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Bad business: Why Cardinals gave up on Reggie Smith

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents, Trades on April 17, 2026| 18 Comments »

Reggie Smith was a proud, obstinate ballplayer. Gussie Busch was a proud, obstinate team owner. The combination made for a combustible mix.

With the Cardinals in 1976, Smith opted to play without a signed contract because Busch wouldn’t agree to defer part of Smith’s salary. If Smith stayed unsigned, he could play out his option and become a free agent after the season.

Busch, an imperious meddler, would not tolerate what he perceived as defiance. “Get rid of him,” Busch barked to general manager Bing Devine, Smith told the Los Angeles Times.

On June 15, 1976, in a trade they would come to regret, the Cardinals sent Smith, their all-star switch-hitting right fielder, to the Dodgers for catcher Joe Ferguson and prospects Bob Detherage and Freddie Tisdale.

They are the egg men

Carl Reginald Smith was one of eight children raised in a family in Los Angeles County near Compton. His father had an egg delivery service and young Reggie helped him on the truck during weekends.

Smith became a high school baseball and football standout. A quarterback and defensive back, “I felt football was my best sport,” he told the Los Angeles Times.

Baseball, though, provided the best chance for him to earn money and help the family. Big-league clubs showed interest in the shortstop. In 1963, the Houston Colt .45s brought Smith to Dodger Stadium to work out before a game. “I was throwing as hard as possible on the sidelines when one throw got away from me,” Smith recalled to the Los Angeles Times. “Sandy Koufax was hitting fungoes to the outfielders and my throw missed his head by less than three inches. I still break into a cold sweat when I think about it.”

The Twins ended up being the club that signed Smith, 18, in June 1963 and assigned him to Wytheville (Va.) of the Appalachian League. The woman who ran the boarding house for blacks in the segregated town “told me to never go out alone,” Smith recalled to the Times. “I hit a white kid who called me a nigger. I yelled back to people in the stands … I’m lucky I’m not hanging from some tree.”

Smith played shortstop for Wytheville, made 41 errors in 65 games and had more strikeouts (69) than hits (65). The Twins made him available in the minor-league draft and the Red Sox took him. Four years later, Smith began the 1967 season as the Red Sox’s Opening Day second baseman and finished it as their center fielder in the World Series against the Cardinals.

Booed in Boston

Smith won a Gold Glove Award in 1968 and led the American League in doubles. He was tops in the league in total bases and extra-base hits in 1971.

He had one of the best arms in baseball, but his knees ached. The Red Sox wanted to trade Smith for pitching. They offered him to the Cubs for Ferguson Jenkins at the 1972 winter meetings, but the deal fell apart, the Boston Globe reported. Smith then was headed to the Dodgers for Bill Singer, but the Red Sox backed out at the last minute, general manager Al Campanis told the Times.

So Smith was back in Boston in 1973. He produced a .303 batting average, .398 on-base percentage and slugged at a .515 clip, but it was a miserable season for Smith. He confronted teammate Bill “Spaceman” Lee during a game in Milwaukee and called him gutless for not brushing back Brewers batters. Lee challenged him to a fight. Smith had the Spaceman seeing stars. The pitcher was knocked out cold. “He had it coming,” Smith told Frank Dolson of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

In a game at Boston, fans booed Smith when he didn’t run to first on a grounder. They booed him again when a shallow fly fell in front of him for a single. Smith mockingly doffed his cap on the way to the dugout, marched into the clubhouse, changed and went home while the game continued.

“My anger is like a balloon,” Smith told the Los Angeles Times. “Blow it up, let it go all over the place, then it lies on the floor, exhausted.”

The Red Sox put him on the trading block after the season. The Dodgers wanted him, but when the Red Sox demanded either Don Sutton or Andy Messersmith in return “that stopped that,” Al Campanis told The Sporting News.

The Cardinals won the prize, obtaining Smith and Ken Tatum for Rick Wise and Bernie Carbo on Oct. 26, 1973.

A Spike in spikes

Smith was a National League all-star in each of his first two seasons with St. Louis. He led the club in total bases in 1974, and his on-base percentage (.389) and slugging mark (.528) were tops among the regulars. Though sidelined for three weeks of the 1975 season because of back ailments, Smith was the Cardinals’ home run leader (with 19), and again produced quality on-base (.382) and slugging (.488) percentages.

Cardinals players appreciated him in those years. “He gives 100 percent all the time,” second baseman Ted Sizemore told the Los Angeles Times. “He’ll do anything to win.” In the book “The Spirit of St. Louis,” pitcher Rich Folkers said, “Reggie Smith was a good guy … When Reggie was in the lineup, he did real well.”

Bob Gibson saw Smith as a soulmate. In his book “Stranger to the Game,” Gibson said, “My affinity for Reggie Smith was a natural because we were very much alike, both of us maintaining an exterior toughness that really wasn’t what we were about. Smith was a very bright, thoughtful guy who was ready to fight if somebody looked at him wrong. I called him Spike because he reminded me of those spike-collared bulldogs on Saturday morning cartoons.”

Things go wrong

On the advice of agent Tom Reich, Smith requested the Cardinals defer a portion of his 1976 salary. When Gussie Busch said no, Smith opted to play without a signed contract. That meant the Cardinals would renew his pact basically at 1975 terms, but Smith would qualify to become a free agent after the season. “We had no quarrel with the Cardinals over gross salary,” Reich told the Los Angeles Times. “The difficulty was in working out the draft of the deferred arrangement.”

At 1976 spring training, a trade proposal was discussed: Reggie Smith and Ted Sizemore to the Dodgers for shortstop Bill Russell and outfielder Willie Crawford, Al Campanis confirmed to the Times.

When the Cardinals balked at giving up Smith, the trade became a swap of Sizemore for Crawford on March 2.

