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How Browns achieved record-setting start in 1944

Posted in Games, Hitters, Pitchers on April 16, 2019| 4 Comments »

Though the Cardinals were two-time defending National League champions, the American League Browns became the darlings of the St. Louis sports scene early in the 1944 season.

In April 1944, the Browns set an American League record by winning their first nine games.

Picked by national baseball scribes to finish fifth in the eight-team league, the Browns’ season-opening hot streak caught most people by surprise. The year before, the 1943 Browns finished 72-80 and 25 games out of first place.

On the eve of the 1944 season opener, Browns manager Luke Sewell told the Associated Press, “I can’t tell you what the Browns will do this year, but I know darned well we won’t be last. A lot depends on our pitching.”

The Browns held foes to two runs or less in six of the nine wins in the streak.

Jack Kramer, a Navy veteran who spent most of the 1943 season with the minor-league Toledo Mud Hens, was 3-0 with an 0.68 ERA during the streak. Nelson Potter and Steve Sundra each got two wins. George Caster and Sig Jakucki got one win apiece.

Vern Stephens, the Browns’ 23-year-old shortstop and cleanup hitter, batted .344 during the streak and first baseman George McQuinn hit .333.

The Browns’ stock price rose from $2.25 a share on Opening Day to $3.75 a share at the height of the streak.

The nine consecutive wins by the Browns shattered the American League record of seven consecutive wins to start a season set by the 1933 Yankees. The Browns tied the major-league mark held by two National League clubs, the 1918 Giants and 1940 Dodgers. Since then, the 1982 Braves and the 1987 Brewers each achieved the major-league record of 13 consecutive wins to start a season.

Here is a look at each of the Browns’ nine wins in the streak:

Win No. 1

The Browns opened the season on April 18 with a 2-1 victory at Detroit against the Tigers. The Browns scored in the first inning against Dizzy Trout and added another in the ninth on a home run by Stephens.

In the bottom of the ninth, Kramer struck out the first two batters before yielding a home run to Pinky Higgins. After Jimmy Outlaw singled, Caster, the Browns’ bullpen ace, relieved. Caster walked Don Ross before getting Bob Swift to ground out, ending the game. Boxscore

Win No. 2

Sundra, who five years earlier posted an 11-1 record for the 1939 Yankees, pitched a three-hitter for the Browns in their 3-1 triumph against the Tigers. Boxscore

Win No. 3

The Browns completed a three-game sweep of the Tigers with an 8-5 victory. Stephens had a RBI-single and a two-run double against Tigers ace Hal Newhouser. Boxscore

Win No. 4

The Browns beat the White Sox, 5-3, in the April 21 home opener before 2,021 at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis. Mike Kreevich, a 5-foot-7 right fielder who had no home runs in 60 games for the 1943 Browns, hit a two-run home run in the first inning against Thornton Lee and a solo homer off Lee in the sixth. Boxscore

Win No. 5

In the first game of a Sunday doubleheader against the White Sox before 7,709 at St. Louis, the Browns won, 5-2. Kramer pitched a complete game and hit a two-run home run off Bill Dietrich in the second inning. Boxscore

Win No. 6

The Browns completed the doubleheader sweep with a 4-3 win. With the White Sox ahead, 3-1, the Browns rallied for a run in the seventh and two in the eighth. Al Zarilla drove in the winning run with a single. Boxscore

The Post-Dispatch reported, “Those are strange expressions you see on the faces of followers of the Browns today as they stagger around in a daze thinking of the club’s six-game winning streak.”

In The Sporting News, Frederick G. Lieb wrote, “St. Louis is holding its breath to see how long it lasts.”

Win No. 7

In the first of a two-game series versus the Indians, the Browns won, 5-2, before 960 spectators at St. Louis. “Leaden skies and weather too chilly for grandstand comfort held down the attendance,” according to the Post-Dispatch.

The Browns broke a scoreless tie with four runs in the sixth against Allie Reynolds. The big hit was a two-run double by Stephens. Boxscore

Win No. 8

The Browns established an American League record for most wins to start a season with a 5-1 triumph over the Indians before 1,106 witnesses at St. Louis. Stephens had a two-run single in the first and Hal Epps, a light-hitting outfielder, had his first RBI of the season with a two-run single in the second. Boxscore

Asked about setting the record, Sewell replied to The Sporting News, “I still get hungry at meal time and still get sleepy at bed time. Maybe I’m pleased, but otherwise I don’t feel any different from the days before the season started.”

