Hitters | RetroSimba

Archive for the ‘Hitters’ Category

Cardinals debut was dream come true for Keith Hernandez

Posted in Games, Hitters on August 25, 2014| 1 Comment »

(Updated Sept. 10, 2025)

Three years after being drafted by the Cardinals as almost an afterthought, Keith Hernandez made his major-league debut for them in his hometown.

On Aug. 30, 1974, Hernandez, 20, played his first big-league game for the Cardinals against the Giants at San Francisco. Batting seventh and starting at first base, Hernandez had a single, two walks and a RBI in four plate appearances against left-handed starter Mike Caldwell.

Promoted from Class AAA Tulsa, Hernandez was filling in for perennial all-star Joe Torre, who was sidelined because of a sprained thumb. Torre, 34, would return to the lineup four days later, but he was traded to the Mets soon after the season in order to clear a path for Hernandez to become the first baseman.

Scaring the scouts

A San Francisco native, Hernandez was chosen by the Cardinals in the 42nd round of the big-league draft in 1971. “I would have been someone’s first-round draft choice if I hadn’t quit the (high school) team my senior year,” Hernandez told the San Mateo County Times in 2009. “A lot of scouts were scared off.”

The Cardinals were one of only five teams still selecting players in the 42nd round. The final round was the 48th. Hernandez would be the only player taken after the 36th round of the 1971 draft to reach the major leagues.

Hernandez began the 1974 season playing for manager Ken Boyer’s Tulsa team in the American Association. The Sporting News described Hernandez and teammate Marc Hill as the “best major-league prospects to grace the Association in 1974.”

Hernandez was batting .351 when Boyer informed him at the team hotel during a trip to Oklahoma City that he had been promoted to the Cardinals.

“I must have spent $50 on the telephone calling my parents, relatives and friends when I found out I was going up,” Hernandez told The Sporting News.

Hernandez determined he needed a wardrobe upgrade before joining the Cardinals. “All that was open in Oklahoma City … in fact, all they had, was western-wear stuff,” Hernandez told Josh Lewin for the book “You Never Forget Your First Time.” “I needed travel clothes, so that’s what I did. I looked like the polyester Roy Rogers heading off to the big leagues.”

No place like home

With the Giants 15 wins below .500 and 25 games behind the first-place Dodgers in the National League West, only 3,111 spectators witnessed Hernandez’s debut on a cold Friday night at Candlestick Park. “My family sat right behind home plate, near our dugout,” Hernandez said.

In his first plate appearance, he drew a third-inning walk. Caldwell threw him nothing but sliders, Hernandez said.

Hernandez struck out in the fifth and walked again in the seventh.

With the Giants ahead, 8-1, in the ninth, Hernandez got his first big-league hit, a single to right, scoring Bake McBride from second. Boxscore

“It was a dream come true breaking into the major leagues in your hometown,” Hernandez told The Sporting News.

In his memoir, “I’m Keith Hernandez,” he recalled, “It was like I was a sapling next to mighty oaks.”

Hernandez started at first base in all three games of the weekend series at San Francisco and produced three hits in 10 at-bats.

Learning the ropes

“Joe (Torre) and Lou Brock took me aside and made me feel welcome when I got there,” Hernandez told Lewin for his book. “… I was 20 on a team of nothing but 33-year-old veterans, but the guys were nice enough to try and make me feel part of what they were doing.”

In 14 games for the 1974 Cardinals, Hernandez hit .294 with seven walks.

Hernandez opened the 1975 season as the Cardinals’ first baseman, but struggled to hit. With his batting average at .203 on June 3, Hernandez was demoted to Tulsa. Reunited with Boyer, Hernandez batted .330 with 107 hits in 85 games for Tulsa. The Cardinals brought him back in September.

In the book, “Pure Baseball,” Hernandez said Lou Brock advised him to move closer to the plate against left-handers and dare them to throw inside. Boyer had him move off the plate against right-handers because he was having trouble with sliders inside.

“In effect, I had to learn two different strike zones because my distance from the plate varied by a foot, at least,” Hernandez said. “It’s not as hard as it sounds.”

Four years later, with Boyer managing the Cardinals, Hernandez won the National League batting title (at .344) and was named co-winner of the NL Most Valuable Player Award with the Pirates’ Willie Stargell.

