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Cardinals gave Dick Scott an initiation to the majors

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers on March 1, 2020| 2 Comments »

Dick Scott waited a long time to reach the major leagues, and when he got there, as a 30-year-old rookie, he quickly experienced highs and lows.

A left-handed pitcher, Scott was in his eighth season in the minor leagues when he got called up to the Dodgers for the first time in May 1963.

The first team Scott faced was the Cardinals at St. Louis. His debut went splendidly. The next night was a different story.

Down on the farm

Born in New Hampshire, Scott went to high school in Maine and played multiple sports. He was 20 when the Dodgers signed him as an amateur free agent in August 1953. After two years in the Army, Scott began his pro baseball career in the Dodgers’ farm system in 1956.

One of Scott’s biggest boosters was Bobby Bragan, who managed him at Spokane in 1958.

Scott “should make the majors,” Bragan said to the Spokane Chronicle.

Bragan, who managed the Pirates and Indians before taking the Spokane job, told the Spokane Review, “All that Scott needs is a little confidence, that feeling of thinking to himself, ‘Just give me the ball and let me out there. I’ll mow them down.’ ”

In 1960, Scott, 27, was 8-1 with a 2.27 ERA for the Dodgers’ farm club in Atlanta, but he had left elbow surgery in September, the Atlanta Constitution reported. Toward the end of spring training in 1961, Scott pitched 18 consecutive scoreless innings, but he remained in the minors.

While pitching for Spokane in 1962, Scott “has given up the idea of trying to overpower every batter and has become a better pitcher in the process,” according to the Spokane Chronicle.

“I’ve found out I have better control when I don’t throw too hard,” Scott said.

Meet me in St. Louis

Scott had a strong spring training in 1963 and nearly made the Dodgers’ Opening Day roster. His impressive pitching carried over to the regular season with Spokane. In his first start, he pitched a three-hit shutout at Denver in a game attended by heavyweight boxing champion Sonny Liston.

On May 7, 1963, Scott was leading the Pacific Coast League in ERA (0.77) when he was called up to the Dodgers.

Scott reported to the Dodgers at St. Louis on May 8 and made his major-league debut that night against the Cardinals.

Entering in the eighth, with the Dodgers ahead, 10-5, Scott retired Curt Flood, Dick Groat and Bill White in order.

After the Dodgers added a run in the top of the ninth, Stan Musial led off the bottom half against Scott and lined out to second. Ken Boyer doubled, but Scott got George Altman to ground out and Tim McCarver to pop out to third. Boxscore

Scott’s two scoreless innings against the star-studded Cardinals lineup made a strong impression. Scott “is ready to pitch any time the Dodgers need him,” the Los Angeles Times declared.

Tough encore

Scott didn’t have to wait long. The next night, May 9, the Dodgers led, 2-0, in the fifth when the Cardinals loaded the bases with none out against starter Pete Richert.

Manager Walter Alston called for Scott to face Bill White, a left-handed batter.

“I was looking for the fastball on the first pitch because I figured Scott would try to get ahead of me,” White told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “The ball was right down the middle.”

White hit the ball over the pavilion roof at Busch Stadium and onto Grand Avenue for a grand slam, giving the Cardinals a 4-2 lead.

After Boyer lined out to center and Musial flied out to right, Charlie James singled and Gene Oliver put the Cardinals ahead, 6-2, with a two-run home run off Scott.

Rattled, Scott gave up singles to Julian Javier and Bob Gibson before Larry Sherry relieved him. Sherry surrendered a RBI-single to Flood and the run was charged to Scott.

Scott’s line: 0.2 innings, four runs, five hits. Boxscore

Wrong place, wrong time

Scott pitched in nine games for the Dodgers before he was returned to Spokane in July 1963.

A month later, Scott was sitting on the edge of the visitors dugout at San Diego when the weighted end of a lead warmup bat swung by teammate Bart Shirley, who was in the on-deck circle, came loose and struck him above the right eye.

Scott was taken to a hospital and needed 25 stitches to close the wound, according to the Spokane newspapers.

Fortunately, Scott recovered, started against Portland on Sept. 3 and pitched 7.1 innings, allowing one run.

Scott finished with a 2.28 ERA for Spokane. In December 1963, the Dodgers traded him to the Cubs for pitcher Jim Brewer and catcher Cuno Barragan.

