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How Irv Noren lifted pennant hopes of Cardinals

Posted in Games, Hitters on November 24, 2019| 4 Comments »

With one swing of his exceptionally hot bat, Irv Noren struck back at the team that cast him aside and kept the Cardinals in the thick of the 1957 National League pennant race.

Noren was an outfielder for 11 seasons in the major leagues, including five (1952-56) with the Yankees and three (1957-59) with the Cardinals.

A left-handed batter, Noren, 32, was claimed by the Cardinals on Aug. 31, 1957, when he was placed on waivers by the Athletics.

Thought by some to be washed up after undergoing surgeries on both knees and hitting .213 for the 1957 Athletics, Noren went on a tear with the Cardinals and helped them make a run at the first-place Braves in the final month of the season.

American Leaguer

After serving in the Army during World War II, Noren signed with the Dodgers in 1946 and excelled in their farm system for four years.

In 1949, playing for manager Fred Haney with the Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League, Noren batted .330 with 29 home runs and 130 RBI, but the Dodgers sold his contract to the Washington Senators after the season.

As a rookie with the 1950 Senators, Noren hit .295 with 98 RBI. The Yankees acquired him in May 1952 and Noren was valuable, playing all three outfield spots as well as first base. In 1954, he led the Yankees in batting (.319).

Noren played for the Yankees in three World Series, all against the team that rejected him, the Dodgers.

Hunger to win

The Cardinals were 7.5 games behind the front-running Braves when they acquired Noren. “As long as we’ve got an outside chance to win the pennant, or for that matter, increase our chances of finishing second, we are going to do all we can,” Cardinals general manager Frank Lane told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The Braves were managed by Fred Haney, who eight years earlier had managed Noren with the Hollywood Stars.

After being swept by the Reds in a Labor Day doubleheader on Sept. 2, 1957, the Cardinals fell 8.5 games out of first. Then they won 11 of their next 13. Noren helped, getting seven hits in his first 15 at-bats as a Cardinal.

On Sept. 17, 1957, the Dodgers, who had made public their plans to abandon Brooklyn after the season and relocate to Los Angeles, came to St. Louis to open a two-game series against the Cardinals.

For Noren, it would be his first chance to face his original franchise in a regular-season game.

In the seventh inning, the Cardinals led, 6-5, and had the bases loaded with one out. Ken Boyer was due to bat against right-hander Ed Roebuck.

Seeking a hit to break open the game, Cardinals manager Fred Hutchinson sent Noren to the plate for Boyer, preferring to have a batter from the left side face Roebuck.

Noren swung at Roebuck’s first pitch and lined it into left-center, clearing the bases with a three-run triple and giving the Cardinals a 9-5 lead.

The Cardinals went on to a 12-5 victory and were three games behind the Braves with 10 play. Boxscore

The triple gave Noren, the Dodgers’ castoff, a .529 batting average as a Cardinal.

“We are a hungry team,” Lane said to the Associated Press.

Helping hand

The Cardinals split their next four games, dropping five behind the Braves. The Braves then won two of three against them in Milwaukee and the deflated Cardinals lost their last three to the Cubs, finishing in second place.

Noren batted .367 (11-for-30) for the 1957 Cardinals and had an on-base percentage of .429. He had 10 RBI in 17 games.

After the season, Noren opened a bowling alley in Pasadena, Calif. When the Cardinals played the Dodgers in their first season in Los Angeles in 1958, Noren had several of his teammates as his guests at the bowling lanes.

Noren hit .264 in 117 games for the 1958 Cardinals. He was traded to the Cubs in May 1959.

Noren was the third-base coach for the Athletics when they won three consecutive World Series championships (1972-74).

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Why Cardinals chose Jose Cardenal as their center fielder

Posted in Hitters, Trades on November 21, 2019| 6 Comments »

Jose Cardenal, looking for the right fit for a baseball home after being exiled from his native Cuba, embraced an opportunity to be center fielder for the Cardinals.

On Nov. 21, 1969, the Cardinals dealt right fielder Vada Pinson to the Indians for Cardenal, who was expected to replace Curt Flood. A month earlier, Flood was traded to the Phillies.

“Cardenal won’t hit or field as did Curt Flood, but he’ll run even more rapidly and throw better,” Bob Broeg noted in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Formative years

Cardenal was born and raised in Cuba as the youngest of five children. His father was a carpenter. Cardenal’s brother, Pedro, was an outfielder in the Cardinals’ farm system from 1955-58 but didn’t reach the majors. Cardenal’s cousin, Bert Campaneris, was a big-league shortstop.

As a youth, Cardenal played baseball on fields covered with stones and broken glass. “Some day, I will show you the scar from a cut on my right foot from stepping on a broken bottle,” he told the Post-Dispatch. “I was 9 years old and we played barefoot then.”

The Giants recognized Cardenal’s talent, signed him for $250 and brought him to the United States to begin his career in their farm system. He started out playing second and third before being shifted to the outfield.

In 1961, when Cardenal was 17, he hit .355 with 35 home runs and 108 RBI for El Paso. After the season, he wanted to visit family in Cuba but couldn’t. Cuba and the United States had severed relations and there were no assurances Cardenal would be permitted to leave Cuba if he went there. “Those were lonely, confusing months” for Cardenal, the Post-Dispatch reported.

“When I came to this country from Cuba to play baseball, I couldn’t speak much English,” Cardenal said, “so I ordered ham and eggs or hamburgers all the time. I couldn’t say anything else to eat in English.”

While playing for El Paso in 1963, Cardenal, 19, met a college coed in Tulsa, where the Cardinals had a farm club, and she became his wife.

Multiple skills

When Cardenal made his major-league debut with the Giants in 1963, manager Alvin Dark thought the rookie bore a facial resemblance to slugger Orlando Cepeda and called him “Junior.” The nickname stuck, but Cardenal didn’t. The Giants traded him to the Angels. After the 1967 season, the Indians, who hired Dark to be their manager, obtained Cardenal.

In 1969, Cardenal produced 143 hits and 36 stolen bases for the Indians. After the Cardinals traded Flood, they considered moving Pinson, 31, from right to center, “but there was a question about whether he could handle the position adequately in a big park such as Busch Stadium,” the Post-Dispatch reported.

The Cardinals preferred Cardenal, 26, who had “a throwing arm that could really skip a ball as fast as he’ll run on the new synthetic surface,” Broeg observed.

At Cardinals spring training in 1970, Cardenal impressed with his baserunning and hitting. After watching Cardenal steal bases in Grapefruit League exhibition games, teammate Lou Brock said, “Jose has good form, good speed and he gets a very good jump.”

Hitting coach Dick Sisler said Cardenal “has good bat control.”

Cardenal’s hitting improved when he choked up on the bat. “That way, I get more wood on the ball,” he said. “I choke up a little more when I have two strikes on me.”

Said Sisler: “By choking extra, he protects the plate all the more. He’s attacking the ball and he’s hitting to all fields.”

Big year

The Cardinals issued uniform No. 1 to Cardenal. Before him, others to wear the number for the Cardinals included Pepper Martin and Whitey Kurowski. The Cardinals retired the number after Ozzie Smith wore it from 1982-96.

Cardenal had a torrid start to his first Cardinals season. In the home opener against the Mets, he had three hits, a RBI and a run scored. In 16 April games, Cardenal batted .353 with 24 hits and 15 runs scored.

He finished the 1970 season with a .293 batting average, 74 RBI and 26 stolen bases and led the club in doubles (32). Cardenal was especially good from the No. 2 spot in the order, batting .350 with a .412 on-base percentage in 44 games.

It was a different story the following year. Cardenal was moved from center to right, hit .243 for the 1971 Cardinals and was traded to the Brewers in July. He returned to the Cardinals in 1994 as a coach on the staff of manager Joe Torre.

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Why Keith Hernandez, Willie Stargell shared MVP Award

Posted in Hitters on November 13, 2019| 8 Comments »

Keith Hernandez of the Cardinals and Willie Stargell of the Pirates were first basemen who batted left-handed and played for teams in the National League East Division.

The link became even stronger on Nov. 13, 1979, when it was announced they would share the National League Most Valuable Player Award, finishing in a tie for first place in balloting by the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA).

Hernandez and Stargell are the only players to be co-MVPs in the National League. The closest the American League came to co-MVPs was in 1947 when Joe DiMaggio of the Yankees won the award with 202 points in the balloting and Ted Williams of the Red Sox was runner-up at 201.

Counting the votes

Hernandez had better overall season statistics than Stargell did in 1979, but Stargell provided leadership and power for the Pirates, who won the National League pennant and World Series title. The Cardinals finished in third place in the East, 12 games behind the Pirates.

Hernandez, 25, batted .344 with 210 hits, 116 runs, 11 home runs, 105 RBI and a .417 on-base percentage in 161 games.

Stargell, 39, batted .281 with 119 hits, 60 runs, 32 home runs, 82 RBI and a .352 on-base percentage in 112 games, including 16 as a pinch-hitter.

In voting by 24 members of the baseball writers association, two from each National League franchise city, Hernandez and Stargell each received 216 points.

Stargell got 10 first-place votes and Hernandez got four, but Hernandez was the only player chosen on all 24 ballots. Stargell was left off four ballots.

Each of the 24 writers was required to submit 10 names on his ballot. A first-place vote was worth 14 points, with a second-place vote worth nine points, a third-place vote worth eight points and so on down to one point for a 10th-place vote. Voting was done before the start of the postseason.

In addition to the 10 first-place votes for Stargell and the four for Hernandez, others getting first-place votes were Padres outfielder Dave Winfield (four), Reds third baseman Ray Knight (two), Astros pitcher Joe Niekro (one), Pirates reliever Kent Tekulve (one), Expos catcher Gary Carter (one) and Pirates third baseman Bill Madlock (one).

Winfield was runner-up to Hernandez and Stargell in the voting, with 155 points. He batted .308 with 184 hits, 97 runs, 34 home runs, 118 RBI and a .395 on-base percentage. Neither Charley Feeney of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette nor Dan Donovan of the Pittsburgh Press had Winfield on his ballot, according to The Sporting News.

Great debate

The four writers who omitted Stargell from their ballots were Kenny Hand of the Houston Post, Harry Shattuck of the Houston Chronicle, Mike Littwin of the Los Angeles Times and Tim Tucker of the Atlanta Journal.

Pittsburgh Press sports editor Pat Livingston noted, “Had any one of those four cast even a 10th-place vote for Willie, he would have won the MVP Award by himself.”

Pirates general manager Harding Peterson told the Pittsburgh Press the omission of Stargell from the four ballots was “most disturbing.”

“How can anybody leave Stargell off their ballot?” Peterson said to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “He was the driving force for our club all season.”

Jack Lang, secretary-treasurer of the baseball writers association, said to the Pittsburgh Press, “I don’t know what some of these guys think about when they make out their ballots.”

Littwin told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette his first-place vote went to Winfield. Asked why he omitted Stargell, Littwin said, “I have as high a regard for Stargell as anyone. I decided to put two Pirates on my ballot and I decided on Kent Tekulve and Dave Parker.”

Hand also said Parker was a more deserving candidate than Stargell. “Parker batted higher (.310) and drove in more runs (94) than Stargell,” Hand said.

Shattuck said he was limited to seeing Stargell play only against the Astros. Though Stargell hit .302 with five home runs and 13 RBI in 10 games versus the Astros in 1979, it wasn’t enough to earn a vote from Shattuck.

Tucker, who gave Knight his first-place vote, said he thought center fielder and leadoff batter Omar Moreno was the most valuable player on the Pirates. “I felt Moreno’s ability to get on base and his defense were more important than Stargell’s role,” Tucker said.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist Phil Musick said the requirements for determining a MVP were not clear and criticized the voting as “a flawed process which the BBWAA members have not corrected because arguing is more fun.”

Good sports

Hernandez and Stargell both were professional in their reactions to sharing the MVP Award.

“A taste of honey is better than none,” Stargell said to the Pittsburgh Press.

Hernandez told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “Willie was the sentimental favorite. He was the inspirational man for the pennant winners with a lot of intangibles going for him. He was deserving.”

(Almost 40 years later, in his 2018 memoir “I’m Keith Hernandez,” Hernandez said, “Part of me felt that Willie Stargell, superstar that he was, didn’t deserve the MVP that year.” Hernandez also said he was puzzled why Lang, when he called with the news of the vote results, said, “You wouldn’t mind sharing the National League MVP with Willie Stargell, would you?”)

Hernandez said teammates such as Lou Brock and Willie Crawford helped him develop into a MVP.

“Lou is very unselfish,” Hernandez said to the Post-Dispatch. “He’s done more for me than just about anybody. He always had a pat on the back at the right time and he was there with encouragement in my moments of self-doubt.”

Crawford was Hernandez’s teammate for one season, 1976, and Hernandez credited him as the player who pushed him to take extra batting practice and “work on the inside pitch, which was giving me trouble then.”

The 1979 American League MVP voting created no controversy. The Angels’ Don Baylor won in a landslide, receiving 347 points and 20 first-place votes. The Orioles’ Ken Singleton was runner-up, with 241 points and three votes for first.

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Ron Fairly: Formidable friend and foe of Cardinals

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents, Trades on November 3, 2019| 16 Comments »

(Updated Nov. 25, 2024)

Ron Fairly tormented Bob Gibson as an opponent and helped him as a teammate.

A first baseman and outfielder, Fairly played 21 years (1958-78) in the major leagues, primarily with the Dodgers and Expos, and spent two seasons (1975-76) with the Cardinals. He played in four World Series for the Dodgers, including 1965 when he batted . 379 against the Twins.

A left-handed batter with a line drive stroke, Fairly did some of his best work against Gibson, the Cardinals’ ace.

During his Hall of Fame career, Gibson yielded more hits (48) and more doubles (10) to Fairly than he did to any other batter.

In addition to having his career highs in hits and doubles against Gibson, Fairly produced a career-best 24 RBI versus him.

In his 1968 book, “From Ghetto to Glory,” Gibson said, “I don’t have to make a mistake against Fairly. Whatever I throw, he just hits it _ I don’t care what it is _ and always when somebody is on base. The guy is just a pretty good hitter.”

Four decades later, in his book, “Sixty Feet, Six Inches,” Gibson described Fairly as a batter who “would punch the ball over the shortstop’s head and you couldn’t strike him out. I tried to pitch him in, like I did a lot of left-handed hitters, and I didn’t have any luck with that. I’d pitch him away, make a good pitch, and he’d dump it over the shortstop’s head.”

In 1975, Fairly’s first season with the Cardinals and Gibson’s last, Gibson benefitted from Fairly’s formidable hitting.

On July 27, 1975, Fairly had two hits, two walks, one RBI and scored a run in the Cardinals’ 9-6 victory over the Phillies at St. Louis. Gibson got the win, the 251st and last of his career, with four scoreless innings of relief. Boxscore

Fairly talented

Fairly attended the University of Southern California, signed with the Dodgers in June 1958 and made his debut with them three months later at age 20.

He established himself as a smooth fielder at first base and a consistent hitter.

Chicago columnist Jerome Holtzman rated Fairly “the best first baseman I’ve ever seen coming in on a bunt.”

Dodgers manager Walter Alston, in a 1965 interview with Bob Broeg of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, said he regarded Fairly the best hitter with runners on base of any of the players he’d managed.

For his career, Fairly had 17 home runs and 100 RBI versus the Cardinals. He batted .302 against Gibson, with 48 hits, including four home runs, in 159 at-bats. Fairly’s on-base percentage versus Gibson was .369.

In Gibson’s autobiography, “Stranger to the Game,” Gibson’s friend and teammate Joe Torre said, “Ron Fairly hit Gibby about as well as anybody did.”

On July 15, 1964, Fairly hit two home runs, one against Gibson and the other versus Ray Washburn, in a 13-3 Dodgers victory over the Cardinals at St. Louis. Boxscore

Regarding the Gibson fastball he hit for the homer, Fairly said, “I just got around in front of the pitch and laid the bat on the ball. Gibson supplied the power.”

The next day, Fairly hit a homer against Ray Sadecki. For the three-game series, Fairly had 10 RBI and six hits in 13 at-bats.

A year later, on June 3, 1965, at St. Louis, Fairly hit a two-run home run off Barney Schultz with two outs in the eighth, erasing a 10-9 deficit and lifting the Dodgers to an 11-10 victory. Boxscore

Fairly hit the first walkoff home run of his major-league career on Sept. 25, 1970, for the Expos against the Cardinals in Montreal. With the Cardinals ahead, 5-4, the Expos had two on and two outs in the ninth when Fairly hit an 0-and-2 fastball from rookie Al Hrabosky for a game-winning homer. Boxscore

“I can’t hit a ball any better than that,” Fairly said to the Montreal Gazette.

Proud pro

On Dec. 6, 1974, the Cardinals acquired Fairly from the Expos for a pair of prospects, first baseman Ed Kurpiel and infielder Rudy Kinard. Cardinals general manager Bing Devine projected Fairly to be a pinch-hitter and backup to rookie first baseman Keith Hernandez. Fairly, 36, told The Sporting News, “I expect to play a lot. I’d like to play every day.”

Hernandez, 21, opened the 1975 season as the starter, struggled and was sent to the minors in June.

Fairly, getting starts at first base and in the corner outfield spots, became a valuable player for the 1975 Cardinals. He hit .301 and had an on-base percentage of .421. He also hit .343 as a pinch-hitter. On July 8, 1975, at St. Louis, Fairly hit a grand slam against Pete Falcone of the Giants. Boxscore

“I don’t fool around in batting practice,” Fairly said. “I try to hit with game situations in mind. Too many players fool around too much in batting practice and that gets them in bad habits.”

Fairly shared his knowledge with Cardinals teammates. According to The Sporting News, catcher Ted Simmons, “regarded by many as the purest hitter now active in the game,” listened to the advice Fairly gave him on hitting.

Hernandez returned to the Cardinals in September 1975 and regained his starting job. In his memoir, “I’m Keith Hernandez,” Hernandez said Fairly “took the time to show me how to better break in a first baseman’s mitt and how to cheat a little bit on a close putout at first.”

“You’re moving forward to get the ball with the glove, extending your body, and your foot comes off the bag just before the ball arrives,” Fairly told Hernandez. “Don’t rush it, or the ump will catch you pulling your foot.”

In his book, Hernandez said, “I worked on it every day during infield until I had it, and took Ron’s sly little move with me for the rest of my career.”

Fairly found his old nemesis, Bob Gibson, to be a good teammate. In an interview with Cardinals Yearbook in 2018, Fairly told Joe Schuster that Gibson “was really good with my kids.”

“He was their favorite player,” Fairly said. “They would go by his locker and talk to him until he got tired. Then he’d call them little green flies _ ‘That’s enough now. You little green flies need to leave me alone since I have to take a shower and get out of here.’ They loved him and I have tremendous respect for him.”

Watching Fairly’s impact on the Cardinals, Expos owner Charles Bronfman admitted, “That Fairly deal was very unfortunate. I think Ron fooled a lot of us by playing a lot better than we expected.”

The next season, Fairly hit .264 and had an on-base percentage of .385 for the Cardinals before they sold his contract to the Athletics on Sept. 14, 1976. He batted .364 with runners in scoring position for the 1976 Cardinals.

Overall, in his two St. Louis seasons, Fairly batted .289 with a .409 on-base percentage.

He went on to play for the Athletics, Blue Jays and Angels, finishing his career with 1,913 hits.

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Bobby Tolan and the saga of the senior league

Posted in Games, Hitters, Managers, Pitchers on November 1, 2019| 2 Comments »

Bobby Tolan, who played on championship clubs with the Cardinals and Reds, was a champion as a manager in the Senior Professional Baseball Association.

On Nov. 1, 1989, the Senior Professional Baseball Association launched its inaugural season. Each of the eight teams played a 72-game schedule from November to February in Florida.

Seeking to match the success of the Senior PGA Tour, the baseball league, founded by real estate developer Jim Morley, focused on nostalgia by bringing back former major-league players 35 and older. An exception was made for catchers, who could be as young as 32.

Former Cardinals outfielder Curt Flood was league commissioner. Several other ex-Cardinals, including Joaquin Andujar, Jose Cruz, George Hendrick, Al Hrabosky, Tito Landrum, Bake McBride and Ken Reitz, signed as players.

For Tolan, hoping to manage in the majors, the senior league provided a chance to prove he could succeed with players who had big-league experience.

Learning to manage

Tolan was 19 when he made his debut as a major-league player with the Cardinals in September 1965. He played in four seasons (1965-68) with the Cardinals and was a reserve outfielder on their National League championship clubs in 1967 and 1968.

In October 1968, the Cardinals traded Tolan and pitcher Wayne Granger to the Reds for outfielder Vada Pinson. The deal was a steal for the Reds. Granger became an effective closer and Tolan developed into a top talent for manager Sparky Anderson, helping the Reds win National League pennants in 1970 and 1972 with his hitting and base stealing.

After his playing career, Tolan was a Padres coach for four seasons (1980-83), the last two with manager Dick Williams.

Hoping to lead a major-league team someday, Tolan agreed to go back to the minors to get experience. He managed the Padres’ farm club at Beaumont, Texas, for two years (1984-85) and one of his top players was 20-year-old catcher Benito Santiago.

In 1987, Tolan became a coach for the Mariners, reuniting with Williams, their manager. Tolan returned to managing in 1988 with Erie, a club in the Orioles’ farm system.

Law and order

In August 1989, after two seasons at Erie, Tolan was named manager of the senior league’s St. Petersburg Pelicans.

“This is almost like a dream come true,” Tolan said to the St. Petersburg Times. “For me, this is the closest thing to the major leagues.”

Determined to produce a winner, Tolan vowed the Pelicans would be physically fit and fundamentally sound. He banned beer from the clubhouse and imposed a curfew. He said he expected the level of play to be comparable to a good Class AAA club.

“I’m managing major-league ballplayers,” Tolan said. “Some are just a little past their prime, some just a little further.”

According to the St. Petersburg Times, Tolan “was criticized by opposing teams and former players for running a tough camp with strict rules.” Winter Haven manager Bill Lee, the former Red Sox pitcher known as “Spaceman,” likened Tolan’s approach to “a militaristic regime.”

Familiar names

The senior league teams for the 1989-90 season were:

_ Bradenton Explorers. Manager: Clete Boyer. Key players: Bruce Kison, Hal McRae, Al Oliver.

_ Fort Myers Sun Sox. Manager: Pat Dobson. Key players: Amos Otis, Dan Driessen.

_ Gold Coast Suns: Manager: Earl Weaver. Key players: Joaquin Andujar, George Hendrick, Cesar Cedeno, Bert Campaneris. Asked why he would come out of retirement to manage in the senior league, Weaver said, “After golfing 20 days in a row, then what?”

_ Orlando Juice: Manager: Gates Brown. Key players: Pete Falcone, Jose Cruz, Bill Madlock, Ken Reitz.

_ St. Lucie Legends: Manager: Graig Nettles. Key players: Vida Blue, Bobby Bonds, George Foster, Clint Hurdle.

_ St. Petersburg Pelicans. Manager: Bobby Tolan. Key players: Jon Matlack, Milt Wilcox, Steve Kemp, Steve Henderson, Ivan DeJesus.

_ West Palm Beach Tropics. Manager: Dick Williams. Key players: Rollie Fingers, Al Hrabosky Dave Kingman, Mickey Rivers, Tito Landrum.

_ Winter Haven Super Sox. Manager: Bill Lee. Key players: Ferguson Jenkins, Jim Bibby, Bill Campbell, Tony Scott.

Some thought the senior league would receive a needed publicity boost if it allowed Pete Rose to play. Rose was banished from the big leagues because of his involvement in a gambling scandal. Flood ruled Rose ineligible for senior baseball unless the major leagues reinstated him.

Alive and well

Even without Rose, the senior league began its first season with optimism and sense of purpose.

“These aren’t cadavers waiting to be buried,” Flood said to the St. Petersburg Times. “These men are serious about playing baseball. I think a lot of people are going to be surprised at the caliber of play.”

Dick Williams told the Palm Beach Post, “We’re dead serious about this. Very much so. We may be a step slower because they’re all older, but there are no pot bellies out there.”

Weaver noted the San Francisco Giants used hulking 40-year-old pitcher Rick Reuschel in the 1989 World Series and said, “He’s older and fatter than most of our guys.”

Media reviews of the Opening Day games generally were favorable.

The St. Petersburg Times noted, “It’s like a baseball card collection come to life.”

Palm Beach Post columnist Tim Rosaforte rated it “good, fundamental baseball. Certainly better, and more exciting, than spring training.”

Best of the bunch

Though a ticket to most senior league games cost about $5, attendance was poor. The West Palm Beach Tropics drew best, averaging 1,600 spectators per game, “but many of those fans received free or discounted tickets,” the Palm Beach Post reported.

Most teams averaged fewer than 1,000 spectators per game. The Orlando Juice did worst, with an average attendance of 400.

Some of the former Cardinals who performed well were Andujar (5-0, 1.31 ERA), Falcone (10-3), Driessen (.333 batting average, 49 RBI), Landrum (.346, 55 RBI) and Cruz (.306, 10 home runs, 49 RBI).

The West Palm Beach Tropics finished first in the Southern Division at 52-20 and the St. Petersburg Pelicans topped the Northern Division at 42-30.

In a winner-take-all championship game on Feb. 4, 1990, the Pelicans prevailed, 12-4, validating Tolan’s managing skill and style.

“I guess this shuts everybody up,” Tolan said. ” Maybe if I weren’t looking for a big-league job I would have run an easy team, but I want a big-league job and I wanted to prove I could run a successful team. I took this seriously and it all paid off by this championship.”

Struggling financially, the senior league reorganized for the 1990-91 season. Flood departed and the number of teams was reduced from eight to six. Four teams remained in Florida and two went to Arizona.

Tolan returned to manage St. Petersburg and he had the Pelicans in first place at 15-8 when the league disbanded on Dec. 26, 1990.

Tolan never did get to manage in the majors. After the senior league folded, his next chance to manage in professional baseball came at age 60 in 2006 with the White Sox rookie league club in Great Falls, Montana.

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Why Cardinals wanted Bobby Del Greco, not Bill Virdon

Posted in Games, Hitters, Trades on October 29, 2019| 9 Comments »

(Updated Sept. 1, 2024)

Bobby Del Greco was a graceful center fielder with a strong arm, but he was no Bill Virdon.

Del Greco was a principal figure in one of the Cardinals’ most lopsided trades.

On May 17, 1956, the Cardinals dealt center fielder Bill Virdon to the Pirates for Del Greco and pitcher Dick Littlefield.

Virdon, 24, was the winner of the 1955 National League Rookie of the Year Award. Del Greco, 23, was seeking a chance to play regularly in the major leagues.

The deal was a dud for the Cardinals. Virdon played 11 years with the Pirates, producing 1,431 hits, earning a Gold Glove Award and helping them win a World Series championship. Del Greco played part of one season for the Cardinals, couldn’t hit consistently and was sent to the Cubs.

Great glove

A Pittsburgh native, Del Greco was signed to a Pirates contract by Hall of Famer Pie Traynor. In 1952, Del Greco was 19 when he made his major-league debut with the Pirates against the Cardinals and produced three hits and a walk in five plate appearances. Boxscore

After hitting .217 in 99 games for the 1952 Pirates, Del Greco spent the next three seasons in the minor leagues. He played for the Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League in 1955 and hit .287 with 26 doubles and 21 stolen bases for manager Bobby Bragan. Del Greco also caught the attention of Fred Hutchinson, manager of the rival Seattle Rainiers.

In 1956, Bragan became manager of the Pirates and Hutchinson became manager of the Cardinals. Bragan chose Del Greco to be the Opening Day center fielder for the 1956 Pirates.

Del Greco has “a strong, accurate arm and the instinct of throwing to the right base,” The Sporting News noted. He “gets a tremendous jump on any fly ball and can outrun some of them.”

Seeing is believing

The Cardinals opened the 1956 season with Wally Moon as the first baseman and an outfield of Hank Sauer in left, Virdon in center and Stan Musial in right.

After batting .281 as a Cardinals rookie in 1955, Virdon got off to a slow start in 1956. Cardinals general manager Frank Lane suspected Virdon might have deteriorating vision. Also, Virdon, like Musial and Moon, batted left-handed and Lane wanted an outfielder who batted from the right side.

Hutchinson suggested Del Greco as a replacement for Virdon and Lane began trade talks with the Pirates after the Phillies declined to deal center fielder Richie Ashburn for Virdon.

On May 13, 1956, Del Greco hit two home runs in a game at Pittsburgh against the Phillies’ Harvey Haddix, a former Cardinal. Lane was at the game to scout Del Greco and was impressed. Boxscore

Del Greco’s two-homer game “was the biggest boost for the trade,” Pirates general manager Joe Brown told The Sporting News.

Pirates plunder

Though Virdon was batting .211 in 24 games for the 1956 Cardinals, the trade was viewed as a major risk for them. Moon told Cardinals Yearbook in 1999, “Bill was an exceptionally good defensive player. I was most unhappy when they traded him to Pittsburgh.”

Del Greco was batting .200 for the 1956 Pirates and they primarily were playing him against left-handers.

Hutchinson called Del Greco “a terrific outfielder” with “a real good arm and speed.” He told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “Yes, I’d have to say (he’s) better than Virdon.”

Lane said, “We liked Del Greco because he seemed to have more drive than Bill.”

Citing the eyesight issue, Lane said, “Maybe, as has been suggested, we decided it would be better to let Pittsburgh or another club worry about whether he still has major-league vision.”

Lane added, “It wasn’t only Virdon’s failure to get base hits. Bill wasn’t even hitting the ball hard.”

Brown said the Pirates “wanted Virdon badly,” and when Lane readily agreed to the deal, “I began to wonder if there might be something wrong with Virdon.”

Turns out, Virdon was fine. He batted .334 with 170 hits in 133 games for the Pirates in 1956 and played a splendid center field. Virdon “is certainly on a par even with the fabulous Willie Mays,” The Sporting News remarked. “Pittsburgh fans compare him with the gifted Vince DiMaggio and Lloyd Waner.”

Del Greco batted .215 in 102 games for the 1956 Cardinals. He hit .176 in home games and overall his batting average with runners in scoring position was .098 (5-for-51).

“What a terrible deal,” Sauer said in the book “We Played the Game.” Virdon “was a great fielder, much better than Del Greco.”

A defiant Lane told The Sporting News, “I make no pretensions of perfection in trading. I merely hope to make more good deals than bad ones.”

Moving on

After the 1956 season, Del Greco played winter ball in Havana. Cardinals scout Al Hollingsworth went to Cuba to see Del Greco and said, “One thing he’s got to learn is to forget the long ball.”

At spring training in 1957, rookie Bobby Gene Smith won the Cardinals’ center field job when Del Greco batted .101 in Grapefruit League exhibition games.

On April 20, 1957, the Cardinals traded Del Greco and pitcher Ed Mayer to the Cubs for outfielder Jim King.

Del Greco played for the Cubs (1957), Yankees (1957-58), Phillies (1960-61 and 1965) and Athletics (1961-63), and batted .229 in his career in the majors.

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