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Why Cardinals faced Giants, Braves on same day

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers on March 14, 2021| 6 Comments »

The Cardinals tried to beat two teams in one day. Adding to the challenge, they tried to do it against a pair of aces, Sal Maglie and Warren Spahn.

On Sept. 13, 1951, at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis, the Cardinals played an afternoon game against the Giants and a night game versus the Braves.

According to The Sporting News, it was the first time since 1899 that a big-league club faced two opponents in the same day.

The Cardinals split the unusual doubleheader, beating the Giants and losing to the Braves.

Stormy weather

Thursday, Sept. 13, was supposed to be a day off for the Cardinals, but rainouts changed the schedule.

When the Braves and Cardinals were rained out of a game on June 23, it was rescheduled for the night of Sept. 13.

The Giants got involved when their Sept. 12 game with the Cardinals was rained out. Because the Giants had a day off Sept. 13 and weren’t scheduled to come back to St. Louis, it was proposed that the game be played then.

National League president Ford Frick approved the plan to have the Cardinals take on the Giants and Braves on the same day, but denied a request by Cardinals owner Fred Saigh to have both games played in the evening, the New York Daily News reported.

The start of the game against the Giants was scheduled for 2:30 p.m. and the game versus the Braves was given an 8:30 p.m. start.

“To think, this was to have been an open date, a chance to loaf or go fishing,” Cardinals manager Marty Marion said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

St. Louis spoilers

The Giants, 5.5 games behind the first-place Dodgers, were trying to tighten the pennant race. According to the Daily News, they arrived at Sportsman’s Park on Sept. 13 “full of hope” because Sal Maglie was starting for them. Maglie was 20-5 and had won his last five decisions. Cardinals starter Tom Poholsky was 5-12.

To the Giants’ dismay, when the game got under way Maglie “didn’t have control and didn’t have a thing on the ball when he did get it over,” the Daily News noted.

The Cardinals scored six runs in the second inning against Maglie and reliever Monty Kennedy, but the uprising came with a price. Poholsky, whose RBI-single knocked Maglie out of the game, was spiked near the right knee by catcher Wes Westrum when he slid home on Red Schoendienst’s hit and had to leave.

Rookie Dick Bokelmann replaced Poholsky to start the third and was tasked with protecting the 6-0 lead.

An unusual play occurred in the bottom half of the inning. Kennedy threw a pitch behind Vern Benson’s back. In trying to duck the pitch, Benson tilted his bat back. The ball struck the bat and caromed toward the mound.

“For a few seconds, everybody stood still, figuring it had to be a foul ball,” the Daily News reported.

Instead, it was ruled to be in play. Kennedy finally picked up the ball and tossed to first baseman Whitey Lockman for the out. According to the Daily News, “Benson just stood at the plate in bewilderment.”

The Giants scored twice against Bokelmann in the sixth and got two more in the eighth before Gerry Staley relieved and saved the 6-4 victory for the Cardinals. Boxscore

The loss dropped the Giants six games behind the Dodgers and gave Brooklyn a magic number of 10. Any combination of Dodgers wins or Giants losses totaling 10 would clinch the pennant for Brooklyn. “That just about does it for the Giants,” the Daily News declared.

Sensational Spahn

Between games, the Cardinals ate dinner and skipped batting practice. Braves starter Warren Spahn took advantage. He pitched a one-hitter in the night game, a 2-0 Braves victory.

“It was the best game I ever pitched,” Spahn told the Boston Globe.

The only Cardinals to reach base were Chuck Diering on a leadoff walk in the third and pitcher Al Brazle on a bloop single with one out in the sixth. Brazle’s floater fell just beyond the reach of second baseman Roy Hartsfield.

“It was a changeup,” Spahn said. “It was a good pitch, outside, just where I wanted it. He was lucky. I’d throw the same pitch to Brazle nine times in a row under the same circumstances.”

The win was Spahn’s 20th of the season and his fifth against the Cardinals in six decisions. His catcher for the game was the former Cardinal, Walker Cooper.

