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Archive for the ‘Opponents’ Category

How Cardinals got Grover Cleveland Alexander

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers on June 16, 2016| 4 Comments »

(Updated Nov. 29, 2024)

The Cubs unwittingly did the Cardinals a favor and helped them achieve their first championship season.

grover_alexanderOn June 22, 1926, the Cubs, at the urging of manager Joe McCarthy, placed pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander on waivers.

Alexander, 39 and on the back end of a Hall of Fame career, still was effective, but McCarthy had become fed up with the pitcher’s drinking.

Claimed for the waiver price of $4,000, Alexander landed with the Cardinals and played a prominent role in stabilizing their pitching staff and lifting them to their first National League pennant and World Series championship.

Bottoms up

In June 1926, the Cubs were in Philadelphia when Alexander “appeared at the Phillies’ park apparently the worse for wear,” The Sporting News reported.

Said McCarthy: “This isn’t the first time. This is the sixth time in the last 10 days … I absolutely refuse to allow him to disrupt our team and will not have him around in that condition.”

Alexander, who had a 3-3 record and 3.46 ERA in seven starts for the 1926 Cubs, was suspended by McCarthy and sent back to Chicago.

“It’s all right to drink while you can win, but it’s not for losers,” McCarthy said.

When the Cubs placed Alexander on waivers, he was claimed by the Cardinals, Pirates and Reds. The Reds were in first place and the Pirates in second in the National League. The Cardinals, in third place, got Alexander because they were lowest in the standings among the three teams that made claims.

“This must be the Cardinals’ year,” J. Roy Stockton of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote. “Everything is breaking for them.”

Cubs fans were stunned and disappointed by the move because Alexander “has become almost an institution in Chicago,” according to International News Service.

In the Donald Honig book “The Man in the Dugout,” McCarthy said, “He didn’t obey orders. Wouldn’t go along with me.”

Old pals

In joining the Cardinals, Alexander was reunited with his friend, Bill Killefer, a coach on the staff of manager Rogers Hornsby. Killefer was Alexander’s catcher with the Phillies from 1911-17. In December 1917, the Phillies traded Alexander and Killefer to the Cubs. Killefer was the Cubs’ manager from 1921-25.

The Sporting News described Alexander and Killefer as “a couple of Peter Pans who never have taken life very seriously.”

“I’m glad to go to St. Louis,” Alexander told the Chicago Tribune. “Hornsby and Killefer are both great fellows and I think the Cards have a good chance to finish up in the money this season.”

According to the Post-Dispatch, when the Cardinals got Alexander, he called Killefer on the phone and said, “I’m in condition and ready to pitch right now. I hope I can do something to help you boys win a pennant.”

Alexander enhanced a Cardinals rotation that included Flint Rhem, Bill Sherdel and Jesse Haines.

Harry Nelly of the Chicago American wrote, “Before Alexander went to the Cardinals, that team was shy of pitchers. It is a run-making outfit, but often found itself without a proper person to prevent the other side from scoring frequently.”

In The Sporting News, columnist John Sheridan suggested Alexander still had much to offer: “He can lose nine-tenths of his skills and still be a greater pitcher than most of the ice-cream kids that come along in these degenerate days.”

Slyly referring to his drinking problems, the St. Louis Star-Times declared, “There is a great temptation to say Alexander, even out of condition, is a greater pitcher than most other hurlers in the pink.”

Dazzler of a debut

On June 27, 1926, Alexander made his Cardinals debut in the first game of a doubleheader against the Cubs at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis. A crowd of 37,196 squeezed into the ballpark that seated about 34,000.

“It was the greatest throng that had ever paid to witness a baseball attraction in this city,” The Sporting News reported.

Alexander pitched a four-hitter and got the win in a 3-2 Cardinals triumph in 10 innings. “He had his old half-sidearm delivery. He had a fast-breaking curve and he had a fast one,” The Sporting News reported.

Said Alexander: “Don’t let anybody tell you that this arm hasn’t a few more good ones left in it. I’m tickled to be with the team and Hornsby and Killefer. All Rog has to do is nod his head and I’ll jump through a hoop for him.” Boxscore

Title run

Alexander won nine of his first 14 decisions with the Cardinals before losing his last two. In 23 appearances for the 1926 Cardinals, Alexander was 9-7 with a 2.91 ERA. He pitched 11 complete games and two shutouts.

