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Why Rico Carty had hoped to play for Cardinals

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents on December 4, 2024| 14 Comments »

When the Cardinals offered Rico Carty the chance to begin his professional baseball career with them, the right-handed power hitter from the Dominican Republic was receptive. Then again, Carty was agreeable to signing with any club.

Away from home for the first time, Carty, 19, played in the Pan-American Games at Chicago in 1959. Impressed by his hitting, several big-league clubs sought to sign him.

“The Cardinals made the best offer, $2,000, and I wanted to go with them,” Carty told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Unschooled in English, Carty signed with the Cardinals and also with at least three other teams _ Braves, Giants and Pirates. “I didn’t know you couldn’t sign with more than one club,” Carty told the Associated Press.

Carty also was under contract to Estrellas, a professional team in the Dominican Republic. When the Braves made a deal with Estrellas to acquire the rights to Carty, he became a member of the Milwaukee organization and all other contracts were voided, the Post-Dispatch reported.

A National League batting champion (.366 in 1970), Carty played for 15 seasons with the Braves and five other clubs in a career marked by health and injury woes, conflict and controversies.

Finding his way

Carty had 15 brothers and sisters. His father worked in a sugar mill and his mother was a midwife. As a teen, Carty became an amateur boxer, winning 17 of 18 bouts, but quit at the insistence of his mother, according to the Post-Dispatch.

His slugging on the diamond got him to the pros, but his fielding held him back. When Carty entered the Braves’ farm system in 1960, they tried him at catcher. As Carty recalled to the Atlanta Journal, “I was really brutal catching.”

With the Austin (Texas) Senators in 1963, Carty was moved to the outfield. He produced 100 RBI and was hailed “the best hitting prospect in the organization,” according to The Sporting News.

Called up to the Braves in September 1963, Carty, 24, made his major-league debut in a pinch-hitting stint at St. Louis and struck out against Ray Sadecki. Boxscore

Big-league bat

Batting .408 at spring training in 1964, Carty made the Braves’ Opening Day roster and continued his torrid hitting.

On May 23, 1964, at Milwaukee, Carty clouted two home runs for five RBI against the Cardinals’ Roger Craig. Boxscore

Carty’s hitting, combined with his adventures in the outfield, made him the darling of the bleacher fans at Milwaukee’s County Stadium. “They cheer every move he makes,” The Sporting News noted. “He is a thrill a minute fielder, the type who starts the wrong way on a ball and winds up making a circus catch.”

For the season, Carty hit .330. Against the Cardinals, who became 1964 World Series champions, the rookie batted .343 in 18 games.

Applying the hammer

The Braves moved to Atlanta after the 1965 season and Carty became a fan favorite there, too.

“Carty can most definitely charm the fans,” Frank Hyland of the Atlanta Journal observed. “They love him and he plays them like a drum. There is perhaps no athlete in any sport who makes himself as available as Carty.”

Rod Hudspeth of the Atlanta Journal added, “Carty has a lot of ham and a little con artist in him. He knows exactly when to turn and flash the big smile to a fan wanting a snapshot, the precise time to sign autographs and milk the most mileage from them, and the opportune moment to toss a baseball into the stands and get the big crowd reaction.”

Inside the clubhouse, it was a different story. “He was not well-liked by many teammates,” the Journal reported. Columnist Furman Bisher noted, “Teammates give him wide berth, even fellow Dominicans Felipe Alou and Sandy Alomar.”

In his autobiography “Alou: My Baseball Journey,” Felipe Alou said, “About the only guy I ever saw Hank (Aaron) have a problem with was Rico Carty … Rico was easy to have a problem with. He was defiant, belligerent, constantly challenging … Rico was a brawny guy who liked to intimidate people.”

On a Braves charter flight from Houston to Los Angeles in 1967, Carty got into an argument with Aaron and it boiled over into a fight.

In his autobiography “I Had a Hammer,” Aaron said, “Carty was playing cards two rows behind me when I heard him call me a ‘black slick.’ I stood up and asked him what he said, and he repeated it … A second later, we were swinging at each other … My fist went right by his head and put a hole in the luggage rack of the plane. Our teammates finally broke it up. I think there were three guys holding me.”

Aaron and Carty each told the Atlanta Constitution he was sorry the fight happened, but Aaron added, “He called me a name that I couldn’t take, and I would have fought anybody for that. It was a matter of principle and pride … If I’m called that name again, I’ll fight again.”

Carrying on

At spring training in 1968, Carty was diagnosed with tuberculosis. While undergoing six months of treatment in a sanatorium at Lantana, Fla., Carty received a letter from Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst, who was stricken with tuberculosis shortly after he played for the Braves in the 1958 World Series. “He said I was lucky that I would not have to be cut, like him,” Carty told Ira Berkow of Newspaper Enterprise Association. (Schoendienst underwent surgery to remove part of an infected lung.)

Back with the Braves in 1969, Carty suffered three shoulder separations but hit .342, helping Atlanta win a division title. Columnist Jesse Outlar noted, “That seemed inconceivable. You simply don’t spend an entire year in a hospital, then belt major league pitching at that clip with bum or sound shoulders.”

Carty, 30, reached his peak with the 1970 Braves. He batted .423 for April, .448 for May and put together a 31-game hitting streak. Though left off the All-Star Game ballot, a flood of write-in votes from the fans made him a National League starting outfielder along with Hank Aaron and Willie Mays.

A month later, Carty got into a clubhouse scuffle with teammate Ron Reed. 

The season ended with Carty as the league leader in hitting (.366) and on-base percentage (.454). He produced the highest batting average to lead the National League since Stan Musial hit .376 for the Cardinals in 1948.

Tough to take

Good times were followed by the bad. In December 1970, Carty suffered a triple fracture of his left knee, plus torn cartilage, when he collided with Matty Alou while chasing a fly ball during a game in the Dominican Republic. The severity of the injury prevented Carty from playing in 1971.

More trouble awaited.

In August 1971, while Carty and his brother-in-law, Carlos Ramirez, were in a car at a stoplight in Atlanta, two off-duty policemen pulled up alongside and accused them of being “cop-killing niggers,” the Atlanta Journal reported.

Carty noticed a uniformed officer inside a police car nearby and drove up to report what had happened. The off-duty cops followed and there was an altercation. Carty said the three white policemen beat him and his brother-in-law, using a billy club and the butt of a revolver. Carty and his relative were handcuffed and arrested on charges of assault and creating turmoil.

Atlanta mayor Sam Massell said the police actions appeared to be “blatant brutality,” United Press International reported.

Upon review, the three cops were fired by Atlanta police chief Herbert Jenkins. According to the Atlanta Constitution, Jenkins called it “the worst case of misconduct of a police officer I’ve ever seen.”

In dismissing all charges against Carty and his brother-in-law, Municipal Court Judge Robert M. Sparks Jr. said the defendants were “shamefully handled.”

Soon after, in an unrelated incident, Carty’s barbecue restaurant in Atlanta was destroyed in a fire.

Slow motion

Carty’s attempt to come back from the shattered knee and other ailments (he was hospitalized for pleurisy in 1971) was a struggle. At 1972 spring training, he said to United Press International, “When I came back after being sick with tuberculosis, it was just a matter of resting and building up my strength. Now there is pain to overcome. It does not hurt when I bat, but when I run it hurts.”

Braves manager Lum Harris told the wire service, “Rico never was a speedster, but I’ve never seen him as slow as he is now.”

Carty played in 86 games for the 1972 Braves, hit .277 and was traded to the Rangers for pitcher Jim “Pink” Panther.

The Rangers figured Carty to be an ideal designated hitter, but manager Whitey Herzog wasn’t impressed with what he saw. In the book “Seasons in Hell,” Herzog said to author Mike Shropshire, “When Rico runs from home plate to first, you could time him with a sundial.” Herzog also said he thought Carty was “crazier than a peach orchard sow.”

After a game against the Orioles, Carty told Shropshire he intentionally fouled off a pitch he thought was ball four because he didn’t want to spoil Jim Palmer’s bid for a perfect game. When Shropshire informed Herzog of this, the manager rolled his eyes and replied, “What a bunch of crap.”

According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Herzog and Carty almost got into a dugout fistfight in June after Carty cussed Herzog for not backing him in a dispute with an umpire over a called strike. Soon after, Carty was sent packing. He finished out the season with the Cubs and Athletics.

Unwanted in the majors, Carty, 34, went to the Mexican League in 1974.

Another stab

Once again, Carty showed it was unwise to count him out. He hit .354 in the Mexican League. That impressed the Cleveland Indians, who brought him back to the majors in August 1974.

In four seasons with Cleveland, Carty batted .303, but he and manager Frank Robinson clashed. Robinson described his relationship with Carty as “a cold war,” the Associated Press reported.

Carty and Robinson soon were gone from Cleveland. Carty had one more big season, 1978, when he combined for 31 home runs and 99 RBI with the Blue Jays and Athletics.

During a road trip with the Blue Jays in 1979, a toothpick pierced Carty’s finger when he reached into a travel bag. Carty removed part of the toothpick, but the tip remained lodged under the skin.

“The thing keeps me from gripping the bat right, but they tell me it will work its way out eventually,” Carty told the Toronto Star.

The finger got infected and Carty “had to squeeze pus from his hand before hitting,” the Star reported.

Though the sliver finally was removed, his batting average sank like a martini olive untethered from its cocktail stick. He ended the season, his last, at .256.

That cost Carty a .300 career batting mark. He settled instead for .299.

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The big-name baseball adventures of Don Ferrarese

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers, Trades on November 25, 2024| 15 Comments »

As a high school all-star, Don Ferrarese impressed Babe Ruth, who, like the California teen, knew what it was like to be a left-handed pitcher with stuff. Later, when Ferrarese was in the majors, he hit like Ruth, too, at least for one game _ cracking three consecutive doubles.

In his first big-league start, Ferrarese struck out 13. In his first win, he held the Yankees hitless for eight innings, then completed the shutout by retiring Mickey Mantle with the potential tying run in scoring position.

For Stan Musial and Ted Williams, Ferrarese was as hard to hit as it was to say his name correctly.

Ferrarese (pronounced “Fer-ar-ess-ee,” with the emphasis on the “ess”) ended his playing career as a Cardinals reliever and was especially effective against left-handed batters. He also pitched for the Orioles (1955-57), Indians (1958-59), White Sox (1960) and Phillies (1961-62).

Meeting Babe

Born in Oakland, Don Ferrarese was the son of Italian immigrants, Hugo and Bruna Ferrarese. (“I am a rare Italian that cannot sing a note,” Don told the Victorville, Calif., Daily Press.) The family moved to Lafayette, Calif., and that’s where Don attended high school while working in his parents’ produce business.

(Ferrarese went to Acalanes High School, also the alma mater of Hall of Fame quarterback Norm Van Brocklin.)

As a prep freshman, Ferrarese was a left-handed second baseman. A math teacher suggested he try pitching, the Oakland Tribune reported.

Though he was short and slight, Ferrarese’s pitches had speed and movement. After his senior season, he was chosen for an August 1947 prep all-star game sponsored by Hearst newspapers at the Polo Grounds in New York. Other future big-leaguers invited to play included Gino Cimoli, Dick Groat and Bill Skowron.

Babe Didrikson Zaharias performed a golf and baseball skills exhibition as part of the entertainment before the game, which drew 31,232 customers.

Starting for the U.S. all-stars, Ferrarese pitched three scoreless innings and lined a double to the wall in left against the Metropolitan all-stars. Named most valuable player of the game, Ferrarese was presented a trophy by Eleanor Gehrig, widow of Lou Gehrig. A spectator was the game’s honorary chairman, Babe Ruth.

“Babe Ruth asked to meet me,” Ferrarese told Newspaper Enterprise Association. “He was in the front row of box seats, all hunched over and wearing a camel’s hair beanie. Ruth had throat cancer, so it was hard to hear him.”

(Ruth died a year later at 53.)

Ferrarese enrolled at Saint Mary’s College in California, pitched well as a freshman and caught the attention of Jimmy Hole, a scout for the 1948 Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League. The Oaks’ manager was Casey Stengel. Ferrarese signed with them for $4,000 in June 1948, three days before he turned 19, and was sent to Stockton of the California League.

The little left-hander was effective _ when he got the ball over the plate, which wasn’t often enough. In his first three seasons in the minors, he walked 48 in 32 innings with Stockton, 184 in 188 innings with Albuquerque, and 209 in 185 innings with Wenatchee (Wash.).

The best experience Ferrarese had at Wenatchee was he met Betty Jean Olsen, “who ate lunch at the same restaurant where he ate breakfast at noon,” according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The couple married and Ferrarese did a two-year hitch in the Army. After his discharge, he pitched poorly (6.28 ERA) for the 1953 Oakland Oaks.

Then he got the break his career needed.

True grit

After the Dodgers fired manager Chuck Dressen, who led them to two National League pennants in three seasons, he went to Oakland to manage the 1954 Oaks. Ferrarese won 18 that season and struck out 184.

“It was Chuck Dressen who helped me most,” Ferrarese said to the New York Daily News. “Chuck taught me how to throw my curve and helped me with my control.” He also told Newspaper Enterprise Association, “I was strictly a thrower before Dressen got hold of me in Oakland.”

Dressen said to the Baltimore Sun, “He’s got a great curve, and can really fire that ball when he relaxes and doesn’t try to aim it.”

The Oaks capitalized, selling Ferrarese’s contract to the White Sox for $30,000 in December 1954. The White Sox then packaged him in a trade with the Orioles.

Ferrarese, 5-foot-9, 170 pounds, opened the 1955 season with the Orioles, made six relief appearances and was sent down to the San Antonio Missions. In 12 games for them, including nine starts, he was 9-0 with a 1.48 ERA.

Sticking with the Orioles in 1956, Ferrarese’s first start came against the Indians, who won, 2-1, though Ferrarese struck out 13. “When you’ve got a curve like he has and don’t have to be afraid to throw it when you’re behind, you’re a tough man,” Indians pitching Mel Harder said of Ferrarese to the Baltimore Sun. Boxscore

Ferrarese’s next start was another nail-biter. Displaying what the Sun called “170 pounds of grit and heart,” he entered the ninth at Yankee Stadium with a 1-0 lead (Ferrarese’s single drove in the run) and a chance for a no-hitter. First up in the inning was Andy Carey, who, like Ferrarese, had attended Saint Mary’s College.

Carey swung down on a pitch. The ball struck near home plate and bounced high over the mound _ a classic Baltimore chop. Ferrarese pedaled backward, peering for the ball in the afternoon glare, while Carey raced toward first. “I lost it in the sun as it was coming down,” Ferrarese told the Baltimore newspaper.

As the ball plopped into Ferrarese’s glove, he stumbled slightly, then bounced a hurried throw to first _ too late to nab Carey, who reached base with the first hit.

After Billy Martin struck out, Hank Bauer blooped a single off the bat handle into short left, moving Carey to second. Pitcher Don Larsen, pinch-hitting for second baseman Bobby Richardson, popped out to the catcher. Mickey Mantle, leading the American League in hitting, was next.

According to the Baltimore Sun, Mantle “swung viciously” at a Ferrarese curve and lofted a gentle fly to center for the final out. Boxscore

“That near no-hitter Ferrarese pitched ranks as one of my big thrills,” Orioles manager Paul Richards told the Sun. “It really was something to watch him battle them inning after inning and finish up strong after Carey got that first hit.”

Yankees manager Casey Stengel said to the newspaper, “I thought he deserved a no-hitter. Neither hit was a good one.”

On the move

The magic didn’t last. Two weeks later, Ferrarese faced the Yankees again and gave up seven runs in two innings. He finished the 1956 season at 4-10.

The next year, demoted to Vancouver and instructed to develop a slider, Ferrarese became “almost discouraged enough to quit,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. A teammate, former Cardinals outfielder Joe Frazier, showed him how to throw the pitch. “I’ve had a good slider ever since,” Ferrarese said.

Traded to the Indians for Dick Williams in April 1958, Ferrarese started against the Orioles four months later, pitched 11 scoreless innings, then walked Williams with the bases loaded in the 12th and lost, 1-0. Boxscore

In 1959, Ferrarese won four of his first six decisions for the Indians. A highlight came on May 26 when he smacked three doubles versus the White Sox’s Dick Donovan and pitched 6.1 scoreless innings for the 3-0 win at Chicago’s Comiskey Park. Ferrarese drove in two of the runs and scored the other. “There was nothing fluky about Ferrarese’s hits: all were hard smashes into right-center,” the Akron Beacon Journal reported. Boxscore

A month later, inflammation spread throughout Ferrarese’s left shoulder. After the season, he was dealt to the White Sox, who sent him to the minors. Eventually, his shoulder healed and the Phillies acquired him in April 1961. He didn’t throw as hard, but his control was better.

Appearing in 42 games, including 14 starts, for the 1961 Phillies, Ferrarese had the best ERA (3.76) for a team that lost 107 games, including 23 in a row.

Lefty specialist

Early in the 1962 season, the Cardinals acquired two left-handed relievers _ Ferrarese from the Phillies (for Bobby Locke) and Bobby Shantz from Houston.

Between May 13 and June 12, Ferrarese made nine relief appearances totaling 12.2 innings for the Cardinals, didn’t allow a run and got a win against the Phillies at St. Louis. Boxscore

In his first appearance at Philadelphia since the trade, he clouted the lone home run of his big-league career, a two-run shot versus Jim Owens. Boxscore

Ferrarese earned a save for the Cardinals against the Reds, striking out Vada Pinson to end the game with the potential tying run on second. Boxscore

As a Cardinal, left-handed batters hit .195 against Ferrarese. For his career, he limited them to a .214 batting average. Stan Musial hit .091 (1 for 11) versus Ferrarese and Ted Williams was at .143 (1 for 7).

(A right-handed batter, the Cardinals’ Julian Javier, who had a career .299 batting mark against left-handers, was hitless in 15 at-bats versus Ferrarese.)

In February 1963, the Cardinals dealt Ferrarese to Houston for pitcher Bobby Tiefenauer, but Ferrarese opted to go home and help his parents run Hugo’s Deli in Apple Valley, Calif.

After his folks retired in 1974, Ferrarese owned and operated Ferrarese’s Ristorante in Victorville, Calif., and then another restaurant, Hugo’s, in Apple Valley. He also ran a commercial real estate company.

A charitable foundation created by Ferrarese provided college scholarships to students based on how much they’d done to help their communities.

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How Fred Hutchinson saved the day for Joey Jay

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers, Prospects on November 5, 2024| 11 Comments »

The Milwaukee Braves looked at Joey Jay and saw a problem pitcher. Fred Hutchinson looked at him and saw an ace.

A right-hander, Jay became the first former Little League player to reach the majors when he joined the Braves out of high school at 17 in 1953.

At 6-foot-4, 225 pounds, Jay looked like a man but acted like a boy. He was immature, got labeled a spoiled kid and the Braves were reluctant to pitch him.

Fred Hutchinson, when he managed the Cardinals, got a look at what Jay was capable of accomplishing. In 1958, Jay, who had seven wins that year as a fill-in starter, was 3-1 with an 0.86 ERA versus the Cardinals.

Two years later, when Hutchinson was Cincinnati manager, the Reds acquired Jay at Hutchinson’s urging and he prospered, achieving consecutive 21-win seasons and helping the club become 1961 National League champions.

Not ready for prime time

As a Little Leaguer in Connecticut, Jay played first base. He was a pitcher in high school. Multiple pro teams were interested, including the Pirates. Jay met with their general manager, Branch Rickey, but accepted a $40,000 bonus from the Braves, in part, because his summer league coach was a Milwaukee scout, according to Sports Illustrated.

Because of the bonus amount, Jay was required under baseball rules then to be on the Braves’ roster for two full years before he could be sent to the minors.

The teen didn’t receive much of a welcome when he joined the Braves in June 1953. He rarely pitched and manager Charlie Grimm “never said two words to me,” Jay told The Sporting News.

According to Sports Illustrated’s Walter Bingham, “Jay quickly won himself a reputation as an eater and sleeper of championship caliber. He seldom was seen awake without a candy bar or a soft drink, often with both. He would eat in the bullpen during games. At one point, he weighed 245 pounds, which, even at his height, made him look fat.

“On his first trip with the Braves, he overslept one day and arrived at the park 20 minutes before game time. Some of the older players, who resented bonus players anyway, didn’t let Jay forget it. Another time, Jay fell asleep on the bus coming back from Ebbets Field. When the bus arrived at the hotel, all the players tiptoed off and the bus driver drove away still carrying Jay, fast asleep.” 

Jay pitched 10 innings for the 1953 Braves and didn’t allow a run, but he was unhappy. “I felt I was a burden on the club,” he told The Sporting News. “My dad finally talked me out of quitting.”

The following year, he totaled 18 innings for the 1954 Braves and then 19 innings for the 1955 club before being sent to Toledo. Jay was in the minors in 1956 and for most of 1957.

“He hadn’t grown up,” Ben Geraghty, who managed Jay with Wichita in 1957, told Sports Illustrated. “He had an awful temper.”

One day, Jay got mad during a game, sulked and began lobbing pitches. Afterward, Geraghty said to him during a team meeting “that if he didn’t have the guts to act like a man, he could clear out,” Sports Illustrated reported.

Jolted, Jay went on to post a 17-10 record for Wichita.

Looking good

Jay, 22, began the 1958 season in the Braves’ bullpen, struggled (9.00 ERA in four appearances) and was “the lowest-ranking” of the club’s relievers, according to The Sporting News.

When starter Bob Buhl went on the disabled list in May because of elbow pain, Gene Conley replaced him but disappointed.

In desperation, manager Fred Haney started Jay on June 13 at St. Louis. He held the Cardinals scoreless and got the win in a game shortened to six innings because of rain.

“Stan Musial (0-for-2 with a walk) praised Jay” for showing the ability “to get over his good fastball, curve, changeup and slider,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Boxscore

Nine days later, matched against Sal Maglie, Jay was a hard-luck loser in a 2-1 Cardinals triumph, but his impressive pitching in two starts versus St. Louis convinced Haney to keep him in the rotation. Boxscore

“He has the confidence to throw his best curve at two balls and no strikes,” Braves catcher Del Crandall told Sports Illustrated.

In seven July starts for the 1958 Braves, Jay was 5-2 with a 1.39 ERA. Two of those wins came against the Cardinals _ a four-hitter to beat Maglie at St. Louis on July 15, and a two-hit shutout at Milwaukee a week later. Boxscore and Boxscore

“There isn’t a better pitcher in our league right now,” Braves coach Whit Wyatt said to The Sporting News.

The good vibes didn’t last long, though. Jay pulled a tendon in his right elbow and was limited to 11 innings in August. Then, in his lone September appearance, a relief stint against the Cardinals, he fractured his left ring finger when he knocked down a hard grounder from Irv Noren. Boxscore

Milwaukee won the pennant but didn’t include Jay (7-5, 2.14 ERA) on the World Series roster.

Change of scenery

Jay regressed in 1959 (6-11, 4.09 ERA).  “He just won’t do anything in pregame drills,” Haney complained to Sports Illustrated. “He’s fat and he’s too lazy to get in shape.” In 1960, he was 9-8.

Fred Hutchinson, fired by the Cardinals near the end of the 1958 season, became Reds manager in July 1959 and needed pitchers. The Reds allowed the most runs in the National League in 1959 and the second-most in 1960.

Hutchinson and Braves pitcher Lew Burdette had homes on Anna Maria Island in Florida and attended cookouts together. Hutchinson asked Burdette about Jay and Burdette recommended him, Jay told the Cincinnati Enquirer.

In December 1960, the Reds dealt shortstop Roy McMillan to the Braves for Jay and Juan Pizarro. (Pizzaro was flipped to the White Sox for third baseman Gene Freese, who played for Hutchinson with the Cardinals.)

Jay got off to a shaky start in his Reds debut at St. Louis. In the first inning, after he gave up two runs, he walked a batter to load the bases with two outs. Jay expected to be lifted when Hutchinson came to the mound. Instead, the manager challenged him: “Don’t walk yourself out of there. Make them knock you out.”

As author Doug Wilson noted in a book about Hutchinson, “Jay, surprised and grateful, pitched his way out of the jam. Jay lost his first three decisions in 1961 but his manager stuck with him. Jay responded to this confidence by turning into one of the best pitchers in the league.” Boxscore

“That’s all I did for him: Let him pitch,” Hutchinson told The Sporting News.

Joining a rotation with Jim O’Toole and Bob Purkey, Jay helped transform the Reds’ pitching staff from one of the worst in the league to the best.

In his book “Pennant Race,” reliever Jim Brosnan recalled how during a clubhouse meeting at Pittsburgh a confident Jay held a scorecard in one hand and a cigar in the other while going over the Pirates’ batters. After the game, which Jay won, he sat next to Brosnan on the bus ride to the airport and puffed on a pipe.

“You always smoke a pipe when you win?” Brosnan asked him. “Usually you got a cigar in your mouth.”

“Pipe relaxes me,” Jay replied. “You should try one.”

Jay still packed on the pounds _ “I’m about 12 jelly rolls and 15 cream puffs too heavy,” he told Brosnan. “I buy them for the kids, then eat them myself” _ but was fattening up on wins, too. He led the league in wins (21) and shutouts (four) as the 1961 Reds (93-61) won a pennant for the first time in 21 years.

In the World Series against the Yankees, Jay got the Reds’ only win _ a four-hitter in Game 2. Video and Boxscore

Ups and downs

Jay won 21 again in 1962, though he was 0-3 versus the Cardinals. The 1962 Reds (98-64) totaled five more wins than they did in their championship season, but finished in third place.

On the final day of the 1963 season, Stan Musial played his last game for the Cardinals and exited after getting a pair of singles against Jim Maloney. The Cardinals won in the 14th on Dal Maxvill’s RBI-double versus Jay. He lost 18 that season, including all four decisions against the Cardinals. Boxscore

Jay was involved in another noteworthy game on the last day of the 1964 season. The Cardinals and Reds entered the day tied for first place.

At Cincinnati, Jay relieved in the fifth with one out, two on and the Phillies ahead, 4-0, and got Tony Taylor to ground into a double play. In the sixth, however, Jay gave up a two-run single to Tony Gonzalez and a three-run homer to Dick Allen. The Phillies won, 10-0, enabling the Cardinals to secure the pennant when they beat the Mets. Boxscore

In spring 1966, Cardinals general manager Bob Howsam agreed to trade Nelson Briles, Steve Carlton, Phil Gagliano and Mike Shannon to the Reds for Leo Cardenas, Gordy Coleman and Jay, but the deal was blocked by Cardinals upper management, The Sporting News reported.

Soon after, in June 1966, Jay was dealt to the Atlanta Braves and he completed his career with them that season.

Jay was 99-91 in the majors. Willie Mays batted .200 (8-for-40) against him and Stan Musial was at .208 (10-for-48).

In his autobiography, Musial said of Jay, “Fred Hutchinson gave him confidence and a good talking-to. At Milwaukee, Jay struck me as having pretty good stuff … but he threw a lot of slow curves and wasted his fastball. When the Reds got him, Hutchinson … made him throw that good fastball for strikes.”

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Why Cardinals had Rudy May on their shopping list

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers on November 1, 2024| 5 Comments »

Rudy May pitched 16 years in the majors. He never appeared in an All-Star Game, and he lost more than he won, but at times he nearly was unhittable, performing on a par with teammates such as Nolan Ryan, Catfish Hunter and Jim Palmer.

One of May’s nicknames was The Dude. He got it, the Baltimore Sun noted, because of “his funky wardrobe” and “unflappable optimism.”

He was an interesting dude for more reasons than that though. His boyhood friend was Joe Morgan, the future Hall of Fame second baseman. May’s first marriage was to a rhythm and blues singer. When he wasn’t playing baseball, May worked as a licensed commercial scuba diver.

Though he spent most of his baseball career in the American League, the Cardinals saw plenty of him during a stint with the Montreal Expos and sought to sign him when he became a free agent.

Early journeys

Though born in Kansas, May was raised in Oakland. That’s where he and Joe Morgan became friends. They’d go to Arroyo Viejo Park near their homes and “we’d pitch and catch for hours,” May recalled to the Montreal Gazette. May and Morgan also were baseball teammates at Castlemont High School.

A left-hander, May was with four organizations in his first three seasons as a pro. He was 18 when the Twins signed him in November 1962. They sent him to Bismarck, N.D., and, though he won 11 and struck out 173 in 168 innings there, he also walked 120 and threw 25 wild pitches.

After a season (1964) in the White Sox system, May was traded to the Phillies, who flipped him to the Angels for Bo Belinsky.

May, 20, made the 1965 Angels’ Opening Day roster as a starter. “We never had any question about Rudy’s stuff being major league,” Angels pitching coach Marv Grissom told the Oakland Tribune. “The only question is his control.”

In his big-league debut, May was matched against Detroit’s Denny McLain. The rookie held the Tigers hitless until Jake Wood doubled with one out in the eighth. May completed nine innings, striking out 10 and allowing the one hit, but the Tigers won in the 13th. Boxscore

In his next appearance, a start versus the Yankees and Mel Stottlemyre, May gave up his first home run, a Mickey Mantle solo shot, and lost, 1-0. Boxscore

Treasure hunts

During that 1965 season, outfielder Leon Wagner introduced May to Eleanor Green, a singer with the group The Superbs.

“She was only 18 and she was singing at this club in L.A. and I thought when I saw her that, ‘whoo-eee _ this was some kind of chick,’ ” May said to the Los Angeles Times. “She’d had these two hit records that year _ ‘Baby, Baby All The Time,’ and ‘Baby’s Gone Away‘ … I really came on strong. She showed me who the real pro was. She put me off good.

“Later that year, I was peddling my threads _ you know, just walking around, cooling it _ in Hollywood when I stopped at this club and saw this same girl. I sent a note backstage and she came out to met me. It was different this time, man … Three weeks later, we flew to Las Vegas and got married.”

While his personal life was on the upswing, May’s pitching career hit a sour note. He hurt his shoulder, developed arm problems and was demoted to the minors.

Limited to 35 innings pitched in 1966 and 84 in 1967, May “admits he thought about saying goodbye to baseball” until his wife convinced him to continue, the Los Angeles Times reported.

May wanted a backup plan, though. A recreational scuba diver since his teens, May took commercial diving courses in 1967, earned a license and began spending winters “working on salvage and construction projects beneath the sea,” United Press International reported.

Asked about his most dangerous dive, May told the wire service that while working on a salvage project about 400 feet under the surface, “I got the bends and blacked out. I was in a coma in a depression chamber for about six hours.”

On the road again

May spent a third consecutive season in the minors in 1968. Pitching for El Paso, May was 2-7, then performed his own salvage operation, closing with six consecutive wins. The Angels brought him back to stay in 1969.

May’s highest win total for the Angels was 12 in 1972. In a game against the Twins that year, he struck out 16. Rod Carew and Harmon Killebrew each fanned twice. Boxscore

The wins, though, didn’t come often enough. In seven seasons with the Angels, May was 51-76. In June 1974, they shipped him to the Yankees. He won 14 for them in 1975, got traded to the Orioles in 1976 and won 15 that year.

May did even better in 1977, winning 18 for the Orioles and leading the staff in shutouts (four), but after the season he was on the move again, getting traded to the Expos.

His first win in the National League came against the Cardinals. Boxscore

Expected to be a big winner, as he had been with the Orioles, May was mediocre with Montreal. In one stretch, he lost three in a row to the Cardinals, including two in three days. Removed from the rotation by manager Dick Williams, May broke an ankle in July. Given a start against the Cardinals when he returned two months later, May crafted a gem, pitching a three-hitter for the win. Boxscore

He finished the 1978 season with an 8-10 mark, including 3-3 versus St. Louis.

Back in the groove

May was deep in Dick Williams’ doghouse as the 1979 season got underway. As the Montreal Gazette noted, “May was not only out of the rotation, but he wasn’t even called when the Expos needed fifth and sixth starters. If that wasn’t bad enough, he wasn’t used in important relief assignments.”

He asked to be traded but the Expos didn’t oblige. It turned out well for them. Needing relief help in July, Williams called on May and he delivered.

Then, on July 31, May got his first start of the season and came through with a three-hit shutout against the Cardinals.

“There wasn’t any team in the world that could have hit him tonight,” Cardinals manager Ken Boyer told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Cleanup hitter Ted Simmons, unable to get a ball out of the infield, said to the Montreal Gazette, “May has an exceptional curveball and, when he gets it over like he did tonight, he’s virtually unbeatable.”

After watching May blank the Cardinals, scout and former Yankees pitcher Eddie Lopat told the Gazette, “I’ve never seen him pitch better. He’s right back where he was when he won those 18 games with Baltimore. Tonight he had command of all his pitches _ fastball, slider and curve. When he has control of his breaking ball, he’s almost impossible to beat.” Boxscore

For the month of July, May was 4-0 with a 1.44 ERA in 25 innings pitched.

Moved into the rotation in September, May contributed a 10-3 record and 2.31 ERA for the 1979 Expos.

In demand

Seeking left-handed pitching, the Cardinals pursued May and a couple of their former players, John Curtis and Al Hrabosky, in the free agent market.

General manager John Claiborne “expressed serious interest in May and Hrabosky,” the Post-Dispatch reported.

However, May took a three-year deal totaling $1 million from the Yankees. “Our offer was not in the ballpark,” Claiborne confessed to the Post-Dispatch.

After Hrabosky signed with the Braves and Curtis went to the Padres, the Cardinals shifted gears. To fill their left-handed pitching spots, they got free agent Don Hood in March 1980 and acquired Jim Kaat from the Yankees a month later.

Kaat turned out well for the Cardinals, helping them become World Series champions in 1982, and May turned out well for the Yankees. He was 15-5 for them in 1980 and had the best ERA (2.46) in the American League.

May credited Hall of Fame pitcher Whitey Ford, a Yankees spring training instructor, with helping his approach.

“Ford told me I should learn to pitch when I didn’t have it all going for me,” May said to the Montreal Gazette. “I had it in my head that the only way to get guys out was to strike them out. Ford taught me the mechanics of pitching. He showed me how to mix up my fastballs. I’ve always had a good curve, but he showed me how to take something off my curve as well.”

In 1981, May pitched in three World Series games for the Yankees. The next season, when he turned 38, he appeared in 41 games and his ERA was 2.89.

He pitched for the final time in 1983 and completed his career with a 152-156 mark. Jim Rice, who batted .706 (12-for-17) against May, was sorry to see him go. George Brett, a career .174 hitter (4-for-23) versus May, felt differently.

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High hopes faded fast for Pat Malone with Cardinals

Posted in Opponents, Pitchers, Trades on October 11, 2024| 11 Comments »

Looking to strengthen a starting rotation that already included 30-game winner Dizzy Dean, Branch Rickey, the Cardinals’ teetotaling general manager, acquired the Cubs’ Pat Malone, who drank highballs as fervently as he threw high fastballs.

Three weeks after the Cardinals beat the Tigers in World Series Game 7, Rickey traded catcher Ken O’Dea for Malone and cash on Oct. 26, 1934.

A husky right-hander, Malone, 32, was a two-time 20-game winner who twice helped the Cubs earn National League pennants (1929 and 1932), dethroning the Cardinals each time.

A fierce competitor, Malone had a reputation as a baseball bad boy off the field. “Pat was a problem child,” the Minneapolis Star noted. “He loved his firewater.” According to Sec Taylor of the Des Moines Register, “He just couldn’t leave the bottle alone.”

As the St. Louis Post-Dispatch put it, Malone could be found “where the lights are bright and the glasses tinkling.”

On the urging of manager Frankie Frisch, Rickey took a chance on the hurler.

Malone “ought to win 15 games for us,” Frisch said to the Post-Dispatch.

Rickey predicted to the St. Louis Star-Times, “I believe he’ll win 20 games for us.”

As it turned out, Malone never pitched in a regular-season game for the Cardinals.

Rough and tumble

Born in Altoona, Pa., Perce Leigh Malone was named in honor of a family friend, Perce Lay, a brakeman on the Pennsylvania Railroad, but he preferred to be called Pat. As The Sporting News noted, “Nobody called him Perce from the day he was able to put his hands up, and Pat was handy with his dukes.”

Malone went to work for the railroad as a fireman when he was 16. A year later, he joined the Army as a cavalry soldier. After his military service, Malone went back to railroading and also played sandlot baseball. His first year as a professional pitcher was 1921 with Knoxville.

He spent seven seasons in the minors. When he got to the Cubs in 1928, Malone lost his first five decisions. Manager Joe McCarthy stuck with him and the grateful rookie finished the season with 18 wins. “He thought McCarthy was the greatest guy in the world and McCarthy, who liked his spirit, thought right well of him, too,” New York Sun columnist Frank Graham observed.

According to the Minneapolis Star, “McCarthy never questioned (Malone’s) conduct off the field so long as he produced on it.”

Catching Malone’s blazing fastball took a toll on Gabby Hartnett, whose hand “often was puffed to three times its normal size,” The Sporting News noted.

The Cubs became National League champions in 1929 and Malone was a major factor. He led the league in wins (22), shutouts (five) and strikeouts (166). His record that season against the defending champion Cardinals was 5-0.

Malone won 20 again in 1930, but McCarthy was fired near the end of the season and replaced by Rogers Hornsby.

In the book “The Man in the Dugout,” Cubs second baseman Billy Herman told author Donald Honig, “Hornsby tried to have discipline on the club, but he had some bad actors and couldn’t control them _ fellows like Pat Malone and (outfielder) Hack Wilson. They’d get drunk and get into fights.”

As Si Burick of the Dayton Daily News noted, Malone “was mixed up in several unpleasantries as a direct result of his convivial escapades.” In one of those incidents, Malone assaulted two Cincinnati sports reporters.

Behavior clause

Charlie Grimm took over for Hornsby during the 1932 season and guided the Cubs to a pennant, but he and Malone had a falling out in 1934. Malone won eight of his last 10 decisions, raising his 1934 season record to 14-7, but Grimm yanked him from the starting rotation after Aug. 24. Malone said the Cubs had promised to give him a $500 bonus for each win above 15 and that’s why Grimm stopped starting him, the Star-Times reported.

Malone wanted out. During the 1934 World Series, he met with Frankie Frisch, who asked Rickey to arrange a trade, the Star-Times reported.

As the Post-Dispatch noted, “Malone is not exactly the kind of player Branch Rickey would choose.” To close the deal, the Cubs gave the Cardinals “considerable cash,” according to the Star-Times.

Rickey “practically clinched the 1935 National League championship for the Cardinals” when he got Malone to join a starting rotation with Dizzy Dean, Paul Dean, Bill Walker and Bill Hallahan, the Star-Times proclaimed.

The good vibes evaporated, though, when Rickey mailed a contract to Malone offering a 1935 salary of $5,000, a 50 percent cut from his pay with the Cubs in 1934. Malone sent back the document, unsigned, with a note: “Haven’t you made a mistake and sent me the batboy’s contract?”

According to the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, Rickey said the low offer was his way of emphasizing to Malone that the Cardinals didn’t consider him of much value unless he agreed to curb his drinking. Rickey said he didn’t plan to keep Malone unless he expressed “a strong determination to be a very, very well-behaved boy,” the Post-Dispatch reported.

Malone came to St. Louis, met with Rickey for more than two hours, promised he’d behave, and emerged with a signed contract. According to the Post-Dispatch, the contract had “a provision for a bonus if he refrained from tasting liquor during the training and league seasons, and for heavy fines if he wandered from the straight and non-intoxication path.”

Both appeared satisfied. Rickey said to the Post-Dispatch, “I expected to find horns on this man, Malone, but he hasn’t any.”

Malone told the newspaper, “Rickey isn’t the big, bad wolf I expected to meet.”

Math problem

A portly Malone lumbered into Cardinals spring training headquarters at Bradenton, Fla., in 1935. “There isn’t a uniform in camp big enough to give Malone arm freedom,” the Star-Times noted.

Following a morning of workouts early in camp, Malone accepted an invitation from Dizzy Dean to play golf that afternoon. After six holes, Malone “broke down. He sent his caddy back to the clubhouse with his sticks, called for a taxicab and went to the club’s hotel,” the Post-Dispatch reported. “Straight to his room he went, without bothering about food, and he was snoring before 6 o’clock.”

The next morning he told the newspaper, “I can barely move one leg after another. I never knew what work was until I came to this Cardinals camp.”

Determined to show the Cardinals he could contribute, Malone became “one of the hardest workers on the field,” the Post-Dispatch reported. “He showed the zest of a rookie.”

According to the Globe-Democrat, “Pat has given every indication of his willingness, nay, his eagerness, to cooperate to the fullest to become a regular and reliable starting pitcher when the season opens.”

Branch Rickey saw it differently. On March 26, 1935, he sold Malone’s contract to the Yankees, who were managed by Joe McCarthy, for a reported $15,000. According to the Post-Dispatch, Malone said to Rickey, “If you had kept me, I’d have shown you something. I’d have worked my head off and won for you.”

Describing the trade as a “surprise,” the Post-Dispatch added that Malone’s conduct “on and off the field during the training season has been all that anyone could have asked.”

While offering no specific reasons for the deal, Rickey said to the Star-Times, “I feel relieved considerably now that Malone is off our ballclub … After surveying conditions here for a week, I realized Malone was not the type I desired on a world championship team or a team that is going to try to win another pennant.”

Rickey told the Post-Dispatch, “There are four phases of arithmetic: addition, multiplication, division and subtraction. Applied to baseball, subtraction is the most important … I have subtracted Malone from the Cardinals’ roster. He cannot lose any games. He cannot lead any of our little boys astray. Ergo, the Cardinals are stronger.”

End of the line

Used primarily by McCarthy as a reliever, Malone was 19-13 with 18 saves in three seasons with the Yankees, helping them to two American League pennants (1936 and 1937).

Released in 1938, Malone joined the minor-league Minneapolis Millers at spring training in Daytona Beach, Fla., and was fitted for a uniform. “He stood there, a Coca-Cola in one hand and a cigarette in the other, while two men plied his Ruthian form with tape measures,” the Minneapolis Star reported.

Trouble soon followed. Manager Donie Bush told the newspaper, “Malone began drinking while the team was at Daytona Beach and we had several arguments about it then.”

Bristling against discipline by a minor-league club, Malone rebelled and twice was suspended within a week early in the season for getting drunk. He pitched for two more minor-league teams in 1938, his final year in professional baseball, before returning home to Altoona.

In October 1939, the Yankees were headed to Cincinnati for the World Series when the train stopped in Altoona for about 10 minutes. Malone climbed onboard, spent time with Joe McCarthy and went through the cars, saying hello to the players, according to columnist Frank Graham.

When it came time for the train to depart, Malone said to McCarthy, “Well, Joe, I wish to hell I was going with you.” McCarthy replied, “I wish you were, too, Pat.”

According to Harold C. Burr of the Brooklyn Eagle, Malone “stood on the station platform and watched the lighted windows of the Pullmans go streaking past. It was Malone’s wistful farewell to baseball.”

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Cardinals were cure to what ailed rookie Pete Rose

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents on October 7, 2024| 9 Comments »

A month into his rookie year with the 1963 Reds, Pete Rose was struggling to hold on to his job. Then he played the Cardinals for the first time and got his career back on track.

Making a leap from the Class A level of the minors to the big leagues, Rose won the starting second base spot with the Reds at 1963 spring training. Once the season began, the player who would become baseball’s all-time hits king looked feeble at the plate.

Rose was batting .158 for the season when the Reds opened a four-game series against the Cardinals on May 3, 1963, at Cincinnati. Cardinals pitching turned out to be the remedy for Rose’s slump. He produced seven hits in 14 at-bats and drew five walks in the four games. He also totaled four RBI and scored three times, helping the Reds win three of the four.

After that, Rose thrived and went on to win the 1963 National League Rookie of the Year Award. The switch-hitter eventually totaled 4,256 career hits.

The Cincinnati Kid

A Cincinnati native, Rose was 19 when scout Buzz Boyle signed him for the Reds. Boyle said most clubs overlooked Rose because he only weighed 150 pounds in high school. “Knowing his family and seeing the kid and knowing his ambition, I felt he was well worth the chance,” Boyle told the Cincinnati Enquirer. “I don’t think he can be a mediocre player.”

Though he wasn’t on the Reds’ 40-man roster, Rose was invited to their Tampa spring training camp for a look in 1963 after hitting .330 for manager Dave Bristol’s Class A Macon (Ga.) Peaches the year before.

Don Blasingame, a former Cardinal who hit .281 for Cincinnati in 1962, was the Reds’ incumbent second baseman. Blasingame had a strong connection with Reds manager Fred Hutchinson. He was the second baseman when Hutchinson managed the Cardinals (1956-58) and again when Hutchinson led the Reds to a National League pennant in 1961.

Conventional wisdom had Rose ticketed to start the 1963 season at Class AAA San Diego but he took advantage of the spring training invitation with the Reds.

“The most exciting young ballplayer in the Cincinnati camp this spring is Pete Rose,” Si Burick of the Dayton Daily News proclaimed. “He gives the club added speed, enthusiasm, drive. He wants to play. Hutchinson has become so fond of the youngster, he doesn’t want to let him out of his sight.”

