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A wonderful weekend of walkoffs for Enos Slaughter

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents on September 4, 2022| 13 Comments »

As Cardinals, pitchers Murry Dickson and Howie Pollet were beneficiaries of the productive hitting of Enos Slaughter. As Pirates, they were victims of the same.

In September 1952, Slaughter delivered walkoff wins for the Cardinals in consecutive games versus the Pirates.

One of those game-winning hits came against Dickson. The other occurred an inning after Slaughter tied the score versus Pollet.

Six years earlier, Dickson (15 wins) and Pollet (21 wins) were two of the top starters for the 1946 World Series champion Cardinals. Slaughter led the National League in RBI (130) that season and made a daring dash from first to home to score the winning run in Game 7 of the World Series.

A lot had changed by 1952. The Cardinals no longer were a consistent contender, and Dickson and Pollet were pitching for one of the all-time worst teams.

Getting it done

At 36, Slaughter still had a prominent role with the 1952 Cardinals as their right fielder, cleanup hitter and team captain. Though not a classic power hitter, Slaughter was a challenge for any pitcher. He led the 1952 Cardinals in RBI (101) and triples (12), and hit .300.

Slaughter was in his usual lineup spot for the Cardinals against the Pirates on Saturday night, Sept. 6, 1952, at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis. With 20 games left to play, the Cardinals were 77-57, but nine behind the first-place Dodgers.

Starting for the Pirates was Murry Dickson. The year before, he had 20 wins for the Pirates. In 1952, he would suffer 21 losses. The Pirates entered the game with a 39-98 record on their way to a 42-112 finish. The Pirates’ catcher was another former member of the 1946 Cardinals, Joe Garagiola.

Dickson and the Pirates took a 4-3 lead into the bottom of the eighth. Red Schoendienst led off for the Cardinals and singled. Stan Musial followed with a sharp grounder to first baseman Tony Bartirome, who threw to shortstop Dick Groat, covering second, for the force out of Schoendienst. Groat’s relay throw to Bartirome nearly completed a double play, but umpire Babe Pinelli ruled Musial safe at first.

(Pinelli’s call peeved the Pirates. As the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette noted, “Joe Garagiola sounded off quite freely with Pinelli after the game on the trip to the clubhouse. Both exercised the freedom of speech article in the Constitution.”)

Instead of batting with the bases empty, Slaughter came up with Musial on first and laced a double off the screen in right field. Musial raced home, tying the score at 4-4.

Dickson still was pitching in the 10th when Solly Hemus led off with a double. After Schoendienst popped out, Musial was walked intentionally, bringing up Slaughter. (Musial in his career batted .419 with 52 hits versus Dickson. Slaughter batted .267 with 27 hits against him.)

Slaughter hit Dickson’s first pitch onto the right field roof for a three-run walkoff home run and a 7-4 Cardinals victory. Boxscore

The home run was Slaughter’s 1,900th career hit. He would finish with 2,383.

(Slaughter hit four walkoff home runs in the majors, three for the Cardinals and one for the Athletics.)

Encore performance

The next day, before what the St. Louis Post-Dispatch described as a “slender Sunday crowd” of 9,298, Howie Pollet started against his former team.

Pollet shut out the Cardinals for seven innings, limiting them to two hits, but in the eighth, with the Pirates ahead, 3-0, the Cardinals loaded the bases with none out. Musial struck out, but Slaughter followed with a triple high off the screen in right-center, tying the score.

“Came the ninth and now defeat was inevitable,” The Pittsburgh Press noted. “It always is with the Pirates.”

Pirates manager Billy Meyer sent Jim Waugh, an 18-year-old rookie, to pitch the bottom of the ninth against the Cardinals. After retiring the first batter, he walked the next three.

Another rookie, Cal Hogue, relieved, facing Slaughter with the bases loaded. Hogue’s best pitch was “a jagged overhanded curve,” according to Bob Broeg of the Post-Dispatch.

Working the count to 3-and-1, Slaughter sent a fly into medium right-center. Dick Hall, the Pirates’ 6-foot-6 rookie center fielder, loped over to the ball, then turned away and shielded his eyes from the sun.

The ball fell a few feet in front of him for a single as Solly Hemus streaked home from third with the winning run.

Unlike his game-winning home run the night before, Slaughter’s walkoff single wasn’t crushed but the result was the same. Martin J. Haley, covering the game for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, described it as a “sun-kissed single.”

(St. Louis native Dick Hall eventually was converted from an outfielder to a pitcher. He became a successful reliever, pitching in three World Series for the Orioles and earning 93 wins and 71 saves in the majors.)

According to the Globe-Democrat, even if Hall had caught the ball, Hemus “undoubtedly would have scored” from third on the sacrifice fly.

“The sad sack Buccos walked off the field as though trailing a funeral procession,” The Pittsburgh Press reported. Boxscore

Jubilant Cardinals manager Eddie Stanky told Broeg that “all the adjectives in the world can’t describe” Slaughter.

“I didn’t expect him to do nearly what he’s done this season,” Stanky said. “I didn’t think he’d come close to driving in 100 runs.”

