RetroSimba

(Updated Jan. 8, 2019)

Three years after he left the Busch Stadium mound with his pitching career spiraling out of control, Rick Ankiel returned to St. Louis as a confident Cardinals reliever embraced by the fans.

On Sept. 19, 2004, Ankiel made his first Busch Stadium appearance since 2001 and pitched two hitless innings against the Diamondbacks, departing to a standing ovation.

In his previous home appearance, on May 10, 2001, Ankiel regressed against the Pirates, yielding three runs, three hits, five walks and two wild pitches in three innings, departing with his head down and bolting the ballpark without talking with reporters. Boxscore

After that debacle, Ankiel went to the minor leagues and pitched there for the remainder of 2001. After sitting out the 2002 season because of a left elbow sprain, Ankiel pitched in the minors in 2003 until undergoing left elbow surgery in July.

Ankiel spent most of the 2004 season on the disabled list, returned to the minors in August that summer and was called up by the Cardinals in September. Ankiel made a pair of scoreless one-inning stints at San Diego against the Padres and at Los Angeles against the Dodgers.

Welcome home

On Sept. 19, 2004, a Sunday afternoon at Busch Stadium, Ankiel relieved starter Jeff Suppan to start the fifth inning. As he walked to the mound, Ankiel tipped his cap to an appreciative crowd of 41,279.

“You walk out there with the electricity of the crowd and you feel like you’re floating,” Ankiel said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “It’s pretty indescribable.”

Mixing a 91 mph fastball with a 66 mph curve, Ankiel faced three batters _ Luis Terrero, Alex Cintron and Danny Bautista _ in the fifth and struck out all three.

“His fastball was running and sinking hard,” Cintron said to the Post-Dispatch. “His curveball _ I’ve never faced anything like it in my life. He’s the Rick Ankiel everyone expected him to be.’

Facing Ankiel in the sixth, Shea Hillenbrand grounded out, Chad Tracy walked, Chris Snyder struck out and Doug DeVore lined out to right. “He was tricky,” Snyder said to the Belleville (Ill.) News-Democrat. “He was pretty deceptive. He had a good fastball and a good snap to his curveball.”

Said Cardinals catcher Mike Matheny: “He’s got good tempo … That curve’s amazing. You can hear it spinning all the way up there.”

Walking off the mound, Ankiel again tipped his cap to a standing ovation.

“Unbelievable … I was pretty much in the sky,” Ankiel said to the News-Democrat. Boxscore

Years later, in his 2017 book “The Phenom,” Ankiel said, “My fastball wasn’t what it was. That was by choice. It was more reliable at 89 mph or 90, at less than full effort, than it would be at 95. My career would have to be about control. I’d control my mind, which would settle my heart, and control my effort, which would guide my fastball.”

Last hurrah

In his next appearance, at Colorado, Ankiel yielded five runs in two innings. He rebounded five days later, on Oct. 1, in limiting the Brewers to a run in four innings and earning a win. Boxscore

“What became important was winning the game around the game, the one in my head,” Ankiel said in his book.

It would be Ankiel’s final big-league game as a pitcher.

In 2005, Ankiel declared he would convert into an outfielder and abandon his pitching career.

In 2007, Ankiel returned to the Cardinals and spent seven seasons in the big leagues as a power-hitting and strong-armed outfielder.

Previously: Rick Ankiel joins Babe Ruth, Joe Wood in postseason lore

Read Full Post »

In a performance as remarkable as it was messy, Al Hrabosky and the Cardinals turned the last home game of the 1974 season into a classic.

On Sept. 25, 1974, Hrabosky struck out nine in 6.1 innings against the Pirates at St. Louis.

Hrabosky’s relief effort was among many unusual feats in a 13-12 victory that gave the Cardinals an edge in their pursuit of a National League East Division title.

“Never in my life have I seen a game like that,” Cardinals first baseman Joe Torre told the Alton (Ill.) Telegraph.

Battle for first

The Cardinals entered the game that Wednesday night trailing the first-place Pirates by a half-game with a week remaining in the season.

Rookie right-hander Bob Forsch, who started for the Cardinals, gave up five runs in the first inning before being yanked.

