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How a young Curt Flood tried muscling up with Cardinals

Posted in Games, Hitters, Prospects, Trades on February 5, 2025| 10 Comments »

Early in his big-league playing career, Curt Flood had a tendency to try hitting home runs, which wasn’t a good idea for someone his size.

In 1958, his first season with the Cardinals, Flood, 20, clouted 10 homers. Those are the most home runs of any Cardinals player 20 or younger, according to researcher Tom Orf.

The long balls caused Flood to overswing. It wasn’t until a teammate helped him kick the habit that Flood became one of the National League’s top hitters.

Big talent

As a youth in Oakland, Flood was a standout art student and high school baseball player. A mentor, George Powles, also coached him with an American Legion team and in the semipro Alameda Winter League.

“This kid can do everything,” Powles told the Oakland Tribune. “He can run, throw, field and hit a long ball. He is smart and has great desire to get ahead.”

Big-league scouts took a look, but most determined Flood was too small to reach the majors.

In his autobiography “The Way It Is,” Flood recalled, “One day George Powles sat me down for a talk. He told me I had the ability to become a professional, but that I should prepare for difficulties and disappointments. He pointed out I weighed barely 140 pounds (and) was not more than five feet, seven inches tall … Small men seldom got very far in baseball.”

Reds scout Bobby Mattick, a former big-league shortstop, took a chance on Flood. In January 1956, after Flood turned 18 and graduated from high school, he signed with the Reds for $4,000.

Down in Dixie

Assigned to a farm club in High Point, N.C., a furniture factory town, Flood experienced racist teammates and fans.

“Most of the players on my team were offended by my presence and would not even talk to me when we were off the field,” Flood said in his autobiography. “The few who were more enlightened were afraid to antagonize the others.

“During the early weeks of the season, I’d break into tears as soon as I reached the safety of my room … I wanted to be free of these animals whose 50-cent bleacher ticket was a license to curse my color and deny my humanity. I wanted to be free of the imbeciles on the ball team.”

Flood’s pride kept him from quitting and he answered the bigots by performing better than any other player in the Carolina League. “I ran myself down to less than 135 pounds in the blistering heat,” he said in his book. “I completely wiped out that peckerwood league.”

The 18-year-old produced an on-base percentage of .448 (190 hits, 102 walks). He scored 133 runs, drove in 128 and slugged 29 home runs.

Called up to the Reds in September 1956, Flood made his big-league debut at St. Louis as a pinch-runner for catcher Smoky Burgess. Boxscore

The next season became another ordeal when the Reds returned Flood, 19, to the segregated South at Savannah, Ga. Adding to the pressure was the Reds’ decision to shift Flood from outfield to third base. One of his infield teammates was shortstop Leo Cardenas, a dark-skinned Cuban.

“Georgia law forbade Cardenas and me to dress with the white players,” Flood said in his book. “A separate cubicle was constructed for us. Some of the players were decent enough to detest the arrangement. I particularly remember (outfielder) Buddy Gilbert (of Knoxville, Tenn.), who used to bring food to me and Leo in the bus so that we would not have to stand at the back doors of restaurants.”

A future seven-time Gold Glove Award winner as a National League outfielder, Flood made 41 errors at third base with Savannah, but produced a .388 on-base percentage (170 hits, 81 walks), 98 runs scored and 82 RBI.

Earning another promotion to the Reds in September 1957, Flood’s first hit in the majors was a home run at Cincinnati against Moe Drabowsky of the Cubs. It turned out to be Flood’s last game with the Reds. Boxscore

Good deal

At the 1957 baseball winter meetings in Colorado Springs, Cardinals general manager Bing Devine and manager Fred Hutchinson met until 3 a.m. with Reds general manager Gabe Paul and manager Birdie Tebbetts, trying to make a trade, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported.

After much give and take, the Reds proposed sending Flood and outfielder Joe Taylor to the Cardinals for pitchers Marty Kutyna, Willard Schmidt and Ted Wieand. Devine, in his first trade negotiations since replacing Frank Lane as general manager, “had some fear and trepidation” about doing the deal, he said in his autobiography “The Memoirs of Bing Devine.”

As Devine recalled in his book, Hutchinson said to him, “Awww, come on. I’ve heard about Curt Flood and his ability. Flood can run and throw. He could probably play the outfield. Let’s don’t worry about it.”

Bolstered by his manager, Devine made the trade, his first for the Cardinals.

(Concern of having an all-black outfield of Frank Robinson, Vada Pinson and Flood prompted the Reds to trade him, Flood said in his autobiography.)

Devine told the St. Louis newspapers that Flood had potential to become the Cardinals’ center fielder. “We’re counting on him for 1959, not next year,” Devine told the Globe-Democrat.

Cardinals calling

The Cardinals opened the 1958 season with Bobby Gene Smith in center and sent Flood to Omaha, but Smith didn’t hit (.200 in April) and Flood did (.340 in 15 games). On May 1, they switched roles, Flood joining the Cardinals and Smith going to Omaha.

(When the Cardinals sent Flood a ticket for a flight from Omaha, he was concerned how he would get his new Thunderbird automobile to St. Louis. Omaha general manager Bill Bergesch kindly offered to drive the car there for him and Flood accepted, according to Bergesch’s son, Robert. Not knowing anyone in St. Louis, Flood rented a room in a house called the Heritage Arms on the recommendation of pitcher Sam Jones. In the book “The Curt Flood Story,” author Stuart L. Weiss noted that when Bill Bergesch arrived in St. Louis with Flood’s car, he found Flood was residing in one of the city’s most notorious bordellos.)

Flood, 20, played his first game for the Cardinals on May 2, 1958, at St. Louis against the Reds. The center fielder had a double and was hit by a Brooks Lawrence pitch. Boxscore

His first home run for the Cardinals came on May 15 at St. Louis against the Giants’ 19-year-old left-hander, Mike McCormick. Flood belted a changeup into the bleachers just inside the left field foul line. He also singled to center and doubled to right, prompting the Globe-Democrat to declare, “Flood resembled a junior grade Rogers Hornsby with a surprising ability to hit to all fields.” Boxscore

Among Flood’s 10 homers in 1958 were solo shots against Warren Spahn and Sandy Koufax. Boxscore and Boxscore

The power impressed, especially on a club with one 20-homer hitter (Ken Boyer), but Flood’s .261 batting average didn’t (the Cardinals had hoped for .280) and he struck out 56 times, the most of any Cardinal.