The 1964 season was Scott’s last as a professional player. He pitched in three games for the Cubs and spent most of the year with their Salt Lake City farm team.

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For Omar Olivares, joining Cardinals was like family

Posted in Games, Pitchers, Trades on February 27, 2020| 2 Comments »

A trade to the Cardinals gave Omar Olivares the chance to start his major-league career with the same franchise his father did.

On Feb. 27, 1990, the Cardinals acquired Olivares, a right-handed pitcher, from the Padres for outfielder Alex Cole and reliever Steve Peters.

Six months later, Olivares made his big-league debut, following in the footsteps of his father, Ed Olivares, an outfielder and third baseman who got to the majors with the Cardinals in 1960.

Ed and Omar Olivares became the first father and son to play for the Cardinals.

Family ties

Ed Olivares appeared in 24 games for the Cardinals from 1960-61.

Omar Olivares was born in Puerto Rico in 1967, a year after his father finished his pro playing career in the farm system of the Tigers.

Ed Olivares became a sports and recreation director in Puerto Rico and helped his son develop baseball skills.

“He taught me everything I know,” Omar Olivares told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “He’s the one who thought about making me a pitcher. He knew I had a nice and loose arm, and he knew I was going to never get hurt. I was 16 years old. So I changed from an outfielder to a pitcher.”

In September 1986, Omar Olivares, 19, signed with the Padres. He earned 16 wins in the minors in 1988 and 12 at Class AA in 1989.

Special talent

Olivares caught the attention of Cardinals personnel, who urged general manager Dal Maxvill to acquire him.

“Six of our people had seen him pitch and they all liked him,” said Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog. “That’s unusual. The only other player that all our people had good reports on before we got him was Willie McGee.”

Though Olivares was assigned to start the 1990 season with the Cardinals’ farm club at Louisville, Herzog was impressed by what he saw in spring training. “He’s a great athlete,” Herzog told the Post-Dispatch. “I’d like to make an outfielder out of him. He could pitch every fifth day and play the outfield the other four.”

Herzog resigned in July 1990 before he could test his idea, but Olivares remained in the Cardinals’ plans. Cardinals director of player development Ted Simmons said Olivares was “a legitimate pitching prospect, make no mistake.”

During a visit to Louisville, Cardinals minor-league pitching instructor Bruce Sutter noticed Olivares had stopped throwing a forkball and asked him about it. “I threw it the other night and the guy hit it for a homer,” Olivares replied.

Said Sutter: “If he hit your fastball for a homer, would you quit throwing your fastball?” Olivares got the message and returned the forkball to his arsenal.

“I wasn’t too happy about it, but I kept throwing the forkball after that,” Olivares told the Post-Dispatch. “One night, I had 14 strikeouts and that’s the best I’d had my forkball. They told me they wanted me to throw it at least 20 times a game. I’ve got much better control of it than I used to have.”

Welcome to the bigs

in August 1990, Joe Torre replaced Herzog as Cardinals manager. Soon after, John Tudor went on the disabled list. Olivares, with a 2.82 ERA in 23 starts for Louisville, was called up to take Tudor’s spot in the rotation. “When they told me, I called home right away,” Olivares said. “My dad wasn’t there but my mother was … She’s more excited than I am, and I’m pretty excited.”

Torre never had seen Olivares, but he got good reports from those who had.

“He started learning that forkball because he needed another pitch,” said Cardinals pitcher Bob Tewksbury. “He’s got good mechanics and a good, live arm. He’s a good athlete. He swings the bat pretty good. He’s a good kid, too.”

On Aug. 18, 1990, Olivares, 23, made his major-league debut with a start at St. Louis and limited the Astros to a run and three hits in eight innings.

With the Cardinals ahead, 2-1, Torre lifted Olivares for closer Lee Smith, who gave up a home run to the first batter he faced, Franklin Stubbs, in the ninth, depriving Olivares of a win. The Astros prevailed, 3-2, in 11. Boxscore

“You have to go with your best,” Olivares said, defending Torre’s decision. “I’m not angry at all.”

Making his mark

According to the Post-Dispatch, Olivares was the first major-league player with the initials O.O. since Oswald Orwoll, a pitcher and first baseman for the 1928-29 Athletics. In 1993, Olivares switched to uniform No. 00 with the Cardinals.