Win No. 9

In the opener of a series against the White Sox at Chicago, Kramer pitched a four-hitter and the Browns won, 3-1. Boxscore

The rest of the story

The streak ended on April 29 with a 4-3 loss to the White Sox at Chicago. The Browns had a 3-0 lead, but the White Sox scored two in the seventh, one in the eighth and the winning run in the ninth. Boxscore

The Browns and Tigers went into the last game of the regular season tied atop the American League standings. When the Browns beat the Yankees, 5-2, at St. Louis and the Tigers were defeated, 4-1, by the Senators at Detroit, the Browns finished 89-65, one win better than the Tigers at 88-66. The Browns were 13-9 versus the Tigers in 1944.

In the World Series, the Cardinals, National League pennant winners for the third consecutive year, won four of six against the Browns for the championship.

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How Jim Baxes welcomed Bob Gibson to big leagues

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents, Pitchers on April 13, 2019| 3 Comments »

Bob Gibson and Jim Baxes, two rookies whose careers went in opposite directions, are connected by one swing of the bat.

On April 15, 1959, Gibson made his major-league debut for the Cardinals against the Dodgers at Los Angeles and the first batter he faced, Baxes, hit a home run.

Gibson went on to have a Hall of Fame career. Baxes played one year in the major leagues.

Who are you?

After posting a 2.84 ERA in 190 innings pitched for Cardinals farm teams in 1958, Gibson was a candidate to earn a spot on the big-league club’s 1959 Opening Day roster.

Early in spring training at the Cardinals’ camp in St. Petersburg, Fla., first-year manager Solly Hemus approached a player and asked, “Are you Olivares?”

The player replied, “No, I’m Bob Gibson.”

According to The Sporting News, Gibson turned to a teammate and said, “I must have made a hell of an impression on the manager. After a week, he doesn’t even know who I am.”

Gibson’s fastball got him the attention he desired and the 23-year-old rookie won a spot on the 1959 Cardinals’ pitching staff as a reliever.

Though the St. Louis Post-Dispatch expressed concern Gibson “needs either a better curve or a changeup to go with his blazer and his slider,” Cardinals pitching coach Howie Pollet said, “He’s fast enough to throw one quick one by them a lot of times, even when they’re looking for it. Within a few weeks, we might have him getting his breaking ball over better.”

In a column for the Post-Dispatch on the eve of the 1959 season opener, Bob Broeg, rating the Cardinals’ pitchers, said, “If there’s one who does stir the imagination a bit, though he’s green, it’s Bob Gibson.”

Waiting his turn

Meanwhile, at Dodgers spring training camp in Vero Beach, Fla., Baxes, a 30-year-old rookie, was manager Walter Alston’s surprise choice to open the regular season as the third baseman.

Baxes’ father immigrated to the United States from Greece in 1900, went to work in a San Francisco rope factory, married and started a family. His son, Dimitrios Speros Baxes, became known in the Russian Hill neighborhood of San Francisco as Jim.

Jim Baxes and his younger brother, Mike, developed into professional ballplayers. Mike made it to the majors with the Athletics in 1956, but Jim, who started his career in the Dodgers’ farm system in 1947, waited 12 years until getting his shot in the big leagues in 1959.

Baxes was a right-handed power hitter who slugged 30 home runs for Fort Worth in 1953 and 28 home runs for Spokane in 1958, but, according to the Los Angeles Times, he was a “ferocious flailer” who swung and missed too often.

“I’m confident I can cut it,” Baxes said to The Sporting News. “I’ve improved the last couple of seasons and I don’t think my age will prove any handicap.”

Temper tantrum

After losing three of their first four games of the 1959 season, the Cardinals faced Dodgers right-hander Don Drysdale at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

In the sixth inning, Stan Musial of the Cardinals tried to score from second on Joe Cunningham’s line single to center, but was called out by umpire Dusty Boggess.

“I almost fell off the bench when Musial was called out,” Hemus told the Post-Dispatch.

Convinced he slid into the plate before catcher John Roseboro applied a high tag after fielding a throw from Don Demeter, Musial argued with Boggess, “but he was Casper Milquetoast compared to his boss,” the Los Angeles Times reported.

Hemus ran onto the field, charged at Boggess, “threw his cap to the ground and repeatedly kicked the dirt” before he was ejected, according to the Post-Dispatch.