“I had fallen into the disastrous habit of overswinging,” Flood said in his autobiography. “Worse, I had developed a hitch in my swing. When the pitcher released the ball, my bat was not ready because I was busy pulling it back in a kind of windup.”

Fixing flaws

In February 1959, Flood got married in Tijuana, Mexico, to Beverly Collins, “a petite, sophisticated teenager with two children,” according to “The Curt Flood Story.” They’d met during the summer at her parents’ St. Louis nightclub, The Talk of the Town.

Solly Hemus, who’d replaced Fred Hutchinson as Cardinals manager, wanted a center fielder who hit with power. Trying to deliver, Flood went into a deep slump in 1959 and entered July with a batting mark of .192 for the season. “I now became more worried about my swing and more receptive to help,” Flood recalled in his book.

According to Flood’s book, when he asked Stan Musial for advice, Musial said, “Well, you wait for a strike. Then you knock the shit out of it.”

Help came from another teammate, pinch-hitter George Crowe, 38. “George straightened me out,” Flood said in his autobiography. “He taught me to shorten my stride and my swing, to eliminate the hitch, to keep my head still and my stroke level. He not only told me what to do, but why to do it and how to do it. He worked with me by the hour.”

It took a while, but Flood finally found his groove. In 1961, he hit .322, the first of six .300 seasons for the 1960s Cardinals. Flood twice achieved 200 hits in a season and finished with 1,854 in the majors.

In 1968, he told the Associated Press, “It took me five years to learn I’m not a home run hitter, and that’s the hardest thing in the world for a baseball player to tell himself. It’s a blow to your ego. You have to tell yourself you’re not as big and strong as the next guy. It hits at your masculinity, your manhood.”

Of Flood’s 85 big-league home runs, the most (15) came against the Reds. Flood hit four homers versus Juan Marichal and two each against Don Drysdale, Ferguson Jenkins and Sandy Koufax.

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How Hal McRae showed the way to improved hitting

Posted in Games, Hitters on January 31, 2025| 11 Comments »

As a pinch-hitter in 1985, Hal McRae helped the Royals emerge from the brink of elimination against the Cardinals and advance to their first World Series championship. As a hitting coach two decades later, McRae helped the Cardinals become World Series champions for the first time in 24 years.

McRae spent more than 40 years in the big leagues _ 19 as a player, 15 as a coach, six as a manager and two in the front office. His last five seasons in the majors were as hitting coach of the Cardinals from 2005 to 2009.

During McRae’s St. Louis stint, the Cardinals won a World Series title in 2006, their first since 1982.

Segregated South

Harold McRae was from Avon Park, Fla., 85 miles south of Orlando. From 1927 to 1929, Avon Park was spring training home of the Cardinals.

As a youth in the 1950s, McRae developed into a right-handed hitter playing stickball on a makeshift diamond at the corner of Delaney and Castle streets in Avon Park. “A lot of skills I exhibited in the big leagues began right (there),” McRae recalled to the Tampa Tribune. “I remember a certain Mrs. Austin who lived on that corner. We knew that if we hit a ball into her yard, which was left field, she wouldn’t give it back. So that’s how I first learned to hit to right field.”

(In 1991, Castle Street was renamed Hal McRae Boulevard.)

McRae attended segregated E.O. Douglas High School in Sebring, Fla. Named for banker Eugene Oren Douglas, it was the only high school in the county available to blacks. (The school remained open until 1970, when integration finally occurred in Highlands County.)

After graduating in 1963, McRae attended Florida A&M in Tallahassee. Two years later, the Reds signed him. “I really enjoyed sliding headfirst, taking out the middle infielders, running into the catcher,” McRae told the Tampa Tribune. “I credit that outlook to my baseball coach (Costa Kittles) at Florida A&M. He was really a football coach. I was never afraid of contact.”

A few months after turning pro, McRae married his wife, Johncyna, in April 1966. Forty years later, in 2006, she was presented with an unsung hero award from the Florida Department of Health for “working tirelessly to end disparities in health care for racial and ethnic minorities.”

The award was presented with accolades from Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. According to the Bradenton Herald, Dr. Gladys Branic, director of the Manatee County Health Department, praised Johncyna “for her mentoring of migrant workers, her volunteer work for troubled teens, and the many scholarships and nurturing programs she helped develop for black girls.”

Slotted for second

In his first three seasons in the Reds’ system (1966-68), McRae was a second baseman. His minor-league manager in 1967 was former second baseman Don Zimmer. At the Florida Instructional League that fall, McRae’s instructor was former second baseman Sparky Anderson. Reds manager Dave Bristol told The Cincinnati Post, “Everyone, including scouts on the other clubs, tells me McRae is going to be Cincinnati’s next second baseman.”

McRae was called up to the Reds during the 1968 season and started 16 games at second base. Then in the winter, playing in Puerto Rico, he fractured his right leg in four places trying to knock the ball loose from a catcher on a play at the plate. That put an end to his ability to move nimbly as a second baseman.

After sitting out most of the 1969 season, McRae was shifted to the outfield and was with the Reds from 1970-72. In two World Series, he hit .455 against the Orioles in 1970 and .444 versus the Athletics in 1972. Video

(McRae also played in two World Series with the Royals. In 17 World Series games, he hit .400.)

Rough stuff

Traded to the Royals in November 1972, McRae benefitted from the American League’s adoption of the designated hitter in 1973. He told the Tampa Tribune, “Some people considered it being half a ballplayer … It just so happened that my best role was as the DH.”

Working well with hitting coaches such as Charley Lau and Rocky Colavito, McRae hit better than .300 seven times in 15 years with the Royals.

In 1976, when McRae hit .332, his teammate, George Brett, won the American League batting title at .333. In his final at-bat, Brett got an inside-the-park home run when Twins outfielder Steve Brye misjudged the ball. McRae suggested Brye intentionally let the ball drop.

Because of his aggressiveness, McRae was not a popular opponent. According to the Baseball Hall of Fame, while managing the White Sox, Tony La Russa said of McRae, “When you play against him, you detest him, but you would love to have him on your side.”

Mariners pitcher Glenn Abbott told Sports Illustrated, “I feel McRae has played dirty, but he plays to win, and that’s what it’s all about.”

Attempting to thwart a double play during a 1977 playoff game, McRae barreled into Yankees second baseman Willie Randolph with a rolling body block. The Yankees cried foul, but McRae said to United Press International, “I wasn’t trying to hurt Randolph … There was nothing dirty about it … We’re not supposed to be buddy-buddy out there.” Video

Teammates respected McRae. George Brett said to Sports Illustrated, “I look up to him. He learned the game from Pete Rose, and I learned it from him.” Whitey Herzog, McRae’s manager from 1975-79, told the Kansas City Star, “He’s the best designated hitter in baseball. He gives you everything he has on every play.”

