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How Cardinals nearly struck out on getting Orlando Cepeda

Posted in Executives, Games, Hitters, Pitchers, Trades on August 31, 2026| 20 Comments »

Orlando Cepeda was supposed to be traded to the Cubs, not the Cardinals.

In April 1966, the Giants offered to swap Cepeda, a slugger recovering from knee surgery, to the Cubs for left-handed starting pitcher Dick Ellsworth. The Cubs were willing but wanted an outfielder included with Cepeda in the deal.

While the sides dickered, details of the talks were leaked to newspapers, irritating Giants owner Horace Stoneham, who killed the proposed deal.

The Cardinals, desperate for a first baseman, stepped in and made their pitch: left-handed starting pitcher Ray Sadecki for Cepeda.

Pain relief

A right-handed batter, Cepeda was a consistent run producer for the Giants after entering the majors in 1958 and earning the National League Rookie of the Year Award. In his first seven seasons (1958-64) with San Francisco, Cepeda averaged 106 RBI and 31 home runs each year.

His right knee, though, ached after he dropped a weight on it during a workout late in 1962. He had knee surgery in December 1964. At 1965 spring training, the knee caused Cepeda “constant pain,” he said in “Baby Bull,” his autobiography.

Manager Herman Franks “kept saying I was faking, that there was nothing wrong with my knee,” Cepeda recalled in his book. “He said it was all in my mind and that I should get my ass on the field and earn some money.”

Cepeda spent most of the first month of the 1965 season on the bench. On May 3, he was sent to bat for Jose Pagan in the seventh inning at St. Louis and flied out to left. “I could barely walk,” Cepeda said in his autobiography. “I had to walk up to the batter’s box using my bat as a cane because my knee hurt so much.” Boxscore

He didn’t appear in another game until August. For the season, Cepeda batted .176 with one home run in 33 games, 27 as a pinch-hitter.

Let’s make a deal

At home in Puerto Rico during the winter, Cepeda worked to get the knee in shape. “I would run in the water, work with weights, then run some more,” he said in his book. “I was like Rocky Balboa training for a shot at the title, working harder than I ever had before. When I arrived in Arizona in the spring (of 1966), I was in the best shape of my life. Even my knee felt good. I was running well.”

However, when the Giants opened the season at home against the Cubs, Herman Franks started Willie McCovey at first base and Len Gabrielson in left. Cepeda, who played both positions, was on the bench. Boxscore

Cepeda finally got a chance to start in the sixth game, as the left fielder, only because the Giants intended to trade him for a left-handed starting pitcher and wanted to show clubs his knee was OK. Boxscore

The Giants’ starting rotation consisted of right-handers Juan Marichal, Gaylord Perry, Bobby Bolin, Bob Shaw and Ron Herbel.

General managers Chub Feeney of the Giants and John Holland of the Cubs met in April to discuss a swap of Cepeda for Dick Ellsworth, the San Francisco Examiner and Chicago American reported. Ellsworth, 26, a Fresno resident, won 22 for the Cubs in 1963 and 14 in each of the next two seasons.

“What a deal that would have been, especially for the Giants, who are dirt-poor for southpaw pitchers,” Fresno Bee sports editor Omer Crane wrote. “Ellsworth, with that Giants power behind him, could win 20 to 22 games.”

Willie McCovey, who had one hit in 20 career at-bats against Ellsworth, said to The Sporting News, “He’s tough for any hitter.”

The trade would have given the Cubs a lineup with four future Hall of Fame run producers: Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, Billy Williams and Cepeda. With Banks stationed at first base, the Cubs would have put Cepeda in left field, John Holland told the Chicago Daily News.

“While Cubs fans thrill at the thought of Cepeda (40 home runs?) in the lineup, they shudder at the suggestion of their otherwise aging pitching staff without the presence of Ellsworth,” the Chicago Tribune noted.

Loose lips sink trades

Herman Franks was pushing for Chub Feeney to make the trade for the Giants, but Cubs manager Leo Durocher wanted John Holland to get more for Ellsworth than Cepeda. Durocher also insisted on proof that Cepeda’s knee was sound.

“Sure, I wanted Cepeda,” Durocher told Dick Young of the New York Daily News, “but I wanted some assurance that his knee was all right. After all, if I give them a pitcher like Ellsworth and then Cepeda’s knee goes pop, what have I got?”

The Giants would make no guarantee, but would permit the Cubs to have their own team doctor examine Cepeda’s knee in advance of a deal.

As for including an outfielder with Cepeda in the trade, Jesus Alou, Ollie Brown and Len Gabrielson were discussed, according to published reports. The Giants were given until two weeks after the season opened to agree to the terms, John Carmichael reported in the Chicago Daily News.

Giants owner Horace Stoneham didn’t like the Cubs’ demands and was miffed that they were leaking details to the newspapers. He told Chub Feeney and Herman Franks to call off the deal.

In the book “The Man Stan Musial Then and Now,” Musial, a Cardinals vice president in 1966, said, “It was common knowledge that a Cepeda-to-Chicago deal had fallen through because the Cubs, giving up Dick Ellsworth, wanted something other than the knee-damaged Cepeda to sweeten the pot. Those of us who knew Horace Stoneham were aware you didn’t push or prod” him.

According to Jack McDonald of the San Francisco Examiner, “Chicago fans are crying in their beer because the Cubs missed the boat on a Cepeda for Dick Ellsworth deal. Every Cubs official wanted it.”

Cardinals swoop in

After the collapse of the discussions with the Cubs, the Giants went after Ray Sadecki, 25, of the Cardinals. A 20-game winner in 1964, Sadecki won just six the next year but looked good in 1966. In April, he was 2-0 with an 0.98 ERA. One of those wins was a five-hitter against the Giants. Boxscore

The Cardinals were dissatisfied with rookie first baseman George Kernek, who lacked power. Cepeda, who slammed a two-run homer against the Cardinals on April 30, appealed to them. Boxscore

However, like the Cubs, Cardinals general manager Bob Howsam tried to get the Giants to include another player with Cepeda in a trade for Sadecki.

