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Diamond dash: Slow and steady wins the race? You bet!

Posted in Executives, Games, Hitters, Managers, Opponents on May 5, 2025| 11 Comments »

In a race to determine the slowest runner in the National League, the loser was the commissioner of baseball, and he didn’t even run.

A pair of catchers, Del Rice of the Cardinals and Rube Walker of the Dodgers, were the contestants in what Bob Broeg of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch described as “a snail versus tortoise match race.”

When some of the Cardinals made small, friendly wagers with their Dodgers counterparts on which of the two leadfoots would win, heavy-handed baseball commissioner Ford Frick initiated a gambling investigation.

Frick backed down quickly after baseball writers mocked him in their newspaper stories for being unable to see the difference between harmless fun and scandal.

Slow going

Signed by Cardinals scout Frank Rickey, brother of general manager Branch Rickey, Del Rice was 18 when he began his pro baseball career in the minors in 1941. Rice reached the majors with the Cardinals four years later.

Listed as 6-foot-2, Rice also played one season (1945-46) of pro basketball with the Rochester Royals. His teammates included Red Holzman (the future head coach of the St. Louis Hawks and New York Knicks), Otto Graham (better known as quarterback of the Cleveland Browns) and Chuck Connors (the big-league first baseman who became TV’s “The Rifleman”). Rochester won the National Basketball League (NBL) championship that season. (In 1949, the NBL merged with the Basketball Association of America and became the National Basketball Association, or NBA.)

Like Rice, Rube Walker also was 18 when he became a pro baseball player, signing with the Cubs in 1944 and advancing to the majors with them four years later. Joe Donnelly of Newsday described him as “a large man with a twinkle in his eye and a heart that reached out to people.”

Rice and Walker were good defensive catchers who didn’t hit much. In 17 seasons in the majors, mostly with the Cardinals and Braves, Rice batted .237. Walker hit .227 in his 11 seasons with the Cubs and Dodgers.

Both also were notorious plodders on the base paths. “Neither could outrun me,” Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley, who chain-smoked cigars, said to Dan Daniel of The Sporting News. (Rice managed to steal bases twice in the majors; Walker did it three times.) A good case could be made for either being the slowpoke of the league. Their teammates decided to settle the matter with a footrace.

Amazing race

During warmups before their game on May 17, 1955, at St. Louis, the Cardinals and Dodgers got into some good-natured bantering about who was the slowest man in the league. Rice and Walker were coaxed into having a 50-yard race across the outfield.

(Walker was not the type to back down from a test. According to the New York Times, “he once challenged manager Walter Alston to a billiards match after Alston had taken 130 shots without missing.”)

Members of the teams lined up in two rows _ Cardinals on one side; Dodgers on the other _ forming a lane for Rice and Walker to rumble through, the New York Times reported.

Cardinals manager Eddie Stanky joined some of his players in making bets with Dodgers on who would win, according to the Post-Dispatch. Most of the wagers were for $5. “All told, it was guessed that $45 rested on the outcome,” the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported.

(Dick Young of the New York Daily News noted that the wagers on the Rice-Walker footrace were pocket change compared with what went on in earlier times. When speedy outfielder Ben Chapman was with the Yankees in the 1930s, he’d routinely race all challengers and usually won. According to Young, “Babe Ruth used to bet hundreds of dollars on every race.” Chapman’s teammate, Dixie Walker, told Young, “The first time, Babe bet against Chapman and lost. After that, Babe always bet on Chapman, and cleaned up.”)

In the St. Louis contest, Rube Walker trudged out to a lead but Rice steamed ahead at the finish and won by a yard. One of the observers, 19-year-old Dodgers rookie Sandy Koufax, recalled to the New York Times years later, “They didn’t go fast enough for a photo finish. It was a study in slow motion.”

Little big man

Walker took his loss in good spirit. “I once was a gazelle,” he told the New York Times. However, baseball commissioner Ford Frick was not amused when he learned wagering was involved. He decided to investigate. According to the Daily News, the wires Frick sent to managers Stanky and Alston read: “You are ordered to submit names and amounts bet by the ballplayers.”

While Frick awaited the reports from the managers, the newspapers ridiculed him for overreacting.

_ Dan Parker, syndicated columnist: “Ford Frick is a man of fine character, but a sense of humor forms no part of it.”

_ Morris McLemore, Miami News: “It would appear Ford Frick might have more to do than worry about the footrace between Del Rice and Rube Walker.”

_ Whitney Martin, Associated Press: “Frick probably feels that from such molehills mountains grow, and that the first thing you know the boys will be … gambling that when they put a penny in a (vending) machine a stick of gum will come out.”

_ Dick Young, New York Daily News: “Frick may have been watching too many ‘Dragnet’ shows.”

Soon after, Frick dropped the investigation, the Jersey Journal reported.

Changes afoot

Stanky, Rice and Walker made headlines for a variety of other reasons in the days following the slowest man contest.

On May 27, 1955, the Cardinals fired Stanky. A week later, they traded Rice to the Braves. (The footrace had nothing to do with either move.)

On June 30, 1955, Walker was carted off the field and sent to a hospital for treatment of a gashed shoulder after Willie Mays ran over him while trying to score. “Walker went down flat on his back, clutching the ball grittily,” the Daily News reported.

(Four years later, in June 1959, Rice suffered a broken left leg in a collision with Mays near home plate. Mays slid hard into Rice, who was straddling the line while awaiting a throw. “It wasn’t his fault,” Rice told the Associated Press. “He had to slide _ that’s baseball _ but he certainly slides hard.”)

After his playing days, Walker coached in the majors for 21 seasons. He was the pitching coach for the 1969 World Series champion Mets. He later was a scout for the Cardinals when Whitey Herzog was their manager.

Rice ended his playing career with the 1961 Angels. He was the first player signed by the American League expansion franchise and was the starting catcher in their first regular-season game. Boxscore

According to the Los Angeles Times, during his stint as an Angels coach in the 1960s, Rice “etched his name into the club’s lore by organizing and winning a golf tournament played in the halls of the team’s Boston hotel (Rice wore golf spikes, glove, hat and pajamas), with the players putting into cocktail glasses.”

After four seasons managing in the minors, Rice was the Angels’ manager in 1972, Nolan Ryan’s first season with the club after being coached by Rube Walker with the Mets.

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How Roger Bresnahan instilled Cardinals with tenacity

Posted in Games, Hitters, Managers on April 28, 2025| 11 Comments »

Trying to inspire a ballclub that had become accustomed to losing, Roger Bresnahan was willing to do whatever it took for the Cardinals to win, even if it meant playing second base.

Bresnahan, the Cardinals’ player-manager in 1911, would become the second catcher (after Buck Ewing) elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Yet, when the Cardinals were in a pinch at second base, Bresnahan inserted himself there in a game against the Pirates.

According to researcher Tom Orf, Bresnahan is one of six Cardinals who have played both at catcher and at second base in the same game. The others: Art Hoelskoetter (1907), Jose Oquendo (1988), Scott Hemond (1995), Tony Cruz (2011) and Pedro Pages (2025).

Quality catcher

A 5-foot-9 scrapper, Bresnahan made his mark with the Giants, displaying the same kind of intensity as the club’s manager, John McGraw.

In the 1905 World Series, Bresnahan caught four shutouts _ three from Christy Mathewson; the other from Joe McGinnity _ in wins against the Athletics. Bresnahan also produced a .500 on-base percentage in that Series, with five hits, four walks and two hit by pitches in 22 plate appearances.

Two years later, Bresnahan became the first catcher to wear shin guards and brought other protective gear innovations, including a rudimentary batting helmet, to the sport, according to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

The Cardinals, who had the worst record in the majors (49-105) in 1908, acquired Bresnahan, 29, after the season and made him player-manager, giving him the task of injecting fight and hustle into the moribund ballclub.

As a syndicated item in The Cincinnati Post noted in 1911, Bresnahan “is a fighter, and dead anxious to make fighters of others. That’s why he keeps after his men all the time _ to keep them in a fighting mood while on the diamond.”

The Cardinals got a little bit better in each of Bresnahan’s first two seasons as player-manager _ 54-98 in 1909 and 63-90 in 1910 _ but he was looking for greater improvement in 1911. That also was the year Helene Britton took over the Cardinals as the first woman to own a major-league team.

Cincinnati commotion

Determined to establish an aggressive tone early on, Bresnahan gave the Reds a steady stream of trash talk from behind the plate during an April 18, 1911, game at Cincinnati. As the Cincinnati Enquirer put it, “Bresnahan had been using a great deal of coarse language and the Reds claim that his remarks were such that they could not be passed by unnoticed.”

On their way to the clubhouses after the game, Bresnahan and Reds left fielder Bob Bescher continued jawing at one another. “Both men were thoroughly angry,” the Enquirer noted. Bescher threw a punch, socking Bresnahan “flush on the mouth,” The Cincinnati Post reported. “Blood squirted right and left like thick spray from a wind-blown fountain.”

Bresnahan retaliated and the two engaged in what the Enquirer described as “a ferocious fistfight” before Bescher’s teammates, shortstop Dave Altizer and first baseman Dick Hoblitzell, joined in. According to the St. Louis Star-Times, though Altizer and Hoblitzell appeared to be trying to separate the men, “in reality they were taking sly punches at Bresnahan.”

Bresnahan fought back until police and other players broke up the melee, the Star-Times reported.

“Bescher hit at me and, of course, I came back,” Bresnahan told the St. Louis newspaper. “Then Hoblitzell and Altizer broke into the fray. I attended to them. The Cincinnati fans then tried to get us, but the police stopped the doings.”

Bescher said to the Star-Times, “Bresnahan had been goading me all afternoon to the point where I lost my temper. I did not need any help from Altizer and Hoblitzell, but as fellow teammates they felt called upon to interfere.”

The brouhaha made the headlines but another significant story was the injury suffered by Cardinals second baseman Miller Huggins in the game.

With two outs and the bases loaded in the eighth inning, the Reds’ Johnny Bates looped a fly ball to short right. Huggins, first baseman Ed Konetchy and right fielder Steve Evans all chased after the ball. As Huggins made the catch, Konetchy and Evans collided with him. Huggins injured a leg and had to remain in Cincinnati for treatment while the Cardinals returned to St. Louis. Boxscore

Rough and tumble

Beginning a homestand with four games against the Cubs, Bresnahan replaced Huggins with rookie Wally Smith at second base. Smith started two games, but then third baseman Mike Mowrey became bedridden with a severe cold. So, Bresnahan shifted Smith to third and put another rookie, Dan McGeehan, at second for the final two games of the Cubs series. The Cubs swept all four, dropping the Cardinals’ record to 2-5.

Then the Pirates came to town. In 1910, the Cardinals lost 17 of 21 against Pittsburgh. Bresnahan was determined to show the Pirates his 1911 club wasn’t intimidated by them, but three regulars (Steve Evans, Miller Huggins and Mike Mowrey) were sidelined and Bresnahan was playing with a bum knee “swollen to almost twice its normal size,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

The series opener on Monday afternoon, April 24, 1911, at Robison Field in St. Louis was played with the intensity of a pennant race showdown. Pirates runners were tagged out at the plate by Bresnahan in the second and in the sixth.

In the seventh, the Cardinals’ Jack Bliss batted for Dan McGeehan, then stayed in the game at catcher as Bresnahan moved to second base. (He had filled in at second for nine games late in the 1909 season.)

With the Pirates ahead, 5-4, in the eighth, Honus Wagner was on third when Dots Miller tried a suicide squeeze bunt. He tapped the ball toward first but Ed Konetchy got to it quickly and flipped to Bliss. Wagner tried to knock over the catcher, but Bliss blocked the dish and tagged out The Flying Dutchman.

The Cardinals tied the score in the bottom half of the eighth and the game advanced to extra innings.

In the last half of the 11th, Bresnahan punched a single to right and Rebel Oakes moved him to second with a sacrifice bunt. Bliss followed with a tapper to pitcher Lefty Leifield, who fielded the ball and threw to rookie first baseman Newt Hunter.

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Bliss “deliberately threw himself at Hunter, knocking him on his back.” The ball fell from Hunter’s grasp and rolled away as he writhed on the ground in agony. Bresnahan, who had reached third, streaked to the plate and scored the winning run.

“Bliss undoubtedly intentionally knocked Hunter down,” The Pittsburgh Press declared. “Bliss could have veered to the right instead of throwing his entire weight upon the Pirates’ first baseman. The Cardinals are evidently being taught by Bresnahan to be aggressive.”

Though Hunter dropped the ball, rookie umpire Bill Finneran ruled that Bliss was out for interference but allowed Bresnahan’s run to count. As the Post-Gazette noted, “If he called Bliss out for interference, why did he permit Bresnahan to move up on the play? Bresnahan should have been sent back to third, where he started from after Hunter had been rendered helpless.” Boxscore

Off the rails

Bresnahan and his Cardinals players faced a far more dire challenge three months later in July 1911 when they boarded the Federal Express train at Philadelphia’s Broad Street Station for a 10-hour ride to Boston.

Here’s an account by Tom Shieber, senior curator of the Baseball Hall of Fame:

“Originally, the ballplayers occupied a pair of Pullman sleepers located near the front of the train, close behind the 10-wheel locomotive and a U.S. Fishery coach. The position wasn’t ideal. Amid the sweltering heat that saw the mercury rise to 100 degrees that day, it was nearly impossible to sleep with the car windows closed, but opening the windows only made matters worse, letting in the unpleasantness of engine cinders and the stench of baby trout.

“The engine had been reduced to a mound of twisted metal and glowing coals. Behind the ruins of the engine lay a melee of crushed cars haphazardly strewn about, their structures mangled into splinters of wood and piles of iron.

“Miraculously, the last two cars, the ones that carried the Cardinals, remained on the rails and escaped serious damage, as did the individuals within. The rest of the scene, however, was one of calamitous destruction and horrifying injuries.”

Bresnahan led his players in rescue attempts and they removed 15 to 20 injured people from the day coach, the Washington Herald reported. Fourteen of the 150 passengers were killed.

The Cardinals boarded another train to Boston. At Bresnahan’s request, the Braves postponed that day’s game and rescheduled it as a doubleheader the following day. Because their uniforms were lost in the train accident, the Cardinals played the July 12 doubleheader wearing the Braves’ dark blue road uniforms. After the Cardinals won the opener, the nightcap was halted with the score tied.

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Carl Warwick came through in a pinch for Cardinals

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents, Records, Trades on April 21, 2025| 14 Comments »

Carl Warwick seemed an unlikely candidate to shine for the Cardinals in the 1964 World Series.

A week before the season ended, Warwick suffered a fractured cheekbone when he was struck by a line drive during pregame drills. He underwent surgery the next day.

After the Cardinals clinched the National League pennant in the season finale, manager Johnny Keane opted to put Warwick on the World Series roster as a pinch-hitter, even though he hadn’t swung a bat in a game in almost two weeks.

Warwick delivered, with three pinch-hit singles, two of which contributed to wins against the Yankees, and helped the Cardinals become World Series champions.

An outfielder who played for the Dodgers (1961), Cardinals (1961-62, 1964-65), Colt .45s (1962-63), Orioles (1965) and Cubs (1966), Warwick was 88 when he died on April 5, 2025.

Left and right

After leading Texas Christian University in hitting (.361) as a junior in 1957, Warwick got married and planned to start a family. So when Dodgers scout Hugh Alexander offered a contract in excess of $30,000, Warwick signed in December 1957, opting to skip his senior season. “I figured one year in pro ball would be worth more than a final year in college,” Warwick told the Austin American.

(Warwick earned a business administration degree from Texas Christian in 1961.)

He was the rare ballplayer who threw left and batted right. “I’m a natural southpaw,” Warwick said to the Los Angeles Mirror, “but as long as I can remember I’ve always picked up a bat with my right hand and hit right-handed.”

(Before Warwick, big-leaguers who threw left and batted right included outfielders Rube Bressler and Johnny Cooney, and first baseman Hal Chase.)

Though listed as 5-foot-10 and 170 pounds, Warwick looked shorter and lighter. As Joe Heiling of the Austin American noted, “Carl didn’t fill the popular image of a slugger. His shoulders weren’t broad as the side of a barn.”

In college, Warwick hit drives straightaway and to the gaps. To hit with power in the pros, he’d need to learn to pull the ball, said Danny Ozark, his manager at Class A Macon (Ga.). Taught by Ozark how to get out in front of pitches with his swing, Warwick walloped 22 home runs for Macon in 1958.

Moved up to Class AA Victoria (Texas) in 1959, Warwick roomed with future American League home run champion Frank Howard and tore up the Texas League, hitting .331 with 35 homers and scoring 129 runs. Victoria manager Pete Reiser, the St. Louis native and former Dodgers outfielder, rated Warwick a better all-around prospect than Howard.

“Carl can play there (in the majors) sooner than Howard,” Reiser told the Austin American. “Carl has a better knowledge of the strike zone than Howard and he’s starting to hit the curveball. To me, that’s a sign that a hitter is coming into his own. You won’t find any better than Carl. Defensively, there’s not too many better than him in the minors or big leagues. He can go get the ball.”

Climbing another notch to Class AAA in 1960, Warwick was a standout for St. Paul (Minn.), with 104 runs scored and double digits in doubles (27), triples (11) and homers (19).

Seeking a chance

Warwick, 24, opened the 1961 season with the Dodgers, who were loaded with outfielders. A couple were veterans (Wally Moon, Duke Snider); most, like Warwick, hadn’t reached their primes (Tommy Davis, Willie Davis, Don Demeter, Ron Fairly, Frank Howard). In May, the Dodgers sent Warwick and Bob Lillis to the Cardinals for Daryl Spencer. According to the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, Cardinals manager Solly Hemus called Warwick the “key man for us” in the deal and named him the center fielder, replacing Curt Flood. “Warwick fits into our future plans very well,” Hemus told the Los Angeles Mirror.

Warwick’s first hit for the Cardinals was a home run he pulled over the fence in left against Bob Buhl of the Braves at Milwaukee. Of his first 12 hits for St. Louis, seven were for extra bases _ four doubles, one triple, two homers. Boxscore

Harry Walker, the Cardinals’ hitting coach, didn’t want Warwick swinging for the fences, though, and suggested he alter his approach.

“He said I didn’t have the power to hit the ball out,” Warwick told the Austin American. “He said I wasn’t strong enough. He wanted me to punch the ball to right field. After you’ve been hitting a certain way so long, it’s hard to change. He made me go to a heavier bat with a thicker handle.”

Out of sync, Warwick said he tried hitting one way in batting practice, then another in games. On July 4, his season average for the Cardinals dropped to .217. Two days later, Solly Hemus was fired and replaced by Johnny Keane, who reinstated Flood in center. Warwick was dispatched to the minors. “We’re sending him out so that he’ll have a chance to play every day the rest of the season,” Keane told the Globe-Democrat.

Houston calling

The next year, Warwick figured to stay busy with the 1962 Cardinals subbing for their geriatric outfielders, Minnie Minoso in left and Stan Musial in right. (“Our outfield has Old Taylor and Ancient Age with a little Squirt for a chaser,” Flood quipped to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.)

However, when an expansion club, the Houston Colt .45s, offered the Cardinals a pitcher they’d long coveted, Bobby Shantz, they couldn’t resist. On May 7, 1962, the Cardinals swapped Warwick and John Anderson for Shantz.

The trade was ill-timed for the Cardinals. Four days later, Minoso fractured his skull and right wrist when he crashed into a wall trying to snare a drive.

Warwick became Houston’s center fielder. In his first appearance in St. Louis after the trade, he produced four hits and a walk, including four RBI against Bob Gibson with a two-run double and a two-run homer. (For his career, Warwick hit .333 versus Gibson.) Boxscore

In addition to Gibson, Warwick also homered against Don Drysdale, Sandy Koufax and Juan Marichal that season.

When Cardinals general manager Bing Devine had a chance to reacquire Warwick, he swapped Jim Beauchamp and Chuck Taylor for him on Feb. 17, 1964.

Shifting roles

On Opening Day in 1964 against the Dodgers’ Sandy Koufax, Warwick was the Cardinals’ right fielder, with Flood in center and Charlie James in left. Boxscore

After two months, the club determined an outfield overhaul was needed. Flood remained, but Lou Brock was acquired from the Cubs in June to replace James and Mike Shannon was promoted from the minors in July to take over in right. Warwick primarily became a pinch-hitter.

He went to Cardinals coach Red Schoendienst and pinch-hitter deluxe Jerry Lynch of the Pirates for advice on how to perform the role. “Both of them agree you’ve got to be ready to attack the ball,” Warwick told Newsday.

On Sept. 27, 1964, before a game at Pittsburgh, Warwick was walking to the sidelines from the outfield during warmup drills when a line drive from a fungo bat swung by pitcher Ron Taylor struck him in the face, fracturing his right cheekbone. The next day, in St. Louis, Cardinals surgeon Dr. I.C. Middleman and plastic surgeon Dr. Francis Paletta performed an operation to repair the damage.

When the World Series began on Oct. 7 in St. Louis, Warwick was on the Cardinals’ roster, even though he hadn’t played in a game since Sept. 23. He also hadn’t produced a RBI since Aug. 2 or a home run since May 8.

However, as Keane explained to columnist Bob Broeg, “Pinch-hitting, Carl is extremely aggressive.”

Big hits

With the score tied at 4-4 in the sixth inning of World Series Game 1 at St. Louis, the Cardinals had Tim McCarver on second, two outs, when Warwick was sent to bat for pitcher Ray Sadecki. As Warwick stepped to the plate against the Yankees’ Al Downing, “my head was aching and my (scarred) cheek was hurting,” he later told United Press International.

Warwick whacked Downing’s first pitch past shortstop Phil Linz for a single, scoring McCarver and putting the Cardinals ahead to stay. St. Louis won, 9-5. Video, Boxscore

“I went up there with the idea of swinging at the first one if it was anywhere close,” Warwick told the Post-Dispatch. “I was looking for a fastball and I got one.”

In Game 2, Warwick, batting for second baseman Dal Maxvill in the eighth, singled and scored against Mel Stottlemyre. Batting again for Maxvill in Game 3, Warwick was walked by Jim Bouton.

The Cardinals, though, were in trouble. The Yankees won two of the first three and led, 3-0, in Game 4 at Yankee Stadium as Downing limited the Cardinals to one hit through five innings.

Needing a spark, Warwick provided one. Sent to bat for pitcher Roger Craig leading off the sixth, Warwick stroked a single on Downing’s second pitch to him.

“I seem to carry a different attitude up there coming cold off the bench,” Warwick told Joe Donnelly of Newsday. “I wouldn’t call it confidence. I come up there swinging. You’ve only got three swings. I don’t want to pass up an opportunity.”

The Cardinals loaded the bases with two outs before Ken Boyer clouted a Downing changeup for a grand slam and a 4-3 triumph. Video, Boxscore

Warwick’s three hits as a pinch-hitter tied a World Series record. The Yankees’ Bobby Brown (1947) and the Giants’ Dusty Rhodes (1954) also produced three pinch-hits in one World Series. Since then, Gonzalo Marquez of the Athletics (1972) and Ken Boswell of the Mets (1973) matched the mark.

(Allen Craig of the Cardinals had four career World Series pinch-hits _ two in 2011 and two more in 2013 _ but not three in one World Series.)

With a chance for a record fourth pinch-hit, Warwick batted for Maxvill in Game 6 but Bouton got him to pop out to third baseman Clete Boyer.

The Cardinals clinched the championship in Game 7, but for Warwick the good vibes didn’t last long. Bob Howsam, who replaced Bing Devine as Cardinals general manager, sent Warwick a contract calling for a $1,000 pay cut. “An insult,” Warwick told the Associated Press.

The magic of 1964 was gone in 1965. Warwick had one hit in April, one more in May and entered June with an .077 batting average. In July, the Cardinals shipped him to the Orioles, who traded him to the Cubs the following spring.

Bing Devine, who as Cardinals general manager twice traded for Warwick, became Mets general manager and acquired him again. Warwick, 29, was invited to try out at 1967 spring training for a reserve spot with the Mets but declined, opting to embark on a real estate career.

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Cardinals gave Juan Gonzalez chance for a comeback

Posted in Hitters, Managers on April 11, 2025| 15 Comments »

During his time with the Cardinals, Juan Gonzalez lived up to his nickname, but not in the way he and the team hoped.

Invited to try out for a spot as an outfielder on the 2008 Cardinals, Gonzalez was Juan Gone _ as in, headed home _ before spring training ended.

In his heyday with the Rangers, Gonzalez was called Juan Gone because balls he hit frequently were sent into orbit and gone out of sight.

When he came to the Cardinals, though, Gonzalez, 38, looked different than he did in his prime. Gone was the bulk he had when he twice led the American League in home runs. Gone was a lot of the swagger, too.

Suspected in the 1990s of using banned performance-enhancing steroids to help him become one of the most powerful hitters, Gonzalez was trying to return to the majors for the first time in three years. The Cardinals, a haven for players linked to performing-enhancing drugs, welcomed him.

Great expectations

“Using a broomstick as a bat and a bottle cap as a ball on the dusty streets of Vega Baja,” Gonzalez developed into a baseball standout as a youth in Puerto Rico, according to the Los Angeles Times. His boyhood nickname was Igor because of his fascination with a professional wrestler of the same name.

At 16, when he was signed by Rangers scout Luis Rosa in May 1986, Gonzalez was “tall and gangly but with athleticism and serious bat speed,” according to MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan.

The Rangers brought Gonzalez to Florida, where he was introduced by scouting director Sandy Johnson as the “next Babe Ruth,” and put in the outfield alongside 17-year-old Sammy Sosa on their Gulf Coast League rookie team. As Fort Worth Star-Telegram columnist Randy Galloway noted, “Babe Ruth’s bat had to have been heavier than young Juan.”

Three years later, Gonzalez, 19, made his big-league debut. He was 22 when he won his first American League home run crown. In April 1994, the Fort Worth newspaper did a story speculating whether Gonzalez would break Hank Aaron’s career record of 755. Gonzalez had 121.

Gonzalez also twice received the AL Most Valuable Player Award _ in 1996 (.314 batting mark, 47 homers, 144 RBI) and in 1998 (.318, 45 homers, 157 RBI). That 1998 season was his best. Gonzalez had 101 RBI before the all-star break and his final total of 157 were the most in the American League since 1949 Red Sox teammates Vern Stephens and Ted Williams each had 159. Gonzalez also scored 110 runs and produced 50 doubles.

“Juan in a million,” the Fort Worth Star-Telegram declared.

Success didn’t always bring happiness, however. Gonzalez was married and divorced three times before he turned 25. One of the failed marriages was to the sister of Braves catcher Javy Lopez. (A fourth marriage, to pop singer Olga Tanon, also resulted in divorce.)

“His mistakes, I think, were from a lack of education,” Luis Mayoral, the Rangers’ Latin American liaison and Gonzalez’s confidant, told Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times. “He didn’t know what he needed to cope with fame and fortune.”

Columnist Randy Galloway noted, “No one who knows Gonzalez calls him a bad person. He’s not. He can be immature, he can pout, he can be unreasonable at times, and he can make stupid decisions.”

He also had a philanthropic side to him. In 1998, Gil LeBreton of the Fort Worth newspaper wrote, “In his old neighborhood on the rugged streets of Vega Baja, Gonzalez has opened a standing account with the local pharmacy. For those who can’t pay for their prescriptions, Juan will buy the medicine.”

Other Gonzalez projects included a $50,000 donation to build a youth ballpark in southeast Dallas; the purchase of Rangers tickets for underprivileged youngsters from 1995-99; donations for every RBI to Literacy Instruction for Texas reading and writing program from 1997-99; a $25,000 donation to help victims of Hurricane George.

Cheating with chemicals

In his book “Juiced,” Jose Canseco said he introduced Gonzalez to banned performance-enhancing drugs when they were Rangers teammates from 1992-94. Canseco said he injected Gonzalez with the steroids. Canseco was traded to the Rangers from the Athletics, where he played for manager Tony La Russa. In his book, Canseco said he injected Athletics teammate Mark McGwire with banned performance-enhancing drugs and witnessed McGwire and Jason Giambi administer needles to one another.

Rangers owner Tom Hicks told the Associated Press in June 2007 that he suspected Gonzalez used banned steroids when he was with the team. “His number of injuries and early retirement just makes me suspicious,” Hicks said.

In the December 2007 Mitchell Report, an investigation into the use of anabolic steroids and human growth hormone in big-league baseball, Gonzalez was linked to a bag of steroids discovered during a search at the Toronto airport in 2001.

The 2001 season was Gonzalez’s last big year in the majors. He hit .325 with 35 homers and 140 RBI for the Indians that season. After that, his body broke down. Injuries to his hamstrings, hands, shoulders and back cut short his seasons with the Rangers in 2002 and 2003, and with the Royals in 2004.

Gonzalez, 35, rejoined the Indians for spring training in 2005 but injured a hamstring while making a catch on the same day that manager Eric Wedge named him the starting right fielder. In his first game back with the Indians on May 31, Gonzalez injured the hamstring again while running to first base in the first inning. He never played in another big-league game.

Hear no evil, see no evil

The big-league totals for Gonzalez included 434 home runs and 1,404 RBI. In February 2007, he told USA Today he hoped to return to the majors and reach 500 homers. “That’s still my goal and I remain confident I will attain it,” he said.

To get himself into condition for a comeback, Gonzalez attended a training program in Puerto Rico operated by ex-Cardinal Eduardo Perez. “He really never stopped playing,” Perez told Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “He looks great, like he hasn’t missed a beat. His legs look strong. Once a hitter, always a hitter.”

Perez recommended Gonzalez to Cardinals manager Tony La Russa. “You’re going to see a very humble guy,” Perez told the Post-Dispatch. “It’s a lot different than before. He just wants to prove he can still play.”

Intrigued, the Cardinals signed Gonzalez to a minor-league contract in February 2008 and invited him to compete at spring training for a role on the big-league club. The deal called for him to be paid $750,000 if he made the big-league team.

“We all know what he was in his prime,” La Russa told the Post-Dispatch. “He had one of the most gorgeous swings around.”

Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak said to reporter Joe Strauss, “There’s not a great deal of risk involved, but there is the potential for significant upside.”

Actually, there was a risk _ to the Cardinals’ image _ because club management looked like enablers, or protectors, for users of performance-enhancing drugs.

In December 2006, La Russa urged the Cardinals to sign free agent Barry Bonds. Even without Bonds, the Cardinals at 2008 spring training had five players (more than any other team) who were implicated in the Mitchell Report: Rick Ankiel, Ryan Franklin, Troy Glaus, Juan Gonzalez and Ron Villone. Also, La Russa had given Mark McGwire, whose use of banned performance-enhancing drugs created a fraudulent pursuit of the single-season home record, an open invitation to join the Cardinals that spring as an instructor.