Patience pays

The 1985 World Series between the Royals and Cardinals was played without designated hitters, but McRae still was involved in the drama.

With the Cardinals ahead, 1-0, in the ninth inning of Game 6 and on the verge of clinching the championship, the Royals got a break when umpire Don Denkinger ruled Jorge Orta safe at first, though TV replays clearly showed he was out.

As the inning unfolded, the Royals had runners on first and second, one out, when McRae batted for Buddy Biancalana. The Cardinals’ right-handed rookie closer, Todd Worrell, hoped to get McRae to ground into a game-ending double play.

According to the Kansas City Star, McRae said he reminded himself as he approached the plate to be patient and swing only if the pitch was a strike.

With the count 1-and-0, Worrell threw a slider that eluded catcher Darrell Porter for a passed ball, enabling the runners to move up to second and third. That changed the strategy. Behind in the count 2-and-0, Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog ordered Worrell to walk McRae intentionally, loading the bases and setting up a potential force-out at any base.

A left-handed batter, ex-Cardinal Dane Iorg, thwarted the plan with a two-run single. The Royals clinched the title the next night in Game 7. Boxscore

Good teacher

McRae batted .290 and totaled 2,091 hits in a big-league playing career that ended in 1987.

He managed the Royals (1991-94) and Rays (2001-02). A son, Brian, became a big-league outfielder and played for him on the Royals.

McRae coached for the Royals (1987), Expos (1990-91), Reds (1995-96), Phillies (1997-2000) and Rays (2001). As hitting coach, he was credited with helping develop Reggie Sanders with the Reds and Scott Rolen with the Phillies.

“Hitting instruction is probably my first love,” McRae told Todd Jones of The Cincinnati Post. “I enjoy the interaction with the players. As a manager, you look for results. As a hitting instructor, you look for improvement.”

After McRae helped Deion Sanders snap a slump, Reds veteran Lenny Harris told The Post, “Deion said to us, ‘It’s time to start listening to Hal McRae. He understands us.’ “

In a report on McRae’s hitting philosophy, Jim Salisbury of the Philadelphia Inquirer noted, “The plate is 17 inches wide. McRae teaches his hitters to concede the inner and outer two inches to the pitcher. That leaves 13 inches for the hitter.”

After being replaced as Rays manager by Lou Piniella, McRae moved into the role of assistant to Rays general manager Chuck LaMar, but there were “few requests for his input,” according to the St. Petersburg Times.

“I felt miserable half the time,” McRae told the newspaper.

Back in uniform

With Mitchell Page as hitting coach, the 2004 Cardinals won the National League pennant and led the league in hits and runs scored, but he was fired for reasons related to alcoholism. Page said to Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “I have an alcohol problem and I’m going to get treatment for it.”

The Cardinals offered the job to McRae, 59, and he welcomed the chance to coach again. Recalling his start as a big-league manager with the White Sox in 1979, Cardinals manager Tony La Russa told the Bradenton Herald, “Winning was defined by George Brett and Hal McRae. In the West Division, Kansas City was the team to beat, and those were the two guys who showed how it was done. I always said I’d like to be a teammate of Hal McRae.”

After his hiring, McRae watched video and learned the habits of Cardinals batters. At 2005 spring training, he spent each day talking with the players and tailored his philosophies to their needs. As Roger Mooney of the Bradenton Herald noted, “McRae coaches like he played. He’s prepared, works hard and gets results.”

The 2005 Cardinals were loaded with big hitters such as Jim Edmonds, Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen, Reggie Sanders and Larry Walker. “With a veteran club, you’re talking about the (opposing) pitcher,” McRae said to the Herald. “We’re more concerned with the pitcher than ourselves.”

Helping hand

The 2006 Cardinals were a deeply flawed team that became World Series champions. Part of their success stemmed from the performance of rookie Chris Duncan, who slugged 22 home runs in 280 at-bats during the season.

“Hal McRae has been the biggest help because he’s working with me day in, day out,” Duncan told the Post-Dispatch. “He’s helped me the most to get through different phases and whatever is going on with me.”

In assessing McRae’s contributions to the 2006 Cardinals, Tony La Russa said to the St. Petersburg Times, “He’s a very smart man. He understands what hitting is about … and he understands winning.”

When Albert Pujols slumped early in the 2007 season, McRae gave him a tutorial _ “He needs to use his hands more,” the coach told the Post-Dispatch _ and used a video to convince Pujols that by being impatient, or jumpy, at the plate he was opening his hips too early in his swing. “He showed me, and I saw the difference,” Pujols said to reporter Joe Strauss.

In 2008, the Cardinals led the league in hits and batting average (.281, well above the league norm of .260), and got big production from a journeyman (Ryan Ludwick, 37 home runs, 113 RBI) and a former pitcher (Rick Ankiel, 25 homers).

Though division champions in 2009, the Cardinals were swept by the Dodgers in the playoffs, totaling six runs in three games. McRae, 64, was fired.

“You’re always disappointed when you get laid off,” McRae told the Post-Dispatch, “but I’m not disappointed in my work.”

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Goose Goslin almost chickened out in bid for batting title

Posted in Games, Hitters on January 27, 2025| 9 Comments »

As Goose Goslin of the Washington Senators readied for his last plate appearance in the final game of the 1928 season at St. Louis, he thought about how the outcome would determine the American League batting champion.

Entering the ninth inning, Goslin was tied with Heinie Manush of the St. Louis Browns for the league’s top batting average. If Goslin got a hit, he’d win the batting crown. If he made an out, Manush would gain the title.

Some other options were available as well. One was for Goslin to skip the plate appearance and share the batting title with Manush.

Hit men

Leon “Goose” Goslin was from New Jersey and Henry “Heinie” Manush hailed from Alabama. Both were left-handed batters and left fielders.

Goslin began his pro career in the minors as a pitcher before moving to the outfield. He debuted in the majors with the 1921 Senators and got nicknamed Goose because he flapped his arms and moved awkwardly while chasing fly balls.

According to The Sporting News, the Goose also “was attracted to the bright lights” of the cities. The night before an afternoon doubleheader against the Yankees he escorted Babe Ruth “on a tour of speakeasies,” hoping The Bambino would become too fatigued to play effectively. Instead, a wobbly Goose only made it home because of help from Ruth.