In 10 seasons with St. Louis, Hernandez produced 1,217 hits in 1,165 games, batting .299 with an on-base percentage of .385. He twice was named an all-star while with the Cardinals and won five of his 11 consecutive Gold Glove awards.

In his book, “Baseball for Brain Surgeons and Other Fans,” ex-Cardinals catcher Tim McCarver said, “Keith Hernandez showed that if a first baseman has both baseball intelligence and fielding skills he can turn first into a pivotal position, the anchor of the infield. Hernandez played defense in such an aggressive, offensive manner that he caused batters to rethink what they wanted to do.”

McCarver said what set Hernandez apart from other slick-fielding first basemen was the way he covered bunts. In the 2003 book “Few and Chosen,” McCarver said, “It’s remarkable to me that a guy who couldn’t run was so quick and agile. He had marvelous instincts and reflexes, and, despite his lack of speed, his first step was lightning fast.”

Read Full Post »

How Alvin Dark lost in Russian roulette against Cardinals

Posted in Games, Hitters, Managers, Opponents on August 20, 2014| 2 Comments »

(Updated Dec. 30, 2020)

A risky decision by Giants manager Alvin Dark backfired and helped the 1964 Cardinals rally for a key victory, keeping alive their longshot pennant hopes. In retrospect, the Cardinals might not have won the National League pennant and advanced to a World Series title if Dark hadn’t made his controversial move.

On Aug. 21, 1964, the Giants had a 5-3 lead against the Cardinals with two outs in the ninth when Dark ordered an intentional walk to Bill White, putting the potential tying run on base. The Cardinals took advantage, scoring three runs and winning, 6-5.

Contenders or pretenders?

As the Cardinals opened a three-game series at San Francisco, the Giants were 7.5 games behind the first-place Phillies and St. Louis was 10 back.

A win in the series opener was essential for the Cardinals to keep alive their slim pennant hopes.

The Giants, though, scored five runs in the first three innings against Curt Simmons and Bob Humphreys.

Jim Duffalo, with an ERA of 1.71, relieved starter Bob Hendley with one out in the sixth and held the Cardinals scoreless for 2.2 innings. He entered the ninth with the 5-3 lead.

Lou Brock led off with a single to left. Dick Groat grounded out, with Brock moving to second. Ken Boyer also grounded out, with Brock staying put.

Dark and White

White, a left-handed batter, was up next. He was hitless in the game, but he had hit a couple of foul balls over the right-field fence.

On four previous occasions that season, Dark had put the potential winning run on base intentionally. Each time, the Giants won.

Concerned about White’s power and preferring Duffalo face a right-handed batter, Dark ordered an intentional walk to White, putting runners on second and first.

In his book “When in Doubt, Fire the Manager,” Dark said, “You can do everything by the book day after day, but there’ll come a time when you feel a need to try something unorthodox, and if it fails you’re sure to be criticized … Never put the winning run on base? I’ve done it when I thought the batter was a greater threat to beat us than the man on deck.”

The next batter was light-hitting Dal Maxvill, making his seventh at-bat of the season. Cardinals manager Johnny Keane told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he let Maxvill go to the plate because “we didn’t have any more pinch-hitters.”

When the count on Maxvill got to 2-and-2, fans “turned toward the exits,” believing the game was about to end, according to the Post-Dispatch.

Maxvill hit a soft liner off the end of his bat to left for a single, scoring Brock and reducing the Giants lead to 5-4. White advanced to second.

Mike Shannon followed with a ground ball _ a scraggly dribbler, the San Francisco Examiner called it _ that rolled into short center. As second baseman Hal Lanier scooped up the ball, White rounded third and steamed toward home.

Lanier hurried an off-balance throw toward the plate, but the ball went up the third-base line and eluded catcher Tom Haller as White, unchallenged, scored the tying run.

Duffalo, backing up the play, couldn’t field the errant throw. As the ball bounced away from him and toward the wall, Maxvill, who never stopped running, scored, giving the Cardinals a 6-5 lead.

“I made a bad play,” Lanier said. “I threw before I was set.

“I should have planted myself and then thrown,” he told the Examiner.

