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Why Cardinals chose Bobby Bonds to replace Lou Brock

Posted in Games, Hitters, Trades on December 7, 2019| 9 Comments »

Bobby Bonds, expected to bring power and balance to the lineup, symbolized the dysfunction of the 1980 Cardinals.

On Dec. 7, 1979, the Cardinals acquired Bonds from the Indians for pitcher John Denny and outfielder Jerry Mumphrey.

An outfielder, Bonds figured to join George Hendrick to give the Cardinals two right-handed sluggers to balance a lineup with switch-hitters Ted Simmons and Garry Templeton and batting champion Keith Hernandez, who hit left-handed.

Bonds, who had 25 home runs and 34 stolen bases for the 1979 Indians, was projected to play left field and replace Lou Brock, who retired.

The deal turned out to be a dud. Bonds, 34, injured his right wrist early in the season and couldn’t hit for average or power. The 1980 Cardinals, who fired their manager and general manager during the season, finished 74-88.

All in the family

Bobby Lee Bonds was born in Riverside, Calif. An older brother, Robert Vernon Bonds Jr., a receiver and defensive back at San Jose State, got selected by the St. Louis football Cardinals in the fifth round of the 1965 NFL draft and played in Canada. A sister, Rosie, was a hurdler for the U.S. in the 1964 Olympics.

Bonds excelled in baseball, football and track in high school and became a state long jump champion. He married at 17 and became a father at 18 when his son, future home run champion Barry Bonds, was born in July 1964. A month later, with a wife and child to support, Bonds signed an $8,000 contract with the Giants.

The Giants sent Bonds to their farm club in Lexington, N.C., in 1965. Disheartened by the racism he encountered, Bonds wanted to quit, but Lexington manager Max Lanier, the former Cardinals pitcher, became his trusted mentor and advisor. Bonds stayed and began his rise through the Giants’ system.

On June 25, 1968, Bonds made his major-league debut against the Dodgers at Candlestick Park and hit a grand slam. Boxscore He formed a friendship with the Giants’ shortstop, Hal Lanier, Max’s son.

Mixed reviews

Bonds and Willie Mays were the first players to achieve 300 home runs and 300 stolen bases in their careers. Bonds won three Gold Glove awards and three times was an all-star.

He also struck out a lot and drank a lot. Bonds twice was arrested for drunk driving and had another arrest for an altercation with a police officer. Bob Broeg of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote, “When the poor guy did drink too much, as one sympathetic soul put it, he must have gone looking for a policeman.” After his playing days, Bonds joined Alcoholics Anonymous, according to the Society for American Baseball Research.

Bonds played for six teams (Giants, Yankees, Angels, White Sox, Rangers and Indians) in six years (1974-79). In July 1979, he told the Indians he wanted to be traded unless they increased his yearly salary from $440,000 to $672,000. Indians fans responded with a barrage of boos. In September 1979, Bonds made an obscene gesture to a fan and was fined.

Asked about Bonds’ controversies after acquiring him, Cardinals general manager John Claiborne told The Sporting News, “I don’t know about his history and I don’t care. He has produced and that’s all I’m concerned about.”

Cardinals manager Ken Boyer said Bonds will “make a big difference in our offense” and “with Bonds’ arm, you’re going to see things defensively you haven’t seen in a while.”

Indians outfielder Rick Manning viewed Bonds differently, saying, “Bobby wouldn’t hit the cutoff man if he were King Kong.”

Bonds predicted, “If I just do what’s average, it should be enough to win the pennant and get in the World Series.” He also cautioned, “If it doesn’t go the way they expect it to go with the Cardinals, I’ll be the first one gone.”

A season unravels

Bonds preferred uniform No. 25, but in St. Louis it belonged to Hendrick, so Bonds became the first Cardinal to wear No. 00.

Boyer began the 1980 season with Bonds batting fifth in the order between Simmons and Hendrick.

On April 17, 1980, in Bonds’ seventh game with the Cardinals, he was hit on the right wrist by a pitch from the Pirates’ Eddie Solomon. Boxscore

Bonds continued to play, but the damaged wrist hampered his swing and he was committing too soon on breaking balls. On May 18, 1980, after striking out three times in a game against the Giants, Bonds asked Boyer to send someone to bat for him when his turn came again in the ninth. Boxscore

“Bonds swung a bat that resembled a fly swatter,” wrote Post-Dispatch columnist Tom Barnidge.

With the Cardinals’ record at 18-33, Boyer was fired in June 1980 and replaced by Whitey Herzog, who benched Bonds against right-handed pitching.

Bonds said he was experiencing “the most frustrating season of my life. I want to contribute and I haven’t been. I have no criticism of Whitey.”

On July 21, 1980, Bonds went on the 15-day disabled list. When he returned, he cut a finger on his right hand trying to get an item off a room service tray.

Claiborne was fired in August 1980 and one reason cited was the trade for Bonds.

Bonds hit no home runs after July 13 and had no hits after Aug. 18. He finished his Cardinals season with a .203 batting average, five home runs and 15 stolen bases. He batted .145 against right-handers.

On Dec. 22, 1980, after failing to trade Bonds, the Cardinals released him.

He played for the Cubs in 1981, his final big-league season, and twice in a span of three days, Sept. 7 Boxscore and Sept. 9 Boxscore, hit two home runs in a game against the Cardinals at St. Louis.

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How Cardinals got Browns record-setter Bob Nieman

Posted in Games, Hitters, Records, Trades on December 2, 2019| 3 Comments »

Outfielder Bob Nieman, who made an unprecedented debut with the Browns, returned to St. Louis as an accomplished hitter with the Cardinals.

On Dec. 2, 1959, the Cardinals acquired Nieman from the Orioles for outfielder-catcher Gene Green, plus catcher Chuck Staniland.

Eight years earlier, Nieman became the first player to hit home runs in his first two major-league at-bats. Since then, the only other player to do it is the Cardinals’ Keith McDonald.

A right-handed batter, Nieman appealed to the Cardinals because he hit left-handers well and “southpaws have been a constant plague” to them, The Sporting News reported.

Marty Marion, the former Cardinals shortstop who was Nieman’s teammate with the Browns, said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “He’s only a mediocre outfielder and he’s a hypochondriac, but, man, he can whale that ball.”

Overcoming hurdles

Nieman was born in Cincinnati and began going to Reds games when he was 3 with his father, a semipro catcher.

Nieman developed into a baseball catcher and football fullback in high school. After graduation, he joined the Army, was stationed in France and got pneumonia. The drugs used to treat him damaged his kidneys and he developed nephritis. Given a medical discharge, Nieman returned home, recovered, married his high school sweetheart and tried out with the Reds.

After Nieman signed a minor-league contract with the Reds, a tumor was discovered in his right arm and he underwent surgery. When he healed, the Reds converted him from catcher to outfielder. In 1948, his first minor-league season, Nieman hit .367.

During his off-seasons in the minors, Nieman pursued a college education at Kent State. Nieman was studying journalism in the hope of being a sports reporter and his wife, Patricia, was majoring in advertising.

“Next to actual participation, I can think of no life more enjoyable than watching games and being paid to do so,” Nieman said.

In June 1951, the Reds determined they had a surplus of outfielders in the minors and placed Neiman on waivers. He was claimed by Oklahoma City, an unaffiliated team in the Texas League. Nieman led the league in hitting (.324) and his contract was purchased by the Browns.

Boston fireworks

Nieman, 24, joined the Browns in Boston. Manager Zack Taylor didn’t plan to play him, but changed his mind when the Red Sox started a left-hander, Mickey McDermott. Nieman played left field and batted fifth in the Friday afternoon game on Sept. 14, 1951, at Fenway Park.

When he came to bat for the first time as a big-leaguer in the second inning, Nieman hit a solo home run. In his second at-bat in the third, he hit a two-run home run. According to the Post-Dispatch, those were the only pitches he swung at in those at-bats.

“This is really the day of my life,” Nieman said.

He almost got upstaged in the eighth when Satchel Paige, 45, relieved for the Browns and faced Ted Williams. With the count 0-and-2, Williams moved up in the batter’s box, expecting an off-speed pitch. Paige fired a fastball and Williams swung and missed, striking out.

When Williams got to the dugout, he “smashed his bat into pieces,” the Boston Globe reported. “He first whacked it against the railing leading to the dressing room. When that didn’t suffice, Williams flung the bat toward the rack. He still wasn’t satisfied, so he smashed it on the floor of the dugout. That ended the bat’s worth for good.”

Watching from the mound, Paige “was laughing his head off,” the Globe noted.

“I’ve never seen anything like it in the big leagues,” Paige said. “He was sore because I crossed him up.”

Asked about Nieman’s performance, Paige said the burly rookie “is just a lot of boy. Leans into that ball pretty good and hits the pitch where it is.” Boxscore

Designated hitter

Nieman hit .372 in 12 games for the 1951 Browns. The next year, he led the 1952 Browns in batting average (.289), home runs (18) and RBI (74), but they traded him to the Tigers after the season. Nieman played for the Tigers (1953-54), White Sox (1955-56) and Orioles (1956-59). He batted .322 for the Orioles in 1956 and .325 in 1958.

In 1959, when Nieman hit .292 with 21 home runs for the Orioles, The Sporting News described him as “a terror at the bat but sometimes frightful in the field.” Bob Broeg of the Post-Dispatch suggested Nieman “thought defense was the time to rest.”

The Cardinals got Nieman for his hitting, not his fielding. He batted .287 in 81 games in 1960 and had an on-base percentage of .372.

Among his highlights:

_ A home run against Sandy Koufax in a 2-0 triumph over the Dodgers on Aug. 21. Boxscore

_ A double, triple and home run for four RBI against Dick Ellsworth in a 4-3 victory versus the Cubs on Sept. 4. Boxscore

_ A ninth-inning home run against Johnny Podres to force extra innings against the Dodgers on Sept. 21. Boxscore

In 1961, Nieman, 34, was hitting .471 (8-for-17) when the Cardinals traded him to the Indians on May 10. The Cardinals made the deal because they wanted to give more playing time to Charlie James, 23, who they were grooming to replace Stan Musial in left.

“At least Nieman has the consolation of being one of the few .471 hitters ever traded,” the Post-Dispatch concluded.

Nieman said, “I certainly hate to leave this club. I mean it when I say this is the finest outfit I’ve ever been associated with.”

As he departed, Nieman wrote a message on the blackboard in the Cardinals’ clubhouse: “Good luck, boys, see you in the World Series.”

The Cardinals didn’t reach the World Series in 1961, but Nieman did a year later. After hitting .354 in 39 games for the Indians in 1961, they traded him to the Giants the next year and Nieman appeared in the 1962 World Series.

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How Cardinals pursued trade for Ken Griffey Jr.

Posted in Hitters on November 26, 2019| 3 Comments »

The Cardinals had visions of a lineup featuring Ken Griffey Jr. and Mark McGwire.

In November 1999, the Cardinals sought to acquire Griffey from the Mariners.

Though Griffey was swapped to the Reds instead, the Cardinals’ pursuit of him was sincere.

Deal me out

After the 1999 season, Griffey, nearing his 30th birthday, told the Mariners he wanted to be traded to a team closer to his home in Orlando, Fla.

Griffey, a center fielder who won 10 Gold Glove awards and four times led the American League in home runs with the Mariners, was eligible to become a free agent in another year.

The Mariners offered him an eight-year contract worth about $140 million, but Griffey rejected it. Unable to keep him beyond 2000, the Mariners opted to trade him rather than lose him to free agency.

Griffey, who debuted with the Mariners when he was 19, had the right to approve or reject any proposed trade. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Griffey’s first choice was to go to Atlanta, “but the Braves decided a deal wouldn’t fit their situation.”

If the National League champion Braves weren’t interested, the Associated Press speculated, the Reds and Mets were the leading contenders. Though Griffey was born in Donora, Pa., the same hometown as Cardinals icon Stan Musial, he grew up in Cincinnati, where his father played as an outfielder on the Big Red Machine teams of the 1970s. Ken Griffey Sr. was a Reds coach in 1999.

Twin towers

The Cardinals were intrigued with the idea of acquiring Griffey and putting him in a lineup with McGwire, who in his two full seasons with St. Louis hit 70 and 65 home runs. Griffey twice hit 56 home runs in a season (1997 and 1998) and slugged 48 in 1999.

“We’ve discussed it with the owners and we’re going to look into it,” Cardinals general manager Walt Jocketty told the Post-Dispatch. “We’re going to at least take a look at it to see if we can do it realistically. It might be very tough to do, but people thought we were crazy when we traded for McGwire.”

A few days later, at the general managers meetings in California, Jocketty and manager Tony La Russa met McGwire for dinner and asked him whether he would like the Cardinals to obtain Griffey, who would get a more lucrative contract than the one McGwire had, the Post-Dispatch reported.

“He thought it was great,” Jocketty said.

No go

According to the Seattle Times, the Cardinals were one of four teams “having serious discussions” with the Mariners about Griffey. The others were the Reds, Mets and Astros.

“The Cardinals might be on the short list of teams entertaining serious dreams of obtaining superstar Ken Griffey Jr.,” the Post-Dispatch reported.

The Mariners “would be certain to ask” for pitcher Rick Ankiel, the Seattle Times reported, but the Post-Dispatch declared, “Jocketty isn’t likely to give him up in any trade.”

According to the Post-Dispatch, the Cardinals might consider dealing to the Mariners some combination of third baseman Fernando Tatis, outfielder J.D. Drew, second baseman Adam Kennedy and pitcher Chad Hutchinson.

Eventually, the Mariners’ asking price was too high and the Cardinals backed off.

“We’ve had a couple of discussions, but player-wise it was going to be too rich for us,” Jocketty said. “They were looking for a killing on this deal.”

At the baseball winter meetings in December 1999, the other suitors for Griffey also broke off talks with the Mariners. Refusing to include infielder Pokey Reese in a trade for Griffey, Reds general manager Jim Bowden said, “There’s no chance at all” for a deal.

A month later, the Reds and Mariners resumed trade talks. The Reds insisted a deal would be contingent on Griffey agreeing to a long-term contract and giving up his chance to become a free agent after the 2000 season.

On Feb. 10, 2000, after Griffey accepted a nine-year contract proposal worth $116.5 million, the Mariners traded him to the Reds for four players, including outfielder Mike Cameron and pitcher Brett Tomko.

A month later, on March 23, 2000, the Cardinals acquired Jim Edmonds from the Angels to be their center fielder.

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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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