Olivares got his first major-league home run before he got his first major-league win. On Sept. 8, 1990, Olivares hit a solo home run and a two-run double versus Rick Sutcliffe of the Cubs at Wrigley Field, but didn’t get the decision. Boxscore

His first win came in his next start, on Sept. 13, 1990, against the Expos at Montreal. Boxscore

Olivares finished 1-1 with a 2.92 ERA for the 1990 Cardinals. His best St. Louis season was 1991 when he was 11-7.

Olivares pitched five seasons for the Cardinals and was 29-24 with a 4.02 ERA. He batted .229 with three home runs.

The Cardinals released him in April 1995 and he signed with the Rockies.

In 12 seasons in the majors, Olivares was 77-86, including a combined 15-11 for the Angels and Athletics in 1999.

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How Babe Didrikson became a Cardinals pitcher

Posted in Games, Pitchers on February 21, 2020| 2 Comments »

Babe Didrikson, who won Olympic medals in track and field before she became one of America’s top golfers, was the starting pitcher for the Cardinals in a spring training game.

On March 22, 1934, Didrikson pitched for the Cardinals against the Red Sox at Bradenton, Fla.

A relentless self-promoter, Didrikson’s performance helped develop her reputation as America’s premier woman athlete.

Diamond dandy

A daughter of Norwegian immigrants, Didrikson was born in Port Arthur, Texas, and grew up in nearby Beaumont, where she excelled in multiple sports.

At 21, she was a member of the U.S. Olympic track and field team. At the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, Didrikson won two golds (hurdles and javelin) and a silver (high jump).

With America in the grip of the Great Depression, opportunities for women in professional sports were limited. Didrikson sought to earn income in several sports, including basketball, billiards and baseball.

In 1934, Didrikson joined the House of David barnstorming baseball team. Promoter Ray Doan arranged for Didrikson to have a training session with Cardinals pitcher Burleigh Grimes in Hot Springs, Ark.

According to the Associated Press, Didrikson “would be one of the best prospects in baseball if she were a boy,” said Grimes.

The Associated Press also noted, “The Babe has mastered somewhat of a curve.”

Timely fielding

The Athletics and Cardinals each agreed to let Didrikson pitch an inning in a spring training game.

On March 20, 1934, at Fort Myers, Fla., Didrikson started for manager Connie Mack’s Athletics against manager Casey Stengel’s Dodgers before a Tuesday afternoon gathering of 400 spectators.

Didrikson walked the first batter, Danny Taylor, and hit the next, Johnny Frederick, with a pitch.

The No. 3 hitter, Joe Stripp, lined the ball. Second baseman Dib Williams caught it for the first out and tossed to shortstop Rabbit Warstler, who tagged second to double up Taylor, who had headed for third. Warstler threw to first baseman Jimmie Foxx to nip Frederick, who couldn’t get back to the bag in time, and complete a triple play.

According to the book “Diz,” a biography of Dizzy Dean, Stengel shook his head in mock sorrow and said, “My little lambs just couldn’t get to her.”

“The Babe was wildly cheered as she left the premises,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

Didrikson, a right-hander, stood between 5-foot-5 and 5-foot-7 and weighed between 115 and 145 pounds, according to varied sources. She “looked like a slightly built boy except for a few stray feminine locks that stuck from under her black baseball cap,” the Fort Myers News-Press reported. “She possessed a slow curve but had some difficulty in finding the plate.”

With her inning of work done, Didrikson was lifted and the Dodgers won, 4-2.

Tough break

Two days later, before a Thursday afternoon crowd again estimated at 400, Didrikson made her start for manager Frankie Frisch’s Cardinals against manager Bucky Harris and the Red Sox.

Didrikson “is gaining experience and improving her pitching,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. “Under the tutelage of Burleigh Grimes, Dizzy Dean and others, she has learned to stand on the rubber, wind up like a big-leaguer and throw a rather fair curve.”

Joining Didrikson and Frisch, who played second base, in the Cardinals’ starting lineup were first baseman Rip Collins, shortstop Burgess Whitehead, third baseman Pepper Martin, left fielder Joe Medwick, center fielder Buster Mills, right fielder Jack Rothrock and catcher Spud Davis.

After Red Sox leadoff batter Max Bishop grounded out to second, Didrikson allowed singles to Bill Cissell and Ed Morgan, putting runners on second and first.