Goslin’s extracurricular activities didn’t keep him from hitting. He twice led the American League in triples (18 in 1923 and 20 in 1925). In consecutive World Series (1924-25), Goslin hit .344 against the Giants and .308 versus the Pirates.

In 1926, when he had a league-high 129 RBI, Goslin batted .354, but the leader was Manush, a .378 hitter for the Tigers. “You had to be a wizard to come anywhere close to the top in those days,” Goslin told author Lawrence Ritter.

Manush reached the majors with the 1923 Tigers. The nickname Heinie was slang for Heinrich, a German form of the name Henry. Manush became a protege of his Tigers manager Ty Cobb, who taught him to shorten his stroke and try for hits instead of homers.

Cobb departed for the Athletics in February 1927 and Manush clashed with the replacement, George Moriarty. When his batting average dropped 80 points _ from .378 in 1926 to .298 in 1927 _ Manush was traded to the Browns.

Neck and neck

Goslin hurt his throwing arm in 1928 and was a liability in the outfield, but his hitting kept him in the lineup. He hit .450 (45 for 100) in the month of June and entered July with a batting mark for the season of .422.

Heading into September, Goslin (.376) and the Yankees’ Lou Gehrig (.373) led the batting race. Manush was at .355. Goslin and Gehrig had strong Septembers but Manush was otherworldly, hitting .495 (51 for 103) for the month.

On Sunday, Sept. 30, with the Senators playing the Browns at St. Louis on the last day of the 1928 season, the batting race became a showdown between Goslin (.379) and Manush (.377). Gehrig, with a game in Detroit, was at .372.

Pitching for the Browns against Goslin was George Blaeholder, 24, a right-hander in his first full season in the majors. Pitching for the Senators versus Manush was their ace, Sam Jones, 36, a right-hander who had been in four World Series.

Both Goslin and Manush were positioned in the No. 3 spots of the batting orders.

Fit to be tied

Manush put the pressure on early. In the first inning, Goslin struck out and Manush singled, putting each at .378. Both made outs in the fourth and remained tied at .377.

In the fifth, Goslin homered; an inning later, Manush tripled. Goslin grounded out to short in the seventh and Manush flied out to Goslin in the eighth.

With an inning to go and the Senators ahead, 7-1, Goslin and Manush both were batting .378 for the season.

Decisions, decisions

Goslin was due to bat second in the top of the ninth. Manush wasn’t likely to appear at the plate again, because he had six batters ahead of him in the bottom of the ninth. Therefore, whatever Goslin did likely would settle the batting race.

_ If Goslin got a hit, he would be batting champion.

_ If Goslin made an out, Manush would be batting champion.

_ If Goslin drew a walk, he and Manush would share the batting title.

_ If Goslin opted to be removed from the game, he and Manush would share the batting title.

In the book “The Glory of Their Times,” Goslin recalled that Senators manager Bucky Harris said to him, “What do you want to do, Goose? It’s up to you. I’ll send in a pinch-hitter if you want me to.”

Goslin replied, “I’ve never won a batting title, and I sure would love to, so I think I’ll stay right here on the bench, if it’s OK with you.”

According to Goslin, teammate Joe Judge warned, “They’ll call you yellow.”

Goslin thought about that and said, “All right, all right. Stop all this noise. I’m going up.”

A left-hander, Hal Wiltse, 25, was on the mound for the Browns. When the count got to 0-and-2, Goslin argued with umpire Bill Guthrie, calling him names and even stepping on his toes, hoping an ejection would negate the at-bat and preserve a share of the batting title, but Guthrie ordered him to stay put. “You better be in there swinging,” Guthrie warned.

Goslin took a pitch outside the strike zone, then stroked a double to right-center, moving his batting average to .379, one point ahead of Manush.

The Browns went down meekly in order in the bottom of the ninth, depriving Manush of a final at-bat. Manush, who led the majors in hits (241), finished at .378, the same average he had in winning the batting crown two years earlier.

Goslin became the Senators’ first league batting champion. Boxscore

Let’s make a deal

Both Goslin and Manush got into trouble with management in 1930.

According to the Washington Star, the relations between Goslin and Senators manager Walter Johnson were strained because of Goose’s failure to observe training rules.

According to The Sporting News, Manush and Browns owner Phil Ball “wrangled over salary” and Heinie “refused to attend a luncheon with Ball.”

On June 13, 1930, the Browns traded Manush and pitcher Alvin Crowder to the Senators for Goslin. “I am getting a slugger who hits home runs,” Browns manager Bill Killefer told the St. Louis Star-Times. “This park is made for Goslin.”

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the consensus of fans in St. Louis was that the Browns “were worsted in the bartering.” Star-Times columnist Sid Keener wrote, “I would not trade Manush for Goslin, even up.”

Two of a kind

In three seasons with the Browns, Goslin hit .317 with 71 home runs. He went back to the Senators and helped them reach the World Series in 1933. Traded to the Tigers, he played for them in the 1934 World Series against the Cardinals and the 1935 World Series versus the Cubs.

Goslin produced seven home runs and 19 RBI in five World Series.

Manush hit .328 in six seasons with the Senators. He and Goslin were teammates in the 1933 World Series versus the Giants. Manush later had stints with the Red Sox, Dodgers and Pirates.

For their careers, Manush batted .330 with 2,524 hits; Goslin batted .316 with 2,735 hits.

When Manush was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1965, Goslin told The Sporting News, “I have a right to be jealous. Manush makes it and I don’t. I led him in every department except average.”

Goslin’s turn came three years later with his election to the Hall.

Goslin and Manush remained linked to the end of their lives. Manush, 69, died on May 12, 1971. Goslin, 70, died three days later, on May 15, 1971.

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Lou Brock facing Bob Veale was some sight to see

Posted in Games, Pitchers on January 20, 2025| 13 Comments »

A big man with poor eyesight, left-hander Bob Veale threw as hard as any pitcher in baseball. He had one of the best sliders in the game and a fastball, as Sports Illustrated put it, “that leaves a vapor trail.”

Standing 6-foot-6 and weighing 220 to 280 pounds, Veale made some of the National League’s best hitters look inept. Lou Brock (.194 in 93 at-bats), Willie McCovey (.188 in 48 at-bats) and Ernie Banks (.108 in 83 at-bats) had career batting averages below .200 against Veale.

Their figures seemed robust, however, compared with those of Eddie Mathews. A slugger who totaled 2,315 hits, including 512 home runs, Mathews was hitless in 29 career at-bats versus Veale, striking out 16 times. Asked by The Pittsburgh Press in 1964 to compare Veale with Sandy Koufax, Mathews said, “Koufax has the better curve; Veale the better slider. I wouldn’t want to earn a living batting exclusively against either one.”

