RetroSimba

(Updated Dec. 21, 2024)

A grand start to his Cardinals career culminated with a grand slam for pitcher Brad Penny before an injury described as minor became something major.

On Dec. 7, 2009, the Cardinals signed Penny, a free agent, and projected him to join a 2010 starting rotation with Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright, Kyle Lohse and Jaime Garcia.

The move initially seemed to be a masterstroke by the Cardinals. Penny was 3-0 with an 0.94 ERA after four starts for them.

On May 21, 2010, three days before he turned 32, Penny hit a grand slam against ex-Cardinal Joel Pineiro of the Angels, but couldn’t continue pitching because of pain near his right shoulder. Originally described as a muscle strain, the injury turned out to be a muscle tear and Penny never played in another game for the Cardinals.

Hard thrower

Born and raised in Oklahoma, Penny followed the Cardinals as a boy.

“I grew up a Cardinals fan,” he told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I grew up an Ozzie Smith fan.”

A pitcher at Broken Arrow High School, Penny was selected by the Diamondbacks in the fifth round of the 1996 amateur draft. He spent four seasons in the Diamondbacks’ farm system before he was traded to the Marlins.

In 2003, Penny was 14-10 for the Marlins and also won both his starts against the Yankees in the World Series.

The Marlins traded Penny to the Dodgers for outfielder Juan Encarnacion and others in July 2004.

A right-handed power pitcher, Penny thrived with the Dodgers and became part of the Hollywood scene. He dated actress Alyssa Milano and bought thoroughbred horses to race at Hollywood Park.

Penny had back-to-back 16-win seasons for the Dodgers in 2006 and 2007, but his right shoulder ached in 2008 and he finished 6-9 with a 6.27 ERA. Dodgers coach Larry Bowa said Penny was out of shape, but Penny said, “I was hurt all year. I didn’t have one game where my shoulder didn’t hurt.”

Granted free agency, Penny rejected surgery, signed with the Red Sox and started a shoulder strengthening program. Penny made 24 starts for the 2009 Red Sox, consistently fell behind in counts and was 7-8 with a 5.61 ERA.

Released by the Red Sox in August 2009, Penny signed with the Giants and experienced a turnaround. He was 4-1 with a 2.59 ERA in six starts for the Giants and entered free agency.

Learning new tricks

With three starting pitchers, Pineiro, Todd Wellemeyer and John Smoltz, becoming free agents, the Cardinals went shopping for a veteran to add to the rotation.

The Giants made a bid to keep Penny, but their one-year offer was tied to incentives. When the Cardinals proposed a one-year contract with a base salary of $7.5 million, plus a hotel suite on all road trips, Penny accepted.

“We’ve liked him ever since he was with Florida,” said Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan.

Penny’s reputation was he threw as hard as he could and built high pitch counts. “There would be games where he would throw 18 or 20 straight fastballs,” Dodgers pitching coach Rick Honeycutt told the Boston Globe. “You just can’t overpower everybody.”

Duncan and catcher Yadier Molina worked to get Penny to throw fewer pitches and use a sinker, or split-fingered pitch, to get groundball outs rather than strikeouts.

When Penny fell behind in the count, Molina urged him to trust the sinker instead of throwing the predictable pitch, a fastball.

(Asked in a 2019 interview with Stan McNeal of Cardinals Yearbook to explain how he helped pitchers, Molina said, “Pitchers want to go 100 percent every game. Sometimes when you’re 80 percent and go in a different direction, you still can win the game … When you can throw hard, it’s better to locate 94 mph and get a groundball than to throw 98 across the plate and see a double in the gap. As a catcher, you have to get them to know that.”)

The results were encouraging. After Penny beat the Giants on April 25, Duncan said, “He won the game without throwing a single pitch as hard as he could. He thought his way through that game. He’s pitching. He threw strikes, but he rarely gave them what they wanted.”

Penny was 3-1 with a 1.56 ERA in April and the Post-Dispatch declared he “may be the most impressive starter thus far.”

Penny said Duncan “gives me things that I’ve never even been talked to about as far as groundball outs to flyball outs, hits to runs.”

Regarding Molina, Penny said, “What makes it real easy on you is having a guy like Yadi behind the plate. He’s a real important part of it.”

Hit or miss

Penny lost his first three decisions in May, but pitched poorly in only one of those games and had a 2.73 ERA entering his start against the Angels at St. Louis.

In the third inning, with the score tied at 4-4, the Cardinals had runners on second and third, two outs, when Pineiro issued an intentional walk to Skip Schumaker, bringing Penny to the plate.

Penny swung at the first pitch and hit it over the wall in left for a grand slam, his first big-league home run in seven years. Video

When Penny went out to toss his warmup pitches in the fourth, Duncan noticed something was wrong and stopped him from continuing. Boxscore

Penny told the Post-Dispatch he wasn’t injured on the home run swing. He said he felt soreness since his previous start versus the Reds and didn’t tell anyone.

The Cardinals placed Penny on the 15-day disabled list and expected him to be ready for the second half of the season.

On July 7, Penny was pitching a simulated game in Denver when he complained of renewed pain in the right shoulder. A week later, Penny revealed tissue was torn from the bone.

Unable to pitch the remainder of the season, he finished his short Cardinals stint at 3-4 with a 3.23 ERA.

After the season, Penny was granted free agency and signed with the Tigers, joining a rotation with Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer. Penny was 11-11 with a 5.30 ERA in 31 starts for the 2011 Tigers.

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The franchise of Dizzy Dean and Bob Gibson gave Bryn Smith the most lucrative contract of any Cardinals pitcher.

On Nov. 28, 1989, Smith, a free agent, signed a three-year $6 million contract with the Cardinals.

“It’s more money than I ever dreamed of,” Smith told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Smith’s contract was the second-highest in Cardinals history, behind only shortstop Ozzie Smith, the Post-Dispatch reported.

Looking for a proven winner to join Joe Magrane (18-9 in 1989) and Jose DeLeon (16-12) in their starting rotation, the Cardinals chose Smith, 34, who had six consecutive seasons of double-digit wins with the Expos but who also lost eight of his last nine decisions in 1989 and finished with a losing record (10-11).

Show time

Smith grew up in Santa Maria, Calif. His mother and father were introduced to one another by actress Jane Russell while working at RKO Pictures in Hollywood. Smith’s mother dated actor Cary Grant before she married.

Smith’s unusual first name was derived from the initials of his maternal grandfather, Baxter Robert Young Nisbet.

When Smith was 15, his mother took him to a Dodgers game and he decided he wanted to play baseball. He tried out for the high school team and discovered he could play.

Smith, 17, was selected by the Cardinals in the 49th round of the 1973 amateur draft but chose to enroll in junior college. A year later, he signed with the Orioles.

“I got $1,000 to sign and I spent half of it on an engagement ring and I went out and blew the rest,” Smith said.

He spent three seasons in the Orioles’ farm system, got traded to the Expos and made his major-league debut with them in 1981. His best season was in 1985 when he was 18-5 with a 2.91 ERA.

A fan of the rock group Rush, Smith joined them on tour for a week and credited the lead singer with teaching him how to deal with crowds.

A right-hander, Smith pitched to contact, issued few walks and relied on changing speeds. The palmball was a favorite pitch. “I’m not a power pitcher,” he said. “I have to be a control pitcher and make use of the park.”

Money ball

After finishing seven games behind the first-place Cubs in the National League East in 1989, the Cardinals decided to find a starting pitcher in the free agent market and focused on two Expos defectors, Smith and left-hander Mark Langston.

The Giants and Braves also were interested in Smith and the Angels wanted Langston. When the Yankees signed another Expos defector, free-agent pitcher Pascual Perez, to a three-year, $5.7 million contract in November 1989, it established the market value and prompted the Cardinals to make their offer to Smith.

“It was an offer I couldn’t refuse,” said Smith.

Soon after, Langston signed with the Angels for five years and $16 million.

Stung by the departures of Perez, Smith and Langston from their starting rotation, Expos owner Charles Bronfman told the Associated Press, “People are being financially irresponsible. I mean, you can have bidding for players, but you don’t have to be a damned fool about it. Right now, some people are.”

Noting Smith’s career record of 81-71, Expos president Claude Brochu said, “Bryn is a good, average pitcher. That’s what he is _ a .500 pitcher. If you triple his salary, it’s not suddenly going to make him a 20-game winner.”

