RetroSimba

(Updated Nov. 25, 2019)

On Aug. 14, 1971, a Saturday night in Pittsburgh, Ted Simmons caught Bob Gibson’s no-hitter, produced four hits, scored three runs and drove in one in the Cardinals’ 11-0 victory. Boxscore

It was the only no-hitter in the career of the franchise’s best pitcher.

Simmons became the only catcher in franchise history to collect four hits while catching a no-hitter.

Simmons’ performance went a long way toward validating him as a quality catcher in the view of Gibson and others.

In control

Since early in his career, when he surrended a home run on a fastball he was ordered to throw by Carl Sawatski, Gibson never again let a catcher select a pitch for him.

“When I want to throw a pitch, that’s what I’m going to throw,” Gibson said in the book “Sixty Feet, Six Inches.” “If the catcher wants to fight about it, we’ll fight about it, but I’m not going to throw something I don’t want to throw.”

Regarding the pitcher and catcher relationship, Gibson said he believed the player with the most experience should “take the lead” in controlling a game. With Simmons, that meant Gibson always was in charge.

“Ted Simmons used to drive me crazy when he was a young catcher,” Gibson said. “One day he called time and came out to ask if I was giving him a hard time … I said, ‘I’m trying to win the ballgame. I don’t have the luxury of giving you a hard time.’ ”

Simmons caught 135 of Gibson’s starts. Only Tim McCarver (197) caught more. Simmons also caught 13 of Gibson’s shutouts. McCarver caught the most, 29.

“Simmons was a bright guy and he learned,” Gibson said. “It took him a while, but he caught on. As a rookie, all he thought about was hitting line drives, which he did very well. You can forgive a catcher for a lot of sins when he clears the bases with a double.”

In a June 1973 article by Bob Broeg for Baseball Digest, Simmons said, “Gibson is a picnic to catch because he works rapidly and is always around the plate with his pitches.”

In a November 2019 interview with Cardinals broadcaster Dan McLaughlin, Simmons recalled having trouble giving signs in his early encounters with Gibson.

“I was having difficulty, frankly,” Simmons said. “I’d never seen a guy pitch at that pace with such great stuff. So, trying just to get the fingers down and coordinate it throughout the game was a task for me.

“Finally, Gibson came to me and said, ‘Look, I only throw two pitches _ fastball, slider. You put down whatever you want. If I’m shaking, go to the other.’ So, if I put down fastball and he was shaking his head, I knew the pitch was going to be slider. That way, I wasn’t disrupting his pace.”

Heat is on

In his no-hitter against the Pirates _ the first in Pittsburgh since 1907 _ Gibson struck out 10 and walked three.

“He had two unhittable pitches (fastball and slider) and they couldn’t hit either one,” Simmons recalled in a 2020 interview with Stan McNeal of Cardinals Gameday Magazine.

Simmons contributed a RBI-single off Bob Johnson in the first, a double against Bob Moose in the fifth, and singles in the sixth and eighth off Bob Veale.

When Pirates slugger Willie Stargell struck out looking for the final out, Simmons raced to the mound, leaped and threw his arms around Gibson’s neck.

“That was the greatest thrill of my life, catching a no-hitter,” Simmons said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “Man, he was throwing fire.”

Simmons had a premonition Gibson would get the no-hitter against the Pirates.

“Two nights ago, (teammate) Chris Zachary and I were having dinner, and I told him, ‘Gibson is going to pitch a no-hitter Saturday night,’ ” Simmons said. “I don’t know why, I just said it.”

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(Updated Jan. 9, 2019)

In October 2010, Rick Ankiel joined Babe Ruth and Smoky Joe Wood as the only big-league players since 1900 to appear in postseason games as starting pitchers and as starters at another position.

Ankiel started in center field for the Braves on Oct. 7, 2010, in Game 1 of the National League Division Series at San Francisco.

It was the first time Ankiel had started a postseason game at a position other than pitcher. Ankiel appeared in two games as a pinch-hitter for the Cardinals in the 2009 NL Division Series against the Dodgers, but didn’t start a game.

Ankiel’s first postseason starts were as a pitcher for the Cardinals in the 2000 NL Division Series against the Braves and in the 2000 NL Championship Series against the Mets.

Those performances were the start of Ankiel’s stunning slide from pitching phenom to flop.

After posting an 11-7 record and striking out 194 in 175 innings during the regular season, Ankiel got the start in Game 1 of the 2000 Division Series at St. Louis. The Cardinals struck for six runs in the first and kept a 6-0 lead heading to the third before Ankiel unraveled.

The rookie left-hander gave up four runs, four walks and five wild pitches in the inning before being lifted with two outs. Boxscore

St. Louis held on for a 7-5 win and eventually swept the series, advancing to face New York for the pennant.

In Game 2 of the NL Championship Series at St. Louis, Ankiel got the start, lasted two-thirds of an inning and yielded two runs, three walks, a hit and two wild pitches. The Mets won, 6-5, and went on to clinch the series in five games. Boxscore

Though Ankiel made a relief appearance in Game 5 of the series, his career as a pitcher was in tatters. He pitched in 11 more big-league games before successfully converting into a power-hitting outfielder.

The Society for American Baseball Research confirmed Ruth and Wood, like Ankiel, made postseason starts as pitchers and as outfielders.

Ruth started Game 2 of the 1916 World Series for the Red Sox against Brooklyn. He pitched 14 innings and earned the win, outdueling Sherry Smith in Boston’s 2-1 victory. Boxscore

Ruth also was the starting pitcher for Boston in two games of the 1918 World Series against the Cubs before he went on to star as baseball’s iconic slugging outfielder in seven World Series for the Yankees.

Wood started three games as a pitcher for the Red Sox against the Giants in the 1912 World Series. Eight years later, his pitching career cut short by a severe shoulder injury, he was the starting right fielder for the Indians in Game 1 of the 1920 World Series against Brooklyn. Boxscore

Ninety years later, Ankiel equaled the feat.

When Ankiel hit a home run for the Braves in Game 2 of the 2010 NL Division Series against the Giants Boxscore, he and Ruth became the only big-league players to both start a postseason game as a pitcher and hit a home run in the postseason as a position player.

Ankiel hit his postseason home run in the 11th inning on a fastball from Ramon Ramirez, snapping a 4-4 tie and carrying the Braves to a victory.

In his 2017 book “The Phenom,” Ankiel said, “The contact was so pure I could barely feel the ball off the bat … I don’t recall being happier on a baseball field than I was that October night in San Francisco.”

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(Updated Dec. 8, 2024)

Tom Niedenfuer yielded two of the most famous home runs in Cardinals history.

As the closer for the Dodgers in 1985, Niedenfuer gave up the game-winning home run to Ozzie Smith in the ninth inning of Game 5 of the National League Championship Series, leading to broadcaster Jack Buck’s memorable call of “Go crazy, folks. Go crazy.”

With the score tied at 2-2, Niedenfuer relieved starter Fernando Valenzuela in the bottom of the ninth. He retired Willie McGee on a pop-up, but then threw a pitch down and in that Smith golfed over the fence in right for a 3-2 Cardinals win.  Boxscore

In a 2010 interview with Jerry Crowe of the Los Angeles Times, Niedenfuer said the pitch was supposed to be up and in. He said the homer by Smith was a fluke because it was the shortstop’s first in the big leagues while batting left-handed. Story

(Recalling the homer in a 2016 interview with Cardinals Yearbook, Smith said, “When I walked to the plate, my intention was not to hit the ball out of the ballpark because that’s not what I do. My job was to get myself in scoring position and let the big guys drive me in. {Niedenfuer} supplied the power and I supplied the technique.”)

Two days after the Smith homer, the Dodgers led 5-4 after eight innings of Game 6 at Los Angeles. Though Niedenfuer already had pitched 1.2 innings in relief of Orel Hershiser, manager Tommy Lasorda sent Niedenfuer to pitch the ninth.

After Cesar Cedeno struck out, McGee singled and swiped second. Smith walked. When Tom Herr grounded out to first, McGee and Smith each advanced a base. With first base open and the Dodgers an out away from squaring the series, Jack Clark, the Cardinals’ top power hitter, strode to the plate.

Niedenfuer told the Times he and Lasorda never considered issuing an intentional walk to Clark because a left-handed batter, Andy Van Slyke, was on deck, and because Niedenfuer had struck out Clark in the seventh on a fastball off the plate. Niedenfuer wanted to start off Clark with the same pitch.

This time, Clark ripped it 450 feet to left for a three-run homer that gave St. Louis a 7-5 lead. When Ken Dayley retired the Dodgers in order in the bottom of the inning, the Cardinals were National League champions and Niedenfuer was the goat. Boxscore

Afterward, describing Clark’s homer to The Sporting News, Niedenfuer said, “The only way that thing would have stayed in the park was if it had hit the Goodyear blimp and dropped straight down.”

Two days later, a resilient Niedenfuer played golf with Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax, “and then I started working out for next year.”

Niedenfuer, though, never was the same. The Dodgers dealt him to the Orioles in May 1987. He signed with the Mariners as a free agent for 1989. When Seattle released him in April 1990, the Cardinals signed him.

In 52 appearances, Niedenfuer was 0-6 with two saves and a 3.46 ERA for a St. Louis team that finished in last place in the East Division.

It would be Niedenfuer’s final season in the major leagues.

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