The 1976 Cardinals were a bad team. Their record entering the June 15 trade deadline was 25-34. Smith, experiencing pain in his left shoulder, struggled to hit. The injury caused him to alter his batting style. He couldn’t hold his hands as high as he wanted on the bat. Smith batted .174 in April and .219 in May. The bright spot was a three-homer game against the Phillies.

With third baseman Hector Cruz and first baseman Keith Hernandez struggling early in the season, manager Red Schoendienst had Smith fill in at third and first. In his book “I’m Keith Hernandez,” Hernandez recalled, “Reggie was a premier player … but he’d spent the last month, since being moved to the infield, sulking and brooding in the clubhouse. Everywhere he went, a dark cloud followed.”

Gussie Busch was fed up. The team was a mess and he viewed Smith as a problem. Busch assumed Smith wasn’t playing hard because of the contract disagreement. He wanted him gone _ just like he had ordered the trades of others who angered him such as Steve Carlton and Jerry Reuss.

“The Cardinals thought Reggie was jaking it,” Tom Reich said to the Los Angeles Times. “There were some words between Reggie and management. Hell, Reggie was playing in a lot of pain.”

Smith told the newspaper, “The Cardinals accused me of malingering to force a trade. I can’t understand them making that kind of statement. I have too much pride to stoop to that sort of thing.”

On June 15, Bing Devine called Al Campanis and offered him Smith. Campanis knew Devine was being forced to deal and had little leverage. Now, instead of Bill Russell, the Dodgers gave up Joe Ferguson, batting .222.

The deal was completed when the Dodgers agreed to the deferred salary arrangement and Smith agreed to sign a two-year contract for 1976-77. “Smith will receive in excess of $100,000 for each season, with a large portion of it deferred,” the Los Angeles Times reported.

Rot at the top

About a month after the trade, the Dodgers came to St. Louis for three games. Smith hit a home run in each. The pitchers were John Denny (solo shot), Pete Falcone (two-run) and Bob Forsch (three-run). “The pitch I threw to Reggie just straightened out,” Forsch told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I was trying to sink it outside … The last time I saw it, it was sinking over the wall in right.” Boxscore Boxscore Boxscore

Smith batted .476 against the 1976 Cardinals. Five of his 10 hits were home runs. After the season, exploratory surgery by Dr. Frank Jobe showed Smith had been playing with a torn rotator cuff, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Smith went on to produce 41 RBI in 57 career games versus the Cardinals and had a .404 on-base percentage against them.

(Joe Ferguson batted .201 for the 1976 Cardinals and was peddled to Houston for Larry Dierker after the season.)

In a five-year stretch from 1977-81, Smith helped the Dodgers win three National League pennants and a World Series title.

Asked about the Dodgers’ success, Smith told the Post-Dispatch in 1977, “It’s something that comes down right from the top, from the man at the head of the organization to everyone on the club. It’s something every team could have if management wanted it.

“I think the Cardinals might have had it in the past, but I don’t think they have it in the organization anymore, and you have to go right to the top man for the reason it’s not there anymore. I think Mr. Busch soured on his players a few years ago in those contract disputes and it’s still having an effect. He took the hard line, and to him the answer to negotiating a contract was to trade the player if the player also took the hard line.

“As a result, it became every player for himself, and pretty soon you no longer had a team but a bunch of individuals.”

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Strikeout story: Grover Cleveland Alexander, Tony Lazzeri

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents, Pitchers on April 10, 2026| 12 Comments »

There are more versions of the story of Grover Cleveland Alexander striking out Tony Lazzeri than there were teams in a Branch Rickey farm system.

First, the undisputed facts:

With the Cardinals ahead, 3-2, in the seventh inning of Game 7 in the 1926 World Series, the Yankees had the bases loaded and Lazzeri at the plate. Cardinals manager Rogers Hornsby called for Alexander to relieve Jesse Haines, who had developed a blister on his pitching hand. Alexander, 39, had pitched a complete game the day before in the Cardinals’ Game 6 victory.

Lazzeri, a rookie, had 18 home runs and 114 RBI that season. Alexander struck him out. Then he shut down the Yankees in the eighth and ninth, earning a save to go with two World Series wins.

Alexander retired the side in the eighth and the first two batters in the ninth. Then Babe Ruth drew a walk, but was thrown out attempting to steal. Boxscore

In winning their first World Series championship, the Cardinals transformed from a perennial also-ran into an elite franchise in the National League.

The two people most qualified to know the full story of Alexander’s Game 7 heroics were catcher Bob O’Farrell and Alexander himself. Alexander gave his account to Francis J. Powers for the book “My Greatest Day in Baseball.” O’Farrell related his version to Lawrence Ritter in “The Glory of Their Times.”

Alexander: “There are stories that I celebrated (after Game 6) and had a hangover when Rogers Hornsby called me from the bullpen to pitch to Lazzeri.  That isn’t the truth.”

O’Farrell: “When he struck out Lazzeri, he’d been out on a drunk the night before and was feeling the effects.”

Alexander: “In the clubhouse after (Game 6), Hornsby came over to me and said, ‘Alex, if you want to celebrate tonight, I wouldn’t blame you, but go easy for I may need you tomorrow.’ I said, ‘OK, Rog’ … Hell, I wanted to win that Series and get the big end of the money as much as anyone.”

O’Farrell: “After the sixth game was over, Rogers Hornsby told Alex that if Jesse Haines got in any trouble the next day he would be the relief man. So he should take care of himself. Well, Alex didn’t really intend to take a drink that night, but some of his friends got hold of him and thought they were doing him a favor by buying him a drink. Well, you weren’t doing Alex any favor by buying him a drink because he just couldn’t stop.”

Alexander: “Early in (Game 7), Hornsby said to me, ‘Alex, go down into the bullpen and keep your eye on (Bill) Sherdel and (Herman) Bell. Keep them warmed up and if I need help I’ll depend on you to tell me which one looks best.”

