21, in a 4-3 Dodgers victory. Robinson helped attract the largest weekday crowd of the season, 16,249. “About 6,000 were Negroes,” noted the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

“Robinson was cheered each time he went to bat and the Dodgers as a team received more vocal encouragement than they usually get at Sportsman’s Park,” the Post-Dispatch reported.

Robinson was 0-for-4 with a walk and a run scored. Boxscore

Cardinals confrontation

A month later, on June 14 in St. Louis, Robinson lost his temper in an encounter with Cardinals pitcher Harry Brecheen in the second game of a Saturday doubleheader.

Brecheen “was having it easy, throwing up slow twisters and dinky curves that we could not hit for love nor money,” Robinson said in his book.

In the sixth inning, with the Cardinals ahead, 7-0, Robinson batted, “swung at one of those dinkies and topped the ball between the pitcher’s mound and first base,” he recalled. Brecheen fielded the ball, ran toward the base line and waited for Robinson to arrive rather than toss to first base.

“Brecheen knew as well as I did that any other player would have run over him and knocked him down in the hope that he’d drop the ball,” Robinson said. “Of course, that was the sort of thing I’d been told to avoid. I stopped dead on the base line. He tagged me.”

Robinson told Breechen, “You better play your position like you’re supposed to. Next time, I’m going to dump you on the back of your lap.” Boxscore

In his book, Robinson said, “That was the first time I had ever actually lost my temper on the field” since arriving in the big leagues. “It was also the first time I had ever said an angry word to an opposing player.”

Battles in Brooklyn

As the season unfolded, Robinson’s impact grew in games against the Cardinals.

On July 18, Robinson had three RBI, including a two-run home run against Al Brazle, and two runs scored in the Dodgers’ 7-0 victory at Brooklyn. Dodgers starter Ralph Branca pitched seven perfect innings before Enos Slaughter led off the eighth with a single. Boxscore

The next day, Robinson had two hits and a steal of home, though the Cardinals won, 7-5. Boxscore

A month later, on Aug. 20, the Cardinals were back in Brooklyn and Branca was pitching another gem against them until the Cardinals rallied to tie the score with two runs in the ninth inning.

In the 11th, with Hugh Casey pitching for the Dodgers, Slaughter hit a ground ball toward first base. Robinson fielded it and headed to the bag. As Slaughter arrived, he stepped on Robinson’s right foot, spiking him.

Robinson suffered no cut, but, to the Dodgers and the Brooklyn crowd, it appeared Slaughter intentionally tried to injure Robinson. Slaughter said it was an accident, not deliberate.

Robinson told The Sporting News, “All I know is I had my foot on the inside of the bag. I gave Slaughter plenty of room.”

In his book, Robinson said, “I don’t think he did it intentionally … He said later I had taken too much of the bag. I didn’t think so, but in all fairness to him I should report there had been some talk around the league that I was taking too much room on first base when I tagged the bag.” Boxscore

Pennant race

Brooklyn held a 4.5-game lead over the second-place Cardinals heading into their final series against one another Sept. 11-13 at St. Louis. The Cardinals knew their best chance to overcome the Dodgers was to sweep.

Brooklyn won two of the three _ and the standout player was Robinson. He batted .462 in the series.

In the opener, Cardinals catcher Joe Garagiola, running to first base after hitting a grounder, stepped on Robinson’s right heel, “tearing the back of Jackie’s shoe,” the New York Daily News reported.

According to Red Barber, Robinson “was seething, remembering the close call he had suffered when Slaughter’s spikes just missed his Achilles tendon.”

When Robinson batted in the next inning, he and Garagiola exchanged heated words. Garagiola “made a crack about my race,” Robinson said in his book.

According to the St. Louis Star-Times, Garagiola threw down his mask.

“For a moment, it looked as though we would come to blows,” Robinson said.

Plate umpire Beans Reardon stepped between Garagiola and Robinson. Dodgers coach Clyde Sukeforth “charged out of the dugout and berated Garagiola,” the Daily News reported, before Reardon shoved Sukeforth back toward the dugout.

“It was all over fast,” Reardon told the Star-Times. “I just told them, ‘That’s enough, boys. Let’s play ball.’ ”

When Robinson batted again, in the fifth, he slugged a two-run homer, tying the score and sparking the Dodgers to a 4-3 victory. Boxscore

“I don’t think Garagiola did it intentionally,” Robinson told the Post-Dispatch of the spiking, “but this makes three times in two games with the Cardinals that it’s happened. He cut my shoe all to pieces.”

