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Archive for the ‘Pitchers’ Category

On the run: Curt Simmons set torrid pace with Cardinals

Posted in Games, Pitchers on August 30, 2023| 13 Comments »

For a while, in the early part of September 1963, Cardinals pitcher Curt Simmons couldn’t do anything wrong at the ballpark.

From Sept. 1 to Sept. 13, Simmons won four starts in a row for the 1963 Cardinals and pitched three consecutive shutouts in that stretch.

His hot streak extended beyond the pitching mound. Simmons drove in runs and, in perhaps the most amazing feat of all, stole home.

Base thief

A left-hander who turned 34 in 1963, Simmons was a starter who overcame career-threatening injuries. Part of the big toe on his left foot was sliced off in a lawn motor accident in 1953 and he underwent surgery to remove bone chips in his left elbow in 1959. After the Cardinals signed him in May 1960 following his release by the Phillies, Simmons mixed more changeups and slow curves into his assortment of pitches.

Simmons was part of a 1963 Cardinals starting rotation with Bob Gibson, Ernie Broglio, Ray Sadecki and Lew Burdette.

On Sept. 1, 1963, Simmons started against the Phillies at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. In the second inning, with Tim McCarver on first and one out, Simmons hit a Chris Short pitch to the base of the scoreboard in center for a triple. McCarver scored, giving the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.

(The triple was the third and last for Simmons in 20 seasons in the majors. The others came in 1953 against Sal Maglie of the Giants and in 1955 versus Hy Cohen of the Cubs.)

With Julian Javier at the plate, the Cardinals called for a squeeze play. Overeager, Simmons broke for home too soon. Short noticed and tried to throw a pitch that Javier would be unable to bunt. In his excitement, Short threw the ball high over the outstretched mitt of catcher Bob Oldis. Simmons scooted safely to the plate and was credited with a steal of home.

Asked by the St. Louis Globe-Democrat whether he could recall his last previous swipe of home, Simmons said, “Maybe in high school. They don’t want to take too many chances with me (attempting to steal).”

(The steal of home versus the Phillies was the second and last stolen base for Simmons in the majors. The first came 10 years earlier when he swiped second base in a 1953 game against the Pirates.)

In the sixth, with Bobby Locke pitching for the Phillies, George Altman tripled and Simmons drove him in with a sacrifice fly for his second RBI of the game.

Simmons pitched a six-hitter for the win, beating the Phillies for the 12th time in 14 decisions since joining the Cardinals. Boxscore

In command

For the next two weeks, Simmons was unbeatable _ and also untouchable when it came to scoring runs against him.

On Sept. 5, he shut out the Mets and contributed a single and a walk in the 9-0 triumph. He thought he had another hit but his liner with the bases loaded was caught against the wall by right fielder Ed Kranepool. “How could they play me so deep?” Simmons said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “They had a first baseman playing right field. If they had a regular outfielder, he wouldn’t have played so deep.” Boxscore

Four days later, Simmons shut out the Cubs on a five-hitter. Cleanup batter Ron Santo, held hitless, told the Post-Dispatch, “That’s the best I’ve seen Simmons.” Boxscore

On Sept. 13, Simmons pitched his third shutout in nine days when he beat the Braves and Warren Spahn.

Hank Aaron, who sometimes was frustrated by Simmons’ soft tosses, struck out twice. So did Eddie Mathews. Simmons held Aaron, Mathews and Joe Torre hitless. “Simmons is like Spahn,” Mathews said to the Post-Dispatch. “He knows what he’s going to do on every pitch.”

Simmons’ RBI-double down the left field line drove in a run and knocked Spahn out of the game in the second inning. Boxscore

Tough foe

The win streak ended for Simmons on Sept. 17 against his season-long nemesis, the Dodgers. Trailing the first-place Dodgers by two games in the National League standings, the Cardinals sent Simmons against Sandy Koufax, but the Dodgers won, 4-0. Boxscore

When the Dodgers completed a sweep of the three-game series the next night, it virtually secured the pennant for them.

In four starts versus the 1963 Dodgers. Simmons was 0-3, even though he had a 2.00 ERA over 36 innings. He lost twice to Koufax and once to Don Drysdale. The Cardinals totaled three runs in those three defeats.

For the 1963 season, Simmons was 15-9 with a 2.48 ERA. He pitched six shutouts and totaled 232.2 innings. (Koufax had 11 shutouts in 1963 and Spahn had seven.) Simmons also fielded flawlessly, committing no errors in 35 chances.

“Curt doesn’t beat himself,” Cardinals manager Johnny Keane remarked to the Post-Dispatch. “He walks few batters, fields his position and gets a base hit now and then.”

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Cardinals hoped for a playoff melody with Eddie Fisher

Posted in Games, Pitchers, Trades on August 25, 2023| 12 Comments »

Eddie Fisher made sweet music with a pitch that could dance. That’s why the Cardinals wanted his help in their bid for a division title.

On Aug. 29, 1973, the Cardinals purchased the contract of Fisher, 37, from the White Sox. The right-handed knuckleball specialist was in his 15th and final season in the majors.

On the day Fisher was acquired, the Cardinals (67-64) led a weak National League East Division. They were two games ahead of the second-place Pirates (63-64) and 6.5 in front of the last-place Mets (60-70).

With Diego Segui, Orlando Pena, Al Hrabosky and Rich Folkers, the Cardinals had a reliable bullpen but wanted the insurance of another experienced reliever for the title run. Fisher fit the bill.

Home on the range

Fisher attended grades one through 12 at Friendship School in Altus, Okla. “There were only 16 in my graduating class, nine boys and seven girls, including Betty Hudgens, whom I later married,” Fisher recalled to The Sporting News.

He excelled in baseball and basketball. His Altus American Legion baseball teammate, Lindy McDaniel, also became a big-league pitcher. As a high school senior, Fisher was a principal player in a major upset. He shut out state powerhouse Capitol Hill, ending its 66-game winning streak in 1954.

“I could throw the knuckler then, but I could win with just a fastball and curve, so I never used it in a game,” Fisher said to The Sporting News.

After graduating, Fisher got a job in Oklahoma City reading gas meters. He also pitched for the company baseball team. Its manager, Roy Deal, was the father of Cardinals pitcher Cot Deal. Roy helped Fisher get an athletic scholarship to the University of Oklahoma.

Fisher didn’t throw the knuckleball in college either. “Eddie didn’t need the knuckler to win in college ball,” head coach Jack Baer explained to The Norman Transcript, “and there are very few catchers, let alone college catchers, who can handle a knuckler.”

As a college junior, Fisher got an offer from the Kansas City Athletics but opted to return to Oklahoma for his senior year. When no offers came after Fisher completed his college career, Roy Deal contacted a minor-league team in Corpus Christi, Texas, and helped him get a roster spot there.

Tuning up

Corpus Christi, a farm club of the Giants in 1958, was managed by a former American League catcher, Ray Murray, who encouraged Fisher to add the knuckler to his assortment of pitches.

A year later, in July 1959, Fisher, 23, was called up to the Giants. For Fisher’s debut, a start against the Pirates, manager Bill Rigney used backup catcher Jim Hegan, 38, who was in his 16th season in the majors. Experienced catching the knuckler, Hegan guided the rookie through the game. Fisher pitched seven innings, limiting the Pirates to one run and three hits, and got the win. Boxscore

A popular singer at the time also was named Eddie Fisher. The singer’s marriages to actresses Debbie Reynolds (their daughter is actress Carrie Fisher), Elizabeth Taylor and Connie Stevens added to his fame. Asked about sharing a name with the crooner, baseball’s Eddie Fisher told The Norman Transcript, “I can’t sing, and what’s more, I don’t like to.”

Teammates nicknamed the pitcher Donald Duck “because of the excellent imitation he does” of the Walt Disney character, The Sporting News noted.

Higher education

After the 1961 season, Fisher was sent by the Giants to the White Sox for pitchers Billy Pierce and Don Larsen. Pierce and Larsen helped the Giants win the 1962 pennant. The White Sox helped Fisher find his niche. The turning point came during the 1964 season when his teammate, knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm, persuaded him to use the knuckler as his main pitch.

“We’d be out there together in the bullpen and we’d talk shop,” Fisher told The Sporting News. “He kept hammering away at me to throw the knuckler more. He insisted it was my out pitch and he finally convinced me.”

The bullpen combination of Wilhelm and Fisher confounded American League batters. With the 1964 White Sox, Wilhelm was 12-9 with 27 saves and a 1.99 ERA. Fisher was 6-3 with nine saves and a 3.02 ERA. In 1965, Fisher led American League pitchers in appearances (82) and was 15-7 with 24 saves and a 2.40 ERA. Wilhelm was 7-7 with 21 saves and a 1.81 ERA.

Their knucklers baffled White Sox catcher J.C. Martin as well. Martin had 24 passed balls in 1964 and 33 in 1965.

Fisher was effective against all styles of hitters. Contact hitter Bobby Richardson batted .103 in 29 at-bats against him. Slugger Jim Gentile came up empty _ hitless in 15 career at-bats. “If it’s a good knuckleball, it doesn’t just float. It moves,” Gentile told The Oklahoman. “Swing at it, it might dip, might rise.”

American League batters hit .192 versus Fisher in 1964 and .205 in 1965. 

That’s a winner

On June 13, 1966, the White Sox traded Fisher to the Orioles for second baseman Jerry Adair. Fisher joined a bullpen with Stu Miller, Moe Drabowsky and Dick Hall.

Fisher made an immediate impact, earning a save or a win in five of his first seven appearances with the Orioles. He pitched in 44 games for them and was 5-3 with 14 saves and a 2.64 ERA. The Orioles (97-63) won the pennant.

Though Fisher led the league in appearances (67 combined for the White Sox and Orioles) for the second year in a row, he didn’t pitch in the 1966 World Series versus the Dodgers. The Orioles swept, getting shutouts from Jim Palmer, Wally Bunker and Dave McNally. The only Orioles reliever to appear in that World Series was Drabowsky, who pitched 6.2 scoreless innings and struck out 11 in Game 1.