O’Farrell: “In the seventh inning of the seventh game, Alex is tight asleep in the bullpen, sleeping off the night before … The Yankees get the bases loaded with two outs, and the next batter up is Lazzeri. Hornsby and I gather around Haines at the pitching mound. Jesse’s fingers are a mass of blisters from throwing so many knuckleballs, and so Hornsby decides to call in old Alex, even though we know he’d just pitched the day before and had been up most of the night.”

Alexander: “The bullpen in the Yankee Stadium is under the bleachers and when you’re down there you can’t tell what’s going on out in the field … When the bench wants to get in touch with the bullpen, there’s a telephone. It’s the only real fancy modern bullpen in baseball. Well, I was sitting around down there, not doing much throwing, when the phone rang and an excited voice said, ‘Send in Alexander.’ … I take a few hurried throws and then start for the box.”

O’Farrell: “In he comes, shuffling slowly from the bullpen to the pitching mound.”

Alexander: “When I come out from under the bleachers, I see the bases filled and Lazzeri standing at the box. Tony is up there all alone, with everyone in that Sunday crowd watching him. So I just said to myself, ‘Take your time. Lazzeri isn’t feeling any too good up there and let him stew.’ ”

O’Farrell: “Hornsby asks, ‘Can you do it?’ Alex says, ‘I can try.’ We agree that Alex should pitch Lazzeri low and away, nothing up high.”

Alexander: “I get to the box and Bob O’Farrell, our catcher, comes out to meet me. ‘Let’s start where we left off yesterday,’ Bob said. Yesterday (in Game 6) Lazzeri was up four times against me without getting anything that looked like a hit. He got one off me in the second game of the Series, but with one out of seven I wasn’t much worried about him … I said OK to O’Farrell. We’ll curve him.”

O’Farrell: “The first pitch is a perfect low curve for strike one.”

Alexander: “My first pitch was a curve and Tony missed. Holding the ball in his hand, O’Farrell came out to the box again. ‘Alex,’ he began, ‘this guy will be looking for that curve next time. We curved him all the time yesterday. Let’s give him a fast one.’ I agreed.”

O’Farrell: “The second one comes in high, and Tony smacks a vicious line drive that lands in the left field stands but just foul. Oh, it’s foul by maybe 10 feet.”

Alexander: “I poured one in, right under his chin. There was a crack and I knew the ball was hit hard … I spun around … and all the Yankees on base were on their way, but the drive had a tail-end fade and landed foul by eight to 10 feet in the left field bleachers. I said to myself, ‘No more of that for you, my lad.’ ”

O’Farrell: “So I run out to Alex. ‘I thought we were going to pitch him low and outside?’ Alex says, ‘He’ll never get another one like that.’ ”

Alexander: Bob signed for another curve and I gave him one. Lazzeri swung where that curve started but not where it finished. The ball got a hunk of the corner and then finished outside.”

O’Farrell: “A low outside curve and Tony Lazzeri struck out.”

In the bottom of the ninth, with two outs, Babe Ruth took off from first base on Alexander’s first pitch to Bob Meusel.

Alexander: “I caught the blur of Ruth starting for second as I pitched, and then came the whistle of the ball as O’Farrell rifled it to second. I wheeled around and there was one of the grandest sights of my life. Hornsby, his foot anchored on the bag and his gloved hand outstretched, was waiting for Ruth to come in.”

O’Farrell: “I wondered why Ruth tried to steal. A year or two later I went on a barnstorming trip with the Babe and I asked him. Ruth said he thought Alex had forgotten he was there. Also that the way Alex was pitching they’d never get two hits in a row off him, so he better get in position to score if they got one. Maybe that was good thinking. Maybe not. In any case, I had him out a mile at second.”

 

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Cardinals batters got a sinking feeling facing Frank Linzy

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers, Trades on March 10, 2026| 14 Comments »

A right-handed sinkerball specialist, Frank Linzy pitched for and against the Cardinals. During his prime, as a Giants reliever, some of his most noteworthy achievements came versus St. Louis. He was on the backside of his career when he joined the Cardinals in 1970.

In 11 seasons with the Giants (1963, 1965-70), Cardinals (1970-71), Brewers (1972-73) and Phillies (1974), Linzy totaled 110 saves, 62 wins and a 2.85 ERA. He led the Giants in saves for five years in a row (1965-69). “The first five years were fun,” Linzy told the Tulsa World. “The next five were a struggle.”

Country boy

Linzy was born “out in the bushes” near Fort Gibson, Okla., according to the Tulsa newspaper. His father farmed cotton and soy beans. The family moved to Porter, Okla., when Frank was 5. One of his boyhood friends was Jim Brewer, who, like Linzy, would become a relief pitcher in the majors. “Jim and I played basketball under the street lights by the hour,” Linzy recalled to the Tulsa World.

While in school, Linzy helped his father chop cotton. He also played baseball and basketball, fished for crappie and hunted for quail. Linzy developed into a standout baseball and basketball player at Porter High School. As a senior, he averaged 20 points per game in basketball and posted a 12-2 pitching record.

The Reds offered him a $10,000 bonus, according to Bob Broeg of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, but Linzy instead took a basketball scholarship offer from famed coach Hank Iba at Oklahoma State. He lasted one semester. “I couldn’t make my grades,” Linzy told the Tulsa World. “I never studied before. I took recess more than anything else (in high school) and they didn’t have recess (in college).”

Linzy tried another semester at Northeastern State in Tahlequah, Okla., then returned home. He was playing baseball for a town team when offered a contract (but no signing bonus) from Giants scout Bully McLean, a former minor-league outfielder with the Chickasha Chicks and Henryetta Hens.

The Giants assigned Linzy to a farm club in Salem, Va., in July 1960. He wanted to be an outfielder because his favorite player was Duke Snider, but Salem manager Jodie Phipps, a former Cardinals prospect who totaled 275 wins in 19 seasons as a minor-league pitcher, told Linzy he’d do better on the mound.

As a starting pitcher, Linzy advanced through the Giants’ system. With Springfield (Mass.) in 1963, he was 16-6 with a 1.55 ERA. Impressed, the Giants called him to the majors in August 1963 and he joined them on the road.

“All I had were Levis and just plain old shirts, and I walked into the hotel lobby and there’s all these guys with sport coats on and dress pants,” Linzy recalled to the Tulsa World. “The only time I felt equal was when we were on the baseball field and I had the same kind of clothes on as they did.”

Super sinker

Linzy made his Giants debut in a start against the Reds. (One of just two starts in 516 big-league appearances.) He struck out the first batter he faced, Pete Rose. In his second appearance, against the Cardinals, Linzy came in with the bases loaded, one out, and fanned Bill White, then got Stan Musial to pop out. In Linzy’s third game, he struck out Hank Aaron. Boxscore  Boxscore Boxscore

After another season in the minors, Linzy stuck with the Giants in 1965, beginning his five-year run as their closer.

Linzy threw two pitches _ a heavy sinker and hard slider. “I didn’t have enough pitches,” he said to the Tulsa World. “That’s why I couldn’t have been a starter.”

The sinker was his specialty. Linzy said he gripped the slick part of the ball rather than the seams to make it spin. Catcher Ed Bailey told the San Francisco Examiner, “He’s holding an overlap grip with a back reverse and a flat flipper finger.” Or, as Linzy’s fellow pitcher, Bobby Bolin, put it, “The backspin on the ball, overlapping with the downspin, makes it sink.”

Linzy focused on getting grounders instead of strikeouts. He was durable and effective, but also “I was scared to death,” he told the Post-Dispatch. “… I could throw crooked. That’s about all I can say for what I did.”

Asked to describe the keys to being a reliever, he told the Tulsa newspaper, “You’ve got to have a strong back and a weak mind.”

Linzy earned his first big-league win on May 5, 1965, with two scoreless innings at St. Louis. Two months later, he got his first hit _ a home run into the wind at Candlestick Park versus the Cardinals’ Ray Washburn. “I’m strong enough to hit the ball out,” Linzy told the Examiner. “I just never connect.” Later in the game, he lined a single against Ray Sadecki. Boxscore  Boxscore

Linzy was 3-0 with two saves and a 1.08 ERA versus the 1965 Cardinals. Overall for the season, he won nine and converted 20 of 25 save chances.

The Cardinals were a club Linzy continued to do well against. For his career, he was 5-2 with nine saves and 1.65 ERA versus St. Louis. He never gave up a home to a Cardinals batter. In 1967, when the Cardinals were World Series champions, Linzy pitched 9.2 scoreless innings against them. When the Cardinals repeated as National League champions in 1968, Linzy faced them over 11.1 innings and posted an 0.79 ERA.

Career batting averages against Linzy among players on Cardinals championship clubs included Orlando Cepeda (.105), Ken Boyer (.167), Dick Groat (.143), Julian Javier (.167), Roger Maris (.000), Tim McCarver (.192) and Mike Shannon (.182).

Ups and downs

Linzy bought a 10-acre spread across a gravel road from his father-in-law’s cattle ranch near Coweta, Okla. The pitcher spent winters picking pecans from the trees on his property. Before heading to spring training in 1969, Linzy laid the foundation for his house. Using a blueprint he sketched on cardboard, his in-laws built Linzy and his wife their brick dream house, the Tulsa World reported.

Though he had 14 wins for the 1969 Giants, Linzy converted only 52 percent of his save chances. His sinker too often was staying up in the strike zone. Linzy noticed his right arm lacked the elasticity of his best seasons.

He looked terrible with the 1970 Giants (7.01 ERA in 25.2 innings), but the Cardinals, desperate for quality relievers, decided to take a chance. On May 19, 1970, the Giants sent Linzy to the Cardinals for pitcher Jerry Johnson.

The Cardinals hoped Linzy’s sinker would induce ground ball outs on their new artificial surface, but batters had other ideas. Linzy posted a 4.08 ERA in home games for the 1970 Cardinals. In 47 games overall for them that year, he walked more than he fanned and gave up more hits than innings pitched. Right-handed batters hit .298 against him.

Brought back by the Cardinals in 1971, Linzy rewarded them with a return to form early in the season. In April, he was 1-0 with three saves and a 1.88 ERA. He added two more saves in May, allowing no earned runs for the month.

On June 9, 1971, with his ERA for the season at 2.10, Linzy collided with first baseman Bob Burda as both pursued a ball bunted by the Braves’ Ralph Garr. Linzy suffered multiple fractures of the left cheekbone. Boxscore

The Cardinals swooned in June, with an 8-21 record for the month, and got only one save (from Don Shaw) during the nearly 30 days Linzy was sidelined.

After his return, Linzy pitched in 25 games but didn’t get many save chances. He finished the season with six saves, four wins and a 2.12 ERA. In 23 home games covering 30 innings, his ERA was 1.50. Overall, batters hit .226 against him in 1971, but he allowed 48 percent of inherited runners to score.

Dealt to the Brewers in March 1972 for pitching prospect Richard Stonum, Linzy spent two seasons with Milwaukee (totaling 25 saves) and one with the Phillies.

“I played as hard as I could as long as I could,” Linzy told the Tulsa World. “I didn’t ever quit. They just sent me home.”

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To be or not to be: How Bill Mazeroski took center stage

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents on March 5, 2026| 16 Comments »

Famous for the Hollywood ending he brought to a World Series, Bill Mazeroski was a natural for a part in a movie.

Seven years after hitting a walkoff home run for the Pirates in the ninth inning of Game 7 in the 1960 World Series against the Yankees’ Ralph Terry, Mazeroski was hired to make an out in the film “The Odd Couple.” Actually, the role required he make three outs _ with one swing.

Two ex-Cardinals, Ken Boyer and Jerry Buchek, had parts, too.

An eight-time National League Gold Glove Award winner at second base during his 17 years (1956-72) with the Pirates, Mazeroski was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001. He was 89 when he died on Feb. 20, 2026.

Casting calls

In 1967, filming began for “The Odd Couple,” a comedy about two bachelors sharing a New York apartment. Walter Matthau played a sportswriter slob, Oscar Madison, and Jack Lemmon was the persnickety roommate, Felix Unger.

One scene had Oscar covering a baseball game for his newspaper. At the crucial point of the game, with the score 1-0 and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, a press box phone rings. Sports reporter Heywood Hale Broun, playing himself, answers. The caller asks for Oscar and says it’s an emergency. Oscar reluctantly leaves his seat and takes the receiver. The caller is Felix. He tells Oscar he’s planning to make frankfurters and beans for dinner, so skip the ballpark hot dogs. As Oscar’s back is turned, the batter hits into a rare game-ending triple play. Oscar screams at Felix for causing him to miss the key moment in the game for such a trifling phone message.

The filmmakers arranged for the scene to be shot at New York’s Shea Stadium before the start of a Tuesday afternoon Pirates vs. Mets game on June 27, 1967. Seeking authenticity, they opted to use major-league players for the triple play segment on the field rather than actors. Each player participating received $100, the Screen Actors Guild minimum at the time.

Pirates outfielder Roberto Clemente was offered the role of the batter who hits into the triple play, but he declined. “They will use my name in the movie and exploit me for $100,” Clemente said to The Pittsburgh Press. “Not for me.”

Clemente told the New York Daily News, “They insult me. One hundred dollars. One hundred lousy dollars. That’s what they wanted to pay me? Who do they think they are trying to fool? They think Roberto Clemente was born last week?”

Mazeroski was asked to replace Clemente. “They must have seen me run,” the slow-footed Pirate quipped to the Associated Press.

Pirates base runners for the scene were Donn Clendenon at first, Matty Alou at second and Vern Law at third. (On the advice of his agent, Maury Wills turned down an offer to be a base runner).

A director’s dream

“Director Gene Saks set up three cameras in the back of the press box to shoot down on Matthau and the field,” the New York Times reported. A 75-person crew was given only 35 minutes to complete the shot after cameras were in place.

According to Newsday, as the ballplayers took their positions, Matthau turned to a real sports reporter and said, “I’ll bet a quarter we don’t get it on the first take.” The reporter nodded. Six minutes later, he took Matthau’s money.

On the fifth pitch from Jack Fisher, Mazeroski grounded sharply to third baseman Ken Boyer, who stepped on the bag and threw to Jerry Buchek at second. Buchek whipped the ball to first baseman Ed Kranepool, completing the triple play.

The Mets “had completed in seconds what most film companies require hours, sometimes days, to accomplish: an entire scene,” Newsday noted. Video

On with the show

As soon as the filming stopped, the Mets held a pregame ceremony in which 8,000 Bronx Little Leaguers honored outfielder Ron Swoboda as their favorite player. Then, in the first inning, Swoboda slammed a three-run home run.

The Pirates added a comical touch to the game as well. Gene Alley and Jose Pagan batted out of turn. When Mets manager Wes Westrum informed the umpires of the gaffe, the Pirates defaulted two third-inning runs. The Mets won, 5-2. Boxscore

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, when “The Odd Couple” had its Pittsburgh premiere at a charity benefit in 1968, the gold $5 tickets read: “The Odd Couple, starring Bill Mazeroski and Jack Lemmon.”

As a big-leaguer, Mazeroski never hit into a triple play, but he did help turn two triple plays. Both occurred in games against the Reds. Boxscore and Boxscore

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How Roy Face discovered Stan Musial still was The Man

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers on February 28, 2026| 9 Comments »

Roy Face had Stan Musial’s respect, but Musial had his number.

In his book “Stan Musial: The Man’s Own Story,” the Cardinals standout named Face the relief pitcher on his all-time team of players he saw during his 22 years in the majors.

A pint-sized right-hander with an exceptional forkball, Face “had confidence, courage and control,” Musial said.

In 16 seasons with the Pirates (1953 and 1955-68), Tigers (1968) and Expos (1969), Face totaled 191 saves and 104 wins. He led the National League in saves three times, posted an 18-1 record in 1959 and had three saves in the 1960 World Series for the champion Pirates.

Musial, though, had a .472 career on-base percentage (15 hits, 10 walks) against Face, according to retrosheet.org. The most noteworthy of those hits was a walkoff home run in the heat of the 1960 National League pennant chase.

Face, who remains the Pirates’ franchise leader in saves (186) and games pitched (802), died on Feb. 12, 2026, at 97, eight days before his 98th birthday.

Sandlot sensation

Elroy Face was from Stephentown, N.Y., near the Massachusetts state line. The town was named for Stephen Van Rensselaer, a founder of the Albany (N.Y.) public library and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), a private research university.

Face grew up in a working-class household. In the book “We Played the Game,” he told author Danny Peary, “My father was a carpenter by trade, but at times worked in the woods cutting logs and in a factory. My mother was a homemaker, but worked briefly gathering eggs at a chicken farm.”

At age 5, Face had rickets and his “bones were soft and bent” and his “body was racked with pain,” according to The Pittsburgh Press.

During his childhood, “I wasn’t a baseball fan and couldn’t have named 10 players in the big leagues, but I was the first in my family to play ball,” Face said to Danny Peary. “We didn’t have Little League, so I just played pickup ball.”

In high school, Face experienced two years of varsity baseball, pitching and playing short and second. “I realized I had special talent when I was 8-1 and pitched a shutout to give us our first league title,” Face told Danny Peary.