Cleanup hitter Roy Johnson grounded to Frisch, who threw to Whitehead, covering the bag at second, for the force on Morgan.

With two outs and runners on third and first, rookie Moose Solters faced Didrikson next. Didrikson got two strikes on Solters and threw a curve. Solters watched it go into the catcher’s mitt. To press box observers, the pitch was strike three, which should have ended the inning, but the umpire called it a ball.

Solters hit the next pitch for a two-run double.

Didrikson “deserved a better fate than she received,” the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported. “A hit followed what could have been called a third strike and the third out.”

The St. Louis Star-Times declared Didrikson would have escaped with a scoreless inning “but for a questionable decision by the umpire.”

On the links

After Solters doubled, Dusty Cooke reached on an error by Rip Collins. Rick Ferrell singled, scoring Solters and giving the Red Sox a 3-0 lead. Didrikson got the next batter, Bucky Walters, to fly out to left.

The Red Sox “would have been scoreless if it had not been for loose fielding and what the Cards described as the plate umpire’s failure to see a third strike as a strike,” the Post-Dispatch reported.

The Cardinals rallied for three runs in the bottom of the first against Fritz Ostermueller. Whitehead, the eighth-place batter, made the last out of the inning, depriving Didrikson of a plate appearance.

Bill Hallahan relieved Didrikson in the second and pitched four innings. Dean, who told Didrikson he’d show her some “real chucking,” pitched the last four, held the Red Sox hitless and the Cardinals won, 9-7. Said Dean: “I had them swinging like ham on a hook.”

“Well, our Red Sox managed to get three runs in one inning off Babe Didrikson, the girl athlete,” the Boston Globe declared. “So perhaps later on they will be able to play ball with the boys.”

Columnist L.C. Davis of the Post-Dispatch concluded, “As a pitcher, Babe is an outstanding field and track athlete. Babe may be a drawing card, but a woman’s place is on the bench.”

Three days later, Didrikson pitched two scoreless innings for the minor-league New Orleans Pelicans against the Cleveland Indians.

Didrikson eventually focused on golf. At the 1938 PGA Tour Los Angeles Open, where she competed against the men, Didrikson met professional wrestler George Zaharias. Eleven months later, in December 1938, they married in St. Louis and she became Babe Didrikson Zaharias.

A founding member of the LPGA Tour, Babe Didrikson Zaharias won 41 titles, including 10 majors. She was a three-time winner of the Women’s U.S. Open, including in 1954 after she underwent surgery for colon cancer.

Babe Didrikson Zaharias was 45 when she died of cancer in 1956.

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Cardinals tried to get Larry Walker after he left Expos

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents on February 18, 2020| 4 Comments »

If Walt Jocketty had gotten what he wanted, Larry Walker would have spent most of his career, not just the last two seasons, with the Cardinals.

Walker, a three-time National League batting champion who was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on Jan. 21, 2020, played his first six seasons in the majors with the Expos and became a free agent in October 1994, the same month Jocketty replaced Dal Maxvill as Cardinals general manager.

Jocketty was looking for opportunities to improve the Cardinals, who were 53-61 in strike-shortened 1994, and wanted to sign Walker.

The Rockies made the most lucrative offer and Walker signed with them in April 1995.

Nine years later, Jocketty finally got his man, acquiring Walker in a trade with the Rockies in August 2004. Walker finished his career with the Cardinals, helping them reach the postseason in 2004 and 2005.

Opening at first

In December 1994, Walker, who threw right and batted left, had surgery on his right shoulder. The right fielder’s agent, Jim Bronner, said Walker would wait until March 1995 or later to sign because he wanted to show teams his shoulder was healed, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Jocketty wanted Walker to be the Cardinals’ first baseman, replacing Gregg Jefferies, who became a free agent, according to the Post-Dispatch.

“Walt Jocketty says if he has time and money to sign only one free agent it would be a hitter to replace Gregg Jefferies rather than a pitcher,” the Post-Dispatch reported on Feb. 5, 1995. “His sights still are set on Larry Walker.”

A week later, as the Cardinals and all other major-league teams prepared to open spring training camps with replacement players while the big-leaguers remained on strike, Jocketty was in pursuit of Walker.

“He’s still the best player out there,” Jocketty said. “I think we’ve got as good a chance as anybody.”

Coors vs. Busch

Whatever amount Jocketty offered, it wasn’t enough to top the Rockies, who gave Walker a four-year contract for a guaranteed $22.49 million on April 8, 1995, according to the Associated Press.

The next day, with Walker out of the picture, the Cardinals acquired third baseman Scott Cooper from the Red Sox and planned to move Todd Zeile from third to first.

On April 26, 1995, Walker made his regular-season Rockies debut in the inaugural game played at Coors Field in Denver and produced three doubles and three RBI in a 14-inning victory against the Mets. Five inches of snow fell in the Denver area during the morning and the game, played at night in temperatures in the mid-30s, took 4 hours and 49 minutes to complete. Boxscore

Walker’s first game against the Cardinals since signing with the Rockies occurred on May 29, 1995, at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. The high-priced slugger went 0-for-6 and got razzed by some of the spectators after his last plate appearance. Boxscore

“One of the things about this type of deal is you get to hear a lot more imaginative things from the fans,” Walker told the Rocky Mountain News. “They were chanting, ‘Oh for six.’ They didn’t know the half of it.”

Walker’s hitless night extended his skid to 0-for-24 over his last six games.

The next night, Walker was benched by manager Don Baylor. He returned to the lineup for a day game, May 31, 1995, and snapped the slump with a two-run double and a solo home run against Cardinals starter Mark Petkovsek. The homer was a majestic shot which carried into the sixth row of the center-field bleachers, according to the Post-Dispatch. Boxscore

Petkovsek “made two bad pitches to Walker,” said Cardinals manager Joe Torre. “You’d like to make bad pitches to smaller guys, though.”

Said Walker: “I wasn’t sure if I should turn left or right the first time I got a hit because all I had been doing lately was turning to the right and going back to the dugout. That home run really messed me up, having to touch all four bases.”

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How Herman Franks caught on with Cardinals

Posted in Games, Hitters, Prospects, Trades on February 6, 2020| 2 Comments »

Herman Franks was a player, coach and manager in the major leagues for five decades and it all began with the Cardinals.

A catcher who batted left-handed, Franks made his major-league debut with the Cardinals in 1939 as a backup to Mickey Owen.

With Owen as the starter and prospect Walker Cooper waiting in the minors, Franks was unlikely to get much playing time.

On Feb. 6, 1940, the Cardinals sold Franks’ contract to the Dodgers, who were managed by Leo Durocher, the former Cardinals shortstop. Durocher played a pivotal role in Franks’ career.

Divine intervention

Franks was born in Price, Utah, where his father, an Italian immigrant, and mother settled.

In high school, Franks excelled at multiple sports. He opted to pursue a baseball career. At 18, Franks signed with the Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League and played a few games for them in 1932 and 1933. Overmatched, Franks was advised by manager Ossie Vitt to go home.

“He didn’t think I’d ever be a good ballplayer,” Franks told The Sporting News.

Franks enrolled at the University of Utah and played amateur baseball for a Catholic Youth Organization team. The Catholic bishop of Salt Lake City recommended Franks to Cardinals scout Charley Barrett.

In the spring of 1935, Barrett invited Franks to a Cardinals tryout camp in Houston. Franks impressed Barrett and was signed. The Cardinals sent him to a farm team in Jacksonville, Texas, tomato capital of the world, in the West Dixie League and paid him $100 a month.

“I was just glad to make the club and be back in baseball,” Franks said.

Looking the part

Franks worked his way up the Cardinals’ system. At Sacramento in 1937 and 1938, Franks played for manager Bill Killefer, a former big-league catcher who managed the Cubs from 1921-25 and was a coach for the 1926 World Series champion Cardinals.

“Men in the Cardinals organization have a high regard for Killefer’s judgment,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted.

At spring training in 1939, Franks, 25, fulfilled expectations.

“Franks is built for catching, looks like he has been behind the plate all his life, throws accurately and easily and has the reputation of being a smart receiver,” the Post-Dispatch reported.

The Cardinals opened the 1939 season with Franks and Don Padgett as backups to Owen.

“Pitchers like to throw to Herman Franks.” the Post-Dispatch reported. “He chatters incessantly behind the plate, makes a fine target, isn’t afraid to assume responsibility and is said to be a good thrower.”

Twist of fate

Franks started for the first time in the majors on May 2, 1939, against the Braves at Boston. It was a bittersweet experience.