Spahn survived a scare in the third when he stopped a hard grounder by Del Rice with his hands. The glove and the ring finger of his pitching hand took the brunt of the shock, the Boston Globe reported. Boxscore

What a finish

The Giants recovered from their Sept. 13 loss to the Cardinals and won 12 of their final 13 regular-season games.

They finished in a first-place tie with the Dodgers, who lost nine of their last 17 regular-season games.

In a best-of-three playoff to determine the National League champion, the Giants prevailed, winning Game 3 on Bobby Thomson’s walkoff home run.

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How Chuck Dressen tried to deceive umps, Cardinals

Posted in Games, Managers, Opponents, Uncategorized on March 11, 2021| 4 Comments »

(Updated March 6, 2023)

Chuck Dressen thumbed his nose at being tossed.

On June 6, 1951, at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, Dressen, the Dodgers’ manager, was ejected in the fifth inning for complaining about ball and strike calls while Peanuts Lowrey batted for the Cardinals.

After plate umpire Artie Gore motioned for Dressen to take a hike, the manager stormed out of the dugout, kicked dirt around the plate and gesticulated wildly.

The performance ended when Dressen departed down the dugout steps, but it was just the first act in an afternoon of theatrics.

Costume party

According to the New York Daily News, Dressen went “to the cubicle beneath the stands, where it is possible to do a little bootleg managing.”

Unsatisfied with that arrangement, Dressen dreamed up a different scheme. According to The Sporting News, Dressen put on a groundskeeper’s cap and jacket and slipped into a corner of the Dodgers’ dugout, hoping he wouldn’t be noticed. He was about to pick up a rake to enhance the disguise when Cardinals manager Marty Marion spotted him and informed Gore.

“Marty turned me in when I was giving out instructions from the dugout,” Dressen told The Sporting News.

After being ordered by Gore to leave the dugout, Dressen headed for the clubhouse, but he wasn’t done.

Sitting pretty

In the seventh inning, Dressen, wearing street clothes, positioned himself in a box seat next to the Dodgers’ dugout on the first-base side.

Ever vigilant, Marion detected Dressen and again informed Gore. According to Marion, Gore replied, “There is nothing wrong with that, but if you see him doing anything to run the team from there, you let me know and I’ll chase him,” the New York Daily News reported.

Marion saw shortstop Pee Wee Reese, the Dodgers’ captain, go over to Dressen’s seat.

“Dressen was giving the signs and motioned for Reese to get some pitchers warmed up,” Marion told The Sporting News. “He was making a joke of the game.”

When Marion advised Gore what he had seen, Gore told Dressen to leave. Dressen watched the rest of the game from team owner Walter O’Malley’s private perch under the mezzanine behind home plate.

Asked whether he was giving instructions to Reese, Dressen “grinned and said he wasn’t that dumb,” the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported.

“I just told Pee Wee to find out from Gore what Marion was complaining about,” Dressen said. “I wouldn’t try to relay signs right out there in the open.”

According to the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, Dressen said he sat in the box seat at the request of a photographer. Dressen told the Brooklyn Daily Eagle the photos were for a shoe polish ad.

Some nerve

The Dodgers won, 3-2. Roy Campanella drove in all the Dodgers’ runs and Ralph Branca pitched a complete game. Boxscore

Marion protested the game on the grounds that Dressen broke the rules when he didn’t stay away after being ejected in the fifth inning.

National League president Ford Frick fined Dressen $100 for “failure to leave the bench when ejected and for masquerading in the dugout,” but denied the protest.

Miffed that Marion turned him in to Gore, Dressen told The Sporting News, “If I ever get the chance, you can bet I’ll pour it on him good. I don’t appreciate what he did to me.”

(According to writer Roger Kahn, Dressen was a “nutcake” who proposed crackpot ideas as Dodgers manager. For instance, Dressen said it was bad for pitchers to receive oral sex. “If you get blowed, it makes you sweat in hot weather,” Dressen said to Kahn. “I got guys on my staff can’t beat the Cardinals in St. Louis because they get blowed. It starts them sweating and after a while they can’t stand up to the heat that comes up from the river.”)