The intentional walk had opened the door to a pair of singles and an error, resulting in three runs.

Dark lifted Duffalo for Billy Pierce, who got Jerry Buchek to fly out to center.

Save for Schultz

The Giants, though, still had a chance.

Keane brought in knuckleball specialist Barney Schultz to face a formidable trio of Harvey Kuenn, one-time American League batting champion, and future Hall of Famers Duke Snider and Willie Mays.

Schultz, 38, who had been called up from the minor leagues three weeks earlier, was up to the challenge. Kuenn and Snider grounded out; Mays popped out.

The Associated Press wrote, “Al Dark pulled the trigger once too often in his gambling game of Russian roulette.”

Undaunted, Dark, a former Cardinals shortstop, shrugged and said, “You gotta lose some.” Boxscore

The Cardinals went on to win the pennant, finishing a game ahead of both the Reds and Phillies.

The Giants finished fourth, three behind the Cardinals. After the season, Dark was fired and replaced by Herman Franks.

Read Full Post »

Wally Moon showed speed, power as Cardinals rookie

Posted in Games, Hitters, Records on August 18, 2014| Leave a Comment »

(Updated Sept. 1, 2024)

In 1954, outfielder Wally Moon became the first Cardinals rookie to reach double figures in home runs (12) and stolen bases (18) in a season.

Moon’s style of play reminded many of outfielder Enos Slaughter, who in 13 seasons with the Cardinals had a .305 batting average, with 2,064 hits in 1,820 games, and an on-base percentage of .384.

The Cardinals, confident in Moon’s talent, traded Slaughter to the Yankees two days before the start of the 1954 season.

In a YouTube video interview, Moon recalled the trade of Slaughter “really shocked the whole team; it shocked the city of St. Louis.”

On the eve of the 1954 season, The Sporting News reported Moon “can run, throw, field and _ presumably _ hit with the kind of balanced ability and hungry attitude the Cardinals used to have, the kind of combination of skills that gave rise to an old expression: a Cardinals-type ballplayer.”

Moon fulfilled expectations, batting .304 with 193 hits, 106 runs and an on-base percentage of .371 as a rookie. He earned the National League Rookie of the Year Award, outdistancing candidates such as Hank Aaron and Ernie Banks.

In a 1999 interview with Cardinals Yearbook, Moon said, “I usually batted leadoff. I had Red Schoendienst and Stan Musial hitting behind me. They ran my little legs off. I credit Red and Stan with helping me a great deal, on and off the field. They helped (teach) me how to control my emotions, that it was a long season, and how to grind it out day after day.”

Moon’s rookie season was highlighted by a pair of noteworthy performances.

Moon shot

In his first major-league at-bat, in the first inning of the Cardinals’ opener against the Cubs at St. Louis on April 13, 1954, Moon got a rude welcome from fans who missed Slaughter.

“I’m coming to bat in the bottom half of the first,” Moon recalled, “and they announce my name and the crowd starts chanting, ‘We want Eno. We want Eno.’ They were unhappy and I certainly could hear that.”

The first two pitches to Moon from Paul Minner were balls. The next pitch was a fastball “down the heart of the plate,” Moon said.

“I hit it and I hit it hard and I hit it high and I hit it long,” Moon said. “I hit it out of the ballpark, over the pavilion roof and onto Grand Avenue. I think somewhere I got a shot of adrenaline, a great surge of power. It’s probably one of the longest home runs I ever hit.

“About the time I got to second base with my home run trot _ it was more than a trot; I was running those bases _ those boos and chants had changed to a great roar of applause. It lifted a burden off my shoulders. I thank the Lord for giving me the strength on that particular day. It was exhilarating.” Boxscore

Moon became the second Cardinals player to hit a home run in his first time at-bat in the big leagues. The other was Eddie Morgan in 1936. “I don’t think I hit any farther than that one that season,” Moon recalled to Cardinals Yearbook.

Running wild

About a month later, on May 25, again against the Cubs at St. Louis, Moon had four steals, one short of the National League single-game record established by Dan McGann of the 1904 Giants.

All four stolen bases came against catcher Walker Cooper, 39, the former Cardinal.

“Moon gave Walker Cooper one of the most miserable days of the veteran catcher’s 15 seasons in the majors,” The Sporting News reported.

Moon swiped second base in the first inning with Johnny Klippstein pitching and he stole second again in the fourth with Jim Brosnan pitching.

In the fifth, after Moon singled off Brosnan, the Cubs brought in Jim Willis to pitch to Alex Grammas.

Moon stole second.

Then he stole third.

Rattled, Willis threw a wild pitch and Moon scored.

Angry, Willis plunked Grammas with his next delivery.

A Cardinals publicist sent word to manager Eddie Stanky that Moon needed one more steal to tie the record, but Moon flied out to left in his last at-bat.

“I would have given Moon every chance to get that fifth steal,” Stanky said. “He’s a nervy youngster.” Boxscore

Read Full Post »

The day Curt Flood drilled 8 straight hits against Dodgers

Posted in Games, Hitters, Records on August 11, 2014| 2 Comments »

(Updated Aug. 16, 2019)

In the season that produced his highest hits total, Cardinals center fielder Curt Flood had his best day as a hitter.

On Aug. 16, 1964, Flood got hits in eight consecutive at-bats in a doubleheader against the Dodgers at Los Angeles. Four of those hits came against Sandy Koufax.

Flood had a chance to tie the big-league record for consecutive hits in a doubleheader, but he made his only out of the day in his final at-bat.

“I’m mighty happy to have gotten eight hits, even though I couldn’t get that last one,” Flood said to United Press International.

Flood became the first National League player with eight hits in a doubleheader since Pirates shortstop Stan Rojek did it against the Dodgers at Pittsburgh in 1948.

Joe Kelley, a left fielder for the Orioles, established the record of nine consecutive hits in a doubleheader on Sept. 3, 1894, against Cleveland.

Entering the day with a .291 batting average, Flood was at .302 after his 8-for-9 performance. He would finish the season with a .311 batting average and a career-best 211 hits, tying him with Roberto Clemente of the Pirates as the 1964 National League hits leader.

With his wife, four children and parents in attendance, Flood batted leadoff in each game of the doubleheader.

Dandy vs. Sandy

In the opener, the Dodgers started Koufax, who that season would lead the National League in ERA (1.74) and winning percentage (.792 with a 19-5 record).

Koufax was dominant against everyone except Flood that day. The left-hander struck out 13 and shut out the Cardinals on seven hits. Flood, though, went 4-for-4 against him. Flood, a right-handed batter, hit .296 (32-for-108) in his career against Koufax.

Here’s what Flood did in Game 1:

_ First inning. Flood led off the game with a double down the left-field line. He was stranded at second when Koufax struck out Lou Brock and retired Dick Groat on a fly out and Ken Boyer on a pop out.

_ Third inning. With two outs and none on, Flood doubled to left, a shot just inside the third-base line. Koufax followed with a strikeout of Brock.

_ Fifth inning. Flood looped a single to right with two outs and none on.

_ Seventh inning. With Julian Javier on first and two outs, Flood lined a single to center, sending Javier to third. Koufax struck out Brock for the third time, ending the threat.

Koufax told the Los Angeles Times, “Flood always is tough … He was hitting good pitches.”

The Dodgers won, 3-0. Boxscore

Igniting the offense

In Game 2, Flood sparked the Cardinals against Larry Miller, a rookie left-hander. Here’s what Flood did in that game:

_ First inning. Flood laced a triple into the right-field corner and scored on Groat’s sacrifice fly.

_ Third inning. With one out and none on, Flood lined a single to center.

_ Fourth inning. With two outs, the bases loaded and Flood at the plate, Dodgers manager Walter Alston replaced Larry Miller with Bob Miller, a former Cardinals right-hander. Flood singled to right, driving in two runs and giving the Cardinals a 4-0 lead.

_ Sixth inning. Flood stroked his eighth consecutive hit, a two-out single to left off right-hander Phil Ortega.

_ Ninth inning. With the Dodger Stadium crowd cheering for him, Flood waited in the on-deck circle to face left-hander Ron Perranoski. According to the Los Angeles Times, “teammate Bill White helpfully threw a broom into the circle, and Bob Gibson needled his buddy by waving a fungo bat.” The attempt to lighten the mood didn’t work. Perranoski struck out Flood.

