Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Hitters’ Category

Cardinals rookie Larry Miggins had special day in Brooklyn

Posted in Broadcasters, Games, Hitters on January 3, 2024| 12 Comments »

When Larry Miggins was a student at Fordham Prep in the Bronx in the early 1940s, he told a classmate he wanted to be a big-league baseball player. The classmate, Vin Scully, told Miggins he wanted to be a big-league baseball broadcaster. The boys ruminated about the possibility of Scully broadcasting a game Miggins played in.

A decade later, in 1952, Miggins was in the big leagues as a rookie reserve left fielder for the Cardinals. Scully was in his third year as a Dodgers broadcaster.

On May 13, 1952, Miggins was in the starting lineup for a game at Brooklyn against the Dodgers. It was the first game he played at Ebbets Field. Scully was the junior member of a three-man broadcasting crew doing the game that day. Red Barber and Connie Desmond were the more experienced broadcasters.

When Miggins struck out in his first plate appearance of the game in the second inning, Scully was not on the air.

Two innings later, though, he was doing the broadcast when Miggins stepped to the plate against Preacher Roe. Scully had the call when Miggins belted a pitch into the seats in left for his first home run in the majors. Boxscore

Decades later, in recalling the moment for an audience at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, Calif., Scully said, “It was probably the toughest home run call I’ve ever had because (the dream) came true,” the Ventura County Star reported. “Don’t be afraid to dream.”

Traveling man

A son of Irish immigrants, Larry Miggins was the valedictorian of the class of 1943 at Fordham Prep. He enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh, but in December 1943, when his boyhood favorites, the New York Giants, offered him a contract, he left college and signed with them.

Miggins, 18, played eight games for the Giants’ Jersey City farm club in April 1944, then joined the United States Merchant Marine. He was discharged in time to play the 1946 minor-league season and was in the lineup for Jersey City when Jackie Robinson played his first game in the Dodgers’ system for Montreal. You Tube Audio interview

A 6-foot-4 right-handed batter with power, Miggins slugged 22 home runs in the minors in 1947, but the Giants left him off their big-league winter roster. Rated by Cardinals scouts “as one of the best prospects in the minors, possessing speed and a good arm,” according to The Sporting News, Miggins was selected by St. Louis in the November 1947 draft of unprotected players.

The transaction stunned Miggins, who “always thought he was going to play with the Giants,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Three days before the Cardinals’ 1948 season opener, Miggins was placed on waivers and claimed by the Cubs. According to the Associated Press, he drove to Chicago in a 1931 jalopy, parked at Wrigley Field, and joined the Cubs on their trip to Pittsburgh, where they opened the season against the Pirates.

Miggins, who didn’t play in any of the three games at Pittsburgh, returned to Chicago with the Cubs on April 23 and was summoned to the Wrigley Field office. He was told the Cubs had placed him on waivers and he was reclaimed by the Cardinals. On his way out, the Associated Press noted, he was asked to move his crate from club owner Phil Wrigley’s private parking space.

The Cardinals assigned Miggins to their Class A farm team at Omaha and he hit 26 home runs in 97 games. “Uses his wrists well,” Omaha manager Ollie Vanek told the Omaha World-Herald. “Watches the pitches with keen discrimination and rarely offers at a bad one. He has a follow-through, and a stance. Miggins can hit that low curve, which is one of the hardest things to do in baseball.”

The Irish lad from the Bronx also had “a lilting voice and likes to entertain his teammates with songs,” The Sporting News reported.

Called up to the Cardinals in September 1948, Miggins got into one game, making his big-league debut as a pinch-hitter against the Cubs and scoring after reaching base on an error. Boxscore

Family man

Miggins spent the next three seasons (1949-51) in the minors. With Houston, he hit 21 home runs in 1949 and 27 in 1951.

“Miggins is big and strong and fast, and while his quiet manner and impeccable behavior may give some the impression that he lacks aggressiveness, he has a burning desire to play big-league baseball,” the Post-Dispatch reported.

During the winters, Miggins took college courses and earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of St. Thomas in Houston.

In 1952, Eddie Stanky’s first year as manager, Miggins, 26, made the Cardinals’ Opening Day roster as a backup left fielder and pinch-hitter. He didn’t play much. The highlights were the home run in Brooklyn with Vin Scully at the microphone and a home run against a future Hall of Famer, Warren Spahn of the Braves. Boxscore

“Larry Miggins could do it,” Cardinals owner Fred Saigh said to the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. “He has all the equipment. He’s a wonderful boy, one of the best in our organization, and that’s the trouble. If he could get just a little more determination, he could make it.”

Miggins hit .229 in 96 at-bats for the 1952 Cardinals. He spent the next two seasons in the minors, then left baseball when a Houston judge, Allen B. Hannay, approached him about a government job in probation and parole.

With the judge’s encouragement, Miggins earned a master’s degree in criminology from Sam Houston State and had a long career as a probation and parole officer.

Miggins and his wife, Kathleen, had 12 children, four girls and eight boys. With a touch o’ the blarney, Miggins explained to blogger Bill McCurdy, “Kathleen was hard of hearing. Every night we went to bed as I was turning out the light, I would softly whisper to Kathleen, ‘Are you ready to go to sleep or what?’ She gave me the same answer every time: ‘What?’ “

Read Full Post »

How Jeff Torborg ended his playing days at Cardinals camp

Posted in Hitters, Opponents, Trades on December 30, 2023| 16 Comments »

A catcher who earned the trust of Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale and Nolan Ryan, Jeff Torborg came to the Cardinals to work with a pitching staff led by Bob Gibson.

On Dec. 6, 1973, the Cardinals acquired Torborg from the Angels for pitcher John Andrews. With 10 years of big-league experience and a reputation as a defensive specialist who worked well with pitchers, Torborg, 32, seemed a good fit to back up Cardinals catcher Ted Simmons, 24, in 1974.

Instead, when the Cardinals decided on a different roster configuration, Torborg departed and began a second career as a coach and manager.