Nearly 50 years later, on June 9, 1999, in a night game against the Blue Jays, Mets manager Bobby Valentine returned to the dugout disguised in sunglasses and a fake moustache after being ejected. Valentine said he was fined $5,000 and suspended for two games for the prank. Video

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Lightning struck again for Bobby Thomson vs. Cardinals

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents on March 8, 2021| 7 Comments »

Eight months after his “shot heard around the world” won the pennant for the Giants, Bobby Thomson shocked the Cardinals with another walkoff home run.

On June 16, 1952, Thomson hit a grand slam in the bottom of the ninth, erasing a 7-4 Cardinals lead and lifting the Giants to an 8-7 victory at the Polo Grounds in New York.

It was Thomson’s first walkoff home run since his three-run shot in the bottom of the ninth on Oct. 3, 1951, at the Polo Grounds. That home run, against the Dodgers’ Ralph Branca, carried the Giants from a 4-2 deficit to a 5-4 triumph in the decisive game of a playoff series to determine the National League champion. Boxscore and video

Though the walkoff grand slam versus the Cardinals didn’t clinch a championship, it had a magic of its own.

Hit and miss

The Monday afternoon game between the Cardinals and Giants was poorly played. Giants pitchers gave up 16 hits, four walks and hit two batters. The Giants also made three errors. The Cardinals could have had more than a three-run lead entering the ninth, but they hit into five double plays and stranded 10.

Rookie right-hander Eddie Yuhas, working his fifth inning in relief of starter Harry Brecheen, was the Cardinals’ pitcher in the bottom of the ninth. He walked the leadoff batter, Hank Thompson.

George Wilson followed with a line drive. Second baseman Red Schoendienst grabbed it backhanded “with a graceful leap to his right,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Schoendienst whirled and fired to first baseman Dick Sisler in an attempt to nail Hank Thompson, who had ventured far off the bag, but the throw was high and wild. Hank Thompson advanced to second on the error.

The next batter, Davey Williams, grounded sharply to right. Schoendienst broke the wrong way and the ball skipped into the outfield for a single, advancing Hank Thompson to third.

Mix and match

With Whitey Lockman, a left-handed batter, coming up next, Cardinals manager Eddie Stanky wanted a left-hander to pitch. Stanky lifted Yuhas and brought in Bill Werle. Lockman walked, loading the bases and bringing Bobby Thomson to the plate.

A right-handed batter, Thomson was hitless in his last 17 at-bats. Stanky, who eight months earlier was the Giants’ second baseman when Thomson hit his walkoff home run against the Dodgers, wanted a right-hander to face his former teammate.

Stanky brought in rookie Willard Schmidt, who earned a save against the Giants the day before.

“Thomson and everybody in the park knew Schmidt, with three on base, was not going to go cute,” The Sporting News noted. “He was coming in with the fastball to get the first strike if possible.”

Sure enough, Schmidt’s first pitch was a fastball. Thomson leaned into it “like a man who knew his business,” United Press International reported.

Far and fair

Thomson pulled the pitch down the left field line, “a vicious, high drive,” the Post-Dispatch reported.

The ball curled around the foul pole and “cleared the left field roof, not more than four feet from the foul line,” the New York Daily News noted.

Augie Donatelli, umpiring at third, carefully followed the ball’s track and signaled the ball stayed fair. Cardinals catcher Del Rice argued otherwise, to no avail.

As Thomson circled the bases and approached the plate following the three runners ahead of him, “it looked like Pennant Day all over again,” the Daily News observed. “The entire team was there to greet him, shake his hand and pound his back.”

Schmidt “stood on the mound as though paralyzed,” the Daily News noted. Boxscore

Fantastic feat

Fans and media marveled at Thomson’s knack for delivering dramatic endings.

_ “Yes, children, there is a miracle man,” International News Service wrote as its lead to the game story.

_ “This is an act which cannot be improved.” declared The Sporting News.

_ “Had the game been in a World Series or in a crucial pennant stretch drive, the finish would have been immortalized just as was that golden victory that clinched a pennant for the Giants over Brooklyn last October,” United Press International concluded. “As it was, folks who saw it won’t forget it for a long time.”

In his book “The Giants Win The Pennant,” Thomson said, “I can remember leaving the clubhouse early. I was walking across center field and some diehard fans who were still in the stands gave me a great ovation. I’m sure a lot of them were remembering my homer the year before. It was as if I was continuing the heroics.”

 

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Stan Williams was a winner with Cardinals

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers, Trades on March 5, 2021| 4 Comments »

(Updated March 19, 2021)

From the first game he pitched in the National League to the last, Stan Williams had a significant connection to the Cardinals.

A right-hander with a reputation for intimidating batters, Williams played in the majors for 14 seasons.

He was 21 when he made his big-league debut for the Dodgers against the Cardinals at St. Louis in July 1958. He was 35 when he pitched his final National League game as a Cardinals reliever in September 1971.

Williams’ time with the Cardinals was brief, but successful. He made 10 relief appearances for them and was 3-0 with a 1.42 ERA.

Big and fast

Born in New Hampshire, Williams was a toddler when his family moved to Denver. He played organized baseball for the first time in high school and attracted scouts because of his fastball. “I was a Stan Musial fan and kept track of his hits every day,” Williams said in the book “We Played the Game.”

Williams was 17 when the Dodgers signed him in 1954 and sent him to the minors.

It was at Newport News in 1955, he said, that he got the reputation for being mean. The Dodgers taught pitchers “that when you got ahead of a hitter you kept him off the outside corner by pitching him in and knocking him back or down,” Williams told author Danny Peary.

“I just started rearing back and throwing it as hard as I could at their chins and let them get out of the way.”

Williams, who grew to 6 feet 5 and 230 pounds, was imposing and erratic. In 242 innings for Newport News, he struck out 301, walked 158 and hit 16 batters.

After a teammate, catcher Bob Schmidt, taught him to throw a slider during winter ball in the Dominican Republic, Williams progressed. He was in his fifth season in the minors when he got called up to the Dodgers in 1958.

Joltin’ Joe

Williams made his debut in the majors on May 17, 1958, at St. Louis. Entering in the fifth, he worked two scoreless innings before giving up three runs in the seventh. Joe Cunningham hit a two-run home run against him. Boxscore

A left-handed hitter, Cunningham battered Williams throughout his career. In 36 plate appearances versus Williams, Cunningham had 13 hits, eight walks and twice was hit by pitches _ an on-base percentage of .639. His career batting average against Williams was .500.

That’s entertainment

Two months after his debut versus the Cardinals, Williams had a noteworthy encounter with them. 

On Aug. 15, 1958, at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Williams, 21, was matched against the Cardinals’ Sal Maglie, 41, a former Dodger nicknamed “The Barber” for the close shaves he gave batters with pitches.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Cardinals were “highly irritated” by the amount of time Williams was taking to deliver pitches. When Williams came to bat in the fourth, Maglie “took off his shoe, emptied it of dirt and slowly put it on again, tying his laces with much care.”

As the crowd roared, Williams backed out of the box and “kicked some imaginary mud from his cleats,” the Los Angeles Times noted.

Then Williams stepped back in and hit Maglie’s first pitch over the high screen in left for a home run, his first in the majors. Boxscore

Teddy bear

“Nobody in the league has a better fastball than Stan Williams,” Cardinals slugger Ken Boyer told the Los Angeles Times in 1960.

As part of a Dodgers rotation that featured Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax, Williams’ signature pitch was the knockdown.

“In all the years I played, he was the only guy who ever scared me _ and he was on my team,” Ron Fairly, a first baseman for the Dodgers and Cardinals, told the San Francisco Examiner. “The thing about Stan, he was so big and strong, and he threw as hard as Koufax. The difference was Sandy was not mean. Stan was very mean.”

Roger Craig, a former Dodgers and Cardinals pitcher, said, “He was the meanest pitcher I ever saw. Everyone thought Drysdale was so mean, but Stan was far worse.”