In the 1926 World Series against the Yankees, Alexander started and won Game 2 and Game 6. He relieved in Game 7, struck out Tony Lazzeri with the bases loaded in the seventh and earned the save by pitching 2.1 hitless innings.

In the book “My Kind of Baseball,” Hornsby explained why he brought in Alexander to face Lazzeri:

“I figured Alex was our best bet. I left my position at second base and walked out to meet him. I wanted to get a close look at him, to see what shape he was in. I also wanted to tell him what the situation was, in case he’d been dozing … He was wide awake when I met him, and his eyes were clear.”

Hornsby said Alexander struck out Lazzeri on a low curve outside. In “Babe Ruth’s Own Book of Baseball,” Ruth said, “The ball that Tony fanned on wasn’t a curve at all. It wasn’t even a fast one. It was a half-speed ball that cut the corner of the plate within a half inch of the spot (catcher) Bob O’Farrell called for … The thing that fanned Lazzeri that day and cost the Yankees a championship was Alexander’s canny control. He was putting that ball right where he wanted it, on every pitch.”

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The story of Bob Gibson and his worst Cardinals start

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents on June 4, 2016| 4 Comments »

Jim Ray Hart had a prominent role in contributing to Bob Gibson’s worst start with the Cardinals, an outing so poor the pitcher was booed by the home crowd.

jim_hartHart, batting cleanup, had two key hits in the Giants’ 11-run first inning against the Cardinals on June 29, 1967, at St. Louis.

Nine of those runs, all earned, were charged to Gibson. Those are the most earned runs yielded in a game by Gibson in his Hall of Fame career.

The first eight batters Gibson faced reached base _ seven hits and a walk _ and the Giants led 7-0 before Gibson recorded an out. He was lifted before the Giants completed the inning.

In his book “Stranger to the Game,” Gibson called the outing “possibly the worst start of my life.”

In a Giants lineup that featured Willie Mays and Willie McCovey, no one did more damage that Thursday night than Hart, who drove in four runs in the opening inning with a single and a home run. Four years earlier, Hart suffered a fractured collarbone when hit by a Gibson fastball.

In 12 years (1963-74) with the Giants and Yankees, Hart, a third baseman and outfielder, batted .278 and produced 1,052 hits. He led the Giants in hits in each of three consecutive seasons (1965-67).

Stacking southpaws

The Giants began a four-game series with the first-place Cardinals on June 26, 1967, at St. Louis. The Cardinals won the opener, beating right-hander Gaylord Perry and dropping the fifth-place Giants 8.5 games behind the frontrunners.

The Giants, behind left-handed starters Mike McCormick and Ray Sadecki, won the second and third games. McCormick and Sadecki combined to limit the Cardinals to one run in 18 innings.

The series finale was scheduled to be a matchup of right-handed aces, Gibson for the Cardinals and Juan Marichal for the Giants. However, based on the performances of McCormick and Sadecki, Giants manager Herman Franks decided to start another left-hander against the Cardinals. Franks replaced Marichal with Joe Gibbon, a left-hander who had started and won against the Cardinals two weeks earlier, on June 17, at San Francisco. Gibbon had pitched in relief vs. the Cardinals on June 26 in the series opener at St. Louis.

All of the maneuverings were for naught. Gibson and Gibbon, similar in name, had similar results: Both were ineffective.

Opening salvo

The first two Giants batters, Jim Davenport and Tom Haller, each singled.

Willie Mays also singled, scoring Davenport and advancing Haller to second base.

Next up was Hart. He hit a line drive to left for a single, scoring Haller. Lou Brock, the left fielder, bobbled the ball, enabling Mays to score on the error and giving the Giants a 3-0 lead. Hart, credited with one RBI, reached second on the play.

With first base open, Gibson issued an intentional walk to Willie McCovey.

The next batter, Ollie Brown, singled, scoring Hart and putting the Giants ahead, 4-0. McCovey advanced to third.

Hal Lanier, the shortstop and son of former Cardinals pitcher Max Lanier, was up next. Lanier, batting .202, tripled, scoring McCovey and Brown and increasing the Giants’ lead to 6-0.

Unhappy fans

No. 8 batter Tito Fuentes singled, driving in Lanier and making the score 7-0.

Gibson struck out Gibbon and got Davenport to pop out to second.

When Gibson walked the next batter, Haller, Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst replaced him with Nelson Briles.

In the book “El Birdos,” author Doug Feldmann wrote that as Gibson departed “he was booed voraciously by the Busch Stadium crowd. Upon receiving the unfriendly goodbye from the home folks, Gibson tauntingly flung his cap in the air, which only increased the volume of the derision.”

Hammer from Hart

The first batter Briles faced was Mays, who singled, scoring Fuentes, advancing Haller to second and boosting the Giants’ lead to 8-0.

Hart, using a bat borrowed from Lanier, capped the outburst by hitting a three-run home run into the left-field bleachers, making the score 11-0.

The final line on Gibson: 0.2 innings, 9 runs, 7 hits, 2 walks.

Redbirds respond

Given a huge lead, Gibbon couldn’t taken advantage.

Brock led off the Cardinals’ half of the first with a triple. Julian Javier singled, scoring Brock. Curt Flood singled, moving Javier to third.

Orlando Cepeda delivered the Cardinals’ fourth consecutive hit, a single that scored Javier, moved Flood to third and made the score 11-2.

So much for using a left-hander.

Franks removed Gibbon, who failed to record an out, and replaced him with Bobby Bolin. The right-hander did the job. He got Mike Shannon to ground into a double play and Tim McCarver to fly out, ending the inning.

Bolin pitched nine innings of relief and got the win in a 12-4 Giants triumph. Boxscore

“So, a right-hander finally won one,” Giants pitching coach Larry Jansen said to the Oakland Tribune.

Beware of Bob

Gibson had entered the game with a 3.01 ERA and exited it with a 3.68 ERA.

“This, of course, put me in the mood to take it out on somebody and the opportunity quickly presented itself against the Reds,” Gibson said.

Facing the Reds in his next start, July 3, 1967, at St. Louis, Gibson struck out 12 in 7.2 innings, gave up three runs (two earned), took part in a brawl and got the win in a 7-3 Cardinals victory. Boxscore.

 

 

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Adam Wainwright and his magical first at-bat

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents, Pitchers on June 1, 2016| Leave a Comment »

(Updated Aug. 15, 2026)

Adam Wainwright turned a special at-bat into a special feat.

On May 24, 2006, Wainwright swung at the first pitch in his first major-league plate appearance and hit a home run for the Cardinals at San Francisco.

adam_wainwright9Leading off the fifth inning, with the Giants ahead, 4-2, Wainwright hit a Noah Lowry pitch over the left field wall.

Wainwright, 24, had appeared in three games for the 2005 Cardinals and 14 games for the 2006 Cardinals before getting a plate appearance. He hadn’t taken batting practice since spring training.

Asked by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch his thoughts when the ball cleared the wall, Wainwright said, “I wasn’t thinking anything until I hit third (base). I was wandering around the bases, making sure I was going the right way. I hit third (base) and I said, ‘Oh, my goodness. I just hit a home run in my first at-bat.’ It was crazy.”

A win and a blast

Chris Carpenter had been scheduled to start for the Cardinals, but he developed bursitis under his right shoulder and was scratched.

Brad Thompson got the start and pitched two innings. After Tyler Johnson pitched the third inning, Wainwright relieved.

With the score tied at 2-2, Wainwright yielded two runs in the fourth.

Before Wainwright went to bat in the fifth, Cardinals manager Tony La Russa approached him.

“Tony told me to have a good at-bat, so I made sure I swung at the first pitch,” Wainwright told the San Jose Mercury News.

Lowry, a left-hander, threw a fastball. “One of the few fastballs Noah threw for strike one,” Giants manager Felipe Alou said to the Alameda Times-Star. Video of home run

After Wainwright pitched a scoreless fifth, the Cardinals scored twice in the sixth, taking a 5-4 lead. Wainwright held the Giants scoreless again in the sixth.

For his three innings of relief, Wainwright earned the win in the Cardinals’ 10-4 triumph. Boxscore

Wainwright was one of three Cardinals pitchers to get an extra-base hit in the game. Jason Marquis tripled and Braden Looper doubled.

“They almost hit for the cycle, the pitchers,” Alou said to the San Francisco Examiner. “They surprised everybody.”

Sweet swings

Wainwright is one of 11 Cardinals to hit a home run in his first plate appearance in the major leagues.

The list:

_ Eddie Morgan, pinch-hitter, April 14, 1936, vs. Cubs.

_ Wally Moon, center fielder, April 13, 1954, vs. Cubs.

_ Keith McDonald, pinch-hitter, July 4, 2000, vs. Reds.

_ Chris Richard, left fielder, July 17, 2000, vs. Twins.

_ Gene Stechschulte, pinch-hitter, April 17, 2001, vs. Diamondbacks.

_ Hector Luna, second baseman, April 8, 2004, vs. Brewers.

_ Adam Wainwright, pitcher, May 24, 2006, vs. Giants.

_ Mark Worrell, pitcher, June 5, 2008, vs. Nationals.

_ Paul DeJong, pinch-hitter, May 28, 2017, vs. Rockies.

_ Lane Thomas, pinch-hitter, April 19, 2019, vs. Mets.

_ Joshua Baez, left fielder, Aug. 15, 2026, vs. Cubs. In a game at Wrigley Field, Baez hit a home run in each of his first three at-bats in the majors. He crushed the first pitch he saw about 450 feet.

 

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Sammy Ellis and his adventures vs. Cardinals

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers on May 29, 2016| 1 Comment »

In 1964, Sammy Ellis almost derailed the Cardinals’ pennant run with his nearly flawless relief pitching for the Reds. A year later, the Cardinals briefly derailed Ellis, who was on his way to a standout season as one of the National League’s premier starters.

sammy_ellisEllis pitched in the major leagues during the 1960s for seven years: five with the Reds and one season each with the Angels and White Sox. He posted a career record of 63-58 with a 4.15 ERA.

The Reds put Ellis, 23, in their starting rotation in May 1964. He was 3-2 with a 4.62 ERA in five starts, including a loss to the Cardinals on May 30 at St. Louis. Boxscore

To Ellis’ disappointment, the Reds moved him to the bullpen, but it was the right choice. Ellis thrived, becoming the 1964 Reds’ best right-handed reliever.

Ellis had an 0.78 ERA in 11 August relief appearances, yielding two earned runs and striking out 22 in 23 innings.

In September, he was even better.

Scoreless relief

On Saturday, Sept. 19, 1964, the Cardinals opened a three-game series with the Reds at Cincinnati. The Cardinals began the day in second place, six games behind the Phillies and a game ahead of the Reds.

In the first game of a doubleheader, the Reds overcame a 5-4 Cardinals lead when Frank Robinson hit a three-run home run off Bob Gibson in the bottom of the ninth. Ellis got the win, pitching two innings of scoreless relief in the 7-5 Reds victory. Boxscore

The Cardinals recovered and won the second game, 2-0. Ellis pitched a scoreless inning in relief of Billy McCool. Boxscore

In the series finale on Sunday, Sept. 20, the Reds snapped a 6-6 tie with three unearned runs in the eighth off Cardinals closer Barney Schultz and prevailed, 9-6. Ellis, appearing in his fifth game in five days, got the win with two scoreless relief innings and improved his record to 10-3. Boxscore

“I was a bit tired today and I didn’t have as much on the ball as I wanted,” Ellis said to the Associated Press. “After all, I’ve had a pretty busy week, working in the last five games we’ve played.”

In the three games against the Cardinals, Ellis was 2-0 with six strikeouts in five scoreless innings.

By winning two of three in the series, the Reds were tied with the Cardinals for second place, 6.5 games behind the Phillies.

Cincinnati closer

Ellis made 13 relief appearances in September 1964, yielding no earned runs in 22.1 innings and striking out 26.

He kept the Reds in the pennant race until the season’s final day when the Cardinals clinched with a victory over the Mets.

Ellis completed the 1964 season with a 10-3 record and 2.57 ERA. He was 7-1 with a 1.62 ERA in 47 relief stints.

“I’m enjoying the relief pitching this year, but I hope the club doesn’t have the same plans for me next year,” Ellis said to The Sporting News.

Redbirds rally

Ellis, 24, joined the Reds’ starting rotation in 1965 and he was a success. He took a 15-7 record and 3.39 ERA into his Aug. 15, 1965, start against the Cardinals at St. Louis.

After retiring the first five batters, Ellis was rocked for four runs in the second inning. He gave up a solo home run to Bob Skinner and a three-run home run to Gibson. In chasing Gibson’s blast, Robinson crashed into the left field wall, suffered a badly bruised left hip and had to leave the game.

Though the Cardinals got hits off Ellis in each of the next five innings, they couldn’t score and the Reds led, 7-4, entering the bottom half of the eighth before St. Louis rallied.

Bill White led off the inning with a home run against Ellis. After Ken Boyer singled, Ellis was lifted by Reds manager Dick Sisler. The Cardinals roughed up relievers John Tsitouris and McCool, scoring eight in the eighth and earning a 12-7 victory. Boxscore

The final line for Ellis: 7 innings, 12 hits, 6 runs. The hits were the most Ellis yielded in a game in his major-league career.

Asked about taking out Ellis with a 7-5 lead, Sisler said, “What’s a guy going to do? You can’t expect a guy to go nine innings when it’s 98 degrees or more out there on the mound. When we needed help, I put in two guys whose past performances indicated they could do the job for me.”

Big winner

Ellis rebounded and finished the 1965 season with a 22-10 record and 3.79 ERA. Sandy Koufax (26), Tony Cloninger (24) and Don Drysdale (23) were the only NL pitchers with more wins than Ellis in 1965.

The next year, Ellis lost 19.

His career mark vs. the Cardinals: 6-5 with a 5.50 ERA in 21 appearances, including 10 starts.

Ellis spent 12 years in the big leagues as a coach with the Yankees, White Sox, Cubs, Mariners, Red Sox and Orioles.

Previously: Bob Gibson and his mighty home run seasons

Previously: Bob Gibson vs. Billy Williams: a classic duel

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Why Cardinals played Dodgers in New Jersey

Posted in Games, Opponents on May 19, 2016| 3 Comments »

(Updated March 7, 2022)

On a trip to Brooklyn, the Cardinals took a detour to Jersey City and played as if they were lost.

ken_lehmanOn May 16, 1956, the Cardinals faced the Dodgers in a regular-season game at Roosevelt Stadium in the Droyer’s Point section of Jersey City near Newark Bay.

Played on a Wednesday night with a raw wind howling at 25 mph and temperatures in the 40s, the game attracted 22,071 spectators to a stadium that officially seated 24,000.

A couple of gaffes by the Cardinals enabled the Dodgers to score five unearned runs and win, 5-3.

Strategic move

The Cardinals found themselves in Jersey City because of a business plan designed by Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley.

After the Dodgers won the World Series title in 1955, O’Malley stepped up efforts to get support for a new ballpark to replace Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. O’Malley said he would get private funding to build a ballpark but he wanted local government to provide land at the intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic avenues in Brooklyn.

In December 1955, the Dodgers signed a three-year deal to play some home games in Jersey City. Located across the Hudson River from Manhattan, Jersey City appealed to O’Malley for these reasons:

_ Playing games in New Jersey would show Brooklyn officials that O’Malley wasn’t bluffing about relocating the franchise if the Dodgers didn’t get the site he wanted for a new ballpark.

_ Roosevelt Stadium had parking for 7,000 cars (compared with parking for 700 cars at Ebbets Field). Increasingly, Dodgers fans in the suburbs preferred driving to a game. O’Malley would get the parking revenue and gate receipts from the games at Jersey City.

_ If a ballpark was under construction in Brooklyn, Jersey City would offer, in O’Malley’s view, a better alternative than decaying Ebbets Field as a place for the Dodgers to play until the new home was ready.

“I have previously stated it is our intention to occupy Ebbets Field only two more years; that is, 1956 and 1957,” O’Malley said to the Associated Press. “It is unlikely that the progress of constructing a new stadium would be sufficiently rapid for it to be available in 1958, in which event our arrangement with Jersey City would guarantee the continuance of the franchise at the nearest available point to Brooklyn.”

O’Malley’s decision to play games in Jersey City was widely unpopular with fans and media in Brooklyn.

On the road

Roosevelt Stadium was opened in 1937 on a site formerly used as an airport. The Dodgers arranged to play seven home games _ one against each of the other seven National League teams _ there in 1956 and pay Jersey City an annual rent of $10,000.

The first game was played April 19, 1956. The Dodgers beat the Phillies, 5-4, before 12,214. Video

The second game was against the Cardinals.

On May 12, 1956, the Cardinals began a two-week road trip that would take them to Chicago, Brooklyn, Jersey City, Philadelphia, New York City and Pittsburgh to play the Cubs, Dodgers, Phillies, Giants and Pirates.

In the first of a two-game set with the Dodgers, the Cardinals played at Ebbets Field on May 15, 1956, and were beaten, 7-5, before 15,788.

They traveled by bus from Brooklyn to Jersey City the next night.

Stars come out

The lineups for the Cardinals and Dodgers in Jersey City featured seven future Hall of Famers _ Stan Musial and Red Schoendienst for the Cardinals; Roy Campanella, Gil Hodges, Pee Wee Reese, Jackie Robinson and Duke Snider for the Dodgers.

Herm Wehmeier, acquired a week earlier from the Phillies, made his first start for the Cardinals and his opponent was Roger Craig.

Under a dateline of “Behind Enemy Lines, Jersey City,” Dick Young of the New York Daily News began his game story, “The Brooks journeyed across two rivers, to their house that is not a home, to be booed zestfully by the near-sellout crowd. From the very beginning, the boos poured down on the players of the home team, who were bewildered by it all at first, but now are finding it weirdly amusing. They cheered the Cardinals vigorously, these strange people who are being given a rare ration of big-league ball by the Brooklyn gypsies.”

In the third inning, Wally Moon broke a scoreless tie when he pulled a pitch down the right-field line for a three-run home run off Craig. “Moon’s drive wasn’t fair by more than 10 feet,” the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported.

In the fourth, the Cardinals unraveled.

Dodgers capitalize

With one out, Snider and Campanella each grounded a single. The next batter, Hodges, hit a pop foul near the plate. Battling the wind, rookie catcher Hal Smith circled dizzily, got his mitt on the ball but dropped it for an error.

Given the second chance, Hodges singled, scoring Snider and cutting the St. Louis lead to 3-1.

After Wehmeier got Jackie Robinson to pop out to Schoendienst at second base, Sandy Amoros doubled, scoring Campanella, advancing Hodges to third and reducing the Cardinals’ lead to 3-2.

With first base open, Wehmeier issued an intentional walk to Carl Furillo, loading the bases for pitcher Ken Lehman, who had relieved Craig in the top half of the inning. Dodgers manager Walter Alston opted to let Lehman bat and he delivered, punching a two-run single up the middle and giving the Dodgers a 4-3 lead.

Zoning out

The Dodgers’ still weren’t done.

Lindy McDaniel relieved Wehmeier and walked Jim Gilliam, bringing Pee Wee Reese to the plate with the bases loaded. Reese hit a routine grounder to third baseman Ken Boyer. Instead of stepping on third for the forceout that would have ended the inning, Boyer tried to tag Lehman as the pitcher advanced from second to third. When Lehman avoided the tag, Boyer made an errant throw to first base. Reese was safe on the error and Furillo scored from third on the play, putting the Dodgers ahead 5-3. Boxscore

Lehman got the win, his first in the majors in four years.

“Whether it’s Flatbush or Jersey City, the result is the bitter same,” wrote Bob Broeg of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “The Cardinals play bush-league baseball on the home grounds of the Brooklyn Dodgers.”

After the game, the Cardinals went by bus to Philadelphia for their series against the Phillies.

Brief experiment

The average attendance for the seven Dodgers home games at Jersey City in 1956 was 21,196.

In 1957, the Dodgers played eight home games _ two against the Phillies and one each against the other six NL clubs _ at Jersey City. The Cardinals again had a May date. The Dodgers won, 6-0, on Don Newcombe’s five-hit shutout before 14,470 on May 3, 1957. Gilliam and Furillo each contributed two RBI. Tom Cheney, the Cardinals’ rookie starting pitcher, was lifted after facing four batters and retiring one. Boxscore

Lacking support for a new Brooklyn ballpark, O’Malley took the Dodgers to Los Angeles for the 1958 season. He paid Jersey City $15,000 as a settlement for breaking the agreement to play games there in 1958.

 

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Leo Durocher, Casey Stengel and the duel in Brooklyn

Posted in Games, Hitters, Managers, Opponents on May 16, 2016| 1 Comment »

(Updated May 12, 2019)

In one of the most intriguing incidents in the long rivalry between the Cardinals and Dodgers, two of baseball’s most colorful characters, Leo Durocher and Casey Stengel, escalated a war of words into a post-game fight.

stengel_durocherThe animosity between the two was so strong Stengel brought a bat to the showdown.

Their tangle under the stands at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn occurred on May 12, 1936. Durocher was the Cardinals’ shortstop and Stengel was the Dodgers’ manager.

The Dodgers pummeled Dizzy Dean with 13 hits in eight innings and won, 5-2. Boxscore

Tempers flare

Throughout the game, Durocher, the Cardinals’ captain, and Stengel hollered at one another across the field.

“Stengel made the mistake of being personal,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. “He ought to have been in baseball long enough to think up something funny to say without casting reflections on a man’s ancestors.”

At some point during the bickering, Stengel told Durocher he’d see him after the game, The Sporting News reported.

According to the Post-Dispatch, the two had the following exchange on the field:

Durocher: “If you have nerve enough to say to my face what you’ve been saying under the protection of the ballgame, I’ll be surprised.”

Stengel: “I’ll be there _ and I’ll have a bat with me.”

Durocher: “You’ll probably need a bat.”

The Sporting News reported a different version. It said Durocher replied to Stengel, “You’d better have a bat with you.”

After the game, Durocher and Cardinals manager Frankie Frisch were in a runway that led from the dugout to the clubhouse under the stands when Stengel, holding a bat, confronted his nemesis.

In published accounts, Durocher and Stengel told different versions of what happened next.

Durocher’s version

According to the Post-Dispatch, Durocher went after Stengel and Stengel swung the bat. Durocher “took a glancing blow from the wooden weapon and then went to work on the disarmed Stengel,” the Post-Dispatch reported. “He landed a right to the mouth, cutting the Stengel lip and was swinging eagerly when dozens of pairs of arms seized him. He looked around and the runway was full of Dodgers players.”

The St. Louis Star-Times reported Durocher “took credit for landing a square right to Stengel’s mouth” and said Durocher admitted “Stengel struck him a glancing blow with the bat.”

“When we came out of the dugout under the stands, Stengel was waving the bat and shouting, ‘Don’t you come near me. I don’t want any trouble with you. I’ll hit you with this bat if you do,’ ” Durocher told the Star-Times. “I rushed in and in so doing got hit with the bat, right across the right ear, but I got in a few punches before what seemed like the entire Brooklyn ballclub landed on me.”

Frisch was knocked to the ground in the melee, the Star-Times reported.

Stengel’s version

According to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, when Durocher made for Stengel in the runway, Stengel “dropped the bat and moved into close quarters, punching.”

Stengel said he hit Durocher with his fists.

“Stengel had his right hand behind Durocher’s head and was messing up the Durocher features with short, jolting left uppercuts,” according to the Daily Eagle.

“That fresh boob is lucky I didn’t knock out his few brains with that bat,” Stengel said, “but nothing like that was necessary. He can’t hit any harder with his fists than he can with a bat.”

Bruised egos

The Sporting News dubbed the incident, “Casey and His Bat.”

According to the Post-Dispatch, Durocher had a red mark “as big as a pencil” where the bat grazed the bridge of his nose. Stengel suffered a split lip.

The Daily Eagle reported Durocher “had bruised and slightly cut Casey’s mouth with a couple of long punches.”

National League president Ford Frick didn’t issue any fines because he said the fight occurred out of sight from the public, not on the field.

Hate to lose

After the season, the Dodgers fired Stengel. A year later, in October 1937, the Cardinals traded Durocher to the Dodgers. He became Dodgers manager in 1939.

Stengel eventually landed with the Yankees and won seven World Series titles and 10 American League pennants from 1949-60. Durocher won National League pennants with the Dodgers in 1941 and with the Giants in 1951 and 1954. His 1954 Giants brought him his lone World Series title as a manager. Cardinals owner Gussie Busch wanted to hire Durocher as manager in 1964 but changed his mind after the club won the World Series championship.

In 1951, in their only World Series matchup, Stengel’s Yankees won four of six games against Durocher’s Giants.

In his book “Nice Guys Finish Last,” Durocher said, “I would make the loser’s trip to the opposing dressing room to congratulate the other manager because that was the proper thing to do. But … I didn’t like it. You think I liked it when I had to go see Mr. Stengel and say, ‘Congratulations, Casey, you played great?’ I’d have liked to stick a knife in his chest and twist it inside him.”

Stengel and Durocher were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame for their achievements as managers.

Previously: Like Tony La Russa, ailing Casey Stengel left club

 

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