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A’s made shrewd move getting Dal Maxvill from Cardinals

Posted in Games, Hitters, Trades on August 23, 2022| 9 Comments »

A season that began with Dal Maxvill in a batting slump, resulting in his benching, ended for him with a World Series championship.

On Aug. 30, 1972, the Cardinals traded Maxvill to the Athletics for minor-league third baseman Joe Lindsey and a player to be named (minor-league catcher Gene Dusan).

A gifted fielder, Maxvill was a winner, and he brought those qualities with him to the Athletics.

Maxvill was a member of seven World Series clubs _ five as a player (Cardinals of 1964, 1967, 1968 and Athletics of 1972 and 1974) and two as a general manager (Cardinals of 1985 and 1987). Four of those (1964 and 1967 Cardinals and 1972 and 1974 Athletics) won World Series titles.

Getting it done

A graduate of Washington University in St. Louis with a degree in electrical engineering, Maxvill signed with the Cardinals in 1960 and made his mark with them when he started at second base in all seven games of the 1964 World Series as a replacement for injured Julian Javier.

After fending off a challenge from Jerry Buchek, Maxvill became the Cardinals’ shortstop in 1966. A light hitter with little power, Maxvill earned the job because of his glove. He was their shortstop on the 1967 and 1968 World Series teams. The 1968 season was Maxvill’s best: He hit .253 and earned a Gold Glove Award.

Maxvill, 33, was the Opening Day shortstop for the Cardinals in 1972, but he went hitless in his first 21 at-bats and was replaced by Ed Crosby.

Though Crosby lacked Maxvill’s fielding skills, the Cardinals were willing to play him if he hit. After batting .324 in April, Crosby hit .217 in May and Maxvill returned to the starting lineup.

Rejuvenated, Maxvill hit .280 in June and .253 in July. To his delight, he hit for a higher average in those months than his road roommate, Joe Torre, the reigning National League batting champion, did. Torre hit .250 in June and .252 in July.

Maxvill drove in four runs against the Phillies on July 2 Boxscore and hit his last big-league home run, an inside-the-park poke against the Astros’ Larry Dierker, on July 9. Boxscore

“He’s being more aggressive at the plate,” Cardinals hitting coach Ken Boyer told The Sporting News. “He’s not taking so many good pitches.”

Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst said Maxvill also was fielding better “than any other infielder in the National League.”

The Cardinals, though, fell out of contention, and general manager Bing Devine was looking to trade for prospects.

Change of scene

With their record at 58-61, the Cardinals traded outfielder and first baseman Matty Alou to the Athletics on Aug. 27. Three days later, Maxvill was dealt.

The Maxvill trade was the fifth involving the Athletics and Cardinals in 1972. Describing Athletics owner Charlie Finley as “an aggressive guy,” Devine told The Sporting News, “He calls every day and does not seem to worry about a player’s age or salary.”

On the day they acquired Maxvill, the Athletics were in first place, a half game ahead of the White Sox, in the American League West Division.

Maxvill’s departure left Lou Brock and Bob Gibson as the only Cardinals players from the 1967 and 1968 pennant-winning teams.

“The future is more important than the present now,” Devine said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Maxvill told the newspaper he hadn’t expected to be traded but was grateful the Cardinals sent him to a contender.

Fitting in

The Athletics got Maxvill to play second base. Their shortstop, Bert Campaneris, led the American League in stolen bases for the sixth time in 1972 and he also led the league’s shortstops in putouts that season.

Dick Green, the Athletics’ Opening Day second baseman, suffered a herniated disc in April and needed back surgery. His replacement, Larry Brown, suffered the same injury in June.

Maxvill was one of 11 players used at second base by the Athletics in 1972.

In his Athletics debut, on Sept. 1 against the Tigers, Maxvill started at second and contributed two hits and a sacrifice bunt. Boxscore

Maxvill made 21 September starts at second for the 1972 Athletics, but manager Dick Williams often lifted him for a pinch-hitter early in the games. During one stretch, he made five starts without getting a plate appearance.

Key contributor

On Sept. 20, Maxvill contributed two defensive gems to help the Athletics beat the second-place White Sox and move five games ahead of them with two weeks left to play. In the clubhouse after the game, a grateful Dick Williams greeted Maxvill “with a big kiss on the cheek,” The Sporting News reported. Boxscore

“I like this ballclub,” Maxvill told the Oakland Tribune. “This is the type of ballclub we had in St. Louis five or six years ago when we won pennants.”

A week later, on Sept. 28, Maxvill drove in the winning run in the division title clincher against the Twins.

With the score tied at 7-7, Sal Bando led off the bottom of the ninth and was hit by a pitch from Dave LaRoche. Williams ordered the next batter, Maxvill, to attempt a sacrifice bunt. Squaring to bunt, Maxvill watched the first three pitches sail wide, then took a called strike.

Given the green light by Williams to swing at the 3-and-1 pitch, Maxvill drove a double into left-center, scoring Bando with the winning run and giving the Athletics the division title. Boxscore

Maxvill told the Oakland Tribune, “This was one of the most important hits I’ve ever had. The most important.”

It turned out to be his only RBI for the 1972 Athletics.

Helping hand

Dick Green was back for the American League Championship Series against the Tigers, so he started at second base and Maxvill was a reserve.

In Game 2, shortstop Bert Campaneris was ejected in the seventh inning for flinging his bat toward the mound after being hit in the ankle by a Lerrin LaGrow pitch. Video Maxvill replaced Campaneris at short. Boxscore

American League president Joe Cronin suspended Campaneris for the remainder of the series. Maxvill started at shortstop in each of the following three games and fielded flawlessly, helping the Athletics clinch their first pennant since 1931. Game 5 video clips

Baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn allowed Campaneris to play in the 1972 World Series but extended the suspension to the first five games of the 1973 regular season.

Maxvill was on the World Series roster but didn’t appear in a game of the classic won by the Athletics against the Reds.

Because of Campaneris’ suspension, Maxvill was the Opening Day shortstop for the reigning champions in 1973. The Cardinals’ Opening Day shortstop, Ray Busse, was a bust and eventually got replaced by Mike Tyson.

In July 1973, Maxvill’s contract was purchased by the Pirates. Released in April 1974 after starting at shortstop on Opening Day for the Pirates, he was reacquired by the Athletics and helped them win another World Series title.

Maxvill played two innings in the 1974 World Series against the Dodgers. For his career, he played in 179 World Series innings (120 at shortstop and 59 at second base) and committed no errors.

Maxvill, 36, began the 1975 season as a coach on the staff of Athletics manager Al Dark. Activated in August, Maxvill contributed to their division title run.

After stints as a coach with the Mets, Cardinals and Braves, Maxvill became the Cardinals’ general manager in 1985 and remained in that role until 1994.

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For Glenn Brummer, there really is no place like home

Posted in Games, Hitters on August 6, 2022| 6 Comments »

In the signature play of a championship season, a third-string catcher, relying on a knee that had been torn to shreds, made an unlikely dash for the plate.

Defining the spirit of a Cardinals club that used aggressiveness to overcome a lack of power, Glenn Brummer stole home, giving the Cardinals an improbable walkoff win in the heat of a pennant race.

The play occurred on Aug. 22, 1982, in the 12th inning of a game against the Giants at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

Surprising everyone, including his manager, Brummer made his move at the unlikeliest time _ with the bases loaded, two outs and two strikes on the batter.

Under any circumstance, it was a wonderfully nutty act of derring-do. Then, consider this: Three years earlier, Brummer suffered a knee injury so damaging that he wondered whether he’d be able to walk, much less run, normally again.

Getting a chance

Brummer was at junior college in Mattoon, Ill., when the Cardinals signed him in May 1974. He had a strong, accurate arm. Pitchers liked how he called a game and how he blocked low pitches.

“Brummer would block a bowling ball if it was coming at him 100 miles an hour,” minor-league pitcher Dave Otten told the Springfield (Ill.) State Journal-Register. “He’s tough.”

The problem was he lacked power and didn’t hit for average.

In 1979, Brummer, in his sixth season in the Cardinals’ system, was catching for the Springfield (Ill.) Redbirds. On July 16, a Wichita Aeros base runner, Kurt Seibert, tried to score from second on a single to right. As Brummer gloved the throw, Seibert crashed into him. Brummer’s left knee took the brunt of the blow.

“When he hit me, I saw my knee go in from six to eight inches,” Brummer told the Springfield newspaper.

After being carried off the field by teammates, Brummer was examined by doctors, who determined he suffered complete tears of five ligaments in his left knee and a partial tear of a sixth ligament.

“That was the most pain I ever felt in my life,” Brummer told the Springfield newspaper.

Cardinals team physician Dr. Stan London performed surgery and told Brummer it was one of the worst knee injuries he had seen.

The prognosis for Brummer was “not good at all,” Cardinals director of player development Jim Bayens told the Mattoon (Ill.) Journal Gazette.

Brummer said to the Springfield newspaper, “I wondered if my career might be over. I knew I had a bad injury. I wondered if I would be able to walk right.”

Three months later, in October 1979, the Cardinals sent Brummer to their training facility in St. Petersburg, Fla. “I was a cripple, really,” Brummer told United Press International. “My left leg was about one and a half inches thinner than my right.”

Crediting his wife Shelly _ “She wouldn’t let me slack off” _ Brummer slowly progressed. “I started walking at first and building up my strength,” he told the Springfield newspaper. “After a while, I did a lot of walking, from eight to 10 miles a day. I also hit the weights. Then I started jogging and, finally, running.”

Quite a comeback

Remarkably, when the 1980 season began, Brummer was Springfield’s starting catcher.

Asked in July by Springfield sports editor Larry Harnly to name the most valuable Springfield player, Evansville Triplets manager Jim Leyland replied, “It’s Glenn Brummer, hands down. He catches every day, he runs a good game, and he throws well. Plus, he is a tough out when it means something. I respect him a lot, even though he might not have the overall talent some of the others have.”

Brummer played in 110 games for Springfield in 1980. He returned there in 1981 for an eighth season in the minors.

His perseverance was rewarded on May 24, 1981, when he got called up to the Cardinals to fill the third-string catcher role, behind Gene Tenace and Orlando Sanchez, after Darrell Porter went on the disabled list.

Unsure how long he would be with the big-league club, Brummer maintained his residence in Springfield and made the two-hour drive before and after every home game in St. Louis, according to the Cardinals’ media guide.

The Cardinals kept him on the team the rest of the strike-interrupted season.

Getting it done

With Tenace sidelined because of a broken thumb, Brummer began the 1982 season as the Cardinals’ third-string catcher behind Porter and Sanchez. He got into two games before being sent to the Louisville farm team.

A month later, Porter broke a finger and Tenace broke a hand, and the Cardinals called back Brummer.

From May 20 through June 7, Brummer started 12 games for the Cardinals. In his first start, against the Padres, he contributed two doubles, scored a run and drove in another. Boxscore

Brummer also drove in two runs against the Dodgers on May 21 Boxscore and two more versus the Giants on May 25. Boxscore On June 4, he stole third base against the Dodgers battery of Terry Forster and Mike Scioscia. Boxscore

The best, though, was yet to come.

Surprise of the season

Brummer rarely got into a game for the 1982 Cardinals after Porter and Tenace returned in mid-June.

On a steamy Sunday afternoon, Aug. 22, in St. Louis, Tenace was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the eighth and Brummer replaced him as the catcher.

The score was tied at 4-4 in the 12th when Brummer singled (his first hit in a month) with one out against Gary Lavelle. After Willie McGee singled and Julio Gonzalez popped out, Ozzie Smith’s infield hit loaded the bases for David Green.

A left-hander, Lavelle got ahead in the count, 1-and-2, to Green. Brummer noticed Lavelle wasn’t watching him, and determined he could steal.

“I was thinking about it all the time, but I didn’t want to tip it off,” Brummer said to Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I noticed there was a lot of high leg kick in his stretch. If he has a high leg kick, he’s taking some time to get rid of the ball.

“I just kept edging, edging. Slowly, slowly.”

Then he broke for the plate.

“Nobody knew he was coming,” Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog told Hummel.

Brummer reached the plate at about the same time as Lavelle’s pitch did. Sliding head-first, Brummer eluded the tag of catcher Milt May and was called safe by umpire Dave Pallone, giving the Cardinals a 5-4 triumph.

If Pallone, who had moved out from behind the plate to get a view of the play, had called the pitch strike three, the run wouldn’t have counted. “I called it a ball,” Pallone told Hummel.

Giants manager Frank Robinson vehemently disagreed. “He didn’t call anything,” Robinson told the Post-Dispatch. “He’s a liar.”

Herzog told Hummel the pitch looked like a strike to him. Cardinals first baseman Keith Hernandez suggested Pallone “had a vapor lock. He was just as surprised as anybody in the ballpark.”

In a 2012 interview with Cardinals Magazine, Herzog said, “There’s no way you should steal home with two outs and two strikes on the hitter.” He called Brummer’s dash “one of the dumbest plays in baseball.”

“It’s still an amazing thing,” Herzog said. “It’s a classic case of good things that need to happen in order to win a championship.”

In his book “White Rat: A Life in Baseball,” Herzog described Brummer as “slower than I am,” but he admired the overachiever.

“He’s the best third-string catcher I’ve ever seen,” Herzog told Hummel. “You’ve got to have a 1927 Yankees team if you don’t have room for that guy.” Boxscore and Video

Two days after Brummer’s steal, pitcher Jim Kaat presented him with a home plate autographed by his teammates.

The Cardinals went on to win the World Series championship in 1982. Brummer got into one World Series game but didn’t have a plate appearance.

Released in March 1985, he spent a final season in the majors with the Rangers.

In five big-league seasons, Brummer had more stolen bases (four) than home runs (one)

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How Tommie Aaron joined brother in stunning Cardinals

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents on July 29, 2022| 4 Comments »

Tommie Aaron, who usually played in the shadow of his older brother, Hank Aaron, got to share the spotlight with him in a game against the Cardinals.

On July 12, 1962, Tommie and Hank each hit home runs in the ninth inning, rallying the Braves to victory versus the Cardinals at Milwaukee.

With the Braves trailing by three runs, Tommie’s solo homer ignited the comeback and Hank’s walkoff grand slam completed it.

Oh, brother

Henry Louis Aaron was born in 1934 in Mobile, Ala. Tommie Lee Aaron was born there five years later.

“I remember seeing Henry play in Mobile,” Tommie told the Atlanta Constitution in 1968, “but I was too young to play on the same team with him.”

Hank Aaron made his big-league debut with the Braves in 1954. He got his first hit, a double, on April 15 against the Cardinals’ Vic Raschi. His first home run came eight days later, also versus Raschi, at St. Louis.

Four years later, John Mullen, who had brought Hank Aaron from the Negro League to the Braves’ organization in 1952, signed Tommie Aaron.