“He took the ballgame away from us,” Hemus said. “That was the worst so-called exhibition of baseball umpiring I ever saw.”

Rude greeting

In the seventh inning, with the Dodgers ahead, 3-0, Gibson, wearing uniform No. 58, relieved starter Larry Jackson. Baxes led off and hit Gibson’s third big-league pitch into the seats in left-center for his first big-league home run.

Gibson “received a rough welcome into major-league warfare,” the Post-Dispatch reported.

Baxes gave Gibson “quite an initiation,” the Los Angeles Times wrote.

Gibson retired the next three batters in order, getting Drysdale to line out to second, Ron Fairly to fly out and Wally Moon to ground out.

In the eighth, Roseboro singled, moved to second on Demeter’s sacrifice bunt, stole third and scored on Charlie Neal’s sacrifice bunt. Gil Hodges, the last batter Gibson faced in the game, popped out to the catcher. Boxscore

Gibson made two more relief appearances for the Cardinals before he was sent back to the minor leagues on April 28, 1959.

In his book, “Stranger to the Game,” Gibson said, “Hemus had me convinced that I wasn’t any damn good and consequently I wasn’t.”

Different paths

On May 9, three weeks after his home run against Gibson, Baxes was assigned to the minors because the Dodgers wanted Jim Gilliam at third base. The demotion was devastating to Baxes, who batted .303 for the Dodgers. “I think that entitled me to a better chance than I received,” Baxes said to the Associated Press.

Baxes refused to report to the minors, went home to Long Beach, Calif., and got a job at a sheet metal company. The Indians, seeking a backup infielder, contacted the Dodgers and on May 22, 1959, Baxes was dealt to Cleveland.

In his first at-bat for the Indians, on May 23, 1959, Baxes slugged a pinch-hit home run against Jim Bunning of the Tigers. Boxscore

Baxes played in 77 games for the 1959 Indians and hit 15 home runs, but he wasn’t brought back. He played two more seasons in the minors, finishing in 1961 with a Cardinals farm club, the Portland Beavers.

Gibson, meanwhile, was called up to the Cardinals on July 29, 1959, and put in the starting rotation.

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Why Cardinals rated Montreal a diamond in the rough

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents on April 10, 2019| 6 Comments »

Stepping foot on foreign soil for the first time in the regular season, the Cardinals felt the ground shift beneath them.

On April 14, 1969, the Cardinals opposed the Expos at Montreal in the first regular-season major-league game played outside the U.S.

Led by the slugging of Mack Jones, the Expos, a National League expansion team, overcame a seven-run inning by the Cardinals and won, 8-7, before 29,184 at sold-out Jarry Park.

It was a joyous day for the baseball fans of Montreal, who naturally were proud to have a team and were thrilled to win a home opener against the two-time defending National League champion Cardinals, but there were glitches.

Though the weather was sunny, the playing field was a mess, despite the efforts of the grounds crew.

“When the frost began to thaw underground, the mound and area behind the plate sank a few inches,” according to The Sporting News, and the field became soft and lumpy.

“It was like running on a hunk of Gouda cheese,” the Montreal Gazette noted.

Oh, Canada

The National League awarded Montreal a franchise, even though it didn’t have a suitable ballpark. The Expos had a few months to renovate 3,000-seat Jarry Park and get it up to major-league standards before the start of the 1969 season.

The Expos opened their inaugural season with six road games, three at New York against the Mets and three at Chicago against the Cubs, and won two.

Four days before the home opener, Expos management “feared the game might never happen” because Jarry Park wasn’t ready, The Sporting News reported, but workers “toiled around the clock.”

About 3,000 temporary folding chairs still were being installed in sections of the ballpark on game day, delaying the opening of the gates. Expos general manager Jim Fanning pitched in, putting up chairs in the section behind home plate, the Gazette reported.

“Stadium workers were still bolting in seats and shoveling snow as the first fans arrived,” the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported.

Sinking feeling

Players were disappointed to find the field “rough” and “rubbery,” according to The Sporting News.

Cardinals third baseman Mike Shannon teasingly told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that his burly teammate, Joe Torre, will “sink six inches into that infield.”

Torre good-naturedly replied, “This soft infield ought to bring everyone else down to my speed.”

The infield was “extremely spongy and seemed to have foam rubber under it,” the Post-Dispatch reported. Cardinals shortstop Dal Maxvill said, “You step here and ground sinks a yard away.”

