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How Tony Gwynn tormented Dennis Eckersley, Cardinals

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents on June 20, 2014| Leave a Comment »

In a showdown of future Hall of Famers, the Padres’ Tony Gwynn prevailed against the Cardinals’ Dennis Eckersley.

On June 10, 1997, at San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium, Gwynn hit doubles in the first and third innings off Cardinals starter Todd Stottlemyre, helping the Padres to a 3-1 lead and extending his hitting streak to 20 games.

In the ninth, the Cardinals scored four runs off closer Trevor Hoffman for a 5-3 lead.

Eckersley was brought in by Cardinals manager Tony La Russa to try for the save. Eckersley and Hoffman ranked among the best closers all-time. What were the odds of both blowing leads in the same inning?

The first batter Eckersley faced, Chris Gomez, singled. With one out, Greg Vaughn also singled. After Eckersley retired Rickey Henderson on a fly out, Gwynn stepped to the plate.

La Russa positioned his outfielders to play deep, near the warning track, willing to concede a single rather than a score-tying extra-base hit.

From the batter’s box, Gwynn searched for holes in the defense. “He was looking out there (to left-center),” Eckersley told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Gwynn sliced a line drive between left fielder Willie McGee and center fielder Ray Lankford. Gomez and Vaughn raced home, tying the score at 5-5.

Gwynn reached second with his career-best third double of the game.

San Diego scored in the 12th and won, 6-5.

“I’m sure Eck would want that pitch back to Gwynn,” La Russa said. “He didn’t get it where he was trying to get it. With a single, we’ve still got a chance, but he hit right where he was trying to hit it. That’s what a Hall of Famer does.”

Said Eckersley: “I just couldn’t get the ball down. Even if it was down, he would have hit a bullet anyway.”

Including the postseason, Gwynn hit .474 (9-for-19) against Eckersley in his career.

“I think people tick (Gwynn) off when they say he can’t drive in runs,” Lankford said. “I think he can do just about anything he wants to do.” Boxscore

Gwynn, 37, enjoyed his most productive season in 1997. He hit .372, earning the last of his eight National League batting titles, and had single-season career highs in hits (220), doubles (49), home runs (17) and RBI (119).

Two years earlier, Ted Williams, the last big-leaguer to hit .400 in a season, advised Gwynn to turn on the inside pitch and drive it, according to the book “Bob Chandler’s Tales from the Padres Dugout.”

Initially reluctant to alter his approach, Gwynn tried Williams’ suggestion in 1997.

“In late June, I hit three home runs over a four-game span by turning on the inside pitch and driving it over the wall,” Gwynn said. “From that time on, I noticed pitchers stopped throwing inside to me and I was able to hit the ball all over. Finally, I understood what Ted meant.”

Three other big performances by Gwynn versus the Cardinals:

_ July 15, 1988: Gwynn had three hits and four RBI, including a two-run single off reliever Ken Dayley in the ninth, lifting the Padres to a 7-3 victory at St. Louis. Boxscore

_ April 18, 1993: In producing five hits in five at-bats in the Padres’ 10-6 triumph at San Diego, Gwynn had three singles off starter Donovan Osborne, a single off Mike Perez and a two-run home run off Omar Olivares. Boxscore

_ Aug. 4, 1999: Gwynn, 39, hit a grand slam off starter Kent Mercker, but the Cardinals won, 7-6, at St. Louis. The grand slam was the third and last of Gwynn’s big-league career. Boxscore

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Eddie Morgan had flashy start to Cardinals career

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents, Prospects, Trades on June 18, 2014| Leave a Comment »

(Updated April 2, 2021)

Eddie Morgan of the Cardinals hit a home run on the first pitch he saw in the majors.

eddie_morgan He did it on Opening Day, April 14, 1936, against the Cubs at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis.

Even before Morgan began his big-league career with a home run, Dodgers manager Casey Stengel had interest in acquiring the rookie after seeing him in spring training games.

Good outfield group

The 1936 Cardinals opened the season with a stellar starting outfield of Joe Medwick in left, Terry Moore in center and Pepper Martin in right. They also had three rookie outfielders _ Lynn King, Lou Scoffic and Morgan _ on the Opening Day roster.