Unfazed, Cardinals general manager Dal Maxvill said Smith “probably has the best control of any pitcher in the National League. Whitey (Herzog) and I both think that with Bryn pitching in Busch Stadium, with an outstanding defense behind him, he can be a big winner.”

Injury issues

Smith made his Cardinals debut on April 10, 1990, against the Expos at St. Louis, got the win and drove in a run. Boxscore

A shoulder ailment prevented Smith from pitching from late July to early September and he finished the 1990 season at 9-8 with a 4.27 ERA.

In 1991, Smith got the start on Opening Day, earned a win against the Cubs in Chicago and went on to finish 12-9 with a 3.85 ERA. He led the 1991 Cardinals in wins (12), starts (31) and innings pitched (198.2).

The 1992 season was a bust for Smith. He made one start in April, had elbow surgery and was used as a reliever when he returned in September. Smith was 4-2 with a 4.64 ERA for the 1992 Cardinals, became a free agent after the season and signed with the Rockies.

In three seasons with St. Louis, Smith was 25-19 with a 4.06 ERA.

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Mark Petkovsek, barely clinging to the fringes of the major leagues, revived his pitching career with the Cardinals.

Petkovsek signed a minor-league contract with the Cardinals on Nov. 18, 1994, his 29th birthday. Projected to spend 1995 with the Louisville farm club, Petkovsek was called up to the Cardinals when injuries depleted their pitching staff.

Given the opportunity, Petkovsek became a valuable, versatile Cardinals pitcher.

Long, hard road

Born and raised in Beaumont, Texas, Petkovsek was the youngest of eight children. He excelled at multiple sports, went to the University of Texas and became a top pitcher. A right-hander, he had a 29-3 record in three seasons and his 15 wins in 1987 tied for the most in the nation among college pitchers.

Petkovsek was selected by the Rangers in the first round of the 1987 amateur draft. Four years later, he made his debut with them in a start against the Yankees and was tagged for seven runs in 4.2 innings. He pitched in four games for the Rangers before being returned to the minors.

Granted free agency after the 1991 season, Petkovsek signed with the Pirates. In 1993, his lone season with them, Petkovsek was 3-0 with a 6.96 ERA in 26 relief appearances. He joined the Astros’ organization in 1994, spent the season with their Tucson farm club and pitched a no-hitter versus Colorado Springs.

Cardinals director of player development Mike Jorgensen decided to take a chance on Petkovsek and signed the free agent. “He’s not a dominating pitcher … He’s a control guy, kind of like Bob Tewksbury,” Jorgensen said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Dependable pitcher

Major-league players went on strike in August 1994 and remained out of work when spring training camps opened in February 1995. As a player signed to a minor-league contract and not on the 40-man Cardinals roster, Petkovsek was required to report. He was one of 55 pitchers, many of them replacement players, in Cardinals camp at St. Petersburg, Fla.

When the Grapefruit League exhibition schedule began, Petkovsek was one of about 10 Cardinals minor-leaguers who declined to participate in games with replacement players.

After the strike was settled in April 1995, Petkovsek was assigned to Louisville. He was 4-1 with a 2.32 ERA in eight starts when the call came to join the Cardinals in May 1995.

Relying on a sinkerball and changeup, Petkovsek said, “I try to get ahead and get them out with as few pitches as possible.”

Put into the starting rotation, Petkovsek won three of his first four decisions, including a shutout of the Dodgers at St. Louis. Boxscore

“I never stopped believing,” Petkovsek said.

He led the 1995 Cardinals pitching staff in starts (21) and innings pitched (137.1), posting a 6-6 record and 4.00 ERA.

The next season, Petkovsek became what the Post-Dispatch called the Cardinals’ “good luck charm.” Used as a starter and reliever in 1996, Petkovsek was 11-2 with a 3.55 ERA for the Cardinals, who reached the postseason for the first time in nine years.

Petkovsek deflected credit for his role in the club’s success. “I’m not into this for the glamour,” he said. “I’m not sure I’d know what to do with the limelight if I got it.”

Petkovsek pitched four seasons (1995-98) for St. Louis and was 28-19 with two saves before he was traded to the Angels for catcher Matt Garrick.

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