After St. Louis won the second game, 8-7, the Dodgers came back to win the finale by the same score. Robinson had three hits and a walk, but his most important play came on defense. In the eighth inning, the Cardinals had runners on first and second with two outs when Nippy Jones, seeking his eighth hit of the series, hit a pop-up that drifted toward the Dodgers dugout. Robinson reached for the ball, caught it and spilled into the dugout. Boxscore

“As I grabbed that foul, I tried to break my fall,” Robinson told The Sporting News, “but I don’t know what would have happened if Ralph Branca hadn’t tackled me.”

 

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Baseball and romance: Cardinals’ Cuban adventures

Posted in Games, Hitters, Pitchers on April 13, 2012| 1 Comment »

(Updated Nov. 21, 2024)

Long before Fidel Castro began his dictatorial reign in Cuba, the Cardinals visited that country to play spring training exhibition games.

The Cardinals’ Cuba trips were noted for baseball _ even a bit of romance _ and not controversy.

The Cardinals visited Cuba in 1936, 1937 and 1940, playing exhibition games in Havana.

Mike Gonzalez, a Cuban native born in Havana in 1890, was a coach with the 1936 Cardinals and resided in Havana. He was instrumental in helping arrange the Cardinals’ four-game exhibition series in March 1936 against two longtime Cuban League clubs, Habana and Almendares.

(Gonzalez had a 17-year career as a big-league catcher, including three stints with the Cardinals. He played winter ball in the Cuban League from 1910-1936. Gonzalez was a Cardinals coach from 1934-46. He twice served as the Cardinals’ interim manager, replacing Frankie Frisch in 1938 and Ray Blades in 1940, and compiled a 9-13 record overall in that role.)

Under the headline, “Cards’ Spanish Bad, So Is Their Playing,” The Sporting News reported on the arrival of the 1936 Cardinals in Havana:

“A big crowd was at the dock when the S.S. Florida nosed into Havana Bay and, what is more important, there was a tremendous crowd at the beautiful Tropical Park, a sunken garden baseball field, when the Cardinals put on their uniforms to play the Habana team of the Cuban winter league.”

Habana won the first and third games against the Cardinals by scores of 13-8 and 2-1 in 11 innings. In the first game, The Sporting News reported:

“An aviator flew so low over the field that the bleacherites pulled in their necks. He was dropping handbills and it was reported the next day that he drew a $1,000 fine for endangering the crowd, besides scaring hell out of the Cards.”

The Cardinals won the second and fourth games, against Almendares, by scores of 5-4 and 6-1. (In Game 2, outfielder Pepper Martin had a ninth-inning RBI to tie the score and then scored the winning run for St. Louis.)

More than 30,000 attended the four games, with near-sellout crowds for the final two at Tropical Park, a setting so spectacular The Sporting News described it as “playing a ballgame in the orchard room of a big greenhouse.”

A year later, March 1937, the Cardinals returned to Cuba for a two-game exhibition set against the New York Giants, who were using Havana as a spring training base. The Cardinals and Giants split the two games, with the Cardinals winning 4-3 in the opener and the Giants winning 5-4 in 10 innings in the second game. (Cardinals manager Frankie Frisch stroked a two-run pinch-hit single in the seventh inning of the first game.)

The trip became more noteworthy for what happened off the field for 24-year-old first baseman Johnny Mize.

Jene Adams, a 19-year-old aspiring concert contralto singer from St. Louis, and her mother had been spending the late winter of 1937 in Daytona Beach, Fla., the Cardinals’ spring training base. They became acquainted with Mrs. Sam Breadon, wife of the Cardinals’ owner, and Mrs. Robert Hyland, wife of the Cardinals’ physician. Mrs. Breadon and Mrs. Hyland invited Jene Adams and her mother to accompany them to Havana for the Cardinals’ games with the Giants.

The Sporting News, in a 1940 feature, described what happened next:

“At the Plaza Hotel in Havana one morning, Jene was talking to Mrs. Hyland in the lobby when Mize strolled by. Mrs. Hyland introduced him to Miss Adams.

“We could hang out a tropical moon here for trimmings, but nothing happened in the way of romance until the team returned to Daytona Beach. There the young pair became better acquainted. Dan Cupid gradually worked into the picture. The engagement of the National League’s No. 1 slugger and Miss Adams came early in the summer of the same year, 1937. On Aug. 8, they were married.”

In March 1940, the Cardinals returned to Havana for a four-game exhibition series against a Cuban all-star team. The all-stars were managed by Havana native Dolf Luque, who pitched in the big leagues for 20 years (primarily with the Reds and Giants) and earned 194 wins, and featured left-handed pitcher Luis Tiant Sr., father of the future major-league pitcher of the same name.

(In the book “Voices from Cooperstown,” Hall of Fame catcher Al Lopez told author Anthony J. Connor, “I caught Dolf Luque at the end of his career and that was an education. He was the smartest pitcher I ever caught. He could spot the ball wherever he wanted, any kind of pitch.”)

The Cardinals’ batting order for the opening game was third baseman Don Gutteridge, second baseman Stu Martin, right fielder Enos Slaughter, first baseman Johnny Mize, catcher Don Padgett, center fielder Terry Moore, left fielder Pepper Martin, shortstop Marty Marion and pitcher Mort Cooper.

St. Louis won the first three games by scores of 5-4, 6-0 and 5-3. Left fielder Joe Medwick, who had been a holdout from spring training because of a contract dispute, made his first official appearance of the spring as a pinch-hitter in the third game. The Cuban all-stars won the finale, 4-2, behind the four-hit pitching of Agapito Mayor.

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How Curt Flood set hot pace for Cardinals

Posted in Games, Hitters on April 11, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Slashing singles with stunning consistency, Curt Flood collected 12 hits in the Cardinals’ first five games of the 1968 season.

Of Flood’s 12 hits in 24 at-bats in the opening five games of 1968, nine were singles. He also had two doubles and a triple.

In the season’s third game, an 8-5 Cardinals victory over the Cubs at Chicago on April 13, Flood was 5-for-5. All of his hits were singles. Flood’s second single of the game struck starter Rich Nye on his pitching arm and forced the left-hander to leave in the third inning. Boxscore

Flood, 30, hit safely in eight consecutive at-bats over three games from April 11-14.

The center fielder compiled hits in each of the Cardinals’ first 10 games of 1968 (a .447 batting mark in that stretch). He also scored at least one run in each of those games. Flood hit safely in the last eight games of the 1967 regular season, so with hits in the first 10 games of 1968, his hitting streak reached 18.

Flood’s streak was stopped on April 21 when he went 0-for-3 (with a hit by pitch) against Cubs pitchers Ken Holtzman and Bill Hands in a 9-2 Cardinals victory at St. Louis. Boxscore

“In all my years with the Cardinals (since 1941), I’ve never seen two men at the top of the batting order to equal (Lou) Brock and Flood,” Stan Musial, then a Cardinals executive, said to The Sporting News in April 1968. “Between them, they’re good for about 400 hits. Brock upsets the opposition with his base-running and Flood moves him up by hitting to right field often.”

Flood batted .400 (30-for-75) for April in 1968. He finished the regular season at .301. Of his 186 hits, 160 were singles.

Previously: Should Curt Flood have caught Jim Northrup’s drive?

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Bob Gibson was a dominator in 1967 opener

Posted in Games, Pitchers on April 7, 2012| 4 Comments »

(Updated Nov. 22, 2024)

On April 11, 1967, Bob Gibson pitched nine innings, walked none and struck out 13 in the Cardinals’ season-opening 6-0 victory over the Giants at St. Louis.

Gibson struck out the first five batters _ Ken Henderson, Jesus Alou, Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and Jim Ray Hart _ before retiring Tom Haller on a pop-up to catcher Tim McCarver. All five went down swinging. Gibson became the third National League pitcher to strike out the first five batters of a game, joining the Dodgers’ Dazzy Vance (1926) and the Giants’ Bob Bolin (1966).

Mays and McCovey each went 0-for-4. McCovey struck out three times; Mays, once. “My slider was my best pitch, but I had a good fastball, too,” Gibson told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Cardinals shortstop Dal Maxvill said to the newspaper, “Gibby was really blowing the ball by them in the first two innings. He’d nip the corners with his great slider and then, when they’d be looking for the slider, he’d run the fastball in on their hands. He was busting the bats right out of their hands.”

Gibson yielded five hits, all singles. The Giants got three in succession in the third inning but failed to score. With one out, Hal Lanier singled to left and Juan Marichal singled to center, advancing Lanier to second. Henderson followed with a single to short right, loading the bases. Gibson got out of the jam by inducing Alou to ground into a double play. Alou hit the ball to Orlando Cepeda, who stepped on first and threw to McCarver, who tagged out Lanier at the plate.