“One thing I don’t have to worry about is my outfield,” Cardinals manager Frankie Frisch said to The Sporting News. “I’ve really got three fine-looking kids in Lou Scoffic, Lynn King and Ed Morgan. The only difficult thing about the outfield situation will be to decide which one of the three we’ll send back to the minors. That’s how good they all are.”

Cardinals ace Dizzy Dean got raked for nine runs in six innings in the season opener against the defending National League champion Cubs at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis. With the Cubs ahead, 12-3, in the seventh, Frisch tabbed Morgan, 21, to make his big-league debut as a pinch-hitter for reliever Bill McGee.

A left-handed batter, Morgan swung at the first pitch he saw from starter Lon Warneke and hit a drive into the pavilion in right-center for a two-run home run. Boxscore

Soon after, Stengel and the Dodgers approached Cardinals general manager Branch Rickey about a proposed trade. The Cardinals wanted third baseman Joe Stripp. When Stengel asked for Morgan, Rickey declined and the talks ended without a deal.

Morgan, 5 feet 10, 160 pounds, appeared in eight games for the Cardinals, hitting .278 (5-for-18, with four singles and the home run). Unlikely to get much playing time with St. Louis, Morgan was sent to Class AA Columbus (Ohio) on May 9.

In his first at-bat for Columbus on May 10, Morgan hit a home run off Milwaukee’s Joe Heving.

Let’s make a deal

By July, the Cardinals were seeking pitching. The Dodgers still wanted Morgan. When the Dodgers offered George Earnshaw, 36, a right-hander in his last season in the majors, the Cardinals accepted, with both clubs agreeing that Morgan would report to the Dodgers after the conclusion of the Columbus season.

In reporting the trade, The Sporting News called Morgan a “hard-hitting farmhand” and “a left-handed pull hitter of the type the Dodgers need to caress that short right-field wall at Ebbets Field.”

Throughout the summer, Stengel spoke enthusiastically about his plans to play Morgan in September games with the Dodgers, who were out of contention and heading for a seventh-place finish.

Morgan hit .299 in 118 games for Columbus, but, just before the minor-league season ended, he fractured a bone in his lower leg, preventing him from joining the Dodgers in September.

After the 1936 season, Stengel was replaced as manager by Burleigh Grimes, the former Cardinals spitball pitcher. Grimes managed Morgan with the 1935 Bloomington (Ill.) Bloomers. Morgan hit .347 in 112 games for that Cardinals Class B minor-league club.

Expectations were for Morgan to compete for a starting outfield job with the 1937 Dodgers, but he hit .188 in 39 games for them and was returned to the minors in July. He never played in the big leagues again. His lone major-league home run was the one he hit in his first at-bat.

Morgan played in the minor leagues until 1950. In 17 minor-league seasons, he had a .313 batting average and hit 172 home runs.

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Lou Brock hit the ground running in 1st start with Cardinals

Posted in Games, Hitters on June 15, 2014| 2 Comments »

In his first start with the Cardinals, Lou Brock gave them a much-needed lift as well as a sample of what was to come with him in their lineup.

On June 16, 1964, Brock was in the Cardinals starting lineup for the first time since being acquired from the Cubs the day before.

Before getting Brock and pitchers Jack Spring and Paul Toth from the Cubs for pitchers Ernie Broglio and Bobby Shantz and outfielder Doug Clemens on June 15, the Cardinals had lost 16 of their previous 22 games. In a stretch of seven games from June 9 through June 14, St. Louis scored six total runs, losing five times.

The Cardinals lost again the night of the Brock trade. Brock arrived in time to pinch-hit in the eighth inning. Jim Owens, a Houston Colt .45s reliever, struck him out on three pitches.

Cardinals manager Johnny Keane put Brock in the starting lineup the next day.

Sizzling start

Playing right field and batting second, between leadoff batter Curt Flood and Bill White, Brock had a superb start, producing a triple, single, two walks, scoring a run and stealing a base in the Cardinals’ 7-1 victory over the Colt .45s at Houston.

In the fifth inning, with the Cardinals ahead, 2-0, Brock singled to center against starter Bob Bruce and scored on Ken Boyer’s triple. In the sixth, Brock tripled with two outs against Don Larsen.