Nevertheless, Mathews said Juan Marichal was the toughest pitcher he faced, according to the Baseball Hall of Fame Yearbook. Banks picked Koufax. Brock and McCovey chose Veale.

In his autobiography, “Stealing Is My Game,” Brock said of Veale, “He just gave me fits … He could blow the ball past me like I was a birthday candle. He threw about as hard as anyone I ever faced in the major leagues.”

Veale wanted to play for the Cardinals when he turned pro. Instead, he joined the Pirates after the Cardinals opted for another left-hander, Ray Sadecki.

An 18-game winner in 1964 when he led National League pitchers in both strikeouts (250) and walks (124), Veale was 89 when he died on Jan. 7, 2025.

Steely determination

A pitcher who spent most of his big-league playing career in the Steel City of Pittsburgh, Veale was from the steel capital of the south, Birmingham, Ala.

Veale grew up in the family home on Lomb Avenue, a few blocks from Rickwood Field, the ballpark of the minor-league Birmingham Barons and the Negro League Birmingham Black Barons. His father pitched in the Negro League.

As a gangly youth, Veale spent his free time at Rickwood Field, doing jobs for Barons general manager Eddie Glennon. He worked in the concession stand and sometimes pitched batting practice. Among the players he saw there was a Black Barons outfielder, Willie Mays.

Veale was a teen when he pitched for the 24th Street Red Sox, a top industrial league team. He got an athletic scholarship to play baseball and basketball at St. Benedict’s College in Atchison, Kansas.

(Located on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River, St. Benedict’s College merged in 1971 with Mount St. Scholastica College and became Benedictine College.)

As a college basketball center, Veale showed “some of the smoothest post play the conference has seen in many years,” the Atchison Daily Globe reported. The New York Times described him as “the Bill Russell type,” because of his rebounding. In a charity game, Veale guarded Kansas center Wilt Chamberlain.

Baseball was the sport, though, that offered Veale the best chance at a pro career.

While in college, “I listened to every Cardinals game I could,” Veale told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He was elated when the Cardinals invited him to St. Louis for a tryout during his junior year in 1958.

The Cardinals, though, became enamored of another hard-throwing left-hander, Kansas high school pitcher Ray Sadecki. After they signed Sadecki to a big bonus, the Cardinals offered Veale much less _ minor-league money, “a few doughnuts, a couple of bats and some spikes,” Veale told the Post-Dispatch.

Tired of haggling with the Cardinals over money and feeling slighted _ “I knew Sadecki didn’t throw any harder than I did,” Veale said to reporter Neal Russo _ Veale tried out with the Pirates while they were in Chicago and signed with them.

Swinging and missing

Four years later, in 1962, Veale, 26, reached the majors, gaining a spot on the Opening Day roster. When the Pirates went to San Francisco to play the Giants, Willie Mays invited Veale and fellow Pirates rookie Donn Clendenon to his home after a game. According to The Pittsburgh Press, Mays advised Veale, “With your stuff, all you have to do is rear back and throw. Don’t mess around and be cute, trying to find the corners. You can throw hard enough to fool anybody and all you have to do is get the ball over.”

After two months with the 1962 Pirates, Veale was sent back to the minors. Pitching for Columbus (Ohio), he struck out 22 Buffalo batters in nine innings.

Pirates manager Danny Murtaugh used Veale as a reliever in 1963 and he dazzled (0.70 ERA in 27 games). Moved to the rotation in late August, Veale made seven starts, pitched two shutouts, including one against the Cardinals, and completed the season with an 0.93 ERA. Boxscore

That performance vaulted Veale to the top of the Pirates’ rotation in 1964. On a staff with Bob Friend and Vern Law, Veale got the Opening Day assignment and pitched like an ace that season. He struck out 16 in a game against the Reds and 15 versus the Braves. Boxscore and Boxscore

Entering the final day of the season, Veale had a league-leading 245 strikeouts and the Cardinals’ Bob Gibson was at 243. Neither was scheduled to start that day. However, during the Pirates’ game at Milwaukee, Veale learned that Gibson had relieved starter Curt Simmons during the Cardinals’ game with the Mets.

Concerned Gibson might surpass him to become the 1964 National League strikeout leader, Veale approached teammate Jerry Lynch, who was managing the Pirates that day. (With nothing at stake in their game with the Braves, Danny Murtaugh took the day off and let Lynch manage. Braves skipper Bobby Bragan did the same, having Eddie Mathews manage the club.)

According to the New York Times, Veale asked Lynch, “How about letting me pitch two innings and pick up a few (strikeouts)?” Lynch said yes.

With the Braves ahead 6-0, Veale pitched the sixth and seventh innings and struck out five consecutive batters, boosting his season total to 250. Gibson worked four innings and fanned two, giving him 245, and got the pennant-clinching win for St. Louis. Boxscore and Boxscore

Veale played a part in the Cardinals finishing in first place, a game ahead of the Phillies and Reds. He was 1-2 against the 1964 Cardinals and a combined 6-1 versus the Phillies and Reds.

Blinding speed

In a stretch from 1964-66, Veale lost six in a row to the Cardinals. Then he went 3-0 against them in 1967, the year the Cardinals became World Series champions.

Veale’s vision in his right eye was minus-2/20. In his autobiography, Lou Brock said, “He wore glasses that looked like the bottom of Coke bottles.”

In a game at St. Louis in May 1967, Veale had a 1-and-2 count on Brock and was wiping his glasses when a lens broke. Plate umpire Doug Harvey ordered Veale to pitch without the spectacles until a spare could be brought from the clubhouse, but Brock refused to stand in the batter’s box until Veale put on eyeglasses. “Even when he could see, Veale had trouble finding the plate with his pitches,” Brock explained in his autobiography.

Veale told the Post-Dispatch, “I can’t blame Brock. I see six people when I’m not wearing glasses.”

When the replacement pair arrived, after a lengthy delay, Veale struck out Brock on the next pitch. Boxscore

“Veale has developed one of the best sliders in the game,” Brock told the St. Louis newspaper. “I’ve always felt that for the first four or five innings, for sheer speed, he was faster than Sandy Koufax.”

According to the New York Times, after Veale struck out 16 Phillies in a game, their manager, Gene Mauch, said, “I’ve never seen such sustained fire.” Boxscore

Big Bob

From 1964-67, Veale had season win totals of 18, 17, 16 and 16.