In the book “The Man Stan Musial Then and Now,” Musial recalled to collaborator Bob Broeg that “Howsam hedged and vacillated” on making the Sadecki for Cepeda deal until Cardinals executive vice president Dick Meyer, the top aide to team owner Gussie Busch, intervened.

Because of Howsam’s haggling, “We were fearful Horace (Stoneham) would nix the deal with St. Louis, too,” Musial said, “but Dick Meyer, always a sound stabilizing influence, urged Howsam to get along with the deal and to forget trying to get more for Sadecki.”

Getting it done

On May 7 at St. Louis, Cepeda clouted a grand slam against Cardinals starter Art Mahaffey. The next day, during the final game played at the former Sportsman’s Park, soon after Cepeda hit a two-run double against Larry Jaster, the Cardinals and Giants agreed to the Cepeda for Sadecki trade. Boxscore and Boxscore

The Cardinals and Cubs were the winners in the deal.

Cepeda helped the Cardinals win two National League pennants (1967-68) and a World Series title (1967). He received the 1967 NL Most Valuable Player Award.

Immediately after Horace Stoneham stopped the Cepeda trade talks with Chicago, the Cubs contacted the Phillies. On April 21, 1966, the Cubs sent pitchers Larry Jackson and Bob Buhl to Philadelphia for pitcher Ferguson Jenkins, center fielder Adolfo Phillips and first baseman John Herrnstein.

Jenkins developed into an ace and a Hall of Famer. He totaled 167 wins for the Cubs, and remains their career leader in strikeouts (2,038) and starts (347).

“I doubt very much whether we would have made the Philadelphia deal if we’d got Cepeda,” John Holland told the Chicago Daily News, “because we couldn’t afford to send two starters like Jackson and Ellsworth away at the same time.”

Former Cardinals ace Dizzy Dean predicted to United Press International that Sadecki “will give” the Giants the 1966 pennant. However, Sadecki was 32-39 in his four seasons with the Giants, who won no pennants during that time.

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No place like home for Cardinals farmhand Tony Freitas

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers, Prospects, Trades on August 17, 2026| 12 Comments »

The Cardinals had a pitcher in their system who collected wins the way neighborhood kids flocked to an ice-cream truck _ in bunches.

A left-handed lilliputian who relied on control and off-speed pitches, Tony Freitas achieved 20 or more wins for six seasons in a row (1937-42) with Sacramento. The Cardinals offered to bring him to the majors, but Freitas said no. Sacramento was his home and that’s where he preferred to stay.

Besides, Freitas had been in the big leagues _ with the Athletics and Reds _ before the Cardinals acquired him, and though he had multiple highlights, including 10 wins in a row as a rookie and an epic 17-inning duel with Dizzy Dean, the overall experience wasn’t satisfying.

So, being in the minors, where he won a lot, felt appreciated and got to remain in his home state of California, was all right with him.

Freitas went on to pitch until he was 45. He is the career leader in minor-league wins for a left-hander (342). Only right-handers Bill Thomas (383), Joe Martina (349) and George Payne (348) have more career wins in the minors than Freitas.

In the fast lane

Antonio Freitas was the son of immigrants from the Azores, a cluster of Portuguese islands. Freitas and Eve Arden were born a week apart in Mill Valley, a town near San Francisco. Arden became an actress in movies (“Mildred Pierce”) and television (“Our Miss Brooks”). Freitas chose baseball.

A cabdriver who’d seen Freitas pitch semipro ball in Mill Valley recommended him to Sacramento manager Buddy Ryan, who arranged for Freitas, 20, to start a pro career with Class D Phoenix in 1928. In his first pro game he pitched a one-hitter, according to the Sacramento Union. A year later, Ryan put him on the pitching staff of the Pacific Coast League’s Sacramento Senators.

Freitas had consecutive 19-win seasons for Sacramento in 1930-31. He listed his height as 5-foot-7. His weight during the season usually dropped below 160 pounds. Freitas lacked velocity on his pitches, so he depended on an assortment of curves and changeups with pinpoint control.

He made up for his dearth of speed on the mound when he got behind the wheel of a car. Freitas drove like a demon, paying no attention to speed limits, and was arrested multiple times. When the leadfoot got cited yet again in August 1931, Marin County Justice Thomas Rudolff sentenced him to serve five days in jail.

A Brooklyn Dodgers scout had come to San Francisco to see Freitas pitch the next night. Sacramento club owner Lewis Moreing told the San Francisco News he pleaded with Marin County authorities to free Freitas just long enough to pitch in the game. The nation was in the grip of the Great Depression and it was important to Moreing for Freitas to be showcased in the hope a big-league club would make a lucrative offer to purchase his contract.

Freitas was released and escorted to the San Francisco ballpark by a deputy sheriff, who kept a close watch over the prisoner during the game. Freitas got the win, going the distance in a snappy one hour, 40 minutes, and was back behind bars by 11 p.m., the San Francisco Call-Bulletin reported.

The scout was impressed, the San Francisco News noted, but the Dodgers wouldn’t agree to Moreing’s purchase price, the Brooklyn Eagle reported.

In the groove

Back with Sacramento in 1932, Freitas pitched a no-hitter versus Oakland on May 5, his 24th birthday. Two weeks later, he was in the majors, dealt to the Athletics for a pitcher (Jimmie DeShong) and $25,000.

Managed by Connie Mack, the A’s were the three-time defending American League champions and featured a roster with the likes of Mickey Cochrane, Jimmie Foxx, Lefty Grove and Al Simmons. “I was a green kid, shy as the devil,” Freitas recalled to the Sacramento Bee. “I didn’t have enough guts to go up to somebody and ask them something. I was scared. I was in awe of the big names.”

Mack put the rookie in the starting rotation. In his debut, at home against the Washington Senators, Freitas pitched well. He retired 12 batters in a row, 11 of them on ground outs.

With the A’s ahead, 3-2, one out, in the ninth, Joe Cronin was at the plate for Washington. Catcher Mickey Cochrane told Freitas not to give Cronin a low pitch, but he did, and Cronin walloped it over the wall for a home run, tying the score. Freitas departed after 10 innings and Washington won in the 12th against George Earnshaw, but Freitas “made an impression with the crowd with his brainy and steady pitching,” the Philadelphia Inquirer noted. Boxscore

Freitas’ second start was against the Yankees. He walked the first two batters, then struck out Babe Ruth on a changeup. If the strikeout caused Freitas to have his head in the clouds, the Yankees brought him quickly back to earth. Lou Gehrig (single), Ben Chapman (triple), Bill Dickey (double) and Tony Lazzeri (single) followed with consecutive hits, giving New York a 5-0 lead on the way to a win. Boxscore

Freitas lost again, to Cleveland, then won 10 in a row. Nine of those wins were complete games, including a shutout of the White Sox. Boxscore

During that streak, Freitas turned a rare unassisted double play against the Browns. With one out in the fifth, the Browns had runners on second (George Blaeholder) and third (Jim Levey). Fred Schulte hit a high bouncer toward the mound. Freitas snared it, ran toward Levey, who had stopped between third and home, and tagged him before he could return to the bag. Then Freitas saw Blaeholder frozen between second and third. With Freitas in pursuit, Blaeholder retreated toward second. Freitas caught up to the runner, tagged him to complete the double play, but lost his balance. In the tangle, Freitas was spiked across the right instep and had to depart. Boxscore

Freitas completed his rookie season with a 12-5 record and earned the admiration of Connie Mack, who told the Sacramento Bee, “Freitas is a great pitcher because he has a wonderful change of pace, deadly control and the knack of putting the ball any place he wants.”

Duel with Dean

Imagine Freitas’ surprise when the A’s sent him a 1933 contract calling for a $1,400 pay cut. Mack blamed the economy. Freitas wouldn’t accept the offer and finally signed for the same amount he got in 1932 _ $1,000 a month for seven months, according to the Society for American Baseball Research.

He pitched three scoreless innings against the Cardinals in a 1933 spring training game, but the success from his rookie year didn’t carry over to his sophomore season. Freitas got hit often and was sent to the minors that summer. The Reds rescued him, bringing Freitas to the National League in May 1934.

On July 1, at Cincinnati, Freitas was matched against Dizzy Dean, who was on his way to 30 wins for the Cardinals that season. Freitas and Dean each pitched 17 innings, and Freitas stroked three hits versus the St. Louis ace. The Cardinals won in the 18th with two runs against Paul Derringer. Jim Lindsey (traded by the Reds for Freitas) got the save for the Cardinals. Boxscore

Freitas was 6-12 for the Reds in 1934 and 5-10 in 1935, when he beat the Cardinals twice. The wins came against the Dean brothers _ Dizzy and Paul. Boxscore and Boxscore

Home sweet home

In 1936, a lump formed on Freitas’ left elbow. For a month he “could not even comb his hair or butter his toast with his left hand,” the Sacramento Bee reported.

The swelling eventually faded but the Reds no longer wanted him. The Cardinals, though, were willing to take a chance. They bought his contract and sent him to their Columbus (Ohio) farm team.

Freitas earned 10 wins for Columbus in 1936. Afterward, he asked Cardinals general manager Branch Rickey to move him to Sacramento. The Sacramento Solons became a Cardinals affiliate in 1936, four years after Freitas had settled in the California capital city with his wife.

Rickey granted the request.

Comfortable at home, Freitas posted records of 23-12 for Sacramento in 1937 and 24-11 in 1938.

Rickey offered to reward Freitas, 30, with a promotion to the majors. “I said, ‘Mr. Rickey, I never felt good back there (in the majors) and I feel great out here … and I don’t care about going back up.’ ” Freitas told the Sacramento Bee.

In an interview with reporter Marco Smolich, Freitas explained, “I’ve had a shot in the American League and in the National League. Frankly, I think I got a raw deal each time. Why ask for more? The main thing is, though, that I’d just as soon pitch in my own backyard. I’m happy in Sacramento.”

Freitas’ next four seasons with the Cardinals’ farm club produced marks of 21-18 (1939), 20-19 (1940), 21-15 (1941) and 24-13 (1942).

Gene Lillard, who played with and against Freitas in the Pacific Coast League, told the Sacramento Bee, “He was about as smart as any pitcher in the league … He threw at different speeds … That made it difficult to time. Hitting is mostly timing.”

Henry Oana, who played for the San Francisco Seals, said to the Associated Press, “He’s got five different speeds. I can’t figure him out. When I get set for number one, he feeds me number four. Just when I’m ready for number five, he gives me number two. I wish he’d get out of the league.”

On the final day of the 1942 season, Sacramento, managed by Pepper Martin, needed to sweep a doubleheader against the Los Angeles Angels to win its first pennant. Freitas earned a save in the opener, then pitched a four-hitter for the win in the finale.

Man of many skills

Freitas spent the next three years (1943-45) as an aircraft mechanic in the Army Air Corps during World War II.

He pitched for Sacramento (1946-49), Modesto (1950-51), Stockton (1952-53) and did some managing, too. After that, Freitas worked from 1956-70 as a mechanic at Aerojet, a rocket and missile propulsion manufacturer.

In retirement, Freitas enjoyed fishing in the Sacramento River and tending to his garden, which included a small orchard of apple, lemon, orange and peach trees.

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Christy Mathewson nearly made St. Louis his baseball home

Posted in Executives, Games, Opponents, Pitchers, Records on July 20, 2026| 15 Comments »

Early in his big-league career, when he was well-regarded but not yet perhaps the top pitcher in the game, Christy Mathewson planned to leave the New York Giants and join the St. Louis Browns.

In 1902, his second full season in the majors, Mathewson was stuck on a bad Giants team. The 1902 Giants were last in the big leagues in hitting (.237) and runs scored (405) and made the most errors (338) in the National League. They finished 48-88 _ the worst record in the majors.

This was during a period when the American League and National League were raiding each other for players. After the 1901 season, for instance, multiple Cardinals _ second baseman Dick Padden, shortstop Bobby Wallace, left fielder Jesse Burkett, center fielder Emmet Heidrick, and pitchers Jack Powell, Jack Harper and Willie Sudhoff _ were enticed to defect to the Browns.

When the Browns made Mathewson an offer in July 1902 to switch leagues and join them after the season, he accepted. He took a $500 cash bonus and signed a contract for 1903. To sweeten the arrangement, the Browns also signed the Giants’ catcher, Frank Bowerman, for 1903.

If Mathewson had pitched for the Browns, maybe the franchise would have been a perennial contender instead of an also-ran, but he instead stayed with the Giants and tormented the rest of the National League, most especially the Cardinals.

Bucknell to big leagues

Christopher Mathewson was from Factoryville, Pa. His father, Gilbert Mathewson, served as a drummer boy for the Union Army during the Civil War under the command of his uncle, Col. D.N. Mathewson.

A big man on campus at Bucknell, Christy Mathewson was class president, majored in forestry, sang in the glee club, belonged to two literary societies, and played football, basketball and baseball.

A right-hander, Mathewson, 19, reached the majors with the Giants in 1900, but lacked command, walking more batters than he struck out. His ERA that season was 5.08. Mathewson’s first decision was a loss in a five-inning relief stint against the Cardinals at St. Louis in August 1900. He got his first big-league hit, a double, in that game but gave up five runs. The Cardinals’ leadoff batter, John McGraw, would soon become like a second father to Mathewson as manager of the Giants. Boxscore

The next season, 1901, Mathewson improved considerably, earning 20 of the Giants’ 52 wins. One of those was a no-hitter against the Cardinals at St. Louis. Boxscore

Meet me in St. Louis

Mathewson again was the Giants’ top winner in 1902 but the team was such a mess that he also was needed as an emergency fill-in at first base (three starts, four errors) and right field (three starts).

Meanwhile, the 1902 Browns, stocked with ex-Cardinals, were headed toward a second-place finish in the American League. The Browns fielded well (most putouts in the league) and had quality pitching (third-fewest runs allowed).

In July 1902, about the time the Giants hired John McGraw to take over as manager, Browns owner Robert Hedges convinced Mathewson to defect to St. Louis after the season. Mathewson signed “in the latter part of July and took our money,” Browns manager Jimmy McAleer told the St. Louis Republic.

Hedges acknowledged Mathewson and Bowerman would be Browns in 1903, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. According to the St. Louis Republic, Hedges had the signed contracts of Mathewson and Bowerman in his office safe.

“We will certainly have Mathewson and Bowerman and probably one or two other National Leaguers,” Hedges told the Republic.

Then something unexpected happened.

Give peace a chance

The roster raids became too costly for some team owners. As St. Louis Star-Times columnist Sid Keener noted, “It was a free-for-all scrap, with the players reaping the profits.”

Club owners met in January 1903 and attempted to reach a peace treaty. “The factions were battling back and forth, trying to arrange a satisfactory agreement,” Keener reported.

Hedges was the key. For two days, he refused to return Mathewson and Bowerman to the Giants. When he changed his mind, the American League and National League signed a peace agreement on Jan. 10, 1903, ending the roster raids. According to the St. Louis Republic, Mathewson and Bowerman were required to return the bonuses Hedges paid them during the summer.

“I lost a pennant for St. Louis in that deal,” Hedges said to the Star-Times, “but I brought about peace in the baseball world.”

Ace of diamonds

With John McGraw in his first full season as their manager, the Giants made a stunning transformation, winning 84 times in 1903 (36 more wins than they had the year before) and placing second. Mathewson won 30, the first of his four seasons with 30 or more wins.

The Browns went backwards, posting a 65-74 mark in 1903. It would be 20 years before they would match the second-place finish of 1902.

McGraw led the Giants to nine National League pennants and three World Series titles. Mathewson pitched on four of those pennant winners. In the 1905 World Series, he shut out the Athletics three times. In 11 World Series starts for the Giants covering 101.2 innings, Mathewson had an 0.97 ERA.

In a stretch from 1904-08, Mathewson won 24 consecutive decisions against the Cardinals. In one of those wins, his 33rd of 1904, he struck out 16 Cardinals. Boxscore

(The only other pitcher to win 24 in a row against one club is Carl Mays, who did it against the Athletics from 1918-23.)

Mathewson had a 52-23 record (with nine shutouts) versus the Cardinals. He won 26 at New York and 26 at St. Louis.

Mathewson also was dominant against the Reds, winning 22 consecutive decisions versus Cincinnati from 1908-11.

He was a master at studying batters, finding their weaknesses, and delivering a wide variety of pitches with command of the strike zone.

Mathewson had a stretch of 68 consecutive innings without a walk in 1913. Johnny Evers of the Cubs told the Star-Times that year, “I don’t believe Mathewson pitched the same way to me twice all season. He might start out by dinking one a little on the inside, another on the outside, come across with a fadeaway and then shoot a fast one across the plate while I was waiting for something else. The next time I went up, Christy was liable to start out with a fadeaway, dink a slow one on the inside, follow with a fast one and then another fadeaway. Consequently, you never could be prepared for the next ball. Matty knows exactly what you can’t hit and takes advantage of said fact.”

As Mathewson told the Star-Times, “The pitcher is in a duel of wits with the man at the plate. There is as much mixture of brain as there is of delivery.”

Mathewson and Grover Cleveland Alexander share the National League record for most career wins (373). Only Cy Young (511) and Walter Johnson (417) have more. Mathewson also ranks third all-time in career shutouts (79). The top two are Walter Johnson (110) and Grover Cleveland Alexander (90).

 

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Author talk: A book about first Cardinals champions

Posted in Bloggers, Games, Hitters, Pitchers on June 23, 2026| 15 Comments »

In 1926, St. Louis was the largest U.S. city west of the Mississippi River and a place where people dared to dream big.

The Southwestern Bell Building, a 28-story art deco skyscraper with 17 individual roofs, was built in downtown St. Louis that year. Charles Lindbergh, flying the mail at night through rain, sleet and snow from St. Louis to Chicago, was pondering a daring non-stop solo flight from New York to Paris. A group of shrewd St. Louis businessmen would be ready to invest in him the next year.

That spirit of St. Louis was alive on the baseball diamond, too. The 1926 Cardinals won their first National League pennant and prevailed against the Yankees of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in a classic seven-game World Series.

Terry Lemons, a former newspaper reporter for the Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader and Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, has written a book about the 1926 Cardinals. “The Year St. Louis Became a Baseball Town” skillfully tells of how the Cardinals transformed into a premier franchise.

The book is available from the publisher, Arcadia, and on Amazon. Check out the author’s website as well.

In June 2026, I conducted an email interview with the author:

Q: Congratulations on the book. I enjoyed it and found it to be a lively, well-researched and journalistically credible read. What inspired you to do a book about the 1926 Cardinals?

A: “The book is a culmination of a lot of things through my life. I’ve been a Cardinals fan as long as I can remember, and writing and reporting have been a passion since my days at Southwest High School in St. Louis. I wound up in newspapers as a news reporter, not sports. I ended up in Washington in the 1990s covering the Clinton administration for Little Rock’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

“A couple of years ago, a good friend _ National Journal reporter Dick Kirschten, a St. Louisan who grew up as a “Knotholer” in Sportsman’s Park _ had terminal cancer, and he wanted me to have his collection of Cardinals books. I started leafing through those, and I noticed the 100th anniversary of the 1926 World Series was coming up. I dug around a bit, and sensed there was an interesting _ and different _ story about 1926 to pull together. That’s the genesis of the book.”

Q: Your mother, Ann Lemons Pollack, was a noted food writer and restaurant critic. Your stepfather, Joe Pollack, was a sports reporter. How did this journalism heritage help you in writing the book?

A: “For me, it’s fascinating how all of this flowed together. While I was a journalism student at Mizzou in the 1980s, my mom started writing about food _ and it was a bit of a race between us to see who could get the first writing job that paid. That path took her into writing, and she eventually met Joe, who at the time was a movie and restaurant critic. They got married after I was in Washington, but the family and I came back to visit often. Joe’s background covered a lot. He started out as a sports reporter, then moved into public relations for the football Cardinals in the 1960s before going back into newspapers. So when I came home to St. Louis, there was always this delicious mix of discussions revolving around food, sports and journalism. Mom and Joe wrote several books together over the space of nearly 20 years, and then she did two solo projects. As I watched their process, I found it intriguing and thought it would be a natural for me to give a book a shot when life got to a good point.”

Q: During your years covering the Bill Clinton presidency, did you ever get the chance to talk with him about Cardinals baseball?

A: “Clinton was a dedicated sports fan and stayed on top of a lot of different sports. Like a lot of people across the Midwest and South, Clinton listened to the Cardinals’ radio broadcasts so he counted himself as a fan.

“Baseball came into play often on Capitol Hill outside the Senate chambers. It’s a lot less formal than the White House and senators can be willing to casually chat. I was struck by how many senators _ not just those from Missouri and Illinois _ seemed to keep track of the Cardinals. I think that’s a reflection of the power the KMOX clear-channel broadcast signal coming out of St. Louis had on that generation of politicians. Perhaps those senators also carried a bit of the legacy the Cardinals developed across large parts of the country following the 1926 World Series. As the book explores, the Redbirds had fervent support across the nation for the first time during the 1926 World Series.”

Q: Who were your favorite baseball players during your youth?

A: “Oh, that’s an easy call _ Bob Gibson. In the early 1970s for a Cardinals fan in second and third grade, Gibson was the man. When you went down to the corner drug store, there was Gibson’s face staring at you from the box of Topps baseball cards on the counter. He even showed up in the school library, where there was a surprisingly well-stocked supply of books about baseball. I found one that described Gibson’s heroics during the great Cardinals World Series runs in the 1960s. I was over the moon in 1971 when I got to see Gibson pitch in my first two visits to Busch Stadium.”

Q: Halfway through May 1926, the Cardinals hardly looked like a championship contender. After a 12-1 loss at home to the Giants, the Cardinals were 12-17. What accounted for the turnaround?

A: “General manager Branch Rickey and manager Rogers Hornsby found the secret sauce in mid-June. The New York Giants were struggling and center fielder Billy Southworth had become something of a scapegoat for manager John McGraw. Rickey, an incredibly shrewd judge of baseball talent, sensed an opportunity and shipped off Heinie Mueller in exchange for Southworth on June 14 and promptly put him back in his natural spot in right field. Invigorated, Southworth became the Cardinals’ cleanup hitter and lit things up.

“Amazingly, just eight days later, the Chicago Cubs released Grover Cleveland Alexander, an aging and troubled pitcher. Hornsby thought Alexander, who had been remarkable a decade earlier with the Philadelphia Phillies, still had the potential to be a master pitcher despite heavy drinking. When those two new players arrived, they were the missing spark the team lacked early in the season _ a bit like when the Cardinals got Lou Brock from the Cubs in 1964.”

Q: The 1926 Cardinals played their last home game of the season on Sept. 1. With a one-game lead over the Reds, the Cardinals then embarked on a 24-game road trip to end the season. What were the key factors in how they managed to come out of that grueling trip with a pennant?

A: “They had a lot of momentum coming out of that final, frenetic, fan-fueled St. Louis homestand where they won the “Little World Series” against the defending champion Pittsburgh Pirates. Not counting a meaningless final game against Cincinnati, the Cardinals’ final 15 games came against the bottom half of the National League _ Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Boston and the New York Giants, all teams under .500. Also helping out: Blasting 52 runs in a four-game stretch against the Phillies in mid-September.”

Q: Player-manager Rogers Hornsby was a strict teetotaler but two of the top 1926 Cardinals pitchers, Grover Cleveland Alexander and Flint Rhem, were notorious drinkers. How did that dynamic work?

A: “Hornsby certainly wasn’t wild about the off-field drinking, but he ended up tolerating it as long as it translated into success.

“Hornsby had something of a soft spot for Alexander. He recognized the man’s talent, and ultimately had some compassion for the issues that caused Alexander to imbibe off the field. Rhem, famously described as hailing from the South Carolina moonshine belt, seemed to be the straw that stirred the drink. Sportswriter Bob Broeg and others recounted that Rhem thought his role off the field was to drink more than Alexander. In Rhem’s view, drinking more meant Alexander would somehow drink less.

“A side note on Rhem’s league-leading 20 wins: You have to wonder how much defensive wizard Tommy Thevenow helped out Rhem through the course of the year. Rhem walked more batters than he struck out _ 75 versus 72. So he had some traffic on base, but he also had Thevenow backing him up at shortstop. Thevenow just happened to lead the league in putouts and assists. Rhem probably doesn’t lead the league in wins if an average shortstop is behind him. I sure hope Rhem bought little Tommy a drink or two.”

Q: On a team with the likes of Rogers Hornsby, Jim Bottomley and Chick Hafey, the leading hitter for the 1926 Cardinals was Les Bell (189 hits, .325 batting mark). Bell also was the team leader in RBI (six) during the World Series. What made him such an effective hitter that year?

A: “This is an example of where Hornsby excelled as a manager. He was a bit like Tony La Russa and could squeeze the most out of the talent that he had. Hornsby seemed to understand what worked for Bell. The 1926 season turned out to be a career year for Bell, who (heard) some boos in spring training but held down the sixth spot in the batting order. Southworth’s arrival helped everyone around him, and perhaps no one ultimately benefited from that more than Bell. The third baseman’s average kept climbing through the summer months, which meant in late July Hornsby moved Bell up to bat fifth behind Southworth. That batting arrangement clicked all the way through the World Series.”

Q: Babe Ruth hit four home runs in the 1926 World Series. He also drew 11 walks, but only one of those walks resulted in him scoring a run. Was walking Ruth an intentional strategy of the Cardinals?

A: “Hornsby said before the Series that they were going to pitch to Ruth, and I think the Cardinals generally did, but they pitched to him on their terms. He may have had 11 walks, but all of those weren’t on purpose. The Cardinals were just being extremely cautious with the greatest home run hitter on the planet _ especially after Ruth’s home run barrage in Game 4.

“Consider Ruth’s walk at the very end of Game 7. It wasn’t deliberate. With two outs, Alexander was ahead of Ruth with a 1-and-2 count. Alexander kept nibbling at the corners of the plate, but ball four (was) an extremely close call. Umpire George Hildebrandt hesitated before calling the pitch, and Alexander was visibly upset. Keep in mind the mystique around Ruth was unbelievable. Could that have played into the back of the umpire’s mind? That umpire already had a high-profile run-in with Ruth in 1922. An angry Ruth threw dirt in Hildebrandt’s face after being called out at second base.

“Here’s the other interesting twist on Ruth in the ninth inning: After he gets caught stealing second base to end the game, I was stunned by how the press dealt with it afterward. Most of the writers didn’t call him out for making a mistake; instead, they wrote it like he was the hero trying to steal second base and carry the Yankees single-handedly to a win. The baseball writers simply didn’t want to challenge the decision by Babe and his Ruthian-sized persona. That makes me wonder if the umpire dealt with his own version of that complex with Ruth at the plate. Maybe Hildebrandt didn’t want another controversial run-in with Ruth by calling a third strike to end the Series; instead, Ruth gets another walk.”

Q: The iconic moment in the 1926 World Series is the Grover Cleveland Alexander strikeout of Tony Lazzeri with the bases loaded in the seventh. What do you think is the most overlooked key moment in that Series?

A: “Beyond Alexander’s legendary appearance, my money for the key moment is the fourth inning of Game 7. It was a study in defensive contrasts between the Yankees and the Cardinals. In the top of the fourth, two Yankees made critical defensive misplays. That allowed shortstop Tommy Thevenow, a fascinating player, to drop a soft single in front of Ruth and score two runs to give the Cards the lead. In the bottom of the fourth, the exact opposite happened. New York was trying to make a comeback, and Lou Gehrig was in scoring position with the potential tying run. Hank Severeid, the Yankees catcher and a former St. Louis Brown, then hits a tremendous smash. Thevenow timed the play perfectly, leaping several feet to make a catch and save a run. For me, that inning was a bit of a microcosm of the Series.

“There were a number of heroes for the Cardinals in the 1926 World Series, but none more surprising than Thevenow. Imagine combining a mixture of Ozzie Smith’s fielding with the unexpected hitting heroics of David Eckstein in the 2006 World Series. Thevenow stepped up repeatedly with dazzling defensive plays and shockingly hit .417 at the bottom of the order. A small guy delivered a big series for the Cardinals 100 years ago.”

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Bill Sherdel sought to solve a pitcher’s hitting puzzle

Posted in Games, Hitters, Pitchers on June 16, 2026| 12 Comments »

Bill Sherdel, a mite on the mound, nearly achieved a mighty hitting feat.

No big-league pitcher has hit for the cycle (single, double, triple, home run) in a game, but Sherdel, a half-pint Cardinals left-hander, twice came close to doing it.

In 1922, Sherdel produced a single, double, home run (but no triple) in a game against the Phillies. Four years later, versus Brooklyn, he got the triple, as well as a double and home run, but missed out on a single.

Changing speeds

A son of German immigrants, Sherdel grew up about 12 miles east of Gettysburg, Pa. He started out in sandlot baseball as a left-handed catcher and his brother, Fred, pitched. Eventually they switched roles.

Sherdel turned pro at 18 in 1915. He was 5-foot-8 and less than 150 pounds, according to the Society for American Baseball Research. As he advanced through the minors, Sherdel developed a dazzyling array of changeups and slow curves.

With Milwaukee of the American Association in 1917, Sherdel won 19. Cardinals president Branch Rickey took notice and purchased Sherdel’s contract for $1,000.

“Baseball men cheerfully admit that Bill Sherdel pitches primarily with his head and secondarily with his arm,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted.

(During a visit to St. Louis in 1962, Sherdel was asked by Cardinals manager Johnny Keane to meet with the club’s pitchers. According to The Sporting News, Sherdel told them, “I tried to hit the plate low and on the outside corner. Learn that and you’re bound to last.”)

In his first big-league win, a complete game for the Cardinals against the Reds in 1918, Sherdel allowed 12 hits but two runs. He also had a RBI and scored a run. Boxscore

Branch Rickey, who became Cardinals manager in 1919, always called him William. The local newspapers called him Wee Willie and referred to him as “undersized,” “diminutive,” and “peewee.”

Rickey used Sherdel as both a starter and reliever. In 1922, he produced 17 wins and 17 hits. That was the year he first came close to hitting for the cycle.

In four plate appearances versus the Phillies’ Jesse Winters on Aug. 19 at St. Louis, Sherdel had a walk, single, solo home run and two-run double. Perhaps all that hitting and baserunning took its toll on the little man. He carried a 7-5 lead into the ninth, but the Phillies rallied and won, 8-7. Boxscore

Help from Hornsby

Sherdel had 15 wins and hit .337 for the 1923 Cardinals, but in 1924 Rickey used him more as a reliever (25 games) than as a starter (10).

Deciding the bullpen was where Sherdel belonged, Rickey took him out of the starting rotation in 1925. Sherdel made 11 relief appearances, but then Rogers Hornsby replaced Rickey on May 31. One of his first moves was to restore Sherdel to the rotation. Sherdel won 15 for the 1925 Cardinals and was 11-3 as a starter.

Back in the rotation in 1926, Sherdel lost four of his first five decisions. Hornsby stuck with him and Sherdel won eight of his next 10.

In June 1926, the Cardinals got Grover Cleveland Alexander from the Cubs to join a rotation with Sherdel, Jesse Haines and Flint Rhem.

“Alexander taught me more about pitching than any manager or coach,” Sherdel told Bill Duncan for The Sporting News. “There was a wonder. I studied him hour after hour, how he worked on the various hitters, what he threw each one and what he didn’t throw them. I talked to (Alexander) dozens of times and asked him many questions. He was friendly and cooperative.”

On Aug. 4, 1926, at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, Sherdel flirted with the cycle for the second time. Facing starter Burleigh Grimes, he grounded out in the second, tripled in the fifth and lashed a two-run double down the line in right in the sixth. In the ninth, against reliever Rube Ehrhardt, Sherdel clouted a home run that struck the flagpole on top of the wall in right. Sherdel pitched a complete game in the 8-4 St. Louis victory. Boxscore

Describing Sherdel’s tantalizing off-speed pitches that kept the Brooklyn batters off balance, Thomas Holmes of the Brooklyn Eagle wrote, “He starts his slow ball delivery on Saturday morning and it reaches home plate on the following Wednesday afternoon. Beg pardon, that’s his fast one. His floater occupies two days longer in transit.”

Sherdel is among a small number of pitchers to get the three extra-base hits in a game needed for the cycle but come up short on the single. Others:

_ Grover Cleveland Alexander, who had a double, triple and home run for the Cubs against the Phillies on June 20, 1925, at Chicago. Boxscore

_ Steve Sundra, who had a double, triple and home run for the Browns against the White Sox on July 5, 1942, at Chicago. Boxscore

Leading lefty

Sherdel had 16 wins, including six against Brooklyn, in helping the Cardinals earn a National League pennant for the first time in 1926. Cardinals third baseman Les Bell said to The Sporting News, “Alexander was the more famous pitcher and Haines was great, too, but never overlook the magnificent work of Sherdel.”

He won 21 when the Cardinals earned another pennant in 1928.

Sherdel is the Cardinals’ franchise leader in most career wins by a left-hander (153). Only right-handers Bob Gibson (251), Jesse Haines (210), Adam Wainwright (200) and Bob Forsch (163) have more wins as Cardinals.

Just missed

Some other big-leaguers who almost hit for the cycle as pitchers include:

_ Jimmy Ryan of the Chicago White Stockings hit for the cycle on July 28, 1888, against the Detroit Wolverines. Ryan began the game as a center fielder. He got two hits (a single and triple) before he was switched to pitcher in the second inning. As the pitcher, Ryan hit a double, triple and home run, giving him five hits for the game. He pitched 7.1 innings in Chicago’s 21-17 victory.

_ Babe Ruth got four or more hits in a game 29 times but never achieved the cycle. As a pitcher, he came close to doing it at St. Louis. Ruth had four hits (single, home run and two doubles) for the Red Sox against the Browns in a 4-2 Boston victory on July 21, 1915. Boxscore

_ Shohei Ohtani hit for the cycle on June 13, 2019, as the designated hitter for the Angels against the Rays. As a pitcher, he came close to achieving the cycle, hitting a single, double and triple (but no home run) against the Athletics on April 27, 2023. Boxscore and Boxscore

Besides Bill Sherdel and Steve Sundra, some other St. Louis pitchers who nearly achieved a cycle:

_ Jesse Haines had two singles, a double and home run for the Cardinals against the Phillies on Aug. 11, 1920, at Philadelphia. Haines also walked and reached on an error, but couldn’t produce a triple. He hit two triples in 19 seasons in the majors. Boxscore

_ Milt Gaston hit a single, double and home run for the Browns versus the Tigers on July 5, 1927, at St. Louis. Gaston batted .260 with three homers for the 1927 Browns. Boxscore

_ Tommy Byrnes had four RBI, hitting a double, home run and two singles, for the Browns against the Athletics on July 17, 1952, at Philadelphia. In 13 seasons in the majors, Byrnes totaled 14 homers and 98 RBI. Boxscore

_ Scott Terry had a three-run home run, single, double and sacrifice bunt for the Cardinals versus the Giants on April 27, 1989, at St. Louis. A former minor-league outfielder, Terry had 21 hits, but no triples, in the majors. Boxscore

Special mention belongs to pitcher Don Newcombe. He three times came close to hitting for the cycle. Each time was against the Cardinals. The triple eluded him.

