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Hard to handle: Steve Swisher and the mystery pitch

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents, Trades on September 9, 2024| 9 Comments »

(Updated Dec. 14, 2024)

Cubs rookie catcher Steve Swisher took the blame for a passed ball that cost the Cardinals a chance to reach the playoffs, but it might not have been his fault. Swisher may have been crossed up by his pitcher.

On Oct. 2, 1974, the Pirates’ Bob Robertson swung and missed at strike three, a strikeout that should have ended the game. A Cubs win would have kept alive the Cardinals’ division title hopes.

Instead, the ball got away from Swisher, who retrieved it but couldn’t throw out Robertson at first as the tying run streaked home from third. The Pirates went on to win in extra innings, clinching the division crown.

Swisher’s misplay made him a villain to some, but he may have been the fall guy. A gifted receiver, it’s suspected the ball eluded him because he wasn’t expecting his pitcher, Rick Reuschel, to throw a spitter.

Change in plans

Shortstop was the position Swisher played best in high school at Parkersburg, W.Va., but when he got to Ohio University, the team had a shortstop, junior Mike Schmidt (the future Hall of Fame third baseman). Swisher shifted to catcher, a position he hadn’t played, and he learned it well.

Impressed by his catching and what The Sporting News described as “a howitzer arm,” the White Sox selected Swisher in the first round of the June 1973 amateur draft and sent him to the minors.

(Nearly 30 years later, Swisher’s son, Nick, an outfielder, was a first-round choice of the Athletics in the 2002 draft. The Swishers joined Tom and Ben Grieve, and Jeff and Sean Burroughs, as father and son first-rounders at that time.)

Six months after they drafted Swisher, the White Sox reluctantly dealt him to the crosstown Cubs. Ron Santo, the Cubs’ iconic third baseman, triggered the trade.

Second City swap

On Dec. 5, 1973, Cubs general manager John Holland asked Santo if he’d consent to a trade to the Angels, The Sporting News reported. Santo said no and told the Cubs he wanted to stay in Chicago. Two days later, the White Sox got involved.

Swisher wasn’t part of the White Sox’s initial offer, but the Cubs refused to make a deal unless he was included. The White Sox relented, swapping Swisher, pitchers Steve Stone and Ken Frailing and a player to be named (pitcher Jim Kremmel) for Santo. “Swisher apparently was the key,” The Sporting News reported.

At 1974 spring training, the Cubs assigned Swisher to their Wichita farm club, managed by ex-catcher and future Cardinals pitching coach Mike Roarke, “with the intention of keeping him there all season,” according to The Sporting News.

The timetable got moved up in June 1974 when Cubs catcher George Mitterwald injured a knee and his backup, Tom Lundstedt, also had chronic knee pain.

Batting a mere .196 at Wichita, Swisher, 22, got called to the Cubs and was put in the starting lineup. Cubs coach Pete Reiser said to The Sporting News, “He’s going to be another Johnny Bench.”

Umpire John McSherry told the publication, “He’s a beautiful catcher defensively.”

Though Swisher struggled to hit (.214) in the National League, the rookie turned into Gabby Hartnett against the 1974 Cardinals (.343, including a grand slam against Barry Lersch. Boxscore)

Tuning in 

On Oct. 1, 1974, Mike Jorgensen stunned the Cardinals, belting a two-run home run with two outs in the eighth inning against Bob Gibson to erase a 2-1 deficit and carry the Expos to a 3-2 victory. Boxscore

The loss put the Cardinals (86-75) a game behind the Pirates (87-74) entering the final day of the regular season.

At Montreal on Oct. 2, the Cardinals’ game with the Expos was rained out. The Pirates played that night at home against the Cubs. If the Pirates lost, the Cardinals would play the Expos on Oct. 3 with a chance for a win that would put them in a tie with the Pirates atop the standings. If that happened, the Cardinals and Pirates would face off in a one-game playoff at Pittsburgh on Oct. 4 to decide the division champion.

In the lobby of the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, the Cardinals gathered around TV broadcaster Jay Randolph as he listened by telephone to an account of the Cubs-Pirates game relayed to him by colleague Ron Jacober from the station in St. Louis. Tension soared with each pitch.

The Cubs took a 4-2 lead into the bottom of the ninth. After scoring a run to make it 4-3, the Pirates had a runner, Manny Sanguillen, on third with two outs and pinch-hitter Bob Robertson, batting on his 28th birthday, at the plate against starter Rick Reuschel.

Reuschel’s first three pitches to Robertson were out of the strike zone. Then Robertson took two called strikes before fouling off a pitch.

Swisher said he then signaled for a curve.

All wet

Whatever Reuschel threw on the 3-and-2 pitch, no one was quite sure.

The Pittsburgh Press called it a sharp slider.

Robertson said to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “It was the best sinking fastball I’ve seen all this year.”

Swisher told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “His curve had been breaking away from right-handed hitters all night, but, for some reason, this one broke down.”

Robertson said to the Chicago Tribune, “It sure came in strange.”

Angels scout Grover Resinger said to reporter Neal Russo, “I’m convinced that the pitch by Reuschel was a spitball, and Reuschel failed to let the kid catcher know it was coming.”

Resinger said he scouted Reuschel a week earlier and saw him throw five spitters. “They fell right off the table,” Resinger said to the Post-Dispatch.

Dave Nightengale of the Chicago Daily News wrote that the pitch Reuschel threw to Robertson was a spitter. According to The Sporting News, a spitball dips down and in to a right-handed batter.

Miracle workers

Robertson swung at the mystery pitch and missed for strike three. (“I’m not sure it was a strike, but I couldn’t afford to take it,” Robertson told the Post-Gazette.)

Swisher said to the Post-Dispatch, “It hit the bottom of my glove and it just bounced away. I missed it. It was my fault. I have no excuses.”

As Swisher chased after the ball, Manny Sanguillen steamed toward the plate from third with the tying run, and Robertson, facing knee surgery after the season, hobbled toward first.

According to the Post-Gazette, “Swisher had trouble picking up the ball about 20 feet behind the plate. When he did throw toward first, he had a good chance to nab Robertson.”

The Pirates’ Al Oliver said to The Pittsburgh Press, “There’s no doubt he would have been out with a good throw.”

Swisher’s throw was strong but it tailed toward Robertson, hitting him in the left shoulder and bounding into right field.

Swisher was charged with a passed ball and an error.

According to the Post-Dispatch, when word of Swisher’s blunder that enabled the Pirates to tie the score reached the Cardinals in Montreal, rookie first baseman Keith Hernandez said, “How could they make a bonehead play like that?”

In the Pirates’ 10th, Al Oliver tripled versus Ken Frailing and Sanguillen then topped a slow roller toward third. Bill Madlock charged in but couldn’t make a barehand grab, and Oliver scored the winning run on the weak single. Boxscore

The Pirates’ victory meant the Cardinals couldn’t catch them, making it unnecessary to play the rained out finale with the Expos. The Cardinals immediately took a flight home.

In his memoir, Keith Hernandez recalled, “On the plane back to St. Louis, Anheuser-Busch products were aplenty as well as hard liquor. Most of the guys opted for the latter … and most everyone was getting a bit boxed _ especially Reitzie (Ken Reitz), who was ranting that Swisher had let the ball get by him on purpose. He kept getting madder and madder, saying he was going to go after Swisher the first time the Cardinals and Cubs met next April.”

Back in Pittsburgh, Robertson told the Post-Dispatch, “I didn’t want that playoff game with the Cardinals. They’re a tremendous team.”

Switching sides

Swisher rebounded from the Pittsburgh mess. He was the Cubs’ Opening Day catcher from 1975 to 1977. National League manager Sparky Anderson put him on the all-star team as a backup to Johnny Bench in 1976.

In St. Louis during that time, Swisher’s appearances with the Cubs “were greeted with boos,” the Post-Dispatch reported.

So it was a quirk of fate when on Dec. 8, 1977, Swisher was traded with Jerry Morales to the Cardinals for Hector Cruz and Dave Rader. Asked whether he was concerned about lingering hard feelings, Swisher said to the Post-Dispatch, “I think that’s water over the dam.”

Swisher understood he was acquired to back up Ted Simmons. He said to the Decatur (Ill.) Daily Review, “I consider playing behind Ted Simmons a compliment. He’s unbelievable. He doesn’t receive enough credit.”

Though he didn’t play often in his three seasons (1978-80) with St. Louis, Swisher was respected. After Pete Vuckovich got a win versus the Expos, he said to the Post-Dispatch, “Swisher carried me. He called a hell of a game … His input is registering in my mind at various times of the game.”

In December 1980, Swisher was sent to the Padres as part of the trade that brought Rollie Fingers, Gene Tenace and Bob Shirley to the Cardinals.

After his playing career, Swisher was a manager in the farm systems of the Indians, Mets, Astros and Phillies. As manager at Tidewater in 1991, his catcher was Todd Hundley, son of former Cubs catcher Randy Hundley. Swisher also was a Mets coach from 1994 to 1996.

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Welcome home: How Ron Hunt ended up with Cardinals

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents, Trades on August 30, 2024| 11 Comments »

(Updated Nov. 25, 2024)

Ron Hunt, best known for getting hit by pitches, made his biggest contribution to the Cardinals just by standing still at the plate and watching a ball zip into the catcher’s mitt.

On Sept. 5, 1974, the Cardinals acquired Hunt, a second baseman, after the Expos placed him on waivers. Born and raised in St. Louis, Hunt got to close out his playing career in his hometown with the 1974 Cardinals.

Adept at reaching base, Hunt was obtained to be a pinch-hitter who might ignite a spark for the Cardinals, contending for a division title.

Hunt did the job _ in eight plate appearances as a Cardinals pinch-hitter, he got on base five times (a .625 percentage), with two hits, two walks and one hit by pitch. Better yet, his patience at the plate enabled Lou Brock to break Maury Wills’ single-season stolen base record before the hometown fans.

Meet the Mets

Growing up in northeast St. Louis, Hunt considered himself a city kid before he moved with his mother and grandparents to nearby Overland. “My parents broke up when I was little,” Hunt said to Newsday. “My grandparents took care of me most of the time … They loved me so much they’d do anything for me.”

At Ritenour High School, Hunt was a third baseman and pitcher. He signed with the reigning National League champion Milwaukee Braves after graduating in June 1959. (Hunt’s favorite player, second baseman Red Schoendienst, helped the Braves win consecutive pennants in 1957-58.)

Assigned to play third base for the Class D team in McCook, Nebraska, Hunt, 18, was a teammate of pitchers Phil Niekro, 20, and Pat Jordan, 18. (Niekro went on to a Hall of Fame career and Jordan became a writer.)

Switched to second base in 1960, Hunt played three consecutive seasons in the minors for former Cardinals second baseman Jimmy Brown as his manager.

Late in the 1962 season, the Mets, on their way to losing 120 games, dispatched their coach, former Cardinals infielder and manager Solly Hemus, to scout prospects. After watching Hunt (.381 on-base percentage) play for Class AA Austin in the Texas League, Hemus recommended him to the Mets.

“I talked to Jimmy Brown about him,” Hemus told the New York Daily News. “He said he thought the kid could make the major leagues.”

In October 1962, the Mets purchased Hunt’s contract on a conditional basis. They had until May 9, one month after the start of the 1963 season, to decide whether to keep him or send him back to the Braves.

Gesundheit

Hunt appeared a longshot to make the leap from Class AA to the majors, but at 1963 spring training his rough and tumble style of play impressed manager Casey Stengel. “There’s a soft spot in the old man’s heart for his second baseman,” Newsday’s Joe Donnelly noted. “When he was a player, there must have been a bit of Ron Hunt in him.”

The 1963 Mets lost their first eight games before beating the Braves on Hunt’s two-run double in the ninth. Boxscore

Club owner Joan Payson showed her gratitude by sending a bouquet of roses to Hunt’s wife, Jackie, a gesture that prompted Hunt to run for a box of Kleenex.

“Ron is allergic to flowers,” Jackie told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

When he was a teen, “I went to an allergist,” Hunt said to the Los Angeles Times. “I found out I was allergic to just about everything.”

Hunt had asthma and, in addition to flowers, was allergic to two of the constant companions of an infielder _ grass and dust.

As St. Louis journalist Bob Broeg noted, Hunt “spends more time in the dirt than a grubworm.” Mets broadcaster Lindsey Nelson told Broeg, “My favorite recollection is of Ron sliding into second in a cloud of dust, coming up sneezing and borrowing umpire Augie Donatelli’s handkerchief to blow his nose.”

Hunt’s asthma and allergies required special attention. Mets trainer Gus Mauch kept under refrigeration a vial of medicine supplied by Hunt’s physician and administered the shots, the New York Daily News reported.

Neither his health issues nor the challenges of the big leagues deterred him. Hunt played with the same hustle, toughness and aggressiveness of another 1963 National League rookie second baseman, Pete Rose.

Bob Broeg described Hunt as “a back alley ballplayer.” Newsday’s George Vecsey observed that Hunt “slid hard with his spikes high and applied liberal dosages of knees to any runner who tried the same thing with him.”

“If anybody wants to get tough, I can get tougher than anybody else,” Hunt said to the Montreal Gazette.

On Aug. 6, 1963, the Cardinals’ Tim McCarver slid high and hard into Hunt at second base. McCarver’s spikes dug deep into Hunt’s thigh, causing two wounds. Hunt, hobbling, stayed in the game. Boxscore

Hunt led the 1963 Mets in total bases (211), hits (145), runs (64), doubles (28), batting average (.272) and most times hit by a pitch (13). He finished second to Rose in balloting for the National League Rookie of the Year Award.

Hit and run

In 1964, Hunt became the first Met to make the starting lineup for an All-Star Game. In voting by players, managers and coaches, Hunt was named the National League second baseman. He singled against Dean Chance in the game at New York’s Shea Stadium. Boxscore

(Hunt played in one other All-Star Game, in 1966 at St. Louis. His sacrifice bunt in the 10th inning moved Tim McCarver into position to score the winning run. Boxscore)

Hunt was sidelined for a chunk of the 1965 season because of a play involving the Cardinals’ Phil Gagliano. On May 11, with the bases loaded and one out, Lou Brock hit a slow grounder. Just as Hunt crouched for the ball, Gagliano, trying to advance from first to second, barreled into him. As Dick Young wrote in the lede to his story in the New York Daily News, “Ron Hunt was run over by an Italian sports car named Phil Gagliano.”

The impact separated Hunt’s left shoulder. He underwent an operation in which two metal pins were placed in the shoulder and was sidelined until August. Boxscore

In November 1966, Mets executive Bing Devine traded Hunt and Jim Hickman to the Dodgers for two-time National League batting champion Tommy Davis and Derrell Griffith. Hunt spent one season with the Dodgers, then went to the Giants (1968-70) and Expos (1971-74).

Black and blue

It was when he got to the Giants that Hunt began getting hit by pitches at an accelerated rate. He was the National League leader in most times getting plunked for seven consecutive seasons (1968-74).

Los Angeles Times columnist Jim Murray wrote, “Most batters dream of a pitcher they can hit. Hunt dreams of a pitcher who can hit him.”

Choking the bat up to the label, Hunt “couldn’t reach the ball unless two-thirds of his body was in the strike zone,” Jim Murray noted. Hunt told him, “I don’t stand close to the plate. I sit right on it.”

Hunt’s most remarkable seasons were with the Expos in 1971 (.402 on-base percentage, 145 hits, 58 walks, 50 hit by pitches) and 1973 (.418 on-base percentage, 124 hits, 52 walks, 24 hit by pitches).

On Sept. 29, 1971, when Hunt was plunked for the 50th time that season, the pitcher was the Cubs’ Milt Pappas, who told the Montreal Gazette, “He not only didn’t try to get out of the way, he actually leaned into the ball.” Pappas’ teammate, Ken Holtzman, said to the newspaper, “The pitch was a strike.” Boxscore

Hughie Jennings of the 1896 Baltimore Orioles holds the single-season record for most times hit by a pitch, with 51. Jim Murray wrote, “Hunt himself seems to go back to 1896. Crewcut, leather-faced, tobacco-chewing, his slight scarecrow appearance makes him look like something sitting with a squirrel gun and pointed black hat in front of an Ozark cabin.”

The pitcher who hit Hunt the most times with pitches was Bob Gibson (six). Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan each plunked Hunt five times. In 1969, a Seaver fastball conked Hunt on the back of the batting helmet, knocking him out. The ball bounced high off his helmet and Seaver caught it near first base, according to the San Francisco Examiner. Taken off in a stretcher, Hunt was back in the lineup three days later. Boxscore

(As for Gibson, in a 2018 interview with Joe Schuster of Cardinals Yearbook, Hunt recalled, “When I was traded to the Cardinals, one day I was pitching batting practice to the pitchers and I must have thrown at Gibson 10 times, but as much as I tried, I couldn’t hit him once since he was jumping all over the place.”)

Helping hand

After the Cardinals acquired Hunt, their manager, Red Schoendienst, said to the Post-Dispatch, “He can help you win.”

Soon after, the Cardinals’ second baseman, Ted Sizemore, got injured when his spikes caught in a seam of the artificial turf while chasing a grounder. Hunt replaced him in the starting lineup.

Sizemore batted in the No. 2 spot, behind Lou Brock, and his patience in taking pitches enabled Brock to get a lot of stolen base attempts.

On Sept. 10, 1974, against the Phillies at St. Louis, Hunt, batting second, was at the plate when Brock stole two bases. The first was his 104th of the season, tying Maury Wills’ major-league mark. The second broke the record. Boxscore

Hunt, 34, went to spring training with the 1975 Cardinals, looking to earn a utility job. In the batting cage against the Iron Mike pitching machine, he got struck by pitches six times. Hunt “actually practiced getting hit by pitches,” Ira Berkow of the New York Times reported.

He didn’t do enough to get base hits, though, batting .194 in 12 spring training games, and was cut from the roster before the season began.

In 12 big-league seasons, Hunt had 1,429 hits, got plunked 243 times (Hughie Jennings is the leader with 287) and produced a .368 on-base percentage.

From his ranch in Wentzville, Mo., Hunt started a baseball program for youths ages 15 through 18. More than 100 of his players received college scholarships.

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Cardinals brought out the best in Duane Thomas

Posted in Football, Games, Opponents on August 26, 2024| 10 Comments »

Duane Thomas was a valuable running back and non-conformist in a league that valued conformity more than it did talent.

Thomas had two seasons with the Dallas Cowboys and was their leading rusher in both. In his rookie season, they reached the Super Bowl for the first time. In his second season, they won it.

The Cowboys traded Thomas after both title games because he wanted a pay raise. They preferred to get rid of him rather than renegotiate his contract.

Thomas led the NFL in average yards per carry (5.3) as a rookie in 1970 and in total touchdowns (13) and rushing touchdowns (11) in 1971. Against the St. Louis Cardinals, he scored four touchdowns in the 1971 regular-season finale.

On the run

Born and raised in South Dallas, Thomas was a teen when his parents, John and Loretta, died less than a year apart. He moved in with relatives.

Regarding those teen years, Thomas said to Gary Cartwright of Texas Monthly magazine in 1971, “Both of my parents were dead and I traveled a lot. This aunt in Los Angeles … This aunt in Dallas … You travel, you see things. One night, I slept next to a dead man on a railroad track, only I didn’t know he was dead. You see things and you start to relate … I met the Great Cosmos out there.”

(According to Cartwright, “The Great Cosmos was Duane’s attempt to express the inexpressible, and he used the term like a new toy. It was an interchangeable expression of faith and fear, of love and loneliness, of infinite acceptance and eternal rejection, a gussied-up extraterrestrial slang that still hovered painfully near his South Dallas streets.”)

“When I was young, hobos used to come and sleep on our porch,” Thomas told the Boston Globe. “We might not have anything but beans and cornbread but we always shared what we had.”

Thomas played football at Lincoln High School in South Dallas. He reminded observers of Abner Haynes, who played for Lincoln a decade earlier and went on to lead the American Football League (AFL) in rushing touchdowns for three consecutive seasons (1960-62).

Lincoln head coach Floyd Iglehart told Gary Cartwright, “I guess you could call Duane a loner. The only thing that boy liked to do was run. All the time … Running, by himself. Running from home to school, running back home, running over to his girlfriend’s house at night.”

Thomas and his girlfriend married while in high school after she got pregnant. They had a daughter and later a son, according to Texas Monthly.

Happy days

Thomas went to college at West Texas A&M in the panhandle town of Canyon, 375 miles from Dallas. He averaged six yards per carry in four seasons.

The Cowboys chose Thomas in the first round of the 1970 NFL draft. (The Cardinals took the first running back, Texas A&M’s Larry Stegent, who then tore up his knees.)

Cowboys head coach Tom Landry was ecstatic about Thomas being available when Dallas’ turn came with the 23rd pick. “We have unlimited feeling for Thomas,” Landry told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “He’s the type running back that doesn’t come along every year … If we’d gone into the draft with only one (player) to come out with, he’s the one we wanted … This guy doesn’t lack anything.”

Asked his reaction to being drafted by Dallas, Thomas said to the newspaper, “There’s nothing like home sweet home. I’m so excited I can hardly think.”

Thomas signed a three-year contract. According to Los Angeles Times columnist Jim Murray, Thomas got base salaries of $18,000 in 1970, $20,000 in 1971 and $22,000 in 1972. Thomas also got a $25,000 signing bonus, plus a bonus for making the team as a rookie.

Robust rookie

Calvin Hill and Walt Garrison opened the 1970 season as the Cowboys’ starting running backs, with Thomas primarily returning kickoffs. (He averaged 22 yards on 19 returns.) In October, Thomas moved into the starting backfield. The rookie led the 1970 Cowboys in rushing (803 yards) and rushing touchdowns (five).

“Thomas is the best we’ve ever had as far as hitting all types of plays and being able to go all the way on them,” Landry told The Sporting News.

Football writer Bob Oates observed, “When daylight appears in a football line, even a crack of light, his acceleration is breathtaking.” Jim Murray wrote, “He didn’t really run; he just sort of flowed, like syrup over a waffle.”

In describing what it was like to carry a football as a NFL running back, Thomas told Gary Cartwright, “It’s like moving in a shadow … in a dream … where everything is real slow and yet so fast you don’t think about it … Then you see some light and you go for it.”

The 1970 Cowboys qualified for the playoffs and Thomas carried them to wins over the Detroit Lions (135 yards rushing) and San Francisco 49ers (143 yards rushing and two touchdowns _ one rushing and the other receiving).

“Thomas is great at cutting back on power sweeps,” columnist Dick Young noted in The Sporting News. “Here’s a guy who picks up the most casual six, eight yards a try I ever saw.”

In the third quarter of the Super Bowl against the Baltimore Colts, the Cowboys were ahead, 13-6, and on the verge of delivering a knockout punch. On first down from the Baltimore 2-yard line, Thomas took a handoff, got inside the 1, twisted and tried to get across the goal line, but linebacker Mike Curtis stripped the ball out of his hands and cornerback Jim Duncan recovered. The Colts rallied and won, 16-13.

Hard feelings

Based on the overall success of his first season, Thomas wanted to be paid more than the $20,000 his contract called for him to receive in 1971. He asked the Cowboys to renegotiate and they refused.

Upset with the response, Thomas held a news conference in July 1971 and criticized Cowboys management. He said Landry was “so plastic, just not a man at all.” He called team president Tex Schramm “sick, demented and completely dishonest” and said player personnel director Gil Brandt was “a liar.”

“I had all the freedom of a Negro slave,” Thomas said to the Boston Globe.

The Cowboys shipped Thomas, lineman Halvor Hagen and defensive back Honor Jackson to the New England Patriots for running back Carl Garrett and a No. 1 draft pick.

At his first training camp practice with the 1971 Patriots, Thomas clashed with head coach John Mazur when asked to set up in a three-point stance. Thomas went into a two-point stance instead. According to The Sporting News, Thomas told Mazur, “This is the way I was taught at Dallas. They said you could see the linebackers better from a two-point stance.”

Mazur insisted a three-point stance was better. Thomas replied, “That may be but I’m doing it my way.”

(Years later, Thomas recalled to the Boston Globe, “I was in a two-point stance because it gives a better view of a handoff. I was behind [fullback] Jim Nance, and I couldn’t see. His ass was the size of a volleyball court.”)

Mazur ordered Thomas to leave the field, then went to general manager Upton Bell and said he wanted Thomas off the team.

When Bell called the Cowboys about rescinding the trade, Tex Schramm said no, but NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle intervened and brokered a compromise, the Boston Globe reported. The Cowboys returned Garrett and the No. 1 draft pick to the Patriots, who sent Thomas and two high draft picks to Dallas. The Patriots kept Hagen and Jackson.

With the Cowboys still unwilling to renegotiate his contract, Thomas refused to report. The Cowboys placed him on their reserve list without pay.

In late September 1971, Thomas agreed to return to the team.

Championship run

The player the Cowboys traded in July and reluctantly relented to take back led them in rushing (793 yards) and total touchdowns scored (13) in 1971, even though he played in just 11 of their 14 games.

One of those games was a 44-21 Cowboys victory against the Patriots. Thomas ignited the rout with a 56-yard touchdown run for the first score of the game. Landry described Thomas as “tremendous,” The Sporting News reported.

Another highlight came Dec. 18, 1971, in the Cowboys’ 31-12 triumph against the Cardinals at Dallas. Thomas scored three touchdowns rushing and another receiving. One of the touchdown runs was of 53 yards. The touchdown catch, on a screen play, went 34 yards. “Thomas zigzagged behind blockers, cut back to the middle and scored easily,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Game stats and Video

Throughout the season, Thomas refused to talk with the media because he thought it had taken management’s side in his contract squabble. Years later, he told the Boston Globe, “The NFL controlled the media. That’s how they kept players in line _ through fear, which is an old slave tactic. Pit one against the another … Tom (Landry) would tell you one thing and the media something else.”

Thomas helped the Cowboys repeat as NFC champions, scoring touchdowns in playoff victories versus the Minnesota Vikings and San Francisco 49ers.

In the Super Bowl against the Miami Dolphins, Thomas rushed for 95 yards and a touchdown in Dallas’ 24-3 victory, earning a winner’s share of $15,000.

Moving around

At training camp in July 1972, Thomas again threatened to sit out unless his base pay was raised. Again, the Cowboys traded him _ to the San Diego Chargers for wide receiver Billy Parks and running back Mike Montgomery.

“I’m not going to try and change Duane Thomas,” Chargers head coach Harland Svare said to The Sporting News. “He won’t be expected to stand and salute.”

Thomas never played a regular-season game for the Chargers. He eventually was put on the reserve list in 1972 and traded to the Washington Redskins for two high draft picks in 1973.

Thomas played two seasons (1973-74) with Washington. One of his best performances came on Sept. 22, 1974, when he rushed for 96 yards against the Cardinals, who won, 17-10. Game stats

After playing a few games for Hawaii of the World Football League in 1975, Thomas worked a variety of jobs, including as an avocado farmer in California, before settling in the Village of Oak Creek near Sedona, Arizona.

“I was living in my own little world,” Thomas told Jim Murray. “I was making the world up as I went along.”

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A bevy of double plays can’t save the day for Cardinals

Posted in Games, Opponents, Records on August 16, 2024| 5 Comments »

There are many frustrating ways to lose a baseball game but perhaps none more so than this:

On Aug. 20, 1954, the Cardinals turned six double plays, tying a National League record, and still were beaten, 3-2, at home against the Reds.

Though they totaled 12 hits and eight walks, putting a runner on base in every inning, the Reds didn’t do much damage. They had two triples and a double, but none produced a run. The Reds scored one run on a double play and another on a wild pitch.

Meanwhile, the Cardinals ran into outs. They had four runners thrown out on the base paths, including two at home plate. The game ended when a Cardinals runner was nailed trying to score from second on a single.

Twists and turns

The Friday night game featured starting pitchers Joe Nuxhall, on his way to his first winning season with the Reds, against winless Cardinals rookie Ralph Beard, a Cincinnati native.

The first inning set the tone. For the Reds, Ted Kluszewski’s single scored Roy McMillan from second but Jim Greengrass ended the threat by grounding into a double play. For the Cardinals, Wally Moon was thrown out at second attempting to steal.

In the second, the Cardinals nearly turned a triple play. After Johnny Temple and Wally Post opened with singles, Hobie Landrith lined to second baseman Red Schoendienst. He tossed to shortstop Alex Grammas, who made the out on Temple at second, but Post beat Grammas’ peg to first “by a whisker,” the Dayton Daily News reported.

(Schoendienst started four of the double plays; Grammas started the other two.)

The Cardinals made another out on the base paths in the bottom half of the inning. With Rip Repulski on third and one out, Nuxhall snared Joe Cunningham’s grounder and then trapped Repulski, who had broken for home, in a rundown before tagging him out.

More buffoonery in the third: With two outs, Beard uncorked a wild pitch, enabling Bobby Adams to score and extending the Reds’ lead to 2-0.

The Reds scored the decisive run in the fourth. With runners on the corners, none out, Nuxhall rolled into a 4-6-3 double play, but Post came home from third, making the score 3-0.

St. Louis turned its fourth double play in the fifth on Gus Bell’s grounder.

Hits, runs, errors

The Cardinals scored twice in the sixth. With two outs, Stan Musial was on second and Ray Jablonski on first, when Bill Sarni singled to center. Musial scored, and when center fielder Gus Bell let the ball roll between his legs for an error, Jablonski streaked home from first with the second run. Sarni kept running, too, trying to take third, but left fielder Jim Greengrass, who retrieved the ball, fired to third baseman Bobby Adams in time to tag the runner, ending the inning.

The Reds got leadoff triples from Temple in the sixth and Post in the eighth, but failed to score. Kluszewski grounded into double plays in the seventh and ninth.

With two outs and none on in the St. Louis eighth, Reds manager Birdie Tebbetts used a four-man outfield, removing the shortstop, against Musial for the second time that season. Tebbetts wanted to prevent Musial from getting an extra-base hit that would put him in scoring position.

When Musial saw the defensive alignment, he called time and met with Cardinals manager Eddie Stanky. “I told Stan to get on base any way he could,” Stanky said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Attempting to hit the ball into the vacated shortstop spot for a single, Musial instead grounded out to third, ending the inning.

Hit and run

Clinging to the 3-2 lead, Nuxhall walked the leadoff batter, Ray Jablonski, in the ninth. Dick Schofield, 19, ran for Jablonski and advanced to second on Rip Repulski’s sacrifice bunt. Frank Smith, who threw sidearm, relieved Nuxhall.

Bill Sarni bounced out to Smith, with Schofield holding second. Then Joe Cunningham drilled a low line single to right. Wally Post charged the ball, gloved it and threw a strike to catcher Andy Seminick, nailing Schofield easily for the final out. Boxscore

(Note: The box score, which shows Schofield was on third when Cunningham singled, is wrong. Multiple newspaper accounts of the game report that Schofield was on second when Cunningham got his hit. None report him being on third.)

Asked about third-base coach Johnny Riddle’s decision to wave Schofield to the plate, Stanky said to the Post-Dispatch, “If he hadn’t sent the kid with two outs, I’d have shot him.”

The dramatic finish almost overshadowed the six double plays. It was the seventh time a National League team turned that many double plays in a game, and the third time the team achieving that fielding feat lost, The Cincinnati Post reported.

The Yankees of the American League established the big-league record by turning seven double plays in a win versus the Athletics on Aug. 14, 1942. Boxscore

Since then, the Astros equaled the Yankees’ mark, turning seven double plays in a 3-1 victory against the Giants at the Astrodome on May 4, 1969. Boxscore

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Cardinals sent mayday call when facing Denny Lemaster

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers on August 12, 2024| 14 Comments »

May was indeed a merry month for Denny Lemaster when he pitched against the Cardinals. A left-hander, Lemaster hurled four shutouts versus the Cardinals, and all occurred in May during the 1960s.

In 11 seasons in the majors with the Braves (1962-67), Astros (1968-71) and Expos (1972), Lemaster was on the cusp of becoming an ace until injuries set him back. His record was 90-105, including 15-13 versus the Cardinals.

Lemaster experienced multiple family tragedies during his life: his sister drowned in a cesspool; his father died in a car crash; his wife also was killed in an auto accident.

Cesspool cave-in

Lemaster resided with his parents and younger sister in Camarillo, Calif., 50 miles north of Los Angeles. Denny’s father, Cyrus, milked cows for Adohr Farms and the family was housed in a residence court leased by the dairy for its workers.

On June 24, 1951, Denny’s sister, Lana, 8, and a playmate, Peggy Ziese, were skipping across the yard of the residence court when “the earth opened up beneath them,” the Los Angeles Times reported.

Rotten timbers covering a cesspool had given way and Lana fell in, the Associated Press reported. “Lana fell from sight through a hole about three feet in diameter,” the Times reported.

According to the Los Angeles Daily News, her friend Peggy “lost her footing but scrambled to safety” and screamed for help.

Two neighbors, Fred Luddenburg and Charles Simmons, were the first on the scene. According to the Camarillo Star, Lana’s father, Cyrus, soon joined them. The men lowered a garden hose to Lana.

“She grasped it and was nearly free of water when rotted timber gave way and struck her, causing her to lose her grip,” the Daily News reported. “Lana disappeared under an avalanche of dirt,” according to the Associated Press.

Her brother Denny, 12, had run to a fire station three blocks away for help, but rescuers arrived too late. “The rescue squad laid planks across the opening and lowered a ladder into the pit,” the Times reported. “Russell Griffin climbed down the ladder and carried Lana’s body to the surface.” Attempts to resuscitate failed.

Twenty minutes after she first fell, Lana was dead, drowned in the cesspool.

“Because of the tragic death of little Lana Lemaster, many local residents are advocating the immediate installation of a central sewage system,” the Camarillo Star reported.

(The Lemasters never considered a lawsuit. “We were poor, uneducated people,” Denny told the Times in 2021. “If that happened today, we’d have owned Adohr Farms.”)

Fatal accident

Three years later, on Dec. 3, 1954, Denny’s father, Cyrus, 44, died after his pickup truck skidded on a rain-slick road in Camarillo and slammed into a power pole, deputy coroner Virgil Payton said to the Oxnard Press-Courier.

A passing motorist stopped and found Cyrus in the pickup truck, bleeding badly. An ambulance was called to the scene, but Cyrus “had to be transferred to another ambulance when the first broke down (on its way) to the hospital,” the Ventura County Star reported. Cyrus was dead on arrival.

Pitching in

Without a father to support he and his mother, Denny worked 40 hours a week at a gas station while attending Oxnard High School, the Oxnard Press-Courier reported. He earned extra income from a second job with a lumber company.

When he wasn’t working or attending classes, Lemaster played high school baseball. He was a first baseman as a freshman and sophomore, then turned to pitching his junior and senior years.

As a senior in 1958, Lemaster had a stretch of 53 consecutive scoreless innings. He struck out 251 in 123 innings. Johnny Moore, West Coast scout for the reigning World Series champion Milwaukee Braves, signed Lemaster for $60,000 in June 1958. Moore previously signed Eddie Mathews and Del Crandall for the Braves.

(One of Lemaster’s prep teammates, Ken McMullen, signed with the Dodgers in 1960 and went on to play 16 seasons in the majors as a third baseman.)

Reaching the top

In 1962, his fifth season in the minors, Lemaster was 10-4 for Louisville when he got called to the Braves in July. Their ace left-hander, Warren Spahn, helped him adapt to the big leagues, showing him an effective pickoff move to first and how to add off-speed pitches to his mix.

“At Louisville, I could rear back and just throw it by some hitters,” Lemaster told the Ventura County Star, “but you can’t get away with that in the big leagues.”

In 1963, his first full season in the majors, Lemaster was 11-14, but the Braves were shut out in seven of those defeats and he lost another by a 2-1 score.

The next year, Lemaster had his best record _ 17-11 for the 1964 Braves. On May 24, he shut out the Cardinals for the first time, a three-hitter at Milwaukee. Boxscore

When he got to spring training in 1965, Lemaster’s shoulder ached. “Figuring he could work the stiffness out, he continued to pitch,” Newspaper Enterprise Association reported. “The pain increased. By July, the pain in his shoulder was as bad as his pitching record.” He finished the season with a 7-13 mark.

“I had torn tendons and there was nothing to do but rest,” Lemaster told reporter Sandy Padwe. “I was taking ultrasound and cobalt treatments and they were shooting my shoulder with cortisone. Finally, the shoulder began to respond and I could throw normally again.”

Pitching instead of throwing

In May 1966, the Cardinals moved into Busch Memorial Stadium in downtown St. Louis and defeated the Braves twice in their first two games there. The first pitcher to beat the Cardinals in their new home was Lemaster. He did it with a four-hit shutout and also drove in a run against Bob Gibson.

“Tonight I had to be a pitcher,” Lemaster told the Atlanta Journal. “I had to make a guy pop the ball up on a 3-1 pitch. I got another one to pop up on a 3-2 pitch and I got one to ground out on a 3-1 pitch. There’s a fine point between a good game like that and a bad game sometimes. If you make a little mistake in those situations, 3-1, 3-2, you can be in real trouble.

“So that’s why I get more satisfaction out of a game like (this) one. I made the pitches I had to when I had to make them.” Boxscore

With an 11-8 season record, Lemaster was warming up for an August 1966 start at San Francisco “when I felt something snap in my arm below the elbow,” he told Newspaper Enterprise Association. He pitched four innings, couldn’t straighten his arm and was shut down for the season.

Right stuff

The Cardinals were on their way to becoming World Series champions in 1967, but Lemaster was not intimidated. On May 24 in Atlanta, he pitched a one-hitter against them and won, 2-0.

“Just as soon as I started warming up, my fastball was going boom, boom, boom, right over the plate and I knew that I had it,” Lemaster told the Associated Press.

Catcher Joe Torre said to the Atlanta Constitution, “His fastball was as good as I ever saw it.”

The Cardinals’ lone hit was Lou Brock’s one-out single in the third, a low liner to center. “It almost tore my head off,” Lemaster said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Bob Gibson pitched a three-hitter for the Cardinals. One of those hits was Felipe Alou’s two-run home run in the fifth. More upsetting to Gibson, though, was what preceded the home run. With two outs and none on, Gibson issued a walk to Woody Woodward, who entered the game with a .197 batting average and had a career mark of .100 (3-for-30) versus Gibson.

“I should have thrown the ball right down the middle to Woodward,” Gibson said to the Post-Dispatch. Boxscore

More tragedy

After the 1967 season, Lemaster and infielder Denis Menke were dealt to the Astros for infielder Sonny Jackson and first baseman Chuck Harrison.

Lemaster shut out the Cardinals for the final time on May 2, 1968, a three-hitter at Houston. Lemaster had a 2.81 ERA for the 1968 Astros but a 10-15 record. Boxscore

He was moved fulltime to the bullpen by Astros manager Harry Walker in 1971 and finished his pitching career as a reliever with the 1972 Expos.

Lemaster became a custom home builder in Georgia, where he resided with his wife, Earlene, and their four children.

In October 1978, Earlene, 40, was killed and a daughter, Kim, 14, was injured in a traffic accident in Decatur, Ga. Earlene was driving her daughter home from school when she apparently ran a stop sign, a DeKalb County police official told the Atlanta Constitution. A truck slammed into the Cadillac and Earlene and her daughter were pinned in the wreckage for at least 30 minutes before rescuers could free them. The 20-year-old driver of the truck was not seriously injured and was not charged, police said.

Lemaster remarried in 1983. He was a master woodcarver, whose specialty was duck decoys.

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How John Lackey helped Cardinals sharpen their edge

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers, Trades on July 28, 2024| 9 Comments »

John Lackey was a big guy (6-foot-6) with a big presence on the mound who often came up big in the biggest games.

On July 31, 2014, the Cardinals acquired Lackey from the Red Sox for outfielder Allen Craig and pitcher Joe Kelly. The Red Sox also sent the Cardinals a minor-league pitcher, Corey Littrell, and $1.75 million cash.

Just nine months earlier with the Red Sox, Lackey beat the Cardinals in the decisive Game 6 of the 2013 World Series, making him the first pitcher to start and win the clinching game of a World Series for two franchises. As an Angels rookie, he started and won Game 7 of the 2002 World Series against the Giants.

David Eckstein, shortstop for two World Series champions (2002 Angels, 2006 Cardinals), said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about Lackey, “The bigger the stage, the better the performance. The bigger the game, the better he is.”

Lackey’s success in big games was an obvious quality that appealed to the Cardinals. Another was his demeanor. On the mound, Lackey was intense, edgy. Or, as Cubs catcher David Ross described it to the Chicago Tribune, full of “competitive fire.” The Cardinals would benefit from that kind of approach.

Pitching provides path

Lackey, naturally, came from a big state _ Texas. He was born and raised in Abilene. In high school, Lackey played almost exclusively at first base and hit .541 as a senior.

He went to the University of Texas-Arlington as a first baseman, but also was given the chance to pitch his freshman season. Then he enrolled at Grayson College in Denison, Texas, where he planned to play one season before transferring to Texas Tech.

At Grayson, Lackey, a right-hander, developed his pitching skills. “I like it a lot,” he told the Abilene News-Reporter in May 1999. “It gives me a chance to be in control of the game. It’s been fun so far. I still like to hit, though.”

Grayson won the national junior college baseball championship in 1999 and Lackey canceled his plans of transferring to Texas Tech when the Angels selected him in the second round of the 1999 amateur draft.

Three years later, in June 2002, he made his Angels debut, replacing Scott Schoeneweis in the starting rotation.

Rookie won’t rattle

Lackey, 23, made 18 regular-season starts for the 2002 Angels and was 9-4. He lost just once in his final seven starts of the season and won the game that clinched the Angels’ first playoff berth in 16 years.

“A lot of John’s success is due to his makeup, which started long before he pitched in the major leagues,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. “His passion for the game and his makeup and his willingness to work … You mix that with his talent, it’s an incredible combination.”

In the American League Championship Series against the Twins, Lackey started Game 4 and pitched seven scoreless innings for the win. Boxscore The Angels clinched the pennant the next day, reaching the World Series for the first time.

When Scioscia chose Lackey to start World Series Game 7 versus the Giants, Angels closer Troy Percival told the Los Angeles Times, “You couldn’t ask for a better man to be out there than Lackey. He’s not scared of anything.”

Lackey did the job, allowing one run in five innings and becoming the first rookie since the Pirates’ Babe Adams in 1909 to win a World Series Game 7. Boxscore

Noting how Lackey established the inside fastball early in the game, Angels pitching coach Bud Black told the New York Times, “You can’t discount experience, but a lot of times youthful aggressiveness pays off.”

Lackey said to the Los Angeles Times, “If you don’t want to go out there with a little pressure and pitching in big games, you shouldn’t be around.”

Lackey pitched eight seasons (2002-09) with the Angels, posting a 102-71 record, then became a free agent and took a five-year contract from the Red Sox for $82.5 million.

Getting it done

When the Red Sox missed qualifying for the playoffs in 2010 and 2011, “Lackey became one of the symbols of what had gone wrong,” the Boston Globe noted. “Fans booed him and Lackey’s angry exchanges with reporters caused team officials to wince.”

Lackey tore a ligament in his right elbow during the 2011 season, managed to make 28 starts but had a 6.41 ERA. He underwent surgery and sat out the 2012 season, when the Red Sox (69-93) finished in last place.

John Farrell, a former pitcher, replaced Bobby Valentine as Red Sox manager in 2013 and Lackey returned to the rotation. The 2013 Red Sox had the best record in the American League (97-65). In the playoffs, Lackey beat the Rays in Game 2 of the Division Series and won Game 3 of the League Championship Series against the Tigers. Then he beat the Cardinals in the decisive Game 6 of the World Series. Boxscore, Boxscore, Boxscore

“You can foresee him being successful for years to come because of the style of pitcher he is,” Farrell told the Globe. “He can put the ball on the ground. Because he throws the ball on a downhill angle, he doesn’t rely on velocity as much.”

When the Red Sox floundered in 2014 and sunk to last place in July, they shopped Lackey and fellow starter Jon Lester.

Finding a bargain

The 2014 Cardinals needed a boost. After losing, 12-1, to the Padres on July 30, the Cardinals (56-50) were in third place in a five-team division. That day, they acquired pitcher Justin Masterson (4-6, 5.51 ERA) from Cleveland for a prospect, outfielder James Ramsey.

Seeking another starter, the Cardinals had their eyes on Lackey, Lester and the Rays’ David Price, according to the Post-Dispatch.

Lackey, who would turn 36 in October, became their focus. In addition to his 11-7 record for the 2014 Red Sox, Lackey had an enticing contract structure. Though owed $5.08 million for the remainder of 2014, a clause in his contract gave his team the option to bring him back in 2015 for a salary of $500,000.

When the Cardinals agreed to include Joe Kelly (2-2, 4.37 ERA), along with Allen Craig (.237, 44 RBI), the trade was made.

Get to work

Craig and Kelly were “cherished teammates” among the Cardinals and the trade “left the clubhouse stunned,” the Post-Dispatch reported.

Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak was “a little stunned,” too, “by the immediate take of disappointment” among the players, he told the Post-Dispatch.

One of the players who applauded the deal was a newcomer, catcher A.J. Pierzynski, 37. Released by the Red Sox on July 16, he signed with St. Louis five days before Lackey was acquired.

“He brings a presence,” Pierzynski told the Post-Dispatch. “He brings competitiveness, He wants the ball. He’s won big games wherever he’s been.”

As the Post-Dispatch noted, Lackey “proved reliable, if not dominant,” for the 2014 Cardinals. In 10 starts, he was 3-3. Additionally, he “brought an edge to us,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny told the Post-Dispatch.

From 2.5 games out of first place on the day Lackey was acquired, the Cardinals finished atop their division, two games ahead of the runner-up Pirates. The Cardinals were 34-22 after Lackey joined them and finished at 90-72.

Trading Craig and Kelly sent a message that served as a wakeup call to Cardinals players. “I think we came out of it as a stronger, tougher, more energized team,” Mozeliak said to the Post-Dispatch.

Wins matter

In the 2014 National League Division Series, Lackey pitched a gem in Game 3 (seven innings, one run) and beat the Dodgers. Boxscore

He started Game 3 of the National League Championship Series versus the Giants and was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning with the score tied. The Giants won, 5-4, and eventually prevailed in the series. Boxscore

Back with the Cardinals in 2015, Lackey, 36, was 13-10 with a 2.77 ERA and led the team in starts (33) and innings pitched (218). No Cardinal has pitched that many innings in a season since. Video

The 2015 Cardinals (100-62) had the best record in the National League and were pitted in the playoffs against the third-place finisher from their division, the Cubs, a team they’d defeated 11 times in 19 tries.

In Game 1, matched against Jon Lester, Lackey was superb (no runs, two hits, 7.1 innings) and St. Louis won. Boxscore

It was a different story in Game 4. Lackey allowed four runs in three innings. The Cardinals came back and tied the score, but the Cubs prevailed and advanced to the next round. Boxscore

Granted free agency, Lackey joined the Cubs, whose manager, Joe Maddon, coached the Angels when Lackey was with them. Reflecting on how Lackey didn’t want to be bothered on days he pitched, Maddon said to the Chicago Tribune, “Honestly, you can’t talk to him that day in the dugout.”

Lackey was 11-8 (including 1-1 with a 2.03 ERA versus the Cardinals) in 29 starts for the 2016 Cubs. Though he didn’t win a game in the 2016 World Series against Cleveland, the Cubs prevailed for the first time since 1908.

After a final season with the Cubs in 2017, Lackey finished with a career record of 188-147 and three World Series championship rings.

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