Eventually, though, he didn’t stay in shape, gained too much weight and was moved to the bullpen. In 1971, when the Pirates became World Series champions, Veale was 6-0 but his ERA ballooned to 6.99. He spent most of 1972 in the minors before the Red Sox acquired him in September that year.

When he tipped the scales at 230 pounds in 1974, Veale told the Birmingham Post-Herald, “Two-thirty is a lot better than coming in at 280. I did that at Pittsburgh. When I came to Boston (in 1972), I came in at between 260 and 270.”

The 1973 Red Sox pitching staff included Luis Tiant (20 wins) and Veale (11 saves). Peter Gammons of the Boston Globe noted that Tiant and Veale could be found smoking cigars in the clubhouse whirlpool.

Veale completed his big-league career with a 120-95 record, 20 shutouts, 21 saves and 1,703 strikeouts in 1,926 innings. His 1,652 strikeouts with the Pirates are the most by a Pittsburgh left-hander. Veale averaged eight strikeouts per nine innings with Pittsburgh.

After a stint as a minor-league pitching instructor, Veale resided near the Rickwood ballpark in Birmingham “and often just shows up to help take care of the field,” the Birmingham Post-Herald reported.

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Cardinals hoped for hefty homer total from Steve Bilko

Posted in Games, Hitters, Prospects on January 10, 2025| 11 Comments »

Emerging from the coal country of northeastern Pennsylvania, Steve Bilko was something of a mythical baseball figure, a teen slugger as strong and dense as the anthracite mined in the region.

From the moment the Cardinals signed him, in 1945, Bilko intrigued with his power. He was big _ 6-foot-1 and, as the St. Louis Star-Times noted, “230 pounds of man” _ with thick legs and trunk.

A right-handed batter, he drilled line drives that jetted over fences like lasers. According to the Star-Times, a minor-league opponent said, “Someday a pitcher is going to throw one wrong to that guy _ low and outside _ and all they’re going to find on the (mound) are a glove and a pair of shoes.”

Before he played a game for the Cardinals, Bilko was being compared with the likes of Jimmie Foxx and Johnny Mize.

Cardinals calling

When Bilko was 16 in 1945, he was known in his hometown of Nanticoke, Pa., for his athletic feats.

Cardinals pitcher Johnny Grodzicki also hailed from Nanticoke. After his debut with St. Louis in 1941, Grodzicki spent four years in the Army during World War II. He became a paratrooper and was dropped behind enemy lines into Germany in March 1945. Advancing on the town of Munster, an exploding shell sent shrapnel slicing into Grodzicki’s right hip and lower right leg, badly damaging the sciatic nerve. After surgery, he was sent home to recuperate.

Like nearly everyone from Nanticoke, Grodzicki was impressed with Bilko’s power. Grodzicki called Cardinals owner Sam Breadon and told him about the phenom, according to the Winston-Salem Sentinel. The Cardinals sent scout Benny Borgmann to take a look.

At a sandlot game in Nanticoke’s Honey Pot neighborhood (named for the large number of wild bees that once swarmed there), Borgmann, perched on a coal pile, watched Bilko blast a pitch about 400 feet, according to the Associated Press.

Borgmann arranged for Bilko to work out with the Cardinals’ affiliate in Allentown, Pa. Impressed, the Cardinals signed the 16-year-old in August 1945. Bilko made his pro debut on the final day of Allentown’s season, stroking a run-scoring single in his only plate appearance.

Creating a buzz

After a big season in 1947 for Winston-Salem (120 RBI, 109 runs scored), Bilko, a first baseman, flopped at Class AAA Rochester the next year. Given another chance with Rochester in 1949, Bilko became manager Johnny Keane’s project. At spring training, Keane “spent hours, day after day, pitching in batting practice” to him, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

In his first at-bat of the season, Bilko belted a grand slam, prompting Keane to dance a jig in the coaching box, the Rochester Democrat-Chronicle reported. With renewed confidence, Bilko walloped 34 homers, drove in 125 runs and scored 101.

According to the Post-Dispatch, Tigers scout Lena Blackburne called Bilko, 20, “a right-handed Johnny Mize.” Keane said his pupil has “more power than Jimmie Foxx.” Cardinals scout Joe Mathes told the newspaper, “He can hit a ball as far as anyone who ever played … He’ll hit them over any fence. His drive takes off like a good golfer’s tee shot.”

The Cardinals, in a pennant chase with Brooklyn, called up Bilko in late September 1949. In 22 plate appearances, he produced five hits and five walks. All signs pointed to him being the St. Louis first baseman in 1950.

Home cooking

After surgery to remove varicose veins, Bilko got married in January 1950. According to the Associated Press, “The couple ate regularly with the in-laws. Plenty of good, solid Polish food. The buttons started popping off his shirts.” Bilko told the wire service, “I didn’t want to hurt my mother-in-law’s feelings.”

A week before 1950 training camp opened, Cardinals owner Fred Saigh checked in with his prized slugger. “Bilko told me over the phone he was about six pounds overweight,” Saigh said to the Star-Times. “Well, I found out he had been estimating his weight. He never had been on a scale.”

“A walking ad for his mother-in-law’s cooking,” Bilko came to camp at 263 pounds, the Associated Press reported.

The Cardinals restricted his meals and went to work on his conditioning. “We had to get 30 pounds off him,” coach Terry Moore told the Rochester newspaper. “So we ran him ragged.”

For two weeks, Bilko wore a rubber pullover during workouts in the Florida sun. “Ounce by ounce, the fat drips off his frame,” the Associated Press reported.

Stan Musial said to the Rochester newspaper, “He’s melted off a lot of weight in a short time, and that bat feels to him as though it were made of lead.”

As Bilko recalled to the Los Angeles Mirror, “I starved 40 pounds off in six weeks and felt terrible.”

Bilko began the season with St. Louis, batted .182 with no homers in 10 games and was sent to the minors in May.

Polish power

Just as they’d done in 1950, the Cardinals put Bilko on their Opening Day rosters in 1951 and 1952, then sent him to the minors in May both years. The 1952 demotion came after he fractured an arm when he tripped going to the dugout.

A better break came in 1953. After a winter spent driving a 10-ton truck in Nanticoke, Bilko, 24, was one of three rookies who won starting jobs with the 1953 Cardinals. The trio of Bilko at first base, Ray Jablonski at third and Rip Repulski in center was dubbed the Polish Falcons.