Indeed, the ground literally was shifting. “As the earth settled, the mound dropped five inches below the official 10-inch height, which was already five inches lower than last year’s regulation elevation,” the Gazette observed. “Pitchers had the feeling they were throwing uphill.”

“To further complicate the situation,” the Gazette added, “home plate was off kilter and pointing slightly toward left field.”

The ground was so soft “plate umpire Mel Steiner was standing ankle deep in the turf behind home by the end of the game,” according to the Associated Press.

According to columnist Bob Addie in The Sporting News, catchers Tim McCarver of the Cardinals and John Bateman of the Expos “were sunk in the soft stuff up to their ankles. It was the first time a catcher ever had to throw from a foxhole.”

“I’ve played on some bad diamonds, but this is the worst,” said Cardinals center fielder Curt Flood. “I pray I don’t get killed out there.”

Flood continued, “It was unbelievable. The infield was soft and it was tough to go from first to third. A stolen base is going to be unheard of here until something is done about it. You just can’t get the proper footing …. The outfield is rough and it’s tough to figure out which way the ball is going to bounce.”

Flood’s remarks offended Expos manager Gene Mauch, who wanted him fined. “The commissioner should turn Flood upside down and shake a little money out of his pocket,” Mauch said to The Sporting News. “It’s not in the best interest of baseball to say what he did.”

Recalling his days as Phillies manager, Mauch said, “The infield at Jarry Park was better than the infield when we played at Busch Stadum for the first time” after the downtown ballpark opened in St. Louis in 1966.

Hits and errors

For the first game at Montreal, the batting orders were:

_ Cardinals: Lou Brock, left field; Curt Flood, center field; Vada Pinson, right field; Joe Torre, first base; Mike Shannon, third base; Tim McCarver, catcher; Julian Javier, second base; Dal Maxvill, shortstop; Nelson Briles, pitcher.

_ Expos: Don Bosch, center field; Maury Wills, shortstop; Rusty Staub, right field; Mack Jones, left field; Bob Bailey, first base; John Bateman, catcher; Coco Laboy, third base; Gary Sutherland, second base; Larry Jaster, pitcher.

Jaster was a former Cardinal and Laboy was developed in their farm system.

Jones, nicknamed “Mack the Knife,” looked sharp. In the first inning, he hit a three-run home run, and in the second he produced a two-run triple.

“I hit a pretty good breaking ball for the homer and the triple was a fastball,” Jones said.

The Expos added a run in the third on Jaster’s single and led, 6-0, but in the fourth they committed five errors and a balk, helping the Cardinals score seven times. Maxvill’s grand slam, his only one in the majors, and Torre’s two-run homer were the big hits.

Referring to the Expos’ miscues, Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst said, “They tried to give us the game, but we didn’t want it.”

The Expos tied the score, 7-7, in the bottom of the fourth and got the winning run in the seventh when pitcher Dan McGinn drove in Laboy from second with a single against Gary Waslewski. McGinn, a former punter for Notre Dame’s football team, got the win with 5.1 scoreless innings and avenged the loss he suffered seven months earlier in his major-league debut for the Reds against the Cardinals.

Said Cardinals general manager Bing Devine: “It was a badly played game on both sides, but we’re not supposed to be playing as badly as the Expos.” Boxscore and video

 

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How Bill White made an encore with Cardinals

Posted in Games, Hitters, Trades on April 4, 2019| Leave a Comment »

A friendship with general manager Bing Devine enabled first baseman Bill White to finish his playing career with the Cardinals.

On April 2, 1969, the Cardinals reacquired White from the Phillies for infielder Jerry Buchek and utility player Jim Hutto.

The trade gave White, 35, the opportunity to return to the team for whom he’d achieved the most success.

White no longer was an everyday player and he was preparing to transition into a television career in Philadelphia, but Devine wanted him to fill a bench role and White was willing to do so as a favor to his friend and to bring closure to his playing days.

Ties that bind

In White’s first stint with the Cardinals, from 1959-65, he topped 100 RBI three times, hit 20 or more home runs five years in a row and won the Gold Glove Award six times as a first baseman. He also was a National League all-star in five of his seasons with the Cardinals and helped them become 1964 World Series champions.

In October 1965, Cardinals general manager Bob Howsam traded White to the Phillies. He had 22 home runs and 103 RBI for them in 1966, but he injured an Achilles tendon in 1967 and his production declined considerably.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, White decided in August 1968 he would retire after the season, but Phillies general manager John Quinn convinced him to play another year.

At spring training in 1969, when the Phillies shifted Richie Allen from third base to first base, White asked Quinn what the club planned to do with him. Quinn said the Phillies wouldn’t cut White from the roster but might trade him to the Cardinals.

“Bing Devine has expressed an interest in you,” Quinn told White.

Devine was Cardinals general manager in March 1959 when the club acquired White from the Giants. Devine and White developed a mutual respect and their bond remained strong, even after Devine was fired by Cardinals owner Gussie Busch in August 1964.

In 1967, when White was with the Phillies and Devine was with the Mets, Devine visited White at his home to offer support and encouragement while White was attempting to recover from the Achilles tendon injury. “I think a lot of him,” White said to the Inquirer.

Welcome back

In his 2011 autobiography, “Uppity,” White said, “At first I said no to the proposed trade, but Bing was persuasive.”

White told Quinn he agreed to the trade because of Devine, who returned to the Cardinals after the 1967 season. “I wouldn’t have gone to any other team,” White said to the Inquirer. “I wouldn’t even have gone to St. Louis if it were not for Bing Devine.”

The Philadelphia Daily News described the two-time defending National League champion Cardinals as “a dynasty.” Joe Torre, acquired from the Braves for Orlando Cepeda, was the first baseman for the 1969 Cardinals and Devine saw White as being an ideal backup as well as a left-handed pinch-hitter.

“Bill fits the bill,” Devine said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

In a 2011 interview, White told me another reason Devine wanted him back with the Cardinals is he hoped to groom him to become a manager when White was done playing, but White wasn’t interested.

“Bing brought me back because he wanted me to manage at (Class AAA) Tulsa and eventually manage the Cardinals,” White said. “I didn’t want to manage. I didn’t want to try to tell 25 other guys how to play the game. I’d rather do something where the success depends on me, not on other people.”

Open and shut

White wore No. 12 for most of his first seven seasons with St. Louis, but backup outfielder Joe Hague had that number with the 1969 Cardinals. White asked for and received No. 7 because he liked low numbers, he said to the Post-Dispatch.

“I’m ready to do anything they want me to _ even pitch batting practice,” White said to the Post-Dispatch.

“This isn’t a knock at the Phillies’ organization _ they’ve been good to me _ but the difference between playing in St. Louis and Philadelphia is night and day,” White said to the Inquirer. “It’s depressing playing in that Philadelphia ballpark. Heck, my locker was over a sewer … And it’s depressing to hear your teammates booed.”

On April 8, 1969, the Cardinals opened the season against the Pirates at St. Louis. In the 12th inning, with the score tied at 2-2, two outs and Mike Shannon on first base, Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst sent White to bat for second baseman Julian Javier.

White was “cheered loudly” as he stepped to the plate, the Post-Dispatch reported.

Facing right-hander Ron Kline, White lined a pitch to left-center.

“What appeared to be a sure double turned out to be a mere out because the ball hooked toward” left fielder Willie Stargell, who made a one-handed catch while on the run, according to the Post-Dispatch.

If the ball had eluded Stargell, Shannon likely would have circled the bases and scored the game-winning run.

“That could have been a great way to open up,” hitting coach Dick Sisler said to White.

White replied, “Yeah, that would have carried me all year.”

Instead, the Pirates scored four runs in the 14th against Mel Nelson and won, 6-2. Boxscore

The 1969 season turned out to be disappointing for the Cardinals, who finished in fourth place in a six-team division, and for White. He suffered sore ribs and cuts to his left elbow in a car accident in St. Louis on May 3. For the season, White hit .211 with no home runs and four RBI in 57 at-bats. As a pinch-hitter, he batted .167 (5-for-30).

White retired as a player after the 1969 season and launched a broadcasting career before becoming president of the National League.

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Harry Caray walked the walk, talked the talk with Cardinals

Posted in Broadcasters, Games on April 1, 2019| 2 Comments »

Five months after he suffered multiple injuries when struck by a car, Harry Caray returned with a flourish to broadcast the season opener for the Cardinals.

On April 8, 1969, when the two-time defending National League champion Cardinals opened the season against the Pirates at St. Louis, Caray called the game from the Busch Memorial Stadium broadcast booth.

