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Joe Torre, Nolan Ryan and the April streak

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents, Pitchers on April 27, 2011| 2 Comments »

(Updated April 13, 2025)

Nolan Ryan and Danny Frisella, two pitchers Joe Torre hit well in his career, combined to stop the Cardinals third baseman’s April hitting streak.

Torre hit safely in each of the Cardinals’ first 22 games of the 1971 season.

Torre’s streak gave him a .386 batting average entering a game against the Mets on April 29, 1971, in St. Louis.

Batting fourth, Torre went 0-for-3 with a walk against Ryan and Frisella. “In a way, I’m relieved,” Torre told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Ryan and Frisella, both right-handers, were unlikely candidates to end Torre’s streak. For his career, Torre hit .318 (7-for-22) against Ryan and .500 (7-for-14) against Frisella.

Facing Ryan in the first inning with two runners on base and one out, Torre rapped into a 6-4-3 double play.

In the fourth, Ryan got Torre on a pop-up to shortstop Bud Harrelson.

Torre led off the sixth with a walk, one of eight Ryan issued in the game.

Frisella, who relieved in the seventh, struck out Torre leading off the eighth.

“At least it was another Italian who stopped me,” Torre told the Post-Dispatch.

The Mets won, 7-0, as Ryan and Frisella combined to limit the Cardinals to three hits. Boxscore

With the streak broken, Torre experienced a brief skid, going hitless in four of five games (1-for-15) and seeing his batting average drop to .340.

He went on to lead the National League in batting that season with a .363 average and 230 hits.

Ken Boyer, hitting coach for the 1971 Cardinals, cited Torre’s “short stride, quick stroke and great stength” for his success. Another Cardinals coach, George Kissell, told The Sporting News that Torre was able to focus on hitting when the Cardinals settled on him as their third baseman.

“For the first time since he joined the club (in 1969), he was able to have a closed mind about playing one position,” Kissell said. “Before, he had to be thinking about first base and catching as well as third base.”

Recalling 1971, Torre told Cardinals Yearbook in 2014, “It was magical, no question. I used to go to sleep at night, knowing which pitcher I would see the next day, and, in my mind, I knew which pitch I wanted to hit off him.”

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Albert Pujols has most grand slams by a Cardinal

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents, Pitchers on April 26, 2011| Leave a Comment »

(Updated Oct. 26, 2024)

Here are the top 5 with the most regular-season career grand slams as Cardinals:

_ Albert Pujols, 13 grand slams with the Cardinals. Pujols hit five of his grand slams in 2009, tying Ernie Banks of the 1955 Cubs for the National League single-season record. His 13th grand slam for the Cardinals came on Aug. 18, 2022, versus the Rockies’ Austin Gomber. With the three grand slams Pujols hit for the Angels, he totaled 16 in his career in the major leagues.

_ Stan Musial, 9 grand slams with the Cardinals. Musial hit his first grand slam in 1942 and his last in 1961.

_ Ken Boyer, 7 grand slams with the Cardinals. Not included in that total is Boyer’s most famous grand slam: a sixth-inning shot against Al Downing of the Yankees in Game 4 of the 1964 World Series, giving St. Louis a 4-3 victory. Boxscore

_ Ted Simmons, 7 grand slams with the Cardinals. On June 11, 1979, at Los Angeles, Simmons wiped out a 3-0 Dodgers lead with a third-inning grand slam against former teammate Jerry Reuss. In the ninth, Simmons launched a two-run shot against another former St. Louis teammate, Lerrin LaGrow, snapping a 7-7 tie and giving the Cardinals a 9-7 victory. Simmons totaled nine grand slams: seven for the Cardinals and one each for the Brewers and Braves. Boxscore

_ Yadier Molina, 7 grand slams with the Cardinals. Molina got his first grand slam on April 5, 2010, against Reds reliever Nick Masset. One of Molina’s grand slams was hit against a future Hall of Famer, Roy Halladay of the Phillies, on May 27, 2012, at St. Louis. Boxscore

 

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In Dodger Stadium debut, Cards drilled Johnny Podres

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents, Pitchers on April 14, 2011| 2 Comments »

The Cardinals played at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles for the first time on May 18, 1962.

Bill White drove in three runs and Ken Boyer drove Dodgers starter Johnny Podres out of the game. The Cardinals won, 8-3.  Boxscore

In the first inning, with Red Schoendienst on first and two outs, Boyer hit a drive that struck Podres in the left forearm.

Podres threw three pitches out of the strike zone to the next batter, Gene Oliver, and walked off the field, unable to pitch. Stan Williams relieved and threw ball four to Oliver, loading the bases.

Charlie James followed with a two-run single and the Cardinals were on their way to a fruitful weekend.

The Cardinals won all three games in the series and never used a reliever. Larry Jackson, Ray Sadecki and Curt Simmons pitched successive complete-game victories.

Podres went to the hospital, where X-rays revealed no fracture. Six days later, he started against the Mets and Podres went on to enjoy a 15-win season.

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Rogers Hornsby couldn’t help 1919 Cards

Posted in Games, Hitters on April 7, 2011| Leave a Comment »

The 1919 Cardinals experienced a dreadful season-opening drought.

Managed by Branch Rickey, the 1919 Cardinals scored a total of 10 runs in their first eight games. Their only win in that stretch was by a 1-0 score against the Cubs. Boxscore

Only once in their first eight games did the 1919 Cardinals score as many as three runs.

Only twice in their first 15 games did the 1919 Cardinals score more than two runs. In opening with a 3-12 record, their one outburst was an 8-1 win against the Reds on May 2.  Boxscore

Rogers Hornsby, the Hall of Fame player who some consider the best right-handed hitter of all time, was the third baseman and cleanup hitter for the 1919 Cardinals, but he couldn’t ignite the offense alone.

Hornsby, 23, in his fourth full big-league season and fifth overall, hit .318 with eight home runs and 71 RBI for the 1919 Cardinals. He led the team in all three categories. No other Cardinal hit more than two home runs.

The only other run producer of note for the 1919 Cardinals was second baseman and No. 3 batter Milt Stock. He hit .307 with 52 RBI and no home runs. Hornsby and Stock were the only Cardinals with as many as 50 RBI.

The 1919 Cardinals finished 54-83-1 and in seventh place in the eight-team National League. They scored 463 runs in 138 games and were shut out 11 times. Only the third-place Cubs (with 454) scored fewer. By comparison, the NL champion Reds scored 577 and the second-place Giants led the NL, with 605.

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Joe Torre erased Felix Millan with 4 double plays

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents on April 1, 2011| Leave a Comment »

When Albert Pujols grounded into three double plays on Opening Day in 2011, it put the spotlight back on Joe Torre.

Torre established a National League record by hitting into four double plays while with the Mets in a game against the Astros on July 21, 1975.

“It’s the first record I’ve ever set in baseball,” Torre told The Sporting News at the time. “But I’m not nearly as embarrassed by it as I am by my RBI total.”

Torre, traded after six seasons with the Cardinals to the Mets on Oct. 13, 1974, for pitchers Ray Sadecki and Tommy Moore, had 21 RBI in New York’s first 73 games in 1975.

Torre became the first player in the 100-year history of the NL to hit into four double plays in a game. He tied the major league record held by American League players Goose Goslin of the 1934 Tigers and Mike Kreevich of the 1939 White Sox.

Second baseman Felix Millan, batting No. 2 in the order for the Mets, had four singles but never reached second base. Torre, batting No. 3 in the order, followed each of Millan’s singles by grounding into double plays against pitcher Ken Forsch, brother of Cardinals pitcher Bob Forsch.

“I couldn’t have set a record without Millan,” Torre said, tongue in cheek, to the Associated Press after the game. “He ought to get an assist.”

Torre grounded into a 1-4-3 double play in the first, a 6-4-3 double play in the third, a 4-6-3 double play in the sixth and another 6-4-3 double play in the eighth. Boxscore

Asked whether he was trying to avoid hitting into a double play when he came to bat in the eighth with runners on first and second and none out, Torre replied, “I wasn’t worried. I wasn’t anxious. I made up my mind to be aggressive.”

Showing a sense of humor, Torre told reporters, “When I retire, I’m going to buy a shortstop and put him in my den. At night, when I’m lonely, I’m going to go down there and hit grounders to him.”

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Bill White: Cardinals wanted him as manager

Posted in Games, Hitters, Managers on March 30, 2011| 7 Comments »

This is the third of three parts from a telephone interview I conducted with former Cardinals all-star first baseman Bill White on March 23, 2011.

White has written an autobiography in collaboration with journalist Gordon Dillow. The book is called “Uppity: My Untold Story About The Games People Play” (2011, Grand Central Publishing). It is available on Amazon.

White, gracious with his time and thoughtful with his answers, didn’t dodge any questions.

Q: You got traded back to the Cardinals in April 1969. Was that a surprise?

Bill White: No. I had torn my tendon in ’67. I couldn’t play anymore after that. Gene Mauch (Phillies manager) would let the grass grow six inches at first base so that the ball would stop and I could walk over and toss it to the pitcher. I couldn’t run. I had no mobility. I probably should have gotten out then.

There was hope the tendon would come around. It never did.

In 1968, Dick Allen hurt his right hand. He tore all the tendons and he couldn’t throw. So they decided to put him at first base. We couldn’t have two cripples on the team. I couldn’t run and Rich couldn’t throw. But he was younger and could still hit.

The general manager of the Phillies called me and asked if I’d be willing to go back to the Cardinals. I said, ‘I don’t think so.’ He said, ‘Bing Devine (Cardinals general manager) wants you to come back.’

Bing brought me back because he wanted me to manage at (Class AAA) Tulsa and eventually manage the Cardinals. I didn’t want to manage. I didn’t want to try to tell 25 other guys how to play the game. I’d rather do something where the success depends on me, not on other people.

Q: Elston Howard had said the Cardinals contacted him about replacing Harry Caray on the Cardinals broadcast team after the 1969 season …

Bill White: When Harry Caray was fired, I had gone to St. Louis and accepted the job. Jack Buck and (KMOX station boss) Bob Hyland and I sat down and we talked about it. I was very close with Buck.

I had already accepted the job. So when I flew back to Philadelphia, I started thinking about moving the family back to St. Louis. They were in schools in Philadelphia. And Philadelphia had some great colleges. I thought about that.

I also thought about replacing Harry Caray, who was extremely popular in St. Louis, and I thought that was a negative. So I called Bob Hyland back and I said, ‘Bob, I’m sorry, but I have changed my mind. I’m going to stay here in Philadelphia.’

Jack Buck wasn’t very happy with that. Jack was a great guy. When I was trying to buy a home in St. Louis and having a problem, Jack invited me over to his house and he said, “I’m going to find you a home here in this area.’ I said, ‘Jack, I can’t afford to live here.’ I think I was making $12,000 or $14,000 a year.

But those are the kinds of things you appreciate. And when I did take the Yankees (broadcast) job (in 1971), Jack called me and sort of chuckled and said, ‘You didn’t want to work for me. You want to work for those bums.’

I flew out to St. Louis and spent six hours at the stadium club, talking with Jack Buck and taping our conversation about how to broadcast.

Q: So many players from that ’64 Cardinals team have gone on to become successful broadcasters _ you and Tim McCarver and Bob Uecker and Mike Shannon and even Bob Gibson and Lou Brock did some broadcasting. Why do you think that was?

Bill White: We were better B.S.ers than players (laughter).

I think it was mainly Bob Hyland. And Jack Buck. Jack didn’t mind helping. A lot of broadcasters didn’t want to help you. They didn’t feel players should go directly from the field into the broadcast booth.

That happened to Phil Rizzuto (of the Yankees). Red Barber and Mel Allen really treated him badly. They didn’t want him up there. They had spent so many years honing their craft and they didn’t want a ballplayer up there with them. Phil talked about that. We discussed that quite a bit.

Q: I’m going to finish with a name association. I have five names and I’m going to ask you to respond to each. First, Stan Musial.

Bill White: Stan, for flat-out hitting, was the best hitter I’ve seen. I argued with Rizzuto regarding Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams. But Stan was the best I’ve seen.

Q: Ken Boyer.

Bill White: Best third baseman I played with. For a big guy, he ran well. He drove in runs, did a great job fielding, and he didn’t get the publicity he should have gotten. When I was on the Veterans Committee for the Hall of Fame, I tried to get Ken’s name on that list, because he belongs with great consideration for the veterans part of the Hall of Fame.

Q: Curt Flood.

Bill White: Curt Flood was an excellent center fielder and a great leadoff man. Prior to Brock coming, he was our catalyst. He started things. When we got Brock, it made it even better. We had two guys, batting one and two, who were always on base.

Q: Bob Gibson.

Bill White: One of the greatest competitors I played with, not only just pitching. On the bench, he pushed you. We were always good friends. One of the greatest pitchers I’ve seen.

Q: Albert Pujols.

Bill White: I’ve never seen him play, except for one exhibition game in Florida many years ago when I visited Bob Gibson. But if you look at his stats, he’s one heck of a player.

Do they knock him down? Oh, you can’t knock anybody down anymore, can you? That makes hitting a lot easier.

Bill White Interview: Part 1 // Part 2

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