Giants fan

As a youth in Westfield, N.J., Torborg was a New York Giants fan. “I remember walking on the field (after attending a game) at the Polo Grounds with my dad and I couldn’t believe I was really there,” Torborg recalled to the Bridgewater (N.J.) Courier-News. “I remember seeing Monte Irvin hit one into the upper deck in the deepest part of left field, and I couldn’t imagine anybody hitting the ball that far.”

Torborg played college baseball at Rutgers and was a power-hitting catcher. After he saw Torborg hit two home runs and a triple in a game against Army, Dodgers scout and former Giants infielder Rudy Rufer said to the Courier-News, “I raced for the nearest phone, called up (general manager) Buzzie Bavasi, and told him Torborg was a prospect we couldn’t afford to miss.”

A right-handed batter, Torborg hit .537 for Rutgers in 1963 and produced 67 total bases in 67 at-bats.

The Dodgers signed him on May 23, 1963, and sent him to their Albuquerque farm club. He arranged to return home to receive his Rutgers diploma on June 5 (he earned a degree in education), got married the next day to a former Miss New Jersey, Susan Barber, and went back to Albuquerque on June 8.

(The Dodgers gave Torborg and his wife a two-week paid honeymoon in Hawaii after the season, according to the Courier-News.)

Higher education

Torborg, 22, made the Opening Day roster of the 1964 Dodgers as a backup to catcher John Roseboro. Don Drysdale dubbed the rookie “Rudy Rutgers” because he looked the part of a clean-cut collegian, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Sandy Koufax, a bachelor, had a collection of kitchen appliances he’d received for being a guest on postgame radio shows. One day, in the locker room, he handed Torborg a new electric can opener. According to author Jane Leavy in the book “A Lefty’s Legacy,” Koufax said to the newly married Torborg, “You can use this more than me.”

On days Koufax didn’t pitch, he would hit fungoes to Torborg so that the rookie could acclimate himself to pop-ups behind the plate at Dodger Stadium, Leavy noted. She also explained in her book that Koufax told Torborg to stop jumping up from his crouch after every pitch. “I like the picture of the catcher being quiet behind the plate, staying down, so everything I see is low,” Koufax said.

John Roseboro also would “offer help every chance he had,” Torborg said to the Los Angeles Times. According to The Sporting News, Torborg was grateful to Roseboro for “tutoring him on how to handle low pitches and block the plate.”

Torborg didn’t hit well in the majors but he had his moments. On July 25, 1965, he contributed a two-run single against the Cardinals’ Nelson Briles in a five-run Dodgers fifth inning. Boxscore Five days later, he sparked a Dodgers comeback at St. Louis with a home run against Curt Simmons that went deep over the hot dog stand in left. Boxscore

The highlight of Torborg’s 1965 season came on Sept. 9 at Dodger Stadium when he caught Koufax’s perfect game against the Cubs.

As Koufax crafted his masterpiece, “my heart was beating so loudly it was pounding in my ear,” Torborg said to the Los Angeles Times. Boxscore

All rise

Torborg was Roseboro’s backup for four seasons (1964-67). When Roseboro got traded to the Twins, “I felt I was No. 1,” Torborg told the Los Angeles Times. Instead, the Dodgers acquired Tom Haller from the Giants and made him the starting catcher.

“I got very frustrated,” Torborg said to the Times. “I let myself get overweight and I had back trouble.”

Torborg was the catcher when Don Drysdale beat the Giants on May 31, 1968, for his fifth consecutive shutout, and he caught Bill Singer’s no-hitter against the Phillies on July 20, 1970. Boxscore and Boxscore

Mostly, though, Torborg watched as Haller did the bulk of the Dodgers’ catching from 1968-70. Torborg served so much time on the bench he was nicknamed “The Judge,” according to The Sporting News.

Change of scenery

In March 1971, Torborg was sent to the Angels. He shared catching duties with John Stephenson and Jerry Moses in 1971 and with Art Kusnyer and Stephenson in 1972.

With Bobby Winkles as manager and John Roseboro as a coach for the Angels in 1973, Torborg, 31, finally became a No. 1 catcher.

On May 15, 1973, Torborg caught his third career no-hitter, the first of seven pitched by Nolan Ryan. “He called an outstanding game,” Ryan told The Sporting News. Boxscore

(Since then, Carlos Ruiz of the Phillies and Jason Varitek of the Red Sox each caught four no-hitters, according to MLB.com.)

With the 1973 Angels, Torborg played in a career-high 102 games, but hit .220. As he told Bob Broeg of the Post-Dispatch, “I’m a no-hit catcher in more ways than one.”

After the season, the Angels acquired catcher Ellie Rodriguez from the Brewers and projected him to be the starter in 1974. 

New script

Ted Simmons caught in 152 games, totaling a franchise-record 1,352.2 innings, for the 1973 Cardinals. Hoping to give him more breaks from the grind in 1974, the Cardinals acquired Torborg.

(According to The Sporting News, Nolan Ryan “loved to pitch to” Torborg and “was upset” when he got traded.)

The Cardinals went to 1974 spring training with four catchers on the roster _ Simmons, Torborg, Larry Haney and Marc Hill. According to the 1974 Cardinals media guide, Torborg “has a good chance to be the No. 2” catcher.

Described by The Sporting News as “a proficient receiver with an excellent arm,” Torborg told the publication, “I feel I can help (the Cardinals) a lot even if I’m not playing. I can help the pitchers in the bullpen and I can talk with the pitching coach (Barney Schultz) on the bench.”

Late in spring training, the Cardinals decided that their catcher from the 1960s, Tim McCarver, 32, who was on the roster as a reserve first baseman, would suffice as the backup to Simmons. In an emergency, first baseman and former catcher Joe Torre also could fill in.

Torborg was released, Larry Haney got sent to the Athletics and Marc Hill went to the minors.

“I had a pretty good spring, but the Cardinals ran into a (roster) numbers problem and they let me go,” Torborg told The Sporting News.

Torborg went home to New Jersey. Two months later, in May 1974, the Red Sox brought him to Boston for a tryout after catcher Carlton Fisk injured a knee, but they opted to go with Tim Blackwell as the backup to Bob Montgomery.

At 32, Torborg’s playing days were finished. Among the Hall of Famers he caught were Don Sutton (51 games), Drysdale (49 games), Ryan (41 games) and Koufax (24 games).

Coach and manager

Torborg, who earned a master’s degree in athletic administration from Montclair (N.J.) State, became athletic director and head baseball coach at Wardlaw School in Edison, N.J., but left for a spot on the 1975 Cleveland Indians coaching staff of manager Frank Robinson.

In June 1977, Torborg, 35, replaced Robinson as manager. Years later, he told the Bridgewater Courier-News, “I really wasn’t prepared to manage. I was a young coach who was still very close to the players. I made a lot of mistakes.”

After he was fired in July 1979, Torborg joined the Yankees coaching staff in 1980. He was ready to become head baseball coach at Princeton in 1982 but changed his mind when Yankees owner George Steinbrenner gave him a seven-year contract to stay as a coach.

According to Newsday’s Tom Verducci, Steinbrenner offered Torborg the Yankees general manager job in 1982 but he rejected it because he wanted to remain in a role on the field. Billy Martin, one of several managers Torborg coached for with the Yankees, distrusted him. “He thought I was a pipeline upstairs (to Steinbrenner),” Torborg told Verducci.

After nine seasons (1980-88) as a Yankees coach, Torborg managed the White Sox (1989-91), Mets (1992-93), Expos (2001) and Marlins (2002-2003).

In 1992, Torborg and Mets outfielder Vince Coleman “engaged in an angry and physical confrontation on the field,” the New York Times reported. Coleman was suspended for two days without pay for shoving Torborg and swearing at him after the Mets manager tried to break up Coleman’s argument with an umpire.

According to New York Times columnist George Vecsey, “Coleman has been both a cause and a symbol of the Mets’ slide to the bottom. This is an outfielder with little baseball savvy and bad wheels and an unsavory image.”

Read Full Post »

An interview with author of book on 1982 Cardinals

Posted in Bloggers, Hitters, Managers, Pitchers on November 20, 2023| 22 Comments »

The 1982 Cardinals had no player hit 20 home runs. One of their best relievers was 43 and had been in the majors since the 1950s. Only one of their pitchers struck out as many as 90 batters.

Yet, the 1982 Cardinals may be the franchise’s greatest team since baseball went to a divisional alignment. Since 1969, the only Cardinals club to finish a regular season with the best record in the National League and win a World Series title was the 1982 team.

A new book, “Runnin’ Redbirds: The World Champion 1982 St. Louis Cardinals,” provides insights into why that team was so special.

Written by Eric Vickrey, a member of the Society for American Baseball Research, the book is available on Amazon and direct through the publisher, McFarland Books. Until Nov. 27, there is a 40 percent discount (the discount code is HOLIDAY23) for those who order direct from McFarland.

Here is an email interview I did with the author in November 2023:

Q: Hi, Eric. What prompted you to do a book on the 1982 Cardinals?

A: “Growing up in Alton, Illinois, during the 1980s, I fell in love with baseball watching the Cardinals sprint around the bases and play amazing defense. Ozzie Smith, Willie McGee, Vince Coleman and Tommy Herr were my heroes as a kid. Fast-forward to 2020. During the early days of the pandemic, when I was stuck inside and there was no baseball to watch, I started writing player bios for the Society for American Baseball Research. I enjoyed the research and writing process as well as the nostalgia of revisiting the roots of my baseball fandom. I miss the Cardinals’ style of play in the 1980s, which was so different than the game today. I thought it would be interesting to really dig into one season as a longer narrative project. I chose 1982 because it included the arc of Whitey Herzog’s rebuild and the pinnacle of a championship.”

Q: What makes your book different from other books, such as those from Whitey Herzog or Keith Hernandez, about the 1982 Cardinals?

A: “Herzog’s memoir, White Rat, was incredibly insightful, particularly in regard to his roster reconstruction in 1980 and 1981. In typical Whitey fashion, he pulled no punches. Ozzie, Hernandez, Bob Forsch and Darrell Porter also authored books that touched on their experiences in 1982. But there had not been a book that focused primarily on the Cardinals’ 1982 season. In addition to delving into the on-field highlights of that year, Runnin’ Redbirds examines the team in the context of baseball history with some modern analytics sprinkled in. It is also very much a human-interest story. The Cardinals were an eclectic group, and I tell a bit of each player’s story.”

Q: Could you provide an example or anecdote about a 1982 Cardinal who was the most fun or enjoyable for you to interview?

A: “I interviewed Dane Iorg, who was one of the stars of the World Series for St. Louis. In his 17 at-bats against Milwaukee, he recorded nine hits, five of which went for extra bases. If there is such a thing as a clutch player, he was it. I’m sure he has been asked about the 1982 World Series a million times, but to hear the pure joy in his voice while describing the thrill of a championship more than 40 years ago was really cool.”

Q: Since baseball went to a divisional format in 1969, 1982 is the only year in which the Cardinals finished with the best record in the National League and won the World Series title. Do you think then the case can be made that the 1982 group is the last great Cardinals team? 

A: “I think that depends on how you define greatness. I’d consider the 1985, 2004 and 2005 Cardinals great teams even though they fell short of a championship. Anything can happen once you get to the postseason and sometimes a bit of luck swings things in favor of one team. The 1982 Cardinals, for example, benefitted from a rainout in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series when they were trailing the Braves in the fifth inning. Then there was Game 6 of the 1985 World Series, but let’s not go there.”

Q: Who do you think is the most under-appreciated member of the 1982 Cardinals, and why so?

A: “That’s a really tough question because the Cards received contributions from so many players during the course of the season. Unheralded guys like Mike Ramsey, Doug Bair, Ken Oberkfell and Glenn Brummer all made key contributions. But perhaps the most under-appreciated player, relative to his production, is Lonnie Smith. He led the league in runs scored and led the Cardinals in hits, extra-base hits, stolen bases and Wins Above Replacement _ an MVP-level season.”

Q: Could you provide an example of something surprising you learned about the 1982 Cardinals in doing your research and interviewing?

A: “The 1982 Cardinals are most remembered for their speed and defense, and rightly so. But until I dug into the numbers, I never realized how historically dominant the Cardinals’ pitching staff was during the playoff push. They had a stretch in September in which they allowed two earned runs or less in 11 straight games. Only three pitching staffs in the live-ball era have longer streaks, and two of those occurred during the pitching-dominant season of 1968.”

Q: In the postseason, the 1982 team came face to face with prominent Cardinals of the past. In the National League Championship Series, the Braves were managed by Joe Torre and coached by Bob Gibson and Dal Maxvill. In the World Series, the Brewers had players Ted Simmons and Pete Vuckovich. Did that create any drama?

A: “It certainly made things more intriguing. Torre and Gibson were still beloved in St. Louis and got enormous ovations at the start of the NLCS, but Cardinal fans wanted to see them lose. Gibson, on the other hand, said before the series he wanted the Braves to ‘beat the blazes’ out of the Cards. Simmons was another St. Louis icon, and there were many fans who wished he could have been a part of the 1982 team. Now if Garry Templeton had been in the opposing dugout, that may have created some drama.”

Q: Thanks, Eric. To wrap it up, I’m going to list five names from the 1982 Cardinals and ask you to respond, in a sentence or two, with the first thing that comes to mind for you on each. First up: Lonnie Smith?

A: “Lonnie could not seem to crack the Phillies lineup, but Herzog shrewdly traded for him before the 1982 season and what a steal that was. The guy was a winner. He played in five World Series.”

Q: Joaquin Andujar?

A: “Andujar is probably more remembered for his off-the-wall quotes and blowup in the 1985 World Series, but the 1982 team probably doesn’t win it all without him. He was nearly unhittable down the stretch.”

Q: George Hendrick?

A: “Silent George was a solid all-around player and accounted for nearly a third of the Cardinals’ home runs in 1982. One of my favorite anecdotes from Game 7 is that after the last out, Hendrick headed straight for his car and listened to the postgame celebration on his drive home.”

Q: Jim Kaat?

A: “Kitty pitched to Ted Williams during the Eisenhower administration and to Ryne Sandberg during the Reagan administration. He kept reinventing himself and was the quintessential crafty lefty.”

Q: Whitey Herzog?

A: “Pure baseball genius who was not afraid to take risks. An excellent communicator. Every player I talked to who played for him raved about the way he communicated with his players.”

Read Full Post »

Cardinals got early look at tower of power Frank Howard

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents on November 15, 2023| 12 Comments »

The first time Frank Howard came to the plate against the Cardinals he did what came naturally to him. He hit a home run. Not just any home run. A tape-measure clout, befitting a giant who stood 6-foot-7 and weighed more than 250 pounds.

As Jim Murray of the Los Angeles Times noted, “He’s Gulliver in a baseball suit.”

A right-handed batter capable of launching balls into distant places, Howard ht 382 home runs in 16 years with the Dodgers (1958-64), Senators (1965-71), Rangers (1972) and Tigers (1972-73). He spent another 20 years as a big-league coach and managed the Padres (1981) and Mets (1983).

Hoops hot shot

In Columbus, Ohio, Frank Howard was “kind of a scrawny-looking, mangy-looking kid,” he told the Green Bay Press-Gazette. A son of a railroad machinist, he did construction work during high school and college summers. “I ran a jackhammer on asphalt crews,” Howard told the Press-Gazette, “and I was a hod carrier’s helper (carrying supplies to bricklayers). You work like that, and you’re going to have a strong body.”

When he enrolled at Ohio State, he was 6-foot-6 and 220 pounds. Basketball and baseball were the sports he played. “A lot of people thought I was better at basketball,” Howard said to the Press-Gazette.

In 1955-56, his first varsity basketball season as a sophomore, Howard averaged 15.1 points per game and led the Big Ten Conference in rebounding (12.9).

As a junior in 1956-57, Howard averaged 20.1 points and again was the Big Ten’s top rebounder (15.3). He snared 32 rebounds in a game against Brigham Young at New York’s Madison Square Garden. In Ohio State’s 74-54 home win versus the St. Louis University Billikens, Howard contributed 22 points and 11 rebounds.

In Howard’s senior year, Ohio State came to St. Louis’ Kiel Auditorium and he dazzled with 27 points and 10 rebounds, but the Billikens won, 88-77. Howard averaged 16.9 points as a senior and scouts for the NBA St. Louis Hawks “rated him as an outstanding pro basketball prospect,” The Sporting News reported.

New home

Howard played varsity baseball his sophomore and junior seasons at Ohio State and was “coveted by all 16 major-league clubs” because of his extraordinary power, the Los Angeles Times reported. According to The Sporting News, Dodgers scouts rated Howard higher than Dave Nicholson, the teenage slugger from St. Louis who signed with the Orioles for more than $100,000.

On March 5, 1958, the Dodgers signed Howard for $108,000. When he stepped into the batting cage for the first time at the Dodgers’ training camp in Vero Beach, Fla., Howard “was scared to death” and “actually was shaking,” according to the Los Angeles Times. On his third swing, he hit the ball 400 feet.

Teammates watched in wonder one morning when Howard consumed eight eggs, 24 strips of bacon, two bowls of cereal with sliced bananas, four glasses of orange juice and 10 slices of toast, The Sporting News noted.

The next month, the Philadelphia Warriors took Howard in the third round of the 1958 NBA draft, but by then he was on his way to the Dodgers’ farm club in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Playing for manager Pete Reiser, the St. Louis native and former Dodgers outfielder, Howard hit 37 home runs. “He’s simply fabulous,” Reiser told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “He could do for baseball what Babe Ruth did. He hits many a ball completely out of sight in every park.”