Because the Pirates had stacked their lineup with left-handed batters  _ Richie Hebner, Al Oliver, Willie Stargell, Dave Parker and Ed Kirkpatrick _ Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst went with left-handed relievers. First, he used Rich Folkers. Then, Claude Osteen.

The Cardinals rallied for six runs in the third off Ken Brett and Larry Demery.

In the fifth, the Pirates got a run against Osteen, tying the score at 6-6. The Pirates had runners on first and second with no outs when Schoendienst replaced Osteen with his third left-handed reliever, Hrabosky.

Decent curve

Hrabosky got the Cardinals out of that jam without either runner scoring. In the bottom of the fifth, the Cardinals scored three, taking a 9-6 lead.

The Pirates scored twice off Hrabosky in the sixth. Entering the ninth, the Cardinals clung to a 9-8 lead.

Hrabosky struck out Stargell, but hit Parker with a pitch. Manny Sanguillen singled and, when center fielder Bake McBride made an error on the play, Parker raced home, tying the score at 9-9.

“I was discouraged because the club had given me a three-run lead and I couldn’t hold it,” Hrabosky said. “I didn’t feel like I had a good fastball, but I did have a decent curve.”

Hrabosky struck out at least one batter in each of the seven innings he worked.

In the 11th, he began to falter. “I was tired and the Pirates didn’t help it,” Hrabosky said. “They took the rest of the life I had left.”

Hrabosky gave up three runs on three singles and a double before he was relieved by Mike Garman with one out in the 11th. Hrabosky’s line: 6.1 innings, 6 runs, 10 hits, 0 walks, 9 strikeouts. The innings, runs, hits and strikeouts are single-game highs for Hrabosky in his 13-year big-league career.

Garman retired the two batters he faced, but the Pirates led, 12-9.

“We knew where we were at and it was now or never for us,” Torre said.

Rally time

The Pirates had used five pitchers, including their two best relievers, Dave Giusti and Ramon Hernandez. Pirates manager Danny Murtaugh brought in rookie Juan Jimenez to nail down the win.

“It was a kid pitching out there and he wanted to throw strikes,” Torre said. “When he couldn’t, he started to aim the ball.”

Ted Sizemore led off with a single. Reggie Smith walked. Ted Simmons was up next.

“I figured if he walked Smith I was going to swing at the first pitch in the strike zone,” Simmons said.

Simmons launched a double to right, scoring Sizemore and cutting the Pirates lead to 12-10.

Pirates unravel

Murtaugh lifted Jimenez and replaced him with another rookie, Jim Minshall. The first batter he faced was Torre.

“I wanted to hit the ball the other way to at least score Smith (from third) and get Simmons to third base,” Torre said.

Torre hit a broken-bat grounder to the right of second base. Rennie Stennett, the second baseman, fielded the ball, but his throw to first was wild. Smith and Simmons scampered home, tying the score at 12-12, and Torre advanced to second. Larry Herndon pinch-ran for Torre.

McBride bunted for a single and Herndon moved to third. Ken Reitz struck out _ the first out of the inning.

Due to bat was Jack Heidemann, a light-hitting shortstop. Schoendienst sent Jim Dwyer, a reserve outfielder batting .282, to pinch-hit.

Dwyer lifted a sacrifice fly, scoring Herndon from third with the winning run.

Said Dwyer: ” I was on the spot … That is my biggest contribution to the team this season.”

Down the stretch

Steve Porter, covering the game for the Alton Telegraph wrote, “It was more than just a baseball game … It was a whole season unfolding over 11 innings and a pennant race hanging in the balance for one inning.” Boxscore

The improbable four-run uprising gave the Cardinals a 13-12 victory and propelled them into first place.

The Cardinals would win three of their next five. The Pirates, though, would win five of their next six.

On Oct. 2, the final day of the season, the Pirates held a one-game lead over the Cardinals. To finish in a tie and force a playoff, the Cardinals needed to beat the Expos that day and the Cubs needed to beat the Pirates.

Instead, the Pirates beat the Cubs, 5-4, in 10 innings. The Cardinals-Expos game was called off because of rain and wasn’t rescheduled. The Pirates were NL East champions, finishing 1.5 games ahead of the Cardinals.

Read Full Post »

For one night, at least, amid the excitement of a pennant chase, John Curtis showed the Cardinals a flash of the talent they’d expected when they acquired him as the key player in a trade with the Red Sox.

On Aug. 29, 1974, Curtis delivered the best performance of his Cardinals career, pitching a one-hitter in St. Louis’ 3-1 victory over the Padres at San Diego.

The win moved the Cardinals within a half-game of the first-place Pirates in the National League East with a month remaining and raised hopes St. Louis would earn its first postseason berth in six years.

Seeking a southpaw

Curtis, a left-hander, earned 13 wins with the 1973 Red Sox. That impressed the Cardinals and in December 1973 they acquired Curtis and pitchers Lynn McGlothen and Mike Garman from the Red Sox for pitchers Reggie Cleveland and Diego Segui and infielder Terry Hughes.

Curtis appealed to the Cardinals as a left-handed starter who might silence the bats of premium left-handed batters within the division such as the Pirates’ Willie Stargell, Dave Parker, Al Oliver and the Mets’ Rusty Staub and John Milner.

“We needed a left-hander badly,” Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst said to the Associated Press. “I think we’ve got him now.”

Said St. Louis general manager Bing Devine: “A left-hander was of prime importance.”

The Cardinals entered 1974 with a rotation of Bob Gibson, Curtis, Alan Foster, McGlothen and Sonny Siebert.

Curtis, the lone left-hander, got off to a terrible start, losing five of his first seven decisions as his ERA swelled to 5.83, but Schoendienst kept him in the rotation.

Almost perfect

On Aug. 29, a Thursday night, before 6,042 spectators, Curtis got the start against the hapless Padres, who had the worst record in the National League and would finish with 102 losses.

The Padres did have a couple of sluggers who batted right-handed _ Nate Colbert and Dave Winfield, who was in his second season of what would become a Hall of Fame career.

Curtis retired the first 21 batters in a row. Seven perfect innings. Ted Simmons, catching Curtis, hit a home run in the seventh, breaking a scoreless tie.

Winfield, who two months earlier had hit a home run off Curtis for the lone run in a 1-0 Padres victory, led off the bottom of the eighth and watched the first three pitches sail out of the strike zone.

“He’s a pretty free swinger,” Curtis said. “Maybe I was a little too careful.”

Winfield walked, “but that didn’t concern me too much,” Curtis said.

Cito Gaston bunted, moving Winfield to second. Derrel Thomas walked and Dave Hilton flied out to right, advancing Winfield to third.

With two outs and two on, Fred Kendall, who hadn’t gotten a hit in a week, singled to left, breaking up the no-hitter and scoring Winfield with the tying run.

Win first

“When Kendall got his hit, I wasn’t too let down,” Curtis said. “It was a sort of purpose pitch inside. I was trying to make him swing at a bad pitch.”

Curtis’ work wasn’t done. With Thomas on second and Kendall on first, left-handed slugger Willie McCovey was sent to bat for pitcher Randy Jones. McCovey, a future Hall of Famer, flied out to center.

In the ninth, after Padres reliever Larry Hardy retired the first two batters, the Cardinals got four consecutive singles from Bake McBride, Ken Reitz, Jim Dwyer and Mike Tyson _ the latter two driving in a run apiece.

With a 3-1 lead, Curtis set down the Padres in order in the last half of the ninth, clinching the win and a one-hitter. Boxscore

“I had a ballgame to win, not a no-hitter to pitch,” Curtis said. “The way the season has been going for me, you can’t be too selective of your victories. It’s quite a thrill for me and it comes late in a year when we’re battling for something. That’s an added thrill.”

The Cardinals would finish in second place, 1.5 games behind the Pirates. Curtis was 10-14 in his first year with the Cardinals and led the club in losses. He posted records of 8-9 in 1975 and 6-11 in 1976 before the Cardinals traded him to the Giants.

In 109 games, including 62 starts, Curtis was 24-34 with a 3.88 ERA for the Cardinals.

Previously: Randy Jones held Cardinals to a single in 10 innings

Read Full Post »