Face quit high school at 18 and spent a year and a half in the Army as a mechanic. After his discharge, he got a job in an Oldsmobile garage and played sandlot baseball for a town team in New Lebanon, N.Y.

During Labor Day weekend 1948, Phillies scout Fred Matthews was vacationing in the Berkshires when he went to see a sandlot game. Face pitched and Matthews offered the 20-year-old a contract for $140 a month.

Assigned to the Class D Bradford (Pa.) Blue Wings, Face primarily started and was 14-2 in 1949 and 18-5 in 1950, but the Phillies exposed him to the minor league draft and the Dodgers selected him. After two years in the Dodgers’ farm system, including a 23-9 mark for Class A Pueblo (Colo.) in 1951, Face was plucked by the Pirates in the December 1952 Rule 5 draft.

During the winters, Face studied carpentry and became a union carpenter. “Swinging that hammer, I figure, gives me more strength in my right arm,” Face told the Associated Press.

Fork in the road

Baseball’s rules required that the Pirates pitch Face in the big leagues in 1953 or offer him back to the Dodgers. The Pirates had little to lose in keeping him. Relying on two pitches, fastball and curve, the rookie appeared in 41 games, including 13 starts, and was 6-8 with a 6.58 ERA for a club that finished 50-104.

At 1954 spring training, Joe Page, the former Yankees closer who hadn’t pitched in the majors in four years, was attempting a comeback with the Pirates. Face watched how Page threw a forkball and learned to throw the pitch, a forerunner of the split-fingered fastball.

“To throw a forkball, you hold the ball between your (index) and (middle) fingers and let it slide through,” Face told Danny Peary. “I had long fingers and just wrapped them around the ball. You wouldn’t get the rotation you got on a fastball. On the fastball, you had your fingers behind the ball, giving it force. Page would move the ball so that one of his fingers would catch on one of the seams and he’d get a little pull on the seam to break it in or break it out. I’d throw it with the same delivery as my fastball. I’d throw it three-quarters speed so batters couldn’t tell it apart from the fastball. Usually it would sink, but sometimes it moved in and out, (or) would shoot upward. I didn’t vary it on purpose. I threw it the same way every time, aiming for the middle of the plate, and let it take care of itself.”

Face was sent to the minor-league New Orleans Pelicans in 1954 to work on developing the forkball for a team managed by Danny Murtaugh. Brought back to the majors in 1955, Face was a workhorse. He relieved in nine consecutive Pirates games in September 1956, going 3-1 with a save in that stretch. Face also started occasionally until Murtaugh became Pirates manager in August 1957 and made him a fulltime reliever.

“I was often asked how I could stand the pressure of going into a game in late innings with men on base and a one-run lead,” Face said to Danny Peary. “I always felt the pressure was on the batter. I had eight guys helping me and he was all alone. He not only had to hit the ball, but hit it where someone wouldn’t catch it. My philosophy was to throw strikes and let them hit the ball and have my teammates do their jobs. I never felt scared on the mound.”

On a roll

Face led the league in saves for the first time in 1958. He was successful on 20 of 23 save chances.

“By now I had four pitches: a 90 mph fastball, a curve, the forkball and a decent slider, which I developed in 1957 and 1958,” Face told Danny Peary. “Because I had good control, I threw all pitches on all counts. I’d throw harder stuff to a breaking-ball hitter and more breaking stuff to a fastball hitter. If a guy had me timed on the fastball, I might throw my slider at the same speed and the little bit of movement took the ball to the end of the bat instead of the sweet part.”

His money pitch, though, was the forkball. In “We Played the Game,” Face said, “There was no such thing as a good forkball hitter. Some batters would swing a foot over it. I was hurt by hanging curves and sliders, but not with the forkball if it broke properly.”

In describing Face’s forkball to The Pittsburgh Press, Dick Groat, who batted against him after being traded from Pittsburgh to St. Louis, said, “Coming at you, it looked exactly like a fastball. Then when it got to the plate, it absolutely died.”

Face became famous in 1959 because of his 18-1 record. He won his last five decisions in 1958 and his first 17 in 1959, giving him 22 consecutive wins. Face lost to the Braves on May 30, 1958, and didn’t lose again until Sept. 11, 1959, to the Dodgers. He made 98 appearances in a row without a loss.

(Rube Marquard holds the record for most consecutive wins in a season, with 19 for the 1912 Giants. The mark for most consecutive wins over two seasons is held by Carl Hubbell, who won 24 straight for the 1936-37 Giants.)

In “We Played the Game,” Face said, “1959 wasn’t my best season … I had my share of luck … I could easily have gone something like 12-7.”

Face blew nine of 19 save chances in 1959 and allowed 53 percent of inherited runners to score, but Pirates batters rescued him with runs, setting up wins.

Big blasts

On Aug. 26, 1960, the Pirates were in St. Louis to open a three-game series with the Cardinals. First-place Pittsburgh (75-46) had a 6.5-game lead over the Braves (67-51) and was 8.5 ahead of St. Louis (66-54). Face, who would be successful on 24 of 29 save opportunities in 1960, was a big factor in the Pirates’ success.

Batting third in the Cardinals’ order for the Friday night series opener was Stan Musial. It had been a strange, stressful year for the 39-year-old seven-time National League batting champion. In May, during a slump, manager Solly Hemus benched Musial indefinitely. Frustrated, Musial told Bob Broeg of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he would accept a trade to Pittsburgh and end his career near his hometown of Donora, Pa. The deal didn’t develop and, after a month on the bench, Musial was restored to the lineup.

On Aug. 11 at Pittsburgh, Musial slammed a two-run home run in the 12th inning against Bob Friend, propelling the Cardinals to victory.

Two weeks later, Friend was the starter in the series opener at St. Louis. Musial beat him again, with another two-run homer that gave the Cardinals a 3-1 win.

On Saturday night, for Game 2 of the series, a standing-room crowd of 30,712, the Cardinals’ largest at home since July 22, 1956, came out. With two outs and the score tied at 4-4 in the bottom of the ninth, Musial batted against Face. Musial fell behind in the count, 1-and-2, then walloped Face’s next pitch over the pavilion roof in right for a game-winning homer.

As the ball fell out of view behind the lights, the roar of the crowd reached a crescendo and left no doubt “that Mr. Musial is the most popular thing in St. Louis since tap beer,” Hank Hollingworth noted in the Long Beach Press-Telegram. Boxscore

Musial watched the finale on Sunday afternoon from the shade of the dugout, but the Cardinals won, 5-4, against Harvey Haddix, sweeping the series and moving within 5.5 games of the Pirates. Boxscore

“I don’t get a particular kick out of beating the Pirates,” Musial said to The Pittsburgh Press, “but I do my best. If we can’t win the pennant, naturally I want the Pirates to win because it’s my hometown (team).”

Pittsburgh prevailed, winning the pennant for the first time since 1927. In the World Series against the Yankees, Face saved Games 1, 4 and 5.

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How Cardinals gave Sonny Jurgensen a frightful pounding

Posted in Football, Games, Opponents on February 16, 2026| 11 Comments »

Like a fabled Wild West gunslinger fast on the draw, Sonny Jurgensen had the quickest release of any quarterback.

“Swaggering onto the field and then back into more or less a pocket, he would pump quickly and release,” Gordon Forbes of the Philadelphia Inquirer observed. “The ball would spiral beautifully, like a horizontal top, sometimes incredibly close to the defenders and almost always against the chest of (the receiver).”

“He never puts his body into a throw,” receiver Pete Retzlaff told the Philadelphia Daily News. “He uses the arm, and that’s all. That’s why he can get rid of the ball so fast when he’s falling down or being tackled.”

Yet, for all his considerable skill in mastering the release, not even Jurgensen could overcome porous pass protection and a savage St. Louis Cardinals blitz.

In a 1964 game against the Cardinals, Jurgensen was sacked eight times _ the most sacks he suffered during 18 seasons in the NFL.

One of football’s all-time best passers as well as a notorious bon vivant, Jurgensen was 91 when he died on Feb. 6, 2026.

Name of the game

Christian Adolph Jurgensen III was from Wilmington, N.C. Everyone called him Sonny. As Jack Kent Cooke, who owned the Washington NFL franchise, told the Los Angeles Times, “Sonny Jurgensen is a perfect juxtaposition of words. Sonny Jurgensen. It rolls. It’s euphonious.”

At New Hanover High School (also the alma mater of Roman Gabriel), Jurgensen was captain of the football, basketball and baseball teams. He played college football at Duke and his poise and pin-point passing carried the Blue Devils to road wins against Ohio State and Tennessee.

According to the Durham Herald-Sun, Duke backfield coach and former NFL standout Ace Parker told Philadelphia Eagles general manager Vince McNally, “Jurgensen is one of the finest pro quarterback prospects I’ve seen in years.”

The Eagles chose Jurgensen in the fourth round of the 1957 NFL draft, but at his first training camp, “I was like a scared rabbit,” the quarterback recalled to the Philadelphia Daily News.

Jurgensen made four starts his rookie season but then Norm Van Brocklin arrived from the Los Angeles Rams and became the Eagles’ No. 1 quarterback. For three seasons, Jurgensen sat and learned from the Dutch master. Van Brocklin “had a tremendous influence on my career,” Jurgensen told the Daily News.

After leading the Eagles to the 1960 NFL title, Van Brocklin turned to coaching, taking over the Minnesota Vikings. His understudy, Jurgensen, stepped up to the starting role with Philadelphia.

Good times roll

Jurgensen liked to have fun and was fun to watch _ cool, bold, with a gambler’s disposition on the field. “When Sonny Jurgensen walks, you can hear the dice rattle,” Bruce Keidan of the Inquirer wrote.

Once, while wrapped in the arms of defensive tackle Bob Lilly, Jurgensen was about to go down when he slung a behind-the-back pass to Pete Retzlaff for a gain of 14 yards. Another time, according to Jack McKinney of the Daily News, Sonny was “rushed from the right, switched the ball to his left hand, stiff-armed the defensive end and drilled a pass, left-handed, to Billy Barnes” for 12 yards.

There seemed something special about everything Jurgensen did. As Ray Didinger of the Daily News put it, “The way he knelt in the huddle, picking at the grass as he called the next play. The way he swaggered to the line, looking over the defense with those smirking, pool hustler eyes.”

Jurgensen had the panache of a quarterback but the paunch of an offensive lineman. “He had this belly that spilled from beneath his numeral 9 like flour from a torn sack,” wrote Ray Didinger. Bob Quincy of the Charlotte Observer noted, “He excused his belly as his only sure blocker.”

“The paunch is deceptive,” Jurgensen told Shirley Povich of the Washington Post. “It’s simply the way I’m built.” Or, as he said to the Inquirer, “You don’t throw the ball with your stomach.”

The heavy belly was offset by a light heart. He liked a good laugh and looked for a good time. Once, when the Eagles were stinking up the field during a home game, frustrated fans began a chant, demanding Jurgensen’s backup, King Hill. “The only thing I resented about it was I noticed my wife was leading it,” Jurgensen said to the Inquirer. “”She’s a King Hill fan.” A Washington Daily News reporter once complimented Sonny on appearing thinner and asked what diet he was on. “Cutty Sark and water,” Jurgensen replied.

Beer was a favorite, too. “Sonny has a warm spot in his heart for malt, hops and barley,” Bruce Keidan wrote, “and years of indulging that affection have left him looking as though he recently swallowed a keg of draft, barrel and all.”

Bob Quincy noted, “Jurgensen diligently trained in nightclubs and corner pubs, cool retreats where he could strengthen his elbow.”

With the Eagles, Jurgensen twice led the NFL in passing yards. He also threw a league-best 32 touchdown passes in 1961. (The only Eagle with more touchdown tosses in a season is Carson Wentz, with 33 in 2017.) In a 1962 game versus the Cardinals, Sonny had five touchdown throws, including three to Tommy McDonald. Video

Joe Kuharich became the Eagles head coach in 1964 and he wanted a different quarterback. When Jurgensen was traded to Washington for quarterback Norm Snead, “the bartenders in Philadelphia all wore black arm bands,” wrote Dave Burgin of the Washington Daily News.

Run for your life

The Washington team Jurgensen joined was a mess. “He played for Washington when a solid offensive block was rarer than a tax cut,” Bob Quincy wrote.

On Sunday afternoon, Oct. 4, 1964, while the baseball Cardinals were beating the Mets in St. Louis to clinch the National League pennant on the last day of the season, the unbeaten football Cardinals were at District of Columbia Stadium to play winless Washington.

It was a dark, rainy day in D.C. and the mood of the fans matched the weather. Jurgensen and his teammates were jeered and booed during player introductions. Then, early in the game, Washington’s best offensive lineman, guard Vince Promuto, injured a knee and was unable to continue. The Cardinals capitalized, sending blitzers in waves against the overmatched Washington line.

According to the Charlotte News, the Cardinals were “blitzing one, two, and sometimes even three, linebackers on the same play.” Cardinals head coach Wally Lemm told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “That’s the most (blitzing) we’ve done in some time, but we had to do it against a quick thrower like Jurgensen.”

Blockers provided “horrible protection for poor Sonny,” the Washington Daily News reported, and, even with a quick release, Jurgensen couldn’t escape the rush. In addition to being sacked eight times for losses totaling 66 yards, he was intercepted twice. Pat Fischer returned one of the picks for a touchdown.

In the fourth quarter, with the Cardinals ahead, 21-10, the angry crowd screamed for backup quarterback George Izo. Coach Bill McPeak gave the people what they wanted. On Izo’s first play, he was sacked for a safety. The Cardinals won, 23-17. Game stats

“Gee, fellas, even The Almighty needs time to throw the ball,” Jurgensen said to the Philadelphia Daily News.

(Sonny got his revenge. In a 1965 game at St. Louis, he completed 12 of 14 passes, including three for touchdowns, and was sacked just twice in a 24-20 Washington victory. Game stats)

Odd couple

When Otto Graham, the straitlaced former Cleveland Browns quarterback, became Washington head coach in 1966, Jurgensen quipped to the Daily News, “I hear he’s a stickler for discipline _ a non-smoker, a non-drinker and a non-cusser. We ought to get on famously. There are only a few of us left.”

Jurgensen thrived, though, on the field. During Graham’s three seasons with Washington, Jurgensen twice led the NFL in completions and passing yards. He also threw a league-best 31 touchdown passes in 1967. That remains the Washington franchise single-season record.

“He can throw as well as anyone I have ever seen, barring none,” Graham told the Inquirer. “He’s a student of the game. He knows more football than I do, I think.”

Jurgensen alone, however, couldn’t make Washington a winner. The franchise hadn’t achieved a winning season since 1955, when Jurgensen was in college.

Then Vince Lombardi arrived.

Golden arm

Lombardi was a Sonny Jurgensen fan. He admired Jurgensen’s quick release and accuracy. With the Green Bay Packers, Lombardi won five NFL championships. Bart Starr was his quarterback. In the book “When Pride Still Mattered,” Lombardi biographer David Maraniss wrote, “Starr had been his brain on the field, the most committed and disciplined of his ballplayers, but in terms of pure talent he was not in the same category as Jurgensen.”

At first Jurgensen worried his fondness for fun would anger Lombardi, but as David Maraniss noted, “Jurgensen’s reputation as a playboy did not bother Lombardi. If anything, it reminded him of his favorite son in Green Bay, Paul Hornung. (Hornung) might break curfew, but he had uncommon talent and did not waste it. He was the best money player Lombardi had coached.”

Hornung, the Golden Boy, told Jurgensen, the Golden Arm, “Sonny, you’re going to love the guy.”

Lombardi immediately showed confidence in the quarterback, treating him like a leader. Jurgensen, in turn, bought in to Lombardi’s system. “It placed the emphasis on reading the defense and giving the quarterback fewer plays but more options,” David Maraniss noted. “As soon as Jurgensen got into Lombardi’s system, the game seemed to slow down. What had been chaotic suddenly made sense; everything became clear and comprehensible.”

Jurgensen led the NFL in completions and passing yards in his season with Lombardi, and Washington achieved a winning season in 1969. Its 7-5-2 record (including a 33-17 thumping of the Cardinals) was much like the 7-5 mark Lombardi posted in his first season at Green Bay in 1959.

In one year, Lombardi had turned the Washington franchise into a winner, but he didn’t live to coach another season. He died in 1970 at 57.

With George Allen as head coach, Washington became a perennial contender. The team became NFC champions in 1972, but Jurgensen tore an Achilles tendon in Game 6 and Billy Kilmer took over. Jurgensen watched on crutches from the sideline as the Miami Dolphins completed a perfect season with a 14-7 triumph over Washington in the Super Bowl. Washington fans were left to wonder what might have been if Jurgensen had played.

Two years later, in 1974, when Jurgensen was in his last season as a backup to Kilmer, George Allen gave him a start against the Dolphins. Jurgensen completed 26 passes for 303 yards and two touchdowns, leading Washington to a 20-17 victory. “I was 40 years old but I felt 16 that day,” Sonny recalled to the Philadelphia Daily News.

Jurgensen was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1983 and became a popular Washington sportscaster, partnering with former linebacker Sam Huff for highly entertaining radio broadcasts of Washington football games.

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