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Ozzie Smith had a classy Cardinals farewell

Posted in Games, Hitters on September 27, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Of the many tributes expressed on Ozzie Smith Appreciation Day, the best came from a Cardinals opponent.

larkin_smithOn Sept. 28, 1996, Barry Larkin, the heir apparent to Smith as the top shortstop in the National League, was at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, playing for the Reds against the Cardinals in the next-to-last game of the regular season.

The Cardinals had chosen that Saturday afternoon to honor Smith, 41, who in June had announced that the 1996 season would be his last as a player.

In the pre-game festivities before a crowd of 52,876, master of ceremonies Jack Buck was joined by an array of Cardinals legends, including Stan Musial, Red Schoendienst, Bob Gibson, Lou Brock and Whitey Herzog.

Larkin, who like Smith would be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, took his turn at the microphone and spoke for the profession.

“Ozzie created a fraternity among shortstops and all those who had a relationship with him,” Larkin said. “On behalf of all baseball players, we thank you. For your sportsmanship. For your humanitarian work. For your great defensive plays. For hitting that home run in the 1985 playoffs. For representing baseball with honesty and integrity.”

Paving the way

Also in attendance were Smith’s mother and his three children.

Cardinals management announced the franchise would retire the uniform No. 1 worn by Smith during his St. Louis playing career from 1982-1996. Among the gifts Smith received was a baby grand piano from his teammates and staff.

“I’d like to thank God for giving me the ability to go out and perform for 19 years in a sport that I love,” Smith said. “I’d like to thank my mom for being my inspiration and driving force. I thank my family for their support. I thank the Cardinals organization for its support and the opportunity to perform for the greatest fans in the world. I thank all my teammates, past and present, because I could not have done it without all of you.”

In summary, the master fielder known as the Wizard of Oz, said, “You have all been part of my dream. Thanks to every one of you for traveling down my Yellow Brick Road.”

Observing the lovefest, columnist Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted, “We saw an all-time record for most hugs and kisses in a single day at Busch Stadium.”

Touch of class

Cardinals manager Tony La Russa started Smith at shortstop that day and put him in the leadoff spot in the batting order.

As he headed to his position to begin the game, Smith treated fans to a somersault and his signature backflip.

The Reds started pitcher Mike Morgan, who had been released by the Cardinals a month earlier.

When Smith stepped to the plate in the first inning, Morgan tipped his cap to his former teammate. “Mike is one of the nicest guys in the game,” Smith told Rick Hummel of the Post-Dispatch.

Smith grounded out to Morgan.

In the third, Smith sliced a grounder down the third-base line. Eduardo Perez, the Reds’ third baseman and son of Hall of Famer Tony Perez, dived to his right, fielded the ball and threw out Smith from his knees.

Smith grounded out routinely to third against Morgan in the fifth.

Reaching base

In the sixth, facing left-hander Mike Remlinger, Smith hit a looping liner to left for a RBI-single. It would be the last regular-season hit of his career.

In his final at-bat of the game in the eighth, Smith was hit on the foot by a pitch from Scott Sullivan.

The Reds went down in order in the ninth. Bret Boone and Perez each grounded out to Smith. Larkin made the last out on a pop-up to first. The Cardinals won, 5-2. Boxscore

Smith had six fielding assists in the game and started a double play.

Starting again the next day in the season finale, Smith was 0-for-2 before he was replaced by Royce Clayton.

In the 1996 postseason, Smith was 1-for-3 in the NL Division Series versus the Padres and hitless in nine at-bats in the NL Championship Series against the Braves.

Previously: Ozzie Smith cheered Barry Larkin’s best personal feat

Previously: Bitterness at Ozzie Smith retirement announcement

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Billy Southworth and his timely home run for Cardinals

Posted in Games, Hitters, Managers, Opponents, Pitchers on September 20, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Three months after he was traded by the Giants to the Cardinals, Billy Southworth hit a home run against his former team, providing the winning run in the victory that clinched the first National League pennant for St. Louis.

billy_southworth4It was sweet revenge for Southworth, whose deteriorating relationship with Giants manager John McGraw led to the trade.

On Sept. 24, 1926, Southworth broke a 3-3 tie with a two-run home run in the second inning, carrying the Cardinals to a 6-4 victory over the Giants at the Polo Grounds in New York. The victory gave the Cardinals a three-game lead over the second-place Reds with two remaining.

In a biography of Southworth by author John C. Skipper, Southworth said, “I couldn’t have asked for a better setting, in the Polo Grounds against the Giants who had traded me. That was the timeliest home run I ever hit and to have hit it against the Giants, with McGraw snarling his defiance from the bench, made it doubly thrilling and satisfying.”

Quite a comeback

Southworth, a right fielder, was traded by the Giants to the Cardinals on June 14, 1926. “I was unable to subordinate myself to McGraw’s rigid system,” Southworth explained. “So when he decided, in 1926, that I was, from his viewpoint, hopeless, he traded me with no personal feeling one way or the other.”

Contributing to their pennant push, Southworth hit .317 in 99 games for the 1926 Cardinals.

To pitch the potential pennant clincher against the Giants, Cardinals manager Rogers Hornsby chose 20-game winner Flint Rhem as his starter.

After the Cardinals failed to score in the top of the first against Hugh McQuillan, Bill Terry slugged a three-run home run off Rhem in the bottom half of the inning.

Said Southworth: “Hornsby poured acid on us when we came back to the bench. He told us we hadn’t been taking our full cuts at the ball for several games and to get out there and swing.”

Hornsby’s words woke up the Cardinals.

In the second, Les Bell doubled and, with one out, advanced to third on a wild pitch. Bell scored on Bob O’Farrell’s infield single. The No. 8 batter in the order, Tommy Thevenow, doubled, moving O’Farrell to third.

Rhem was due up next, but Hornsby lifted him for a pinch-hitter, Specs Toporcer.

Toporcer, who hit .391 as a pinch-hitter for the 1926 Cardinals, drilled a two-run double, tying the score at 3-3.

After Taylor Douthit flied out, Southworth batted and hit his home run into the upper deck in right field, giving the Cardinals a 5-3 lead.

Bill Sherdel, who relieved Rhem, held the Giants to one run in eight innings and got the win. Boxscore

Dancing downtown

In downtown St. Louis that Friday afternoon, the game was broadcast over loudspeakers set up for the public.

When Sherdel nailed down the final out, sealing the Cardinals’ victory, it “loosed bedlam in the downtown district,” according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

“Scenes comparable only with the ending of the Great War were enacted in the business section and repeated upon a smaller scale in other centers of the city’s life,” the newspaper reported. “Blizzards of paper enveloped every office building in the downtown area between Twelfth Boulevard and Fourth.”

Wrote the Associated Press: “Traffic at the principal corners was in a hopeless jam. Policemen, trying vainly to keep some semblance of order, were unable to keep the automobiles and street cars moving. Parades formed on Olive Street, Washington Avenue and other principal thoroughfares.”

At the Polo Grounds, the victorious Cardinals “merely smiled as they hurried to the clubhouse, shaking hands and slapping one another on the back” wrote the Associated Press.

That night, reported J. Roy Stockton in the Post-Dispatch, “as the young men sat around the lobby of the Alamac Hotel, accepting congratulations and reading telegrams from friends back home, they appeared suddenly to have knocked 10 years off their age.”

Confident Cards

Contacted by the Associated Press, Cardinals owner Sam Breadon said, “Nothing could possibly have made me happier than the winning of the pennant. When I took charge of the club seven years ago, I did it with the sole hope of winning a championship for St. Louis.”

Asked about the Cardinals being matched against the American League champion Yankees in the 1926 World Series, Hornsby boasted to The Sporting News, “Of course we are going to win the world’s championship. We have the punch and that means we do not fear the Yankees’ pitchers. We have better pitchers of our own, for that matter. Also, a faster fielding team.”

The Cardinals went on to win four of seven games against the Yankees, earning the World Series title.

Previously: How Cardinals got Grover Cleveland Alexander

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Stan Musial refused to knuckle under in 1st Cardinals game

Posted in Games, Hitters, Prospects on September 17, 2016| Leave a Comment »

(Updated May 29, 2024)

In his debut with the Cardinals, Stan Musial saw a knuckleball for the first time, determined what he’d have to do to succeed, adjusted his approach at the plate and attacked the pitch with a purpose.

jim_tobinOn Sept. 17, 1941, at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis, Musial, 20, appeared in his first Cardinals game. Batting third and playing right field, Musial was 2-for-4 with two RBI in the Cardinals’ 3-2 victory over the Braves in the second game of a doubleheader.

Facing knuckleball pitcher Jim Tobin, 28, who was in his fifth season in the big leagues, Musial had a double and a single, launching a Cardinals career that would lead to his induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Wakeup call

Converted from a pitcher to an outfielder, Musial began the 1941 season with the Cardinals’ Class C minor-league club at Springfield, Mo. In 141 games combined for Springfield and Class AA Rochester, Musial batted .359 with 204 hits.

When Rochester was eliminated from the International League playoffs, Musial returned home to Donora, Pa. After attending Sunday Mass, he was taking a nap when a telegram arrived from the Cardinals, instructing him to report to St. Louis.

Musial walked into the Cardinals’ clubhouse for the first time on the morning of Sept. 17 and was greeted by equipment manager Butch Yatkeman, who issued the newcomer uniform number 6.

In recalling his first impressions of Sportsman’s Park in a July 1993 article for The Diamond magazine, Musial said, “As I looked around the ballpark on my first day there, I made sure to check the distance to the wall in right field, one of the first things any left-handed batter would do. When I saw that it was 309 feet, I said to myself, ‘I think I’m going to like it here.’ ‘

After watching the Cardinals win the first game of the doubleheader, 6-1, behind rookie starter Howie Pollet, Musial was put in the lineup for Game 2 by manager Billy Southworth.

Unforgettable flutter

Recalling his first at-bat in the big leagues, Musial said, “I’ll never forget … the challenge of the first knuckleball I’d ever seen. It fluttered up to the plate, big as a grapefruit but dancing like a dust devil,” according to the book “Stan Musial: The Man’s Own Story.”

Musial swung and popped up weakly to the third baseman.

The next time up, Musial took a different approach. “I learned to delay my stride, cut down my swing and just stroke the ball,” Musial said.

With two on and two outs in the third inning, Musial swung at the knuckler and lined a two-run double to right-center field.

The Cardinals won, 3-2, when Estel Crabtree snapped a 2-2 tie with a walkoff home run against Tobin in the ninth. Boxscore

Said Musial: “I was a happy kid all right and pretty lucky.”

Rave reviews

In its report on the game, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch cited “some welcome help from Stanley Musial, recruit outfielder from Rochester.”

The St. Louis Star-Times noted, “Southworth was greatly impressed with the hitting power of rookie Stan Musial, a big, rangy kid. Musial appeared nervous in right field and didn’t play (Eddie) Miller’s triple too well in the seventh inning, but then what kid wouldn’t be?”

The Sporting News called Musial “a hard hitter” who “packs a lot of wallop in his 5 feet and 11 inches and 158 pounds of muscle.”

In summary, The Sporting News reported, “In addition to his hitting ability, Musial has shown exceptional speed and defensive skill. National League pitchers can expect to see a lot of him in 1942.”

In 12 games with the 1941 Cardinals, Musial batted .426 (20-for-47) and struck out once.

He batted .429 (18-for-42) in his career versus Tobin, according to retrosheet.org.

Previously: Cards rookie Enos Slaughter set torrid extra-hit pace

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Grand slams are icing on Cardinals birthday cakes

Posted in Games, Hitters on August 23, 2016| Leave a Comment »

On a day when they would be expected to receive presents, five Cardinals delivered gifts to their team.

randal_grichukJulian Javier, Ted Simmons, Todd Zeile, Colby Rasmus and Randal Grichuk are Cardinals who hit grand slams on their birthdays. Each led to a Cardinals triumph.

The youngest was Rasmus at 24. The oldest was Zeile at 28. Each of the other three achieved the feat on his 25th birthday.

Four of the five grand slams occurred on birthdays between Aug. 9 and Aug. 13. The other was in September.

Here is a look at each:

Stay fair

On Aug. 9, 1961, at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, Javier, who turned 25 that day, broke a scoreless tie with an eighth-inning grand slam off Pirates starter Joe Gibbon. The Cardinals won, 4-0, for their seventh consecutive victory.

Javier, who had been traded by the Pirates to the Cardinals a year earlier, swung at an 0-and-1 pitch from Gibbon and hit it the opposite way down the right-field line. It landed in the seats near the foul pole.

“I see fastball and I swing,” Javier said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

It was the first of two major-league grand slams for Javier and one of just two home runs he hit in 445 at-bats that season.

“Best birthday present I ever had,” Javier said.

In the ninth, facing Bobby Shantz, Javier again batted with the bases loaded, but flied out to center field. Boxscore

Simba slam

On Aug. 9, 1974, at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis, Simmons, who turned 25 that day, erased a 1-0 Dodgers lead by hitting a slider from starter Geoff Zahn for a grand slam in the sixth inning. The Cardinals won, 5-3.

It was the third of nine grand slams for Simmons in his big-league career.

Said Simmons: “It certainly was a nice way to celebrate.” Boxscore

Giant slayer

On Sept. 9, 1993, at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, Zeile, who turned 28 that day, stretched the Cardinals’ lead from 5-2 to 9-2 with a grand slam off reliever Terry Bross in the sixth inning. The Cardinals won, 9-4.

Zeile hit a 2-and-1 pitch from Bross over the left-field wall for the second of his nine career big-league grand slams.

“It hurts a lot,” Bross said to the San Jose Mercury News. “I could have helped the team and didn’t get the job done.” Boxscore

Dramatic duel

On Aug. 11, 2010, at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, Rasmus, who turned 24 that day, snapped a scoreless tie with a grand slam off starter Bronson Arroyo in the fifth inning. The Cardinals won, 6-1, a day after a brawl during which Reds pitcher Johnny Cueto kicked two Cardinals, pitcher Chris Carpenter and catcher Jason LaRue.

Rasmus drove a pitch 418 feet over the center field wall for the first of five career grand slams in the big leagues.

Bernie Miklasz, Post-Dispatch columnist, wrote, “It was one of the best at-bats of the Cardinals’ season, with Rasmus falling behind in the count 0-and-2, fouling off two pitches and working the duel back to 3-and-2 before launching a deep broadside toward the fake tugboat the Reds keep in center field.”

As the ball carried over the fence, Rasmus raised his fist in the air.

“After I hit that ball, I probably was about as jacked as I’ve been in a while,” Rasmus said. Boxscore

Streak stopper

On Aug. 13, 2016, at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Grichuk, who turned 25 that day, hit an eighth-inning grand slam off reliever Joe Smith, extending the Cardinals’ lead over the Cubs from 4-2 to 8-2. The Cardinals won, 8-4, and broke the Cubs’ 11-game winning streak.

Grichuk had been recalled by the Cardinals from Class AAA Memphis two days earlier. “I’m definitely thankful for being up here right now and getting the opportunities and I’m definitely trying to take advantage of it,” Grichuk said to the Associated Press. Boxscore

Previously: Tim McCarver, Terry Pendleton share grand feat

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How Choo Choo Coleman derailed Cardinals

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents on August 20, 2016| Leave a Comment »

(Updated March 27, 2023)

In his first game as a starting catcher for the 1962 Mets, Choo Choo Coleman dared to lead off an inning with a bunt against Bob Gibson.

choochoo_colemanBy challenging the Cardinals’ ace, Coleman played a key role in ending Gibson’s four-game winning streak and snapping the Mets’ 11-game skid.

On July 27, 1962, in the first game of a doubleheader against the Cardinals, Coleman opened the third inning with a bunt single and scored the lone run in the Mets’ 1-0 victory at St. Louis. Coleman’s batterymate, Al Jackson, who hadn’t earned a win in more than a month, pitched the shutout.

It was the only 1-0 win for the 1962 Mets and one of four shutout victories for them. Jackson pitched all four.

Runaway train

Clarence Coleman told an interviewer he got the nickname “Choo Choo” as a boy in his hometown of Orlando because he ran fast like a train.

Small for a catcher at 5 feet 9 and 165 pounds, Coleman entered the big leagues with the 1961 Phillies and batted .128 for them in 34 games.

The Mets selected Coleman in the National League expansion draft, but assigned him to Class AAA Syracuse before the start of the 1962 season. According to The Sporting News, “He didn’t take well to the demotion.”

Coleman batted .195 for Syracuse, but when Mets catcher Sammy Taylor fractured the ring finger on his right hand in July 1962, Coleman was promoted to the big club.

Getting a boost

The Mets had lost 16 of their previous 17 games entering the July 27 doubleheader versus the Cardinals.

Mets manager Casey Stengel, looking to show confidence in Coleman, put him in the starting lineup for the first time. He couldn’t have picked a much tougher opponent than Gibson.

Stengel “is currently embarked upon a psychological campaign designed to instill the big-league attitude into the shy and uncommunicative Choo Choo Coleman,” The Sporting News reported.

In the book “We Played the Game,” Mets outfielder Gene Woodling said Coleman “had the misfortune of coming out of a poor area of Florida and not getting much education … The sorriest thing I ever saw was Casey trying to teach Choo Choo how to count on his fingers. He had to paint them.”

Gibson had limited the Mets to a two-out Felix Mantilla single through the first two innings before Coleman led off the third.

Batting left-handed, Coleman bunted toward third baseman Ken Boyer and raced down the line for a single. Jackson followed with a sacrifice bunt, moving Coleman to second.

Gibson struck out Richie Ashburn for the second out.

The next batter, Rod Kanehl, hit a routine grounder. Shortstop Julio Gotay reached for the ball, but couldn’t come up with it.

Coleman, living up to his nickname, steamed around third base and dashed for home. While Gotay still struggled to field the ball, Coleman streaked across the plate with the unearned run. Boxscore

Off track

Stengel also started Coleman in the second game of the doubleheader. Facing Larry Jackson, Coleman produced the first of his two career triples, but the Cardinals won, 6-5.

Coleman played in 55 games for the 1962 Mets and batted .250. Grasping for a positive, The Sporting News said of the diminutive catcher, “Pitchers say he is one of the most adroit receivers of the low delivery.”

In his final two seasons with the Mets, Coleman hit .178 in 1963 and, after two years of exile in the minors, .188 in 1966. His career batting mark in four seasons in the majors: .197.

After his playing career, Coleman worked as a cook in a Chinese restaurant in Virginia, according to his obituary in the New York Times.

Previously: Cardinals have strong link to original Mets

Previously: Interview with former Cardinals pitcher Al Jackson

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How Mike Shannon put brakes on Cubs title hopes

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents on August 17, 2016| 2 Comments »

With the first grand slam of his major-league career, Mike Shannon slowed the Cubs’ momentum and helped the Cardinals split a four-game series at Wrigley Field.

mike_shannon5On Aug. 15, 1968, Shannon hit a grand slam against reliever Bill Stoneman in the second inning, carrying the Cardinals to an 8-0 victory in the finale of the series and putting a dent in the Cubs’ pennant hopes. Boxscore

Second City showdown

The Cardinals, defending World Series champions, entered the series in first place, 14 games ahead of the second-place Cubs in the National League. After the Cubs won the first two, cutting the Cardinals’ lead to 12, fans in Chicago were fired up, sensing their club was poised to get back into the pennant race.

Cardinals ace Bob Gibson dampened those hopes in Game 3, pitching a complete game in a 3-1 victory.

That set up a scenario in which the Cubs needed to win Game 4 in order to gain any ground on the Cardinals.

Get up, baby

A crowd of 23,116 turned out for the Thursday afternoon series finale and the bleachers were packed with rowdies.

Gibson, in a playful mood, pinned a button with the words “We’re No. 1” to the bill of his cap and bantered with fans in the right-field bleachers before the game. “I led the boos for Roger Maris,” Gibson said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, referring to his outfield teammate.

In the first inning, the Cardinals scored four runs against starter Ken Holtzman and knocked him out of the game. Shannon contributed a RBI-single.

In the second, the Cardinals loaded the bases with two outs against former teammate Jack Lamabe. With Shannon up, Lamabe was replaced by Stoneman.

Shannon hit Stoneman’s second pitch into the left-field seats. The grand slam _ the only one of his Cardinals career _ was his 500th hit in the big leagues.

“In Wrigley Field, if you get the ball in the air, you have a heck of a chance,” Shannon said.

Last laugh

The Bleacher Bums took out their frustrations on Cardinals outfielders Lou Brock, Curt Flood and Ron Davis.

“They were hitting us with everything,” said Flood. “Ice cubes, burned-out flashbulbs, fruit, tennis balls, paper cups and old sandwiches.”

Said Davis: “If you turned around, then you’d really get it. That’s when they’d start throwing things at you.”

Plotting his revenge, Flood printed a banner that stated, “We’re still No. 1.”

In the bottom of the ninth, with the Cardinals ahead 8-0, Flood took the banner with him to his position in center and spread it on the outfield grass, with the words facing the bleachers.

Knowing what was to come, Brock stuffed his ears with cotton to block out the taunts.

Day shift

Shannon finished the game 3-for-5 with five RBI and two runs scored. The performance gave him a .415 batting average (27-for-45) in day games that season.

“I just can see that ball better in the daytime,” Shannon told the Associated Press.

Nelson Briles pitched the shutout for the Cardinals. It was his fifth consecutive win and boosted his season record to 16-7.

The Cardinals went on to win the 1968 pennant, finishing nine games ahead of the Giants and 13 in front of the third-place Cubs.

Shannon finished his Cardinals career with 68 home runs. He had 16 against the Cubs, including 12 at Wrigley Field.

Previously: Mike Shannon ignited Cards with World Series blast

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