One year, Williams had a clause in his contract calling for a $500 bonus if he kept his season walk total to less than 75. According to the San Francisco Examiner, as he neared the mark, he plunked a batter when the count got to ball three rather than risk a walk.

“It was a game of intimidation in those days,” Williams said. “I was never a headhunter. I never pitched with the idea of hurting anyone. I don’t think I’ve ever been mean. What I had was a very competitive streak. That helped give me an edge. So I took advantage of it.”

Cardinals pitcher Bob Gibson could relate. In his book “Stranger to the Game,” Gibson said, “Guys like Don Drysdale, Stan Williams and Sandy Koufax raised the level of competition by claiming their territory and daring you to take it from them.

“The fact is,” said Gibson, “knockdowns were commonplace in my day, and guys like Drysdale and Stan Williams employed them more liberally than I did.”

Big hurt

In August 1960, Williams was matched against Lew Burdette of the Braves. “Burdette used to dig a hole in front of the mound” with his foot, Williams told The Sporting News. “To avoid it, I pitched from the side of the rubber. On a pitch to Lee Maye, I slipped and my back went one way and my arm the other. I felt something snap.”

Williams said he thinks he tore a muscle in his right arm or shoulder, but he kept pitching. He had win totals for the Dodgers of 14 in 1960, 15 in 1961 and 14 in 1962, but he said the pain got progressively worse.

“I pitched with tears running down my cheeks many a time after I hurt my arm in 1960,” Williams told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune

The Dodgers traded Williams to the Yankees after the 1962 season, but “there were times when I couldn’t raise my arm, so I started throwing from the hip,” he said. 

The Yankees shipped Williams to the Indians in March 1965. He spent most of that season and all of 1966 in the minors.

Williams was with Class AAA Portland in 1967 “when the adhesions popped again and I regained my strong arm.”

Called up to the Indians in July 1967, Williams posted six wins and a 2.62 ERA. The next year, he won 13 and had a 2.50 ERA.

The Twins acquired Williams after the 1969 season and made him a reliever. He was 10-1 with 15 saves and a 1.99 ERA in 1970, helping them win a division title.

Perfect record

On Sept. 1, 1971, the Twins traded Williams to the Cardinals for outfielder Fred Rico and pitcher Danny Ford.

Cardinals scout Joe Monahan, who recommended Williams, told the Post-Dispatch, “He’s not going to be overwhelmed by a pennant race.”

On Sept. 7, 1971, Williams got a win against the Phillies in the completion of a game suspended from Aug. 1. Boxscore

He also got relief wins against the Cubs and Mets. Boxscore and Boxscore

The Cardinals released Williams in April 1972. He surfaced in the American League with the Red Sox and pitched his final three games in the majors.

Coach and dad

Williams was a coach for pennant-winning Red Sox (1975) and Yankees (1981) clubs, and the 1990 World Series champion Reds. 

When Williams was the Reds’ pitching coach, they developed a trio of intimidating relievers called the “Nasty Boys.”

In 1976, Williams’ son, Stan Jr., a high school pitcher and outfielder, was chosen by the Cardinals in the 11th round of the amateur baseball draft. Stan Jr. opted to attend the University of Southern California. He signed with the Yankees after they drafted him in the 38th round in 1981 and pitched for two seasons in their farm system.

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Juan Pizarro pitched with pizzazz against Cardinals

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers on February 27, 2021| 10 Comments »

St. Louis was a special place for Juan Pizarro. He got his first and 100th wins in the majors there against the Cardinals.

A left-hander, Pizarro pitched 18 seasons in the big leagues. He was 20 when he got his first win in the majors for the Braves in a start versus the Cardinals at Busch Stadium. He also got his first big-league hit, a home run, in that game.

The Cardinals thought so highly of Pizarro that they tried to trade for him that season.

Ten years later, Pizarro, 30, got his 100th win in the big leagues for the Pirates in a start versus the Cardinals at Busch Memorial Stadium.

Prime prospect

Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Pizarro was signed by Braves scout Luis Olmo, the former outfielder.

In 1956, his first season in the minors, Pizarro, 19, was 23-6 with a 1.77 ERA for Jacksonville, a Class A club in the South Atlantic League. With future Cardinals pitching coach Mike Roarke doing most of the catching, Pizarro struck out 318 batters in 274 innings.

Rollie Hemsley, a former catcher who managed Charlotte in the South Atlantic League, told Sports Illustrated that Pizarro is “the nearest thing to Bob Feller I’ve ever seen.”

Bill Terry, the Hall of Fame first baseman who was president of the South Atlantic League, said, “He could be just as great as Warren Spahn.”

Big leap

While playing winter baseball in Puerto Rico, Pizarro said teammate Ruben Gomez, a Giants pitcher, taught him to throw the screwball. Pizarro added the pitch to an arsenal that included a fastball and curve. He reported to spring training with the Braves in 1957, trying to make the leap from Class A ball to the majors.

The Miami News declared Pizarro the most exciting rookie in spring training: “His every pitch is being watched with high expectancy.”

Pizarro posted a 3.31 ERA in five spring training games and made the Braves’ Opening Day roster. “He has proved to me he can pitch major-league ball,” Braves manager Fred Haney told The Sporting News.

After Pizarro’s final exhibition game, Haney said, “He’ll be another Warren Spahn some day.”

First win

The Braves opened the 1957 season on April 16, but Pizarro sat for three weeks before making his big-league debut in a start against the Pirates at Pittsburgh on May 4. He limited the Pirates to a run in seven innings, but Pittsburgh won, 1-0, on Vern Law’s two-hit shutout. Boxscore

Six days later, on May 10, Pizarro made his second big-league appearance with a start versus the Cardinals at St. Louis.

The start of the Friday night game was delayed 31 minutes because of rain and neither team took batting practice.

In the second inning, with the Braves ahead, 3-0, Pizarro swung at the first pitch he saw from Cardinals starter Sam Jones and hit the ball onto the roof of the pavilion behind right field for a home run.

Ken Boyer tagged Pizarro for a solo home run in the second. With the Braves up, 6-1, in the fourth, the Cardinals’ Wally Moon walloped a three-run home run in the fourth. The Moon shot carried out of the ballpark and across Grand Avenue before crashing into a window pane.

“He had to rely on his fastball and he had a tendency to relax when we had a pretty good lead, especially in the fourth,” Braves catcher Del Crandall told the Associated Press. “After that, he became more determined and began firing again.”

Though Pizarro wobbled, he never lost the lead and he continued to contribute with his bat. After Pizarro led off the sixth with a single, Eddie Mathews won a matchup of future Hall of Famers when he hit a two-run home run against reliever Hoyt Wilhelm. The ball cleared the roof and landed on Grand Avenue.

In the ninth, the Cardinals, trailing 10-5, loaded the bases with two outs, but Pizarro struck out Del Ennis and sealed his first win.

Pizarro gave up nine hits and issued four walks, but the Cardinals stranded eight.

Unimpressed, Cardinals manager Fred Hutchinson told the Associated Press, “He’d better be better than that. If that’s all he can do, then I’ve got news for him. He won’t stay up here … He was only throwing, not pitching.”

Cardinals backup catcher Walker Cooper, who at 42 was 22 years older than Pizarro, batted against him in the ninth as a pinch-hitter and singled. “I could hit that guy with baling wire at midnight with the lights out,” Cooper boasted.

Among the Cardinals held hitless by Pizarro were Al Dark and Stan Musial. Pizarro ended Dark’s 15-game hit streak. Musial, who entered the game with a batting mark of .403 for the season, was 0-for-4 with a walk.

Pizarro was “awfully quick,” Musial said. “There’s no reason why he shouldn’t be a winner up here.” Boxscore

No deal

Later that month, the Braves and Cardinals had trade talks focused on outfielder Del Ennis. The Associated Press reported the Braves offered three players for Ennis. They gave the Cardinals their choice of a starting pitcher, either Ray Crone or Gene Conley, plus reliever Dave Jolly and outfielder Chuck Tanner.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Cardinals asked for Crone and outfielder Wes Covington, and the Braves countered with Conley and Tanner.

“Before I let a guy like Ennis go, I’d want a lot of pitcher in return,” Cardinals general manager Frank Lane told the Associated Press.

Lane said he was interested in Pizarro and another pitcher, Bob Trowbridge. The Braves wouldn’t give up Pizarro, and the talks ended.

On July 3, the Braves sent Pizarro to the minors to get more work. He went 4-0 and was back with the Braves on July 26.

Pizzaro lost twice to the Cardinals in 1957. The second of those defeats occurred on Aug. 18 when Musial beat him with a two-run home run in the 10th inning at Milwaukee. Pizarro never lost to the Cardinals again. Boxscore

Better with age

In his book “Stranger to the Game,” Cardinals pitcher Bob Gibson, who played winter ball with Pizarro in Puerto Rico, called him “an immensely talented” teammate.

On April 30, 1967, Pizarro, in his first season with the Pirates, started for them against the Cardinals and pitched a four-hit shutout at St. Louis for his 100th win in the majors.

Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst, who was Pizarro’s teammate with the Braves from 1957-60, told the Associated Press, “He used to be much faster but very wild then. He has much better control now. The big difference was in the old days if you stayed close to him you could beat him. Now he can protect a one- or two-run lead.” Boxscore

Pizarro was 3-0 with two saves and a 1.07 ERA versus the 1967 Cardinals, who won the National League pennant and became World Series champions. He earned saves in both games of a doubleheader against them on Labor Day, Sept. 4.

In 1971, Pizarro, 34, had one more gem versus the Cardinals. He pitched a six-hit shutout for the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Boxscore

“He makes pitching an art,” Cubs manager Leo Durocher said.

Pizarro finished with a career mark against the Cardinals of 7-2. Overall, he was 131-105.

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Once a Dodger, Wayne Terwilliger got tough on Cardinals

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents, Uncategorized on February 21, 2021| 4 Comments »

In 1951, the Dodgers dominated the Cardinals in a way few have. It wasn’t just future Hall of Famers Roy Campanella, Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee Reese and Duke Snider who did the damage. Players such as Wayne Terwilliger joined in, too.

A second baseman who played nine years in the majors, Terwilliger built a second career as a coach and manager.

Though he was valued more for his fielding than his hitting, Terwilliger helped the Dodgers extend a streak of success against the Cardinals during his short stay with them in 1951.

War and baseball

A Michigan native, Terwilliger joined the Marines in 1943 and saw combat in Saipan and Iwo Jima. After the war, he enrolled at Western Michigan University and played varsity baseball and basketball. He signed with the Cubs in 1948 after impressing them in a tryout.

Called up to the Cubs from the minors in August 1949, Terwilliger, 24, caught the attention of manager Frankie Frisch, the former standout second baseman for the Giants and Cardinals. Terwilliger was the Opening Day second baseman for Frisch with the Cubs in 1950 and 1951.

On June 15, 1951, Terwilliger was part of a blockbuster trade between the Cubs and Dodgers. The Cubs sent Terwilliger, outfielder Andy Pafko, pitcher Johnny Schmitz and catcher Rube Walker to the Dodgers for catcher Bruce Edwards, pitcher Joe Hatten, outfielder Gene Hermanski and infielder Eddie Miksis.

The key player for the Dodgers was Pafko, a power hitter with a strong arm. With Pafko in left, Duke Snider in center and Carl Furillo in right, the Dodgers had what the Cardinals’ Stan Musial called “the best-throwing outfield I ever saw.”

Terwilliger was acquired to be a backup to Jackie Robinson at second. It was a role that gave him little chance to play.

Late drama

The Cardinals and Dodgers split the first four games they played against one another in 1951. After that, the Dodgers went on a roll, winning seven in a row versus the Cardinals entering their game on July 21, 1951, a Saturday afternoon, at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn.

The Dodgers led, 2-0, until Cardinals left fielder Hal Rice hit a two-run home run in the eighth against starter Don Newcombe, tying the score.

Facing Cardinals reliever Tom Poholsky, Jackie Robinson led off the bottom of the ninth by looping a single to shallow left-center for his fourth consecutive hit.

The Cardinals’ infielders moved in, anticipating a sacrifice attempt from the next batter, Gil Hodges. On the first pitch, Hodges feigned a bunt, drawing the infielders closer. On the next pitch, he swung away and lashed a single to left.

As Robinson neared second, he saw Hal Rice in left didn’t charge the ball. Robinson turned up the speed and raced to third. Rice’s hurried throw was off the mark. Robinson got in safely and Hodges continued to second.

Roy Campanella was walked intentionally, loading the bases.

Good move

With a left-handed batter, Don Thompson, due up next, Cardinals manager Marty Marion relieved Poholsky with a left-hander, Harry Brecheen. Dodgers manager Chuck Dressen countered with Terwilliger, who batted from the right side. It was his first plate appearance in a week.

The Cardinals infielders came way in and “seemed to be expecting” the suicide squeeze bunt from Terwilliger, the New York Daily News observed.

Brecheen threw two outside pitches, hoping to foil a squeeze play, but Terwilliger offered at neither. On the third pitch, Terwilliger swung and hit a single through the drawn-in infield, scoring Robinson with the winning run and increasing the Dodgers’ win streak versus the Cardinals to eight. Boxscore

“The Cardinals continued to be the softest touch seen in these parts since Diamond Jim Brady left Broadway,” Bob Broeg wrote in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Dazzling Dodgers

The Dodgers’ 1951 win streak against the Cardinals reached 14 before it ended on Aug. 23. For the season, the Dodgers won 18 of 22 games versus the Cardinals.

Spitball specialist Preacher Roe, a former Cardinal, was 7-0 for the Dodgers against the Cardinals in 1951. Carl Erskine was 4-0.

Most of the Dodgers’ regulars hit Cardinals pitching hard and often. The standouts, in alphabetical order, included:

_ Roy Campanella: .328, six home runs, 19 RBI in 19 games.

_ Carl Furillo: .326, 28 hits in 22 games.

_ Gil Hodges: .301, four home runs, 16 RBI in 22 games.

_ Andy Pafko: .516 on-base percentage, eight hits and eight walks in nine games.

_ Pee Wee Reese: .297, 27 hits in 22 games.

_ Jackie Robinson: .433 on-base percentage, 29 hits and 10 walks in 22 games.

_ Duke Snider: 23 hits, 12 walks, 16 runs scored and 13 RBI in 22 games.

The Giants, who edged the Dodgers for the National League pennant on Bobby Thomson’s home run in the ninth inning of the decisive playoff game, were 11-11 versus the Cardinals in 1951.

Long career

Terwilliger, a .172 hitter versus the Cardinals for his career, had a .538 on-base percentage (three hits, four walks) against them as a Dodger in 1951.

He spent the 1952 season in the minors and returned to the big leagues as the second baseman for the Senators in 1953 and 1954. Terwilliger’s final seasons in the majors were as a reserve for the Giants (1955-56) and Athletics (1959-60).

Terwilliger spent 18 years as a coach in the majors with the Senators (1969-71), Rangers (1972 and 1981-85) and Twins (1986-94). He coached for the Twins against the Cardinals in the 1987 World Series.

Terwilliger also was a manager for 17 years in the minors, mostly in the farm systems of the Senators and Rangers. In 2005, he was 80 when he managed an unaffiliated minor-league team, the Fort Worth Cats, to a Central League title.

In March 1993, when he was a Twins coach, Terwilliger, 67, told Knight-Ridder Newspapers his six rules for a long life:

_ Associate with young people.

_ Get up early.

_ Move with some bounce in your step.

_ A diet with plenty of distilled water, vegetables and chicken.

_ Find time each day to be by yourself.

_ Ignore the aches, pains and varicose veins.

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