(Cardinals left fielder Stan Musial and manager Eddie Stanky, born Edward Raymond Stankiewicz, also were of Polish descent.)

In the book “We Played the Game,” another 1953 Cardinals rookie, 18-year-old shortstop Dick Schofield, said, “You could look in some drinking spots and you’d find half the team in there. We had guys who could drink beer, like Steve Bilko, Rip Repulski and Ray Jablonski … We called Bilko ‘Humpty Bumpty.’ He was a big, strong, beer-guzzling guy who looked mean but was a very easygoing, nice man.”

Bilko was mean only to some National League pitchers. He had four games with four RBI for the 1953 Cardinals and totaled 84 RBI for the season. He also socked 21 home runs, but struck out the most (125) of any batter in the majors. In a game against the Reds, Bilko fanned five times. The next day, he bashed two doubles in one inning versus the Braves. Boxscore and Boxscore

Moving on

Rookie Tom Alston won the first base job in 1954, becoming the Cardinals’ first black player. After Bilko was sent to the Cubs at the end of April, Bob Burnes wrote in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, “Bilko was not the type of ballplayer with which the Cardinals are trying to rebuild … Stanky wants a running ballclub, a team of players quick to react to situations and take advantage of them.”

The Cubs, who had sluggers Ernie Banks, Ralph Kiner and Hank Sauer, acquired Bilko primarily as a pinch-hitter.

In the book “We Played the Game,” Cubs pitcher Johnny Klippstein said of Bilko, “I roomed with him for a while, and no matter when he would come into the room, he would be carrying a six-pack. He was a great guy. He was very serious when he was playing, but away from the park he was completely different.”

(Bilko and Rip Repulski bought a cocktail lounge on East Grand Avenue in St. Louis in November 1954.)

As it turned out, joining the Cubs was good fortune for Bilko, because it eventually landed him with their affiliate, the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League, and that’s where he became as famous as a Hollywood movie star.

La la land

In his three seasons with the Pacific Coast League Angels, Bilko was the Los Angeles version of Babe Ruth, or, at least, Tony Lazzeri. Bilko’s numbers: 37 homers, 124 RBI in 1955; 55 homers, 164 RBI in 1956; 56 homers, 140 RBI in 1957. The city of Angels was sky-high with excitement as Bilko pursued the league record of 60 homers hit by Lazzeri with the 1925 Salt Lake City Bees.

“When Bilko steps to the plate, an electric current of anticipation runs through the crowd,” Sid Ziff of the Los Angeles Mirror noted.

Angels manager Bob Scheffing told the newspaper in August 1956, “More people in L.A. today know of Bilko than Marilyn Monroe.”

Bilko became the first to belt 50 or more homers in consecutive seasons in the Pacific Coast League. “He has as much power as any of the home run hitters,” seven-time National League home run champion Ralph Kiner told the Los Angeles Mirror. “That goes for Mickey Mantle, Ted Kluszewski and Duke Snider.”

(From 1955-59, a TV comedy series, “The Phil Silvers Show,” on CBS featured Silvers as Sgt. Ernest Bilko. Silvers and Steve Bilko met and autographed baseballs for one another. A 1996 movie, “Sgt. Bilko,” starred Steve Martin as the title character.)

Impressing Ike

Bilko got back to the majors with the Reds in 1958. In June, they traded him to the Dodgers, who were playing their first season in Los Angeles after relocating from Brooklyn. The Dodgers gave up Don Newcombe for Bilko, a deal Sports Illustrated predicted “will be good for the fans although not good for the team.”

After a stint with the 1960 Tigers, Bilko was selected by the Los Angeles Angels, who joined the American League as an expansion team in 1961.

At spring training in Palm Springs, Calif., the 1961 Angels were visited by Dwight Eisenhower, who recently completed his second term as U.S. president. According to the Los Angeles Mirror, when Angels manager Bill Rigney introduced the club’s hulking first basemen, Bilko and Ted Kluszewski, Eisenhower said, “They’d make a couple of good bodyguards.”

Eisenhower also suggested to Rigney, “I’d never have them bunt.”

Eisenhower autographed a baseball glove for Bilko.

Bilko fit in well with the expansion Angels, a team with characters such as Rocky Bridges, Ryne Duren, Art Fowler and Leon Wagner.

In the book “We Played the Game,” Angels second baseman Billy Moran recalled how at spring training, “Bilko would go in the bathroom and turn on the hot water to steam up the place. Then he’d climb into the bathtub with a case of beer right beside him. He’d sweat and drink the case of beer. That was his routine for getting into shape. We’d laugh at him all the time, but he was one of my favorite people, a big, easygoing guy with no temper.”

Bilko, 32, slugged 20 home runs in a mere 294 at-bats for the 1961 Angels. He came back with them in 1962, his last season in the majors.

After his playing days, Bilko returned home to Pennsylvania and worked for Dana Classic Fragrances, makers of Chantilly perfume for women and English Leather cologne for men. (In its TV ads for the cologne, a woman purred, “All my men wear English Leather, or they wear nothing at all.”) A packaging inspector in the receiving department, Bilko was a member of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union.

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Pen pal: How Gary Sutherland bid farewell to Cardinals

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents on January 6, 2025| 11 Comments »

A short stint with the Cardinals was the end of the line in the playing career of Gary Sutherland. Afterward, he dropped them a line in gratitude.

A utilityman whose best position was second base, Sutherland played 13 seasons in the majors with the Phillies (1966-68), Expos (1969-71), Astros (1972-73), Tigers (1974-76) and Padres (1977) before finishing with the 1978 Cardinals.

He appeared in 10 games for the Cardinals, a team on its way to 93 losses. Cut from the roster in May, Sutherland, 33, sent the team a letter. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, it read:

“Dear Cards:

“I’m sorry I wasn’t able to say goodbye to all of you and that I wasn’t able to contribute much to the ballclub other than keeping the smokers stocked in cigarettes, and having an unblemished record as a prosecuting attorney (in clubhouse mock court hearings).

“My career has been a very good one for me and I have no regrets whatsoever other than having to leave so many friends. Everyone’s playing days must end some day and it seems my time has come …

“I want to wish everyone the best of luck. There’s still a long way to go and I know you’re capable of making it to the top this year. How can you miss? If I can’t make the team, as great as I am, you’ve got to be the best.”

Sutherland went on to become a scout for the Dodgers and Angels, then moved into the Angels’ front office. He was 80 when he died on Dec. 16, 2024.