Brock’s first stolen base for the Cardinals occurred in the eighth. After drawing a walk from Larry Yellen, Brock swiped second, beating the throw from catcher Jerry Grote. Boxscore

“Brock just outruns the ball,” Cardinals coach Vern Benson told The Sporting News.

Igniting the offense

Rejuvenated, the win was the first of four in a row for the Cardinals.

In his first seven starts for St. Louis, Brock batted .393 (11-for-28). He produced two doubles, two triples, a home run, two walks and three RBI in that stretch, scoring five runs and swiping four bases.

Brock was in right field for three of his first five Cardinals starts. After that, Keane kept him in left field for the remainder of the season. Brock made 99 starts in left field and three in right for the 1964 Cardinals.

With Brock sparking the offense, creating RBI opportunities for Boyer and White, the Cardinals went on to win the National League pennant and World Series championship.

Brock hit .348 and had 33 stolen bases for the 1964 Cardinals. In 103 games, he had 146 hits and scored 81 runs. His .387 on-base percentage was tops on the team.

Previously: Bill White: We thought Brock deal was nuts

Previously: Cubs knew Lou Brock was on verge of stardom in 1964

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Why the Cardinals played baseball in Delaware on D-Day

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents, Pitchers on June 6, 2014| Leave a Comment »

(Updated June 6, 2020)

When news of the D-Day invasion of France by Allied Forces reached the United States that morning, most of Organized Baseball honored the solemn event by canceling the games scheduled for June 6, 1944, but the Cardinals chose to play an exhibition game.

On D-Day, the United States and its allies crossed the English Channel and launched an offensive that significantly helped lead to the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. More than 9,000 Allied soldiers died or were wounded in the effort.

Two National League games _ Phillies vs. Dodgers at Brooklyn and Reds vs. Pirates at Pittsburgh _ were scheduled for Tuesday, June 6, 1944. Both were called off in deference to the D-Day invasion. No American League games had been scheduled for that date.

In addition, four minor-league groups _ Appalachian League, American Association, Eastern League and International League _ called off all games on the June 6 schedule.

Because of the time difference between Europe and the United States, news of the invasion reached America in time for the ballgames that day to be canceled.

The Cardinals decided to honor their commitment to play an exhibition that night in Wilmington, Del., against the Wilmington Blue Rocks, a Phillies affiliate in the Inter-State League.

Long, winding road

It was part of a long, winding road trip for the two-time defending National League champions.

On May 26, 1944, the Cardinals embarked on a 17-game road swing that began in Brooklyn and took them to New York, Boston and Philadelphia before ending at Cincinnati on June 11.

After playing the Phillies at Philadelphia on June 4, the Cardinals weren’t scheduled to play their next regular-season game until June 8 at Cincinnati.

Rather than enjoy off-days, the Cardinals were scheduled to play an exhibition with their minor-league affiliate at Allentown, Pa., on June 5 before going to Wilmington for the June 6 exhibition versus the Blue Rocks.

In the June 5 exhibition at Allentown, the Cardinals put on a power display for the crowd of 3,091. Stan Musial and Danny Litwhiler each hit two home runs and Walker Cooper had one home run in the Cardinals’ 22-4 victory. Cardinals manager Billy Southworth started Freddy Schmidt, who pitched for Allentown in 1942, as a gesture to the local fans, The Sporting News reported. A total of 17 Cardinals played and the others rotated as base coaches so the fans could see all the big-league players.

Musial’s big night was extra special for the Allentown manager, Ollie Vanek, who as a scout had recommended the Cardinals sign Musial.

Down on the farm

The next day, while the nation was gripped by the news of the D-Day invasion, the Cardinals were in Delaware. The Blue Rocks selected a 6-foot-7 left-hander, George Michotte, 20, as their starting pitcher.

“Before the game, the members of both squads lined up on the foul lines and stood in silent prayer in respect of D-Day,” the Wilmington Morning News reported. “The players remained there during the playing of the National Anthem.”

Before a crowd of 3,668, the Cardinals did most of their damage in the seventh. With the score tied at 1-1, Marty Marion opened with a single and George Fallon, a second baseman who hit .199 that season, followed with a two-run home run to left off Michotte. After Johnny Hopp, batting for pitcher Ted Wilks, walked, Augie Bergamo tripled, scoring pitcher Harry Brecheen, who was running for Hopp.

After the Phillies farmhands batted in their half of the seventh, the game was halted by rain.

The 4-1 victory came at a cost to the Cardinals. Third baseman Whitey Kurowski injured his leg and missed the next two regular-season games.

The Cardinals were supposed to leave Philadelphia by train for Cincinnati on June 7, but Leo Ward, Cardinals traveling secretary, could get accommodations for only 14. Southworth and the Cardinals starting players, including pitcher Max Lanier, who was scheduled to start the June 8 game at Cincinnati, boarded the train. The rest of the team waited for another train, which departed Philadelphia at 1:08 a.m. on June 8, and arrived in Cincinnati less than three hours before game time, The Sporting News reported.

The weary Cardinals lost that June 8 game against the Reds by a 2-1 score, but won the remaining three games of the series, including an 18-0 shellacking in a game that featured the big-league debut of 15-year-old Reds pitcher Joe Nuxhall. Boxscore

The Cardinals won 11 of the 17 regular-season games on the trip and went home with a 32-16 record. Having survived their odyssey, they went on to clinch their third consecutive National League pennant.

Previously: How a B-17 nearly clipped Cardinals in World Series

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Bobby Tolan intrigued Cardinals with speed, hitting

Posted in Games, Hitters, Prospects on June 4, 2014| 4 Comments »

As a teen-ager, Bobby Tolan was a premier prospect for the Cardinals and was given a chance to displace Mike Shannon as the right fielder.

Tolan was 19 when he debuted in right field for the Cardinals on Sept. 3, 1965. Batting leadoff, Tolan was 1-for-4 against the Mets. He singled to center in his first at-bat, but was picked off by pitcher Dick Selma and tagged out in a rundown. Boxscore

Sprinter speed

A left-handed batter, Tolan, 17, was signed by the Pirates in 1963 as an amateur free agent out of Fremont High School in Los Angeles. His cousin, Eddie Tolan, had been called the world’s fastest human after winning gold medals in the 100-meter and 200-meter sprints for the United States in the 1932 Olympic Games at Los Angeles.

After a season in the Pirates’ system, Tolan was left off the big-league roster and selected by the Cardinals in the December 1963 minor-league draft.

Converted from first baseman to outfielder by the Cardinals, Tolan made an immediate impact, hitting .297 with 34 stolen bases for Class AA Tulsa and being named to the Texas League all-star team.

In 1965, Tolan continued to impress. He hit .290 with 45 stolen bases for Class AAA Jacksonville.

A 1965 profile of Tolan in The Sporting News was headlined, “Teen-ager Tolan A Blur On Bases, Whiz With Stick.”

After Jacksonville beat the Dodgers in an exhibition game that year, Dodgers shortstop Maury Wills said, “He could challenge my base-stealing record.”

Said Dodgers catcher John Roseboro: “The kid looks too good to be true.”

Grover Resinger, who managed Tolan in consecutive seasons at Tulsa and Jacksonville, filed glowing reports to the Cardinals.

Another Billy Williams

“He’s improving all the time,” Resinger said. “… He’s going to be one of the better hitters in the game. He’s a line-drive hitter, with good power to all fields. Bobby is a Billy Williams type of hitter. He’s going to get stronger and I think he has a good chance to become a 25- to 30-homer hitter.”

Late in the 1965 season, Bob Howsam, Cardinals general manager, decided to give Tolan a chance to be St. Louis’ everyday right fielder for the final month of the season.

Shannon, who had become the Cardinals’ regular right fielder in the second half of 1964, struggled in 1965. He hit .221 and had almost as many strikeouts (46) as hits (54). The Cardinals’ backup right fielders _ Tito Francona (.259) and Phil Gagliano (.240) _ weren’t long-term solutions.

Howsam also was thinking ahead to 1966 when the Cardinals would move into their spacious new home, Busch Stadium II. He envisioned Tolan joining Lou Brock and Curt Flood in an outfield of speedsters who could chase down fly balls in the big stadium. Howsam also liked the thought of Tolan running the bases.

“His base-stealing ability is unlimited,” Resinger said of Tolan. “I think he’ll eventualy steal 50 bases in the big leagues. He’s not as fast as Brock, but he is above average.”

Too much, too soon

Tolan made 17 September starts in right field for the 1965 Cardinals, but he was overmatched at the plate. He hit .188 (13 hits in 17 games).

That performance prompted Howsam to alter his plans. After the 1965 season, the Cardinals acquired outfielder Alex Johnson from the Phillies. The Cardinals opened the 1966 season with Johnson in left, Flood in center and Brock shifting from left to right.

Johnson started poorly, though, and by mid-May was sent to the minors. The Cardinals moved Brock back to left and reinserted Shannon in right.

Tolan hit .172 in 43 games for the 1966 Cardinals. He was a backup to Roger Maris in right for the 1967-68 Cardinals clubs that won consecutive National League pennants and a World Series title.

After the 1968 season, the Cardinals traded Tolan to the Reds for right fielder Vada Pinson. Tolan was reunited with Howsam, who had become the Reds’ general manager.

Given a starting outfield spot, Tolan thrived with Cincinnati. He fulfilled Resinger’s prediction, producing a league-high 57 steals for the 1970 Reds. In four seasons with Cincinnati, Tolan hit .282 with 140 steals and helped the Reds win pennants in 1970 and 1972.

In a 13-year major league career with the Cardinals, Reds, Padres, Phillies and Pirates, Tolan hit .265 with 193 steals.

Previously: Here’s how Mike Shannon became a Cardinals catcher

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Solly Hemus was Cardinals Mighty Mouse as leadoff man

Posted in Hitters, Records on June 2, 2014| 1 Comment »

(Updated Dec. 25, 2018)

Solly Hemus had a knack for getting on base atop a Cardinals lineup stacked with Hall of Fame hitters.

In 1953, Hemus established a Cardinals record when he reached base safely in the first 33 home games of the season.

A left-handed batter who primarily played shortstop, Hemus was listed at 5 feet 9, 165 pounds. In 11 big-league seasons, Hemus had an on-base percentage of .390.

Mighty Mouse

Eddie Stanky, manager of the 1953 Cardnals, described Hemus to The Sporting News as a batter who “worried pitchers” and “annoyed catchers.” St. Louis baseball writer Bob Broeg tabbed Hemus as “Mighty Mouse.”

Usually batting first or second in a 1953 Cardinals lineup with eventual Hall of Fame inductees Stan Musial, Red Schoendienst and Enos Slaughter, Hemus ranked sixth in the National League that year in most times on base (261).

Hemus didn’t bat for a high average, so he depended on working walks and getting hit by pitches to boost his on-base percentage.

In his first 55 games overall in 1953, Hemus reached base 108 times _ 62 hits, 43 walks and three hit by pitches, including one that knocked him cold, The Sporting News reported.

Hemus led the National League in most times hit by pitches (12) in 1953, one of three times he led the league in that category.

Explaining why Hemus often was struck by pitches, Oscar Ruhl of The Sporting News wrote, “Hemus stands with his feet almost even with the plate and leans his arms far over it.”

Shortcomings at short

After reaching base safely _ by base hit, walk or hit by pitch _ in the first 33 Cardinals home games of 1953, Hemus had the streak snapped in the second game of a doubleheader versus the Phillies on June 27 at St. Louis. Hemus was 0-for-4 against Phillies pitchers Bob Miller and Andy Hansen. Though Hemus reached on an error by first baseman Earl Torgeson, that didn’t count toward the streak because it occurred as a result of a miscue. Boxscore

Hemus finished the 1953 season with 163 hits in 154 games and 86 walks. He scored 110 runs and achieved double figures in doubles (32), triples (11) and home runs (14).

Though a favorite of Stanky, Hemus’ assets on offense couldn’t overcome his liabilities on defense.

“Hemus is handicapped by limited range and, though he has adhesive hands, his throwing arm isn’t top-grade either,” Broeg reported in The Sporting News.

Though better suited for second base than shortstop, Hemus couldn’t supplant Schoendienst at second. Alex Grammas became the Cardinals’ starting shortstop in 1954 and Hemus became a utility player.

Previously: Why Bing Devine was forced to fire Fred Hutchinson

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