“Perranoski threw me some sinkers and I missed them,” Flood said to The Sporting News.

The Cardinals won, 4-0, behind the 4-for-5 effort by Flood and the pitching of Curt Simmons. Boxscore

When reporters gathered around Flood’s locker after the game, catcher Tim McCarver, Flood’s friend and teammate, put on an ape mask, grabbed a pencil and pad and joined the throng.

McCarver: “How do you explain how you make monkeys out of the Dodgers pitchers?”

Flood laughed and replied: “I am sore and tired. I should have saved that triple in the first inning of the second game. That ruined me.”

Previously: Sandy Koufax: ‘I still don’t know how to pitch to Curt Flood’

Read Full Post »

Cardinals convinced Larry Walker to join pennant push

Posted in Hitters, Trades on August 7, 2014| 2 Comments »

(Updated June 4, 2024)

Larry Walker wasn’t looking to leave the Rockies, but the Cardinals convinced him to give them a chance.

On Aug. 6, 2004, Cardinals general manager Walt Jocketty performed a heist, acquiring Walker, 37, from the Rockies for three prospects.

Walker, a three-time National League batting champion and seven-time Gold Glove Award winner, joined an outfield of Jim Edmonds and Reggie Sanders and helped the Cardinals win their first pennant in 17 years.

On Jan. 21, 2020, 16 years after the Cardinals acquired him, Walker was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 76.6 percent of the votes from the Baseball Writers Association of America.

The Rockies had approached Walker about trading him to the Rangers or Marlins. Because Walker was a 10-year veteran who had spent five of those years with the same team, his approval was needed before a deal could be made. He rejected the proposed trades to Texas and Florida.

Players make pitch

The Cardinals appealed to Walker’s competitive spirit. In a bid to seal the deal, Edmonds and teammate Scott Rolen called Walker, urging him to help them get to the World Series by accepting a trade.

Rolen offered to drop a spot in the batting order in case manager Tony La Russa wanted to bat Walker in the cleanup position Rolen held.

Inspired, Walker gave his OK to the Rockies to complete a trade with St. Louis.

“I think there were some people in Colorado who weren’t certain he would come,” Jocketty said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “He weighed everything and it didn’t take him long. I think he’ll be energized to come here and play with us and I think he’ll energize our club.”

In a July 2018 interview with Cardinals broadcaster Dan McLaughlin, Walker recalled, “It was really a no-brainer. It didn’t take me but a couple of minutes to say yes.”

The Rockies, looking to free payroll in order to rebuild around players such as rookie outfielder Matt Holliday, agreed to a package of minor leaguers: pitchers Jason Burch, Luis Martinez and Chris Narveson. None would play in a big-league game for the Rockies.

MVP caliber

Walker joined Edmonds, Rolen, Edgar Renteria and Mike Matheny in giving the 2004 Cardinals Gold Glove winners at five of the nine fielding positions.

“We put an MVP in the lineup … This was a real impact move,” Rolen said.

Said Sanders: “You look at this lineup and you wonder, ‘How can it get any better?’ And it did.”

The Cardinals were in first place in the National League Central, 10.5 games ahead of the Cubs, on the day of the trade.

La Russa said, “I love the message that the people on top are sending to the players. I think they recognize how hard we’ve been playing and we have the chance to do something really special.”

What a welcome

Walker arrived in St. Louis during the Cardinals’ game with the Mets on Aug. 7, 2004. In the seventh inning, with two runners on base, one out and the score tied at 1-1, La Russa sent Walker to bat for Matheny against Mets starter Kris Benson. Cardinals fans welcomed Walker with a standing ovation and chanted his name.

“One of the most nervous at-bats I’ve had in my career,” Walker said.

On the Cardinals’ telecast, broadcaster Mike Shannon marveled, “Look how excited these people are … They smell World Series.”

Walker struck out, but as he returned to the dugout he received another standing ovation. Video

“I didn’t know what to do,” Walker said. “I thought maybe I should go back and ask if I could have another strike.” Boxscore

Primarily batting in the No. 2 spot in the order _ “I love it,” Walker told Cardinals Magazine. “I didn’t have to worry about driving people in all the time.” _ Walker hit .280 with 11 home runs and 27 RBI in 44 games for the 2004 Cardinals, who won the division title by 13 games over the runner-up Astros.