Green Bay became important to Howard for reasons other than baseball. He met Carol Johanski, who worked in the circulation department of the Press-Gazette. She recalled to the newspaper, “We met in a pizza place in 1958. I was out with girlfriends and Frank and some fellows came over to our table and introduced themselves. We didn’t believe them when they said they were baseball players.”

Howard asked Carol for a date and they married a year later. Green Bay became Howard’s off-season residence. He spent several winters doing sales and promotional work for a Green Bay paper products company.

Big bopper

After his big season with Green Bay, Howard got called up to the Dodgers in September 1958. In his first game, he hit a home run against a future Hall of Famer, Robin Roberts of the Phillies. Howard’s blast landed atop the left field roof at Philadelphia’s Connie Mack Stadium. Boxscore

In the book “We Played the Game,” Dodgers reliever Johnny Klippstein recalled, “He was frightening looking and the strongest guy I ever saw in baseball, but he was mild and meek and called everybody Mister.”

Howard spent most of 1959 in the minors before a September promotion to the Dodgers, who were headed to becoming World Series champions.

The first time he faced the Cardinals was Sept. 22, 1959, at St. Louis. Batting for reliever Danny McDevitt, Howard drove a pitch from Lindy McDaniel 400 feet to left-center for a three-run home run. The Cardinals “couldn’t recall a ball that was hit as hard” as Howard’s line drive, the Post-Dispatch reported. Boxscore

Howard stuck with the Dodgers in 1960 after his recall from the minors in May, slugged 23 home runs and won the National League Rookie of the Year Award. On July 10, 1960, against the Cardinals at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Howard had his first 5-RBI game in the majors. Boxscore

In a five-year stretch (1960-64), Howard led the Dodgers in home runs four times. He slugged 31 for them in 1962 and 28 the next year when they became World Series champions.

Howard hit .354 versus the Cardinals in 1961 and .340 in 1964. His home run against Craig Anderson in the 11th inning at St. Louis on July 22, 1961, struck the scoreboard in left, more than 400 feet from home plate. Boxscore

All was not well, though, for Howard with the Dodgers. Manager Walter Alston platooned him in right field and wanted Howard to change his batting stance in order to reach curveballs low and away.

Howard threatened to retire in 1964 and made it known he’d welcome a trade. The Dodgers accommodated him, sending Howard, Ken McMullen, Phil Ortega, Pete Richert and Dick Nen to the Washington Senators for Claude Osteen and John Kennedy on Dec. 4, 1964.

Washington monument

As the Senators’ everyday left fielder, Howard became “the most frightening home run hitter in baseball,” the New York Times noted. On a last-place team in 1968, he led the American League in total bases (330), home runs (44), extra-base hits (75) and slugging percentage (.552).

Ted Williams became the Senators’ manager in 1969 and Howard again was the league leader in total bases (340).

“That son of a gun is the biggest and strongest hitter who ever played this game,” Williams told the New York Times, “and that includes Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Hank Greenberg _ all of them. Nobody ever hit the ball harder and further, nobody.

“There was only one thing I talked to him about this spring,” Williams said. “He always used to swing at the first pitch that was anywhere near the plate. That’s just like swinging as if you had two strikes on you every time up. Wait. Wait for the pitch you want to hit.”

Howard, who never had more than 60 walks in a season, had 102 walks and 175 hits in 1969 _ an on-base percentage of .402. He was even better in 1970 (.416 on-base mark with 132 walks and 160 hits) and led the league that season in home runs (44) and RBI (126) in addition to walks. Video

Asked about Williams’ influence, Howard said to the New York Times, “He convinced me. I used to be swinging from the time I left the bench. Now I’m not afraid to give them a strike to be more selective … He’s made me more aware of what I’m doing as a hitter, and it has helped.”

Staying busy

After ending his big-league playing career with the 1973 Tigers, Howard returned to baseball as manager of a Brewers farm club in 1976. The next year, Howard became a coach on the staff of Brewers manager Alex Grammas. When Grammas was fired after the 1977 season, general manager Harry Dalton replaced him with George Bamberger. Howard told the Press-Gazette he was disappointed he was bypassed for the job, but Bamberger retained him as a coach.

Howard spent the ensuing winters in Green Bay operating a tavern. He described “Frank Howard’s Lounge” to the Press-Gazette as “intimate, the Fenway Park of saloons.” Howard tended bar and made it a point to talk with customers. As the Press-Gazette noted on a visit, “There he was, pulling on the beer taps, measuring shots of brandy, trying to stab olives and pouring delicate glasses of wine.”

In 1980, Howard’s fourth season as Brewers coach, George Bamberger took a leave of absence because of a heart condition. Howard wanted the job, but Harry Dalton gave it to another coach, Buck Rodgers. “It is tough to live with when you know you can do the job and no one else seems to know it,” Howard told the Associated Press.

After coaching for the 1980 Brewers, Howard was hired to be manager of the Padres, inheriting a last-place team. Howard’s 1981 Padres had Ozzie Smith at shortstop and a former Cardinal, Terry Kennedy, at catcher but not much else. Howard was fired after one strike-shortened season.

George Bamberger, who had replaced Joe Torre as Mets manager, hired Howard for a coaching job in 1982. The next year, Bamberger resigned in June and Howard replaced him. General manager Frank Cashen told Howard the job was only for the remainder of the season.

“He didn’t want to do it under those conditions,” Cashen told the New York Times, “but he finally acceded for the good of the organization … Nobody symbolizes professionalism more than Frank Howard did.”

Howard took over a last-place club. His shortstop was Jose Oquendo and a couple of weeks later the Mets got Keith Hernandez from the Cardinals to play first base.

Davey Johnson became Mets manager in 1984 and Howard was on his coaching staff. Howard went on to coach for the Mariners, Yankees and Rays as well as the Brewers and Mets again.