Fisher never got to play for another World Series participant. He was with the Indians in 1968 and the Angels from 1969-72 before returning to the White Sox.

Final season

At spring training in 1973, Fisher, 36, had a 1.33 ERA in 27 innings pitched in exhibition games. White Sox manager Chuck Tanner and pitching coach Johnny Sain decided to open the season with Fisher as their No. 3 starter behind another knuckleballer, Wilbur Wood, and Stan Bahnsen.

Fisher won four of his first five decisions, but the good times didn’t last. He slumped in June (10.67 ERA in five starts) and was moved back to the bullpen. In 10 relief appearances covering 35.1 innings, he had a 3.57 ERA, prompting the Cardinals to acquire him. Barney Schultz, Cardinals pitching coach in 1973, helped St. Louis win a World Series title in 1964 as a knuckleball reliever who joined the club in August.

Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst put Fisher to work, pitching him in three consecutive games. In his second appearance, on Sept. 2, 1973, Fisher got the win with a scoreless inning of relief against the Mets. The triumph gave the Cardinals (69-67) sole possession of first place in the division, a game ahead of the Pirates (66-66), and pushed the Mets (63-72) nine games below .500. Boxscore

The next day, the Cardinals played a doubleheader against the Pirates. In the opener, with the score tied at 4-4, Fisher entered in the bottom of the 13th inning. The first batter he faced, Richie Hebner, clobbered a knuckleball to deep right.

“I definitely thought it was gone,” Cardinals catcher Ted Simmons told The Pittsburgh Press. “I was ready to walk off the field.”

Instead, the ball hit the wall and caromed past right fielder Jose Cruz. Center fielder Luis Melendez didn’t back up Cruz as he should. The ball bounced along the artificial surface of the outfield as Hebner steamed around the bases.

Melendez said to The Pittsburgh Press, “I’ve got to be there (backing up the play). If I get there when I was supposed to, it only would have been a double.”

When Melendez finally got to the ball, he reached for it and didn’t come up with it. He reached a second time and again couldn’t grab it. Pirates third-base coach Bill Mazeroski told The Pittsburgh Press that he intended to hold Hebner at third, but when Melendez twice failed to retrieve the ball, “I sent him in. If he picks it up the first or second time, I don’t send him in.”

Hebner scooted to the plate with a walkoff inside-the-park home run, and Fisher was the losing pitcher. Boxscore

Two weeks later, on Sept. 17, Fisher got a win, pitching two scoreless innings and driving in a run with a single against the Expos’ Mike Marshall. Boxscore

By then, though, the Cardinals (74-76) were sliding. The Mets won seven in a row from Sept. 18 to Sept. 25 and finished as the only team in the division with a winning record (82-79).

(The 1973 Cardinals ended 81-81, sixth overall in the National League, a finish that today would have them popping champagne corks and selling postseason merchandise as lame playoff qualifiers.)

Fisher was released by the Cardinals after the season, ending his playing days. He was 2-1 with a 1.29 ERA for them. For his career in the majors, Fisher was 85-70 with 82 saves.

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G.I.s brought touch of the majors to pro ball in Japan

Posted in Games, Pitchers on August 21, 2023| 8 Comments »

A couple of American pitchers finishing out their military service in the Korean War became baseball pioneers of sorts in Japan.

Leo Kiely and Phil Paine were the first to play in the major leagues in the U.S. and in professional baseball in Japan.

Kiely, a left-hander with the 1951 Boston Red Sox, and Paine, a right-hander with the 1951 Boston Braves, played for teams in the Japanese Pacific League in late summer 1953.

Kiely, 23, made his Japanese debut on Aug. 8, 1953, for the Mainichi Orions, according to the Society for American Baseball Research. Paine, 23, made his Japanese debut on Aug. 23, 1953, for the Nishitetsu Lions.

Jersey guy

Born and raised in Hoboken, N.J. (site of the first organized baseball game played in June 1846 between the Knickerbocker Club and New York Nine), Leo Kiely was 5 “when he was run down by an ice truck _ run over twice, in fact, by the same truck,” the Boston Globe reported.

Both of his legs were broken, just under the knees, and he broke his pelvis, too, according to the Globe.

“That ice truck sure tried to do a job on me,” Kiely told the Boston newspaper. “I was playing in an alley when it backed over me and ran over my legs. Then the guy put on full speed ahead and ran over me again.”

As a teen, Kiely worked for $38 a week as a truck driver’s helper on a Hoboken newspaper, The Jersey Observer. Then he became a press room apprentice at the newspaper, serving the role of flyboy. (The term came about because the job required catching stacks of newspapers as they flew off the presses.) “He had dreams of becoming a printer,” the Globe reported.

Kiely also developed into a standout sandlot baseball player. In August 1947, in the championship game of the Build Better Boys Sandlot Association tournament at Jersey City, Kiely, 17, “looked like Frank Merriwell, Jack Armstrong, and the Rover Boys all rolled into one,” the Bayonne Times reported.

He pitched a four-hitter, striking out nine, and hit a home run as Hoboken ended Bayonne’s four-year hold on the league title. Red Sox scout Bill McCarren signed Kiely to a contract.

Because of his childhood accident, “one leg is still a bit shorter than the other and _ even in his baseball shoes _ he has to wear a slight lift in one shoe,” the Globe reported.

In late June 1951, during his fourth season in the minors, Kiely got called up to the Red Sox. Because he had not been to spring training with the big-league club, “most of the Red Sox had never heard of him when he was brought up,” according to the Globe.

Red Sox manager Steve O’Neill put Kiely, 21, into the starting rotation. He made his big-league debut against the Washington Senators on July 2, 1951, and got the win, pitching a complete game. Boxscore

Kiely finished the 1951 season with a 7-7 record and 3.34 ERA for the Red Sox.

Special delivery

Phil Paine, from Chepachet, Rhode Island, excelled in baseball and hockey as a youth. The Philadelphia Phillies signed him when he was 18 and he pitched two seasons in their farm system. When the Phillies exposed him to the minor-league draft, the Braves claimed him in December 1949.

At Hartford in 1951, Paine was managed by Tommy Holmes, the former Braves outfielder who twice led the National League in hits. When Braves manager Billy Southworth resigned in June 1951, Holmes replaced him.

A month later, Paine was told there was a telegram for him in the Hartford clubhouse. “I thought it was from the draft board,” Paine told The Sporting News. “I nearly fell over when I read it and found out I’d been called up to the Braves.”

Paine, 21, went 2-0 with a 3.06 ERA in 21 relief appearances for the 1951 Braves.

“This kid has got a lot of stuff,” Holmes told The Sporting News. 

Braves pitching coach Bucky Walters said to the Globe, “That boy’s got it. Phil has a perfect disposition for a pitcher, including that touch of meanness that a pitcher needs … I think he’s going to be a great pitcher.”

Soldiering on

After their rookie seasons in the big leagues, Kiely and Paine were inducted into the U.S. Army in the fall of 1951. Even with his leg condition, Kiely passed an Army physical. “The Army decided he was fit for service, although disqualified for combat,” The Sporting News reported.

Both men spent most of the Korean War stationed in Japan and pitched for military base baseball teams.

The signing of an armistice on July 27, 1953, brought an end to the Korean War. Kiely and Paine, both still in military service, then joined the Japanese teams, agreeing to play until they were discharged from the Army. Until then, no one who had played in the major leagues had played for a professional team in Japan.

The arrangement was that Kiely and Paine would pitch on their days off from military duty. Paine was paid $575 a game, The Sporting News reported.

According to baseball-reference.com, Kiely went 6-0 with a 1.80 ERA for the Mainichi Orions, and Paine was 4-3 with a 1.77 ERA for the Nishitetsu Lions.

Both men were discharged from the Army in the fall of 1953 and prepared to return to their major-league teams the following spring.

Much had changed since Kiely and Paine last pitched in the majors. The Braves moved from Boston to Milwaukee and Charlie Grimm was the manager. The Red Sox had a different manager, too _ Lou Boudreau.

San Francisco detour

Kiely was 5-8 for the Red Sox in 1954 (the highlight was a shutout of the Philadelphia Athletics), then got moved to the bullpen in 1955 and was 3-3 with six saves and a 2.80 ERA. In the winter, he worked on the docks in Hoboken, according to the Globe.

After posting a 5.47 ERA for the Red Sox in 1956, Kiely was sent to the minors the following year. 

The 1957 season was San Francisco’s last as a minor-league town. Pitching for the San Francisco Seals, Kiely was 21-6 with a 2.22 ERA. Twenty of those wins came in relief.

The Red Sox brought him back in 1958 and Kiely, 28, was 5-2 with 12 saves.

He pitched two more years in the majors _ with the 1959 Red Sox and 1960 Kansas City Athletics. In his final inning, he struck out his former Red Sox teammate, Ted Williams. Boxscore

Cardinals caravan

Paine made 11 relief appearances with the 1954 Braves and 15 with the 1955 team, then spent most of 1956 and 1957 in the minors.

On April 19, 1958, the Cardinals claimed him off waivers and put him in their bullpen. Paine was 5-1 with a save in 46 appearances for the 1958 Cardinals. Combined with his 5-0 mark during his years with the Braves, he had a career record of 10-1 in the majors.

After the season, the Cardinals went on a goodwill tour of Japan and played 16 exhibition games against Japanese all-star teams. Paine was one of eight pitchers the Cardinals brought on the tour.

At Fukuoka, Japan, Paine visited Camp Drake, the military base where he had been stationed, and spoke at a luncheon held in his honor, according to the Society for American Baseball Research. He was the starter and winning pitcher for the Cardinals in the 10th game of the tour at Fukuoka, United Press International reported.

In December 1958, after the Cardinals returned home, they traded Paine and Wally Moon to the Dodgers for Gino Cimoli. The Dodgers made the deal only after the Cardinals agreed to add Paine, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Paine’s former team, the Nishitetsu Lions, offered him a contract to pitch for them in 1959, according to United Press International, but he opted to report to spring training with the Dodgers. They assigned him to the minors and he finished his playing career there.

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Flattened in Flatbush: Cardinals went winless in Brooklyn

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents, Pitchers on August 7, 2023| 11 Comments »

(Updated Jan. 9, 2025)

A couple of Hoosiers made life miserable in Brooklyn for the Cardinals.

In 1953, the Cardinals were 0-11 for the season against the Dodgers at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn’s Flatbush section.

The players most responsible for the Cardinals’ troubles there were pitcher Carl Erskine of Anderson, Ind., and first baseman Gil Hodges of Princeton, Ind.

Dominant Dodgers

The 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers, subjects of the Roger Kahn book, “The Boys of Summer,” were a powerhouse, featuring a lineup with five future Hall of Famers _ Roy Campanella, Gil Hodges, Pee Wee Reese, Jackie Robinson and Duke Snider.

They rolled to the National League pennant with a 105-49 mark, finishing 13 games ahead of the runner-up Braves (92-62) and 22 ahead of St. Louis (83-71).

The Cardinals won seven of 11 against the 1953 Dodgers at St. Louis, but it was a much different story at Brooklyn. Not only did they lose all 11 games at Ebbets Field, they often got crushed. The Dodgers outscored them, 109 to 36, in those 11 games at Brooklyn.

The Cardinals were beaten by scores of 10-1 on June 7, 9-2 on July 16, 14-0 on July 17, 14-6 on July 18, 20-4 on Aug. 30 and 12-5 on Sept. 1.

There were two one-run games, the Dodgers winning both by scores of 5-4. The cruelest for the Cardinals was on June 6, when Hodges wiped out a 4-2 St. Louis lead with a three-run walkoff home run versus Stu Miller in the ninth. Boxscore

Home sweet home

Many players contributed to the Dodgers’ perfect home record against the Cardinals in 1953, but Erskine and Hodges did the most damage.

A right-hander who mixed an overhand curve and changeup with his fastball, Erskine, 26, was nearly unbeatable at Ebbets Field that year. He ended the regular season with a home record of 12-1, including 4-0 versus the Cardinals. All four of his home wins against St. Louis were complete games.

Erskine also won Game 3 of the 1953 World Series at Ebbets Field, setting a record by striking out 14 Yankees batters, including Mickey Mantle four times. “Erskine made the Yankees look like blind men swatting at wasps,” J. Roy Stockton reported in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Boxscore

(Since then, the only pitchers with more strikeouts in a World Series game are Bob Gibson, who fanned 17 Tigers in Game 1 in 1968, and Sandy Koufax, who struck out 15 Yankees in Game 1 in 1963.)

“Look, up in the sky….”

When Erskine beat the Cardinals with a five-hitter on May 6, 1953, at Brooklyn, it was his seventh consecutive win against them, dating back to September 1950. Erskine went undefeated versus the Cardinals in 1951 (4-0) and 1952 (2-0). Boxscore

The streak was snapped a week later, May 14, 1953, at St. Louis when Erskine was knocked out in the first inning without retiring a batter. “He had no control, no stuff and no outs,” Dick Young reported in the New York Daily News. “He warmed up for 15 minutes and pitched for five.” Boxscore

Back in Brooklyn, Erskine ducked into a phone booth, donned his Superman cape and beat the Cardinals for the second time in 1953, a four-hitter in a 10-1 rout on June 7. “It was the sort of affair that grew progressively more one-sided and monotonous, finally reaching the stage where many of the fans amused themselves by launching paper planes onto the field,” Dick Young reported. “Some of these came close to hitting Erskine. So did the Cardinals, but not many succeeded.” Boxscore

A month later, Erskine beat the Cardinals at Brooklyn for a third time, even though he gave up nine hits and two walks, threw a wild pitch and committed two errors. Boxscore

Erskine’s fourth home win against the 1953 Cardinals, on Aug. 30, also was his 13th consecutive win at Ebbets Field. Erskine contributed three RBI and scored a run. Boxscore

“Some pitchers were spooked by the thought of working in Ebbets Field with its cozy fences, but not Erskine,” the New York Times noted.

(In his next start, the Braves gave Erskine his lone home loss of 1953. With the score tied at 1-1 in the eighth, Eddie Mathews hit a three-run home run and Jim Pendleton had a two-run shot. Boxscore)

Erskine finished 1953 with a regular-season record of 20-6, including 6-2 versus the Cardinals.

For his career with the Dodgers, Erskine was 122-78, including 66-28 at Brooklyn. He was 23-8 against the Cardinals _ 13-2 at Ebbets Field.

(Erskine’s second win in the majors came against the Cardinals in a 1948 relief appearance. In the book “We Would Have Played For Nothing,” Erskine recalled, “I beat Howie Pollet and he waited for me after the game in the runway to congratulate me. He said, ‘I like the way you throw.’ He was a class act. I think he identified with me because he had a unique pitch _ a straight change _ and I could throw that pitch.” Boxscore)

Among the Cardinals regularly baffled by Erskine were Enos Slaughter (.162 batting average against) and Red Schoendienst (.211). The exception, naturally, was Stan Musial. He batted .336 with eight home runs versus Erskine. According to Time Magazine, Erskine said, “I’ve had pretty good success with Stan by throwing him my best pitch and backing up third.”

In July 2023, Erskine, 96, recalled to Tyler Kepner of the New York Times that Musial “almost never missed a swing. He always hit the ball somewhere.”

In his book, “Stan Musial: The Man’s Own Story,” Musial said, “Erskine had control, a remarkable changeup and a great overhand curve.”

(Erskine had an association with the Cardinals in 1971 when he joined play-by-play men Jack Buck and Jim Woods as a guest analyst on select telecasts of games on KSD-TV Channel 5 in St. Louis.)

Lots of lumber

Three pitchers _ Stu Miller (0-3), Joe Presko (0-3) and Gerry Staley (0-2) _ accounted for eight of the 11 Cardinals losses at Ebbets Field in 1953.

Dodgers hitters were led by Gil Hodges, who had eight home runs and 23 RBI against Cardinals pitching in the 11 games at Brooklyn. Hodges had 16 hits and seven walks in those games.

(In 31 at-bats at St. Louis in 1953, Hodges had no home runs, no RBI and batted .129.)

Others who hammered the 1953 Cardinals at Ebbets Field were Roy Campanella (18 hits, 18 RBI), Jackie Robinson (18 hits, 11 RBI) and Duke Snider (four home runs and 11 RBI).

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How Danny Cox versus Steve Carlton became a classic

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers, Prospects on August 2, 2023| 10 Comments »

Danny Cox began the 1983 baseball season in the low level of the minors and ended it as a member of the starting rotation of the reigning World Series champion Cardinals.

Matched against Steve Carlton and facing a lineup with Pete Rose, Joe Morgan and Mike Schmidt, Cox pitched 10 scoreless innings versus the Phillies in his big-league debut on Aug. 6, 1983.

The stellar performance didn’t get Cox a win, though. That came a couple of weeks later when he opposed another future Hall of Fame pitcher, Nolan Ryan.

Fun in Florida

A right-hander attending Troy University, Cox, 21, was chosen by the Cardinals in the 13th round of the 1981 amateur draft, a couple of picks after the Mets took a high school outfielder, Lenny Dykstra, in the same round.

Cox pitched for a rookie team and a Class A club his first two seasons in the Cardinals’ farm system. Then in 1983, he was assigned to rookie manager Jim Riggleman’s Class A team, the St. Petersburg Cardinals. Even at that level, Cox was matched against an exceptional pitching opponent.

After losing his first two decisions in 1983, Cox, 23, started on May 12 at home against the Fort Myers Royals. Their starter, Bret Saberhagen, 19, was in his first season of professional ball. (Two years later, Saberhagen received the first of his two American League Cy Young awards with the Kansas City Royals.)

Pitching before 882 spectators at Al Lang Stadium in St. Petersburg, Cox threw a four-hitter in a 2-1 victory. Saberhagen went six innings and allowed both runs.

Facing a Fort Myers lineup that included future big-leaguers Mike Kingery and Bill Pecota, Cox retired the last 11 batters in a row. “He dominated,” St. Petersburg catcher Barry Sayler told the St. Petersburg Times. “He was working the inside of the plate, mixed his fastball and slider, and threw hard.”

Cox credited the advice he received from St. Petersburg teammate and closer Mark Riggins (who went on to become pitching coach of the St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds). “I started off throwing my fastball inside, and then Mark Riggins told me to take a little off my slider and mess up their timing,” Cox said to the St. Petersburg Times. “I was wanting to win real bad.”

Five days later, in a rematch at Fort Myers, Cox, with relief help from Riggins, again beat Saberhagen in a 7-2 St. Petersburg triumph.

On the rise

After five starts for St. Petersburg (2-2, 2.53 ERA), Cox was promoted to Class AA Arkansas. Playing for manager Nick Leyva, Cox was 8-3 with a 2.29 ERA in 11 starts. In July, he got promoted again, to manager Jim Fregosi’s Class AAA Louisville club. Cox made two starts for Louisville and pitched well (2.45 ERA).

Then came a special audition. The St. Louis Cardinals chose him to start against the Baltimore Orioles in the Baseball Hall of Fame exhibition game at Cooperstown, N.Y., on Aug. 1.

The Orioles, on their way to an American League pennant and World Series championship in 1983, were limited to three hits and no runs in the six innings Cox worked against them. “He was very impressive,” Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Herzog wanted to see more. The Cardinals put Cox on their roster. His next start came in a big-league game against the Phillies.

Tough task

Cox’s debut assignment was daunting. The opposing starter, Steve Carlton, had dominated the Cardinals since being traded by them to the Phillies in 1972.

The matchup was intriguing for other reasons as well:

_ Chase Riddle, head coach of Troy’s baseball team when Cox pitched there, was the Cardinals scout who signed Carlton two decades earlier.

_ Like Cox, Carlton also impressed the Cardinals by pitching well in a Hall of Fame exhibition game. On July 25, 1966, Carlton, 21, was at Class AAA Tulsa when the Cardinals chose him to start against the Minnesota Twins in the Cooperstown exhibition. Carlton pitched a complete game, striking out nine, and was the winning pitcher. He never went back to the minors.

Carlton and Cox engaged in a mighty duel. The ace was in top form, pitching nine scoreless innings. The newcomer matched him, then surpassed him, pitching a scoreless 10th after Carlton was relieved by Al Holland.

Cox “didn’t look like a rookie to me,” Joe Morgan told the Associated Press. “I was really impressed by the way he located his pitches and hit the corners.”

Phillies manager Paul Owens said to the Philadelphia Inquirer, “He moved the ball around and threw strikes. That kid was excellent.”

Bruce Sutter, who hadn’t pitched in a week because of the funeral of his father, took over for Cox in the 11th and gave up a run. The 1-0 victory moved the Phillies ahead of the Pirates and into first place in the National League East.

“That was a World Series type of game,” Owens told the Inquirer. “Nobody even left the park.”

Morgan said, “These are the games that win pennants.”

Indeed, the Phillies went on to become National League champions in 1983. Boxscore

Sweet win

In his next start, Cox gave up a grand slam to ex-Cardinal Leon Durham and was beaten by the Cubs. Boxscore

His first win came in his fourth start on Aug, 21. Matched against Nolan Ryan and the Astros, Cox prevailed in a 5-2 Cardinals victory. Cox pitched 7.2 innings and allowed two runs. Ryan surrendered five runs in six innings. Cox also got his first big-league hit in that game, a single against Ryan in a two-run sixth. Boxscore

Cox made 12 starts for the 1983 Cardinals and was 3-6 with a 3.25 ERA. He pitched a total of 218 innings _ 129.1 in the minors, 83 with the Cardinals and another six in the Hall of Fame exhibition game.

Money ball

Two years later, Cox had his best year in the majors. He was 18-9 for the Cardinals during the 1985 regular season, flirted with a perfect game bid against the Reds, and won Game 3 of the National League Championship Series versus the Dodgers.

The 1985 World Series matched Cox and the Cardinals against Bret Saberhagen and the Royals. In starts against Joaquin Andujar and John Tudor, Saberhagen beat the Cardinals twice, including Game 7, and was named most valuable player of the World Series. Cox was just as good but not as fortunate. He started Games 2 and 6, allowed just two runs in 14 total innings, but didn’t get a decision in either game.

Cox helped the Cardinals win another pennant in 1987. He shut out the Giants in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series. Video

In the World Series versus the Twins, Cox won Game 5, beating Bert Blyleven, but was the losing pitcher in relief of Joe Magrane in Game 7.

In six seasons with St. Louis, Cox was 56-56. As a reliever with the 1993 Blue Jays, he got to be part of a World Series championship club.

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Don Durham had a hit-or-miss stint with Cardinals

Posted in Games, Hitters, Pitchers on July 16, 2023| 13 Comments »

On a team with little pop, pitcher Don Durham qualified as somewhat of a slugger for the Cardinals.

A rookie right-hander with St. Louis in 1972, Durham had as many home runs (two) as wins (two). He batted .500 (seven hits in 14 at-bats) and had a slugging percentage of .929.

Durham was part of a Cardinals pitching trio, along with Bob Gibson and Rick Wise, that provided as much power as some of the infielders and outfielders.

Gibson (five), Durham (two) and Wise (one) combined for eight home runs on a club that ranked last in the 12-team National League in home runs (70) in 1972.

Catcher Ted Simmons (16) and third baseman Joe Torre (11) were the lone 1972 Cardinals to reach double digits in home runs. They and outfielder Bernie Carbo (seven) were the only Cardinals with more home runs than Gibson that year.

Even Durham, with his two in 14 at-bats, had as many home runs as second baseman Ted Sizemore (two in 439 at-bats) and center fielder Jose Cruz (two in 332 at-bats), and more than shortstop Dal Maxvill (one in 276 at-bats) and third baseman Ken Reitz (none in 78 at-bats).

Promising prospect

Though born in Kentucky, Durham was a resident of the Ohio village of Arlington Heights near Cincinnati between the ages of 6 and 9, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. He played Little League baseball there and faithfully followed the 1950s Reds, The Sporting News reported,

At Western Kentucky University, Durham was a first baseman and pitcher. Though slender at 6 feet and less than 170 pounds, he threw hard and hit for power.

In a 1969 doubleheader versus Austin Peay, Durham started and won the first game, then belted a grand slam to help Western Kentucky complete the sweep, according to The Park City Daily News of Bowling Green, Ky. A year later, he struck out 14 in pitching a no-hitter against Bellarmine. Durham led the team in hitting (.418) his final season, according to The Sporting News.

On the recommendation of scout Mo Mozzali (who signed Ted Simmons three years earlier), the Cardinals chose Durham in the seventh round of the 1970 draft. After a strong season with Class A Modesto in 1971 (13-7, 2.80 ERA, 202 strikeouts in 177 innings, plus a .240 batting average), the Cardinals decided Durham should bypass Class AA and move to Class AAA Tulsa in 1972.

On June 3, 1972, Durham pitched a shutout and hit a home run against Indianapolis. The two-run homer came after Durham fouled off two pitches trying to bunt and then was told by manager Jack Krol to swing away. “I’ve always been proud of my hitting,” Durham said to the Tulsa World.

Four days later, with Tulsa ahead, 1-0, in the last of the ninth inning at Evansville, Durham needed one out to complete a no-hitter, but Bob Coluccio grounded a single to left. Exasperated, Durham flung his glove into the air. After a brief discussion with Krol on the mound, Durham faced Darrell Porter, who the night before lined a two-out, two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth to lift Evansville to a 4-2 victory.

On Durham’s first pitch to him, Porter lofted a high fly that carried over the fence, barely beyond the reach of right fielder Bob Wissler, for a game-winning home run. “To tell you the truth, I didn’t think I hit the ball that good,” Porter said to Tom Tuley of The Evansville Press. “I thought it was going to be caught.”

Sitting alone on the dugout steps after going from possible no-hitter to losing pitcher in two pitches, Durham told Tuley, “I’m still in shock.”

Fitting in

A week later, Durham, 23, was called up to the Cardinals and put into the starting rotation, even though he had pitched only a partial season at a level higher than Class A.

He made his big-league debut against his boyhood favorite, the Reds, at St. Louis on July 16, 1972. The first batter he faced, Pete Rose, grounded out. The next, Joe Morgan, flied out. In the second inning, Durham struck out the side. One of the victims was Tony Perez.

Durham went seven innings, allowed three runs, got little support and was the losing pitcher in a 4-1 Reds triumph. Bobby Tolan hit a solo home run _ the only homer Durham would allow in 47.2 innings for the 1972 Cardinals.

“The kid had good stuff,” Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “He’s going to be a good pitcher. He had a good fastball and his control was good. We just didn’t get a break for him.”

Reds manager Sparky Anderson told the Dayton Daily News, “The kid had a good fastball and he kept it around the plate real well.”

According to the Post-Dispatch, Cardinals catcher Ted Simmons nicknamed Durham “The Rattlesnake” because of the way he uncoiled as he delivered a pitch. Boxscore

Tough going

On Aug. 4, 1972, when the Phillies faced the Cardinals, the starting pitchers had a combined season record of 0-11. Ken Reynolds was 0-8 and Durham was 0-3.

In the second inning, using a Bob Gibson bat, Durham got his first big-league hit, a three-run home run on a fastball down the chute from Reynolds. Then he retired the Phillies in order in the second through fifth innings and contributed two more hits, both singles. “If ever a pitcher seemed destined for victory, Durham was the guy,” the Post-Dispatch noted.

It wasn’t to be, though. The Phillies scored six runs in the eighth and won, 8-3. “Sitting forlornly in the clubhouse,” Durham was “so despondent he could hardly bring himself to talk,” the Post-Dispatch reported. 

He described himself to the newspaper as “a choke artist.” Boxscore

Giant killer

After losing a fifth consecutive decision, Durham finally got his first big-league win on Aug. 18, 1972, against the Giants at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

In addition to limiting the Giants to a run in 6.1 innings before being relieved by Diego Segui, Durham scored the Cardinals’ first two runs. Using a Ted Simmons bat, he singled and scored in the third and walloped a hanging slider from Jim Willoughby for a solo home run in the fifth.

After the game, Durham went around the clubhouse, getting autographs on a baseball from all of his teammates, the Post-Dispatch reported.

“My confidence has been restored,” Durham told the Post-Dispatch. Boxscore

Durham got one more win and again it came against the Giants. Facing a lineup with the likes of Bobby Bonds, Willie McCovey and Dave Kingman, Durham pitched a three-hitter. He also stroked two singles _ one against Juan Marichal and the other versus Sam McDowell.

“After the first inning, I zeroed in nicely on the outside zone and took the power away from their big hitters,” Durham told the San Francisco Examiner. Boxscore

End game

Durham pitched in 10 games, making eight starts, for the 1972 Cardinals and was 2-7 with a 4.34 ERA.

At some point, he experienced elbow problems and was sent back to Tulsa for the 1973 season.

On July 16, 1973, the Cardinals traded Durham to the Texas Rangers, who were managed by Whitey Herzog. The American League had the designated hitter rule, so Durham didn’t get a chance to bat. When he pitched, he wasn’t effective.

After posting a record of 0-4 with a 7.59 ERA for the 1973 Rangers, Durham, 24, was finished in the big leagues.

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