Baseball bloodlines

Gary Sutherland was raised in Glendale, Calif., by a father (Ralph) who pitched in the Cardinals’ system and was 15-3 for Newport, Ark., in 1936, and a mother who was a catcher for a semipro softball team in Culver City, Calif. Dad pitched batting practice to Gary and his brothers and mom caught their throws in the backyard. Gary’s older brother, Darrell, pitched in the majors for the Mets and Indians.

A second baseman at University of Southern California, Gary Sutherland was chosen for the U.S. team that went to the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Baseball then was a demonstration sport, not in medal competition.

The Phillies signed Sutherland, 20, in November 1964. Minor-league teammates dubbed him Casper, as in the cartoon ghost, because of his pale complexion. (Sutherland later was diagnosed with hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar.)

After reaching the majors in September 1966, Sutherland stuck with the Phillies as a utility player the next two seasons. He appeared at second base, shortstop, third base, left field, right field, and went to the Florida Instructional League to learn catching in case he was needed in an emergency.

A right-handed contact hitter _ “The name of his game is ping, not power,” Bill Conlin noted in the Philadelphia Daily News _ Sutherland stung the Cardinals a couple of times in 1968.

With the Cardinals ahead, 3-2, at Philadelphia, the Phillies had two on, two outs, in the ninth when Sutherland batted against rookie reliever Hal Gilson. Left fielder Lou Brock shifted toward left-center because, as manager Red Schoendienst told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Sutherland “never pulls the ball.”

Gilson threw a slider down and in _ “Always a tough pitch for me to handle,” Sutherland told the Daily News. To nearly everyone’s surprise, he drove it toward the corner in deep left. Brock made a long run and leaped. The ball barely went over his glove for a double. Both runners scored, giving the Phillies a 4-3 walkoff win. “He probably won’t pull the ball to the left field corner the rest of the year,” Schoendienst moaned to the Post-Dispatch. Boxscore

Four months later at St. Louis, Ray Washburn started for the Cardinals in his first appearance since pitching a no-hitter. With the score tied at 1-1 in the ninth, the Phillies had a runner on third, two outs, when Washburn intentionally walked former teammate Bill White to pitch to Sutherland. Swinging at a slow curve, Sutherland lashed a double to center, driving in the winning run. Boxscore

Original Expo

The Expos selected Sutherland in the October 1968 National League expansion draft. Gene Mauch, Sutherland’s first big-league manager, was with Montreal. Expos scout Eddie Lopat, who watched Sutherland hit .339 for the Phillies in September 1968, told the Montreal Star, “He’s the best utilityman I saw in the National League.”

Sutherland became the Expos’ starting second baseman. Mauch stuck with him even after Sutherland went hitless in his first 22 at-bats.

On June 8, 1969, Sutherland helped the Expos end a 20-game losing streak. Ahead 2-0 on a Rusty Staub home run, the Expos had runners on the corners, one out, in the fourth against the Dodgers’ Bill Singer when Sutherland perfectly executed a suicide squeeze bunt, scoring Mack Jones from third. The Expos won, 4-3. Boxscore

Sutherland finished the 1969 season with 130 hits (third-most on the club) and 26 doubles. Platooned with Marv Staehle in 1970, Sutherland slumped to .206, then reverted to a reserve role in 1971 after the Expos acquired Ron Hunt.

Traded to the Astros in 1972, Sutherland spent most of that season and the next in the minors.

Tiger tale

Getting demoted “was quite a shock,” Sutherland said to the Detroit Free Press, but a silver lining was he got to play regularly and that helped improve his hitting. He batted .299 for Oklahoma City in 1972 and .294 for Denver in 1973.

The Tigers acquired Sutherland to be their second baseman in 1974. “I’m not going to be outstanding in anything because I’m limited in so many ways,” Sutherland cautioned the Free Press. “I don’t have enough power to hit a lot of home runs and I don’t run well enough to be a .300 hitter.”

He did enough to stay in the lineup. Adept at turning the double play “about as well as any second baseman in the business,” according to the Montreal Star, Sutherland also contributed at the plate for the Tigers. In 1974, he had career highs in hits (157), RBI (49) and total bases (194). With the 1975 Tigers, Sutherland combined 130 hits with a career-best 45 walks.

Though he ended up with just 24 home runs in the majors, Sutherland had some surprising swats. He slugged homers in consecutive seasons versus the Cardinals’ Steve Carlton at Montreal. Boxscore and Boxscore

With the Tigers, facing Catfish Hunter for the first time, Sutherland hit two homers in a game at Oakland. A disgusted Hunter told the San Francisco Examiner, “Both pitches in the same spot, fastball up, slider up, both landed in the same spot.” Sutherland, a good sport, said to the newspaper, “I’m sure the wind helped them out.” Boxscore

The Tigers dealt Sutherland to the Brewers in June 1976. Released after the season, he joined the 1977 Padres and hit .316 for them as a pinch-hitter.

Good connections

Hoping to keep playing after getting released by the Padres in December 1977, Sutherland called Buzzie Bavasi of the Angels and asked for a roster spot. Bavasi said he didn’t have an opening. Soon after, in a talk with St. Louis general manager Bing Devine, Bavasi learned the Cardinals were seeking a backup infielder. Bavasi suggested Sutherland.

The Cardinals signed Sutherland to a minor-league contract and invited him to spring training as a non-roster player. Sutherland beat out Ken Oberkfell for one of the two reserve infield spots. The other went to Mike Phillips.

The 1978 Cardinals, though, were a mess. Manager Vern Rapp was fired in April, Ken Boyer replaced him and Sutherland no longer fit the plans. In eight plate appearances for the Cardinals, he produced one hit and two sacrifice bunts.

Just before getting released, Sutherland made an important contribution to the Cardinals. Bing Devine was considering a trade for Padres outfielder George Hendrick. Devine asked Sutherland for an opinion of his former Padres teammate. As Devine recalled to the Post-Dispatch, Sutherland “told me he never knew of a player who had a better relationship with his teammates than Hendrick did with the Padres.”

Devine made the deal and Hendrick helped the Cardinals become World Series champions in 1982.

The ability to assess talent helped Sutherland become a Dodgers scout and coordinator of their professional scouting department. Then the Angels hired him for the same roles.

Sutherland “was a significant influence” in the Angels’ decision to hire manager Mike Scioscia, the Los Angeles Times reported. Scioscia led the Angels to their only World Series title in 2002.

Sutherland became special assistant to Angels general manager Bill Stoneman. Sutherland and Stoneman had been Expos teammates. According to the Times, Sutherland rose to No. 2 on the Angels’ baseball operations staff.

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