Read Full Post »

How Spud Davis mashed National League pitching

Posted in Games, Hitters, Trades on November 6, 2023| 9 Comments »

For a time, the battery of pitcher Dizzy Dean and catcher Spud Davis formed a dynamic duo for the Cardinals. Dizzy and Spud. Comic strip names. Gashouse Gang characters.

On Nov. 15, 1933, the Cardinals got Davis and infielder Eddie Delker from the Phillies for catcher Jimmie Wilson. The trade was a reverse of one made five years earlier when the Cardinals sent Davis to the Phillies for Wilson.

A right-handed batter, Davis was a consistent .300 hitter. His return to the Cardinals helped them become World Series champions in 1934, a year when Dean became the last National League pitcher to achieve 30 wins in a season.

The hard-throwing Dean and the hard-hitting Davis seemed right for one another, but then their relationship splintered.

Tater time

Virgil Lawrence Davis was born and raised in Birmingham, Ala. He got the nickname Spud at an early age from a cousin who noted his fondness for potatoes, according to the Birmingham Post-Herald.

Sent to a military academy in Mississippi, Davis was a standout in baseball and football. According to the Post-Herald, he was offered college football scholarships, but opted for professional baseball, joining the Gulfport (Miss.) Tarpons of the Class D Cotton States League in 1926.

On the recommendation of their scout, Bob Gilks, the Yankees signed Davis in September 1926. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle rated him “the best-looking catcher in the minors.”

Placed on the big-league spring training roster, Davis was given a chance to make the leap from Class D to the 1927 Yankees. In a March 8 intrasquad game, he was the catcher on a team managed by Babe Ruth. The New York Daily News described Davis as “garrulous, a bundle of energy.”

Three weeks later, the Yankees sent Davis to a farm club, the Reading (Pa.) Keystones, managed by Fred Merkle, whose baserunning blunder prevented the 1908 Giants from winning the National League pennant.

Davis hit .308 for Reading in 1927. A rival manager, Burt Shotton of the Cardinals’ Syracuse club, was impressed. Afterward, when baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis declared Davis eligible for the minor-league draft, the Cardinals chose him on Shotton’s recommendation, the Post-Herald reported.

Contact hitter

Davis, 23, made the Opening Day roster of the 1928 Cardinals and played in two April games for them. In May, he was dealt as part of a package to the Phillies, who had hired Burt Shotton as their manager. The key player the Cardinals got in return was a shrewd, experienced catcher, Jimmie Wilson.

With Wilson as their catcher, the Cardinals won three National League pennants (1928, 1930, 1931) and a World Series title (1931).

Davis, meanwhile, developed into a fearsome hitter with the Phillies. He hit better than .300 for them in each of five consecutive seasons (1929-33). The Sporting News declared Davis “the best-hitting catcher in the National League.”

Davis ranked second in the league in both batting (.349) and on-base percentage (.395) in 1933. The league leader in both categories was his Phillies teammate Chuck Klein, who hit .368 and had a .422 on-base percentage.

Against the Cardinals in 1933, Davis hit .425 (31-for-73).

The Cardinals wanted to get Davis back because of his bat and because Jimmie Wilson was not getting along with Frankie Frisch, who had replaced Gabby Street as manager during the 1933 season, the St. Louis Star-Times reported.

So, the Wilson-for-Davis deal was made. Frisch got the catcher he wanted. The Phillies got both a catcher and a leader. Wilson became their player-manager, replacing Burt Shotton.

Time share

Davis began the 1934 season with a bang. He hit .395 in April. In consecutive games against the Reds in July, Davis totaled eight hits, seven RBI. Boxscore and Boxscore

The Cardinals’ pitching was led by the Dean brothers, Dizzy and Paul. Davis told the Post-Herald, “Paul was the fastest pitcher I ever caught. The difference between him and Diz was Dizzy had everything else _ a good curve, control, change of pace and lots of heart.”

(Davis also told the Birmingham newspaper that the Cardinals’ Bill Hallahan “was the best money pitcher I ever saw. If there was one game you needed, I’d take Hallahan.”)

As the 1934 season unfolded, backup catcher Bill DeLancey impressed when given chances to start. The Cardinals, in third place in the National League at the end of July, surged in August (19-11) and September (21-7) and won the pennant. DeLancey contributed, hitting .345 in August and .311 in September.

In the meantime, friction developed between Davis and Dizzy Dean. According to Dean biographer Robert Gregory in his book “Diz,” Dizzy was complaining in the clubhouse late in the season about how hard it was to keep winning without enough support from his teammates. “I ought to whip the whole bunch of you _ at the same time,” Dean ranted. Davis looked up and said, “Shut the fuck up.”

Davis hit .300 (.375 with runners in scoring position) and had an on-base percentage of .366 for the 1934 Cardinals, but Frankie Frisch decided to start DeLancey (.316 batting mark, .414 on-base percentage) at catcher in the World Series against the Tigers. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, when Frisch, who was fond of Davis, told him about the decision, Davis replied, “The hell with how I or anybody else may feel. Bill (DeLancey) has been hot. He’s winning for us. Keep him in there. The pitchers have confidence in him.”

DeLancey started all seven World Series games and the Cardinals prevailed. Davis made two pinch-hit appearances and singled both times, driving in a run. After his first hit, Davis was replaced by a pinch-runner, Dizzy Dean. On attempting to move from first to second on a grounder, Dean got conked in the right temple by a throw from shortstop Billy Rogell. “The first thing I knew, a thousand little stars and big stars was jumping around before my eyes, but I never did see no tigers,” Dean told the Post-Dispatch. Boxscore

Dissed by Dizzy

Davis and DeLancey split catching duties with the 1935 Cardinals. Davis hit .317 (.398 with runners in scoring position) and had a .386 on-base percentage. DeLancey hit .279 with an on-base mark of .369.

To Dizzy Dean, though, the choice was clear: He wanted DeLancey to be his catcher. With Dizzy on the mound, Davis dropped a pop fly in Cincinnati and called for a pitch in Brooklyn that was drilled for a home run. Dean told the Cardinals he lost faith in Davis after that. “Having confidence in a catcher, no matter how good a pitcher a fellow is, means an awful lot,” Dean wrote in a letter to Cardinals executive Branch Rickey.

(In defending Davis, Frisch told the Post-Dispatch, “Diz didn’t know Spud wasn’t calling the pitches. I was.”

Dean went public with his criticism of Davis after the 1935 season.  According to his biographer, Dean said, “I ain’t pitching no more with him back there.”

Rickey wrote to Dean, “I was utterly amazed that you would think about Davis as you do about him.”

Frisch and the team captain, shortstop Leo Durocher, rallied around Davis. Frisch called Dean’s criticism of Davis “unfair and uncalled for” and described Davis as “a great catcher,” the Star-Times reported.

Durocher told the newspaper, “Spud Davis is probably the most popular man on our ballclub. He’s the smartest catcher in the big leagues today and Dizzy overlooks all those games that Spud won for him with his hitting. Davis can catch for my money every day in the week.”

J. Roy Stockton of the Post-Dispatch noted, “The men in the dugout know that Davis is valuable. They know his stout heart.”

When Dean got to spring training, he and Davis shook hands, and, in a statement prepared for him by Rickey, Dizzy said, “Give me a ball and glove and put Davis behind the plate.”

Davis hit .273 for the 1936 Cardinals, ending a streak of seven straight seasons of .300 or better. He was sent to the Reds after the season.

Davis caught more of Dean’s games (68) than any other catcher, according to baseball-reference.com. Dean’s ERA in games with Davis as catcher was 2.87 _ better than his overall career mark of 3.02.

Hitting the best

Frankie Frisch and Spud Davis stuck together. When Frisch managed the Pirates in the 1940s, Davis was his catcher and then a coach. Davis also was a coach on Frisch’s staff when he later managed the Cubs.

In his 16 seasons as a big-league player, Davis batted .308 and produced 1,312 hits. His on-base percentage was .369. In 459 career at-bats versus the Cardinals, Davis hit .305. He batted .333 (11-for-33) against Dizzy Dean and .406 (13-for-22) against another future Hall of Famer from the Cardinals, Jesse Haines.

Asked by the Post-Herald to name the best right-handed pitcher he played with or against, Davis chose Dizzy Dean. His pick for best left-hander was Carl Hubbell of the Giants.

Davis hit .301 (41-for-133) versus Hubbell, who told the Newspaper Enterprise Association, “He’s hard to outguess. I try to make each pitch something unexpected but somehow Spud anticipates a fair number of my offerings.”

Davis explained to the Post-Herald, “I could hit a low ball well and Hubbell’s best pitch (a screwball) was low.”

Read Full Post »

Numbers add up to big years for Joe Christopher vs. Cards

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents on October 25, 2023| 11 Comments »

Joe Christopher was from St. Croix, largest of the U.S. Virgin Islands. Once a port of call for pirates, it is known for its exquisite beaches and excellent rum.

Christopher Columbus visited the island in 1493 and named it Santa Cruz (Holy Cross), and over the years, through multiple translations, it derived into St. Croix.

Almost 500 years later, Christopher _ Joe, that is _ played in Columbus, for a baseball team affiliated, naturally, with the Pirates.

An outfielder trained in a Branch Rickey farm system, Joe Christopher played for both a World Series champion (1960 Pirates) and a team with 120 losses (1962 Mets). After making a fielding blunder, Christopher got a letter of encouragement from Jackie Robinson and went on to have the best season of his career.

A .260 hitter in the majors with the Pirates (1959-61), Mets (1962-65) and Red Sox (1966), Christopher was a terror against the Cardinals. He batted .418 against them in 1964, a season when he led the Mets in nearly every hitting category. Three years later, he was playing in the Cardinals farm system.

Path to the pros

A right-handed batter with speed, Christopher, 18, was playing shortstop with a team from St. Croix at the National Baseball Congress amateur tournament in Wichita, Kansas, in 1954 when he drew the attention of Howie Haak, the same Pirates scout who signed second baseman Julian Javier. According to The Pittsburgh Press, Haak convinced Christopher to accept a Pirates offer of $200.

Branch Rickey was Pirates general manager and he made a lasting impression on Christopher. “Branch Rickey enhanced my spirit,” Christopher told author Edward Kiersh in the book “Where Have You Gone, Vince DiMaggio?” “What a courageous man. He knew all about the hidden order and the way to higher realms.”

In 1959, Christopher, 23, was in his fifth year in the minors, playing for the Columbus (Ohio) Jets, when he got called up to the Pirates in May to replace Roberto Clemente, who went on the disabled list.

“It was tough for me when I joined the Pirates,” Christopher recalled to The Pittsburgh Press. “I knew what the fans thought of Clemente and I knew what they expected of me. I was too tense and I just wasn’t ready.”

Christopher went hitless in 12 at-bats, sprained his right hand making a diving catch, jammed an ankle on the base path and was sent back to Columbus in July.

An energizer

At spring training in 1960, Christopher played so well, hitting better than .400, that the Pirates had to put him on the Opening Day roster as a reserve outfielder.

“The only candidate in the last few years to challenge Roberto Clemente as the most exciting player in Pirates camp is Joe Christopher,” The Sporting News declared. “He has speed to burn and has captured the fancy of the fans and his teammates with his head-first slides. He goes from first to third on singles and scores on short sacrifice flies.”

In the 10th inning of a game against the Dodgers on July 1, 1960, Christopher energized the Pirates and the crowd at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh when he scored from second on Clemente’s infield single. The fans “were up screaming at this burst of speed,” The Sporting News reported. Boxscore

Christopher appeared in three games of the 1960 World Series against the Yankees, reached base in his lone plate appearance and scored twice.

After another season with the Pirates as a reserve in 1961, Christopher was chosen by the Mets in the National League expansion draft. “I thought this was the break I was looking for,” Christopher told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Mets miseries

The 1962 Mets, who would finish the season 40-120, needed talent, and Christopher seemed to be a plus for them, but near the end of spring training he was sent to Class AAA Syracuse to make room on the Opening Day roster for a utility player, rookie Rod Kanehl.

Christopher, 26, resented the demotion. When Syracuse manager Frank Verdi saw him play, he told the Syracuse Post-Standard, “I think he’s the best outfielder the Mets own.”

(According to Dick Young of the New York Daily News, when the Syracuse team went to Atlanta, a Cardinals affiliate in 1962, and checked into the Henry Grady Hotel downtown, Christopher and three black teammates “were told they had to go across town, to the Negro section, where reservations had been made for them. They went, and it was such a fleabag that Christopher refused to check in.”)

Christopher hit .336 with six home runs for Syracuse and was called up to the Mets on May 21 to replace outfielder Gus Bell, who got shipped to the Braves. A week later, in a doubleheader versus the Dodgers, Christopher got three hits against Sandy Koufax in the opener, then tripled and scored versus Johnny Podres in the second game. Boxscore and Boxscore

Another 1962 highlight for Christopher came on Sept. 2 when his two-run single with two outs in the ninth knocked in the winning run against Cardinals reliever Bobby Shantz, a former teammate with the 1961 Pirates. Boxscore

Christopher hit .244 for the 1962 Mets but .346 versus the Cardinals that season. With nine hits and four walks in 30 plate appearances, his on-base percentage against the 1962 Cardinals was .433.

The Mets again sent Christopher to the minors at the end of spring training in 1963. He ended up with more at-bats (295) for Buffalo that year than he did for the Mets (149).

Breakout season

Based on his first two years with the Mets, it’s hard to imagine anyone could have predicted how productive Christopher would become for them in 1964.

He made the team in spring training, hit a home run on Opening Day against the Phillies’ Dennis Bennett and kept on delivering. Christopher batted .375 in April and .321 in May.

On May 8, 1964, he beat the Cardinals’ Bobby Shantz again with a RBI-single in the ninth. Boxscore

In July, Christopher was 7-for-13 at the plate in a three-game series against the Cardinals at New York. A week later, in four games at St. Louis, he was 8-for-18.

Even then, not all went smoothly for Christopher. On July 14, 1964, Billy Cowan of the Cubs lofted a soft fly ball to right at Chicago’s Wrigley Field. It looked to be an easy catch to end the inning, but Christopher struggled to get under the ball. “So crookedly did he run toward the line, any cop worth his badge would have demanded that Christopher take a sobriety test,” Newsday reported.

The ball plopped to the ground, enabling a runner on second to score the winning run and putting Cowan on third with a triple. To Newsday, Mets pitcher Tracy Stallard said of Christopher, “He’s the only .300 hitter I ever saw in my life who hurts a ballclub.” Boxscore

Soon after, Christopher told The Sporting News, “I received a letter from Jackie Robinson in which he wrote that things like that happen in baseball. He told me not to let it bother me but go out and play my game as if nothing had happened. His advice couldn’t have come at a better time. It gave me confidence just when I needed it most.”

On the next-to-last day of the 1964 season, with the Cardinals needing a win to help their bid for a National League pennant, Christopher had three hits, including a home run versus Mike Cuellar, and scored twice in a Mets rout. Boxscore

For the season, Christopher batted .300 and led the Mets in total bases (253), runs scored (78), hits (163), doubles (26), triples (eight), RBI (76), walks (48) on-base percentage (.360) and slugging (.466).

His on-base percentage against the 1964 Cardinals was .431 in 58 plate appearances.

When former Cardinals general manager Bing Devine joined the Mets as assistant to team president George Weiss in October 1964, he told The Sporting News, “Joe Christopher has progressed as a hitter. There’s an example of a fellow who showed what he could do when he got the chance.”

If the spirit’s willing...

Christopher, paid $10,000 in 1964, was offered $12,500 for 1965. He instead wanted a 100 percent raise to $20,000. When he settled for $17,750 on March 9, he was the last Mets player to sign for 1965, the New York Times reported.

His 1965 season was a bust _ he hit .249 and, according to The Sporting News, was “having a fretful time in the field.” _ and when it ended he was traded to the Red Sox for Eddie Bressoud.

After 13 at-bats for the 1966 Red Sox, Christopher was sent in June to the Tigers, who placed him in the minors. He never returned to the big leagues.

In 1967, Christopher, 31, began the season back in the Pirates’ system at Columbus, but on June 10 he was traded to the Cardinals for pitcher Fritz Ackley. The Cardinals assigned Christopher to the Class AAA Tulsa Oilers, whose manager was Warren Spahn. Three years earlier, Christopher hit a home run against Spahn, who was pitching for the 1964 Braves. Boxscore

Christopher joined a Tulsa outfield with another ex-Met, Danny Napoleon. Among the Tulsa pitchers was Christopher’s former teammate and critic, Tracy Stallard.

Christopher hit .273 in 68 games for Tulsa in 1967. He was put on the roster of the Cardinals’ Class AA Arkansas club in 1968. Cardinals farm director George Silvey told the Tulsa World in March 1968 that Christopher would be given a chance to make the Tulsa club, but it didn’t work out. He spent the 1968 season, his last, with a Class AA Phillies farm team at Reading, Pa.

For his 1983 book about former ballplayers, author Edward Kiersh visited Christopher at his Queens, N.Y., apartment. Kiersh described Christopher as a spiritualist involved in astral geometry.

“Through my mathematical system, I can give you the spiritual characterization of any man, or coordinate him to nature,” Christopher said to Kiersh. “Numerology is sacred. You just have to gain entrance into the hidden order, learn the equations, and the potential for any person becomes visible.”

When Kiersh naturally wondered whether Christopher was touting science or hocus-pocus, Christopher told him, “Most people think I’m into some kind of black magic, but baseball spends millions of dollars on a player’s physical attributes while they should be spending it on his spiritual attributes … This isn’t voodoo. This is truth.”

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »