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Bert Blyleven: Mighty matchups vs. Cardinals

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents, Pitchers on January 6, 2011| Leave a Comment »

(Updated Oct. 6, 2019)

Bert Blyleven usually pitched impressively against the Cardinals, but that didn’t always translate into wins for him.

Blyleven, elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Jan. 5, 2011, was 4-2 with a 2.84 ERA against the Cardinals while he was with the Pirates from 1978-80.

He also started twice for the Twins against the Cardinals in the 1987 World Series, winning Game 2 and losing Game 5.

In a 2019 edition of the Baseball Hall of Fame magazine, “Memories and Dreams,” Blyleven credited former Cardinals reliever Marv Grissom with helping him become a better pitcher. Grissom was pitching coach of the Twins in 1970 when Blyleven was a rookie.

“I threw across my body really bad,” Blyleven said. “(Grissom) actually put a folding chair down and I had to step to the left of that folding chair. That really changed my delivery to where my body went toward home plate rather than recoiling.

“I did ask him at one time, ‘What if I land on that folding chair with my left foot?’ He said, ‘Well, you’ll break your neck, won’t you?’ So that was the way for him to get me to open up and utilize the lower part of my body and my pitching delivery.”

Blyleven twice beat the Cardinals on complete-game five-hitters for the Pirates _ a 7-1 win at Pittsburgh on Sept. 13, 1978, Boxscore and a 2-1 win at St. Louis on Sept. 11, 1980. Boxscore

Blyleven also lost twice to the Cardinals in April 1980 despite pitching well. That stretch also contributed to one of the most controversial incidents of his career.

On Opening Day, April 10, 1980, at Busch Stadium, Blyleven started and held the Cardinals to a run (a George Hendrick RBI-double) and two hits in five innings. Cardinals starter Pete Vuckovich was better, pitching a complete-game three-hit shutout for a 1-0 win. In the ninth, Pittsburgh had runners on second and third with no outs, but Vuckovich finished with a flair, striking out Tim Foli, Dave Parker and Willie Stargell. Boxscore

Nine days later, at Pittsburgh, Blyleven faced the Cardinals again and struck out 12 in seven innings before being lifted for a pinch hitter with the score 1-1. In the eighth, the Cardinals scored (a Hendrick RBI-single) off reliever Dave Roberts and won, 2-1. Though Blyleven didn’t get the loss, he was deprived of a win despite a dominant performance. Boxscore

Blyleven then faced Montreal twice without a decision. After five starts, including the two against St. Louis, Blyleven was 0-2 with no complete games for the defending World Series champions.

On April 30, 1980, he quit the team, went home to California and demanded a trade, complaining that manager Chuck Tanner was lifting him from games too quickly.

In an article by Charley Feeney in the May 17, 1980, edition of The Sporting News, Blyleven said he told Pirates executive Pete Peterson he would retire if the Pirates didn’t trade him. Blyleven said Tanner “took a lot of competitiveness away from me” and blamed the manager for “non-support and lack of confidence.”

“I felt I had to speak up,” Blyleven said. “If I didn’t, maybe 20 years from now I’d be wishing that I had spoken up. Maybe 20 years from now I’ll wish I hadn’t spoken up.”

Said Pirates third baseman Bill Madlock: “I can understand a lot of things about ballplayers, but going home … I don’t know why he did that.”

The Yankees reportedly offered to trade pitcher Ed Figueroa for Blyleven but the Pirates declined. Blyleven was placed on the disqualified list.

Bill Conlin, a columnist for The Sporting News, wrote, “Blyleven’s incredible sulk is sending shock waves through National League front offices.” Conlin quoted an unnamed big-league general manager as saying, “I don’t think I’d want a player who so obviously places individual goals over team goals.”

On May 11, 1980, Blyleven offered to return and the Pirates reactivated him. Two days later, Blyleven started against the Giants, pitched a complete game _ and lost, 5-0. Boxscore

In the 1987 World Series, Blyleven had a solid start in Game 2, striking out eight, holding St. Louis to two runs in seven innings and earning the win in an 8-4 Twins victory. Boxscore In the fifth, Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog complained to umpires that Blyleven was balking by not coming to a full stop in his motion. Blyleven said Herzog was “trying to get something in my mind.”

In Game 5 at St. Louis, Blyleven held St. Louis scoreless through five innings. In the sixth, the Cardinals scored three runs off Blyleven (two on Curt Ford’s two-out bases-loaded single) and won, 4-2. Boxscore

 

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Phil Cavarretta home run sunk Cardinals, lifted Cubs

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents, Pitchers on December 21, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Phil Cavarretta hit one of the most important home runs in the long rivalry between the Cubs and Cardinals.

Cavarretta, who died Dec. 18, 2010, at 94, was a 19-year-old first baseman for the Cubs in 1935.

On Sept. 25, the first-place Cubs brought an 18-game winning streak to St. Louis to begin a season-ending, make-or-break five-game series with the Cardinals.

Chicago (97-52) had a three-game lead over St. Louis (94-55).

The series opener paired Chicago’s Lon Warneke against Paul Dean, brother of Dizzy Dean. Paul Dean had beaten the Cubs five times in six decisions that season. Warneke had lost four of six against the Cardinals.

Paul Dean struck out four of the first five Cubs. That brought Cavarretta to the plate with two outs in the second inning.

Dean hung a one-strike curve and Cavarretta belted it over the right-field pavilion. It was the hit that lifted the Cubs into the World Series.

Warneke shut out the Cardinals on two hits and the Cubs won, 1-0, clinching a tie for the pennant. Boxscore

After a rainout the next day, the Cubs beat Dizzy Dean and the demoralized Cardinals, 6-2, in the opener of a doubleheader, eliminating St. Louis from contention.

Playing for the Cubs from 1934-52, Cavarretta batted .291 (260-for-893) against the Cardinals, with 12 home runs, 110 RBI and a .370 on-base percentage.

In 1944, Cavarretta and Stan Musial of the Cardinals were the National League co-leaders in hits (197).

Musial trailed Cavarretta by six hits as the Cardinals went into a doubleheader against the Giants at New York on the final day of the season.

Musial went 6-for-9 (4 hits in the opener and 2 in the second game).

His final hit, the one that tied Cavarretta, came on his last at-bat _ a two-run home run off Ken Brondell.  Boxscore

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Stan Musial: Bob Feller was best pitcher

Posted in Games, Hitters, Pitchers on December 20, 2010| 1 Comment »

(Updated Nov. 20, 2024)

Stan Musial, the greatest Cardinals player, rates the Cleveland Indians’ Bob Feller as the greatest pitcher of his time.

In his book “Stan Musial: The Man’s Own Story,” Musial said of Feller, “I hit against Feller only in exhibition games, but I’d say he probably was the greatest pitcher of our era. He had blinding speed, later developed a great curveball and finally a good slider. Feller took baseball most seriously and was one of the first players I knew who punished himself physically with exercises, recognizing the need for prime conditioning.”

As a youth in Iowa, Feller’s favorite player was another Cardinal, Rogers Hornsby.

In the book “Voices From Cooperstown,” Feller told author Anthony J. Connor, “My first glove was a Rogers Hornsby glove, the old three-fingered glove. Used it for years. Every two years, I’d buy a new one … Hornsby was my first idol … I even took up second base as my first position because that was where he played.”

(In the only regular-season matchup against Feller, on April 24, 1937, Hornsby, then with the Browns, drew a bases-loaded walk, struck out and reached on an error by the third baseman. Hornsby was 41 and Feller was 18. Boxscore)

Feller began his Hall of Fame career with the Indians in 1936 when he was 17. “I signed for one dollar and an autographed baseball,” Feller recalled to Anthony J. Connor. “I’m glad I didn’t receive a big bonus. I believe you should get paid after you do your job, not before. I was very confident that I’d make good.”

Feller pitched until 1941, served in World War II, resumed his playing career in 1945 and retired after the 1956 season with 266 wins. He led the American League in strikeouts seven times.

Musial began his Hall of Fame career with the Cardinals in 1941, played through 1944, served in the Navy in 1945, resumed his playing career in 1946 and retired after the 1963 season.

Fact vs. myth

Before big-league baseball integrated in 1947, barnstorming clubs of major leaguers would play stars from the Negro League during the off-season in the 1930s and 1940s.

On Sunday Oct. 5, 1941, an all-star team named for Cardinals coach Mike Gonzalez and led by Feller played an exhibition against the Kansas City Monarchs, champions of the Negro National League, at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis.

Musial, who had made his major-league debut a few weeks before, on Sept. 17, 1941, against the visiting Boston Braves, is said to have played in that exhibition. According to the book “Musial, From Stash to Stan the Man” by James Giglio, Musial hit a home run off Satchel Paige in the exhibition. Giglio cites as his source the book “Don’t Look Back: Satchel Paige in the Shadows of Baseball.”

However, an account of the exhibition in the Oct. 9, 1941, edition of The Sporting News makes no mention of a home run by Musial. Game reports in the three St. Louis newspapers _ Globe-Democrat, Post-Dispatch and Star-Times _ don’t mention Musial either. In the book “Satch, Dizzy & Rapid Robert,” author Timothy M. Gay states, “Despite persistent claims to the contrary in books and articles over the years, Cardinals rookie Stan Musial did not play that afternoon.”

(I couldn’t find any evidence that Musial played in the game. The Globe-Democrat published a box score and Musial isn’t listed).

According to the Globe-Democrat, three Cardinals played for the all-stars: Johnny Hopp, Frank “Creepy” Crespi and Walker Cooper.

Johnny Lucadello and Johnny Wyrostek each drove in two runs for the all-stars in a 4-1 win over the Monarchs, the Globe-Democrat reported.

Feller and Paige were the starting pitchers. Feller struck out three, walked three and yielded a run on two hits in five innings. Paige, described by the Star-Times as “the Negro Dizzy Dean,” struck out four, walked two and yielded four runs on five hits in four innings.

“The magnet of a duel between Bob Feller, Cleveland fireball mound ace, vs. Satchel Paige, king of all Negro pitchers, attracted a paid crowd of 10,124 to Sportman’s Park,” The Sporting News reported. According to the “Satch, Dizzy & Rapid Robert” book, “several thousand African-American fans sat in the segregated right-field bleachers.”

Musial joins tour

Musial did play for the Bob Feller All-Stars when Feller organized a barnstorming tour in 1946. Feller and Paige were the main pitching attractions.

It was quite a boost to the tour when Feller got Musial to agree to play. Musial was the National League batting champion in 1946.

The book “Satch, Dizzy & Rapid Robert” confirms Musial joined Feller’s barnstorming squad after the 1946 World Series. Eight future Hall of Famers played on the tour. Besides Feller, Musial and Paige, the others were Bob Lemon, Phil Rizzuto, Hilton Smith, Monte Irvin and Willard Brown.

On Oct. 16, 1946, the day after the Cardinals won Game 7 of the 1946 World Series at St. Louis, Musial joined the Feller All-Stars in Los Angeles and played in the game that night. He went hitless, including 0-for-2 versus Paige, and drew a walk, according to the “Satch, Dizzy & Rapid Robert” book.

Musial stayed with the tour as it barnstormed up and down the West Coast and finished in Hawaii.

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Cardinals were first big-league test for Bob Feller

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents, Pitchers, Prospects on December 17, 2010| 3 Comments »

(Updated Nov. 20, 2024)

Bob Feller pitched against major leaguers for the first time when he faced the Cardinals as a 17-year-old.

Feller is hailed as one of the great pitchers in baseball history and the Cardinals were the first big-league opponents to glimpse his greatness.

On July 6, 1936, the Cardinals played an exhibition against the Indians at Cleveland during the All-Star Game break. Interleague play didn’t exist then, so any matchup between National League and American League teams was an event.

The Indians, who signed Feller because of his fastball, wanted to test him against big-league batters and the exhibition provided an ideal opportunity.

Feller, who a month earlier completed his junior year of high school in Iowa, entered in relief of starter George Uhle in the fourth inning with the score 1-1. In his 1990 book, “Now Pitching, Bob Feller,” Feller said he wasn’t scared of facing a team he’d seen play two years earlier in the 1934 World Series at St. Louis.

“Not in my entire pitching career was I ever scared of any hitter or any situation,” Feller said.

In the book “Baseball When the Grass Was Real,” Feller told author Donald Honig, “I never had any concern about the hitters as long as I could get that ball over the plate. My only concern that day was the crowd. I’d never seen so many people before in my life.”

Cleveland manager Steve O’Neill, a former big-league catcher celebrating his 45th birthday, wanted to see Feller firsthand and decided to catch when Feller came into the game. He told the teen to just throw fastballs. Feller was flattered the manager would make such an effort.

“He wanted to give me his personal treatment because he thought I had the potential to make it big,” Feller said.

Cardinals manager Frankie Frisch intended to play second base, but after watching Feller sail a fastball over the catcher and against the backstop in warmups, he changed his mind. “I’m getting too old to get killed in the line of duty,” Frisch said, according to author Bob Broeg in the book “Memories of a Hall of Fame Sportswriter.”

Feller said to author Donald Honig, “If anybody was nervous that day, it was the Cardinals. I was very wild and had them scared half to death.”

The first batter to face Feller was Bruce Ogrodowski.

“My first pitch to Ogrodowski was a called strike, and it made something of a smacking sound as it hit O’Neill’s mitt,” Feller said. “Ogrodowski turned to O’Neill and said, ‘Let me out of here in one piece.’ He was serious and he laid the next pitch down, bunting down the third-base line.”

Third baseman Odell Hale fielded the ball and threw out Ogrodowski. “He achieved the purpose — he got out of there in one piece,” Feller said.

The next batter was Leo Durocher. According to the book “Bob Feller: Ace of the Greatest Generation,” written by John Sickels, Durocher stepped to the plate, glared at Feller and growled, “Keep the ball in the park, busher.”

One of Feller’s fastballs sailed over Durocher’s head. Another went behind his back. According to Feller, Durocher stepped out of the batter’s box and said to the plate umpire, “I feel like a clay pigeon in a shooting gallery.”

With the count at 2-and-2, Durocher went into the dugout and “pretended to hide behind the water cooler,” Feller said.

After umpires ordered him to return to the plate, Durocher struck out swinging.

The next batter, Art Garibaldi, also struck out.

“I had a big windmill windup and a habit of glancing into left field and then flashing my eyes past third base as I turned toward the plate,” Feller said. “It scared the hitters even more.”

Cleveland scored in the bottom of the fourth.

In the fifth, Feller struck out Les Munns before Terry Moore singled to left and Stu Martin walked. Attempting to rattle Feller, Frisch called for a double steal. Feller rushed the pitch and his fastball eluded O’Neill. Moore raced home, tying the score 2-2, and Martin advanced to third.

The Cardinals had two of their top veterans due up next, but Feller collected himself and struck out Pepper Martin and Rip Collins.

In the sixth, Ogrodowski led off with a double near the foul line before Feller struck out Durocher, Charlie Gelbert and Munns.

Impressed, O’Neill lifted Feller. In three innings, eight of the nine outs he recorded were strikeouts. Cleveland won, 7-6.

In the book “Voices From Cooperstown, Feller said to author Anthony J. Connor, “That day, I was as fast as I’ve ever been.”

Plate umpire Red Ormsby said Feller is “the best pitcher I have seen come into the American League in all my experience,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

“He showed me more speed than I have ever seen uncorked by an American League pitcher,” Ormsby said. “I don’t except Walter Johnson either.”

According to the John Sickels book, a photographer asked Cardinals ace Dizzy Dean to pose with Feller afterward. “If it’s all right with him (Feller), it’s all right with me,” Dean replied. “After what he did today, he’s the guy to say.”

Feller said Dean told him, “You sure poured that ol’ pea through there today.”

Feller said “praise from Dizzy Dean was approval from the baseball gods.”

Feller’s outing convinced the Indians he was major-league ready. Two weeks later, on July 19, 1936, Feller made his big-league debut with an inning of relief against the Senators. Boxscore

It was the start of a Hall of Fame career.

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How Cardinals nearly traded Bob Gibson to Senators

Posted in Hitters, Managers, Pitchers, Trades on December 10, 2010| 11 Comments »

(Updated Feb. 14, 2022)

The Cardinals almost dealt Bob Gibson to the Washington Senators.

In December 1960, the Cardinals and the Pirates had trade talks with the Senators regarding left-handed reliever Bobby Shantz.

“I wanted Shantz to cement our bullpen as the second man behind Lindy McDaniel, just as the Pirates wanted him behind Roy Face,” Cardinals general manager Bing Devine told Oscar Kahan of The Sporting News.

The Senators asked the Cardinals for right fielder Joe Cunningham, Devine said.

“When I would not make the deal,” Devine told Kahan, “they expressed interest in Bob Gibson.”

Gibson, 25, was unhappy with the way he was being utilized by Cardinals manager Solly Hemus. Gibson pitched in 27 games for the 1960 Cardinals, posting a 3-6 record and 5.61 ERA.

The Senators “said it would take a lot more than Gibson to get Shantz,” Devine told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Kahan, citing an anonymous source, reported in the Dec. 28, 1960, edition of The Sporting News the Cardinals offered the Senators three players for Shantz:

1. Bob Gibson

2. Either pitcher Ron Kline or outfielder Walt Moryn.

3. Any one of these minor leaguers: pitchers Ed Bauta, Willard Schmidt and Dean Stone, and outfielders John Glenn and Ben Mateosky.

“Ron Kline and Bob Gibson, each of whom would be a starter for the Senators, have been mentioned as possible trade bait for Shantz,” the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported.

Devine thought it was an offer the Senators couldn’t refuse. “I think I wound up offering more than they got from the Pirates, but we could not get together,” Devine said.

Senators manager Mickey Vernon had been a Pirates coach during the 1960 season and became impressed by several Pittsburgh prospects, especially first baseman R.C. Stevens.

The Senators swapped Shantz to Pittsburgh for Stevens, outfielder Harry Bright and pitcher Bennie Daniels.

Pirates general manager Joe Brown “beat me to the draw on Shantz,” Devine told the Post-Dispatch. “I feel that maybe I blew the thing, but we were ready to make a similar deal with Washington with players off our (big-league) roster.”

It was a deal the Senators would regret.

_ Stevens, who hit 37 home runs with 109 RBI for Class AAA Salt Lake City in 1960, played in 33 games for the Senators in 1961, with no homers and two RBI. He never played another season in the big leagues.

_ Bright, who hit 27 homers with 119 RBI for Salt Lake City in 1960, played two seasons with the Senators before he was traded to the Reds.

_ Daniels had a 37-60 record and 4.14 ERA in five seasons with the Senators.

When the Cardinals replaced Hemus with Johnny Keane in July 1961, Gibson blossomed into an ace, becoming the greatest Cardinals pitcher and leading St. Louis to two World Series championships and three pennants.

And, Devine ended up acquiring Shantz, after all.

After one season with Pittsburgh, the Pirates lost Shantz to the Houston Colt .45s in the expansion draft. On May 7, 1962, Houston traded Shantz to the Cardinals for outfielder Carl Warwick and pitcher John Anderson.

In three years with St. Louis, Shantz had a 12-10 record, 15 saves and a 2.51 ERA.

A final twist: While many recall pitcher Ernie Broglio was the key player Devine traded to the Cubs on June 15, 1964, for outfielder Lou Brock, what often gets overlooked is Shantz also was part of the deal.

So, instead of trading Gibson for Shantz, Devine ended up keeping Gibson, acquiring Shantz and trading him for Brock. Today, Gibson and Brock are members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

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Deal for Bruce Sutter revived Cardinals

Posted in Managers, Pitchers, Trades on December 9, 2010| 2 Comments »

(Updated Aug. 11, 2024)

On Dec. 9, 1980, in a trade that successfully altered the course of the franchise, the Cardinals acquired closer Bruce Sutter from the Cubs for first baseman Leon Durham, third baseman Ken Reitz and utility player Ty Waller.

Sutter gave the Cardinals the reliable closer they had been lacking. With Sutter as the anchor, manager Whitey Herzog built a deep bullpen that handcuffed the opposition and took pressure off the starting staff.

Sutter, who would be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, was a key to turning the Cardinals from underachievers throughout the 1970s to World Series champions in 1982.

In his first year with St. Louis, the strike-hampered 1981 season, Sutter had a National League-leading 25 saves. In 1982, he led the NL in saves again, with 36.

In the five years before Sutter’s arrival, no Cardinals reliever had recorded more than 13 saves in a season.

In his book, “White Rat: A Life in Baseball,” Herzog said, “Relief pitchers like Bruce Sutter are worth their weight in gold.”

Wheeling and dealing

At the 1980 baseball winter meetings in Dallas, Herzog, who had the dual role of general manager and manager, completed a multiplayer deal in which he acquired closer Rollie Fingers from the Padres. He still wanted Sutter, who had won the 1979 National League Cy Young Award. Herzog viewed Fingers as insurance in case a deal with the Cubs couldn’t be completed.

Herzog called Fingers “the great relief pitcher I needed, but not the one I really wanted. The guy I was really after was Bruce Sutter.”

The Cubs were willing to deal Sutter because he had been awarded a $700,000 yearly salary, about twice as much as the club wanted to pay, in an arbitration ruling the year before.

When Herzog first approached the Cubs about Sutter, their general manager, Bob Kennedy, wanted Durham, Waller and second baseman Tom Herr, Herzog said.

Regarding Durham, Herzog told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “I hate to give him up. Durham is one of the top five prospects in the game.”

Cardinals scout Fred McAlister told the Chicago Tribune, “Quite frankly, in Durham, the Cubs may be getting another Dave Parker. If this guy ain’t a prospect, then nobody is.”

Herzog said he tried to get the Cubs to accept a package of players excluding Durham and Herr, but Kennedy responded, “No Durham, no Sutter.”

Herzog offered first baseman Keith Hernandez instead of Herr.

“I offered them Hernandez in a package deal,” Herzog said in the book, “You’re Missin’ A Great Game.” “But … Kennedy didn’t want to take on that big salary.”

When the Cardinals countered with an offer of Durham, Reitz and Waller, the Cubs accepted.

Upping the ante

Herzog was ready to part with Reitz, who he deemed “a fine-fielding third baseman but a streak hitter and maybe one of the slowest runners I’ve seen.” He hoped to shift Ken Oberkfell from second to third and put Herr at second.

Reitz, however, had a no-trade clause in his contract and wasn’t eager to approve a move to the Cubs. According to the Post-Dispatch, Reitz finally consented when the Cubs offered to increase his salary and the Cardinals agreed to compensate him for waiving the no-trade clause. Herzog said the Cardinals gave Reitz $50,000 to approve the trade. Newspapers reported the price was $75,000.

Chicago Tribune columnist Bob Verdi wrote, “It would have been nice had Kennedy held out for Ted Simmons, whose average for 81 games in Wrigley Field might have bordered on astronomical.”

Because he had signed free-agent catcher Darrell Porter, Herzog wanted to move Simmons from catcher to first base and put Hernandez in left field.

When Simmons balked at moving to first base, Herzog shipped Simmons, Fingers and pitcher Pete Vuckovich to the Brewers for pitchers Dave LaPoint and Lary Sorensen and oufielders David Green and Sixto Lezcano.

Good as expected

“The Cardinals have a chance to win the pennant with Bruce,” Kennedy told the Chicago Tribune, “but we have to rebuild, and he couldn’t win the pennant for us.”

Sutter said he was glad to leave the Cubs.

“I just don’t see any chance of the Cubs becoming a winner,” Sutter told the Chicago Tribune. “There’s not much in their minor-league system and it’s pretty obvious we didn’t have enough talent up here. It seems like the minute you become good around here, and they have to pay you for being good, they get rid of you because they don’t want to pay you. You just can’t operate that way.”

Sutter added, “The ballclub I’m going to is going to be a winner, and that matters more than anything.”

Using a split-fingered pitch Herzog described as looking “like a rock skipping on water _ tough to pick up, let alone hit,” Sutter was the stopper Herzog desired.

“When I got to St. Louis, I was sure I got myself a top-flight closer,” Herzog said. “…I realized it was smarter to start building my staff at the back, with that one potent guy, and move forward from there. I’d get that guy who could shut the door the last two innings, cut the other guy’s chance from 27 (outs) to 21, and hope my starters were good enough to get me through the sixth (inning).”

Sutter changed the dynamics of the game for the Cardinals. “Sutter might be the most important pitcher I ever had,” Herzog said. “He was sure the best relief pitcher I ever saw.”

Sutter led the league in saves in three of his four seasons with St. Louis. In the 1982 World Series, in which the Cardinals won four of seven games against the Brewers, Sutter had a win and two saves, closing out the decisive Game 7. Video

In an interview for the 2006 Baseball Hall of Fame yearbook, Sutter said, “I had a great time playing there. Whitey Herzog was the best. I learned a lot of baseball from Whitey Herzog.”

Claude Osteen, who pitched and coached in the big leagues, said most hitters couldn’t resist swinging at Sutter’s split-fingered pitch.

“So many times I’ve seen him come in to pitch and not be sharp and the majority of his out pitches are balls,” Osteen told the Philadelphia Daily News in 1985, “but the pitch just looks so appealing to the hitter that they can’t lay off of it. I’ve only seen one of two hitters _ Mike Schmidt is one and Ted Simmons was one of the best _ who were good at laying off of that pitch. Those two hitters constantly have Sutter behind in the count because they don’t swing at that pitch. That’s the secret to it.”

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