RetroSimba

(Updated March 27, 2018)

Ron Plaza never played a game in the major leagues, but he influenced several Cardinals big-leaguers.

Plaza was a manager in the Cardinals’ farm system for six years, posting a 432-329 record. He also was an infielder in the Cardinals’ organization for 11 years.

St. Petersburg was the site of Plaza’s biggest success as a Cardinals minor-league manager. Replacing Sparky Anderson, Plaza managed St. Petersburg to a 96-43 record and the Florida State League championship in 1967. He was named winner of the Class A league’s Manager of the Year Award.

The other Cardinals farm clubs managed by Plaza were Billings (1963), Winnipeg (1964), Cedar Rapids (1965-66) and St. Petersburg (1968).

Among the players Plaza managed in the Cardinals’ system was pitcher Steve Carlton, who would earn election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Pitching for Plaza’s 1964 Winnipeg club, Carlton was 4-4 with a 3.36 ERA.

In the June 15, 1968, edition of The Sporting News, Carlton cited Plaza, Clyde King, Hal Smith, Grover Resinger and Billy Muffett as Cardinals instructors who had a positive influence on him. “I had good instructors all along the line,” Carlton said.

Future Cardinals who played for Plaza on the 1967 championship St. Petersburg team were outfielders Boots Day (70 RBI and 21 stolen bases in 136 games) and Jose Cruz (.278 batting average in 78 games) and pitcher Santiago Guzman (16-3, 1.74 ERA in 23 starts).

In 1968, pitcher Reggie Cleveland, who would go on to a 13-year major-league career, was 15-10 with a 2.77 ERA in 27 starts for Plaza’s St. Petersburg team.

After the 1968 season, Plaza was selected to the coaching staff of the Seattle Pilots, an American League expansion team managed by Joe Schultz, who had been a coach for the Cardinals from 1963-68. Plaza had played for three Cardinals farm clubs managed by Schultz: 1959 Omaha, 1961 Charleston and 1962 Atlanta.

In his book “Ball Four,” Pilots pitcher Jim Bouton wrote about Plaza.

The Pilots were relocated to Milwaukee after one season in Seattle and became the Brewers. Schultz and Plaza weren’t retained.

Plaza joined manager Sparky Anderson’s coaching staff with the 1978 Reds. He remained a Reds coach through 1983, serving under managers John McNamara and Russ Nixon.

In 1986, Plaza became a coach for manager Jackie Moore with the Athletics. After Moore was fired in June, Plaza served out the season for Moore’s replacement _ Tony La Russa.

As a player in the Cardinals’ organization, Plaza’s best year was 1956 when he hit .297 in 121 games as a second baseman for Class AAA Rochester, managed by Dixie Walker.

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In 1977, Vern Rapp, a first-time big-league manager, got off to a rocky start with the Cardinals and never fully recovered.

Rapp, adhering to a policy of no facial hair for players, feuded with several Cardinals veterans, most notably reliever Al Hrabosky and outfielder Bake McBride, during his first season as Cardinals manager. Unable to improve his relationship with core players such as Ted Simmons and Lou Brock, Rapp was fired on April 25, 1978.

Giants want Rapp

After the Cardinals finished 72-90 in 1976, manager Red Schoendienst was fired. Wire service reports indicated the Cardinals were considering hiring Joe Altobelli to replace Schoendienst. Altobelli managed the Orioles’ Rochester farm team to an International League title in 1976.

Rapp, who managed the Expos’ Denver farm team to a division championship in 1976 and got named minor league manager of the year by The Sporting News, was reported to be the top choice of the Giants to replace manager Bill Rigney. United Press International reported Rapp would get the job because Giants owner Bob Lurie “was impressed with Rapp’s reputation as a winner, a no-nonsense field leader and a man able to relate to today’s younger players.”

The Cardinals surprised the Giants by offering their job to Rapp, who accepted. (The Giants then called Altobelli, who was in St. Louis and being offered a position in the Cardinals’ organization, and gave him the San Francisco managerial job).

St. Louis background

Rapp cited his connections to the city and the team for his decision in choosing the Cardinals instead of the Giants. Rapp, a St. Louis native, had been signed by the Cardinals as a catcher in 1946. He played in the Cardinals’ minor-league system from 1946-50 and from 1953-54.

From 1965-68, Rapp managed the Cardinals’ Class AA teams, leading Tulsa (1965) and Little Rock (1968) to Texas League championships. Among the future Cardinals he managed were pitchers Larry Jaster, Ron Willis, Wayne Granger and Jerry Reuss.

(Rapp left the Cardinals’ organization to become Class AAA manager of the Reds in 1969, joining Cincinnati general manager Bob Howsam, who had been general manager of the Cardinals when Rapp became a St. Louis minor-league manager in 1965. Rapp told the Associated Press he left the Cardinals for the Reds because “I felt stymied in Double-A.” During his tenure as Reds Class AAA manager from 1969-75, Rapp was credited with helping the careers of pitcher Gary Nolan and outfielder Ken Griffey Sr.)

After being selected to replace Schoendienst, Rapp told reporters, “This is like a dream come true.”

Conflict among Cardinals

The dream had its nightmare moments:

_ After feuding with Rapp, McBride was traded to the Phillies in June 1977.

_ Rapp suspended Hrabosky when the pitcher ignored a request to meet.

