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Lou Brock, Bob Gibson give their best in MLK tribute

Posted in Games, Hitters, Managers, Pitchers on March 18, 2025| 11 Comments »

In a fundraising game to honor the memory of slain civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., two of the top performers on a genuine field of dreams were Cardinals Lou Brock and Bob Gibson.

On March 28, 1970, the East-West Major League Baseball Classic was played at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. According to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the Saturday afternoon exhibition netted more than $30,000 for two beneficiaries:

_ Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a regional organization founded by King and others in 1957 to help coordinate grassroots efforts in civil rights and voting rights activities.

_ Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, also known as King Center. Located in Atlanta, the center was founded in 1968 by Coretta Scott King to preserve and advance her husband’s legacy. It houses a library, archives and exhibits. It’s also the burial site of Dr. King and his wife.

Most of baseball’s top players participated in the game, taking time out from spring training to show their support for King and his mission.

Baseball tribute

After King was assassinated on April 4, 1968 (the convicted murderer, James Earl Ray, was born in Alton, Illinois, 20 miles north of St. Louis), Bob Gibson spoke with emotion about the bitterness and frustration he felt. In his autobiography, “Stranger to the Game,” Gibson said, “I reeled from the impact of the assassination _ the cold-blooded murder of the one man in my lifetime who had been able to capture the public’s attention about racial injustice, break through some of the age-old social barriers and raise the spirits and hopes of black people across the country.”

According to the Baseball Hall of Fame, shortly after King was killed, ballplayers asked King’s associates what they could do as a public tribute to him, Joseph Peters, sports project director for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, explained in a November 1968 letter to baseball commissioner William Eckert.

When Southern Christian Leadership Conference members suggested a fundraising game, Major League Baseball officials agreed to cooperate. The game initially was planned for March 1969, but the Southern Christian Leadership Conference asked for more time. That’s why the event was held in March 1970.

Though spring training exhibitions were under way, every big-league team made players available for the fundraising game and paid their expenses, the Associated Press reported.

Among those who came to Los Angeles to play were Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks, Johnny Bench, Lou Brock, Orlando Cepeda, Roberto Clemente, Bob Gibson, Reggie Jackson, Al Kaline, Willie Mays, Joe Morgan, Tony Oliva, Frank Robinson, Pete Rose, Ron Santo, Tom Seaver and Willie Stargell.

Mays traveled from Japan, where his club, the Giants, were playing goodwill games. In explaining why he made the long trip to Los Angeles, Mays told the Torrance Daily Breeze, “This cause is too important to pass up. At last, baseball players can show their feelings about the late Dr. King and his work through the medium of this game. I wouldn’t miss it.”

Players from the East divisions of the American and National leagues were placed on an East team. The West team had players from the West divisions of both leagues. That gave fans the chance to see Angels and Dodgers, Mets and Yankees, and Athletics and Giants perform as teammates.

Joe DiMaggio was chosen to manage the East team. His coaching staff: Billy Martin, John McNamara, Stan Musial and Satchel Paige.

The West team manager was Roy Campanella. His coaching staff: Don Drysdale, Elston Howard, Sandy Koufax and Don Newcombe.

Entertainer Bill Cosby held a reception for the teams at the Warner Brothers Studio the night before the game, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Star power

Starting lineups were selected by members of the Los Angeles-Anaheim chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America and the Southern California Sportscasters Association.

The East batting order: 1. Ron Fairly, first base; 2. Reggie Smith, center field; 3. Frank Robinson, right field; 4. Willie Stargell, left field; 5. Ron Santo, third base; 6. Ernie Banks, shortstop; 7. Don Buford, second base; 8. Tim McCarver, catcher; 9. Tom Seaver, pitcher.

Banks, 39, a Cubs first baseman, was at shortstop for the first time in nine years.

East bench warmers included Lou Brock, Roberto Clemente and Al Kaline.

The West batting order: 1. Maury Wills, shortstop; 2. Pete Rose, center field; 3. Hank Aaron, left field; 4. Reggie Jackson, right field; 5. Johnny Bench, catcher; 6. Orlando Cepeda, first base; 7. Joe Morgan, second base; 8. Sal Bando, third base; 9. Don Wilson, pitcher.

Willie Mays and Tony Oliva couldn’t crack the starting lineup.

Ticket prices ranged from $10 to $2. Among the 31,694 spectators for the 2 o’clock game were baseball pioneers Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby, baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn (successor to William Eckert) and entertainers Sammy Davis Jr. and Danny Kaye.

Mudcat Grant sang the national anthem, a recording of Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream” speech was played on the public address system, and Coretta Scott King threw the ceremonial first pitch to Johnny Bench.

(Bench, 22, impressed fellow catcher Roy Campanella, who told the Los Angeles Evening Citizen News, “Now there’s a kid who has it all. His future is unlimited.”)

A scheduled home run hitting contest featuring Frank Robinson, Ron Santo and Willie Stargell for the East versus Hank Aaron, Orlando Cepeda and Reggie Jackson for the West was canceled without explanation, the Long Beach Independent reported.

Aces prevail

The East’s pitching combination of Tom Seaver and Bob Gibson kept the West from scoring.

When Pete Rose batted in the first, Seaver surprised him with a blooper pitch. As Rose watched it drop into catcher Tim McCarver’s mitt, plate umpire Emmett Ashford gave his emphatic “stee-rike-ah” call. Rose stepped out of the box and smiled at Seaver, who grinned back. “It was a little slip curve,” Seaver told the Long Beach Independent. Rose finished the at-bat by flying out to left.

Seaver completed his three-inning scoreless stint with back-to-back strikeouts of Pete Rose and Hank Aaron. Then Bob Gibson took over and also held the West scoreless for three innings. The only hit against Gibson was a Sal Bando single.

Despite his performance, Gibson told Rich Roberts of the Long Beach Independent, “I sure didn’t feel good. I wouldn’t be telling no lie. I just used fastballs, but you better call them straight balls because they weren’t very fast.”

The East went ahead, 1-0, in the third when Ron Fairly hooked the first pitch from Lew Krausse into the stands in right, just inside the foul pole, for a home run. Ron Santo made it 2-0 when he led off the fourth with a homer to left against Krausse.

(Krausse was representing the Seattle Pilots, who were only a few days away from becoming the Milwaukee Brewers.)

Both managers substituted often, trying to get as many players as possible into the game. In a pinch-hit appearance, Willie Mays grounded into a force out.

The East went up 5-0 with three runs in the eighth against Mudcat Grant. After Al Kaline singled, Lou Brock lined a shot that carried over the head of left fielder Hank Aaron for a run-scoring double. A Roberto Clemente smash that eluded Maury Wills was ruled a double and scored Brock. Ken McMullen drove in Clemente with a single.

Facing Grant Jackson in the bottom half of the inning, the West scored a run when Willie Davis singled and came home on a Ken Berry double.

The East won, 5-1, but it wasn’t the outcome that mattered.

“I thank these fellows for giving their time,” West manager Roy Campanella told the Long Beach Independent.

As Pete Rose noted in a column he did for the Cincinnati Enquirer, “Even though it was an exhibition game, it had meaning … I feel good inside because I’ve contributed to a worthy cause.”

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Road to closer role for Bill Caudill began with Cardinals

Posted in Games, Pitchers, Trades on March 7, 2025| 6 Comments »

Batters might have thought Bill Caudill spelled his name with a K, for strikeout, because that’s what happened to many when trying to hit his fastball.

The correct spelling, though, was C, for closer, because that’s what Caudill became in the American League after beginning his career with the Cardinals.

The letter C also fit because this closer was a clubhouse cut-up who caught attention as much for his pranks as for his pitching.

Big-league prospect

As a high school starter in Redondo Beach, Calif., Caudill didn’t lose an Ocean League game in three varsity seasons. Coach Ken Wilson told the Torrance Daily Breeze, “He can really hum it. It used to be where one good catcher mitt would last the whole season, but I’ve had to buy two because he wears them out that quickly _ and I buy top-quality mitts.”

In June 1974, a month before he turned 18, Caudill was chosen by the Cardinals in the eighth round of the amateur draft.

(Of the Cardinals’ top 20 picks in 1974, the only two to reach the majors were shortstop Garry Templeton and Caudill. In the 28th round, St. Louis selected shortstop Paul Molitor, but he opted to attend college.)

Sent to the Cardinals’ rookie club in Sarasota, Fla., Caudill’s teammates included Scott Boras (the future agent), David Boyer (son of Ken Boyer), Lon Kruger (future head basketball coach of the NBA Atlanta Hawks and multiple college teams), Michael Pisarkiewicz (brother of NFL Cardinals quarterback Steve Pisarkiewicz) and Templeton.

Striking out 35 in 30 innings for Sarasota, Caudill was moved up to Class A St. Petersburg in 1975 and excelled there as a starter (14-8, including five shutouts). After Caudill, 19, pitched a one-hit shutout against the Tampa Tarpons, a Reds farm club, in the opening game of the Florida State League championship series, Cardinals director of player personnel Bob Kennedy told the St. Petersburg Times, “You looked at a big-league prospect tonight.”

A right-hander, Caudill went to Class AA Arkansas in 1976, struck out 140 in 140 innings, and was placed on the Cardinals’ 40-man winter roster.

Excited to be here

At his first big-league spring training camp in 1977, Caudill, 20, entered the Cardinals’ clubhouse and hardly could believe his eyes. “I saw Lou Brock and I was awed,” he told the Torrance Daily Breeze.

When Caudill’s hometown team, the Dodgers, arrived for an exhibition game, he stood near the batting cage and marveled at being among hitters he followed as a youth. “These players were just names to me not that long ago,” Caudill said to the Daily Breeze. “(Steve) Garvey, (Ron) Cey, (Davey) Lopes. This is something else. These are guys I watched on television. I paid to see them at Dodger Stadium. I think it’s an honor just to be here on the same field with them.”

Cardinals veterans were “all nice guys,” Caudill told the Torrance newspaper. “They call me Rook … They all came up to introduce themselves and wish me good luck. I dress next to (catcher) Dave Rader. He talks to me. He’s a serious fellow, an established major leaguer, and I listen to him. He helps me, and I appreciate it.”

In his first exhibition game appearance, against the Mets, Caudill’s nervousness showed. He pitched two innings and didn’t allow a hit, but he walked four, hit two batters with pitches and committed a balk.

“Sometimes I sit on the bench sort of in a daze,” Caudill said to the Daily Breeze. “It seems just like yesterday when I was in my high school uniform. I used to listen to these games on the radio.”

The Cardinals planned to have Caudill begin the season at Class AAA, but just before the end of spring training they traded him to the Reds for Joel Youngblood. The Reds initially asked for pitcher Doug Capilla, but the Cardinals countered with Caudill, the Dayton Daily News reported. (Three months later, the Cardinals sent Capilla to the Reds for Rawly Eastwick.)

Windy City welcome

In October 1977, the Reds sought to acquire Cubs pitcher Bill Bonham. Bob Kennedy was now the Cubs general manager. According to the Chicago Tribune, he told the Reds he would make the deal only if they included Caudill, who’d spent the season in the minors. “I raised him as a baby … He’s going to be a good one,” Kennedy told the Tribune.

The Reds accepted the terms, trading Caudill and Woodie Fryman for Bonham.

After more time in the minors, Caudill, 22, reached the big leagues with the Cubs in May 1979. Used as both starter and reliever, he showed promise but experienced growing pains. Caudill struck out 104 in 90 innings. “He’s the hardest thrower in the league,” the Cardinals’ Keith Hernandez, the 1979 National League batting champion, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. However, Caudill also gave up 16 home runs, including four in one game against the Dodgers.

With a season record of 0-7, Caudill made his final appearance of 1979 in a relief stint against the Pirates at Pittsburgh. In the 11th inning, with two on and the score tied at 6-6, he struck out slugger Willie Stargell. After the Cubs went ahead with a run in the 13th, Stargell came up with two on and two outs. “I was shaking,” Caudill told the Chicago Tribune. “I had to step off the mound and forget who he was.”

Stargell whiffed again, ending the game and giving Caudill his first win in the majors. “All I threw were fastballs, inside and outside,” Caudill said to The Pittsburgh Press.

Told of Caudill’s comment, Stargell’s teammate, Dave Parker, replied, “That’s all he needs. He’s a good pitcher with good stuff.” Boxscore

No fun

The Cubs made Caudill a reliever in 1980. By September, their bullpen consisted of two future Hall of Famers (Bruce Sutter and Lee Smith), a future American League Most Valuable Player and Cy Young Award winner (Willie Hernandez), the 1980 National League leader in games pitched (Dick Tidrow) and Caudill.

Caudill fit in amid all that talent. In 72 appearances, his ERA was 2.19.

Emboldened by the bullpen depth, the Cubs traded Sutter to the Cardinals, but Caudill regressed in 1981 (5.83 ERA). He said one reason for his poor season was he followed the club’s orders to lose weight. Caudill claimed he dropped at least 20 pounds “but I lost about two feet off my fastball, too,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “My strikeout pitch turned into a single or double pitch.”

Cubs management suggested Caudill’s ineffectiveness was caused by too many late nights on the town. “I found he couldn’t put his body down at night,” Cubs manager Lee Elia told Sports Illustrated. “History had shown here that he couldn’t adapt to day games.”

Caudill said to the magazine, “Show me a Chicago Cub without sacks under his eyes and I’ll show you a Cub who’s only been with the team two weeks.”

Responding to criticism that he was a boisterous presence in the clubhouse, Caudill told Newsday, “The Cubs didn’t really care for all that emotion. It was more like putting on a business suit than a uniform there.”

Elementary, dear Watson

On April 1, 1982, the Cubs sent Caudill to the Yankees, completing a deal for Pat Tabler. Caudill was a Yankee for less than 30 minutes. George Steinbrenner’s club flipped him to the Mariners almost as soon as they acquired him. Regarding his fleeting moments as a Yankee, Caudill told the Los Angeles Times, “Maybe Steinbrenner will send me one pinstripe to put on my mantel.”

Caudill, 25, felt right at home with the Mariners, who made him the closer and encouraged his free spiritedness.

After the Mariners returned from a road trip ruined by a lack of clutch hitting, Caudill reached into his hat collection, pulled out a deerstalker cap and did his best Sherlock Holmes impersonation. “I went up to the bat rack and told everybody I was going to solve The Case of the Missing Hits,” Caudill told the Los Angeles Times. “I took out every bat, looked them over, held them up to my ear and shook them. I threw about four in the trash can. Those were the rotten apples. Now they’re out of the barrel and we’re ready to go.”

Sure enough, the Mariners began producing timely hits. Caudill got dubbed “The Inspector” _ as in Peter Sellers’ Inspector Clouseau _ and was greeted with Henry Mancini’s “The Pink Panther Theme” from the organist whenever he entered a home game. Fans sent him magnifying glasses.

During a rain delay in Detroit, Caudill came onto the field wearing a Beldar the Conehead mask and a jersey of teammate Gaylord Perry with a pillow stuffed underneath. Caudell did an impersonation of the spitball pitcher, “wiping grease from behind his ears and off his eyebrows,” Sports Illustrated noted.

The show ended when Perry tackled Caudill. Though Perry did so good naturedly, “Dick Butkus couldn’t have hit me any harder,” Caudill told the Chicago Tribune.

On another night, Caudill shaved off half his beard. “I told everybody that since we were playing half-assed, I might as well pitch half-bearded,” he told the Sacramento Bee.

Ups and downs

Caudill had 12 wins, 26 saves and 111 strikeouts in 95.2 innings for the 1982 Mariners. The next year, he again earned 26 saves for them. Traded to the Athletics, he posted nine wins and 36 saves in 1984, then got dealt to the Blue Jays for Dave Collins, Alfredo Griffin and cash.

Represented by his former Cardinals minor-league teammate, agent Scott Boras, Caudill got a five-year contract from the Blue Jays. His stay with them, though, was much shorter.

Caudill was removed from the closer role during the 1985 season and replaced by Tom Henke. The next year, shoulder and elbow problems limited Caudill’s effectiveness. Released by the Blue Jays in April 1987, he returned to the Athletics, but broke his right hand when he punched a man Caudill said grabbed his wife in a hotel parking lot, the Associated Press reported. At 31, Caudill was done as a big-league pitcher.

He went to work for Scott Boras and also coached youth baseball. One of the players he instructed, Blake Hawksworth, said Caudill taught him a changeup. Hawksworth used the pitch to reach the majors with the Cardinals in 2009.

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How Ryan Kurosaki got lost in Cardinals system

Posted in Games, Pitchers, Prospects, tagged , , , , on February 24, 2025| 7 Comments »

As an amateur pitcher, Ryan Kurosaki experienced a dramatic change in climate, landscape and culture, leaving the tropical paradise of Hawaii after high school and going to the prairies of Nebraska to attend college.

After making that transition, a leap from the minors at Arkansas to big-league St. Louis might seem feasible, but it turned out to be too much too soon.

Fifty years ago, in 1975, as a right-handed reliever with barely more than a year of professional experience, Kurosaki was called up to the Cardinals from Class AA Little Rock. After only a month with St. Louis, Kurosaki was sent back to Arkansas and never returned to the big leagues.

A pitcher whose job it was to put out fires, Kurosaki built a second career as a professional firefighter.

Aloha

A grandson of Japanese immigrants, Kurosaki developed an interest in baseball as a youth in Honolulu. In June 1962, when he was 9, Kurosaki was among a group of pee-wee players shown receiving instruction from Irv Noren, manager of the minor-league Hawaii Islanders, in a photo published in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.

Kurosaki eventually became a standout pitcher for Kalani High School. As a senior in 1970, he helped Kalani win a state championship. Lenn Sakata, the club’s junior shortstop, recalled to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that Kurosaki “was captain of our team. We looked up to him. He was the leader.”

(Sakata went on to play 11 seasons in the majors with the Brewers, Orioles, Athletics and Yankees.)

Dave Murakami, a Hawaiian who played baseball for the University of Nebraska in the 1950s, recommended Kurosaki to Cornhuskers head coach Tony Sharpe, who offered a scholarship. At Murakami’s urging, Kurosaki accepted.

Asked in May of his freshman year about making the adjustment from Hawaii to Nebraska, Kurosaki told the Omaha World-Herald, “It is a lot different … I still miss Hawaii. When you’re stuck in the snow, you get that way.”

Any feelings of homesickness didn’t prevent Kurosaki from developing into a reliable starter for Nebraska. Highlights during his three seasons there included shutouts of Kansas State, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.

In the summers after his sophomore and junior seasons, Kurosaki pitched for a semipro team in Kansas managed by former big-league outfielder Bob Cerv. “That’s where I developed my slider,” Kurosaki told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.

Pitching well in the National Baseball Congress Tournament, Kurosaki impressed Cardinals scouting supervisor Byron Humphrey. Opting to forgo his senior season at Nebraska, Kurosaki, 21, signed with the Cardinals in August 1973.

Fast rise

Assigned to Class A Modesto of the California League, Kurosaki had a splendid first season in the Cardinals’ system in 1974. Playing for manager Lee Thomas, Kurosaki was 7-3 with six saves. He struck out 74 in 71 innings and had a 2.28 ERA. “Ryan has a great slider and keeps the ball low,” Thomas told the Modesto Bee. “He’s everything you want in a relief pitcher.”

Promoted to Class AA Arkansas for his second pro season in 1975, Kurosaki baffled Texas League batters. In his first 11 relief appearances covering 21 innings, he didn’t allow an earned run and was 4-0 with four saves.

In May, the Cardinals demoted starter John Denny to Tulsa, moved reliever Elias Sosa into the rotation and brought up Kurosaki to take Sosa’s bullpen spot.

When Arkansas manager Roy Majtyka informed Kurosaki he was headed to the big leagues, the pitcher called his parents in Hawaii. “The family went crazy when I gave them the news,” Kurosaki told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I still can’t believe I’m up here.”

As he recalled to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, “I was in awe when I reported. My teammates included Lou Brock and Bob Gibson.”

The Cardinals assigned first baseman Ron Fairly, 36, to be the road roommate of Kurosaki, 22, and help him get acclimated. Kurosaki was 6 when Fairly debuted in the majors with the 1958 Dodgers.

Good start

When Kurosaki entered his first game for the Cardinals on May 20, 1975, at San Diego, he became the first American of full Japanese ancestry to play in the majors, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported.

(The first Japanese native to play in the big leagues was pitcher Masanori Murakami with the 1964 Giants. The first Asian-born player with the Cardinals was Japanese outfielder So Taguchi in 2002.)

Kurosaki’s debut was a good one. He worked 1.2 innings against the Padres, allowing no runs or hits. Boxscore

His next three outings _ one against the Dodgers (two innings, one run allowed) and two versus the Reds _ had many pluses, too.

On May 31 against the Reds, Kurosaki retired Johnny Bench, Dan Driessen, Cesar Geronimo and Dave Concepcion before giving up a solo home run to George Foster. Boxscore

The next day, Kurosaki held the Reds scoreless in two innings of work. He gave up two singles but retired Joe Morgan, Bench, Driessen, Concepcion, Foster and Jack Billingham. Morgan and Foster struck out. Boxscore

In four appearances for the Cardinals, Kurosaki had a 2.45 ERA.

Rough patch

After that, Kurosaki faltered. He allowed four runs in less than an inning against the Reds, gave up a three-run homer to Cliff Johnson of the Astros, and allowed three runs in 1.2 innings versus the Pirates. Relieving Bob Gibson (making his first relief appearance since 1965) at Pittsburgh, Kurosaki gave up singles to pitcher Bruce Kison and Rennie Stennett. Kison stole third and scored on Kurosaki’s balk. (Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst got ejected for contesting the balk call.) Boxscore

Kurosaki was sent back to Arkansas. Little did he know his big-league days were over. His totals in seven appearances for the Cardinals: 7.62 ERA, with 15 hits allowed, including three home runs, in 13 innings.

“I think they might have brought me up a little too quick,” Kurosaki said to the Omaha World-Herald. “It’s tough on you mentally when you’re somewhere you know you don’t belong. I knew that I didn’t belong in St. Louis. I knew that I wasn’t pitching for them the way I knew I could pitch.”

Reflecting on Kurosaki’s stint with St. Louis, former American League umpire Bill Valentine, who became Arkansas general manager in 1976, told 501 Life Magazine of Conway, Ark., “It was one of the silliest things the Cardinals ever did … No way he could be ready.”

Getting sent back to Little Rock did have one significant benefit for Kurosaki: He met Sandra McGee there in 1975 and they married in 1978.

Sounding the alarm

Based on his work at Arkansas, it was reasonable to think Kurosaki would be heading back to St. Louis at some point. He was 7-2 with seven saves and a 2.03 ERA for Arkansas in 1975; 5-2 with six saves and a 3.25 ERA in 1976.

After two good seasons at Class AA, Kurosaki expected a promotion to Class AAA in 1977 but instead the Cardinals sent him back to Arkansas. Once again, he delivered, with 14 saves and five wins.

So it was tough for Kurosaki to take when the Cardinals told him to report to Arkansas for a fourth consecutive season in 1978.

“Same old story year after year,” Kurosaki told the Omaha World-Herald. “They told me I could go to the Mexican League, but I said I wouldn’t go. I asked them to trade me, but they wouldn’t. They told me it was either the Mexican League or Little Rock. It is getting to the point where I’m thinking that if the Cardinals don’t have any plans for me, perhaps it would be better if I went somewhere else.”

The Cardinals wanted Kurosaki to develop a screwball or forkball to go with his slider and sinker, The Sporting News and Honolulu Star-Bulletin reported.

Kurosaki, 26, earned 11 saves for 1978 Arkansas and finally got a mid-season promotion _ to Springfield, Ill., where he was 5-2 with three saves and a 2.40 ERA for the Class AAA club.

A second chance at the majors, though, wasn’t offered. As Bill Valentine suggested to 501 Life Magazine, the Cardinals “forgot about him.”

Kurosaki spent two more years in the minors, then was finished playing pro baseball at 28.

In 1982, after a year with the Benton (Ark.) Fire Department, Kurosaki began a 32-year career with the Little Rock Fire Department, retiring as a captain in 2014.

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Lou Brock facing Bob Veale was some sight to see

Posted in Games, Pitchers on January 20, 2025| 13 Comments »

A big man with poor eyesight, left-hander Bob Veale threw as hard as any pitcher in baseball. He had one of the best sliders in the game and a fastball, as Sports Illustrated put it, “that leaves a vapor trail.”