In the postseason, Walker hit six home runs _ two each in the Division Series, League Championship Series and World Series. Playing in the only World Series of his career, Walker hit .357 but the Cardinals were swept by the 2004 Red Sox. “No excuses,” Walker told Cardinals Magazine. “We got outperformed and we underachieved.”

Walker returned to the Cardinals in 2005, his final big-league season, and hit .289 with 15 home runs and 52 RBI in 100 games.

In a September 2017 interview with McLaughlin, Rolen said, “Larry Walker is the best player I ever played with. There’s nothing he couldn’t do out there. He knew how to run the bases and he knew running the bases was an offensive weapon. You’re on base to score runs.

“He played an unbelievable Gold Glove outfield. Threw the ball and never missed a cutoff. Hit the ball as hard as anybody and moved the ball around.”

In an interview with the Baseball Hall of Fame magazine, “Memories and Dreams,” La Russa said of Walker, “I think he would probably be in the top three of just about every category: Base running, defense, handling the bat.”

Read Full Post »

Stan Musial vs. Tom Lasorda: 1954 game important for both

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents on August 3, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Tom Lasorda, in his big-league debut, helped Stan Musial achieve a personal best.

On Aug. 5, 1954, Musial had seven RBI in a game for the first time in his Cardinals career.

Facing the Dodgers at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, Musial hit a pair of three-run home runs _ one each off Preacher Roe and Erv Palica _ in consecutive innings. His seventh RBI came on a sacrifice fly against Lasorda.

Musial, 33, was in the prime of a Hall of Fame playing career. Lasorda, 27, was a big-league rookie who had spent eight seasons in the minor leagues. The left-hander would appear in just 26 games in the majors _ eight with the Dodgers and 18 with the Athletics _ but would be elected to the Hall of Fame as a Dodgers manager.

Dodgers nemesis

After grounding out in the first inning, Musial hit the first of his three-run homers in the third against Roe, a left-hander who had debuted with the 1938 Cardinals.

It was Roe who, when asked his approach to pitching to Musial, replied, “I throw him four wide ones, then try to pick him off first base.”

Musial hit .377 with 12 homers and 28 RBI against Roe in his career.

In his autobiography, Musial said of Roe, “At Brooklyn, he became an outstanding pitcher, changing speeds and mixing up a well-controlled curve, screwball and, as the man admitted himself later, a spitter. Because I didn’t want him to load up one of those quick-dipping spitters on me, I always tried to keep him from getting two strikes on me.”

An inning after his home run off Roe, Musial crushed the second of his three-run homers, this time against Palica. Musial hit .429 in his career versus Palica.

Rookie reliever

Lasorda relieved Palica in the fifth. The first big-league batter to face him was Red Schoendienst, who singled. The next batter, Bill Sarni, also singled. Lasorda then struck out Joe Cunningham and got Alex Grammas to ground into a double play.

In the sixth, Lasorda walked the leadoff batter, pitcher Brooks Lawrence. After Rip Repulski flied out, Wally Moon doubled, putting runners on second and third.

Musial then hit a fly ball to left. Sandy Amoros caught it, Lawrence tagged and scored, giving Musial his seventh RBI, and the Cardinals led, 10-2.

With those RBI, Musial became the first player in the majors to reach 100 in 1954. It was his seventh season of 100 RBI. His two home runs were Musial’s 29th and 30th of the season.

Paul Waner, the Hall of Fame outfielder, told The Sporting News, “No telling how many homers Stan could make if he weren’t unselfish.”

The Cardinals won, 13-4. Before then, the Dodgers had won 18 of the last 19 against the Cardinals at Ebbets Field. Boxscore

Lasorda pitched three innings in his debut and yielded three runs. Musial would face Lasorda a total of three times in his career. After the sacrifice fly, his other two plate appearances versus Lasorda resulted in a walk and a strikeout.

In his 22 seasons with the Cardinals, Musial had just one other seven-RBI game. That occurred on June 23, 1961, in a 10-5 Cardinals victory over the Giants at St. Louis. In that game, Musial had a three-run home run off starter Billy O’Dell and a grand slam off Bobby Bolin. Boxscore

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »