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How Bill White made an encore with Cardinals

Posted in Games, Hitters, Trades on April 4, 2019| Leave a Comment »

A friendship with general manager Bing Devine enabled first baseman Bill White to finish his playing career with the Cardinals.

On April 2, 1969, the Cardinals reacquired White from the Phillies for infielder Jerry Buchek and utility player Jim Hutto.

The trade gave White, 35, the opportunity to return to the team for whom he’d achieved the most success.

White no longer was an everyday player and he was preparing to transition into a television career in Philadelphia, but Devine wanted him to fill a bench role and White was willing to do so as a favor to his friend and to bring closure to his playing days.

Ties that bind

In White’s first stint with the Cardinals, from 1959-65, he topped 100 RBI three times, hit 20 or more home runs five years in a row and won the Gold Glove Award six times as a first baseman. He also was a National League all-star in five of his seasons with the Cardinals and helped them become 1964 World Series champions.

In October 1965, Cardinals general manager Bob Howsam traded White to the Phillies. He had 22 home runs and 103 RBI for them in 1966, but he injured an Achilles tendon in 1967 and his production declined considerably.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, White decided in August 1968 he would retire after the season, but Phillies general manager John Quinn convinced him to play another year.

At spring training in 1969, when the Phillies shifted Richie Allen from third base to first base, White asked Quinn what the club planned to do with him. Quinn said the Phillies wouldn’t cut White from the roster but might trade him to the Cardinals.

“Bing Devine has expressed an interest in you,” Quinn told White.

Devine was Cardinals general manager in March 1959 when the club acquired White from the Giants. Devine and White developed a mutual respect and their bond remained strong, even after Devine was fired by Cardinals owner Gussie Busch in August 1964.

In 1967, when White was with the Phillies and Devine was with the Mets, Devine visited White at his home to offer support and encouragement while White was attempting to recover from the Achilles tendon injury. “I think a lot of him,” White said to the Inquirer.

Welcome back

In his 2011 autobiography, “Uppity,” White said, “At first I said no to the proposed trade, but Bing was persuasive.”

White told Quinn he agreed to the trade because of Devine, who returned to the Cardinals after the 1967 season. “I wouldn’t have gone to any other team,” White said to the Inquirer. “I wouldn’t even have gone to St. Louis if it were not for Bing Devine.”

The Philadelphia Daily News described the two-time defending National League champion Cardinals as “a dynasty.” Joe Torre, acquired from the Braves for Orlando Cepeda, was the first baseman for the 1969 Cardinals and Devine saw White as being an ideal backup as well as a left-handed pinch-hitter.

“Bill fits the bill,” Devine said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

In a 2011 interview, White told me another reason Devine wanted him back with the Cardinals is he hoped to groom him to become a manager when White was done playing, but White wasn’t interested.

“Bing brought me back because he wanted me to manage at (Class AAA) Tulsa and eventually manage the Cardinals,” White said. “I didn’t want to manage. I didn’t want to try to tell 25 other guys how to play the game. I’d rather do something where the success depends on me, not on other people.”

Open and shut

White wore No. 12 for most of his first seven seasons with St. Louis, but backup outfielder Joe Hague had that number with the 1969 Cardinals. White asked for and received No. 7 because he liked low numbers, he said to the Post-Dispatch.

“I’m ready to do anything they want me to _ even pitch batting practice,” White said to the Post-Dispatch.

“This isn’t a knock at the Phillies’ organization _ they’ve been good to me _ but the difference between playing in St. Louis and Philadelphia is night and day,” White said to the Inquirer. “It’s depressing playing in that Philadelphia ballpark. Heck, my locker was over a sewer … And it’s depressing to hear your teammates booed.”

On April 8, 1969, the Cardinals opened the season against the Pirates at St. Louis. In the 12th inning, with the score tied at 2-2, two outs and Mike Shannon on first base, Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst sent White to bat for second baseman Julian Javier.

White was “cheered loudly” as he stepped to the plate, the Post-Dispatch reported.

Facing right-hander Ron Kline, White lined a pitch to left-center.

“What appeared to be a sure double turned out to be a mere out because the ball hooked toward” left fielder Willie Stargell, who made a one-handed catch while on the run, according to the Post-Dispatch.

If the ball had eluded Stargell, Shannon likely would have circled the bases and scored the game-winning run.

“That could have been a great way to open up,” hitting coach Dick Sisler said to White.

White replied, “Yeah, that would have carried me all year.”

Instead, the Pirates scored four runs in the 14th against Mel Nelson and won, 6-2. Boxscore

The 1969 season turned out to be disappointing for the Cardinals, who finished in fourth place in a six-team division, and for White. He suffered sore ribs and cuts to his left elbow in a car accident in St. Louis on May 3. For the season, White hit .211 with no home runs and four RBI in 57 at-bats. As a pinch-hitter, he batted .167 (5-for-30).

White retired as a player after the 1969 season and launched a broadcasting career before becoming president of the National League.

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Luke Easter kept up with young rabbits on Cardinals farm

Posted in Hitters on March 29, 2019| 2 Comments »

Luke Easter was a popular player with a power-packed swing who produced home runs well past age 40, including two seasons with a Cardinals farm club.

Easter grew up in St. Louis and played semipro baseball there. He became one of the top sluggers in the American League with the Indians in the 1950s before extending his career in the minors at Buffalo and Rochester.

His life ended tragically, on March 29, 1979, when he was robbed and murdered by two gunmen outside a bank in Euclid, Ohio.

Hard hitting

Easter was born in Jonestown, Mississippi, and moved with his family to St. Louis when he was a boy. At 21, he joined a semipro team, the St. Louis Titanium Giants, in 1937 and played for them until he entered the Army in 1942.

A left-handed hitter, Easter was 6 feet 4 and 240 pounds. After his stint in the military, he eventually signed with the Pittsburgh-based Homestead Grays of the Negro National League and played for them in 1947 and 1948.

In 1949, two years after Jackie Robinson of the Dodgers integrated the major leagues, Easter signed with the defending World Series champion Indians and was assigned to their San Diego farm club in the Pacific Coast League. Though he missed time because of a broken right kneecap, Easter hit .363 with 25 home runs and 92 RBI for San Diego and was called up to the Indians in August 1949, a week after he turned 34.

Over the next three seasons, Easter was the Indians’ first baseman and produced 28 home runs with 107 RBI in 1950, 27 home runs with 103 RBI in 1951 and 31 home runs with 97 RBI in 1952. Easter was one home run short of tying teammate Larry Doby for the American League crown in 1952.

In 1950, Easter hit the longest home run at Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium. The ball carried 477 feet into the upper deck in right.

A broken left foot limited Easter to 68 games for the Indians in 1953. He batted six times for them in 1954 before being sent to the minors.

Better with age

Though he’d never again play in the big leagues, Easter, 38, wasn’t done as a player. He hit 28 home runs in the minors in 1954 and 30 in 1955.

In 1956, Easter joined the Buffalo Bisons of the International League and over the next three seasons he became their most popular and productive player. He hit 35 home runs with 106 RBI in 1956 and 40 home runs with 128 RBI in 1957. Many of Easter’s home runs were prodigious. In 1958, the year he turned 43, Easter hit 38 home runs with 109 RBI for Buffalo.

The spring weather was especially cold in upstate New York in 1959 and Easter struggled. He was batting .179 with one home run when he was released by Buffalo on May 13. “He gave it all he had, but it wasn’t enough,” Buffalo manager Kerby Farrell said to the Rochester Democrat-Chronicle.

Easter was immensely popular with fans, who marveled at his home run prowess and could count on him to accommodate autograph requests. The Rochester Red Wings, a farm club of the Cardinals, saw an opportunity and signed him. “We’ve been looking for another left-hand hitter with power,” said Rochester manager Cot Deal. “This could be the answer.”

Before sealing the deal, Rochester general manager George Sisler Jr., consulted with Cardinals farm director Walter Shannon and got approval to open a spot at first base for Easter by moving prime prospect Gene Oliver to left field, the Rochester newspaper reported.

Sisler wanted to be certain Oliver’s development wouldn’t be hurt by shifting positions. “As he goes, the team seems to go,” Sisler said, “and we don’t want to do anything to upset his playing or hitting.”

Right for Rochester

Easter got six hits in his first nine at-bats for Rochester and became a mainstay in the lineup. In August 1959, catcher Tim McCarver, 17, joined Rochester and became a teammate of Easter, 44.

Easter hit 21 home runs for Rochester in 1959. The last produced a walkoff win against Buffalo.

“There can be no arguing about Luke’s popularity, so clear-cut is the big man’s superiority in the goodwill department,” wrote Rochester sports editor Paul Pinckney. “He always will be the No. 1 choice of the youngsters.”

Though productive, the Cardinals didn’t call up Easter because they had George Crowe, 38, a left-handed batter who served as their backup first baseman and pinch-hitter.

In 1960, the year he turned 45, Easter produced a 22-game hitting streak for Rochester and overall hit .302 with 14 home runs.

After the 1960 season, Rochester dropped its affiliation with the Cardinals and became a farm club of the Orioles, but Easter remained. In 1962, the year he turned 47, Easter batted .281 with 15 home runs for Rochester. His last full season as a player was 1963. He also appeared in 10 games for Rochester as a pinch-hitter in 1964, the year he became 49.

Gentle giant

After his baseball career, which included a stint as Indians coach in 1969, Easter worked in Cleveland for TRW Inc., an aerospace and automotive manufacturer.

As chief steward for the Aircraft Workers Alliance at TRW, Easter provided a service to co-workers who couldn’t get to a bank. Easter regularly collected their paychecks, cashed them at a bank and delivered the cash back to his fellow employees at work.

Easter, 63, was leaving a bank with thousands of dollars in cash when he was approached by two men who demanded he give them the money. When Easter refused, they shot him dead.

In an interview with David Condon of the Chicago Tribune, Bill Veeck, the Indians owner who signed Easter in 1949, called him “a wonderful, gentle person.”

“Everyone will miss Luke as a man,” Veeck said. “Baseball also will mourn him as a superstar talent never fulfilled. Luke’s talent would have found fulfillment if he’d reached the big-time as a youth.”

Said Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller, who was Easter’s teammate with the Indians: “If Luke had come into the majors 10 years earlier, I think he’d have been one of the top hitters all-time.”

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Garry Templeton to Cardinals: Trade me or pay me

Posted in Hitters on March 24, 2019| 6 Comments »

Feeling disrespected by management at the bargaining table and on the field, shortstop Garry Templeton lashed out at the Cardinals.

On March 27, 1979, Templeton asked to be traded and threatened to play at less than his best if his request wasn’t granted.

Templeton, 23, was upset because general manager John Claiborne wanted him to take a pay cut and because manager Ken Boyer and coach Dal Maxvill wanted him to change the way he played shortstop.

A day after expressing his unhappiness, Templeton apologized and remained the St. Louis shortstop.

Hurt feelings

In 1978, his third season with St. Louis, Templeton hit .280 with 31 doubles, 13 triples and 34 stolen bases, but he committed 40 errors.

After the season, the Cardinals hired Maxvill, their former Gold Glove shortstop, as a coach and assigned him to work with Templeton in 1979.

When Claiborne made a contract offer to Templeton for 1979, it called for a 10 percent cut in the $100,000 salary he received in 1978, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Claiborne proposed the cut because of Templeton’s high number of errors. Templeton was insulted because he led the 1978 Cardinals in hits (181) as well as triples and stolen bases and believed his production should be rewarded.

“There are guys in this league making more than I am who can’t even hold my shoestrings, or tie my shoestrings,” Templeton told The Sporting News in February 1979.

The sides resolved the matter, with Templeton getting a 1979 salary of $130,000, but the increase didn’t erase the sting of his bruised feelings.

“That really hurt him,” Templeton’s friend and teammate, outfielder Jerry Mumphrey, said. “He hasn’t gotten over it.”

At spring training, Maxvill worked with Templeton on fielding fundamentals, but Templeton resisted the instruction because he believed he was being constrained.

Playing chicken

When Templeton’s frustration reached a breaking point, he went to the media to express his views.

“I’m not going to play hard,” Templeton said to Rick Hummel of the Post-Dispatch. “I’m not going to do my best here. Hopefully I’ll be traded if the Cardinals aren’t too chicken to trade me.

“Either get me traded or get me more money. They can take the Cardinals uniform and shove it.”

Templeton said he twice asked the Cardinals to trade him. “They’d rather mess with you instead of sending you to someplace where you’ll be happy,” Templeton said.

In an interview with Mike Shannon of KMOX, Templeton said, “I don’t want to play with the Cardinals. I think they’re giving me too much trouble and I’m not happy here. I don’t want to play here and I’m not trying to play hard.”

After the outburst, Templeton met with his agent, Richie Bry, the Post-Dispatch reported. Bry met with Claiborne. After that, Templeton and Bry met with Claiborne and Boyer.

On second thought

The next day, Templeton attempted to control the damage he caused. He apologized for his words, claimed he no longer wanted to be traded and said “my contract is not and has never been the problem.”

In a prepared statement, Templeton said, “I regret the statements I made yesterday in the heat of anger for they do not accurately reflect my feelings for the Cardinals team, the city of St. Louis or the fans.

“The crux of my problem with management has always been my style of playing shortstop. Since I was 7 years old, I have developed certain habits and routines which have now become second nature to me. I believe that they give me more mobility, speed and range.”

Templeton contended his error total was high because he covered more ground than most shortstops. “Cardinals management and I disagreed on this and thus my anger and frustration,” he said.

Hummel noted, “Templeton’s style has on occasion been one of seeming nonchalance. He emphasizes catching balls with one hand, something Boyer and infield coach Dal Maxvill have suggested he alter.”

Said Boyer: “We haven’t tried to drive anything down his throat.”

To err is human

Reaction from Cardinals players and media generally was supportive of Templeton.

“All I know is that before long this guy is going to be the greatest shortstop I ever saw,” said Cardinals catcher Ted Simmons. “I just wish that when that happens he’ll be in St. Louis.”

Said first baseman Keith Hernandez: “I hope they can resolve the problem because we need him.”

Post-Dispatch sports editor Bob Broeg declared no Cardinals shortstop “has had anywhere near the basic all-round talent” of Templeton. “If Templeton is miffed most because Boyer had Maxvill trying to tell the kid how to do it at shortstop … tell Maxie to learn a few jokes to keep the kid loose and let him alone,” Broeg wrote.

Post-Dispatch columnist Doug Grow offered, “There is no greater insult to any working person than a reduction in pay. My guess is that management never will recover from that offer. An effort to save a few thousand a few months ago eventually could cost the Cardinals a shortstop worth millions.”

Templeton hit .314 with 32 doubles, 19 triples and 26 stolen bases for the Cardinals in 1979. He produced 211 hits and made 34 errors.

Two years later, in August 1981, Templeton created another controversy when he made obscene gestures to fans who booed him for lack of hustle in a game at St. Louis. He was traded after the season to the Padres for shortstop Ozzie Smith.

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Why Cardinals dealt an ace to get Bill White

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

To acquire Bill White, the Cardinals had to give up their best pitcher.

On March 25, 1959, the Cardinals traded pitchers Sam Jones and Don Choate to the Giants for White and utility player Ray Jablonski.

Jones was National League strikeout leader (225) in 1958 and shattered the Cardinals’ single-season record of 199 set by Dizzy Dean in 1933. Jones also led the 1958 Cardinals in wins (14) and ERA (2.88).

White, a first baseman and outfielder, was highly regarded, but couldn’t get a spot in the Giants’ lineup and wasn’t the Cardinals’ first choice. Giants outfielder Leon Wagner was the hitter the Cardinals wanted before they took White, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The Cardinals took heat for the deal, but it turned out to be the right move.

Who’s on first?

White made his major-league debut with the Giants in 1956 and hit 22 home runs as their first baseman. He served in the Army in 1957 and the first six months of 1958. Orlando Cepeda became the Giants’ first baseman in 1958 and excelled.

When White returned to the Giants in July 1958, he was relegated to a reserve role. White hit .241 in 26 games for the 1958 Giants. Cepeda hit .312 with 25 home runs and won the National League Rookie of the Year Award.

At spring training in 1959, Cepeda was back and a power-hitting prospect, Willie McCovey, whose best position was first base, was close to joining the team. White, seeing his path blocked, asked the Giants to trade him.

Help wanted

Cardinals general manager Bing Devine was determined to acquire a hitter to boost the 1959 lineup. In 1958, Ken Boyer was the only Cardinal to hit as many as 20 home runs.

According to Post-Dispatch sports editor Bob Broeg, the Cardinals set their sights on Wagner, who hit 13 home runs in half a season as a Giants rookie in 1958 after producing impressive power numbers in the minor leagues.

Wagner’s ability to hit home runs was appealing, but Cardinals talent evaluators concluded White was a better player.

While scouting winter baseball in the Dominican Republic, Cardinals manager Solly Hemus and farm director Walter Shannon saw White and were impressed. Cardinals minor-league manager Joe Schultz, who managed a team in the Dominican Republic, also raved about White.

After Cardinals scout Ollie Vanek filed glowing reports about White from Arizona spring training in 1959, Devine sent his special assistant, Eddie Stanky, to take a look. Stanky managed the Cardinals from 1952-55 and managed White in the minor leagues.

Stanky scouted White for a week. In his 2004 autobiography, “The Memoirs of Bing Devine,” Devine said he called Stanky in Arizona from a phone booth on the beach near St. Petersburg, Fla., to get his opinion on whether to acquire White.

“How well do you like him?” Devine asked Stanky.

Stanky replied, “Let’s not debate it. You sent me out here to see him. I like him. I’m telling you right now I’d make the deal. I suggest you do, too.”

Worth a risk

The trade was unpopular in St. Louis because Jones was so well-regarded. “He was, and we do not mind saying it out loud, one of our special favorites,” the Post-Dispatch declared in an editorial.

Broeg noted the deal “took nerve” because “the Cardinals gambled front-line pitching for potential batting power.”

The Cardinals were heartened by the reaction of former Giants manager Leo Durocher, who told the Associated Press, “I’ll bet you that in one or two years White will be one of the great players in the National League.”

Cardinals reliever Marv Grissom, a former Giant, said the Cardinals made the right choice. “Wagner has more power, all right, as much as anybody in the game,” Grissom said. “White is a smarter player, faster, better defensively and good and strong enough at the plate.”

White told The Sporting News, “I’m happy with the trade. With the Cardinals, I’ll get to play regularly. Naturally, I’m in baseball for the money, and when you play regularly you have a better argument for salary terms.”

In his autobiography, “Uppity,” White said he was glad to be traded, but “St. Louis was the worst city in the league for black players” because of segregationist attitudes. In 2011, when I interviewed White about the deal, he said, “St. Louis wasn’t my first choice, but it ended up that it was a great trade for me.”

Finding the groove

The Cardinals opened the 1959 season with an outfield of Stan Musial in left, Gino Cimoli in center and Joe Cunningham in right, with White at first base.

Pressing to fulfill expectations of being a power hitter, White struggled and had one hit, a single, in his first 19 at-bats. Cardinals coach Harry Walker urged him to relax and make contact rather than try for home runs. “White was lunging too much, was ahead of the pitch, wasn’t getting a good look,” Walker said.

After starting three games at first base and another in left field, Hemus had White make six starts in center field, even though Curt Flood was available.

In his autobiography, White said, “I was a terrible outfielder. I couldn’t judge fly balls. I couldn’t throw and I couldn’t cover the ground.”

On April 29, 1959, Hemus moved Musial to first base and shifted White to left. White was the left fielder from late April until early June. After that, he alternated between first base and left field.

After batting .195 in April, White hit .393 in May and .382 in June. He finished the season at .302, with 33 doubles and 12 home runs.

Jones was 21-15 for the 1959 Giants and led the league in ERA at 2.83.

After the season, the Cardinals acquired Wagner from the Giants, hoping he’d fill an outfield spot, but he played one season for them as a reserve before going to the American League and becoming an all-star for the Angels.

In eight seasons with the Cardinals, White batted .298, topped 100 RBI three times and hit 20 or more home runs five years in a row. He won the Gold Glove Award six times as a Cardinals first baseman. He also was a National League all-star with the Cardinals in 1959, 1960, 1961, 1963 and 1964 and helped them become 1964 World Series champions.

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Why Cardinals dealt Orlando Cepeda for Joe Torre

Posted in Hitters, Trades on March 9, 2019| 13 Comments »

(Updated April 13, 2025)

For such a straightforward deal, the trade of Joe Torre to the Cardinals for Orlando Cepeda took some twists and turns involving pitcher Nolan Ryan and center fielder Curt Flood.

On March 17, 1969, the Cardinals sent Cepeda to the Braves for Torre in a swap of first basemen.

The Braves were shopping Torre because he was feuding with general manager Paul Richards and hadn’t signed a contract. Most thought Torre would go to the Mets, who’d been in trade talks with the Braves for several weeks.

The Mets offered pitcher Nolan Ryan, first baseman Ed Kranepool, infielder Bob Heise and a choice of catchers, J.C. Martin or Duffy Dyer, for Torre and third baseman Bob Aspromonte, The Sporting News reported. Torre and Aspromonte were Brooklyn natives.

Ryan, who would become baseball’s all-time leader in strikeouts, impressed the Braves but was a raw talent. Richards rejected the four-for-two proposal because he wanted catcher Jerry Grote or outfielder Amos Otis, but the Mets “labeled them untouchables,” according to Atlanta Constitution sports editor Jesse Outlar.

When the Mets wouldn’t budge, the Braves offered Torre to the Dodgers for catcher Tom Haller, but the Dodgers weren’t interested, the Constitution reported.

Cardinals general manager Bing Devine offered Cepeda and Flood for Torre and outfielder Felipe Alou, according to the Constitution, but Richards wouldn’t trade Alou, so the clubs settled on Cepeda for Torre. Seven months later, when the Cardinals traded Flood to the Phillies, he refused to report, prompting his legal challenge of the reserve clause and opening a path to the creation of free agency.

Cepeda feels chill

The Cardinals were willing to trade Cepeda because his performance declined in 1968 and he miffed management by reporting late to spring training in 1969.

After batting .325 with 111 RBI and winning the National League Most Valuable Player Award with the Cardinals in 1967, Cepeda hit .248 with 73 RBI in 1968.

Cepeda “found himself taken advantage of by well-wishing friends who helped him pile up debts and other problems that didn’t endear him to management … especially when at times he’d duck out of the dugout between innings to conduct personal matters,” Bob Broeg of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

The Cardinals hoped Cepeda would be more focused in 1969, but he informed Devine by telegram he would report late to spring training.

When Cepeda arrived at camp on March 5, he said he’d been sick, but Devine fined him $250 for reporting 48 hours later than he said he would.

Cepeda said he detected “a coolness” from Devine, and Broeg reported “Cepeda realized there had been a change in attitude toward him.”

“Bing was not terribly friendly and he was all business,” Cepeda said in his 1998 book “Baby Bull.”

In his 2004 book “The Memoirs of Bing Devine,” Devine said, “I thought Cepeda might be on the way down.”

Mother knows best

Torre, meanwhile, was having issues with Braves management because Richards wanted him to take a salary cut. Torre hit .294 in nine seasons (1960-68) as Braves catcher, but he tore ligaments in his ankle in 1967 and suffered a broken cheek and broken nose when hit by a pitch from Chuck Hartenstein of the Cubs in 1968. Limited to 115 games in 1968, Torre batted .271 with 55 RBI.

The Braves planned to move Torre to first base in 1969, but when he refused to report to spring training because of the salary squabble, Richards told him he could “hold out until Thanksgiving” because the club would be OK without him.

The Cardinals were interested because Torre (28) was three years younger than Cepeda (31), had a less expensive salary ($65,000) than Cepeda ($80,000) and could play multiple positions.

“This is all part of our belief that we can’t just sit and ride along with a winner, but must look for changes that make sense,” Devine said.

Devine projected Torre to play first base and back up Tim McCarver at catcher.

When Torre told his mother he’d been traded to the two-time defending National League champions, she replied, “Now go to church and thank God.”

“Mom recognized what going with a championship ballclub like the Cardinals meant,” Torre said.

Looking back on the trade, Torre told Cardinals Yearbook in 2014, “The fact I was traded for Orlando Cepeda surprised the hell out of me. He was so well thought of as a player and a great leader.”

Cepeda, described by pitcher Bob Gibson as the team’s “spiritual leader,” said he was “shocked” by the trade, “but I’m not mad at the Cardinals. They treated me very well.”

Said Richards: “Now we have someone to hit behind Hank Aaron. The opposition can no longer pitch around Aaron.”

Good fit

When Torre joined the Cardinals at training camp, he was greeted by Warren Spahn, a manager in their farm system and a former battery mate. “You’ll love it here,” Spahn told Torre.

Torre wore uniform No. 15 with the Braves, but McCarver had that number with the Cardinals. “I think I’ll ask for No. 6,” Torre said with a smile, knowing it was the retired number of Stan Musial.

Torre was given No. 9, last worn by recently retired Roger Maris. “I thought No. 9 was great, knowing who had worn it the year before,” Torre recalled to Cardinals Yearbook in 2014. “I knew Roger a little bit, and I knew what kind of guy he was, so I was really proud to have it.”

In his 1997 book, “Chasing the Dream,” Torre said, “I felt a lot of pressure trying to replace Cepeda, but found myself surrounded by a great bunch of teammates.”

With Cepeda, the Braves won a division title in 1969 and played in the National League Championship Series against the Mets, who’d acquired Donn Clendenon to play first after they failed to get Torre. The Cardinals placed fourth in their division and Gibson good-naturedly chided Torre, saying, “You know, we used to win before you got here.”

Individually, Torre had a better 1969 season than Cepeda. Torre hit .289 with 101 RBI. Cepeda hit .257 with 88 RBI.

Cepeda played four seasons with the Braves and hit .281. Torre played six seasons with the Cardinals and hit .308. In 1971, Torre was named winner of the National League Most Valuable Player Award when he batted .363 with 137 RBI as Cardinals third baseman.

Years later, Devine said acquiring Torre “was one of my favorite deals on the basis of his long-term success.”

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Don Newcombe used multiple skills to torment Cardinals

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents, Pitchers on March 6, 2019| 4 Comments »

(Updated April 13, 2020)

Don Newcombe was as tough on the Cardinals with a bat as he was with pitches.

Newcombe was a hard-throwing, hard-hitting pitcher who spent his prime years with the Dodgers.

At 6-4, 220 pounds, Newcombe was an imposing figure on the mound, where he threw right-handed, and at the plate, where he hit left-handed.

In 10 years in the major leagues, Newcombe had a 149-90 record and hit .271 with 15 home runs. Against the Cardinals, Newcombe was 23-11 and hit .299 with six home runs.

In 1955, when he was 20-5 for the champion Dodgers, Newcombe “toyed with the Cardinals as though they were a sandlot team,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Newcombe was 4-0 with a 1.75 ERA and batted .524 with seven RBI versus the 1955 Cardinals.

Newcombe “is downright unbelievable these days,” marveled the Post-Dispatch. “The way he’s going, the only question is whether he can throw as hard as he can hit, or hit as hard as he can throw.”

Rookie vs. Redbirds

Newcombe, 22, made his major-league debut for the Dodgers against the Cardinals on May 20, 1949, at St. Louis and it was a hard-luck initiation.

With the Cardinals ahead, 3-2, Newcombe relieved Rex Barney to open the bottom of the seventh inning. The St. Louis Star-Times, getting its first glimpse of the rookie, described him as “bull-shouldered” and a “massive mountain man.”

Newcombe struck out the first batter, Chuck Diering, on three pitches _ two fastballs and a curve _ and Red Schoendienst followed with a lined single to right.

Next up was Stan Musial. Newcombe fooled him with a low, outside pitch, causing Musial to check his swing, but the ball met his bat and was blooped into shallow left for a single, moving Schoendienst to second.

Newcombe overpowered the next batter, Eddie Kazak, who topped the ball to short so weakly Pee Wee Reese had no play.

The infield single loaded the bases for Enos Slaughter, who drove Newcombe’s first pitch deep down the left-field line for a bases-clearing double. Newcombe was relieved by Erv Palica and the Cardinals won, 6-2. Boxscore

“I had good stuff,” Newcombe said to The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. “My arm felt good and loose, too.”

According to a Saturday Evening Post article reported on in The Sporting News, when Newcombe struck out Diering, “the Negro fans in the right field stands at Sportsman’s Park went wild. White fans resented this _ cheers for the visiting Negro player and hoots for the hometown Cardinals. So when the Cardinals began pounding away at Newcombe, the white fans gave him the business.”

Three months later, on Aug. 24, 1949, in what The Brooklyn Daily Eagle called “quite possibly the most important single game the Dodgers will have this season,” Newcombe pitched a shutout and drove in three runs in a 6-0 victory over the Cardinals at Brooklyn. The win moved the Dodgers within a game of the first-place Cardinals. Boxscore

Newcombe is “the closest thing to a real blow-’em-down pitcher the National League has seen since Mort Cooper was at his best,” declared the Post-Dispatch.

Solved by Stan

The Dodgers won the 1949 pennant, finishing a game ahead of the Cardinals. Newcombe posted a 17-8 record, pitched 244.1 innings and won the National League Rookie of the Year Award.

In the 1994 book “We Played the Game,” Newcombe said as a rookie, “I had the talent and desire _ and I was cocky. I knew I was good, as good or better than the white guys who were trying to keep me from being there.”

Newcombe led the National League in winning percentage in 1955 (20-5, .800) and 1956 (27-7, .794), and was 4-0 versus the Cardinals in each season.

The Cardinal who hit Newcombe the hardest was Musial. Newcombe gave up more home runs (11) to Musial than to any other batter. Musial hit .349 against him.

In “We Played the Game,” Newcombe said, “I pitched toward batters’ weaknesses. Except for Stan Musial and Hank Aaron, they all had weaknesses, even Willie Mays.”

On June 21, 1956, during a season when Newcombe won both the Cy Young Award and the National League Most Valuable Player trophy, Musial hit a pair of two-run home runs and a single against him, but the Dodgers won, 9-8, with a four-run rally in the bottom of the ninth. Boxscore

Newcombe and Carl Erskine were the pitchers when Musial hit for the cycle against the Dodgers on July 24, 1949, at Brooklyn. Musial tripled against Newcombe and had a single, double and home run off Erskine. Boxscore

In his 1964 autobiography, “Stan Musial: The Man’s Own Story,” Musial said, “Newk had as great control for a hard thrower as any pitcher I ever faced. I hit him good, but he had a good fastball and curve.”

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