Hitters | RetroSimba

Archive for the ‘Hitters’ Category

High drama: How 3 Cardinals each got 200 hits in 1963

Posted in Games, Hitters, Records on July 10, 2013| 2 Comments »

(Updated April 5, 2026)

Bill White and Curt Flood each approached his final at-bat of the 1963 season needing a hit to reach 200 for the year. Each delivered, enabling the Cardinals to have three players get 200 hits in a season for the first time in franchise history.

White and Flood joined Dick Groat as Cardinals who reached 200 hits in 1963. Groat, who finished with 201, got his 200th hit in the penultimate game of the season.

According to the book “The Curt Flood Story: The Man Behind the Myth,” Flood approached Groat in 1963 after Groat was acquired by the Cardinals from the Pirates and said to him, “I got to learn to hit to the opposite field. You show me.”

“Groat and I would go out to the ballpark for long periods of time and he would help me to learn how to hit to right field,” Flood said. “That Groat, he could hit .300 with a strand of barbed wire.”

On Sept. 28, 1963, Groat entered the next-to-last game of the season with 199 hits. He tripled against the Reds’ Joe Nuxhall in the first inning for hit No. 200 and got his final hit of the season, a double off Nuxhall, in the sixth. Groat became the first Cardinals player to achieve 200 hits in a season since Stan Musial (with 200) in 1953. Boxscore

(In the 2005 book “Cardinals Where Have You Gone?” Groat was asked by writer Rob Rains to explain his hitting success in 1963. “I was hitting in front of Stan Musial all year,” Groat replied.)

White and Flood each had 198 hits entering the season finale, Sept. 29, 1963, against the Reds at St. Louis, but the spotlight was focused on Musial, who was playing the final game of his illustrious career.

In the sixth, Flood doubled against Jim Maloney and scored on Musial’s single, the 3,630th and final hit of Stan’s career. White also singled in the inning. So Flood and White each had 199 hits.

When Flood grounded out in the seventh and White grounded out in the eighth, it appeared both would fall short of achieving 200, but the Reds scored twice in the ninth, tying the score, 2-2, and the game went to extra innings.

In the 13th, White singled against Joey Jay for hit No. 200. In the 14th, Flood singled off Jay, becoming the third Cardinal that year with 200 hits. The single moved baserunner Ernie Broglio from first to second. Dal Maxvill followed Flood with a double, driving in Broglio with the game-winning run. Boxscore

The 1963 season was the only time Groat and White reached 200 hits in a season. Flood did it one more time, getting 211 hits for the 1964 Cardinals.

Read Full Post »

Great Debate: When Tony La Russa first batted pitcher 8th

Posted in Games, Hitters, Managers, Pitchers on July 8, 2013| 1 Comment »

Tony La Russa had lots of time to think about his faltering Cardinals club during the 1998 all-star break. The Cardinals manager used that time off to devise a batting order that surprised players and fans, creating a controversy that lingered throughout La Russa’s tenure in St. Louis.

In July 1998, La Russa chose to bat the pitcher eighth rather than ninth in the order.

In an article for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, reporter Rick Hummel referred to the decision as “The Great Experiment.”

Intelligent innovation or egotistical folly? La Russa’s move was labeled both.

Even with an offense powered by the record-setting home run pace of Mark McGwire, the bullpen-poor, error-prone 1998 Cardinals entered the all-star break having lost 10 of their last 12 games.

In their first game after the break, July 9 vs. the Astros at St. Louis, La Russa posted a batting order that had pitcher Todd Stottlemyre batting eighth and rookie second baseman Placido Polanco batting ninth.

Stottlemyre became the first major-league pitcher to bat anywhere but ninth in the order since the Phillies’ Steve Carlton on June 1, 1979, at Cincinnati.

(In that game, Phillies manager Danny Ozark batted Carlton eighth and shortstop Bud Harrelson ninth. Carlton went 0-for-3 and hit into a double play; Harrelson, who entered the game hitless in five at-bats that season, was 1-for-3 with a single. The Reds won, 4-2. Boxscore)

The Phillies had been shut out in their previous three games, so the move of Carlton to the eighth spot was a gimmick. Ozark never tried it again.

La Russa was committed to the strategy. He batted his pitcher eighth in each of the last 77 games of the 1998 season.

