RetroSimba

Steve Huntz had impressive timing for a player with unimpressive numbers.

On Aug. 28, 1969, Huntz hit his first major-league home run, giving the Cardinals a 2-1 walkoff victory over the Astros at St. Louis.

Huntz was an unlikely candidate for such a feat. The rookie infielder entered the game with a season batting average of .186.

Prospect with pop

Huntz began his professional career when he signed with the Orioles as an amateur free agent after three successful varsity seasons at St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland.

In 1964, his first professional season, Huntz had 74 RBI for the Class A Midwest League Fox Cities Foxes. Of his 98 hits, 34 were for extra bases.

Cardinals scouts Jim Belz and Joe Mathes liked what they saw from Huntz. Based on their recommendations, the Cardinals paid $8,000 for the right to select Huntz in the November 1964 minor-league draft.

Huntz broke his leg in 1965 and sat out the season. He came back in 1966, played for Class AA Arkansas and committed 44 errors at shortstop.

After spending the 1967 season with Class AAA Tulsa, Huntz was called up to the big leagues when rosters expanded in September and appeared in three games for the Cardinals.

Huntz, a switch-hitter, was considered a prime candidate to earn a spot with the 1968 Cardinals as a utility player, but he batted .167 in spring training and “displayed limited range at the most critical position as backup man to Dal Maxvill at shortstop,” The Sporting News reported.

The Cardinals kept veteran Dick Schofield as their reserve shortstop and sent Huntz to Tulsa for the 1968 season.

Playing for manager Warren Spahn, Huntz hit .284 with 35 doubles and 74 RBI, helping Tulsa win the 1968 Pacific Coast League championship. Though Huntz committed 41 errors at shortstop, the Cardinals were intrigued by his power.

“He’s an infielder with sting at the plate and there aren’t many prospects like that around,” said Cardinals assistant farm director Fred McAlister.

As for fielding, McAlister said, “Huntz does a good job of moving to his right, bracing himself and gunning the ball. He can’t move to his left the way Dal Maxvill can, but how many men can a shortstop throw out when he fields the ball deep to his left? It’s making the routine plays that’s most important with a shortstop.”

Ups and downs

After the 1968 season, Schofield was traded to the Red Sox for pitcher Gary Waslewski, opening a path for Huntz to be a reserve infielder for the 1969 Cardinals. A headline in The Sporting News declared, “Cards Tap Huntz As New Super Sub.”

Huntz, 23, spent the entire 1969 season with the Cardinals, but struggled from the start. A breakthrough came on July 1, 1969, in a doubleheader against the Mets at St. Louis. Huntz, who had one RBI for the season, started at second base in the opener and drove in a run. Boxscore In the second game, he started at shortstop and drove in three runs with a bases-loaded double against Don Cardwell. Boxscore

Nearly two months later, Huntz got his first big-league home run. He entered the game against the Astros at Busch Stadium in the ninth inning as a replacement for Maxvill, who was lifted in the bottom half of the eighth for pinch-hitter Vic Davalillo.

The Astros led, 1-0, until the Cardinals tied the score in the bottom of the ninth against starter Don Wilson. Vada Pinson led off with a single. Joe Torre followed with a potential double-play grounder, but the ball took a bad hop, caromed off shortstop Denis Menke’s shoulder and went into center field for a single, advancing Pinson to third. A Dave Ricketts sacrifice fly scored Pinson.

Huntz led off the bottom of the 10th and hit a 2-and-1 pitch from Wilson over the right-field wall for the walkoff home run. Boxscore

Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “When Steve went up to hit in the 10th, I said, ‘Hit one out of here so we can get going,’ and damned if he didn’t.”

Huntz had one more Cardinals highlight. On Sept. 26, Huntz became the only 1969 Cardinals batter to hit two home runs in a game. Facing the Expos at Jarry Park in Montreal, Huntz hit a two-run home run against Don Shaw and a solo home run versus ex-Cardinal Larry Jaster. Boxscore

“I haven’t exactly been mashing the ball, you know,” Huntz said. “I’ve tried to do the job, but I haven’t performed as well as I thought I would.”

Huntz completed the 1969 Cardinals season with a .194 batting average in 71 games. He had more strikeouts (34) than hits (27) and committed nine errors in 52 games at shortstop.

Moving on

At spring training in 1970, Huntz hit .345, but the Cardinals deemed him overweight and opted to send him to Tulsa. After Huntz told teammates he wouldn’t report to the minors, the Cardinals traded him to the Padres for pitcher Billy McCool on April 2, 1970.

The Padres assigned Huntz to their Class AAA farm club at Salt Lake City. He threatened to quit, but reconsidered after a talk with Padres manager Preston Gomez. “I told him to get in shape and he could be up with us before too long,” Gomez said.

Huntz hit .308 in seven games for Salt Lake City and got called up to the Padres.

On April 28, 1970, in his first Padres at-bat, Huntz hit a home run against the Expos at San Diego. It came against Waslewski, his former Cardinals teammate. Boxscore

Huntz hit 11 home runs for the 1970 Padres. Three of those homers came against future Hall of Famers _ Tom Seaver, Gaylord Perry and Phil Niekro.

Huntz also played for the White Sox in 1971 and again for the Padres in 1975.

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Taking advantage of clumsy defensive work by the Pirates, Terry Moore achieved an unusual feat for the Cardinals.

On Aug. 16, 1939, Moore hit two inside-the-park home runs in one game, driving in all four runs in a 4-3 Cardinals victory over the Pirates at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh.

Moore was the first player to hit two inside-the-park home runs in one game at Forbes Field, according to the Pittsburgh Press.

First homer

In the opener of the Wednesday afternoon doubleheader at Pittsburgh, Bob Klinger, a second-year right-hander, held the Cardinals scoreless for six innings and the Pirates led, 2-0.

In the seventh, Pepper Martin led off for the Cardinals and reached base when his grounder was fumbled by shortstop Arky Vaughan for an error.

Moore followed with a drive to the gap in left-center. Running hard and trying for a triple, Moore took advantage of what the St. Louis Globe-Democrat described as “a disconnected relay throw” by the Pirates and motored safely to the plate behind Martin with a two-run, inside-the-park home run, tying the score at 2-2.

The Pirates regained the lead, 3-2, in the bottom of the seventh with an unearned run against Cardinals starter Bob Weiland.

Second homer

In the top of the ninth, after Martin singled with one out, Moore drilled a pitch from Klinger to deep left. The ball struck the scoreboard, about halfway up.

Left fielder Johnny Rizzo, a former Cardinals prospect best known for his hitting, “went one way and the ball caromed another,” according to the St. Louis Star-Times.

As Rizzo looked around left-center for the baseball, it rolled toward the left-field foul line, the Globe-Democrat reported.

When he finally spotted the ball, Rizzo “frantically chased” it, the Pittsburgh Press reported. Moore tore around the bases and scored behind Martin with his second two-run, inside-the-park home run of the game, giving the Cardinals a 4-3 lead.

More drama

The Pirates threatened against reliever Bob Bowman in the bottom of the ninth. Pep Young led off with a double and advanced to third on Ray Mueller’s sacrifice bunt. Left-hander Clyde Shoun relieved Bowman and struck out Paul Waner, who was batting for Klinger.

Lloyd Waner, who had entered the game in the top half of the ninth as a defensive replacement in center for rookie Fern Bell, was due up next. Lloyd Waner, like his brother Paul, was destined for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame and was batting .285 for the season. However, he batted left-handed, and Pirates manager Pie Traynor apparently wanted a right-handed batter to face Shoun with two outs and the potential tying run at third.

Traynor sent Jim Tobin, a pitcher, to bat for Lloyd Waner. Tobin, who was batting .265 for the season, grounded out to first, ending the game. Boxscore

Moore finished the 1939 season with 17 home runs, second on the club to Johnny Mize, who slugged 28.

In 11 seasons with the Cardinals, Moore hit 80 home runs. He hit three inside-the-park home runs, all at Forbes Field. The first occurred on Sept. 7, 1936, leading off the game against Waite Hoyt of the Pirates. Boxscore

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After getting lit up by Dennis Lamp, Lou Brock nearly turned out the lights on the Cubs pitcher.

On Aug. 13, 1979, Brock got his 3,000th career hit, a smash that struck Lamp’s right hand, turning three of his fingers purple.

Brock’s single came on the first pitch after Lamp brushed him back.

“I should thank Lamp for that fastball under the chin,” Brock said to the Chicago Tribune. “It brought me back to reality because it was a pretty close pitch. All the thoroughbred players I know bounce back from that, so I was ready for the next pitch. My concentration was back where it should have been.”

Setting the stage

After batting .221 in 1978, Brock said the 1979 season would be his last as a player. He needed 100 hits to reach 3,000. “I seriously doubted he’d make them,” Bob Broeg of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote. “I hoped a grand guy wouldn’t wind up an embarrassment in the batting order.”

Brock, 40, made an adjustment in his batting stance, keeping his weight on his front foot, and began spraying hits consistently again. He went into the game against the Cubs with a .321 batting average and 2,998 hits.

The Monday night game at Busch Memorial Stadium matched Lamp against Cardinals starter Pete Vuckovich. Cardinals manager Ken Boyer put Brock in the No. 2 spot in the batting order between Garry Templeton and Keith Hernandez.

The Cubs were the ideal opponent for Brock’s attempt at the milestone. They were Brock’s first major-league team before they traded him to the Cardinals in 1964.

In the Cardinals’ clubhouse before the game, Brock’s mood was loose and relaxed, the Post-Dispatch reported. “He’s so even-keel you’d never know what was at stake,” Hernandez said.

Brock and Templeton shadow-boxed. Third baseman Ken Reitz reminded Brock of a bet they made in spring training regarding whether Brock would reach 3,000 hits before Reitz got to 1,000.

Playing before a crowd of 44,457, Templeton led off the Cardinals’ half of the first with a single. Boyer called for a hit-and-run and Brock lined a single to left for hit No. 2,999.

Big hit

Brock’s second at-bat of the game, and his first attempt at hit No. 3,000, came when he led off in the fourth.

“I pictured in my mind a hit up the middle,” Brock said.

The count was 1-and-2 when Lamp unleashed his brushback pitch. The high and tight fastball set up the next pitch, a curve Lamp hoped Brock would miss or hit weakly. “I thought it was a good pitch,” Lamp said.

Instead, Brock drilled the ball, “a line drive that would clean the sawdust off a 2-by-4,” according to Post-Dispatch columnist Tom Barnidge.

Brock told writer Roger Angell, “It was the hardest ball I hit all year.”

The ball pounded into the fingers of Lamp’s throwing hand _ “It felt like having your hand caught in a car door,” he said to The Sporting News _ and caromed across the third-base line. Third baseman Steve Ontiveros retrieved it but had no chance to throw out Brock, who streaked across first base. Video

Crowning achievement

As the crowd roared, club owner Gussie Busch and Stan Musial, the first Cardinal to achieve 3,000 hits, joined Brock and his teammates in a ceremony on the field.

“I’ve always wanted to leave baseball in a blaze of glory,” said Brock, who became the 14th major-league player to achieve 3,000 hits. “I’ve always wanted to orchestrate my own exodus.”

Lamp was removed from the game and replaced by a former Cardinal, Doug Capilla. “My middle and index fingers swelled up and turned purple,” Lamp said.

In the fifth inning, with Ken Oberkfell on second base and two outs, Boyer sent Tony Scott to bat for Brock.

Brock went into the Cubs’ clubhouse to check on Lamp, who was relieved X-rays showed no fractures to his fingers. “I told him not to be afraid to pull the ball next time,” Lamp said. “I guess what this means is that they’ll be sending my fingers to Cooperstown.”

That’s a winner

In the bottom of the ninth, with the score tied at 2-2, Reitz got his 1,000th career hit, a single against Willie Hernandez, but too late to win his bet with Brock. Tommy Herr, making his major-league debut, was sent in to run for Reitz.

After Hernandez hit Oberkfell with a pitch, moving Herr to second, Bruce Sutter relieved and yielded a single to Dane Iorg, loading the bases.

Templeton followed with a flyout to left fielder Dave Kingman. Herr tagged and headed toward the plate. The throw was wide and Herr scored the winning run. Boxscore

Great champion

Among the post-game reactions to Brock’s achievement:

_ Ted Sizemore, Cubs second baseman and former Cardinal: “Lou Brock is the most mentally prepared player I ever saw. He’s a guy who can identify with goals. When he sets his mind to it, he can get it. He’s one of the great champions in the game.”

_ Bob Forsch, Cardinals pitcher: “I think he wanted to do this against the Cubs. I mean, they’re the club that traded him away. There had to be a real sense of satisfaction.”

_Ted Simmons, Cardinals catcher: “You look at Lou’s career and you envy it. I do. I think most players do. I’ve enjoyed every ballgame I’ve ever played with him. What he’s done has been remarkable.”

The Sporting News called the 3,000 hits “a testimony to his ability, pride, determination and competitive spirit.”

In an editorial, the Post-Dispatch concluded, “What truly sets him apart is the self-discipline and fidelity to purpose that made possible the consistency and stamina demanded by such a sports milestone.”

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