Caray’s appearance was a testament to his determination to recover from compound fractures of both legs, a broken right shoulder, a broken nose and facial cuts and he made certain his comeback was noticed. Given center stage as emcee for pre-game ceremonies on the field, he put on a performance for the audience.

Road to recovery

At about 1:15 a.m. on Nov. 3, 1968, Caray, 51, was hit by a car while he attempted to the cross the street outside the Chase Park Plaza Hotel in St. Louis.

Caray’s injuries were disabling and he spent several weeks in a St. Louis hospital. After his release just before Christmas in 1968, Caray went to Florida and continued his recuperation near St. Petersburg at the beach house of Cardinals owner Gussie Busch.

In his 1989 book “Holy Cow!,” Caray said he was under the care of a male nurse at Busch’s residence and dutifully did isometric exercises daily. According to The Sporting News, he also did a daily radio show from the beach house for St. Louis station KMOX.

Though both legs were in casts, Caray said in his book, “I managed to keep myself entertained. I had a lot of friends there and they were always coming by the house or taking me out to restaurants. I could get around in a collapsible wheelchair.”

In early February 1969, Caray went to St. Louis to be evaluated by his doctors. He convinced them to remove the casts from his legs and returned to Florida as the Cardinals were arriving in St. Petersburg for spring training.

“I was determined to get myself in shape right along with the players,” Caray said.

Caray reported daily to Cardinals trainer Bob Bauman at the club’s spring training facility. “Caray has spent more time in the rubbing room than the adhesive tape,” The Sporting News noted.

Said Caray: “I worked hard, kept on the leg exercises and by the end of spring training I had advanced from crutches to canes to the point where I didn’t really need anything to help me walk.”

Ribbed at roast

On April 7, 1969, on the eve of the Cardinals’ opener, Caray was the guest of honor at the annual Knights of the Cauliflower Ear banquet at the Stouffer’s Inn in downtown St. Louis. The event was similar to the famous Friars Club roasts where the guest of honor was expected to be skewered, or “roasted,” by colleagues.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Caray used a cane to maneuver his way around the banquet hall.

Jack Buck, Caray’s Cardinals broadcast partner, was master of ceremonies for the event and delivered several zingers at the guest of honor.

“What nice things can I say about Harry that you haven’t heard from the man himself?” Buck said in his opening remarks.

Referring to Caray getting hit by a car, Buck said to the audience, “What can I say to make you believe I didn’t do it?”

As the event ended, Buck told the crowd, “Please drive carefully. Harry’s walking again.”

St. Louis showman

The Cardinals opened the 1969 season on a Tuesday night.

When Caray emerged from the dugout to begin the pre-game ceremonies at home plate, he used two canes to walk onto the field. He received polite applause while “hobbling along rather pathetically,” he said in his book.

As Caray approached the first-base line, “I whirled one cane over my head and flung it as far as I could,” he said.

With the crowd cheering and urging him on, Caray started toward home plate with the help of the remaining cane. Just before he got to his spot, Caray stopped and tossed the cane into the air as spectators roared in approval.

After the ceremony, Caray made his way to the dugout and was approached by pitcher Bob Gibson. According to Caray, they had the following exchange:

Gibson: “Harry, what the hell was that all about?”

Caray: “Hey, Gibby, it’s like I’ve always told you, pal. This isn’t just baseball. It’s show biz.”

During the broadcast of the game, won by the Pirates in 14 innings, Caray interviewed baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn and let him do some play-by-play. Boxscore

The 1969 season turned out to be Caray’s last with the club. On Oct. 9, 1969, he was fired after serving as the voice of the Cardinals for 25 years.

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How Cardinals plugged Ted Power into starting rotation

Posted in Games, Pitchers on March 27, 2019| Leave a Comment »

After a rough beginning to his season with the Cardinals, Ted Power recovered and developed into a reliable starting pitcher for them.

On March 28, 1989, the Cardinals signed Power, 34, to a minor-league contract following his release by the Tigers.

Five months later, Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog was referring to Power as the “savior” of the pitching staff.

Versatile pitcher

In 1981, Power debuted in the major leagues with the Dodgers, spent parts of two seasons with them and was traded to the Reds. A right-handed reliever, his breakout season came in 1985 when he produced eight wins, 27 saves and a 2.70 ERA for Cincinnati.

Reds manager Pete Rose put Power into the rotation in August 1986 and he was 6-1 with a 2.59 ERA in 10 starts. The next year, Power led the 1987 Reds in starts (34), innings pitched (204) and strikeouts (133).

The Reds traded Power to the Royals for pitcher Danny Jackson after the 1987 season. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Royals reliever Steve Farr displayed two baseball cards _ one of Dan Quisenberry and the other of Power _ atop his locker. “One of them is my idol on the field (Quisenberry) and the other my idol off the field,” Farr said.

The Royals sent Power to the Tigers in August 1988 and after the season he had surgery to remove calcium deposits near his right elbow. When spring training began in 1989, Power was ready to pitch for the Tigers.

Comeback bid

In March 1989, the Cardinals were in the market for pitching depth after starters Danny Cox and Greg Mathews went on the disabled list because of elbow ailments. General manager Dal Maxvill sent scout Rube Walker to Tigers camp to assess Power, and Herzog spoke with Detroit manager Sparky Anderson about the pitcher.

On March 25, 1989, the Tigers released Power and three days later he signed with the Cardinals, who assigned him to their Louisville farm club. Under terms of the contract, if Power received an offer from another big-league team while with Louisville, the Cardinals would have 48 hours to decide whether to promote him to St. Louis or let him depart.

“I look at those major-league box scores every day and see middle relievers and starters who aren’t doing the job,” Power said to the Louisville Courier-Journal. “I have all the confidence in the world that I’m going to get back. When I do, I won’t take anything for granted. You can get too comfortable up there. I won’t ever do that again.”

Louisville manager Mike Jorgensen placed Power in the rotation and he produced a 3-1 record and 2.73 ERA in five starts, prompting the Phillies to make him an offer. Unwilling to let Power go, the Cardinals promoted him to St. Louis on May 4, 1989.

“We were kind of forced to bring him up,” Herzog said to The Sporting News. “We didn’t want to bring him up that early.”

On the brink

After appearing in two games for the Cardinals, Power pulled a ribcage muscle while taking batting practice on May 17 and didn’t pitch again for them until June 20.

Herzog put Power in a rotation with Jose DeLeon, Joe Magrane, Ken Hill and Scott Terry, but he wasn’t effective. He reached a nadir on July 17, 1989, when he gave up seven runs to the Giants before being lifted with one out in the second inning. Boxscore

Power said he was overthrowing, causing his breaking pitches to “flatten out.” Said Herzog: “A lot of high sliders.”

Though he was 1-4 with a 7.43 ERA, Power made his next scheduled start against the Padres on July 22, 1989, held them to a run in 6.2 innings and got the win. Boxscore

“I feel like I belong in the big leagues, but this makes me feel like I belong on this team,” Power said.

Over his next three starts, Power shut out the Expos for seven innings, limited the Mets to a run in 6.2 innings and held the Pirates scoreless for eight innings.

“He’s kind of been a savior to us,” Herzog said.

Said Cardinals shortstop Ozzie Smith: “He’s throwing the ball as well as I’ve ever seen him throw it. It’s nice to see a guy like that come back. He was really on his way out.”

Getting it done

On Aug. 22, 1989, Power, matched against Derek Lilliquist, took a no-hitter and a 10-0 lead into the eighth against the Braves before he tired and gave up home runs to Tommy Gregg and Dale Murphy. Boxscore

In six August starts, Power produced a 2.61 ERA.

“He has more idea of what he wants to do,” said Cardinals catcher Tony Pena. “Before, he had no idea where he was throwing the fastball.”

Said Maxvill: “I look at 25 other clubs and how many have better fifth starters than Ted Power?”

On Sept, 2, 1989, Power beat the Astros in Bob Forsch’s last big-league start and last appearance against his former Cardinals teammates. Boxscore

Five days later, in a start against the Mets, Power suffered a hamstring injury. He was sidelined for two weeks and when he returned he made six appearances in relief.

Power finished with a 7-7 record and 3.71 ERA for the Cardinals in 1989. He became a free agent after the season and got a one-year offer from the Cardinals, but signed with the Pirates, who gave him a contract for 1990 with an option for 1991.

“I would really love to go back to St. Louis … but I’ve got to think of myself and my family,” Power said to the Post-Dispatch. “It looks like a deal that could be solid for a couple of years.”

Power went on to pitch the next four seasons for the Pirates (1990), Reds (1991), Indians (1992-93) and Mariners (1993). He completed 13 seasons in the big leagues with a 68-69 record, 70 saves and a 4.00 ERA.

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