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Field of dreams: Julian Javier paced lineup of Latino stars

Posted in Games, Hitters, Pitchers on October 11, 2023| 12 Comments »

In a special game that featured the best Latino players in the majors, Cardinals second baseman Julian Javier did as well as anyone on the field.

On Oct. 12, 1963, the last baseball game played at the Polo Grounds in New York was a charity event called the Latin American Major League Players Game.

Part of the proceeds from the game were targeted for the Hispanic-American Baseball Federation, a group committed to developing baseball programs for Spanish-speaking youth in the United States.

Growing market

New York sportscaster Guy LeBow was the director of the Latin American charity game. He hoped to make it an annual event, the Bayonne (N.J.) Times reported.

LeBow was a “schmaltzy, do-everything sportscaster,” according to Phil Mushnick of the New York Post. He called hockey, basketball and baseball games, boxing and wrestling matches, hosted a popular bowling show and was a local news TV sports anchor in New York. As a child, he was bedridden with polio for two years. He walked with a limp the rest of his life. LeBow also played a sportscaster in the Woody Allen film “Radio Days.”

(In LeBow’s online obituary, Mets radio broadcaster Howie Rose left this comment: “I learned a lot from you _ some of it has even been put to good use, and I say that lovingly. You were an original.”)

George Schreier, a former Jersey Observer sports reporter who was hired by LeBow to help promote the Latin American game, told the Bayonne Times, “A new crop of promoters has risen today, one very much interested in the Spanish language market, a tremendous one in the greater (New York) metropolitan area.”

The event organizers put together two teams _ one of Latino American Leaguers and the other of Latino National Leaguers. Each player was paid $175 to participate, according to the Society for American Baseball Research.

Though the game was not sponsored by Major League Baseball, it had the approval of commissioner Ford Frick.

The Polo Grounds, most recently the home of the New York Mets, was awaiting to be demolished and replaced by a housing project. Promoters of the Latin American event touted it as a chance to see the last baseball game played at the venerable ballpark.

Talent galore

Played on a Saturday afternoon, the Latin American game drew 14,235 spectators. They were treated to pregame entertainment from bandleaders Tito Rodriguez and Tito Puente, and singer La Lupe.

The starting lineup for the American League squad: shortstop Luis Aparicio, first baseman Vic Power, right fielder Tony Oliva, left fielder Hector Lopez (also the manager), catcher Joe Azcue, center fielder Roman Mejias, third baseman Felix Mantilla, second baseman Zoilo Versalles and pitcher Pedro Ramos.

(Vic Power “was a favorite with the fans because of his one-handed catches of pop fouls,” the New York Times noted.)

For the National League team: shortstop Leo Cardenas, third baseman Tony Taylor, left fielder Felipe Alou, first baseman Orlando Cepeda, center fielder Tony Gonzalez, right fielder Roberto Clemente (also the manager), second baseman Julian Javier, catcher Cuno Barragan and pitcher Juan Marichal.

Six of the players _ Aparacio, Oliva, Cepeda, Clemente, Marichal and an American League reserve, outfielder Minnie Minoso _ would be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. (Minoso, 39, a former Cardinal, “received warm applause” when introduced to the Polo Grounds crowd, the New York Times reported.)

Javier, the only Cardinals player in the game, was coming off a successful 1963 season. He was the National League starting second baseman in the All-Star Game, led the league’s second basemen in putouts, produced 160 hits and scored 82 runs.

Javier was in the mix when the Latin American National Leaguers scored three runs in the fourth against Ramos. With the National Leaguers ahead, 1-0, Cepeda and Gonzalez singled. Then Javier drove in Cepeda with a single. Later in the inning, Gonzalez and Javier scored on a single by Manny Mota, who was batting for Marichal.

Al McBean, who relieved Marichal, provided the most entertaining play of the game. Batting in the sixth, the pitcher from the Virgin Islands ripped a deep drive. “There was a Listerine sign in left field (422 feet from home plate) and that’s where I hit the ball,” McBean told Rory Costello of the Society for American Baseball Research.

As Minnie Minoso chased the ball in left, McBean streaked around the bases. He reached third safely as Minoso threw to shortstop Luis Aparicio. Trying for a home run inside the park, McBean continued toward the plate, but Aparacio’s relay to catcher Joe Azcue was strong and McBean was out by five feet.

The Latino National Leaguers won, 5-2. Javier was 2-for-2 with a RBI, a run scored and a stolen base before he was lifted for a pinch-hitter, Chico Fernandez, in the sixth. (The Polo Grounds often was a tough venue for Javier. During the 1963 season, he batted .194 in 31 at-bats in the Polo Grounds. For his career, Javier was a .200 hitter in 70 at-bats there.)

Others with two hits in the Latin American game were Mota and Gonzalez for the National Leaguers and Tony Oliva for the American League side.

Oliva, 25, a Cuban who was in New York for the first time, recalled to MLB.com, “I was very timid.”

He told Adrian Burgos of La Vida Baseball, “I think very fondly of that game because that was where I actually first met Cepeda, Marichal, Clemente and all the others, and we have become friends, like brothers, since then.”

Cepeda said to MLB.com’s Michael Clair, “I was very happy to all get together. For me to be able to participate and to spend some time together with so many great players like Roberto Clemente, Vic Power, Zoilo Versalles _ that was a great day.”

Gate receipts were between $25,000 and $50,000, according to the Society of American Baseball Research. Boxscore

Despite the goodwill generated, the game never was held again.

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Why 1973 was a year of extremes for the Cardinals

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents, Pitchers on September 27, 2023| 11 Comments »

After starting the 1973 season in a funk, the Cardinals finished it with a flourish, but the feeling was the same on both ends of the spectrum: frustration.

In September 1973, the Cardinals won their final five games of the season. Highlighted by the return to health of Bob Gibson and the return to form of Rick Wise and Reggie Cleveland, the Cardinals allowed two runs over 45 innings during the season-ending win streak.

The big finish wasn’t enough, though, to earn them a division title. Weighed down by a miserable start (20 losses in their first 25 games) and more slumps in the second half of the season (11 losses in 12 games from Aug. 6 to Aug. 18, and 13 losses in 17 games from Sept. 7 to Sept. 25), the Cardinals ended up 81-81, 1.5 games behind the division champions.

Slipping away

On the morning of Sept. 25, 1973, the Cardinals (76-80) were in third place in the National League East. Ahead of them were the Mets (79-77) and Pirates (78-77). The division champion would advance to the playoffs.

The Cardinals had six games remaining, all at home _ three with the Cubs (75-80) and three with the Phillies (69-87). If they won all six, the Cardinals figured they’d have a chance to finish tied or alone atop the division.

That night, their hopes seemed to evaporate when they collapsed against the Cubs. The Cardinals blew a 2-1 lead with two outs in the ninth and lost, 4-3. A former Cardinal, Jose Cardenal, delivered a two-run double on an 0-and-2 pitch from Diego Segui. Boxscore

The Cardinals’ loss, coupled with the Mets’ win that night versus the Expos, was a crusher. It meant the Cardinals (76-81) trailed the Mets (80-77) by four with five to play. “We had to win this one,” Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The newspaper’s headline the next day declared: “Cardinals Face Reality: Loss To Cubs Ends Title Dream.”

Though the Cardinals mathematically still had a chance, the odds against them got higher when it was revealed that one of their best hitters, Joe Torre, would sit out the final five games because of an inflamed right shoulder.

Dominant pitching

The Cardinals saw a glimmer of hope the night of Sept. 26, when they beat the Cubs, 1-0, and the Mets lost to the Expos. Those results put the Cardinals (77-81) three behind the Mets (80-78) with four to play.

Rick Wise pitched his fifth shutout of the season for St. Louis. It was his second consecutive win after losing six in a row. The Cubs threatened in the eighth when Jim Hickman, a career .358 hitter in 53 at-bats versus Wise, came up with two on and two outs. Wise struck him out on three pitches, the last “a high, tight fastball with enough mustard on it to daub all the hot dogs in Busch Stadium,” Bob Logan of the Chicago Tribune reported.

The Cardinals got their run when Ted Simmons drove in Lou Brock from third with a single in the first. Boxscore

Brock and Reggie Cleveland were the standouts the next night, Sept. 27, when the Cardinals beat the Cubs, 2-0.

Cleveland, who had lost his last four decisions, pitched a one-hit shutout. He retired the first 16 batters before Ken Rudolph singled with one out in the sixth.

Brock slammed a two-run home run versus Burt Hooton in the bottom of the sixth. It was Brock’s only homer in 73 career at-bats against Hooton. “That was the first changeup I’ve hit out of the park in five years,” Brock told the Chicago Tribune. Boxscore

With the Mets (80-78) idle that night, the Cardinals (78-81) crept to within 2.5 games of first place. While the Cardinals prepared for three at home against the Phillies, the Mets were scheduled to play four versus the Cubs at Chicago.

Wet and wild

The Sept. 28 Friday afternoon doubleheader between the Mets and Cubs at Wrigley Field was rained out. It poured a lot in St. Louis that night, too, but the Cardinals withstood three rain delays totaling nearly two hours and posted their third consecutive shutout, a 3-0 triumph versus the Phillies.

Mike Thompson and Diego Segui combined for the shutout. Thompson, making just his second appearance for the Cardinals, pitched four hitless innings, then was lifted after an 89-minute rain delay. Segui pitched five innings of relief and yielded two hits. He got the last out as a fourth downpour began. Boxscore

The Cardinals’ outlook suddenly brightened. With a 79-81 record, they were two behind the Mets (80-78), who faced consecutive doubleheaders at Wrigley Field to end the season.

He’s back

The Cardinals got a boost from a franchise icon, Bob Gibson. Sidelined since tearing a right knee ligament on Aug. 4 and undergoing surgery, Gibson returned to start the Saturday afternoon Sept. 29 game against the Phillies. His mound opponent: former teammate and fellow future Hall of Famer Steve Carlton.

Gibson, 37, held the Phillies to one run in six innings and got the win. “It’s just like riding a bike,” Gibson told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “You never forget how.”

The Cardinals scored seven times and had 17 hits, including 11 against Carlton, who allowed five runs in six innings. The loss was Carlton’s 20th of the season. Tim McCarver, playing first base for the Cardinals, had two RBI-singles versus his friend Carlton. Boxscore

Meanwhile, at Chicago, the Mets-Cubs doubleheader was rained out for the second straight day. The Cardinals (80-81) had one game left against the Phillies. The Mets (80-78) still had four scheduled with the Cubs.

Wise choice

For their season finale on Sunday Sept. 30, the Cardinals started Alan Foster. The Phillies went with Jim Lonborg, the former Red Sox ace who six years earlier opposed the Cardinals in the 1967 World Series.

Just like he had done in that World Series, Lou Brock set the tone. He led off the first inning with a double versus Lonborg, stole third and scored on Bake McBride’s sacrifice fly.

In the fifth, with the Cardinals ahead, 2-0, the Phillies had two on, one out, when Foster was relieved by Diego Segui. After allowing a run-scoring single, Segui got the final two outs of the inning and the Cardinals still led, 2-1.

After Tommie Agee batted for Segui in the bottom half of the fifth, Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst made a bold move, choosing Rick Wise to pitch. Wise had not pitched in relief all season and had little experience in that role, but it turned out to be a good choice.

Wise worked the final four innings, yielding no runs or hits, and got the win, enabling the Cardinals to complete the season at 81-81. Boxscore

At Chicago, the Mets (81-79) and Cubs split their Sunday doubleheader. Another was scheduled for Monday Oct. 1. If the Cubs swept, the Mets and Cardinals would finish tied atop the division. The Pirates (80-81) still had one more game to play as well, at home versus the Padres, and needed a win to stay in the mix.

Silly season

Before a Monday afternoon gathering of 1,913 at Chicago, the Mets took a 5-0 lead against the Cubs in the first game of the scheduled doubleheader. Tom Seaver started for the Mets but faltered, allowing four runs and 11 hits before Tug McGraw took over in the seventh.

McGraw rescued the Mets with three scoreless innings and they won, 6-4. Boxscore

The victory gave the Mets an 82-79 mark, securing the division title and making the second game of the scheduled doubleheader unnecessary to play.

At Pittsburgh, the Pirates lost to the Padres, finishing 80-82 and leaving the Cardinals alone in second place.

In the best-of-five playoffs, the Mets, with the fourth-best record in the National League, played the team with the best record in baseball, the Reds (99-63), and beat them three times, winning the pennant.

That put them in the World Series, where the team with the second-best record in the American League, the A’s, prevailed, winning four of seven.

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Browns produced gem for final win in St. Louis

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents, Pitchers on September 13, 2023| 6 Comments »

(Updated July 3, 2024)

The last home win in St. Louis for the Browns featured two pitchers _ one on the way up; the other on the way down _ who played prominent roles in 1950s baseball lore.

Ralph Branca of the Detroit Tigers and Bob Turley of the Browns engaged in a classic duel at St. Louis on Sept. 5, 1953. Each went the distance in a game the Browns won, 1-0, in 12 innings.

Branca, the Brooklyn Dodgers reject, nearly held the Browns hitless the first nine innings. Turley, a rookie, overpowered the Tigers with a fastball that was perhaps the best in the American League.

As Bob Burnes of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat noted, “This was one of the year’s best ballgames anyplace.”

Witnessed before a mere 1,960 spectators on a Saturday night, it turned out to be the last time the Browns won at home. Three weeks later, the franchise was moved to Baltimore and renamed the Orioles.

Something to prove

Branca was 18 when he debuted with the Dodgers in 1944. He earned 21 wins for them in 1947 and came close to pitching two no-hitters against the St. Louis Cardinals that season.

His good work got obscured by the pennant-clinching home run he gave up to Bobby Thomson of the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds in 1951. 

The next time Branca pitched at the Polo Grounds, he allowed six runs, including a Hank Thompson grand slam, in one inning of work on July 5, 1953. Boxscore

A week later, with his ERA for the season at 9.82, the Dodgers placed Branca on waivers. Every team in the National League, including the Cardinals, declined to claim him. The American League Tigers decided to take a chance.

“I see no reason why he can’t be a big winner for us,” Tigers manager Fred Hutchinson said to the Associated Press. “He’s an intelligent, levelheaded fellow who seems to have all the equipment of a good pitcher.”

In his Tigers debut, against the Browns at Detroit, Branca gave up a home run to the first batter he faced, Johnny Groth. Before the inning was over, Vic Wertz also connected against Branca for a two-run homer. Branca settled down after that and held the Browns scoreless for four innings but was the losing pitcher. Boxscore

Branca got a complete-game win in his next start versus the Athletics. “When the result was announced over the Ebbets Field loudspeaker (in Brooklyn), the jammed stands cheered long and loud,” the New York Daily News reported. Boxscore

Two months later, as he approached his start against the Browns at St. Louis, Branca was 3-4 with a 4.63 ERA with the Tigers.

Local prospect

Bob Turley went to Central High School in East St. Louis, Ill. “He had been a good sandlot pitcher but he wasn’t sensational,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted.

Browns chief scout Jack Fournier, a former Cardinals first baseman, thought otherwise. In the book “We Played the Game,” Turley said, “Fournier had discovered me pitching in a municipal league in East St. Louis in 1948 and asked me to take the nickel bus ride across the river to try out at Sportsman’s Park.”

The Browns signed Turley, 17, on the night he graduated from high school and sent him to the Belleville (Ill.) Stags, their Class D farm club. “Belleville wasn’t pitching him at first, so we almost had to fire the manager in order to get them to let Turley pitch,” Browns general manager Bill DeWitt Sr. recalled to the Post-Dispatch.

Turley was 23-5 for the Class C Aberdeen (S.D.) Pheasants in 1949 and 20-8 for the Class AA San Antonio Missions in 1951. San Antonio manager Jo-Jo White, a former big-league outfielder, told the Post-Dispatch, “Turley has everything _ a good fastball, two of the meanest curves I’ve ever seen, the strength to pitch all day, and nerve.”

Turley, 21, got called up to the Browns in September 1951 and made one appearance, a start at home against the White Sox, and lost on a Saturday afternoon before 1,014 fans. “Almost everybody in the stands was my family,” Turley told author Danny Peary. “I got the loss but it was still a real thrill.” Boxscore

A month later, Turley began a two-year hitch in the Army. When he rejoined the Browns in August 1953, he and Harry Brecheen became road roommates. Turley was 22. Brecheen, the former Cardinals pitcher who joined the Browns for his final season, was 38.

In the book “We Played the Game,” Turley recalled, “When I was 11, a team I was on played a three-inning game in Sportsman’s Park before the Cardinals’ game. Our manager gave each of us baseballs for autographing and I asked Harry to sign my ball. He was pitching that day and said he didn’t have time. When we roomed together, you bet your life I reminded him of that day.

“I liked Harry. He was a funny guy with a dry sense of humor and a lot of common sense. He taught me pitching fundamentals, which was important because in those days there weren’t pitching coaches to help us develop.”

On Aug. 31, 1953, Turley, 22, relieved starter Satchel Paige, 47, in the sixth inning against the Washington Senators. Turley hit a home run against Sonny Dixon, but gave up the winning run and took the loss. Boxscore

Turley’s next appearance came in the start versus Ralph Branca and the Tigers.

Pair of aces

It was evident from the start of the game that both Branca and Turley were sharp.

Branca retired the first 12 batters he faced before Vic Wertz opened the fifth with a walk. The first hit he allowed came in the sixth, an infield single by Johnny Groth off the glove of second baseman Fred Hatfield. Branca told The Sporting News, “Hatfield could have thrown out Groth if he had come up with the ball.”

Groth’s single was the Browns’ only hit against Branca in the first nine innings.

Turley was tough, too, striking out 10 Tigers in the first six innings.

Both pitchers took shutouts into the 12th. In the bottom half of the inning, Dick Kokos ended the drama with a home run onto the pavilion roof in right.

Turley allowed three hits, walked four and struck out 14. Branca gave up four hits, walked one and fanned eight. Boxscore

Different paths

The next day, the Tigers won, 5-2, at St. Louis. Then the Browns embarked on a 14-game road trip and went 6-8. They returned to St. Louis to close out the season with a three-game series against the White Sox. The Browns lost all three. The finale, played on Sept. 27, 1953, before 3,174 customers, went 11 innings. Boxscore

Two days later, American League owners approved the move of the Browns from St. Louis to Baltimore after club owner Bill Veeck agreed to sell his controlling interest to a group led by attorney Clarence Miles for $2.5 million.

Branca and Turley took different career paths in 1954. Branca had a 5.76 ERA in 17 games when the Tigers released him in July. After brief stints with the Yankees and Dodgers, he was done pitching at 30 in 1956.

Turley emerged as a force in the American League with the 1954 Orioles. Though he walked more batters (181) than any pitcher in the league, Turley also struck out the most (185) and had 14 wins for a team that totaled 54.

“He’ll be the next to strike out 300 in a season,” Cleveland Indians fireballer Bob Feller predicted to the Post-Dispatch.

Yankees manager Casey Stengel told the newspaper, “He’s the fastest in our league, I’ll guarantee that. Maybe he’s the fastest in baseball. Turley has a great future. He could be a 30-game winner when he reaches his peak.”

After the 1954 season, Turley, along with pitcher Don Larsen, was traded to the Yankees. He told author Danny Peary it was “the greatest day of my life” because it gave him a chance to pitch for a contender.

In his autobiography “The Mick,” Yankees slugger Mickey Mantle said Turley had a knack for determining when an opposing pitcher was going to throw a fastball. Turley would tip off Mantle and other Yankees batters. “Bob would signal me with a piercing whistle if he saw one coming,” Mantle said.

Also, “Turley could throw hard,” Mantle said. “When he was right, nobody threw harder. He was also very smart businesswise. Wherever we went, I’d find him unfolding The Wall Street Journal and reading it from front to back.”

In 1958, Turley (21-7, 2.97 ERA) won the Cy Young Award and was named most valuable player of the World Series. In Game 5 against the Braves, he pitched a five-hit shutout and struck out 10, including Hank Aaron twice. In the decisive Game 7, he relieved Larsen in the third, held the Braves to a run in 6.2 innings and got the win. Boxscore

Turley pitched in five World Series for the Yankees and won four times.

He and Branca finished with somewhat similar records in the big leagues. Branca: 88-68, 3.79 ERA. Turley: 101-85, 3.69.

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A prominent home run for Willie Mays vs. Cardinals

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents, Records on August 16, 2023| 8 Comments »

Willie Mays was the first right-handed batter to hit 400 home runs in the National League. The milestone homer came against a familiar foe, Curt Simmons of the Cardinals, and was witnessed by another 400-homer hitter, Stan Musial.

On Aug. 27, 1963, at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, Mays capped a two-month hot streak with his 400th career home run for the Giants.

At the time, nine others had achieved the feat: Babe Ruth (714), Jimmie Foxx (534), Ted Williams (521), Mel Ott (511), Lou Gehrig (493), Stan Musial (472), Eddie Mathews (419), Mickey Mantle (415) and Duke Snider (403).

(Musial, Mathews, Mantle and Snider still were active. Musial would finish with 475, Mathews 512, Mantle 536 and Snider 407.)

The only right-handed batter in the 400-homer group besides Mays was Foxx. (Of his 534 home runs, Foxx hit 524 as an American Leaguer and 10 as a National Leaguer.) All the others, except Mantle (a switch-hitter), batted from the left side.

Mays, 32, was considered the best bet to break the National League career home run mark of 511 held by Mel Ott.

On a roll

After leading the National League in home runs (49) and total bases (382) and powering the Giants to a pennant in 1962, Mays got baseball’s highest salary in 1963 _ $105,000.

He had a substandard start to the season, hitting .233 in April and .257 in May. At the urging of the Giants, Mays got his eyes examined “and was told they were fine,” according to his biographer James S. Hirsch.

He found a groove after the all-star break and nearly was unstoppable. Mays hit .322 in July, .387 in August and .378 in September.

From July 28 through Aug. 27, Mays hit safely in 27 of 28 games. In that stretch, he raised his 1963 season batting average from .274 to .308.

His only hitless game in that period came on Aug. 13 when Jim Maloney of the Reds shut out the Giants on a two-hitter.

(The game was noteworthy for another reason. It was the first time Mays played a position other than center field in the majors. In the eighth inning, after Norm Larker batted for shortstop Ernie Bowman, manager Al Dark put Larker at first base, moved Orlando Cepeda from first to left, Harvey Kuenn from left to right, Felipe Alou from right to center and Mays from center to shortstop. Mays had no fielding chances in his one inning at short, but he told the Associated Press, “Man, that’s too close to the plate.” Boxscore)

Numbers game

On Aug. 25, 1963, facing the Reds’ Joe Nuxhall at Candlestick Park, Mays hit his 399th home run. Later , with Joey Jay pitching, Mays drove a pitch to deep left. “If Frank Robinson hadn’t caught the ball a scant foot from the top railing, Willie would have had his 400th major-league homer,” The Sporting News reported.

The next day, Aug. 26, the Cardinals opened a series at San Francisco. Mays got two singles, but no home run, against Ernie Broglio. Curt Simmons provided another opportunity on Aug. 27.

Mays had a history of success against Simmons. In 1961, for instance, Mays had a .692 on-base percentage versus the Cardinals left-hander, reaching base nine times (six hits, two walks, one hit by pitch) in 13 plate appearances. For his career, Mays finished with a .423 on-base percentage (39 hits, 22 walks, two hit by pitches) versus Simmons.

In the Aug. 27 game, with the Giants ahead, 3-0, Mays led off the third inning and lined a 2-and-1 pitch from Simmons the opposite way to right. The ball carried over the outstretched glove of George Altman, struck a railing and went over the fence for home run No. 400.

Orlando Cepeda followed with another homer against Simmons, who then was lifted for Barney Schultz. The first batter he faced, Felipe Alou, hit the Giants’ third consecutive home run of the inning. Boxscore

“I stay in good shape and I think I can hit a lot more,” Mays said to United Press International. “I may be able to reach the 500 mark.”

Stan Musial, stationed in left field when Mays hit his 400th homer, told The Sporting News, “He has an excellent chance to beat Mel Ott’s National League mark of 511 before he decides to call it quits.”

Asked about Musial, who had declared two weeks earlier that he would retire after the 1963 season, Mays said to Si Burick of the Dayton Daily News, “Nicest man I ever knew. When I was a kid coming up, I never thought a star on another team would help you, but he talked to me a lot about hitting. He even let me use his lighter bat a couple times when I was in a slump.”

(The kindness shown by Musial was paid forward by Mays. A week after Mays’ 400th home run, Cardinals pitcher Bob Gibson hit a 400-foot homer against the Pirates’ Don Schwall with a bat Mays had given him, The Sporting News reported. At 34 ounces, it was two ounces heavier than Gibson’s bat. Boxscore)

Join the club

On the same day Mays hit his 400th home run, Hank Aaron of the Braves slugged his 333rd (against Don Nottebart of the Houston Colt .45s). Three years later, on April 20, 1966, Aaron achieved home run No. 400 versus the Phillies’ Bo Belinsky.

Aaron went on to hit 755 home runs and Mays finished with 660.

In his book, “I Had a Hammer,” Aaron said, “I considered Mays a rival, certainly, but a friendly rival. At the same time, I would never accept the position as second best (to him). I’ve never seen a better all-around ballplayer than Willie Mays, but I will say this: Willie was not as good a hitter as I was. No way.”

In August 2023, 60 years after Mays became the 10th player to reach 400 career home runs, the total number of players achieving the feat had risen to 58.

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Mike Ivie was poison to Cardinals pitching staffs

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents on August 11, 2023| 14 Comments »

A right-handed batter with power, Mike Ivie couldn’t cope with the expectations and pressures of professional baseball.

When he felt overwhelmed, he walked out on his team. He did that multiple times in stints with the Padres, Giants and Astros.

He kept getting chances to return because, when he was focused rather than fearful, he hammered the ball. The Cardinals encountered that side of him a lot.

A .269 hitter in 11 seasons in the majors, Ivie batted .316 against the Cardinals in his career.

Head game

A standout high school athlete in Atlanta, Ivie, 17, was taken by the Padres with the No. 1 overall pick in the 1970 amateur baseball draft. Projected to be a catcher, “He’s got better hands than Johnny Bench,” Padres scout Leon Hamilton said to the Tri-City Herald of Pasco, Washington.

Ivie told the newspaper, “I don’t anticipate any problems making the adjustment to pro ball.”

In September 1971, after his second season with a Class A farm team, Ivie, 19, got called up to the Padres. He caught 39 innings for them and hit .471.

All eyes were on Ivie when he came to spring training in 1972. The Padres expected him to compete for their starting catcher spot. Instead, Ivie unraveled. “He couldn’t throw the ball back to the pitcher in batting practice without hitting the protective screen,” the Miami Herald reported.

In his first intrasquad game, he double- and triple-pumped before returning the ball to the pitcher, Sports Illustrated reported.

Frustrated, Ivie quit, went home, and said he didn’t want to be a catcher. “I’ve developed a mental block about catching,” Ivie told The Sporting News.

He sat out all of spring training. When the 1972 season started, he reported to the Padres’ Class AA affiliate in Alexandria, Louisiana, and was put at first base. Playing for manager Duke Snider, Ivie hit .291 with 24 home runs. When the Padres offered to promote him to the majors during the season, he declined because they wanted him to be a catcher, The Sporting News reported.

Blue in Hawaii

When Ivie came to spring training in 1973, he did an about-face, telling the Padres he wanted to compete for the starting catching job. Visits to a psychiatrist during the winter helped him change his mind about catching, Ivie told The Sporting News. “The psychology sessions convinced me my problem was fear of failure in baseball,” Ivie said.

He was having a good spring until he injured both hands. Damaged blood vessels in his left hand caused Ivie to lose feeling in a finger. That put an end to the catching plans.

The Padres assigned Ivie to Class AAA Hawaii in 1973 and put him back at first base. In June, he told manager Roy Hartsfield he couldn’t cope with the travel, quit and sat out the rest of the season.

He came back in 1974 and played the season in the minors. Ivie, 22, finally stuck with the Padres in 1975, sharing first base with Willie McCovey and playing some third base, too.

Cardinals nemesis

From 1976-79, Ivie pounded Cardinals pitching.

In 29 plate appearances versus the 1976 Cardinals, Ivie had 12 hits and four walks _ a .552 on-base percentage. Two of those hits were home runs against John Curtis and Pete Falcone. (Ivie batted .450 versus Falcone for his career.)

The next year, Ivie posted a .438 on-base percentage (17 hits, four walks) in 48 plate appearances versus the Cardinals. One of those hits won a game highlighted by a record-setting Lou Brock achievement.

On Aug. 29, 1977, at San Diego, Brock’s second stolen base of the game broke Ty Cobb’s major-league career record. In the eighth, with the Cardinals ahead, 3-2, Ivie spoiled their fun, hitting a two-run home run against Al Hrabosky, and the Padres won, 4-3. Boxscore

“I fouled off the first fastball he threw me and decided right then he was probably going to challenge me all the way, so I was looking for fastballs,” Ivie told the Associated Press. “If he had thrown me a breaking pitch after that, I probably would have screwed myself to the ground swinging at it.”

As the St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted, “Ivie would like to make a career of hitting against the Cardinals.”

For certain, he didn’t want to make a career of playing for the Padres. He wanted to be traded, preferably to the Braves, so he could be at home in Georgia. “He has a wealth of talent,” Braves manager Bobby Cox said to The Sporting News. “I hope we can get him.”

Instead, the Padres dealt him to the Giants.

Bench strength

Filling in for Willie McCovey at first base and Terry Whitfield in left, Ivie hit .308 overall and .387 as a pinch-hitter for the 1978 Giants. He clubbed four pinch-hit homers., including the only walkoff of his big-league career, against the Cardinals.

On July 25, 1978, at San Francisco, the Cardinals led, 2-1, when Larry Herndon singled against Bob Forsch with one out in the bottom of the ninth. Ivie, batting for shortstop Roger Metzger, followed with a two-run home run to left, giving the Giants a 3-2 victory Boxscore

“When you are a little kid, you play the dream game,” Ivie said to the Sacramento Bee. “You pretend you’re in a real game and you pretend you just hit a home run. You dream of the day you can do it for real. Now that I’ve done it, now that I’m living my dream, I can’t believe this is happening to me. I just feel numb all over.”

Asked to explain his pinch-hitting success. Ivie said to the San Francisco Examiner, “It’s more of a mental thing than a physical one. I drink a lot of coffee, smoke a lot of cigarettes, try to keep my hands warm and wait for the opportunity to be called upon.”

Ivie told the Post-Dispatch he shared tips with Cardinals pinch-hitter Roger Freed. “Freed and I talk a lot about what size bats to use in certain pinch-hitting situations,” Ivie said. “I’ve been studying pinch-hitters, especially guys like (the Phillies’) Tim McCarver, who seems to get good wood on the ball every time he bats. I watch Tim like a hawk.”

Down and out

Ivie had his best season in 1979 with the Giants. Sharing first base with Willie McCovey, he had 27 home runs and 89 RBI in 402 at-bats.

On June 7, 1979, at St. Louis, the score was tied at 9-9 with two outs in the ninth when Ivie slugged a Mark Littell fastball 420 feet to center for a three-run home run. The Giants won, 12-10. Boxscore

The good times didn’t last.

In December 1979, Ivie sliced a tendon in a finger while cleaning a hunting knife and underwent surgery. He had a poor spring training and a shaky start to the 1980 season, hitting no home runs in April and batting .209 in May.

The Giants were going to trade him to the Phillies, who planned to flip him to the Astros in exchange for pitcher Joaquin Andujar, but the deal got canceled when Ivie landed on the disabled list in late May 1980. Giants general manager Spec Richardson told The Sporting News that Ivie was experiencing “mental exhaustion.” Ivie called it “depression.”

When his stint on the disabled list ended, Ivie, 27, appeared in one game, then quit. “I was right at the point of a nervous breakdown,” he told Sports Illustrated.

About a month later, in July 1980, he changed his mind and returned to the club. “The guys can handle Mike’s return, but I just don’t know if he can,” outfielder Jack Clark told The Sporting News. “I think Mike is really sick.”

Troubled times

In April 1981, the Giants dealt Ivie to the Astros. A month later, he was found weeping in the locker room. Again, he quit and sought treatment for what he called “problems of anxiety,” The Sporting News reported.

“He was afraid to fail and he was afraid to succeed,” Astros owner John McMullen told the New York Times.

In June, big-league players went on strike. When play resumed in August, Ivie was with the Astros for a road trip that began in San Francisco. After one day there, he quit again.

“It goes back to when I was a kid in the Little League and was supposed to get six hits every five times I went to bat,” Ivie told Joe Durso of the New York Times in September 1981. “It’s professional pressure, I guess. When I was a kid, I was pretty near the best. Then, after I got to the big leagues, I found that I wasn’t the best player in the world. After a couple of seasons, it started getting to me. Now I go to the doctor, the psychiatrist, three times a week.”

Released by the Astros in April 1982, Ivie was signed by the Tigers.

Asked about Ivie’s history, Tigers manager Sparky Anderson said to Ira Berkow of the New York Times, “If he says he’s scared, or fears failure, let me tell you, he’s not a special case. This is a tough business, and all of us are scared to various degrees. I’ve seen guys so scared, they’re shaking. I’ve gone to guys in pressure situations to pinch-hit, and they said they couldn’t. I’ve had guys come to me and ask me to take them out of ballgames. I’ve seen a pitcher’s hand swell up when he was told he’s going to pitch a big game the next day.”

Ivie hit .232 with 14 home runs as a designated hitter for the 1982 Tigers. He was 30 when he played his last game in the majors for Detroit in May 1983.

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Flattened in Flatbush: Cardinals went winless in Brooklyn

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents, Pitchers on August 7, 2023| 11 Comments »

(Updated Jan. 9, 2025)

A couple of Hoosiers made life miserable in Brooklyn for the Cardinals.

In 1953, the Cardinals were 0-11 for the season against the Dodgers at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn’s Flatbush section.

The players most responsible for the Cardinals’ troubles there were pitcher Carl Erskine of Anderson, Ind., and first baseman Gil Hodges of Princeton, Ind.

Dominant Dodgers

The 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers, subjects of the Roger Kahn book, “The Boys of Summer,” were a powerhouse, featuring a lineup with five future Hall of Famers _ Roy Campanella, Gil Hodges, Pee Wee Reese, Jackie Robinson and Duke Snider.

They rolled to the National League pennant with a 105-49 mark, finishing 13 games ahead of the runner-up Braves (92-62) and 22 ahead of St. Louis (83-71).

The Cardinals won seven of 11 against the 1953 Dodgers at St. Louis, but it was a much different story at Brooklyn. Not only did they lose all 11 games at Ebbets Field, they often got crushed. The Dodgers outscored them, 109 to 36, in those 11 games at Brooklyn.

The Cardinals were beaten by scores of 10-1 on June 7, 9-2 on July 16, 14-0 on July 17, 14-6 on July 18, 20-4 on Aug. 30 and 12-5 on Sept. 1.

There were two one-run games, the Dodgers winning both by scores of 5-4. The cruelest for the Cardinals was on June 6, when Hodges wiped out a 4-2 St. Louis lead with a three-run walkoff home run versus Stu Miller in the ninth. Boxscore

Home sweet home

Many players contributed to the Dodgers’ perfect home record against the Cardinals in 1953, but Erskine and Hodges did the most damage.

A right-hander who mixed an overhand curve and changeup with his fastball, Erskine, 26, was nearly unbeatable at Ebbets Field that year. He ended the regular season with a home record of 12-1, including 4-0 versus the Cardinals. All four of his home wins against St. Louis were complete games.

Erskine also won Game 3 of the 1953 World Series at Ebbets Field, setting a record by striking out 14 Yankees batters, including Mickey Mantle four times. “Erskine made the Yankees look like blind men swatting at wasps,” J. Roy Stockton reported in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Boxscore

(Since then, the only pitchers with more strikeouts in a World Series game are Bob Gibson, who fanned 17 Tigers in Game 1 in 1968, and Sandy Koufax, who struck out 15 Yankees in Game 1 in 1963.)

“Look, up in the sky….”

When Erskine beat the Cardinals with a five-hitter on May 6, 1953, at Brooklyn, it was his seventh consecutive win against them, dating back to September 1950. Erskine went undefeated versus the Cardinals in 1951 (4-0) and 1952 (2-0). Boxscore

The streak was snapped a week later, May 14, 1953, at St. Louis when Erskine was knocked out in the first inning without retiring a batter. “He had no control, no stuff and no outs,” Dick Young reported in the New York Daily News. “He warmed up for 15 minutes and pitched for five.” Boxscore

Back in Brooklyn, Erskine ducked into a phone booth, donned his Superman cape and beat the Cardinals for the second time in 1953, a four-hitter in a 10-1 rout on June 7. “It was the sort of affair that grew progressively more one-sided and monotonous, finally reaching the stage where many of the fans amused themselves by launching paper planes onto the field,” Dick Young reported. “Some of these came close to hitting Erskine. So did the Cardinals, but not many succeeded.” Boxscore

A month later, Erskine beat the Cardinals at Brooklyn for a third time, even though he gave up nine hits and two walks, threw a wild pitch and committed two errors. Boxscore

Erskine’s fourth home win against the 1953 Cardinals, on Aug. 30, also was his 13th consecutive win at Ebbets Field. Erskine contributed three RBI and scored a run. Boxscore

“Some pitchers were spooked by the thought of working in Ebbets Field with its cozy fences, but not Erskine,” the New York Times noted.

(In his next start, the Braves gave Erskine his lone home loss of 1953. With the score tied at 1-1 in the eighth, Eddie Mathews hit a three-run home run and Jim Pendleton had a two-run shot. Boxscore)

Erskine finished 1953 with a regular-season record of 20-6, including 6-2 versus the Cardinals.

For his career with the Dodgers, Erskine was 122-78, including 66-28 at Brooklyn. He was 23-8 against the Cardinals _ 13-2 at Ebbets Field.

(Erskine’s second win in the majors came against the Cardinals in a 1948 relief appearance. In the book “We Would Have Played For Nothing,” Erskine recalled, “I beat Howie Pollet and he waited for me after the game in the runway to congratulate me. He said, ‘I like the way you throw.’ He was a class act. I think he identified with me because he had a unique pitch _ a straight change _ and I could throw that pitch.” Boxscore)

Among the Cardinals regularly baffled by Erskine were Enos Slaughter (.162 batting average against) and Red Schoendienst (.211). The exception, naturally, was Stan Musial. He batted .336 with eight home runs versus Erskine. According to Time Magazine, Erskine said, “I’ve had pretty good success with Stan by throwing him my best pitch and backing up third.”

In July 2023, Erskine, 96, recalled to Tyler Kepner of the New York Times that Musial “almost never missed a swing. He always hit the ball somewhere.”

In his book, “Stan Musial: The Man’s Own Story,” Musial said, “Erskine had control, a remarkable changeup and a great overhand curve.”

(Erskine had an association with the Cardinals in 1971 when he joined play-by-play men Jack Buck and Jim Woods as a guest analyst on select telecasts of games on KSD-TV Channel 5 in St. Louis.)

Lots of lumber

Three pitchers _ Stu Miller (0-3), Joe Presko (0-3) and Gerry Staley (0-2) _ accounted for eight of the 11 Cardinals losses at Ebbets Field in 1953.

Dodgers hitters were led by Gil Hodges, who had eight home runs and 23 RBI against Cardinals pitching in the 11 games at Brooklyn. Hodges had 16 hits and seven walks in those games.

(In 31 at-bats at St. Louis in 1953, Hodges had no home runs, no RBI and batted .129.)

Others who hammered the 1953 Cardinals at Ebbets Field were Roy Campanella (18 hits, 18 RBI), Jackie Robinson (18 hits, 11 RBI) and Duke Snider (four home runs and 11 RBI).

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