Hutchinson said to the Cincinnati Enquirer, “You’ve got to like a kid like Rose. He’s the winning type of player that a manager looks for.”

Reds third baseman Gene Freese told the newspaper, “Pete is another Nellie Fox, with power.” (Fox, a future Hall of Famer, was the all-star second baseman for the White Sox.)

Before a spring training game, Hutchinson and Phillies manager Gene Mauch watched Rose take his cuts in the batting cage. According to Si Burick, Hutchinson said to Mauch, “This boy came to play. He runs to first when he draws a walk and we’ve timed him going down to first on a pass in 4.2 seconds.”

The newspaper noted Rose was “nicknamed Charlie Hustle by his teammates.”

Asked by Si Burick why he ran hard to first base when issued a walk, Rose replied, “When I was a little kid, my dad took me to (Cincinnati’s) Crosley Field to see the Reds play the Cardinals. I saw (Enos) Country Slaughter run to first on a walk and I figured if it was good enough for him it was good enough for me.”

Bumpy beginning

As spring training neared an end, Hutchinson sought the advice of his coaches on whether Rose should be the Reds’ second baseman. According to Ritter Collett of the Dayton Journal Herald, Hutchinson asked them, “Do any of you think we’d hurt our chances by giving him a trial? Is there any of you who feels he hasn’t earned it?”

The answers to both were no.

Si Burick reported that on the day before the Reds’ season opener, Blasingame shook hands with Rose and said, “Kid, good luck. You’ve got a chance to make a lot of money in this game. Don’t do anything foolish to waste your chance.”

Rose told Burick, “You have to respect him for that.”

In the Reds’ season opener at home against the Pirates, Rose, batting second, was the first Cincinnati player to reach base (on a four-pitch walk from Earl Francis) and the first to score (on Frank Robinson’s home run). He helped turn three double plays. Rose also struck out looking and booted a routine grounder. In explaining the error, Rose told the Dayton Daily News, “I was still cussing myself for looking at that (third) strike. I wasn’t thinking about my job in the field.”

Hutchinson said to the newspaper, “He’ll learn that all this is part of the game … If you brood about a mistake and it leads to another mistake, you can’t make it in this game.”

Asked whether he was nervous in his debut, Rose replied to the Dayton Journal Herald, “Sure, I was nervous, but not scared. There’s a difference.” Boxscore

Hutchinson started Rose in the first six games (he batted .130), then benched him for Blasingame. As the Reds headed on a trip to Los Angeles and San Francisco, there was speculation Rose “probably will be dropped off at San Diego” to join the farm club there, the Journal Herald reported.

Instead, after Blasingame made eight consecutive starts at second and batted .160, Hutchinson restored Rose to the starting lineup on April 27.

Power hitter

When the first-place Cardinals (15-7) arrived in Cincinnati on May 3 for a weekend series with the ninth-place Reds (7-11), Rose was in a funk. He had one hit in 15 at-bats since regaining his starting status and was “perilously close to a return to the minors,” according to the Dayton Daily News.

The task didn’t figure to get any easier against the Cardinals’ Game 1 pitcher, Ernie Broglio. He was 3-0, and two of the wins were shutouts.

In his first at-bat against Broglio, Rose grounded out, but the next two turns at the plate were spectacular. Rose drove a Broglio pitch over the head of George Altman in right for a triple. Then he slammed a Broglio fastball for a two-run home run, “a prodigious blast that soared high over the center field wall,” the Daily News reported.

The homer, RBI and multi-hit game all were firsts for Rose as a big leaguer.

(According to the Daily News, after the home run, Rose crowed, “Sixty more and I tie [Roger] Maris.” Overhearing the remark, Hutchinson barked, “Don’t let that homer give you the idea you’re a slugger.”)

Facing Diomedes Olivo, 44, in the ninth, Rose, 22, grounded to short and nearly beat the throw to first. According to the Daily News, the brash rookie turned to umpire Jocko Conlan, 63, and said, “I need those close ones, Jocko. I’m only hitting .170.” Conlan replied, “I don’t care if you’re hitting .470. You’re still out.” Boxscore

Going against Gibson

In Game 2 of the series, Rose was perfect, with two singles and three walks in five plate appearances. He had a single and two walks against starter Bob Gibson, and a single and a walk versus Ed Bauta.

Rose’s one-out walk against Gibson in the third ignited a four-run outburst from the Reds, who won, 6-0, for the second day in a row. Boxscore

In his 1994 book “Stranger to the Game,” Gibson said, “For a singles and doubles hitter, Pete Rose carried himself with a big man’s swagger and could give a pitcher a hard time just through his sheer will to make something happen.”

(Gibson versus Rose was the ultimate in competitiveness and intensity. For his career against Gibson, Rose had a .307 batting average and .385 on-base percentage, with 35 hits, 12 walks and three hit by pitches. In 1967, Gibson and Rose were involved in a brawl. Another time, Gibson said in his autobiography, “I thought for sure I was getting to Pete Rose when I knocked him down and he got up and spit at me. When he got back to the dugout, though, I saw [manager] Sparky Anderson say something to him. I heard later Sparky advised Rose never to show me up.”)

On the way

The series ended with a Sunday doubleheader. Rose had two walks (one each against Ray Sadecki and Ron Taylor) in the opener, a 5-4 Reds triumph, and three hits (two versus Curt Simmons and one against Bobby Shantz) with two RBI in the finale, a 7-4 victory for the Cardinals. Boxscore and Boxscore

Steadied by his performances against the Cardinals, Rose produced consistently the remainder of his rookie season. On May 24, Hutchinson moved him into the leadoff spot and kept him there. In July, Blasingame was dealt to the Senators.

Rose played in 157 games for the 1963 Reds, batted . 273 and led the team in runs scored (101). He also ranked second on the club in hits (170), doubles (25), triples (nine) and walks (55).

Rose remained a thorn against Cardinals pitching. In 18 games against St. Louis in 1963, Rose had a .373 batting mark and a .435 on-base percentage. He had more hits (28) and more RBI (eight) versus the Cardinals than he did against any other club that year.

In nine games at St. Louis in 1963, Rose hit .419. Before the last of those games, the season finale, Rose shook hands with Stan Musial near the batting cage. Playing the final game of his career, Musial smacked two singles, both past Rose at second and into right field. Musial’s 3,630 hits were the National League record until Rose broke the mark 18 years later in 1981. Boxscore

Rose, who went 3-for-6 with a walk in Musial’s last game, finished his career with a .299 batting mark versus the Cardinals. Following the 1978 season, after he became a free agent and left the Reds, Rose considered an offer from the Cardinals but opted to sign instead with the Phillies.

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