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Archive for the ‘Hitters’ Category

Ken Boyer converted from infield to center

Posted in Hitters, Prospects on February 23, 2011| Leave a Comment »

In 1957, third baseman Ken Boyer was moved to center field and led the Cardinals into the National League pennant race.

When the Cardinals traded starting center fielder Bill Virdon to the Pirates in May 1956, they expected one of the players they acquired in the deal, Bobby Del Greco, to be a mainstay at the position.

Del Greco, 23, was a bust, batting .215 with 18 RBI in 102 games in 1956.

In the Cardinals’ first intrasquad game in spring training 1957, Boyer played center field in a move manager Fred Hutchinson called an experiment, according to the Associated Press.

When the season opened April 16 at Cincinnati, Boyer was at third base and rookie Bobby Gene Smith, 22, started in center field for St. Louis. Four days later, Del Greco was traded to the Cubs.

Smith, who came up through the Cardinals system, wasn’t ready. On May 23, with Smith batting .225 and the Cardinals at 13-16, Hutchinson moved Boyer to center field and placed rookie Eddie Kasko, 24, at third base.

The Cardinals won 15 of their next 20, improving to 28-21. Their strong play continued deep into the summer. On Aug. 4, St. Louis was 63-41.

In late September, though, the Braves won two of three in St. Louis to nail down the pennant. Milwaukee finished 95-59; the Cardinals were second at 87-67.

Boyer played center field in 105 games and led National League center fielders in fielding percentage (.993). He made two errors in 885.2 innings played in center field.

Kasko was reliable at third base (.961 fielding percentage in 120 games) and hit .273 overall.

In 1958, Boyer returned to third base, Kasko moved to shortstop after the May trade of Alvin Dark to the Cubs, and the Cardinals turned to rookie Curt Flood in center field.

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Gino Cimoli doubled his fun with 1959 Cardinals

Posted in Games, Hitters, Trades on February 16, 2011| Leave a Comment »

In his lone season with the Cardinals, Gino Cimoli achieved a standard no other St. Louis right-handed batter had matched in 20 years.

Cimoli hit 40 doubles for the 1959 Cardinals.

He was the first Cardinal to reach the 40-double mark since Stan Musial hit 41 in 1954 and the first right-handed batter to do it for St. Louis since Joe Medwick’s 48 in 1939.

Cimoli’s output placed him fourth in the National League in doubles in 1959, trailing only the Reds’ Vada Pinson (47), the Braves’ Hank Aaron (46) and the Giants’ Willie Mays (43).

Cimoli was an unlikely candidate to hit 40 doubles. In a 10-year big-league career, his next-best total was 22 doubles.

Acquired by the Cardinals from the Dodgers on Dec. 4, 1958, for outfielder Wally Moon and pitcher Phil Paine, Cimoli opened the 1959 season as the starting center fielder, ahead of Curt Flood.

In need of better corner outfield play _ the Cardinals had three first basemen (Stan Musial, Joe Cunningham and Bill White) playing outfield _ St. Louis sometimes shifted Cimoli to right or left and put Flood in center.

Cimoli played 95 games in center field, 56 in right and 47 in left for St. Louis.

Primarily batting second in the order, Cimoli had 145 hits in 143 games, batting .279 with eight home runs and 72 RBI.

On May 10, 1959, he went 7-for-10 with six runs, three doubles, a homer and four RBI in the Cardinals’ doubleheader split with the Cubs.

In the opener, won by the Cubs, 10-9, Cimoli was 4-for-6 with a double, homer and two RBI. Boxscore

In the second game, Chicago led 7-6 in the ninth before Cimoli’s RBI-double into the left-field corner tied the score. Flood followed with a single, scoring Cimoli with the winning run in St. Louis’ 8-7 victory. Boxscore

“It’s great to play every day,” Cimoli told the Associated Press. “I’m off to a good start (.349 batting average) and I feel I have a better future with the Cardinals than I did with the Dodgers.”

Desperate for pitching after finishing in seventh place with a 4.34 team ERA in 1959, the Cardinals dealt Cimoli and pitcher Tom Cheney to the Pirates for pitcher Ron Kline, an 11-game winner, on Dec. 21, 1959.

The deal backfired on St. Louis. Kline was 4-9 with a 6.04 ERA in 34 games for the 1960 Cardinals. Cimoli, used as a regular replacement for outfielders Roberto Clemente, Bill Virdon and Bob Skinner, helped Pittsburgh to the 1960 World Series title.

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Braves offered Chuck Tanner to Cardinals

Posted in Games, Hitters, Managers, Opponents on February 15, 2011| Leave a Comment »

The Cardinals rejected a chance to acquire Chuck Tanner in June 1957 and he made them pay a couple of months later.

As an outfielder for the Braves and Cubs in the 1950s and as manager of the Pirates and Braves in the 1970s and 1980s, Tanner had a long history as a Cardinals opponent.

Tanner broke into the majors with the Braves in 1955. On Aug, 15, he had his first three-RBI game as a big leaguer in the Braves’ 12-1 victory over St. Louis. Boxscore Three days later, Tanner hit a home run against Larry Jackson in the second inning, sparking the Braves to a 5-3 win against the Cardinals. Boxscore

On Sept. 16, 1955, Tanner’s three-run home run against Brooks Lawrence erased a 3-1 Cardinals lead and paced the Braves to a 9-4 victory. Boxscore

In 1957, the Braves were headed to a National League championship. To help their pennant push, the Braves wanted St. Louis outfielder Del Ennis. On June 1, the Braves offered the Cardinals three players _ Tanner, reliever Dave Jolly and their choice of a pitcher, Ray Crone or Gene Conley _ for Ennis, the Associated Press reported.

Cardinals general manager Frank Lane wanted more _ either pitcher Juan Pizarro or pitcher Bob Trowbridge. When the Braves declined, trade talks ceased.

A week later, the Cubs claimed Tanner off waivers.

Inserted into the starting outfield, Tanner produced. In two games against the Cardinals in August 1957, he went 5-for-8 with two runs scored and three RBI. On Aug. 13, Tanner was 3-for-4 with two RBI in Chicago’s 6-2 victory over the Cardinals. Boxscore Two days later, Tanner’s seventh-inning home run against the Cardinals’ Sam Jones helped the Cubs to a 4-1 win. Boxscore

In 1958, Tanner’s last season as a National League player, he delivered a key blow against the Cardinals in an unusual situation. On Aug. 31, the Cubs led, 2-1, in the third with two on and Lee Walls at the plate. Cardinals starter Sal Maglie brushed back Walls with a pitch the Cubs batter claimed hit him.

Umpire Frank Secory ruled the ball missed Walls, who argued and was ejected. Tanner took over the at-bat and hit a three-run home run, helping Chicago to an 8-5 victory. Boxscore

Tanner batted .236 with four home runs and 20 RBI in his career against the Cardinals.

After managing the White Sox and Athletics, Tanner went to the National League as manager of the Pirates (1977-85) and Braves (1986-88).

Tanner had a 76-106 record as manager against the Cardinals. He was 29-25 versus St. Louis in the 1970s and 47-81 when facing the Cardinals in the 1980s.

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The story behind Stan Musial’s $100,000

Posted in Hitters on January 31, 2011| 2 Comments »

(Updated Nov. 30, 2024)

When Stan Musial established a National League record by signing a one-year, $100,000 contract, he got his first pay raise from the Cardinals in seven years.

On Jan. 29, 1958, Musial, 37, became the first National League player with a six-figure salary when the Cardinals agreed to pay him $100,000 to play first base.

After Musial won his seventh batting title by hitting .351 in 1957, Cardinals general manager Bing Devine asked him what salary he wanted for 1958.

In the book “Stan Musial: The Man’s Own Story,” Musial said he told Devine, “I’d like to be the highest-salaried player the National League has had. ”

Devine and Musial agreed on $91,000. Team owner Gussie Busch generously instructed Devine to give Musial $100,000.

According to Bob Broeg in the Feb. 5, 1958, edition of The Sporting News and verified by James Giglio in the book “Musial: From Stash to Stan the Man,” it was Musial’s first pay raise since Fred Saigh, then the Cardinals’ owner, signed Musial for $75,000, with a $5,000 attendance clause, on Feb. 18, 1951.

In the next seven seasons, Musial won three batting titles (1951, 1952 and 1957) and a RBI crown (1956), and hit .310 or better with at least 21 home runs each year. None of that earned him a raise until Busch surprised Musial with the $100,000 offer for 1958.

(In 1952, Saigh invited reporters and photographers to a meeting he had with Musial. In a stunt that stunned and embarrassed Musial, Saigh handed him a contract with a blank amount and urged him to fill in any figure. The classy Musial said he would accept the same salary he received in 1951).

“Baseball has rewarded me richly,” Musial said after signing the $100,000 deal. “The Cardinals always have treated me more than fair, this year in particular. Mr. Busch and Bing wanted me to have this contract. I would have settled for less … I feel highly honored.”

Mary Murphy, secretary to every Cardinals owner since 1930, attended the signing. According to Broeg, Musial said to Murphy, “Did you ever think, Miss Murphy, that when I signed for $4,200 in 1942 I’d ever be in this position?”

Murphy later told Broeg, “He (Musial) hasn’t changed a bit. He’s the same boy he’s always been.”

In a Page 1 article in the Feb. 12, 1958, edition of The Sporting News, Dan Daniel reported the highest-paid big leaguers that year were Red Sox outfielder Ted Williams ($125,000 per year), Musial ($100,000), Giants outfielder Willie Mays ($75,000) and Braves pitcher Warren Spahn ($65,000). According to Daniel, Yankees outfielder Mickey Mantle was asking for $75,000 to play in 1958.

“What has been going on in this major league contract-signing season is utterly without precedent in the game,” Daniel wrote. “All over the nation there has been runaway inflation which has sent the cost of living higher and higher, to continual new records. Now this inflation has hit baseball with a frenzy which defies efforts at analysis from any angle.”

Musial responded by batting .337 and collecting his 3,000th hit in 1958.

When he hit .255 (first time below .300 in his career) in 1959, Musial asked for and received a $20,000 pay cut, to $80,000, for the 1960 season, according to The Sporting News.

“The Cardinals have been generous to me the past few years, so I thought I’d be kind to them,” Musial said.

Even with the pay cut, The Sporting News reported, the 1960 contract made Musial the first National League player to reach $1 million in career salary ($1,053,000 in 18 seasons).

In the 1982 book “Voices From Cooperstown, asked his opinion of players receiving multiyear contracts, Musial said to author Anthony J. Connor, “I believe that the American system always worked on the basis of people being paid after they’ve produced.”

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George Crowe was Cardinals mentor to Curt Flood

Posted in Games, Hitters on January 22, 2011| 2 Comments »

George Crowe was a pinch-hitter and reserve first baseman for the Cardinals from 1959-61. He played a more valuable role to the team as a mentor to Curt Flood.

Acquired by the Cardinals from the Reds in an October 1958 trade, Crowe was 37, a veteran who had played in the Negro National League and who broke into the majors in 1952 with the Boston Braves.

Flood, 21, was in his second full season in the majors in 1959 and still trying to establish himself as an everyday center fielder. His fielding was superb, but his hitting was inconsistent. Cardinals manager Solly Hemus was giving time to veteran Gino Cimoli in center field.

In his book, “The Way It Is,” Flood said, “During 1959 … I was playing in fewer games and having trouble hitting above .250. I now became more worried about my swing, and more receptive to help.

“The coaches were willing to coach, but were not good enough theoreticians or communicators to do me much good. As usually happens when a player needs assistance of that kind, I finally got it from another player _ George Crowe, who knew batting theory and was more articulate about it than anyone else on the Cardinals … George straightened me out. He taught me to shorten my stride and my swing, to eliminate the hitch, to keep my head still and my stroke level. He not only told me what to do, but why to do it and how to do it. He worked with me by the hour.”

In his book, “Stranger To The Game,” pitcher Bob Gibson said, “Flood … benefited from the soft wisdom of George Crowe, who was an independent, unconventional thinker and a father figure to both of us when we came up.

“Although Crowe never played regularly with the Cardinals, he was an established home run hitter and he knew one when he saw one. He also knew that Flood, at 165 pounds, wasn’t one … So Crowe talked Curt out of being another Willie Mays and gently persuaded him to guide the ball to right field in pursuit of .300.”

A left-handed batter, Crowe hit .301 with eight home runs in 77 games for the 1959 Cardinals. Four of those homers were as a pinch-hitter. He had 21 RBI with his first 24 hits for St. Louis.

Crowe’s eighth-inning solo homer off Art Fowler snapped a 5-5 tie and lifted St. Louis to a 6-5 victory over the Dodgers on April 25, 1959. Fowler retired 11 in a row before Crowe’s blast deep into the pavilion in right-center. Boxscore

Two weeks later, on May 7, Crowe ripped a three-run, pinch-hit homer over the pavilion roof against the Cubs’ Moe Drabowsky in a 4-3 Cardinals victory. Stan Musial won it for St. Louis with his 400th career homer. Boxscore

And on Aug, 13, 1959, Crowe belted a pinch-hit grand slam against the Dodgers’ Roger Craig. Boxscore

“Crowe has fulfilled all of our expectations,” Cardinals general manager Bing Devine told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch during the 1959 season. “… He’s intelligent, likes to win and accepts his part-time assignment well.”

Crowe slumped to .236 in 73 games in 1960. When his big-league career ended, after playing in seven games for the 1961 Cardinals, Crowe held the major league record for career pinch-hit homers (14).

In October 1961, the Cardinals signed him to scout for them.

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Cardinals dealt Trevor Hoffman first defeat

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents, Pitchers on January 13, 2011| Leave a Comment »

(Updated July 29, 2018)

Trevor Hoffman’s first loss in the big leagues was to the Cardinals.

Hoffman, who retired Jan. 12, 2011, with 601 saves and was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2018, had his share of success against the Cardinals (six wins, 25 saves), but he had some spectacular setbacks, too.

Against teams whom he faced at least 10 times in his career, Hoffman’s ERA was highest vs. St. Louis (4.09 in 51 regular-season games).

Though he lost to the Cardinals three times in the regular season, none of those defeats occurred during his time with the Padres, whom he pitched for in 16 of his 18 big-league seasons.

Two of his losses to St. Louis came while with the Brewers (2009-10).

The other occurred in 1993 when he broke into the majors with the expansion Marlins.

On May 16, 1993, at St. Louis, Hoffman was brought in by manager Rene Lachemann to face the Cardinals in the bottom of the ninth of a scoreless game. With one out, Gregg Jefferies singled to center, stole second base and advanced to third on catcher Steve Decker’s errant throw. Hoffman issued intentional walks to Ray Lankford and Mark Whiten, loading the bases.

With Stan Royer, hitless in the game, due up next, manager Joe Torre called on Todd Zeile to bat. Zeile’s single to center scored Jefferies, giving St. Louis a 1-0 victory and handing Hoffman his first career loss. Boxscore

It would be 16 years before Hoffman lost to the Cardinals again in the regular season. On Sept. 8, 2009, at Milwaukee, Matt Holliday’s two-run, ninth-inning home run against Hoffman carried St. Louis to a 4-3 victory. Boxscore

The next year, on April 9 at Milwaukee, pinch-hitter Nick Stavinoha’s two-run home run against Hoffman in the ninth lifted the Cardinals to a 5-4 victory. Boxscore

Two other Cardinals home runs against Hoffman are noteworthy:

_ In Game 3 of the 1996 National League Division Series at San Diego, Hoffman entered in the ninth with the score at 5-5. Brian Jordan’s two-run home run gave St. Louis a 7-5 victory and a sweep of the best-of-five series. Boxscore

_ A year later, June 10, 1997, at San Diego, a matchup of two top relievers, Hoffman and Dennis Eckersley, became a debacle for both.

With the Padres leading 3-1 in the ninth, Hoffman entered and yielded four runs _ the last two on Delino DeShields’ two-out, two-run home run _ to put St. Louis ahead, 5-3.

Eckersley attempted a save, but Tony Gwynn’s two-out, two-run double tied the score at 5-5. San Diego won, 6-5, with a run in the 12th. Boxscore

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