Though relief pitcher Clay Carroll was successful in his lone season with St. Louis, his most significant Cardinals connection came as an opponent.
On May 30, 1969, in what The Sporting News described as a storybook feat, Carroll hit the only home run of his big-league career. The improbable shot was struck against Bob Gibson in the 10th inning and it carried the Reds to a 4-3 victory over the Cardinals.
Eight years later, Carroll was traded to the Cardinals and excelled for them as a consistently reliable reliever.
Heavy lumber
Carroll’s home run against Gibson occurred in the opener of a series between the Reds and Cardinals at St. Louis. With the Cardinals ahead, 3-0, in the seventh inning, Johnny Bench tied the score with a three-run home run _ his first career hit against Gibson.
Carroll relieved Wayne Granger in the eighth and the game became a duel between Carroll and Gibson.
After Gibson retired the first two batters in the 10th, Carroll stepped to the plate with a bat he borrowed from teammate Alex Johnson, a former Cardinal. Johnson’s bats, Carroll explained to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “have a lot more wood in them than the one I had been using.” Johnson’s bats “normally are about as heavy as any in baseball _ some weighing as much as 40 ounces,” the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.
With the count 3-and-2, Carroll swung at a high fastball and lifted a fly ball to left. “I don’t want to brag, but when I hit the ball I knew it was gone,” Carroll said to United Press International. “Did you see it take off?”
The ball hit the top of the fence at Busch Stadium and bounced over the wall, giving the Reds a 4-3 lead.
“I was just swinging, trying to get on,” said Carroll. “Usually when I face Gibson, I just chop at the ball. That’s about all you can do against him.”
Said Reds manager Dave Bristol: “You should have seen the smile on Carroll’s face when he returned to the dugout. It looked like a cut watermelon.”
In the bottom half of the 10th, Carroll got Joe Hague to fly out before walking Lou Brock. Curt Flood grounded out, moving Brock into scoring position at second, before Vada Pinson, Carroll’s former Reds teammate, lined out to shortstop, ending the game.
Carroll pitched three hitless innings to earn the win. Boxscore
Championship caliber
Carroll was an important contributor to Reds teams that won pennants in 1970, 1972 and 1975. In 14 World Series appearances for the Reds, Carroll was 2-1 with a save and a 1.33 ERA over 20.1 innings. He was the winning pitcher in Game 7 of the 1975 World Series, shutting out the Red Sox for two innings.
Dealt by the Reds to the White Sox in December 1975, Carroll produced a 4-4 record, six saves and a 2.56 ERA for Chicago in 1976.
On March 23, 1977, the Cardinals acquired Carroll, 35, from the White Sox for pitcher Lerrin LaGrow. The Cardinals projected Carroll to set up closer Al Hrabosky.
“This is obviously what we’ve been after _ consistency and experience from a right-handed reliever, a guy who’s been under fire in championship play,” said manager Vern Rapp. “We had nobody on our staff who fit those qualifications.”
Said Carroll: “I want to work as often as possible because the more I work the more consistent I am. I like the Cardinals, especially because they’re an aggressive team at bat and on the bases.”
Carroll reported to camp at 215 pounds, according to the Post-Dispatch. Rapp wanted him to be at 200 pounds when the season began. He instructed Carroll to run extra laps each day during spring training.
A master at locating his pitches, Carroll delivered for the 1977 Cardinals. “When Carroll wasn’t saving games, he at least was dousing huge blazes to keep the Cardinals in the games,” The Sporting News reported. “The tighter the situation, the more (Carroll) seemed to enjoy it.”
Noting how Carroll got batters to swing at pitches out of the zone, Bristol said, “Carroll would rather eat a green fly at home plate than throw a strike.”
Carroll was 4-2 with four saves and a 2.50 ERA in 51 appearances for the Cardinals before they traded him back to the White Sox on Aug. 31, 1977.
3-for-1
The trade created “a lot of eyebrow raising” because Carroll had been the Cardinals’ most consistent reliever, The Sporting News reported.
The Cardinals were 10 games out of first place with about a month remaining in the season when the deal was made. The White Sox wanted Carroll because they were in contention for a division title, two games behind the first-place Royals.
St. Louis got three players in the deal: pitchers Silvio Martinez and Dave Hamilton and outfielder Nyls Nyman.
Carroll was disappointed to leave the Cardinals. “I thought I did a good job,” he said. “I guess they’re planning to go with a younger pitching staff next year.”
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