Tommie, like his brother did, batted right-handed. He played first base and outfield. Tommie hit 26 home runs for Eau Claire in 1959 and 20 for Cedar Rapids in 1960.

After batting .299 for Austin in 1961, Tommie made the leap from Class AA to the majors with the Braves in 1962, joining his brother on a team for the first time. Hank already had won a National League Most Valuable Player Award, two batting titles and three Gold Glove honors for his outfield play.

Tommie made the team as the backup to first baseman Joe Adcock. Another Braves rookie that season was a catcher, Bob Uecker.

In his major-league debut, against the Giants at San Francisco, Tommie got a single against Juan Marichal. Boxscore

“He has really impressed me as a good hitter,” Hank Aaron said to The Sporting News. “He does not fall away from the plate. He hangs right in there.”

On May 30, 1962, at Milwaukee, Tommie and Hank combined to give the Braves a victory against the Reds. With the score tied at 3-3, Tommie led off with a single against Dave Sisler, moved to second on a bunt and scored on Hank’s single. Boxscore

Two weeks later, on June 12 at Milwaukee, Hank and Tommie hit home runs in the same game for the first time. Hank’s solo homer came in the second inning against Phil Ortega, and Tommie’s two-run homer was in the eighth versus Ed Roebuck. Boxscore

Fantastic finish

Exactly a month later, Tommie and Hank hit their ninth-inning home runs against the Cardinals.

With one out and none on, Tommie, batting for pitcher Claude Raymond, hit the first pitch from starter Larry Jackson into the bleachers in left-center at County Stadium, cutting the Cardinals’ lead to 6-4.

After Roy McMillan singled, Lindy McDaniel relieved Jackson. McDaniel hadn’t allowed an earned run since May 31, but the Braves were unfazed. Mack Jones singled and Eddie Mathews walked, loading the bases for Hank Aaron.

Hobbling because of an ankle ailment, Aaron worked the count to 2-and-1 against McDaniel. “If he had been ahead of Henry, with two strikes, he would have thrown a forkball,” Cardinals pitching coach Howie Pollet told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Instead, McDaniel delivered a fastball, and Hank hit it deep, “almost a duplicate of the kid brother’s towering poke over the left-center fence,” the Post-Dispatch reported. Boxscore

The game-winning home run was Aaron’s third grand slam of the season. He totaled 16 grand slams in his career.

Tommie and Hank Aaron became the first brothers to hit home runs in the same inning of a big-league game since Sept. 15, 1938, when Lloyd and Paul Waner did it for the Pirates in the fifth inning against the Giants’ Cliff Melton at the Polo Grounds in New York. Boxscore

Highs and lows

Tommie Aaron had a terrific August for the 1962 Braves, filling in at first base after Adcock got hurt. For the month, Tommie hit .333 and had a .423 on-base percentage. He had 28 hits and 13 walks in 27 games in August.

On Aug. 4, Tommie hit a walkoff grand slam against Jack Baldschun, giving the Braves a 7-3 victory over the Phillies. Boxscore

Ten days later, Tommie and Hank hit home runs in the same game for the third and last time. Facing the Reds at Cincinnati, Tommie’s solo homer came against Johnny Klippstein in the sixth, and Hank followed with a solo homer versus Ted Wills in the seventh. Boxscore

Tommie completed his rookie season with 20 doubles, eight home runs and a. 231 batting mark. It turned out to be the best of his seven seasons in the majors, all with the Braves.

Asked in 1968 about whether he’d offered advice to Tommie, Hank told the Atlanta Constitution, “I’ve talked to him about hitting, but you can’t tell a fellow how to hit. I tell him what I know about certain pitchers, things like that. I’ve talked to him more about his weight. That’s been his biggest problem. He has to watch his weight.”

Hank and Tommie hold the record for most career home runs (768) in the majors by brothers. Hank hit 755 of those.

“You couldn’t possibly compare Hank and me,” Tommie told Milt Richman of United Press International. “We’re two different style ballplayers. He is the complete ballplayer. He can do just about anything. I had to scuffle to do it.”

Mentor to many

In June 1973, Tommie Aaron, 33, was named manager of the Braves’ farm club in Savannah, Ga. He became the first black manager of a professional baseball team in the state and the first in the Southeast, according to the Atlanta Constitution.

Tommie managed in the Braves’ system from 1973-78. Dale Murphy played for him as a catcher with Savannah in 1976 and with Richmond in 1977.

In 1979, Tommie returned to the majors as a Braves coach on the staff of manager Bobby Cox. When Joe Torre became Braves manager in 1982, he kept Tommie Aaron on a coaching staff that included Bob Gibson and Dal Maxvill.

In May 1982, results of a routine annual physical exam showed Tommie Aaron had leukemia. He died on Aug. 16, 1984, two weeks after turning 45.

Braves general manager John Mullen, who some 30 years earlier had signed Tommie and his brother, told the Atlanta Constitution, “He was just a tremendous person with an awful lot of influence on a lot of ballplayers’ lives.”

Among those attending the funeral in Mobile were Hank Aaron, Mullen, Torre and Murphy.  Pallbearers included former Braves outfielder Ralph Garr, along with former big-leaguers and Mobile natives Tommie Agee and Cleon Jones.

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Marvelous day for most amazing Met, Marv Throneberry

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents on July 25, 2022| 8 Comments »

In a reversal of roles, Marv Throneberry played the hero and the Cardinals performed like the 1962 Mets.

On July 7, 1962, Throneberry hit the first walkoff home run of his big-league career, lifting the Mets to victory against the Cardinals at the Polo Grounds in New York. Throneberry’s winning hit came an inning after Dal Maxvill made a base running blunder that cost the Cardinals a run.

A first baseman whose gaffes on the field came to symbolize the ineptness of the expansion 1962 Mets, losers of 120 games, Throneberry hit like an all-star against the Cardinals that season.

Family affair

Marv and his older brother Faye, who also reached the big leagues, grew up on a family farm in Fisherville, Tenn., about 30 miles east of Memphis.

Faye Throneberry signed with the Red Sox in 1950 and hit .236 during eight years in the majors as an outfielder for the Red Sox, Senators and Angels.

Marv Throneberry signed with the Yankees in 1952. A left-handed batter, he became a prolific slugger for their Denver farm club, hitting 36 home runs in 1955, 42 in 1956 and 40 in 1957.

When Marv made his big-league debut with the Yankees in a game at Boston on Sept. 25, 1955, Faye was in the outfield for the Red Sox. Marv went 2-for-2 with three RBI and a run scored. Boxscore

That would be Marv’s only big-league experience until he stuck with the Yankees as a backup to first baseman Moose Skowron in 1958.

After the 1959 season, Throneberry was traded to the Athletics in a multi-player deal that brought Roger Maris to the Yankees.

“Marv Throneberry swings and misses with outlandish regularity,” Sports Illustrated noted in April 1960, “but manages to connect just often enough to maintain his reputation as a slugger of great promise.”

The Athletics shipped him to the Orioles in June 1961. Throneberry was a teammate of Whitey Herzog in Denver and with the Athletics and the Orioles.

No shortage of shortcomings

The 1962 Mets opened their inaugural season with Gil Hodges, 38, as their first baseman, but a variety of ailments limited his playing time. On May 9, the Mets acquired Throneberry, 28, from the Orioles for a player to be named (former Cardinals catcher Hobie Landrith) and cash.

When Mets general manager George Weiss said Throneberry probably would be the club’s first baseman for the next four years, manager Casey Stengel “almost fell off his seat,” columnist Joe King reported. Weiss and Stengel were with the Yankees when Throneberry was there, and Stengel wasn’t impressed. “I know he can maybe move around at first base, but whether he can hit, I don’t know,” Stengel told The Sporting News.

With his options limited, Stengel played Throneberry against right-handers. Making mistakes in the field and on the base paths, and whiffing a lot at the plate, Throneberry was viewed as “a symbol of the futility of one of the most tragicomic teams in baseball,” the New York Times noted.

On June 17, in the first inning of a game against the Cubs at the Polo Grounds, Throneberry, batting with two on and one out, drilled a deep drive to right. Both runners scored and Throneberry reached third with a triple.

“He was dusting off his uniform at third base, apparently feeling that the tide in his fortunes had turned,” the Associated Press reported, when the Cubs appealed to first-base umpire Dusty Boggess, saying Throneberry had failed to touch the base on the way around.

The umpire agreed, and Throneberry was ruled out. He was credited with two RBI but no hit on the play.

“Stengel charged from the dugout in protest,” columnist Arthur Daley wrote in the New York Times. “The umpire shut him up fast. Throneberry didn’t touch second either.”

When the next batter, Charlie Neal, followed with a home run, Stengel emerged and pointed out each of the four bases to Neal as he made his home run trot, the New York Times reported. Boxscore

Hooray for Marv

The Mets were 22-57 entering the July 7 Saturday doubleheader versus the Cardinals at the Polo Grounds.

With the score tied at 3-3 in the eighth inning of the opener, the Cardinals had two on and two outs when Red Schoendienst hit a smash off Hodges’ glove at first base and into right field for a single.

Dal Maxvill, running at second for Stan Musial, rounded third and reached the plate easily with the apparent go-ahead run. The Mets appealed, saying Maxvill didn’t touch third base, and umpire Augie Donatelli agreed, calling him out and nullifying the run. Donatelli said Maxvill missed the bag by almost a foot, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

In the ninth, Curt Flood led off with a home run, putting the Cardinals ahead, 4-3.

Facing left-hander Curt Simmons in the bottom half of the inning, Joe Christopher hit a tapper along the first-base line. Simmons fielded the ball, tried to tag Christopher, but missed, enabling him to reach first with a single.

After right-hander Ernie Broglio relieved and got Hodges to fly out, Stengel countered by sending Throneberry to bat for shortstop Elio Chacon. Rather than have a left-hander pitch to Throneberry, Cardinals manager Johnny Keane stayed with Broglio.