In the second inning, Franks drove in Johnny Mize from second base with his first big-league hit, a looping single to left against Danny MacFayden.

Moments later, Franks wrenched his left leg when he caught his spikes in the bag sliding back to first while eluding a pickoff throw, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported. Franks departed and was replaced by Owen. Boxscore

Sidelined for three weeks, Franks seldom played when he returned.

Sad times

On July 4, 1939, Franks was saddened to learn Charley Barrett, the scout who gave him his big break, died of heart disease at 68.

After the Cardinals played a night game at Cincinnati on July 6, manager Ray Blades and four players, Franks, Owen, Don Gutteridge and Pepper Martin, returned to St. Louis for Barrett’s funeral service the next morning while the rest of the team went to Pittsburgh for a series against the Pirates.

Among the pallbearers were Cardinals owner Sam Breadon, executive Branch Rickey and Martin. According to the Globe-Democrat, “Martin was always considered by Barrett as the greatest player he ever discovered.”

The day after Barrett’s funeral, Franks was sent to a farm club in Columbus, Ohio, after the Cardinals tried to trade him.

“Wonder how much truth there is to the report that the Cardinals offered catcher Herman Franks and $30,000 to Kansas City (a Yankees farm club) for Joe DiMaggio’s brother, Vince,” the Globe-Democrat reported.

Franks batted .297 for Columbus and was called up to the Cardinals in September. For the season, Franks had one hit in 17 at-bats for the Cardinals.

Dodgers days

Killefer, a coach on Durocher’s staff with the 1939 Dodgers, recommended the club acquire Franks.

The Dodgers opened the 1940 season with Babe Phelps as their starting catcher and a pair of former Cardinals, Franks and Gus Mancuso, as backups. In 1941, Owen, acquired from the Cardinals, was the Dodgers’ starting catcher, with Franks and Phelps in reserve.

The Dodgers won the 1941 National League pennant.

In Game 1 of the 1941 World Series at Yankee Stadium, Durocher lifted Owen for a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning. In the ninth, with the Yankees ahead, 3-2, the Dodgers had Joe Medwick on second, Pee Wee Reese on first and one out, with Franks due up. Durocher would have preferred to send a pinch-hitter, Augie Galan, but he couldn’t because Franks was their only available catcher.

On the first pitch from Red Ruffing, Franks grounded to second baseman Joe Gordon, who fielded the ball and flipped to shortstop Phil Rizzuto.

Rizzuto tagged the bag just before Reese arrived. Reese slid hard into Rizzuto, hurling him into the air, but not before Rizzuto made a throw to first to nab Franks and complete a game-ending double play. Boxscore

Career choices

Franks enlisted in the Navy in 1942 and served for four years. After his discharge in 1946, Franks, 32, played for the Dodgers’ Montreal farm club.

Rickey, who left the Cardinals for the Dodgers, made Franks the manager of the St. Paul farm team in 1947. In August, the Athletics, desperate for catching help, inquired about Franks.

“Mr. Rickey gave me my choice of staying on as a manager in St. Paul or going back to the big leagues again as a catcher,” Franks said.

Franks joined the Athletics for the last month of the 1947 season and was with them in 1948, too.

In 1949, Durocher, who became Giants manager, hired Franks to be a coach. Franks was a Giants coach for Durocher from 1949-55.

In his book, “The Echoing Green,” author Joshua Prager revealed Durocher’s Giants stole signs of opposing catchers. Franks used a telescope from a perch above the center field wall at the Polo Grounds to view the signs and relay them via a buzzer system, according to the book.

When the Giants fired manager Alvin Dark after the 1964 season, Franks replaced him. He managed the Giants for four seasons (1965-68) and finished in second place each year, including 1967 and 1968 when the Cardinals prevailed.

Franks also managed the Cubs from 1977-79.

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Dusty Baker: A mystical path from Purple Haze to Astros

Posted in Games, Hitters, Managers on February 4, 2020| 4 Comments »

(Updated April 5, 2023)

Dusty Baker was 19 when he debuted in the majors with the Braves against the Astros in 1968.

Baker was 73 when he managed the Astros to a World Series championship in 2022.

Music man

Johnnie B. Baker was born in Riverside, Calif. When he was a boy, his mother called him Dusty because he often got dust all over himself while playing, according to The New Yorker magazine.