Eyes wide shut

Here are excerpts from a February 2008 interview Post-Dispatch columnist Bryan Burwell did with La Russa at spring training:

Burwell: Does it bother you that there’s a perception that you give safe harbor to steroid guys?

La Russa: “No, and I’ll tell you why not … I know there isn’t anything we’ve done in all those years that was _ with one small exception where we stole signs, a little hiccup _ there isn’t anything else that has happened on our ballclubs in Oakland or St. Louis that there’s a hint of illegality. There isn’t anything that we didn’t actively and proactively attempt to do it right.”

Burwell: Does it bother you that you and coach Dave McKay have gained the unflattering label as the so-called godfathers of baseball’s steroids era with your connections to Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire?

La Russa: “That’s one of the crosses you have to bear … Dave McKay has as much or more integrity as any man I’ve met … There’s no chance that what happened officially at Oakland was tainted. Does it mean … when our guys are not in our facilities, not in our weight rooms, that guys didn’t experiment? No.”

Burwell: Would you have cared if you did know they were experimenting?

La Russa: “Yeah, I would care, because when I saw a guy who got stronger quickly without working hard, oh yeah, that implies a lot of other things about what he’s willing to do.”

Burwell: You still don’t believe McGwire used performance-enhancing drugs?

La Russa: “Absolutely not.”

Burwell: Come on.

La Russa: “Absolutely not. If you see Mark today, he still looks like he did then.”

Burwell: No he doesn’t.

La Russa: “Yes he does.”

Asked when he got to camp whether he’d ever used performance-enhancing drugs, Gonzalez told reporter Derrick Goold, “I never used it. I’m clear.”

Assigned uniform No. 22, Gonzalez singled twice and scored a run in the Cardinals’ exhibition opener against the Mets.

In 26 spring training at-bats, Gonzalez hit .308 with one homer (against Johan Santana) and five RBI before straining an abdominal muscle.

Placed on the temporarily inactive list, Gonzalez opted to go home to Puerto Rico. The Cardinals informed him he could return for an extended spring training when he felt ready to play.

“I told him he made a real good impression,” La Russa said to the Post-Dispatch. “I’m disappointed because he could have provided something special to our club.”

The Cardinals didn’t hear back from Gonzalez.

Six years later, in 2014, La Russa was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. In an interview he did that year with Cardinals Yearbook, La Russa said McGwire did “a limited amount” of performance-enhancing drugs. Here are excerpts from that 2014 interview:

Cardinals Yearbook: How do you respond to those who say you were an enabler of baseball’s steroids era?

La Russa: “The only way you could know about what was going on was if you ran an investigation … I know on our team you couldn’t be a policeman and get detectives involved. Nobody is going to do that. If something is happening, it’s happening away from the ballpark.”

Cardinals Yearbook: How could it have been handled differently?

La Russa: “That’s the great unknown … All I know is on a personal basis I have no regrets. I don’t feel guilty about any part of it. We did what we could do.”

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Lou Brock, Bob Gibson give their best in MLK tribute

Posted in Games, Hitters, Managers, Pitchers on March 18, 2025| 11 Comments »

In a fundraising game to honor the memory of slain civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., two of the top performers on a genuine field of dreams were Cardinals Lou Brock and Bob Gibson.

On March 28, 1970, the East-West Major League Baseball Classic was played at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. According to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the Saturday afternoon exhibition netted more than $30,000 for two beneficiaries:

_ Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a regional organization founded by King and others in 1957 to help coordinate grassroots efforts in civil rights and voting rights activities.

_ Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, also known as King Center. Located in Atlanta, the center was founded in 1968 by Coretta Scott King to preserve and advance her husband’s legacy. It houses a library, archives and exhibits. It’s also the burial site of Dr. King and his wife.

Most of baseball’s top players participated in the game, taking time out from spring training to show their support for King and his mission.

Baseball tribute

After King was assassinated on April 4, 1968 (the convicted murderer, James Earl Ray, was born in Alton, Illinois, 20 miles north of St. Louis), Bob Gibson spoke with emotion about the bitterness and frustration he felt. In his autobiography, “Stranger to the Game,” Gibson said, “I reeled from the impact of the assassination _ the cold-blooded murder of the one man in my lifetime who had been able to capture the public’s attention about racial injustice, break through some of the age-old social barriers and raise the spirits and hopes of black people across the country.”

According to the Baseball Hall of Fame, shortly after King was killed, ballplayers asked King’s associates what they could do as a public tribute to him, Joseph Peters, sports project director for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, explained in a November 1968 letter to baseball commissioner William Eckert.

When Southern Christian Leadership Conference members suggested a fundraising game, Major League Baseball officials agreed to cooperate. The game initially was planned for March 1969, but the Southern Christian Leadership Conference asked for more time. That’s why the event was held in March 1970.

Though spring training exhibitions were under way, every big-league team made players available for the fundraising game and paid their expenses, the Associated Press reported.

Among those who came to Los Angeles to play were Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks, Johnny Bench, Lou Brock, Orlando Cepeda, Roberto Clemente, Bob Gibson, Reggie Jackson, Al Kaline, Willie Mays, Joe Morgan, Tony Oliva, Frank Robinson, Pete Rose, Ron Santo, Tom Seaver and Willie Stargell.

Mays traveled from Japan, where his club, the Giants, were playing goodwill games. In explaining why he made the long trip to Los Angeles, Mays told the Torrance Daily Breeze, “This cause is too important to pass up. At last, baseball players can show their feelings about the late Dr. King and his work through the medium of this game. I wouldn’t miss it.”

Players from the East divisions of the American and National leagues were placed on an East team. The West team had players from the West divisions of both leagues. That gave fans the chance to see Angels and Dodgers, Mets and Yankees, and Athletics and Giants perform as teammates.

Joe DiMaggio was chosen to manage the East team. His coaching staff: Billy Martin, John McNamara, Stan Musial and Satchel Paige.

The West team manager was Roy Campanella. His coaching staff: Don Drysdale, Elston Howard, Sandy Koufax and Don Newcombe.

Entertainer Bill Cosby held a reception for the teams at the Warner Brothers Studio the night before the game, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Star power

Starting lineups were selected by members of the Los Angeles-Anaheim chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America and the Southern California Sportscasters Association.

The East batting order: 1. Ron Fairly, first base; 2. Reggie Smith, center field; 3. Frank Robinson, right field; 4. Willie Stargell, left field; 5. Ron Santo, third base; 6. Ernie Banks, shortstop; 7. Don Buford, second base; 8. Tim McCarver, catcher; 9. Tom Seaver, pitcher.

Banks, 39, a Cubs first baseman, was at shortstop for the first time in nine years.

East bench warmers included Lou Brock, Roberto Clemente and Al Kaline.

The West batting order: 1. Maury Wills, shortstop; 2. Pete Rose, center field; 3. Hank Aaron, left field; 4. Reggie Jackson, right field; 5. Johnny Bench, catcher; 6. Orlando Cepeda, first base; 7. Joe Morgan, second base; 8. Sal Bando, third base; 9. Don Wilson, pitcher.

Willie Mays and Tony Oliva couldn’t crack the starting lineup.

Ticket prices ranged from $10 to $2. Among the 31,694 spectators for the 2 o’clock game were baseball pioneers Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby, baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn (successor to William Eckert) and entertainers Sammy Davis Jr. and Danny Kaye.

Mudcat Grant sang the national anthem, a recording of Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream” speech was played on the public address system, and Coretta Scott King threw the ceremonial first pitch to Johnny Bench.

(Bench, 22, impressed fellow catcher Roy Campanella, who told the Los Angeles Evening Citizen News, “Now there’s a kid who has it all. His future is unlimited.”)

A scheduled home run hitting contest featuring Frank Robinson, Ron Santo and Willie Stargell for the East versus Hank Aaron, Orlando Cepeda and Reggie Jackson for the West was canceled without explanation, the Long Beach Independent reported.

Aces prevail

The East’s pitching combination of Tom Seaver and Bob Gibson kept the West from scoring.

When Pete Rose batted in the first, Seaver surprised him with a blooper pitch. As Rose watched it drop into catcher Tim McCarver’s mitt, plate umpire Emmett Ashford gave his emphatic “stee-rike-ah” call. Rose stepped out of the box and smiled at Seaver, who grinned back. “It was a little slip curve,” Seaver told the Long Beach Independent. Rose finished the at-bat by flying out to left.

Seaver completed his three-inning scoreless stint with back-to-back strikeouts of Pete Rose and Hank Aaron. Then Bob Gibson took over and also held the West scoreless for three innings. The only hit against Gibson was a Sal Bando single.

Despite his performance, Gibson told Rich Roberts of the Long Beach Independent, “I sure didn’t feel good. I wouldn’t be telling no lie. I just used fastballs, but you better call them straight balls because they weren’t very fast.”

The East went ahead, 1-0, in the third when Ron Fairly hooked the first pitch from Lew Krausse into the stands in right, just inside the foul pole, for a home run. Ron Santo made it 2-0 when he led off the fourth with a homer to left against Krausse.

(Krausse was representing the Seattle Pilots, who were only a few days away from becoming the Milwaukee Brewers.)

Both managers substituted often, trying to get as many players as possible into the game. In a pinch-hit appearance, Willie Mays grounded into a force out.

The East went up 5-0 with three runs in the eighth against Mudcat Grant. After Al Kaline singled, Lou Brock lined a shot that carried over the head of left fielder Hank Aaron for a run-scoring double. A Roberto Clemente smash that eluded Maury Wills was ruled a double and scored Brock. Ken McMullen drove in Clemente with a single.

Facing Grant Jackson in the bottom half of the inning, the West scored a run when Willie Davis singled and came home on a Ken Berry double.

The East won, 5-1, but it wasn’t the outcome that mattered.

“I thank these fellows for giving their time,” West manager Roy Campanella told the Long Beach Independent.

As Pete Rose noted in a column he did for the Cincinnati Enquirer, “Even though it was an exhibition game, it had meaning … I feel good inside because I’ve contributed to a worthy cause.”

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Cardinals to Manny Lee: We hardly knew thee

Posted in Games, Hitters on March 12, 2025| 11 Comments »

Manny Lee was a one-of-a-kind Cardinal.

In the long history of the franchise, Lee is the only Cardinal to play in just one game for them and have a 1.000 batting average.

A 10-year veteran of the American League and shortstop for the 1992 World Series champion Blue Jays, Lee made his Cardinals debut as their 1995 Opening Day second baseman _ and never appeared in another big-league game.

Caribbean to Canada

Manuel Lora Lee was from San Pedro de Macoris, a Dominican Republic city noted for its poets and baseball players. Joaquin Andujar, Rico Carty, Pedro Guerrero, Alfonso Soriano, Sammy Sosa, Fernando Tatis and his son, Fernando Tatis Jr., are some of the many big-league players who came from there.

Lee was 16 when Mets scout Eddy Toledo signed him for $2,000 in May 1982. A switch-hitting shortstop, Lee led the Class A South Atlantic League in hitting (.330) in 1984, his third season in the Mets’ farm system.

To get Ray Knight from the Astros, the Mets sent them Lee and two other prospects near the end of the 1984 season. When the Astros neglected to place Lee on their 40-man winter roster, the Blue Jays claimed him in December 1984.

Boston Globe columnist Peter Gammons noted, “Houston was furious that the Blue Jays took Manny Lee, but if he were one of the best prospects in the Astros’ organization, why didn’t they protect him?”

Rules required the Blue Jays to keep Lee in the big leagues in 1985, or offer him back to the Astros. When Lee, 19 reported to the Blue Jays at 1985 spring training, he weighed 141 pounds on a 5-foot-9 frame, the Toronto Star reported, but he showed enough in the field to make the jump from Class A to the majors. He was the only teen on a 1985 big-league Opening Day roster.

Used mostly as a defensive replacement and pinch-runner, Lee produced no RBI in 40 at-bats and had more strikeouts (nine) than hits (eight). Looking back on that rookie season, Lee told the Star, “I was too young. I was like a little baby.”

Infield shift

Shortstop was the position Lee liked best, but an all-star, Tony Fernandez, had that role with the Blue Jays. After splitting time between the majors and minors in 1986 and 1987, Lee became the Blue Jays’ second baseman in 1988. He hit .291 overall and .316 with runners in scoring position that season.

Though he led American League second basemen in fielding percentage in 1990, Lee sometimes bailed out on double play pivots and was criticized for “indifferent play,” according to the Star.

When the Blue Jays acquired second baseman Roberto Alomar from the Padres after the 1990 season in a trade that included Tony Fernandez, manager Cito Gaston chose Lee to be the shortstop. “We’ve got confidence in Manny,” Gaston told the Star. “He played a decent second base for us, and he was improving, but I think shortstop was in his heart. He loves playing shortstop. Now he’s got the job.”

Star columnist Dave Perkins wrote, “Returning to his natural position should take the whitecaps off Manny’s brainwaves; he never did take to second base, or at least the idea of it.”

At 1991 spring training, the Star described Lee as “the happiest Blue Jay in camp.”

The good vibes didn’t last throughout the season, though. Lee swung like a slugger, but became the first big-league player with 100 or more strikeouts (107) and no home runs.

Blue Jays fans booed “the much-maligned and often maddening shortstop,” the Star reported.

Highs and lows

Larry Hisle joined the 1992 Blue Jays as hitting coach and said the flaw in Lee’s batting approach was obvious. “There is a lot of movement in the upper body,” Hisle told the Star. “On some pitches, his head moves as much as 12 inches.”

At spring training, “I have spent more time with (Lee) than with any other player,” Hisle said. “He has listened and he has worked. I’m urging him to concentrate on putting the ball in play.”

Lee improved, producing a career-best .343 on-base percentage and hitting .330 with runners in scoring position for the 1992 Blue Jays. He also achieved the second-highest fielding percentage among American League shortstops and didn’t commit an error on a ground ball all season. According to the Star, Blue Jays coach Gene Tenace called Lee “one of the unsung heroes of this team.” Lee credited Hisle. “He gave me confidence,” Lee told the newspaper.

In Game 3 of the playoffs against the Athletics, Lee’s two-run triple with two outs in the seventh propelled the Blue Jays to victory. They went on to win the pennant and the World Series championship. Boxscore

Granted free agency, Lee got a two-year guaranteed $3.4 million contract from the Rangers, but his time in Texas didn’t begin well. In 1993, he clashed with manager Kevin Kennedy and had what the Fort Worth Star-Telegram described as “an injury-riddled, error-prone, turmoil-laden debut season with the Rangers.”

The next year, strike-shortened 1994, Lee did better. He hit .278 (second-best batting average of his big-league career) and .337 with runners in scoring position. Though primarily the shortstop, Lee also played second base for the first time in four years and made no errors in 108.1 innings there.

Opening and closing

The Cardinals took notice. After the strike ended on April 2, 1995, the Cardinals went looking for infield help. On April 18, a week before the start of the season, they signed two free agents _ Lee and Luis Rivera _ and had them compete for a spot on the Opening Day roster. Lee won the job, expecting to back up Ozzie Smith at short and Geronimo Pena at second.

However, two days before the season opener, Pena pulled a hamstring running to second base _ on a ground-rule double. Manager Joe Torre picked Lee, 29, to replace him.

“I never thought that I would be the Opening Day second baseman,” Lee said to the Belleville (Ill.) News-Democrat. “I feel comfortable here, relaxed. There’s no pressure on me any more.” He also told the newspaper that playing alongside Ozzie Smith was “a dream for me.”

The dream turned into a nightmare, though, in the season opener against the Phillies at St. Louis.

In batting practice, Lee’s line drive struck coach Gaylen Pitts in the chest. Though Pitts wasn’t seriously hurt _ “It didn’t get me in the heart,” he told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “My heart is not big enough.” _ it was an omen of bad things ahead for Lee.

In the second inning, Phillies catcher Darren Daulton got an infield single on a ball Lee backhanded but couldn’t get out of his glove in time. In the third, pitcher Curt Schilling also got an infield hit on a bouncer to Lee, who again had trouble releasing the ball after fielding it and threw low and late to first.

Later in the inning, with Mickey Morandini the runner on second, Gregg Jefferies hit another bouncer toward Lee. “The ball glanced off the glove of Lee, who reached for it again and then tumbled flat on his back,” the Post-Dispatch reported. “Morandini, who had held at third, motored home” and Jefferies reached first on the error.

Adding injury to insult, Lee sprained his right ankle on the play. He received medical attention but stayed in the game.

Asked whether he should have made the plays on the grounders hit by Daulton, Schilling and Jefferies, Lee told the Post-Dispatch, “I used to, but I haven’t played second base for a full year.”

Leading off the bottom of the third in his first Cardinals plate appearance, Lee singled to left and eventually scored on a Scott Cooper single. After the inning, Lee was unable to continue on the sprained ankle and was replaced at second by Jose Oquendo.

Rick Hummel of the Post-Dispatch wrote, “It’s fairly probable that the Manny Lee Show at second base will have a short run.” Boxscore and Video

More to the story

Lee was placed on the 15-day disabled list and the Cardinals called up Tripp Cromer from the minors to replace him.

When Lee’s ankle healed, he played in 12 games for Cardinals farm clubs on an injury rehabilitation assignment. Ready to rejoin the Cardinals, he returned to St. Louis but was told the club was happy with Cromer. Lee was released and finished as a player.

In his quirky stint as a Cardinal, Lee had a higher batting average (1.000) than his fielding average (.800). As the Post-Dispatch noted, it “was a generous” .800.

According to baseball-reference.com, Lee remains the only Cardinal to play in just one game for them and have a 1.000 batting average.

Nine others have 1.000 batting averages as Cardinals, but all played in multiple games for them, according to baseball-reference.com. In alphabetical order, those nine are:

_ Bryan Augenstein, 2011, five games, one plate appearance, one hit.

_ Justin Burnette, 2000, four games, one plate appearance, one hit.

_ Eddie Fisher, 1973, six games, one plate appearance, one hit.

_ Larry Herndon, 1974, 12 games, one plate appearance, one hit.

_ Bob McClure, 1991-92, 103 games, one plate appearance, one hit.

_ Kevin Ohme, 2003, two games, one plate appearance, one hit.

_ Tige Stone, 1923, five games, three plate appearances, one hit, two walks.

_ Abe White, 1937, five games, one plate appearance, one hit.

_ Esteban Yan, 2003, 35 games, one plate appearance, one hit.

After his playing days, Lee stayed in the Dominican Republic. In August 2004, he was in the news there but not for baseball. Using a .38-caliber pistol, Lee shot and killed Edwin Gomez Vasquez, 28, who Lee suspected was trying to rob his residence in San Pedro de Macoris, the daily newspaper, Diario Libre, reported.

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