Facing the Cardinals for the first time in a regular-season game, Throneberry worked the count to 1-and-1 before lining a pitch into the lower seats in right for a two-run home run, giving the Mets a 5-4 triumph. Boxscore

“Chances are that if you had 20 guesses as to which Met batsman had a pinch-hit homer in the ninth, you’d probably mention Marv Throneberry last, if at all,” the New York Times concluded. “His derelictions afield and at bat in recent exercises had made him the comic symbol of all that is wrong with the forlorn Mets.”

Throneberry started at first base in Game 2 of the doubleheader and almost was the hero again. In the seventh inning, his home run against Ray Washburn tied the score at 2-2. After Stan Musial put the Cardinals ahead, 3-2, with a home run in the eighth, Throneberry hit a triple against Washburn with two outs in the ninth, but Lindy McDaniel relieved and retired Gene Woodling to end the game. Boxscore

Man of the people

Throneberry hit one more walkoff home run for the Mets. On Aug. 21, 1962, he was coaching first base when Stengel told him to bat for Jim Hickman in the bottom of the ninth. Throneberry hit a three-run home run against Pirates closer Roy Face, eliminating a two-run deficit and giving the Mets a 5-4 victory. Boxscore

For the season, Throneberry led the National League in one category: most errors by a first baseman (17 in 97 games).

He hit 16 home runs for the 1962 Mets and batted .244, with almost as many strikeouts (83) as hits (87).

Against the 1962 Cardinals, though, Throneberry batted .326 (with 15 hits) and had an on-base percentage of .396.

“Marvin Eugene Throneberry became the symbol of the New York Mets,” Arthur Daley wrote in the New York Times. “Even his initials spelled out Met. Like the rest of his team, he was lovably inept but with a flair for heroics. He’d lose games by his bungling, or win them with dramatic home runs.”

According to Daley, “more than half the fan mail that came to the 1962 Mets was directed to Marvelous Marv. Ninety-nine percent of it pledged undying devotion. One percent call him a bum.”

After the season, the Mets acquired Tim Harkness, 25, from the Dodgers and made him their first baseman in 1963. Throneberry got into 14 games, hit .143 and was sent to the minors in May. 

In seven years in the majors, he had 295 strikeouts and 281 hits.

He resurfaced in popular TV commercials for Miller Lite beer during the 1970s. Video

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Many twists, turns for Dick Schofield with Cardinals

Posted in Hitters, Prospects, Trades on July 21, 2022| 15 Comments »

For a player labeled a utility man, Dick Schofield left a prominent mark.

He helped the Pirates, Dodgers and Cardinals win National League pennants. He played 19 seasons in the majors. He was the second of four generations in his family to play pro baseball.

An infielder who reached the majors with the Cardinals at 18, Schofield had three stints with them in three different decades.

All in the family

Dick Schofield’s father, John Schofield, played in the minor leagues for 10 seasons and was nicknamed Ducky. At home in Springfield, Ill., John taught baseball to his son. “We’d go out and he’d hit nine million ground balls to me,” Dick told author Danny Peary for the book “We Played the Game.”

When Dick was 8, his father showed him how to bat from both sides of the plate and Dick, a natural right-hander, remained a switch-hitter in the pros.

John Schofield also took Dick on trips to St. Louis to see the Red Sox play the Browns because Ted Williams was Dick’s favorite player. Dick became a Red Sox fan, he told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

During his senior baseball season in high school, Dick Schofield drew the interest of most big-league teams. A shortstop, he hoped to sign with the Red Sox, but the highest offers came from the Cardinals and White Sox.

Big bonus

On June 3, 1953, Schofield signed with the Cardinals, even though, as he told Danny Peary, they were a team “I had always rooted against.”

The $40,000 he received was then the largest bonus paid by the Cardinals. “He’s got a great arm,” Cardinals manager Eddie Stanky told the Post-Dispatch after seeing Schofield work out with the team. “His hands are extremely quick.”

Under the rules then, an amateur player signing for more than $6,000 was required to spend his first two seasons with the big-league team.

Schofield, 18 and looking younger, joined the Cardinals in New York. “I was scared to death,” he recalled to Peary. “The team was playing Brooklyn and I checked into the Commodore Hotel in Manhattan. Then I rode to the ballpark with Stan Musial and Red Schoendienst. They asked me to come along. Imagine that!”

Schofield was assigned to room on the road with the Cardinals’ backup catcher, Ferrell Anderson, 35. “He was like my dad and took good care of me,” Schofield told Peary. “He made it easier for me.”

Learning curve

Schofield was called Ducky by Cardinals players after they were introduced to his father and learned it had been his nickname.

He didn’t get into a game during his first month with the Cardinals, and spent his days being mentored by Stanky and shortstop Solly Hemus.

Stanky “knew baseball better than anybody I ever met,” Schofield told Peary. “Stanky and Hemus helped me learn to play shortstop in the majors, especially turning the double play.”

On June 25, in a game at St. Louis, Stanky complained that Giants pitcher Jim Hearn wasn’t coming to a stop in his delivery. After losing his argument with umpire Augie Donatelli, Stanky threw a towel from the dugout and got a warning from the ump, the Post-Dispatch reported.

Not wanting to back down, but not wanting to get ejected, Stanky turned to Schofield. Knowing the rookie wouldn’t get into the game, Stanky told him to toss a towel, according to the Society for American Baseball Research. Schofield obeyed, and Donatelli ejected him from a game before he’d ever played in one. Boxscore

Hello and goodbye

When Schofield made his big-league debut, on July 3, 1953, against the Cubs at Chicago, it was as a pinch-runner. Boxscore

His first hit came two weeks later, a single versus Johnny Podres at Brooklyn. Boxscore 

Used primarily as a pinch-runner, Schofield hit .179 for the Cardinals in 1953 and .143 in 1954.

With the two mandatory seasons on the big-league club completed, Schofield spent most of the 1955 and 1956 seasons playing for manager Johnny Keane at minor-league Omaha.

(Schofield married his wife Donna in Omaha in 1956. Tyrone Power and Kim Novak, in town to promote their movie, “The Eddy Duchin Story,” sent them a cake, the Post-Dispatch reported, and that’s why the Schofields’ first child, a daughter, was named Kim.)

A backup to Cardinals shortstop Al Dark in 1957, Schofield was a reserve again in 1958 when he was traded to the Pirates in June for infielders Gene Freese and Johnny O’Brien.

“I was totally surprised,” Schofield said to Peary. “I thought the world had come to an end. Nobody wanted to play on the Pirates then. They were a last-place team and Forbes Field was a tough park.”

(According to Schofield, Freese’s reaction to the deal was: “They traded two hamburgers for a hot dog.”)

Key contribution

Schofield, strictly a shortstop with the Cardinals, also was used at second and third by Pirates manager Danny Murtaugh. With Bill Mazeroski at second and Dick Groat at short, Schofield got few starts, but grew to like the Pirates.

On Sept. 6, 1960, with the Pirates contending for a National League pennant, Groat suffered a broken left wrist when hit by a pitch from the Braves’ Lew Burdette. Schofield, hitless since May, was Murtaugh’s choice to replace Groat.

Steady on defense, Schofield surprised with the bat. He hit .375 in September and his on-base percentage for the month was .459.

“He was as fine a utility infielder that ever played this game,” Groat said to Peary. “He could give you two or three weeks of great play at any one of those positions.”

The Pirates won the pennant, but Groat was reinserted at shortstop for the World Series against the Yankees. In Game 2, a Yankees rout, Schofield entered in the sixth and got a single and a walk versus Bob Turley. Boxscore

Helping hand

Groat was traded to the Cardinals after the 1962 season and Schofield, at last, became a starting shortstop. He was the Pirates’ starter in 1963 and 1964. When rookie Gene Alley was deemed ready to take over in 1965, Schofield was dealt to the Giants in May and started for them that season.

Another rookie, Tito Fuentes, became the Giants shortstop in 1966 and Schofield was shipped to the Yankees in May.

On Sept. 10, 1966, the Dodgers acquired Schofield to help them in their pennant drive. He took over for Jim Gilliam and John Kennedy at third base, and stabilized the position, helping the Dodgers win the pennant.

According to The Pittsburgh Press, Dodgers pitcher Don Drysdale said, “He’s been making the big play for us ever since we got him. If it isn’t his glove, it’s his bat. If it isn’t his bat, it’s his base running.”

Because Schofield joined the Dodgers after Sept. 1, he wasn’t eligible to play in the World Series. He watched on TV as the Dodgers got swept by the Orioles.

“The Dodgers couldn’t have won the league flag without him, and they collapsed in the World Series because he wasn’t eligible,” Los Angeles Times columnist Sid Ziff wrote.

Long, winding road

Released by the Dodgers after the 1967 season, Schofield, 33, was signed by the reigning World Series champion Cardinals to be a backup to Dal Maxvill at shortstop and Julian Javier at second base.

Fifteen years after he accompanied Schofield on his ride to the ballpark on the rookie’s first day in the big leagues, Red Schoendienst, manager of the 1968 Cardinals, told the Post-Dispatch, “Schofield is the finest all-round utility infielder we’ve got on the club.”

Schofield made 17 starts at second base and 13 starts at shortstop for the 1968 Cardinals, who repeated as National League champions. On May 4, he contributed four hits and three RBI against the Giants. Boxscore

Schofield got into two games of the 1968 World Series against the Tigers but didn’t have a plate appearance.

Two months later, the Cardinals traded Schofield to the team he rooted for as a boy, the Red Sox. Schofield spent two seasons with the Red Sox and was dealt back to the Cardinals in October 1970.

In July 1971, the Cardinals traded Schofield, 36, for the third and last time, packaging him with Jose Cardenal and Bob Reynolds to the Brewers for Ted Kubiak and a prospect.

A son, also Dick Schofield, played 14 seasons as an infielder in the majors, and a grandson, Jayson Werth (Kim’s son), was a big-league outfielder for 15 seasons.

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