Baker was a gifted athlete with a passion for music. He played the piano as a youth.

“Deep down inside, I don’t think of myself so much as a baseball man as I see myself as a music man, a blues man and much more than that,” Baker said in his 2015 book “Kiss The Sky.”

When he was 10, Baker wanted to stop playing baseball. “I couldn’t figure out what the big deal was playing ball,” Baker recalled to The Sporting News, “but, thankfully, my father wouldn’t let me quit. He kept me going, kept up my interest in playing.”

After he moved with his parents to the Sacramento area, Baker was the lead singer and only black member of a garage band. “I was going to be Hootie and the Blowfish before Hootie,” Baker said.

He excelled in multiple prep sports, including baseball, and was selected by the Braves in the 26th round of the amateur draft in June 1967, a week before he turned 18. The scout who recommended him to the Braves was Bob Zuk, who signed Willie Stargell for the Pirates and Reggie Jackson for the Athletics.

As an 18th birthday present, Baker’s mother bought tickets for him and a friend to the three-day June 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, featuring performances by Jimi Hendrix, the Who, Buffalo Springfield, Jefferson Airplane and Otis Redding, among others.

Turning pro

In a Zoom interview with the Baseball Hall of Fame on April 4, 2023, Baker recalled, “As a kid, I was always a Dodgers fan … I prayed that the Braves would not draft me. I didn’t want to go to the South.”

In August 1967, two months after they drafted him, the Braves brought Baker for a workout at Dodger Stadium and he said he got a warm welcome from the likes of Hank Aaron, Felipe Alou and Joe Torre.

After signing with the Braves that month, Baker reported to their Austin, Texas, farm club. Austin was managed by Hub Kittle, who would become the pitching coach for the 1982 World Series champion Cardinals.

Two of Austin’s most prominent players were Cito Gaston and Walt Hriniak. Like Baker, Gaston would become a Braves outfielder and a big-league manager, leading the Blue Jays to World Series titles in 1992 and 1993. Hriniak would become an influential hitting coach who mentored Hall of Famers Wade Boggs and Frank Thomas, among others.

Baker joined Austin too late in the season to do much, but it was a different story the next year. He hit .342 for the farm club at Greenwood, S.C., in 1968 and was called up to the Braves in September.

Big time

On Sept. 7, 1968, the Astros led the Braves, 2-0, at Atlanta when Baker appeared in a big-league game for the first time, batting for a future Hall of Famer, pitcher Phil Niekro, with one out and the bases empty. Facing Denny Lemaster, Baker grounded out to short.

Baker’s teammates in the game included four future Hall of Famers: players Hank Aaron, Joe Torre and Niekro, plus coach Satchel Paige.

The game had four players who would become big-league managers: Baker, Felipe Alou, Torre and the Astros’ Doug Rader. Boxscore

Baker made the most of his stint with the 1968 Braves. “You see the way he’s hitting the ball in batting practice?” Braves manager Lum Harris said to the Atlanta Constitution.

Baker’s first big-league hit was a single against the Astros’ Mike Cuellar, a former Cardinal. Boxscore His second hit was a single versus future Hall of Famer Juan Marichal of the Giants. Boxscore

“Baker will be a big-league star,” Lum Harris said. “I’d bet on that.”

After the season, Baker returned to California. In his book, he said he was on a street in San Francisco when he had a chance encounter with Jimi Hendrix and smoked a joint with him.

Distinguished career

In 1972, Baker’s first full season with the Braves, Hank Aaron said, “He does everything now but hit with consistent power. He’ll do that. I think he’ll hit between 25 and 30 homers a year in the future.”

Baker hit 20 or more home runs in a season six times, including a career high of 30 with the 1977 Dodgers.

In 19 seasons as a big-league player with the Braves, Dodgers, Giants and Athletics, Baker had 1,981 hits and 1,013 RBI.

Before accepting the Astros job in January 2020, Baker managed the Giants, Cubs, Reds and Nationals. The 2022 World Series title was his first as a manager.

Baker played for 11 managers in the big leagues: Lum Harris, Eddie Mathews, Clyde King and Connie Ryan with the Braves; Walter Alston and Tommy Lasorda with the Dodgers; Frank Robinson and Danny Ozark with the Giants; and Jackie Moore, Jeff Newman and Tony La Russa with the Athletics.

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