In the 1960s, Cardinals pitcher Bob Gibson had asked manager Red Schoendienst to bat him eighth and to move shortstop Dal Maxvill to the ninth spot. Schoendienst didn’t do it. “If he had,” Maxvill said to Hummel, “I would have been so ticked off I wouldn’t have talked to him for the rest of my life. I don’t think he would want to show me up.”

La Russa informed Hummel he sought the advice of Schoendienst, then a St. Louis consultant, and Cardinals instructor George Kissell before deciding to bat the pitcher eighth in 1998. “They said it was OK,” La Russa said.

In explaining his decision, La Russa told the Post-Dispatch, “I don’t see how it doesn’t make sense for the ninth-place hitter to be a legitimate hitter. This gives us a better shot to score runs. It’s an extra guy on base in front of Ray (Lankford), Mark (McGwire) and Brian (Jordan). The more guys who are on base, the less they’ll be able to pitch around Mark. I don’t have a problem with it.”

Cardinals’ first game with pitcher batting eighth

Polanco, appearing in his third big-league game, was 0-for-2 from the ninth spot on July 9, 1998, before Willie McGee pinch-hit for him in the seventh. Stottlemyre was 1-for-2. The pitcher led off the third with a single and scored on Royce Clayton’s double. Still, the Cardinals made four errors and grounded into three double plays. Houston won, 5-4. Boxscore

Said Stottlemyre: “I stink whether I hit eighth or ninth. I take my swings. I take my seat. And I get ready to pitch.”

The more La Russa continued to bat the pitcher eighth, the more the criticism grew.

“I think the National League is investigating the Cardinals and Tony,” catcher Tom Pagnozzi said after batting ninth for the first time.

Said La Russa: “It would be nice if it would become a non-issue.”

La Russa legacy?

According to the book “Cardinals Journal” (2006, Emmis Books), the 1998 Cardinals scored 4.98 runs per game with the pitcher batting ninth and 4.96 runs per game with the pitcher batting eighth.

From 1998 to 2011 (his last season as manager), La Russa batted the pitcher eighth 432 times. He batted Cardinals pitchers eighth in the last 56 games of 2007 and in 153 games in 2008.

(Until La Russa, the manager who had batted the pitcher eighth the most times in a season was Lou Boudreau of the 1957 Athletics. He batted the pitcher eighth for the first 56 games that season. Boudreau was fired in August that year.)

La Russa batted Cardinals pitchers eighth 55 times in 2009, 77 times in 2010 and 14 times in 2011.

Previously: Tony La Russa: Proud pupil of mentor Paul Richards

Read Full Post »

How Giants beat John Tudor, Cardinals, 21-2

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents, Pitchers on July 6, 2013| 2 Comments »

In 1988, the defending National League champion Cardinals staggered into the all-star break after experiencing a humiliating loss during a series that exposed multiple flaws and severely tested their resolve.

The 1988 Cardinals ended their first half of the season with three games at San Francisco. Mike LaCoss pitched a four-hitter in the opener, a 1-0 Giants win. Terry Mulholland pitched a five-hitter in the finale and the Giants won, 2-1.

It was the middle game of the set that sent the Cardinals reeling.

The Giants beat them, 21-2, on Saturday afternoon, July 9, 1988, at Candlestick Park.

Summarizing the Cardinals’ performance, Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote, “Their defense was less than airtight and their hitting was poor, but, most strikingly, their pitching was colossally bad.”

The 21 runs allowed were the most a Cardinals team had surrendered in 63 years, according to the Post-Dispatch. The Pirates defeated the Cardinals, 24-6, on June 22, 1925, at St. Louis. Boxscore

The 21 runs also were the most scored by the Giants since they moved to San Francisco from New York in 1958. The previous high was 19.

Two unlikely Giants standouts in the blowout win were infielders Chris Speier and Ernest Riles.

Speier, 38, filling in at second base for ailing all-star Robby Thompson, hit for the cycle and had five RBI. He had two doubles, a triple, a home run and a single. It was the only five-hit game in Speier’s 19-year major-league career.

The oldest big-league player to hit for the cycle was Cy Williams, 39, of the 1927 Phillies, the Post-Dispatch reported. Like Speier, Honus Wagner of the 1912 Pirates was 38 when he hit for the cycle.

Speier entered the game with a .191 batting average. “I hadn’t been doing much the last month and a half,” Speier said to the Associated Press. “I had a long talk with my wife and I just decided to relax and have some fun.”