Standing 6-foot-6 and weighing 220 to 280 pounds, Veale made some of the National League’s best hitters look inept. Lou Brock (.194 in 93 at-bats), Willie McCovey (.188 in 48 at-bats) and Ernie Banks (.108 in 83 at-bats) had career batting averages below .200 against Veale.

Their figures seemed robust, however, compared with those of Eddie Mathews. A slugger who totaled 2,315 hits, including 512 home runs, Mathews was hitless in 29 career at-bats versus Veale, striking out 16 times. Asked by The Pittsburgh Press in 1964 to compare Veale with Sandy Koufax, Mathews said, “Koufax has the better curve; Veale the better slider. I wouldn’t want to earn a living batting exclusively against either one.”

Nevertheless, Mathews said Juan Marichal was the toughest pitcher he faced, according to the Baseball Hall of Fame Yearbook. Banks picked Koufax. Brock and McCovey chose Veale.

In his autobiography, “Stealing Is My Game,” Brock said of Veale, “He just gave me fits … He could blow the ball past me like I was a birthday candle. He threw about as hard as anyone I ever faced in the major leagues.”

Veale wanted to play for the Cardinals when he turned pro. Instead, he joined the Pirates after the Cardinals opted for another left-hander, Ray Sadecki.

An 18-game winner in 1964 when he led National League pitchers in both strikeouts (250) and walks (124), Veale was 89 when he died on Jan. 7, 2025.

Steely determination

A pitcher who spent most of his big-league playing career in the Steel City of Pittsburgh, Veale was from the steel capital of the south, Birmingham, Ala.

Veale grew up in the family home on Lomb Avenue, a few blocks from Rickwood Field, the ballpark of the minor-league Birmingham Barons and the Negro League Birmingham Black Barons. His father pitched in the Negro League.

As a gangly youth, Veale spent his free time at Rickwood Field, doing jobs for Barons general manager Eddie Glennon. He worked in the concession stand and sometimes pitched batting practice. Among the players he saw there was a Black Barons outfielder, Willie Mays.

Veale was a teen when he pitched for the 24th Street Red Sox, a top industrial league team. He got an athletic scholarship to play baseball and basketball at St. Benedict’s College in Atchison, Kansas.

(Located on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River, St. Benedict’s College merged in 1971 with Mount St. Scholastica College and became Benedictine College.)

As a college basketball center, Veale showed “some of the smoothest post play the conference has seen in many years,” the Atchison Daily Globe reported. The New York Times described him as “the Bill Russell type,” because of his rebounding. In a charity game, Veale guarded Kansas center Wilt Chamberlain.

Baseball was the sport, though, that offered Veale the best chance at a pro career.

While in college, “I listened to every Cardinals game I could,” Veale told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He was elated when the Cardinals invited him to St. Louis for a tryout during his junior year in 1958.

The Cardinals, though, became enamored of another hard-throwing left-hander, Kansas high school pitcher Ray Sadecki. After they signed Sadecki to a big bonus, the Cardinals offered Veale much less _ minor-league money, “a few doughnuts, a couple of bats and some spikes,” Veale told the Post-Dispatch.

Tired of haggling with the Cardinals over money and feeling slighted _ “I knew Sadecki didn’t throw any harder than I did,” Veale said to reporter Neal Russo _ Veale tried out with the Pirates while they were in Chicago and signed with them.

Swinging and missing

Four years later, in 1962, Veale, 26, reached the majors, gaining a spot on the Opening Day roster. When the Pirates went to San Francisco to play the Giants, Willie Mays invited Veale and fellow Pirates rookie Donn Clendenon to his home after a game. According to The Pittsburgh Press, Mays advised Veale, “With your stuff, all you have to do is rear back and throw. Don’t mess around and be cute, trying to find the corners. You can throw hard enough to fool anybody and all you have to do is get the ball over.”

After two months with the 1962 Pirates, Veale was sent back to the minors. Pitching for Columbus (Ohio), he struck out 22 Buffalo batters in nine innings.

Pirates manager Danny Murtaugh used Veale as a reliever in 1963 and he dazzled (0.70 ERA in 27 games). Moved to the rotation in late August, Veale made seven starts, pitched two shutouts, including one against the Cardinals, and completed the season with an 0.93 ERA. Boxscore

That performance vaulted Veale to the top of the Pirates’ rotation in 1964. On a staff with Bob Friend and Vern Law, Veale got the Opening Day assignment and pitched like an ace that season. He struck out 16 in a game against the Reds and 15 versus the Braves. Boxscore and Boxscore

Entering the final day of the season, Veale had a league-leading 245 strikeouts and the Cardinals’ Bob Gibson was at 243. Neither was scheduled to start that day. However, during the Pirates’ game at Milwaukee, Veale learned that Gibson had relieved starter Curt Simmons during the Cardinals’ game with the Mets.

Concerned Gibson might surpass him to become the 1964 National League strikeout leader, Veale approached teammate Jerry Lynch, who was managing the Pirates that day. (With nothing at stake in their game with the Braves, Danny Murtaugh took the day off and let Lynch manage. Braves skipper Bobby Bragan did the same, having Eddie Mathews manage the club.)

According to the New York Times, Veale asked Lynch, “How about letting me pitch two innings and pick up a few (strikeouts)?” Lynch said yes.

With the Braves ahead 6-0, Veale pitched the sixth and seventh innings and struck out five consecutive batters, boosting his season total to 250. Gibson worked four innings and fanned two, giving him 245, and got the pennant-clinching win for St. Louis. Boxscore and Boxscore

Veale played a part in the Cardinals finishing in first place, a game ahead of the Phillies and Reds. He was 1-2 against the 1964 Cardinals and a combined 6-1 versus the Phillies and Reds.

Blinding speed

In a stretch from 1964-66, Veale lost six in a row to the Cardinals. Then he went 3-0 against them in 1967, the year the Cardinals became World Series champions.

Veale’s vision in his right eye was minus-2/20. In his autobiography, Lou Brock said, “He wore glasses that looked like the bottom of Coke bottles.”

In a game at St. Louis in May 1967, Veale had a 1-and-2 count on Brock and was wiping his glasses when a lens broke. Plate umpire Doug Harvey ordered Veale to pitch without the spectacles until a spare could be brought from the clubhouse, but Brock refused to stand in the batter’s box until Veale put on eyeglasses. “Even when he could see, Veale had trouble finding the plate with his pitches,” Brock explained in his autobiography.

Veale told the Post-Dispatch, “I can’t blame Brock. I see six people when I’m not wearing glasses.”

When the replacement pair arrived, after a lengthy delay, Veale struck out Brock on the next pitch. Boxscore

“Veale has developed one of the best sliders in the game,” Brock told the St. Louis newspaper. “I’ve always felt that for the first four or five innings, for sheer speed, he was faster than Sandy Koufax.”

According to the New York Times, after Veale struck out 16 Phillies in a game, their manager, Gene Mauch, said, “I’ve never seen such sustained fire.” Boxscore

Big Bob

From 1964-67, Veale had season win totals of 18, 17, 16 and 16.

Eventually, though, he didn’t stay in shape, gained too much weight and was moved to the bullpen. In 1971, when the Pirates became World Series champions, Veale was 6-0 but his ERA ballooned to 6.99. He spent most of 1972 in the minors before the Red Sox acquired him in September that year.

When he tipped the scales at 230 pounds in 1974, Veale told the Birmingham Post-Herald, “Two-thirty is a lot better than coming in at 280. I did that at Pittsburgh. When I came to Boston (in 1972), I came in at between 260 and 270.”

The 1973 Red Sox pitching staff included Luis Tiant (20 wins) and Veale (11 saves). Peter Gammons of the Boston Globe noted that Tiant and Veale could be found smoking cigars in the clubhouse whirlpool.

Veale completed his big-league career with a 120-95 record, 20 shutouts, 21 saves and 1,703 strikeouts in 1,926 innings. His 1,652 strikeouts with the Pirates are the most by a Pittsburgh left-hander. Veale averaged eight strikeouts per nine innings with Pittsburgh.

After a stint as a minor-league pitching instructor, Veale resided near the Rickwood ballpark in Birmingham “and often just shows up to help take care of the field,” the Birmingham Post-Herald reported.

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How Satchel Paige helped Browns become kings for a day

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers on January 2, 2025| 11 Comments »

For the 1953 St. Louis Browns, a downtrodden group accustomed to having the odds stacked against them, the numbers 14 and 18 added up to one in a million as they arrived in New York to play the Yankees.

Fourteen was the number of consecutive losses the Browns had suffered. Eighteen was how many the Yankees had won in a row. Recalling the team’s mindset entering the four-game series at home with the Browns, Mickey Mantle told “Voices From Cooperstown” author Anthony J. Connor, “We figured there’s at least four more wins.”

What the Yankees didn’t factor, though, was another number: 47. The oldest player in the majors, Browns pitcher Satchel Paige, turned 47 in 1953. At least that was his listed age. As the St. Louis Post-Dispatch suggested, Paige “is believed to be older than the American League,” which was formed in 1901.

Paige’s favorite number was zero. Those were the number of runs he allowed in securing the victory that ended the Browns’ skid and snapped the Yankees’ winning streak.

Together again

The story of Leroy “Satchel” Paige’s stint with St. Louis begins in July 1951. That was when Bill Veeck bought the Browns from Bill DeWitt Sr. and his brother, Charlie. A few days after Veeck closed the deal, he watched a dreary doubleheader in which Browns pitchers issued 15 walks to Philadelphia Athletics batters, losing both games. Boxscore and Boxscore

That’s when Veeck reached out to Paige, who was pitching for the Chicago American Giants of the Negro American League, and brought him back to the majors. “One thing about Satch is that he can get the ball over (the plate),” Veeck told the Post-Dispatch.

As owner of the Cleveland Indians, Veeck gave Paige his first shot at the big leagues, signing him in July 1948. Paige rewarded him, posting a 6-1 record and helping the Indians become World Series champions that year. After the following season, in 1949, Veeck sold the club and Paige was released by the new regime.

Senior league

Paige began pitching in baseball’s Negro League in 1927. He signed with the Browns on July 14, 1951, a week after he turned 45. Many suspected he was older than that. Even Veeck told the Post-Dispatch, “He’s at least 51.”

Trying to unravel the mystery of how ancient Paige was became baseball’s top parlor game. 

After attempting to determine Paige’s true age, columnist Henry McLemore of the McNaught Syndicate informed readers, “I have come to the conclusion that Satchel was 10th off the Ark, and that while the waters were receding he practiced his curveballs.”

Noting that Paige is “the only baseball player in the world whose birthdays run backward instead of forward,” the Post-Dispatch concluded, “While Satch may be 50, his arm is only 25.”

After joining the 1951 Browns, Paige was invited to attend a gathering of 700 scientists that summer at the International Gerontological Congress at the Hotel Jefferson in St. Louis. Paige was a guest of the group’s president, Dr. E.V. Cowdry, professor of anatomy at Washington University school of medicine.

The “purpose of the congress is the discussion of aging, a subject close to Satch’s heart,” the Post-Dispatch reported. “Satch told the scientists he is still going strong because he works every day in the summer, hunts every day in the winter, eats lots of seafood, shuns beer, whiskey, chicken livers and lamb, and likes to sleep.” He added, “When I smoke, I don’t inhale _ just blow it out my nose.”

Mound magician

After making two starts for the 1951 Browns, Paige was moved to the bullpen, a role that better suited a pitcher of his advanced years. In 20 relief appearances, he totaled three wins and six saves using what the New York Times described as “an amazing assortment of trick deliveries” that included a hesitation pitch. According to the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, the pitch got that name because when Paige threw it he went into a “big windup, stepped forward and stooped his body, but his arm continued in a wide arc” before he flipped the ball across the plate. “Damndest changeup pitch I ever saw,” Joe DiMaggio told the Times.

In a game against the Red Sox at Fenway Park, Paige got an 0-and-2 count on Ted Williams. On the next delivery, Paige went into a leisurely windup, and Williams moved forward in the batter’s box, expecting the hesitation pitch or something similar. Instead, Paige zipped a fastball, startling Williams, who swung late and missed for strike three.

Irate, Williams stomped to the dugout and “smashed his bat into pieces,” the Boston Globe reported. “He first whacked it against the railing of the runway leading to the dressing room. When that didn’t suffice, Williams flung the bat toward the rack. He still wasn’t satisfied, so he smashed it on the floor.”

During Ted’s tantrum, Paige was laughing on the mound, according to the Globe. He told the newspaper, “I’ve never seen anything like it in the big leagues. He was sore because I crossed him up.” Boxscore

For his career, Williams batted .222 (2 for 9) versus Paige. Both hits were singles. That was better than Joe DiMaggio did. The Yankee Clipper went hitless (with three strikeouts) in eight at-bats against Paige.

[In his induction speech at the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966, Williams said, “I hope Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson somehow will be inducted here as symbols of the great Negro (League) players who are not here because they were not given a chance.”]

Winners and losers

In 1952, Paige had 12 wins, 10 saves and a 3.07 ERA for the Browns. His last season with them was 1953.

The 1953 Browns lost nine in a row in May. Then came the 14-game skid in June. All 14 losses came at home. The Browns took a 19-38 record into the June 16 series opener against the Yankees at New York. Winners of 18 in a row, the Yankees were 41-11. Furthermore, their starting pitcher for the first game was Whitey Ford, who, in two seasons with them, was 16-0 as a starter.

A former Yankee, Duane Pillette, was matched against Ford that night. Pillette’s ERA for the season was 5.73.

What should have been a mismatch turned out to be a competitive contest. The Browns scored three runs against Ford, who was lifted after five innings. Pillette limited the Yankees to one run through seven.

In the eighth, after Billy Martin singled with one out, Pillette went to a 2-and-0 count on Joe Collins. Browns manager Marty Marion opted to lift Pillette for Paige.

(Perhaps looking to change the Browns’ luck, Marion, the former Cardinals shortstop, put himself in the starting lineup that night for the only time in 1953. Furthermore, he played third base for the first time in his career.)

Paige ambled from the bullpen to the mound. It took him about 10 minutes to stroll out there, according to the New York Daily News. As the Globe-Democrat noted, “His pants cuff was dragging but there was nothing wrong with the elastic in his arm.”

His first pitch to Collins was out of the strike zone, making the count 3-and-0. Then he retired him on a soft fly. After falling behind 3-and-0 to Irv Noren, Paige got him to pop out to the catcher.

With the Browns still holding a 3-1 lead, Mickey Mantle led off the bottom of the ninth against Paige. With two strikes, Mantle decided to try for a bunt single. In the book “Voices From Cooperstown,” Mantle said a bunt made sense to him because Paige “couldn’t hardly get off the mound.”

“I knew that if I could poke it past him I could beat him to first base,” Mantle said to the New York Times.

Instead, Mantle fouled the ball back to the screen on the bunt attempt, striking out. (More than a decade later, according to the Times, Mantle’s decision to bunt still rankled Whitey Ford. “That was a really stupid play,” Ford told Mantle. “I was so mad at you.” Mantle replied, “I still say it’s not necessarily such a bad play.”)

Paige retired Yogi Berra for the second out, but Gene Woodling singled, bringing Gil McDougald to the plate. Paige fell behind in the count, then got McDougald to pop up in foul territory, but catcher Les Moss dropped the ball.

McDougald fouled off two more pitches. As the Globe-Democrat noted, Paige “got the last bit of good theatre and ham out of the situation.”

With the count 3-and-2, McDougald popped up again _ this time in fair territory, near the mound. Marty Marion, who hadn’t made a play all night, rushed over from his spot near third base and caught the ball for the final out.

In the jubilant clubhouse, Satchel Paige said to the Associated Press, “Man, there’s no team I like to beat better than them Yankees.” Boxscore

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Stubby Overmire came up big for Browns vs. Yankees

Posted in Games, Pitchers, Trades on December 13, 2024| 8 Comments »

(Updated Jan. 14, 2025)

A little guy with a big heart, Stubby Overmire pitched for one of baseball’s weaklings and beat up the league’s biggest bully.

On Dec. 15, 1949, the St. Louis Browns obtained Overmire from the Tigers on waivers for $10,000.

Frank Overmire got the nickname Stubby because he was short (5-foot-7, or less) and stout, and, as Joe Falls of the Detroit Free Press noted, he barely could wrap his stubby fingers around a baseball.

Relying on a dinky curve and a knuckleball, Overmire joined a cast of misfits on the 1950 Browns, a team that finished 58-96 in the American League. Against the first-place Yankees, the Browns were 5-17. Overmire won three of those _ and nearly earned a fourth.

Tigers territory

A Michigan native, Overmire went to high school in Grand Rapids and to college at Western Michigan. Even then, “I never had much of a fastball,” he told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I was winning with the curve.”

Signed by the Tigers for $500 after earning a bachelor of science degree in physical education in 1941, Overmire spent two seasons in the minors. Shortly before he turned 24 in 1943, he made his big-league debut in a start at Cleveland and completed a five-hitter for the win. “The chunky Grand Rapids youth pitched with poise and finesse,” the Free Press noted. Boxscore

Overmire followed that with a four-hitter for a win against the Browns. Boxscore

The rookie’s first shutout came against the Yankees on the Fourth of July at Detroit. In four starts versus the 1943 Yankees, who went on to prevail against the Cardinals in the World Series, Overmire crafted a 2.70 ERA. It was the start of many impressive performances in his career against the league’s top franchise. Boxscore

Championship season

Overmire won 11, including his last six decisions, in 1944, when the Tigers finished a game behind the league champion Browns. The next year, he contributed nine wins and four saves for the pennant-winning Tigers.

In the 1945 World Series with the Cubs, Overmire was the smallest player on either roster _ shorter than even Cubs left fielder Peanuts Lowrey. Getting the start in Game 3, Overmire stood tall, allowing two runs in six innings, but his counterpart, Claude Passeau, was better, pitching a one-hit shutout for the Cubs. Boxscore

“Overmire had little speed, but he was a smart pitcher,” The Sporting News noted.

He also was a likeable teammate. The Free Press deemed Overmire “hands-down winner of any popularity contest among Tigers players.”

Overmire, 28, reached a peak in 1947, with an 11-5 record, then never had another winning season. By 1949, the Tigers lost confidence in him. He totaled a mere 17.1 innings that year and had a 9.87 ERA.

Change of scenery

Being sent to St. Louis suited Overmire fine. “I’ll be glad to pitch for the Browns,” he told the Associated Press. “I certainly wasn’t being overworked in Detroit.”

Manager Zack Taylor picked Overmire to start the Browns’ 1950 home opener against Bob Feller and the Cleveland Indians, but the newcomer wasn’t up to the task. Overmire got knocked out in the second inning. Boxscore

Moved into a relief role, he was ineffective. Though his ERA for the season was 9.11, Overmire was given another chance to start on June 11 at Yankee Stadium.

What figured to be a mismatch instead was a thriller. Overmire and Vic Raschi put on a pitching clinic. Though he didn’t strike out a batter, Overmire limited the Yankees to one run, but he was a tough-luck loser. Raschi pitched a three-hit shutout for a 1-0 win.

The Yankees scored when a pair of pop flies, one by Cliff Mapes; the other by Hank Bauer, plopped in front of Browns fielders for hits in the same inning.

Joe Trimble of the New York Daily News wrote, “Runty Overmire was an amazing fellow to the Yankees … His soft stuff usually means improved batting averages, but he had the sluggers away off in their timing and the champs were mighty lucky to get the run.” Boxscore

Slow and steady

A week later, Overmire started against the Yankees again. Played before 2,824 on a Saturday afternoon at St. Louis, it was an unusual game. Yogi Berra stole a base. Joe DiMaggio went hitless and Ralph Houk got his only hit of the season.

Expertly mixing his pitches, Overmire baffled the batters, keeping the Yankees scoreless through eight. As the Post-Dispatch noted, “Overmire’s curve and tricky slow stuff succeeded where the fastball pitchers failed.”

Entering the ninth with a 7-0 lead, Browns outfielders got him trouble.

After the Yankees scored twice, they had Jackie Jensen and Jerry Coleman on base, with two outs, when Ralph Houk lifted a routine fly to left-center. Rookie Don Lenhardt and ex-Yankee Jim Delsing collided going after the ball and it fell safely for a fluke double, scoring Jensen. After Overmire walked Phil Rizzuto to fill the bases, another ex-Yankee, Duane Pillette, relieved and retired his former road roommate, Gene Woodling, on a grounder to second, ending the drama. Boxscore

On a roll

Overmire had a string of other impressive wins for the Browns in the second half of the 1950 season:

_ July 25: Starting against the Yankees at St. Louis, Overmire took a 4-0 lead to the ninth, gave up a home run to Johnny Mize and held on for a 4-3 win. Referred to by the New York Daily News as “roly-poly’ and “a little left-hander with an oversize waistline,” Overmire also drove in two runs with a single versus Vic Raschi. Boxscore

_ Aug. 5: Though he allowed seven hits and walked six, Overmire shut out the Athletics in a 4-0 win at St. Louis. Boxscore

_Aug. 20: In his first appearance at Detroit since being traded, Overmire beat the Tigers and his former road roommate, future Hall of Famer Hal Newhouser. Using an assortment of pitches described by the Free Press as “slow, slower, slowest,” Overmire gave up nine hits, walked four and threw a wild pitch, but allowed one earned run in a 6-2 triumph. Boxscore

In describing his approach to batters, Overmire told the Post-Dispatch, “When I get them looking for the curve, I slip them the knuckler, or I sneak over what I call my fastball … I am using the knuckleball a lot more this season.”

In the book “We Played the Game,” catcher Les Moss said, “No one liked catching knuckleballs, but, luckily, I didn’t think Stubby’s was that difficult to catch.”

_ Sept. 10: In a rematch with Bob Feller, Overmire prevailed in a 2-1 win at Cleveland. Feller drove in the Indians’ lone run. Boxscore

_ Sept. 17: Overmire beat the Yankees for the third time in 1950. He gave up the tying run in the ninth, but the Browns rallied against Joe Page in their half of the inning. The Yankees had five doubles (two by Johnny Mize) and a home run (by Yogi Berra) but Overmire held them to three earned runs. Boxscore

_ Sept. 24: Overmire shut out a White Sox lineup that had future Hall of Famers Nellie Fox and Luke Appling, plus slugger Gus Zernial. Boxscore

After losing nine of his first 12 decisions, Overmire won six of his last nine, finishing 9-12 for the 1950 Browns. His ERA in 19 starts was 3.13.

Fitted for pinstripes

Back with the Browns in 1951, Overmire was 1-6 but his 3.54 ERA convinced the Yankees he still was effective. On June 15, they acquired him from St. Louis for Tommy Byrne and cash.

Overmire’s lone win for the Yankees came at home against the Athletics when he started in place of sore-armed Allie Reynolds. Overmire looked shaky in the beginning, allowing singles to the first two batters. Then Allie Clark tore into a high curve.

“His towering poke looked like a certain triple,” the New York Times reported. “However, (Joe) DiMaggio was off with the crack of the bat and, sprinting with his back to the plate, snagged the ball over his shoulder just a step short of the running track in deepest left-center.”

Overmire settled down and pitched a complete game, a 3-2 Yankees victory. Boxscore

Returned to the Browns in 1952, Overmire pitched his final season with them.

Talent developer

Overmire went on to manage in the Tigers’ farm system for 16 seasons. Jim Bunning, Mickey Lolich and Mark Fidrych were among those who pitched for him in the minors.

Promoted to the staff of Tigers manager Chuck Dressen in June 1963, Overmire was Denny McLain’s first big-league pitching coach.

Years later, McLain told the Grand Rapids Press, “Stubby and I got along fine … Stubby was a heck of a guy. You could talk to Stubby off the record, and he would talk to the manager for you on your behalf. He was a trustworthy guy.”

McLain (16 wins in 1965; 20 in 1966) and Lolich (18 wins in 1964; 15 in 1965) developed into top starters with Overmire as pitching coach. When Mayo Smith became manager in 1967, he chose Johnny Sain to replace Overmire, who returned to managing in the minors. McLaim became a 30-game winner in 1968 with Sain as coach.

In the book “We Would Have Played For Nothing,” Twins slugger Harmon Killebrew noted, “I thought Denny McLain for a couple of years was about as good as any pitcher that you’d ever want to see … Johnny Sain taught him a quick curveball. It was bigger than a slider but faster than a regular curveball ,,, and that really made him an excellent pitcher.”

 

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