_ Later, Hrabosky ignored Rapp’s ban on facial hair and grew back his Fu Manchu moustache and beard. Team owner Gussie Busch ordered Rapp to lift the ban.

_ Rapp insulted Brock when he sent the veteran to pinch-hit, then removed him for Mike Anderson (a .221 hitter) when the opposing team changed pitchers.

_ During a team meeting, Brock urged Rapp to be less rigid in his dealings with players. Rapp told Brock, “I’ll never change,” and abruptly ended the meeting, The Sporting News reported.

Still, the 1977 Cardinals finished 83-79, improving their win total by 11 over the 1976 showing. After the season, Hrabosky was traded to the Royals.

Losing control

With Hrabosky and McBride gone and with Rapp having had a season of experience in the big leagues, it was hoped the turmoil would end in 1978. Not so. It boiled over on April 15 after the Phillies handed the Cardinals a 3-2 loss in 10 innings at St. Louis. Boxscore

Tensions were high in the clubhouse after the defeat. Catcher Ted Simmons turned on the stereo and music blasted across the room. “I was just trying to cool people off, keep ’em loose,” Simmons told The Sporting News days later.

Rapp was livid, thinking Simmons and the Cardinals were unfazed by the loss. Rapp beckoned Simmons into the manager’s office and an argument ensued. Rapp called Simmons “a loser” _ a label teammates and fans never would have associated with the hard-playing catcher.

Rapp eventually apologized. “There’s no one who has more individual capabilities of leadership than Ted Simmons,” Rapp told reporters days later. (When he was hired to manage the Cardinals, Rapp had said to The Sporting News, “Being an ex-catcher, I believe Simmons has the ability to handle the responsibility of being a leader on the field. I just want him to know that publicly.”)

Rapp’s stinging rebuke of Simmons had been heard by players _ and the friction wasn’t repairable. Days after the incident, Cardinals broadcaster Jack Buck broke the story, telling listeners about it as a way to explain the Cardinals’ poor play. With the Cardinals’ record at 6-11, general manager Bing Devine fired Rapp, citing “unrest on the ballclub” and calling the move “inevitable.”

Ken Boyer, the former Cardinals all-star third baseman, coach and minor-league manager who had left the organization after being passed over for the big-league job in favor of Rapp, was hired to replace the ousted manager.

“Things like this happen in this profession,” Rapp said to the Associated Press.

In 1979, Rapp joined the coaching staff of Expos manager Dick Williams and remained there through the 1983 season. Rapp was named manager of the Reds in 1984. In August, with Cincinnati at 51-70, Rapp was fired _ and replaced by Pete Rose.

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(Updated April 4, 2025)

To get insights into what made Tony La Russa a Hall of Fame manager, I recommend the book “The Wizard of Waxahachie.” Written by Warren Corbett, it is a well-researched biography of Paul Richards, a baseball innovator who had a long career as a player, manager and executive in the minors and majors.

Richards managed the White Sox and Orioles. He was director of player development for the White Sox when La Russa began his managerial career in the Chicago farm system. Richards became a mentor to La Russa.

In an interview with Cardinals Yearbook in 2014, La Russa said, “Managing is about preparation and leadership. It’s a message Paul Richards preached and it’s more true now than ever before.”

La Russa wrote the introduction to Richards’ biography. Reading it provides a link to the philosophies La Russa followed.

“During the three-year period from 1978 to 1980, when I’d managed in AA, AAA, and the White Sox, Paul’s influence was a career maker for me,” La Russa said. “He continually provided lessons on baseball fundamentals, strategies and leadership.

“To this day his emphasis on playing the game correctly and what that meant has been a key to my survival as a manager in baseball. His explanation of different offensive and defensive strategies has helped put my teams in a position to compete. And his leadership advice set the foundation for my contributions as a decision maker that I am expected to provide.

“My favorite example of a ‘Paulism’ was his principle that a manager should make decisions by ‘trusting your gut, not by trying to cover your butt.’ A manager’s decision must avoid the temptation of taking the popular or conventional path that your bosses, fans and media expect. Instead your responsibility as a manager is to decide what you think is your team’s best shot and then take it.”

La Russa was true to that principle throughout his Cardinals career.

An example of how La Russa applied Richards’ teachings is how he handled an incident in Game 2 of the 2006 World Series. Tigers pitcher Kenny Rogers appeared to be caught doctoring the baseball. La Russa told the umpires about the foreign substance on the ball but didn’t ask them to inspect Rogers. Critics claimed La Russa was protecting his friend, Tigers manager Jim Leyland. Instead, it was La Russa following a principle he learned from Richards, and later manager Sparky Anderson.

In the book “Tony La Russa: Man on a Mission,” author Rob Rains explained, “It was Anderson and Paul Richards who taught him the difference between having a strategy and a philosophy, and those thoughts filled his head as he watched Rogers pitch.”

La Russa explained, “I had the luxury and good fortune of teachers who taught me the difference between philosophy and strategy. In that situation, I might have strategized, ‘Hey, I can get this guy thrown out of the game.’

“Strategies have their place, but they don’t replace philosophy, because philosophy is what you represent, and what you want your team to represent … We want to win within our philosophy. Part of that philosophy is abhorring BS baseball. I don’t like it … I believe in the beauty of the competition. Let’s play the game. We get ready, they get ready. You play as hard as you can, and there’s a winner and a loser.

“I was so appreciative of all the teachers I had over the years, and in the end you just have to believe in the lessons you have learned about their philosophies.”

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