The win was Gibson’s first against the Giants since 1965. He was 0-3 against them in 1966. “I always pitch good against them and get beat,” Gibson said to the Associated Press. “It’s refreshing to beat them.”

St. Louis scored all of its runs against Marichal, who yielded 14 hits. Lou Brock’s three-run home run in the second was the big blow.

“I felt good,” Marichal said. “They were hitting my good stuff.” Boxscore

Though the Cardinals were the only National League club to have more wins (21) than losses (18) versus Marichal in his career, he had their respect.

In 2018, Tim McCarver recalled to Cardinals Yearbook, “I remember Marichal used to run out to the mound, like he couldn’t wait to face the hitters. If you see that when you’re in the on-deck circle, it doesn’t do much for your confidence. Then you go to bat and watch him throw any pitch in any count _ and he had a bunch of pitches _ and you understand why he was so eager to get out there.”

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Ernie Broglio and his Opening Day shutout for Cardinals

Posted in Games, Pitchers on April 6, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Ernie Broglio was in midseason form on Opening Day for the 1963 Cardinals.

Broglio pitched a two-hit shutout in the Cardinals’ season-opening 7-0 victory over the Mets at the Polo Grounds on April 9, 1963. The right-hander retired 20 consecutive batters between the second and ninth innings.

“Harsh reality, wearing the uniform of the St. Louis Cardinals, smothered the New York Mets like a huge wet blanket,” Leonard Koppett wrote in the New York Times.

Second baseman Larry Burright, batting leadoff, got both Mets hits. Burright led off the first with a single to center and started the ninth with a double to left.

“Unless Ernie gets hurt, he should win 20,” Mets center fielder Duke Snider said to The Sporting News. “He has so many good pitches and can get them over the plate, so a batter can’t wait for a certain pitch.”

Broglio’s gem was one of several notable performances by the Cardinals:

_ First baseman Bill White and third baseman Ken Boyer each drove in two runs.

_ Left fielder Stan Musial, making the final Opening Day appearance of his Hall of Fame career, went 1-for-3 with a walk and a RBI.

_ Shortstop Dick Groat, making his regular-season Cardinals debut after being acquired from the Pirates, had three hits, scored twice and fielded flawlessly.

“It will be a sad day for me when they tear down the Polo Grounds,” Groat said to the Associated Press. “This park is just too much. Everything good has happened to me here. I played my first professional game here back in 1952. I got my first big-league hit and my first home run here. I also played in the last game here before the Giants moved to San Francisco.

“Most important, I met my wife right in this park (in May 1955). I was immediately attracted to Barbara (after being introduced by her father), but for the life of me I couldn’t remember her name. I remembered, though, where they were sitting, and I got Bob Prince, who broadcasts the Pirates’ games, to go to their box and get their telephone number.”

Said Cardinals manager Johnny Keane: “Groat is more valuable to us than any statistics can ever show. He helped us even before we played our first game. He’s taken Julian Javier in hand and made a better second baseman out of him. The Cardinals haven’t had a good double-play combination in years. Now we’ve got just about the best in the league.”

As good as the Cardinals looked in the opener, the Mets looked just the opposite.

“When the game got under way, Curt Flood, the first batter, chopped a little squibbler down the third-base line on the second pitch,” the Associated Press reported. “Charlie Neal charged it and threw it about 10 yards wide of first base. Flood wound up on second, eventually scored and the Cards led 2-0 before the Mets could swing a bat.”

Mets pitchers were called for three balks and their fielders made two errors. They probably committed more miscues than that. On one such play, “A hard smash bounced off the shins of new first baseman Tim Harkness into the hands of new second baseman Larry Burright, who threw the ball over old pitcher Roger Craig’s head. It was scored a hit,” the Associated Press reported.

“Now you may not believe this,” said Mets manager Casey Stengel, “but my club is better than it looked today. It’s tremendously improved over the shellshocked bunch I had last year, when I couldn’t give ’em away. Now, we can sell at least six of them right now.”

The Mets who drew praise from Stengel were Ed Kranepool, the 18-year-old right fielder, and Snider, the 36-year-old center fielder. “The only two who did well was an old man and a young feller,” Stengel said. “And, would you believe it, they were the only two I was worried about.” Boxscore

Previously: Ernie Broglio built great home record the hard way

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