_ On June 17, 1955, Newcombe had a home run, double and single for the Dodgers at St. Louis. Boxscore

_ On July 15, 1955, Newcombe produced two singles, a double and home run for the Dodgers at Brooklyn. He also reached on an error. Newcombe hit .359 with seven home runs for the 1955 Dodgers and posted a 20-5 record. Against the Cardinals that season, he was 4-0 and hit .524. Boxscore

_ On July 18, 1958, Newcombe had a single, double and home run for the Reds at Cincinnati. In 10 big-league seasons, he slugged 15 homers, including six versus the Cardinals, and totaled 108 RBI. Boxscore

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How Bob Forsch flipped the script on Bruce Sutter

Posted in Games, Pitchers on June 2, 2026| 16 Comments »

In a storybook season for the Cardinals, starter Bob Forsch changed the narrative.

The ability of closer Bruce Sutter to consistently seal wins for the Cardinals was a key to their becoming World Series champions in 1982. Sutter led the majors in saves that season, with 36. He saved eight of Forsch’s 15 wins.

It was a different story, though, in a game at Atlanta. Forsch got a save, his first in the majors, to preserve a win for Sutter and the Cardinals.

National League showdown

In May 1982, the two division leaders, Cardinals and Braves, opened a four-game series in Atlanta. It was a matchup of future Hall of Fame managers, Whitey Herzog and Joe Torre. Besides Torre, the Braves had a strong Cardinals connection, with coaches Bob Gibson and Dal Maxvill, and reliever Al Hrabosky.

Forsch started the opener and wasn’t effective (five runs in 3.2 innings) but the Cardinals won, with Sutter pitching 2.2 innings for the save. A Biff Pocoroba walkoff home run against Doug Bair lifted the Braves to victory in Game 2.

A throng of 48,433 turned out for Game 3 on a Saturday night at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. It was the largest baseball crowd in Atlanta since 50,595 packed the ballpark for a July 4, 1977, Tom Seaver versus Phil Niekro matchup.

Unhappy with the performance of starter John Martin, Herzog yanked him in the first inning. Herzog used six pitchers in seven innings.

With the Braves ahead, 3-2, Sutter was brought in to pitch the eighth and retired them in order.

In the ninth, the Cardinals tied the score with two outs when Keith Hernandez laced a Gene Garber pitch past diving first baseman Bob Watson for a double, driving in Lonnie Smith from third.

After Sutter retired the Braves in order again in their half of the ninth, the Cardinals scored four in the 10th and led, 7-3. The big blow was Lonnie Smith’s three-run home run against Rick Camp.

Emergency call

As Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted, “A four-run lead with Sutter pitching seemed safe enough, but Sutter, pitching his third inning for the second time in three days, had nothing in the 10th.”

Sutter told Hummel, “Even the first two innings, I didn’t have anything.”

Sutter struck out the first batter he faced in the 10th, Dale Murphy, but Bob Horner followed with a deep drive. Left fielder Lonnie Smith froze and the ball struck the top of the low fence for a double. “I just panicked instead of busting my butt,” Smith told the Post-Dispatch.

After Bob Watson’s single moved Horner to third, Chris Chambliss batted for Bruce Benedict. A left-handed batter, Chambliss had produced only a single in 10 previous at-bats versus Sutter. This time, though, he clouted a three-run homer, cutting the St. Louis lead to one at 7-6.

Herzog decided to replace the weary closer with the Cardinals’ eighth pitcher of the game. The only remaining ones were Joaquin Andujar, who’d started the night before and went seven innings; Steve Mura, who was scheduled to start the next day; and Bob Forsch, who hadn’t appeared in relief since 1979.

Forsch was “the only one I had left,” Herzog told the Atlanta Constitution.

Role reversal

Rafael Ramirez was due to be the first batter Forsch faced, but Joe Torre sent a pinch-hitter, Ken Smith. A week earlier, Smith drilled a pinch-hit single against Forsch. This time, he singled again.

Next up was Biff Pocoroba, who’d beaten the Cardinals with his walkoff homer the night before. Another homer here would lift the Braves to victory. Pocoroba was a career .400 hitter against Forsch. This time, he popped up to shortstop Ozzie Smith for the second out.

Forsch ended the drama by getting Claudell Washington to ground out to third baseman Ken Oberkfell.

In a reverse of the norm, Sutter was the winning pitcher and Forsch had his first career save.

“Say, I wonder how I stand in the Rolaids Relief Standings?” Forsch said to the Post-Dispatch’s Rick Hummel. Boxscore

Rest of the story

Forsch made 34 starts for the 1982 Cardinals and was 15-9. He had one more relief appearance that season, pitching 2.2 scoreless innings versus the Cubs on Oct. 2.

In 10.2 regular-season innings against the 1982 Braves, Forsch gave up 10 runs, but he tossed a three-hit shutout against them in the rescheduled Game 1 of the National League Championship Series. “My best game ever,” Forsch said in the book “Whitey’s Boys.” Boxscore

Forsch’s gem came after the first try at playing Game 1 (a matchup of Phil Niekro and Joaquin Andujar) was rained out with the Braves ahead, 1-0, in the fifth.

The Cardinals went on to sweep the Braves and then prevailed in a seven-game World Series versus the Brewers.

In 1985, when the Cardinals again won a National League pennant, Forsch got two more saves, one against the Cubs; the other versus the Dodgers. At 35, he was used as both a starter (19 appearances) and reliever (15 appearances) that season, contributing a 9-6 record.

Forsch finished with 168 wins and three saves in his 16 seasons in the majors.

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