RetroSimba

After being demoted to the minors early in his rookie season with the Cardinals, Bob Gibson got a chance to return a few months later and showed he belonged in the big leagues.

On July 30, 1959, Gibson made his first major-league start for the Cardinals and pitched a shutout in a 1-0 triumph over the Reds at Crosley Field in Cincinnati.

The win was the first of a club-record 251 Gibson achieved with the Cardinals. He and fellow Baseball Hall of Famer Jesse Haines (210) are the only pitchers to earn 200 wins as Cardinals.

Work in progress

Gibson, 23, made his big-league debut for the Cardinals on April 15, 1959, in a relief appearance against the Dodgers at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

After pitching in three games, all in relief, for the Cardinals and posting a 10.12 ERA, Gibson was demoted to Class AAA Omaha on April 28, 1959.

Playing for manager Joe Schultz, Gibson was 9-9 with a 3.07 ERA in 135 innings pitched for Omaha.

In his book “From Ghetto to Glory,” Gibson said, “Pitching regularly, my early wildness practically vanished. That pleased me and evidently it pleased the Cardinals.”

The Cardinals brought him back on July 29, 1959, and manager Solly Hemus told him he’d start the next night against the Reds.

Close call

Before the game, Reds farm director Phil Seghi told Bill Ford of the Cincinnati Enquirer that Gibson nearly signed with the Reds instead of the Cardinals in 1957 when he was attending Creighton University in Omaha.

“As late as 2 in the morning, he agreed to verbal terms with us,” Seghi said, “but by daylight he had jumped to the Cardinals.”

Seghi said “a member of the Gibson family nixed the deal” with the Reds.

According to the Dayton Daily News, Gibson’s basketball coach at Creighton, Tommy Thomsen, scouted for the Reds and recommended Gibson.

“The Reds looked him over a few times and decided they liked what they saw,” the Dayton newspaper reported. “So they told Thomsen to go to work on him and try to get him to sign. Thomsen thought he was making progress until he read Gibson had signed with Omaha, a Cardinals farm. The Reds representatives quickly got in touch with Gibson and the youngster said he was a native of Omaha and he felt honor-bound to sign with the hometown team.”

Tested early

Gibson was matched in his first Cardinals start against Reds rookie Jim O’Toole. Years earlier, Gibson and O’Toole competed for a roster spot on a semipro team in South Dakota and Gibson got the job.

In the first inning, Gibson quickly got into trouble when Johnny Temple led off with a walk and the next batter, Vada Pinson, singled. Gus Bell grounded to short, forcing Pinson at second and advancing Temple to third. With runners on first and third, one out, Gibson escaped the mess unscathed when Frank Robinson flied out to shallow center and Jerry Lynch grounded out.

The Cardinals scored in the second. Ken Boyer led off with a double, moved to third on Bill White’s groundout to second and scored on Joe Cunningham’s single. In the bottom half of the inning, Gibson struck out his first big-league batter, Willie “Puddin’ Head” Jones.

In the fifth, O’Toole’s single “bounced off the left shin of Gibson, momentarily throwing fear into the Cards,” the Cincinnati Enquirer reported, but Gibson was able to continue and got the next batter, Temple, to ground into a double play.

Dramatic ending

Gibson’s biggest challenge occurred in the ninth.

Lynch led off with a single and Ed Bailey followed with a liner toward White at first base. White stopped the hard smash with the thumb of his glove. The ball fell to the ground and White picked it up and threw to second in time to force out Lynch.

With a runner on first, Jones popped out to the catcher for the second out, but Gibson walked pinch-hitters Frank Thomas and Don Newcombe on eight consecutive pitches to load the bases for Temple, who was batting .328.

In his book “Stranger to the Game,” Gibson said, “I was half-expecting Hemus to yank me out of the game.”

Reliever Marshall Bridges was ready in the bullpen, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported, but Hemus stuck with Gibson.

Gibson’s first two pitches to Temple were outside the strike zone and called balls. After a called strike on the third pitch, Temple fouled off a delivery to even the count at 2-and-2.

On the next pitch, a fastball, Temple hit a liner to shallow center and it was caught by Curt Flood for the final out.

The Cincinnati Enquirer called Gibson’s ninth-inning escape act “a credit to his competitive determination.”

Gibson, sipping a cup of orange soda, told the Post-Dispatch, “I can throw a lot harder, but my shoulder has been a little sore for the past week.” Boxscore

Hit or miss

Gibson lost his next five decisions before earning a win on Sept. 12, 1959, in a start against the Cubs at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Gibson pitched a six-hitter, struck out 10 and drove in a run in the 6-4 Cardinals victory.

He didn’t pitch again for two weeks until Hemus used him in relief in the last game of the season against the Giants on Sept. 27, 1959.

In “from Ghetto to Glory,” Gibson said, “I was so bored I would sit on the bench in the far corner of the dugout and I’d just about fall asleep because it’s no fun when you’re not playing.”

Gibson finished with a 3-5 record and 3.33 ERA in 13 appearances for the 1959 Cardinals. His ERA as a starter was 3.16.

“The few times I did get a chance to pitch I could not possibly be sharp because of lack of work,” Gibson said. “Especially when I went eight or nine days without pitching. I’d be exceptionally strong and the ball would move every which way. I never knew where it was going and, as a result, I walked a lot of men (39 in 75.2 innings) and made too many mistakes.”

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Before he became a celebrated author with “Ball Four,” Jim Bouton was a power pitcher whose cap flew off with nearly every delivery.

In 1964, Bouton made two starts for the Yankees against the Cardinals in the World Series and won both.

The Cardinals won the championship, but Bouton impressed with his ability to produce on the big stage. He was the first pitcher to earn two wins in a World Series versus the Cardinals since the Yankees’ Spud Chandler in 1943.

Stubbornly effective

Bouton, 25, was 18-13 with a 3.02 ERA for the 1964 Yankees. The right-hander led the team in wins, starts (37) and innings pitched (271.1).

For the first two World Series games in St. Louis, Yankees manager Yogi Berra started ailing ace Whitey Ford, who lost, and rookie Mel Stottlemyre, who won. Bouton was the starter for Game 3 at Yankee Stadium and was matched against Curt Simmons.

In his book “October 1964,” author David Halberstam called Game 3 “probably the best played and best pitched game of the series.”

Played on Saturday afternoon, Oct. 10, 1964, before 67,101 spectators, the game became a duel between Bouton and Simmons.

Bouton threw “virtually straight overhanded with his delivery and his forearm brushed the back of his cap, sending it sailing,” the Sporting News noted.

Said Berra: “We’ve tried a dozen different caps on him, and he wears a small, tight one now, but it doesn’t do any good.”

The Yankees got a run in the second on Clete Boyer’s RBI-double and the Cardinals tied the score, 1-1, on a RBI-single by Simmons in the fifth.

After retiring the Cardinals in order in three of the first four innings, Bouton worked out of multiple jams. The Cardinals loaded the bases in the sixth with two outs, but Mike Shannon grounded into a forceout. In the seventh, Dal Maxvill led off with a double and moved to third on Simmons’ sacrifice, but Curt Flood and Lou Brock stranded him.

“Bouton was keeping the ball away from me good,” Flood said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Said Brock: “I was out in front of this guy all day. I never do this … I hit the ball off the end of the bat all four times.”

In the ninth, Tim McCarver led off and reached on an error by shortstop Phil Linz. Shannon’s sacrifice bunt moved McCarver to second. Carl Warwick, batting for Maxvill, walked, but Bouton retired Bob Skinner and Flood.

Barney Schultz relieved Simmons in the bottom of the ninth and Mickey Mantle walloped his first pitch, a knuckleball, into the upper deck in right for a walkoff home run and a 2-1 Yankees victory. Boxscore

Bouton threw 123 pitches in what the New York Daily News described as a “stubborn pitching performance.” Video highlights at 1:30 mark

Under pressure

The Cardinals won Games 4 and 5 at Yankee Stadium. Back in St. Louis with a chance to clinch the title in Game 6 on Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 14, 1964, the Cardinals started Simmons in a rematch with Bouton, who welcomed the challenge.

“Far more than most baseball players, he was an adrenaline player, and he liked pitching under this kind of pressure,” said Halberstam. “He loved being the center of attention and being given the ball in a game this big.”

When Flood and Brock opened the bottom of the first with singles, it was a wakeup call for Bouton, who said, “I had to stop and boot myself in the fanny. Those hits kind of shook me up.”

Bouton got the next batter, Bill White, to ground into a double play. Flood scored from third, but Bouton settled down.

In the fifth, Bouton lined a single over the head of shortstop Dick Groat, driving in Tom Tresh from third and tying the score at 1-1.

The game turned in the sixth when Roger Maris and Mantle hit back-to-back home runs against Simmons, giving the Yankees a 3-1 lead.

In the seventh, Bouton told Berra to get a reliever ready because his right shoulder was getting tight. The Yankees extended their lead in the eighth, scoring five times. The big hit was a grand slam by Joe Pepitone against Gordon Richardson.

Bouton yielded a run in the eighth and another in the ninth. He went 8.1 innings before being relieved by Steve Hamilton, and the Yankees won, 8-3. Boxscore  and Video highlights at 1:45 mark

Cardinals slugger Ken Boyer said Bouton “kept the ball low and away all afternoon, and, if he missed the plate, he barely missed it.”

Jim and Joe

Bouton’s career took a downturn the next year. He developed a sore arm, posted records of 4-15 in 1965 and 3-8 in 1966, and was dropped from the starting rotation.

The Yankees sold Bouton’s contract to the Seattle Pilots, who joined the American League as an expansion team in 1969. The Pilots’ manager was Joe Schultz, who was a Cardinals coach from 1963-68 after managing in their farm system.

Schultz, a round, balding, good-natured baseball lifer, became a central character in “Ball Four.” Two samples of Bouton’s musings:

_ “Joe Schultz stopped by again today to say a kind word. I noticed he was making it his business to say something each day to most of the guys. He may look like Nikita Khrushchev, but it means a lot anyway. I’m sure most of us here feel like leftovers and outcasts and marginal players and it doesn’t hurt when the manager massages your ego a bit.”

_ “After the game, Joe Schultz said, ‘Attaway to stomp on ’em, men. Pound that Budweiser into you and go get ’em tomorrow.’ Then he spotted John Gelnar sucking out of a pop bottle. ‘For crissakes, Gelnar,’ Joe said, ‘You’ll never get them out drinking Dr. Pepper.’ ”

Fitting in

Bouton was 2-1 with a save and a 3.91 ERA in 57 appearances for the Pilots. On Aug. 24, 1969, they traded him to the Astros for pitchers Dooley Womack and Roric Harrison.

Two nights later, on Aug. 26, 1969, Bouton made his National League debut, relieving Larry Dierker and pitching a scoreless eighth against the Cardinals at St. Louis. Bouton retired Shannon on a groundout and Julian Javier on a pop-up before striking out Maxvill on a 3-and-2 knuckleball.

“The knuckleball was a doll,” Bouton said.

When Bouton got to the dugout, Astros pitching coach Jim Owens asked him why he threw a knuckleball with the count full.

“I told him that first time around I want to earn a little respect,” Bouton said. “I want everyone to know that I’m liable to throw that pitch in any situation … I want them to know that they can’t count on getting the fastball.” Boxscore

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In their two matchups against one another, Randy Johnson, as expected, pitched like a Hall of Famer, but Jose Jimenez unexpectedly was better.

On June 25, 1999, Jimenez pitched a no-hitter for the Cardinals, beating Johnson and the Diamondbacks, 1-0, at Phoenix.

Two weeks later, on July 5, 1999, Jimenez pitched a two-hitter, beating Johnson and the Diamondbacks, 1-0, at St. Louis.

The outcomes were surprising because the Diamondbacks led the National League in runs scored in 1999 and Jimenez was battered by nearly every other opponent.

Prized prospect

Jimenez, a right-hander from the Dominican Republic, signed as an amateur free agent with the Cardinals in October 1991 when he was 18. He spent his first three seasons as a professional in the Dominican Summer League before the Cardinals brought him to the United States in 1995 to pitch in their minor-league system.

His breakout season in the minors occurred with Class AA Arkansas in 1998 when he was 15-6 in 26 starts. Jimenez credited Arkansas pitching coach Rich Folkers, a former Cardinals reliever, with helping him develop an effective sinker, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

The Cardinals rewarded Jimenez by bringing him to the big leagues in September 1998. After making his major-league debut in relief against the Reds, Jimenez made three starts and was the winning pitcher in each, beating the Pirates and Brewers on the road and the Expos at home.

With his 3-0 record and 2.95 ERA in four appearances for the 1998 Cardinals, Jimenez was regarded a special prospect. When the Cardinals tried to acquire second baseman Fernando Vina from the Brewers after the 1998 season, they were told they’d have to give up Jimenez and pitcher Manny Aybar, according to the Post-Dispatch. The Cardinals declined.

Mix and match

Jimenez, 25, opened the 1999 season as a Cardinals starter, but the success he experienced in 1998 didn’t carry over.

He entered his June start at Phoenix with a 3-7 record and 6.69 ERA. Matched against Johnson, the left-hander who was at the peak of his Hall of Fame career, the game figured to be lopsided in favor of the Diamondbacks.

The Diamondbacks led the National League in hitting at .287 coming into the game.

Relying on a mix of pitches, Jimenez was in command from the start.

“I was throwing very well,” he said to the Arizona Republic. “I was hitting my spots. I’ve been working on my mechanics, my sinker.”

Said Diamondbacks outfielder Luis Gonzalez: “His fastball was moving really well. His changeup was effective. He was nasty.”

Jimenez yielded a one-out walk to Steve Finley in the second, but the next batter grounded into a double play. In the third, Jimenez hit Andy Fox with a pitch, but retired the next two batters to end the inning.

“All his pitches were working to all parts of the plate,” said Cardinals manager Tony La Russa.

Dueling shutouts

In the sixth, Fox hit a drive to right-center, but right fielder Eric Davis reached down, snared the sinking liner and held onto the ball as he rolled onto the ground.

The Diamondbacks got their last baserunner in the seventh when Gonzalez drew a one-out walk, but Jimenez coaxed the next batter to ground into a double play.

“His ball was moving all over the place,” Johnson said. “He was in control. He made a lot of our hitters frustrated.”

Johnson was tough on the Cardinals as well. He retired the first nine batters in a row before Joe McEwing led off the fourth with a double. The Cardinals got doubles from Edgar Renteria in the fifth and David Howard in the sixth, but couldn’t score.

In the ninth, with the game scoreless, Johnson issued one-out walks to Darren Bragg and Mark McGwire. After Davis struck out, Thomas Howard hit a broken-bat single to left, scoring Bragg.

Flying high

In the bottom of the ninth, Fox led off and struck out. David Dellucci batted for Johnson and looped a liner toward right-center.

“I thought it would drop in,” Dellucci said.

Davis darted toward the ball, caught it near his shoe tops, tumbled and held on for the out.

“I know he’s a good outfielder,” said Dellucci, a teammate of Davis in 1997 with the Orioles. “Anybody else, it might have been in there.”

Jimenez completed the no-hitter by getting Tony Womack to ground out to second. [Boxscore and video of last out]

“This is something special,” Jimenez said. “I feel great. I feel like I want to fly.”

The no-hitter was the first by a Cardinal since Bob Forsch accomplished the feat against the Expos on Sept. 26, 1983.

Jimenez struck out eight. Johnson, who yielded five hits and two walks, struck out 14. Video of game

Snake bit

Jimenez got one more win for the Cardinals. When the Diamondbacks came to St. Louis, he retired the first 13 batters in order before Finley doubled with one out in the fifth. The only other hit Jimenez allowed was a single by Fox in the sixth.

Once again, Thomas Howard drove in the lone run. His single against Johnson scored McGwire from second with two outs in the fourth.

Jimenez walked one and struck out nine. Johnson gave up four hits and four walks, striking out 12. Boxscore

Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan said Jimenez “was relaxed and let it all flow. When he has pitched good, that’s the way he has looked.”

Jimenez never found the groove again with the Cardinals. He finished the 1999 season with a 5-14 record and 5.85 ERA. He was 2-0 versus the Diamondbacks and 3-14 against everyone else.

On Nov. 16, 1999, the Cardinals traded three pitchers _ Jimenez, Aybar and Rich Croushore _ and infielder Brent Butler to the Rockies for pitchers Darryl Kile, Dave Veres and Luther Hackman.

The Rockies made Jimenez a reliever and in four seasons with them he was 15-23 with 102 saves and a 4.13 ERA. He had 41 saves for the 2002 Rockies.

Jimenez became a free agent after the 2003 season, signed with the Indians and finished his big-league career with them in 2004.

In seven big-league seasons, Jimenez was 24-44 with 110 saves and a 4.92 ERA.

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