Riles had been acquired by the Giants a month earlier in a trade that sent outfielder Jeffrey Leonard to the Brewers. Riles, who entered the game in the sixth inning as a replacement for shortstop Jose Uribe, hit a three-run home run in the seventh. It was the 10,000th home run in Giants history and the first for Riles as a Giant.

The ball hit off the facing of the upper deck and caromed back onto the field. Disgusted, Cardinals right fielder Tom Brunansky picked up the historic ball and heaved into the stands. After the game, Brunansky sought a closed-door meeting with Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog.

“This was pathetic,” Brunansky told the Post-Dispatch. “I was embarrassed.”

Shortstop Ozzie Smith said, “Anybody who is proud of this shouldn’t be here.”

Cardinals starting pitcher John Tudor entered the game with a 1.72 ERA. The Giants knocked him out with five runs in two innings.

“You don’t figure to lose a game by that much with John Tudor pitching,” Herzog said. “His location was bad, but even then it shouldn’t have been that bad.”

Relievers Bob Forsch and Steve Peters each gave up eight runs.

“It was ugly,” Forsch told the Post-Dispatch. “Ugly for me.”

Said Peters: “It’s the worst embarrassment I ever had.”

The Giants ended up with 20 hits and six walks.

Herzog, keeping a sense of humor, told the Associated Press, “I wish we were playing a doubleheader today. We would have had them (the Giants) tired out for the second game.” Boxscore

Read Full Post »

1963 NL all-stars started all-Cardinals infield

Posted in Games, Hitters, Records on July 3, 2013| 2 Comments »

(Updated Jan. 12, 2022)

The 1963 Cardinals infield established an all-star standard that went unmatched for 53 years.

For the first time in major-league history, the National League’s All-Star Game starting infield was composed of players from the same team. They were the Cardinals unit of first baseman Bill White, second baseman Julian Javier, shortstop Dick Groat and third baseman Ken Boyer.

The Giants’ Alvin Dark, who managed the 1963 National League all-star team, told The Sporting News, “When you’ve got an infield that starts with Bill White at first base and runs through Julian Javier, Dick Groat and Ken Boyer, you’ve got power and class.”

In 2016, fans selected an all-Cubs starting NL all-star infield of first baseman Anthony Rizzo, second baseman Ben Zobrist, shortstop Addison Russell and third baseman Kris Bryant.

Fans have voted for the all-star starters each year since 1970. In 1963, the starters were selected in voting by players, managers and coaches in each league.

White, Groat, Boyer and Pirates second baseman Bill Mazeroski were voted the starters for the 1963 NL team, but Mazeroski withdrew after he pulled a muscle in his right leg.

Cubs second baseman Ken Hubbs had finished second to Mazeroski in the voting, but Dark picked Javier to replace Mazeroski as the starting second baseman.

United Press International wrote, “Usually, all-star managers in picking reserves for their squad stick mighty close to the way the players themselves voted earlier in choosing the starting lineup.”

Said Dark to the Associated Press: “I feel this is the strongest squad we have.”

Javier “doesn’t have any shortcomings,” Groat told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “He runs well, has good range, fine hands and pivots well.”

Here were the top two vote-getters for each NL infield position:

First base: Bill White, 220 votes; Orlando Cepeda, Giants, 38 votes.

Second base: Bill Mazeroski, 227 votes; Ken Hubbs, 14 votes.

Shortstop: Dick Groat, 238 votes; Maury Wills, Dodgers, 25 votes.

Third base: Ken Boyer, 186 votes; Ron Santo, Cubs, 52 votes.

The other starting position players for the 1963 NL all-stars were Giants catcher Ed Bailey and outfielders Hank Aaron of the Braves, Willie Mays of the Giants and Tommy Davis of the Dodgers.

The Cardinals’ Stan Musial, 42, was chosen by Dark as an outfield reserve. It would be a record 24th and final All-Star Game for Musial, who retired after the season.

Best Cardinals infield

In his book “Stan Musial: The Man’s Own Story,” Musial said, “That infield was the strength of the 1963 Cardinals, all right … Marty Marion said the Cardinals’ 1946 infield was a bit better. I’m not so sure, though we did have a good one in ’46. I played first base then, Red Schoendienst second, Marion short and George Kurowski third. That far back, Red hadn’t yet come into his own as a hitter.”

In a 2011 interview, I asked White if the 1963 Cardinals infield was the best he’d seen. White’s response:

“It was a good infield. It probably was not the best. Ken Boyer might have been the best third baseman I’d seen or played with. Groat had mobility problems. He understood how to play the hitters, but he had very little range and he didn’t have that real good arm. Javier was a pretty good second baseman. He made a great double play and he could go way out to center field for pop-ups because Curt Flood played a deep center field.

“It was a good infield, the best infield that I was on, but I’m not sure it was the best ever. It might have been the best Cardinals infield.”

Branch Rickey said the 1963 Cardinals infield was comparable to the 1952 Dodgers infield of first baseman Gil Hodges, second baseman Jackie Robinson, shortstop Pee Wee Reese and third baseman Billy Cox. “I’d still give that Brooklyn infield the edge defensively,” Rickey told The Sporting News in June 1963, “but this Cardinals infield has more offensively and might even get to be better.”

White, Groat aid NL win

White and Groat contributed significantly to the NL’s 5-3 victory over the American League on July 9, 1963, at Cleveland. They and Javier played the entire game. Santo replaced Boyer in the sixth.

In the second, Groat’s single off starter Ken McBride of the Angels drove in Mays from second, giving the NL a 1-0 lead.

With the NL ahead 4-3 in the eighth, White led off against imposing Red Sox reliever Dick Radatz, nicknamed “The Monster,” and singled to center.

Taking his lead off first base, White watched Radatz pitch to Mays and detected a flaw in the pitcher’s motion, he told The Sporting News. As Mays struck out, White swiped second. White ran on his own, Dark said.

Radatz “came set and started his left leg forward a couple of pitches in a way that showed just when he definitely was going to the plate, not to first base,” White told the Post-Dispatch.

Santo singled to center, scoring White and boosting the NL’s advantage to 5-3.

With Dodgers ace Don Drysdale pitching the ninth, the Orioles’ Brooks Robinson singled with one out. The next batter, Bobby Richardson of the Yankees, hit a grounder to White. The Cardinals’ first baseman threw to Groat covering second and Groat’s return throw to White nipped Richardson for a game-ending first-to-short-to-first double play. Boxscore

The NL turned three double plays. White took part in all three and Groat helped turn two. White and Groat each went 1-for-4; Javier and Boyer each was hitless.

(Musial, pinch-hitting for Bailey in the fifth, faced Jim Bunning and lined out to Al Kaline in right field. “I got out in front of the pitch just a fraction or I’d have hit it out of there,” Musial said.)

Groat and Boyer both were elected starters again in 1964, but White and Javier were replaced by Cepeda and the Mets’ Ron Hunt.

Read Full Post »

How Bob Tewksbury outfoxed Mark McGwire

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents, Pitchers on June 21, 2013| Leave a Comment »

In a season when Mark McGwire pummeled pitchers with his home run power, Bob Tewksbury used lollipop pitches to keep the Cardinals slugger from hitting the ball out of the infield.

In 1998, Tewksbury, the former Cardinal, was with the Twins in what would be the last of his 13 major-league seasons. McGwire was in his first full year with the Cardinals and headed toward a record-breaking season in which he would hit 70 home runs.

On June 28, 1998, Tewksbury got the start against the Cardinals at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis.

McGwire entered the game with 36 home runs and a .313 batting average.

When McGwire came to bat in the first inning, Tewksbury lobbed a pitch toward the plate. McGwire watched it float out of the strike zone for ball one. Tewksbury followed with another lob, a pitch accurately described by Dan Barreiro of the Minneapolis Star Tribune as a lollipop. Rather than give it a lick, McGwire swung and dribbled a grounder to first base.

As he headed toward the dugout, McGwire shared a laugh with first-base coach Dave McKay, the Associated Press reported.

“It was all of 44 (mph),” Tewksbury told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “… My son (Griffin) calls it The Dominator. (Manager) Tom Kelly calls it The Entertainment Pitch. The hitters probably call it some other things.”

Said McGwire: “It was awesome. I loved it. I tell you what, I’ll swing at it every time if it’s in the strike zone.”

When McGwire came to bat again, in the fourth, Tewksbury got two quick strikes on the slugger before he floated the lob pitch. McGwire swung and popped out near first base.

“The first time it was funny,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. “He kept getting outs with it _ and then it wasn’t funny.”

Said Tewksbury: “I can’t throw the ball by him, but I can throw it slower. I was excited to face McGwire. I couldn’t wait to face him. It was a thrill. He’s one of the best ever to play the game.”

In the sixth, McGwire singled off a Tewksbury curve. “I didn’t want to get crazy with it,” Tewksbury said about why he didn’t try the lob to McGwire again. “He’d hit it in the upper deck.”

When Ray Lankford came up in the same inning, Tewksbury delivered two lobs. Lankford watched one and grounded out on the other, ending the inning.

In 6.1 innings, Tewksbury yielded two runs on seven hits, walked none and struck out two. He threw five lobs _ three to McGwire and two to Lankford _ and recorded three outs with those floaters. The Twins won, 3-2. Boxscore

“From the variance of slowest pitch to fastest in the league, I can probably go farther than anybody,” Tewksbury said. “I can throw 44 (mph) and I can throw 83 (mph).”

Previously: Think Lance Lynn is a surprise? Check out Luis Arroyo

Read Full Post »

Why Cardinals dealt Keith Hernandez in 1983

Posted in Hitters, Trades on June 12, 2013| 6 Comments »

(Updated June 11, 2024)

Keith Hernandez was a World Series hero, the best-fielding first baseman in the sport, the most consistent hitter in the Cardinals’ lineup, winner of a league Most Valuable Player Award and a fan favorite.

To Whitey Herzog, none of that made up for what the Cardinals manager considered an unforgivable sin _ lack of maximum effort.

In a trade that remains one of the Cardinals’ most unpopular and contentious, Hernandez was dealt to the Mets on June 15, 1983, for pitchers Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey.

The deal, which Mets catcher John Stearns called “the biggest heist since the Thomas Crown Affair,” was made, in part, because of the Cardinals’ need for pitching. Their top two starters, Joaquin Andujar and Bob Forsch, were having subpar seasons and the Cardinals also lacked a reliable replacement for departed No. 5 starter Steve Mura. “Good arms are hard to come by,” Cardinals general manager Joe McDonald said to United Press International. “If Allen was not having a bad year, there’s no way we could have gotten him.”

Herzog told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “We had to decide if we were going to have enough hitting if we did this. Or did we have enough pitching if we didn’t do it? We need pitching.”

The primary reason for the deal, though, was the deteriorating relationship between Herzog and Hernandez.

Do the hustle

In his book “White Rat: A Life in Baseball,” Herzog was unsparing in his criticism of Hernandez, saying:

“Keith Hernandez was dogging it … He’s the best defensive first baseman I’ve ever seen. But on offense, he was loafing. He loafed down the line on ground balls and he wasn’t aggressive on the bases.

“What I couldn’t live with was his attitude. I’ve got two basic rules _ be on time and hustle _ and he was having trouble with both of them … His practice habits were atrocious. He’d come out for batting practice, then head back to the clubhouse to smoke cigarettes and do crossword puzzles … It was getting to the point where I was fed up with him.”

Herzog began clashing with Hernandez soon after taking over as Cardinals manager in June 1980. In a game at Atlanta during Herzog’s first series as manager, Hernandez didn’t run hard on a fly ball that was dropped. “Hernandez has the ability to be among the best players in the major leagues,” Herzog told The Sporting News, “but one little thing like that can make him a bad guy for a long time. When you’re out there, run hard.”

According to the Post-Dispatch, the Cardinals first offered Hernandez to the Mets after the 1980 season in exchange for Allen, second baseman Doug Flynn and pitcher Tim Leary, but the Mets declined.

Time to go

Early in the 1983 season, Hernandez came close to being dealt to the Astros. According to the Post-Dispatch, the Astros offered to swap first baseman Ray Knight and pitcher Vern Ruhle for Hernandez.

In an interview for the book “Whitey’s Boys,” Hernandez said, “I could tell a trade was coming (in 1983) because I knew I wasn’t in Whitey’s good graces.”

On June 15, 1983, Hernandez was taking batting practice at Busch Stadium when he was called into Herzog’s office. As he approached the office, Hernandez told the Post-Dispatch, “I knew I was gone.”

Herzog informed Hernandez of the trade to the Mets 20 minutes before it was announced. “It wasn’t an easy thing for him to tell me,” Hernandez said.

Hernandez called his agent to find out whether he could block the trade. “I wasn’t shocked I was traded,” Hernandez said. “I was shocked it was to the Mets.”

“I’m disappointed,” Hernandez told the Post-Dispatch. “I loved it here and the fans were great to me.”

When the deal was announced on the Busch Stadium scoreboard, fans booed.

Eight months earlier, Hernandez had produced seven hits and eight RBI in the last three games of the 1982 World Series. He sparked a Cardinals comeback in the decisive Game 7, driving in the tying run with a two-run single. He hit .299 in 10 years with St. Louis, won the 1979 National League batting title, shared the Most Valuable Player Award that year (with the Pirates’ Willie Stargell) and won five consecutive Gold Glove awards from 1978-82.

In a column about the trade, Kevin Horrigan of the Post-Dispatch wrote, “The Mets are getting a great hitter and a great first baseman, but they’re also getting a good guy, a man who has grown up a lot in the last three years.”

In exchange for Hernandez, the Cardinals got Allen (2-7, 4.50 ERA) and Ownbey (1-3, 4.67). Allen had told the Mets he thought he had an alcohol problem. Instead, he was diagnosed as suffering from stress.

“So the Cards had to enter the pitching market, which is so badly inflated it looks like it’s being run by an Argentinian junta,” Horrigan wrote in the Post-Dispatch. “Inflation touches us all. Ten grand for a Chevrolet? Outrageous. A buck for a hamburger? Absurd. Buck and a quarter for a gallon of gas? Ridiculous. A Keith Hernandez for Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey? Outrageous, absurd and ridiculous.”

Said Herzog: “If Allen falls on his butt, then we got jobbed, but everybody in the organization … were in agreement this had to be done.”

Hernandez told Cardinals Magazine, “Whitey was the best manager I ever played for. That’s not a criticism of the others. Whitey made me a better player … He just basically taught us how to win.”

Mets make out

Mets general manager Frank Cashen called the acquisition of Hernandez “the biggest deal” he had made since joining the club, the New York Daily News reported. Cashen said the Cardinals initiated the trade. “Joe McDonald told me right off we could have Hernandez if we were willing to give up Allen,” Cashen told the Daily News.

The Associated Press declared the trade “a total surprise.”

Second baseman Tommy Herr told the Post-Dispatch, “I really don’t understand why they had to trade Keith. It’s difficult taking his bat out of the lineup.”

In remarks to the Daily News, Mets pitcher Tom Seaver said, “This may be the best deal the Mets have ever made because of the overall reaction Keith’s presence will create … The one thing we have not had is a consistent third-place hitter. There are not many more consistent players in baseball than Keith.”

Herzog said to Cardinals Magazine, “He might have been the best hit-and-run man I ever managed. I thought George Brett was good when I managed him and he was very good, but Keith Hernandez never, ever swung and missed a (hit-and-run) ball. He loved to hit-and-run, and we used it an awful lot with him.”

John Stearns spoke for many when he told Frank Dolson of Knight-Ridder Newspapers, “Were they (the Cardinals) drunk when they made that deal? I just couldn’t believe it. I thought, ‘Do they know something about Hernandez that we don’t? Is there a problem somewhere?’ ”

Turns out there was more of a problem than most knew.

Drug deal

In testimony two years later in a federal court case, Hernandez said he had used “massive” amounts of cocaine, starting in 1980 after he was introduced to the drug by Cardinals teammate Bernie Carbo, and had developed an “insatiable desire for more.”

Hernandez testified he broke his cocaine habit on his own just before the trade to the Mets. Hernandez said what motivated him to stop using was seeing teammate Lonnie Smith have a “bad experience” with the drug after a game at Philadelphia.

Herzog said he didn’t know Hernandez had been using drugs, but that he had become suspicious.

Meet the Mets

Hernandez would thrive with the Mets. At the time of the trade, the Mets had the worst record in the major leagues. Hernandez helped transform them into contenders by 1984 and World Series champions in 1986.

In his book “Mookie,” Mets center fielder Mookie Wilson said of Hernandez, “One thing I didn’t envision was what kind of clubhouse presence he would bring. Even before we saw what he could do on the playing field every day, it was his mannerisms and professionalism that made him stand out. He didn’t come in with the rah-rah stuff or any glitter. Instead, it was clear that he was a student of the game and learned a lot about leadership from guys like Lou Brock and some of the other great Cardinals veterans he played with.”

Allen was 20-16 with five saves in three seasons with St. Louis. Ownbey was 1-6 in two Cardinals seasons.

Said Herzog: “People always say it’s the worst deal I’ve ever made, but I don’t believe that … Getting rid of Hernandez was addition by subtraction. I really feel that, if we had kept him, his attitude and his bull would have ruined our ball club. I know he never would have been as good for us as he has been with the Mets.”

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »