Hitters | RetroSimba

Archive for the ‘Hitters’ Category

How Don Blasingame lit fuse for Cardinals attack

Posted in Hitters, Prospects on May 19, 2014| 4 Comments »

In 1956, Cardinals rookie second baseman Don Blasingame sprayed singles to all fields, ignited the offense with stolen bases and was superb at bunting for base hits.

With the bases empty, Blasingame bunted for 66 hits in 77 attempts _ an 86 percent success rate _ during his 12-year big-league career, according to research conducted by James Gentile of SB Nation.

Of Blasingame’s 1,366 big-league hits, 1,105 (81 percent) were singles. In five years (1955-59) with the Cardinals, Blasingame produced 663 hits, with 528 (80 percent) being singles.

Blasingame got an opportunity to become the starting second baseman for the Cardinals because of a trade involving a fan favorite. In June 1956, the Cardinals dealt second baseman Red Schoendienst to the Giants, opening the position for Blasingame.

Gashouse Gang connection

In five games for the 1955 Cardinals after his promotion from the minor leagues in late September, Blasingame gave an indication of his electrifying potential. He had six hits and six walks in 23 plate appearances (a .545 on-base percentage).

Cardinals manager Fred Hutchinson opened the 1956 season with Schoendienst at second base and Alex Grammas at shortstop, but after three games Blasingame replaced Grammas.

Journalist Bob Broeg noted Blasingame wore uniform No. 3, the same worn from 1932-37 by Frankie Frisch, the Cardinals’ fiery Gashouse Gang second baseman who was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

In The Sporting News, Broeg wrote, “Blasingame’s skill at winning fans and followers _ as well as his share of games _ is no accident. For one thing, he’s extremely fast, probably the fleetest man on a St. Louis club that has its greatest collective speed since the famed Swifties of 1942.”

Blasingame said his playing style was inspired by Hall of Famer Ty Cobb. “I never saw him, of course, but I’ve read a lot about him, the way he could put the pressure on the other club and keep it there,” Blasingame said.

Firebrand like Fox

Because of his throwing arm, the Cardinals projected Blasingame as a better fit for second base than for shortstop. One of the players general manager Frank Lane acquired from the Giants for Schoendienst was Alvin Dark. Blasingame replaced Schoendienst at second, with Dark taking over at shortstop.

According to The Sporting News, Lane saw Blasingame “as a firebrand,” much like Nellie Fox, all-star second baseman of the White Sox.

“It was evident he had a chance for future greatness if he could be placed at second,” Lane said of Blasingame.

Wrote Broeg, “Blasingame, taking advantage of his speed and his small stature, has developed into an able leadoff man, a spray hitter and able drag bunter.”

Nicknamed the “Corinth Comet” (he hailed from Corinth, Miss.) and the “Blazer,” Blasingame finished his rookie season with 153 hits in 150 games, with 72 walks and 94 runs scored.

In his four full seasons (1956-59) with the Cardinals, Blasingame ranked in the top 10 in the National League in singles each year. In 1959, Blasingame led the league in singles, with 144, seven ahead of the runner-up, Reds second baseman Johnny Temple.

Blasingame also ranked among the top 10 in the league in stolen bases for three consecutive Cardinals seasons (1957-59).

The Cardinals, however, were last in the league in home runs in 1958 and sixth among eight teams in 1959. Desperate for power, Cardinals general manager Bing Devine traded Blasingame to the Giants for shortstop Daryl Spencer and outfielder Leon Wagner in December 1959.

Read Full Post »

How Joaquin Andujar made like Babe Ruth for Cardinals

Posted in Games, Hitters, Pitchers on May 16, 2014| 9 Comments »

(Updated May 15, 2020)

Three factors combined to make the last home run of Joaquin Andujar’s career both special and unconventional: It was a grand slam, he called the shot and the Cardinals pitcher, a right-hander, hit it left-handed.

On May 15, 1984, Andujar pitched a complete game and slugged the fifth and final home run of his big-league career in the Cardinals’ 9-1 victory over the Braves at St. Louis.

In the eighth inning, the Cardinals led, 5-1, and had Andy Van Slyke on third and Ozzie Smith on second with two outs and catcher Tom Nieto at bat. The Braves opted to walk Nieto intentionally, loading the bases.

As reliever Jeff Dedmon delivered the mandatory four pitches outside the strike zone to Nieto, Andujar, waiting at the on-deck circle, pointed to the right-field wall.

“I told (teammates) George (Hendrick) and Tito (Landrum) that I was going to hit a home run,” Andujar told The Sporting News.

Smith, watching from second base, confirmed to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he saw Andujar call his shot. “He pointed while he was in the on-deck circle and said he was going to do it,” Smith said. “Can you believe that?”

Said Andujar to the Atlanta Constitution: “Everyone knows that I’m strong.”

Special formula

Leaving the on-deck circle, Andujar strode toward the plate and settled into the left side of the batter’s box.

His first four major-league home runs had been hit right-handed. Andujar hit three homers _ off Bill Lee of the Expos, Steve Rogers of the Expos and Rick Wise of the Padres _ with the Astros. The fourth was hit for the Cardinals, again off the Expos’ Rogers, on April 27, 1984, at Montreal.

A career .127 hitter in his 13 major-league seasons, Andujar used a personal formula to determine whether he would bat right-handed or left-handed. He usually opted for the left side when facing a right-hander (such as Dedmon) with runners in scoring position, according to St. Louis reporter Rick Hummel.

Watching from the dugout, Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog never knew what side of the batter’s box Andujar would choose. “What the hell do I know?” Herzog said to The Sporting News. “I’m only the manager.”

Sultan of Swat

With the bases loaded, “I knew they’d have to pitch to me,” Andujar told the Associated Press.

Andujar dug in and waited for a pitch in the strike zone.

Dedmon delivered.

“It was right down the middle,” said Braves manager Joe Torre.

Andujar uncoiled what the Atlanta Constitution described as “his left-handed going deep swing” and hit the ball to where he had pointed _ over the right-field wall _ for his lone grand slam and his only home run struck left-handed. Boxscore and Audio

“Every day, I hit five or six home runs in batting practice,” Andujar told The Sporting News. “I know I’m not a good hitter. I know I’m a lousy hitter. But … if I make contact, it’s gone.”

Previously: Cardinals pitchers enjoy grand slam streak

Read Full Post »

Down to last strike, George Hendrick spoiled Reds no-hit bid

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents, Pitchers on May 12, 2014| 14 Comments »

For George Hendrick, the combination of a nervous pitcher and a hanging changeup was a recipe for hitting heroics.

On May 12, 1984, Hendrick, the Cardinals’ cleanup hitter, ruined a no-hit bid by the Reds’ Mario Soto, slugging a home run with two outs in the ninth inning.

Though the Reds recovered to win, 2-1, against closer Bruce Sutter, Hendrick’s home run after Soto got within a strike of a no-hitter got the headlines.

Soto, 27, a right-hander, was in his eighth season with the Reds when he faced the Cardinals on a Saturday afternoon at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium. Primarily relying on a fastball, Soto struck out 10 Cardinals in the first six innings and 12 overall.

Backed by sparkling defensive plays from second baseman Ron Oester, who stopped an Ozzie Smith grounder in the seventh and swatted the ball to first baseman Dan Driessen, and from right fielder Dave Parker, who made a diving catch of Tommy Herr’s liner to the gap in right-center in the eighth, Soto held the Cardinals hitless.

Nervous ninth

With a 1-0 lead, Soto faced Ozzie Smith leading off the ninth. Most of the 24,355 in attendance rose and cheered wildly. Instead of inspiration, Soto felt fear.

“I was too nervous,” Soto told the Associated Press. “I just couldn’t stand it out there. I was nervous after I made the last out in the eighth. I’ve never felt that way before.”

Still, Soto had a promising start to the ninth. Ozzie Smith grounded out and Lonnie Smith popped out to second. That brought up Hendrick, who had entered the game with one home run and a .224 batting average.

Soto got two strikes on the right-handed batter. Hendrick then fouled off a couple of pitches, building the drama. Hoping to induce Hendrick to swing and miss, Soto threw his next two pitches high. Hendrick wasn’t tempted, though, and the pitches were called balls, evening the count at 2-and-2.

Looking to catch Hendrick off-guard, Soto delivered a changeup.

“As soon as I threw the pitch, I said, ‘That’s trouble.’ I hung the pitch,” Soto said.

Hendrick swung at the high, inside offering and walloped it over the left-field wall, tying the score at 1-1.

Nowhere to hide

Soto appeared stricken as Hendrick circled the bases.

“I almost died right there,” Soto said. “I don’t think anybody felt worse than I did. I wanted to leave. I almost walked out.”

Instead, he walked the next batter, Andy Van Slyke, before getting Ken Oberkfell on a fly out to center, ending the inning.

Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog sent in Sutter to pitch the bottom half of the ninth, even though it wasn’t a save situation. With one out, Dave Concepcion singled and swiped second. Brad Gulden, the Reds catcher who began the day with a .103 batting average, singled, scoring Concepcion, lifting the Reds to a 2-1 victory and salvaging the win for Soto. Boxscore

In his next start, Soto pitched a three-hitter and got the win against the Cubs, even though he yielded a two-run home run on a changeup to Jody Davis. “I’d say that three or four of the seven homers I’ve given up this season have come on the changeup, but that’s not going to stop me from throwing it,” Soto said to The Sporting News.

Soto, who three times led National League pitchers in most home runs given up in a season, finished 1984 with an 18-7 record while yielding 26 home runs, second-most in the league and one behind Bill Gullickson of the Expos.

In his last of seven seasons with the Cardinals. Hendrick finished 1984 with nine home runs and a .277 batting mark.

Previously: George Hendrick influenced hitting style of John Mabry

Read Full Post »

Spirit of St. Louis: Pepper Martin and his steal of home

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents on May 9, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Given a chance at age 35 to return to the starting lineup, Pepper Martin played with a boldness that electrified the Cardinals and startled opponents.

On May 8, 1939, Martin revived memories of his daring Gashouse Gang days by executing one of the most exciting plays in baseball. Martin made a straight steal of home for the run in the Cardinals’ 1-0 victory over the Dodgers at Brooklyn.

In sparking the Cardinals to World Series championships in 1931 and 1934 with fearless base running and relentless hitting, Martin symbolized the spirit of St. Louis’ Gashouse Gang.

As a center fielder, he hit .500 (12-for-24) and swiped five bases against the Athletics in the 1931 World Series. As a third baseman, he batted .355 (11-for-31) with two steals versus the Tigers in the 1934 World Series. Martin led the National League in stolen bases three times: 1933, 1934 and 1936.

Cardinals captain

By 1939, though relegated to being a role player under first-year manager Ray Blades, Martin also was paid an extra $500 to serve as Cardinals team captain. It was an honor he took seriously. Or, as The Sporting News reported, “it put a bee with a buzzer on Pepper.”

The 1939 Cardinals opened the season with an outfield of Enos Slaughter in right, Terry Moore in center and Joe Medwick in left. Slaughter, in his second big-league season in a career that would earn election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, was batting .213 when, on May 5, Blades replaced him with Martin.

Wrote The Sporting News, “Pepper Martin was dusted off and installed in the outfield in place of Enos Slaughter.”

On May 8, the Cardinals matched Bob Weiland, 33, a left-hander, against the Dodgers’ Red Evans, 32, a right-hander who was back in the big leagues for the first time in three years.

Dust and glory

Scoreless in the sixth, Martin singled and advanced to second, then third, on a pair of infield outs.

Red Evans went into a long windup against the next batter, Terry Moore.

Martin, seeing his opportunity, broke for the plate.

Associated Press: “Evans stood open-mouthed, too surprised to make the throw to the plate until it was too late.”

New York Journal American: “Evans’ startled and belated throw was wide and Martin was over the plate in a cloud of dust and glory.”

The Sporting News: “Martin is the dynamic force that is … carrying the banner for the Cards as they fan the dying embers of what was the Gashouse Gang into a red glow.”

The steal was Martin’s first of the season. Boxscore

He played 88 games for the 1939 Cardinals, batting .306 with six stolen bases and instilling an aggressive attitude throughout the club.

Slaughter regained his starting job and hit .320, with a league-leading 52 doubles.

First baseman Johnny Mize led the league in batting average (.349) and home runs (28) and had 197 hits, with 44 doubles and 14 triples.

Joe Medwick produced 201 hits and 117 RBI.

The 1939 Cardinals led the league in hits (1,601), doubles (332), runs (779) and RBI (732). They were successful on 44 of 52 stolen base attempts. They finished with a 92-61 record and placed second, 4.5 games behind the Reds.

“Better ballplayers have come and gone in the big leagues than Pepper Martin,” wrote Bill Corum of the Journal American, “but never one who tried more desperately on every play.”

Read Full Post »

How Bing Devine tried coaxing Kirk Gibson to Cardinals

Posted in Hitters, Prospects on May 7, 2014| 3 Comments »

In 1979, Kirk Gibson rejected a chance to play for the St. Louis Cardinals.

That’s because he was committed to playing baseball, not football.

On May 4, 1979, the St. Louis football Cardinals selected Gibson, a wide receiver at Michigan State, in the seventh round of the NFL draft.

A year earlier, June 1978, Gibson had been chosen by the Tigers in the first round of baseball’s amateur draft and signed a $200,000 contract with Detroit. The outfielder spent the summer of 1978 playing for the Tigers’ Class A Lakeland (Fla.) team managed by Jim Leyland before returning to Michigan State for his senior football season.

Gibson established school single-season records for receptions (42) and receiving yards (806) in 1978. He finished his Michigan State football career with four-year totals of 112 receptions, 2,347 yards receiving and 24 touchdown catches, all school records.

Gibson would have been “a certain first-round pick” in the 1979 NFL draft if he hadn’t already signed with the Tigers, United Press International reported. The Tigers assigned Gibson to start the 1979 baseball season with their Class AAA Evansville (Ind.) team, again managed by Leyland.

Calculated risk

Bing Devine, longtime general manager of the St. Louis baseball Cardinals, had become vice president for administration of the St. Louis football Cardinals just a week before the 1979 NFL draft. Cardinals football scouts approached Devine before selecting Gibson to find out how baseball teams viewed Gibson.

Devine offered a positive report. Gibson hadn’t played baseball at Michigan State until his junior year. He still was relatively inexperienced at the game and some thought Gibson might change his mind and return to football.

“It was a calculated risk,” Devine said to the Associated Press of the football Cardinals’ decision to draft Gibson. “At this level of the draft, everyone’s a calculated risk. With his amount of football talent, I guess the people over in the drafting office figured he was worth taking a chance on.

“Besides,” Devine continued, “in baseball, just as in football, there’s no such thing as a sure bet.”

Tigers general manager Jim Campbell told the Associated Press, “We’re not surprised that any major (football) team would want Kirk, but we are convinced that he will honor his contract with us.”

Said Gibson regarding the football Cardinals: “I imagine they will call me and I’ll probably say, ‘Hi,’ but I’m a baseball player … as of now.”

The Cardinals offered Gibson a financial deal similar to what he had with the Tigers. When reporter Jim Hawkins, a baseball correspondent for The Sporting News, visited Gibson at Evansville a month after the NFL draft, Gibson showed him four one-year contracts totaling $200,000 sent by the football Cardinals. The contracts, Hawkins reported, were for $35,000, $45,000, $55,000 and $65,000 for each of the next four NFL seasons.

“Right now, I’m not thinking about football at all,” Gibson said. “I made up my mind last year to play baseball and I don’t want to be second-guessing myself. I want to keep my mind on baseball.”

Baseball lifer

In his first game for Evansville, against an Iowa club managed by Tony La Russa, Gibson had a two-run home run, a RBI-double, two walks and a sacrifice bunt. Gibson went on to bat .245 with 42 RBI in 89 games for Evansville.

The Tigers promoted Gibson to the big leagues in September 1979 and he made his major-league debut on Sept. 8. Tigers manager Sparky Anderson sent the rookie to bat against Yankees closer Goose Gossage, who struck him out.

Gibson never was tempted again to try football. He built a 17-year big-league playing career, helping the Tigers (1984) and Dodgers (1988) to World Series championships with memorable home runs (off Gossage in 1984 and off Dennis Eckersley in 1988) and earning the 1988 National League Most Valuable Player Award. As manager of the Diamondbacks, Gibson won the 2011 NL Manager of the Year Award.

Even without Gibson, the football Cardinals had a spectacular draft in 1979. Their selections in the first through fourth rounds all became starters:

_ Halfback Ottis Anderson (7,999 yards rushing and 46 rushing touchdowns in eight years with St. Louis).

_ Fullback Theotis Brown (10 rushing touchdowns in three years with St. Louis).

_ Offensive guard Joe Bostic (122 games, 114 as a starter, in nine years with St. Louis).

_ Wide receiver Roy Green (522 receptions, 8,496 yards receiving and 66 touchdown catches in 12 years with the Cardinals in St. Louis and Arizona).

Read Full Post »

Enduring record: Stan Musial and his 5 home runs in a day

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents, Records on May 2, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Ever since Stan Musial became the first big-league player to hit five home runs in a doubleheader, only one other has matched the feat and no one has surpassed it.

On May 2, 1954, Musial hit three home runs in the Cardinals’ 10-6 victory in Game 1 and clubbed two more in Game 2, a 9-7 victory for the Giants at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

Eighteen years later, on Aug. 1, 1972, Padres first baseman Nate Colbert, a St. Louis native who began his pro career in the Cardinals’ farm system, hit five home runs off five different pitchers in a doubleheader against the Braves at Atlanta.

Musial is the only left-handed batter to achieve the feat in the majors. Colbert is the only right-handed batter to do the same.

Although sluggers such as Roger Maris, Hank Aaron, Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds have broken single-season and career home run records in the years since Musial hit five home runs in a doubleheader, the record likely will continue to endure because of the degree of difficulty and because the number of doubleheaders played each season has decreased significantly.

For instance, in 2001, when he hit a single-season record 73 home runs for the Giants, Bonds didn’t play in both games of any doubleheader.

Move over, Babe

Maris came close to matching Musial’s feat.

In 1961, when he surpassed Babe Ruth by hitting 61 home runs for the Yankees, Maris played in both games of 23 doubleheaders. On July 25 that season, he hit four home runs in a doubleheader against the White Sox at Yankee Stadium. Maris hit two homers in Game 1 and two in Game 2. In his last at-bat of Game 2, with a chance to match Musial’s record, Maris grounded out to second base.

When Ruth hit 60 home runs for the 1927 Yankees, the most he had in a doubleheader were three against the Red Sox at Boston on Sept. 6. Ruth played in both games of a doubleheader 18 times that season. He also hit three home runs in a doubleheader, all in Game 1, on May 21, 1930, versus the Athletics at Philadelphia.

Jolting the Giants

In 1954, Musial hit more home runs (12) and had more RBI (27) versus the Giants than he did against any other team. He batted .338 against them that year.

Musial’s five home runs in the May 2, 1954, doubleheader came off three pitchers: left-hander Johnny Antonelli and right-handers Jim Hearn and Hoyt Wilhelm (who, like Musial, would be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame).

Musial hit well against all three throughout his career. Here’s a look:

_ vs. Antonelli, 11 home runs, .302 batting average.

_ vs. Hearn, 4 home runs, .326 batting average.

_ vs. Wilhelm, 4 home runs, .333 batting average.

5 for No. 6

In Game 1, Musial hit two home runs off Antonelli, with the bases empty in the third and one on in the fifth, and a three-run shot off Hearn in the eighth, breaking a 6-6 tie. Here is how The Sporting News described each:

_ Home run #1: “Swinging like a golfer with arms close to his body, Stan lifted a low pitch inside the strike zone onto the right field roof at Busch Stadium.”

_ Home run #2: Musial “socked a slow curve to the top of the 40-foot pavilion.”

_ Home run #3: Musial hit “a slider and the ball … reached the roof.”

It was the first time Musial hit three home runs in a big-league game. Boxscore

In Game 2, Musial hit both home runs off Wilhelm, with one on in the fifth and none on in the seventh. The Sporting News report:

_ Home run #4: Musial “hammered a slow curve clear out of the park onto Grand Boulevard.”

_ Home run #5: Musial “whacked a knuckler out on the streetcar tracks, this one farther toward right-center.”

In his book “Stan Musial: The Man’s Own Story,” Musial said of that fifth home run, “I’m especially proud that it was hit off a knuckleball. Not just any old knuckleball _ and they’re all pretty tough _ but a great knuckler’s, Wilhelm’s.”

Musial almost had a sixth home run that Sunday afternoon. In the third inning of Game 2, he “sent a tremendous drive to dead center, where it was caught by Willie Mays some 410 feet away and just 15 feet from the bleacher wall,” The Sporting News wrote.

In his book, Musial wrote of that long fly out, “The wind that day blew toward left field. If it had blown toward right, I believe I would have had two three-homer games the same afternoon.”

In his last at-bat of Game 2, facing right-hander Larry Jansen, a pitcher he hit .289 against in his career with four home runs, Musial admitted he was swinging for a home run. Instead, he popped out to first base. “It was high, inside _ a bad pitch,” Musial said to The Sporting News. Boxscore

Musial, batting third and playing right field in both games, was 4-for-4 with six RBI, three runs scored and a walk in the opener. He was 2-for-4 with three RBI, three runs scored and a walk in the second game.

Musial’s totals for the doubleheader: 6-for-8, five home runs, nine RBI, six runs scored, two walks.

“In the clubhouse afterward,” Musial said, “manager Eddie Stanky, who had been coaching third base, told reporters I not only had smiled, but actually had laughed as I trotted around the bases after that fifth homer. You know, I just couldn’t believe I’d hit five homers in one day _ and that no one else had.”

Previously: How Stan Musial got his fourth 5-hit game in one season

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »