RetroSimba

Stan Musial is the reason I have been a St. Louis Cardinals fan since 1963, when I was 7 years old.

My paternal grandfather immigrated to the United States from Poland before World War I and settled in Bayonne, N.J. He was a proud Polish-American. During the 1940s, when Musial won three National League batting titles and led the Cardinals to four pennants and three World Series championships, my grandfather became a Stan Musial fan. Musial’s father also immigrated to America from Poland.

My father was a Brooklyn Dodgers fan, but he, too, rooted for Musial. The Dodgers fans at Ebbetts Field in Brooklyn respected Musial so much that they gave him the nickname, “The Man.”

My grandfather and father wanted me to see Musial play in person, so they purchased three tickets for the Cardinals’ last scheduled 1963 appearance in New York. On Aug. 8, 1963, a Thursday afternoon, we were among the 8,309 who went to the Polo Grounds to see the Cardinals play the Mets.

Musial was 42 and speculation was he would retire after the season. The Polo Grounds had been the home field of the Giants when they were based in New York and Musial hit well there.

“There’s something sentimental about this old place,” Musial said in an Associated Press story published before the game. “For one thing, I’ve always been a Giants fan. When I was a kid, Carl Hubbell and Mel Ott were my heroes. I’ve enjoyed playing here because of the short fences and the nice crowds. Now, this is goodbye. It’s a bit sad.”

During our drive into New York from New Jersey, my grandfather and father told me stories about Musial. To a 7-year-old, that was enough to convince me Musial was the greatest baseball player. And, because he played for the Cardinals, my 7-year-old’s logic said, they must be the greatest baseball team.

Before a pitch was thrown, I was devoted to Stan Musial and the Cardinals.

When the starting lineups were announced, my grandfather and father were disappointed Musial was being given the day off against Mets left-hander Al Jackson.

Still, being at a big-league ballgame was thrilling for me and I recall taking in the sights and sounds from our second-deck seats on the first-base line.

In the ninth inning, with the Mets ahead, 3-2, the Cardinals had a runner on first with two outs when our wishes came true. Musial was sent to bat for pitcher Bobby Shantz.

I recall focusing on the figure at the plate and seeing Musial in his famous batting crouch, the number 6 looking huge on the back of his jersey.

Jackson walked Musial on four pitches, and I was satisfied to see the plate appearance. Gary Kolb was put in to run for Musial before Curt Flood grounded out, ending the game.

In January 2012, while interviewing Jackson at the Mets’ training facility in Port St. Lucie, Fla. he stunned me by bringing up that Aug. 8, 1963, encounter with Musial.

I was asking Jackson about Flood and Jackson said:

“Great defensive player. He was a great hitter, too. Here was a man who got 200 hits every year. But asking about Flood reminds me of when I was still pitching for the Mets and we were playing the Cardinals in the Polo Grounds. I had a one-run lead in the ninth inning. There were two outs (and a runner on first base) and here comes Stan Musial to pinch-hit.

“I always said, ‘My momma didn’t raise no fool.’ Flood was due up after Musial. And as good a hitter as Flood was, I thought about how years back, (pitcher) Harvey Haddix had told me how dangerous this man Musial was in the clutch. And so I said to myself, ‘I got a one-run lead in the ninth inning. This man is not going to beat me.’ I threw four pitches outside and he went on to first base. I got the next man, Flood, to ground out. Game over.” Boxscore

The summer of 1963 also was the first year I began collecting Topps baseball cards. My maternal grandmother and my mother would buy them for me in waxpacks for a nickel apiece. Never once had I found a Stan Musial card in a pack.

A few days after my Polo Grounds experience, a friend told me he had a 1963 Topps Stan Musial card. I told my father about it and he instructed me to find out what my friend would accept in a trade. My friend, a Yankees fan, wanted the Yankees team card. I had it, and my father decided to help me broker a deal.

I invited my friend to meet me and my father in our yard and to bring the Musial card. When I offered the Yankees team card in exchange, my father sensed hesitation from my friend. Thinking fast and sorting through my stack, my father told me to include a card of Yankees catcher Johnny Blanchard in a two-for-one deal.

I was aghast. My father told me it was a good deal. So I handed over both cards and got the Musial one. It is shown here. Musial autographed it for me in 1989.

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(Updated Jan. 1, 2018)

Erik Pappas can speak authoritatively about the highs and lows of being a professional baseball player.

A Cardinals catcher in 1993 and 1994, Pappas started his St. Louis career with a flourish (a 16-game hitting streak) and ended it in a slump (0-for-33).

A baseball and football standout at Mount Carmel High School in Chicago, Pappas was named Illinois prep baseball player of the year in 1984. The Angels selected him in the first round in the June 1984 draft, ahead of Mark McGwire, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine.

Pappas never advanced out of the Angels’ farm system. (“They gave up on me real quick … I never felt wanted with the Angels,” he later told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.) The Cubs signed him and he made his big-league debut with them in 1991, playing in seven games before returning to the minors.

After stints in the minor-league systems of the Royals and White Sox, the Cardinals signed Pappas on the recommendation of their Class AAA Louisville manager, Jack Krol, and invited the catcher to spring training in 1993.

The Cardinals committed that spring to the catching tandem of Tom Pagnozzi and Hector Villanueva. Pappas hit .250 in nine spring training games and was sent to Louisville to open the season.

Determined to show the Cardinals he belonged, Pappas hit .338 with four home runs in 21 games for Louisville. When Pagnozzi tore cartilage in his left knee in May, Pappas, 27, was promoted to St. Louis.

The Cardinals were planning to return Pappas to Louisville after Pagnozzi recovered, but Pappas changed those plans with his 16-game hitting streak from May 14 through June 5. It was the longest hitting streak by a Cardinals catcher since Ted Simmons had a 19-game stretch in 1975.

Five times Pappas kept the streak alive by producing a hit in his last at-bat. He did that on June 2, 1993, when he hit a RBI-double off the Dodgers’ Todd Worrell in the seventh inning at St. Louis, giving the Cardinals a 5-3 lead.

In the ninth, the Dodgers scored a run off closer Lee Smith and had Eric Davis on first base with two outs. Davis was riding a streak of 34 consecutive successful stolen base attempts. Pappas was 0-for-8 in runners caught attempting to steal.

“Pap comes out to me and says, ‘Don’t worry about Davis.’ I said, ‘Bull,’ ” Smith told the Post-Dispatch.

As expected, Davis broke for second. Pappas’ throw arrived at the second base bag before Davis did. Davis was out, the streak was broken and the game was over, a 5-4 Cardinals victory preserved. Boxscore

“That was unreal,” Cardinals first baseman Gregg Jefferies said. “Everybody in the stadium knew (Davis) was going and Pap makes a great throw.”

Pappas’ hitting streak was snapped by Reds pitchers Jose Rijo and Greg Cadaret on June 6, 1993. Boxscore A week later, June 14, Pirates center fielder Andy Van Slyke broke his right collarbone while helping Pappas get his only big-league home run.

In the fourth inning at St. Louis, Pappas drove a Denny Neagle pitch to deep center. The ball glanced off Van Slyke’s glove and skimmed into a flower bed for a two-run home run as Van Slyke slammed into the wall, breaking the collarbone. Boxscore

A couple of days later, Pagnozzi came off the disabled list and Villanueva was sent to Louisville.

Pappas completed the 1993 season with a .276 batting average, 12 doubles and 28 RBI in 82 games for St. Louis. He started 53 games at catcher and also made 10 starts in right field and one at first base. He caught 41 percent of the baserunners who attemped to steal against him. The Cardinals were 29-24 in games Pappas started at catcher.

The Cardinals committed to opening the 1994 season with Pagnozzi and Pappas as their catchers, but Pagnozzi again tore cartilage in his left knee while reaching for a pitch in spring training. Cardinals manager Joe Torre declared Pappas the Opening Day starter and selected Terry McGriff to be his backup.

Pappas hit safely in each of the Cardinals’ first four games of the 1994 season. Then he went hitless in 33 at-bats. He caught just one of 16 baserunners attempting to steal.

On May 5, Pagnozzi came off the disabled list. After 15 games started at catcher and with his batting average at .091 (4-for-44), Pappas was demoted to Louisville.

“I got an opportunity to start and I didn’t take advantage of it,” Pappas said. “I cut my own throat … I was hoping to have a career here.”

Said Torre: “If he’s going to find his (batting) stroke, he’s got to find it as a regular player … I told him, ‘Go get straightened out and we’ll see what happens. We’ll see you in September, or sooner, if something happens.’ We just couldn’t get anything to relax him.”

Pappas never played in another major-league game, but he did spend one more day with the Cardinals.

When it became certain the players would go out on strike in August 1994, the Cardinals called up Pappas from Louisville for their final game on Aug. 11 at Miami. They did this, St. Louis journalist Rick Hummel reported, “because (Pappas) makes $140,000 on a major-league contract. If the strike would last the rest of the season, the Cardinals would save about $40,000 in Pappas’ salary.”

Pappas didn’t play in his one-night stand, the strike did last the rest of the season and the Cardinals avoided paying Pappas $40,000.

“It’s a business, simple as that,” Pappas said.

In 2013, Pappas rejoined the Cardinals’ organization as a minor-league hitting coach. He coached the Peoria Chiefs in 2013 and the Springfield (Mo.) Cardinals in 2014 and 2015. Pappas joined the Orioles’ organization in 2016 as a hitting coach for their Class A affiliate, the Frederick (Md.) Keys.

Previously: Cardinals rookie pitchers tested Joe Torre in 1994

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