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No place like home for Cardinals farmhand Tony Freitas

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers, Prospects, Trades on August 17, 2026| 10 Comments »

The Cardinals had a pitcher in their system who collected wins the way neighborhood kids flocked to an ice-cream truck _ in bunches.

A left-handed lilliputian who relied on control and off-speed pitches, Tony Freitas achieved 20 or more wins for six seasons in a row (1937-42) with Sacramento. The Cardinals offered to bring him to the majors, but Freitas said no. Sacramento was his home and that’s where he preferred to stay.

Besides, Freitas had been in the big leagues _ with the Athletics and Reds _ before the Cardinals acquired him, and though he had multiple highlights, including 10 wins in a row as a rookie and an epic 17-inning duel with Dizzy Dean, the overall experience wasn’t satisfying.

So, being in the minors, where he won a lot, felt appreciated and got to remain in his home state of California, was all right with him.

Freitas went on to pitch until he was 45. He is the career leader in minor-league wins for a left-hander (342). Only right-handers Bill Thomas (383), Joe Martina (349) and George Payne (348) have more career wins in the minors than Freitas.

In the fast lane

Antonio Freitas was the son of immigrants from the Azores, a cluster of Portuguese islands. Freitas and Eve Arden were born a week apart in Mill Valley, a town near San Francisco. Arden became an actress in movies (“Mildred Pierce”) and television (“Our Miss Brooks”). Freitas chose baseball.

A cabdriver who’d seen Freitas pitch semipro ball in Mill Valley recommended him to Sacramento manager Buddy Ryan, who arranged for Freitas, 20, to start a pro career with Class D Phoenix in 1928. In his first pro game he pitched a one-hitter, according to the Sacramento Union. A year later, Ryan put him on the pitching staff of the Pacific Coast League’s Sacramento Senators.

Freitas had consecutive 19-win seasons for Sacramento in 1930-31. He listed his height as 5-foot-7. His weight during the season usually dropped below 160 pounds. Freitas lacked velocity on his pitches, so he depended on an assortment of curves and changeups with pinpoint control.

He made up for his dearth of speed on the mound when he got behind the wheel of a car. Freitas drove like a demon, paying no attention to speed limits, and was arrested multiple times. When the leadfoot got cited yet again in August 1931, Marin County Justice Thomas Rudolff sentenced him to serve five days in jail.

A Brooklyn Dodgers scout had come to San Francisco to see Freitas pitch the next night. Sacramento club owner Lewis Moreing told the San Francisco News he pleaded with Marin County authorities to free Freitas just long enough to pitch in the game. The nation was in the grip of the Great Depression and it was important to Moreing for Freitas to be showcased in the hope a big-league club would make a lucrative offer to purchase his contract.

Freitas was released and escorted to the San Francisco ballpark by a deputy sheriff, who kept a close watch over the prisoner during the game. Freitas got the win, going the distance in a snappy one hour, 40 minutes, and was back behind bars by 11 p.m., the San Francisco Call-Bulletin reported.

The scout was impressed, the San Francisco News noted, but the Dodgers wouldn’t agree to Moreing’s purchase price, the Brooklyn Eagle reported.

In the groove

Back with Sacramento in 1932, Freitas pitched a no-hitter versus Oakland on May 5, his 24th birthday. Two weeks later, he was in the majors, dealt to the Athletics for a pitcher (Jimmie DeShong) and $25,000.

Managed by Connie Mack, the A’s were the three-time defending American League champions and featured a roster with the likes of Mickey Cochrane, Jimmie Foxx, Lefty Grove and Al Simmons. “I was a green kid, shy as the devil,” Freitas recalled to the Sacramento Bee. “I didn’t have enough guts to go up to somebody and ask them something. I was scared. I was in awe of the big names.”

Mack put the rookie in the starting rotation. In his debut, at home against the Washington Senators, Freitas pitched well. He retired 12 batters in a row, 11 of them on ground outs.

With the A’s ahead, 3-2, one out, in the ninth, Joe Cronin was at the plate for Washington. Catcher Mickey Cochrane told Freitas not to give Cronin a low pitch, but he did, and Cronin walloped it over the wall for a home run, tying the score. Freitas departed after 10 innings and Washington won in the 12th against George Earnshaw, but Freitas “made an impression with the crowd with his brainy and steady pitching,” the Philadelphia Inquirer noted. Boxscore

Freitas’ second start was against the Yankees. He walked the first two batters, then struck out Babe Ruth on a changeup. If the strikeout caused Freitas to have his head in the clouds, the Yankees brought him quickly back to earth. Lou Gehrig (single), Ben Chapman (triple), Bill Dickey (double) and Tony Lazzeri (single) followed with consecutive hits, giving New York a 5-0 lead on the way to a win. Boxscore

Freitas lost again, to Cleveland, then won 10 in a row. Nine of those wins were complete games, including a shutout of the White Sox. Boxscore

During that streak, Freitas turned a rare unassisted double play against the Browns. With one out in the fifth, the Browns had runners on second (George Blaeholder) and third (Jim Levey). Fred Schulte hit a high bouncer toward the mound. Freitas snared it, ran toward Levey, who had stopped between third and home, and tagged him before he could return to the bag. Then Freitas saw Blaeholder frozen between second and third. With Freitas in pursuit, Blaeholder retreated toward second. Freitas caught up to the runner, tagged him to complete the double play, but lost his balance. In the tangle, Freitas was spiked across the right instep and had to depart. Boxscore

Freitas completed his rookie season with a 12-5 record and earned the admiration of Connie Mack, who told the Sacramento Bee, “Freitas is a great pitcher because he has a wonderful change of pace, deadly control and the knack of putting the ball any place he wants.”

Duel with Dean

Imagine Freitas’ surprise when the A’s sent him a 1933 contract calling for a $1,400 pay cut. Mack blamed the economy. Freitas wouldn’t accept the offer and finally signed for the same amount he got in 1932 _ $1,000 a month for seven months, according to the Society for American Baseball Research.

He pitched three scoreless innings against the Cardinals in a 1933 spring training game, but the success from his rookie year didn’t carry over to his sophomore season. Freitas got hit often and was sent to the minors that summer. The Reds rescued him, bringing Freitas to the National League in May 1934.

On July 1, at Cincinnati, Freitas was matched against Dizzy Dean, who was on his way to 30 wins for the Cardinals that season. Freitas and Dean each pitched 17 innings, and Freitas stroked three hits versus the St. Louis ace. The Cardinals won in the 18th with two runs against Paul Derringer. Jim Lindsey (traded by the Reds for Freitas) got the save for the Cardinals. Boxscore

Freitas was 6-12 for the Reds in 1934 and 5-10 in 1935, when he beat the Cardinals twice. The wins came against the Dean brothers _ Dizzy and Paul. Boxscore and Boxscore

Home sweet home

In 1936, a lump formed on Freitas’ left elbow. For a month he “could not even comb his hair or butter his toast with his left hand,” the Sacramento Bee reported.

The swelling eventually faded but the Reds no longer wanted him. The Cardinals, though, were willing to take a chance. They bought his contract and sent him to their Columbus (Ohio) farm team.

Freitas earned 10 wins for Columbus in 1936. Afterward, he asked Cardinals general manager Branch Rickey to move him to Sacramento. The Sacramento Solons became a Cardinals affiliate in 1936, four years after Freitas had settled in the California capital city with his wife.

Rickey granted the request.

Comfortable at home, Freitas posted records of 23-12 for Sacramento in 1937 and 24-11 in 1938.

Rickey offered to reward Freitas, 30, with a promotion to the majors. “I said, ‘Mr. Rickey, I never felt good back there (in the majors) and I feel great out here … and I don’t care about going back up.’ ” Freitas told the Sacramento Bee.

In an interview with reporter Marco Smolich, Freitas explained, “I’ve had a shot in the American League and in the National League. Frankly, I think I got a raw deal each time. Why ask for more? The main thing is, though, that I’d just as soon pitch in my own backyard. I’m happy in Sacramento.”

Freitas’ next four seasons with the Cardinals’ farm club produced marks of 21-18 (1939), 20-19 (1940), 21-15 (1941) and 24-13 (1942).

Gene Lillard, who played with and against Freitas in the Pacific Coast League, told the Sacramento Bee, “He was about as smart as any pitcher in the league … He threw at different speeds … That made it difficult to time. Hitting is mostly timing.”

Henry Oana, who played for the San Francisco Seals, said to the Associated Press, “He’s got five different speeds. I can’t figure him out. When I get set for number one, he feeds me number four. Just when I’m ready for number five, he gives me number two. I wish he’d get out of the league.”

On the final day of the 1942 season, Sacramento, managed by Pepper Martin, needed to sweep a doubleheader against the Los Angeles Angels to win its first pennant. Freitas earned a save in the opener, then pitched a four-hitter for the win in the finale.

Man of many skills

Freitas spent the next three years (1943-45) as an aircraft mechanic in the Army Air Corps during World War II.

He pitched for Sacramento (1946-49), Modesto (1950-51), Stockton (1952-53) and did some managing, too. After that, Freitas worked from 1956-70 as a mechanic at Aerojet, a rocket and missile propulsion manufacturer.

In retirement, Freitas enjoyed fishing in the Sacramento River and tending to his garden, which included a small orchard of apple, lemon, orange and peach trees.

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John Sipin went from Cardinals prospect to Japanese star

Posted in Games, Hitters, Prospects, Records, Trades on August 3, 2026| 14 Comments »

John Sipin was taken late in the earliest amateur baseball draft, a 55th-round pick of the Cardinals in 1965.

From that humble beginning, the slender, slugging infielder had some notable experiences during his baseball career, including:

_ Being groomed by Sparky Anderson. Sipin was on two Cardinals farm teams Anderson managed and reached the majors with a Padres club Anderson coached.

_ Sharing a National League record with Willie McCovey. Sipin and McCovey are the only National League players to hit two triples in their big-league debuts.

_ Forming a potent power duo with Sadaharu Oh. Sipin played nine seasons in Japan. In 1979, Oh (with 33) and Sipin (with 27) were the top two home run hitters for the Yomiuri Giants.

Down on the farm

John Sipin was from Watsonville, a California agricultural center in the Pajaro Valley near Monterey Bay. Watsonville, a sanctuary city, is the company headquarters of Monterey Mushrooms, Driscoll’s (a prominent producer of berries) and Martinelli’s (a leading maker of sparkling apple cider and apple juice).

A wave of Filipino migrant farmworkers came to the area in the 1920s and 1930s. Sipin’s father, Johnny Imperial Sipin, immigrated from the Philippines, married Ethel White (whose family moved to California from Arkansas) and got a job managing farmworker camps. Johnny stood 5-foot-4. His son grew to 6-foot-2 and became a standout in baseball, basketball and golf.

After graduating from Watsonville High School in 1964, John Sipin attended Cabrillo College. On the recommendation of scout Bill Sayles, the Cardinals chose the strong-armed shortstop in the first amateur baseball draft, in June 1965, and he reported to their minor-league spring training camp in 1966.

Assigned to St. Petersburg, managed by Sparky Anderson, Sipin became the shortstop and helped the club win 19 in a row. “A key hitter during the streak was John Sipin,” The Sporting News noted. Anderson told the Santa Cruz Sentinel, “I never saw an infielder with a better arm.”

After 31 games at St. Petersburg, Sipin was promoted to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and continued to impress. Cardinals minor-league hitting instructor Joe Medwick told the Cedar Rapids Gazette that Sipin showed signs of being a power hitter and had one of the “quickest bats” he’d seen among prospects.

Though lanky, Sipin had strong wrists that enabled him to generate bat speed.

The Cardinals liked his bat (14 home runs, 63 RBI) and arm, and put him on their 40-man big-league winter roster after the 1966 season.

Position change

Sipin was the shortstop for Sparky Anderson again in 1967, with Modesto. Though he clouted 19 home runs, he made 51 errors in 123 games.

When Sipin reported to Arkansas in 1968, manager Vern Rapp shifted him to second base. “I feel more suited to second base,” Sipin said to The Sporting News.

Sipin led Texas League second basemen in putouts, assists and double plays, and was named an all-star.

With the National League adding franchises in Montreal and San Diego for 1969, Sipin hoped to be taken in the October 1968 expansion draft, preferably by the Padres, and given the chance to play in the majors for a team in his home state. “I thought they were going to take me,” he said to The Sporting News.

Instead, the Padres passed on Sipin and took another Cardinals infield prospect, Jerry DaVanon, who played high school and college baseball in San Diego.

Dazzling debut

While Sipin began the 1969 season as the second baseman for Warren Spahn’s Tulsa farm team, the Padres opened their inaugural season with Roberto Pena, a former Cubs and Phillies shortstop, as their second baseman.

Padres manager Preston Gomez and coach Sparky Anderson, a former Phillies second baseman, determined the expansion club needed an upgrade at second. Anderson advocated for Sipin.

On May 22, 1969, the Padres dealt Jerry DaVanon and Bill Davis to St. Louis for Sipin, 22, and Sonny Ruberto. “Sipin comes highly recommended,” Gomez told The Sporting News. “He can make the double play, and that’s what we need … The kid has a great arm. We’re working with him to improve his range.”

Two days later, in a game against the Cubs at San Diego, Sipin debuted as the Padres’ second baseman. Batting second, he faced Ken Holtzman in the first inning and tripled. His next time up, in the fourth, Sipin tripled again versus Holtzman. Boxscore

Sipin joined Willie McCovey as the only National League players to triple twice in their big-league debuts. McCovey did it for the Giants against Robin Roberts of the Phillies on July 30, 1959, at San Francisco. Boxscore

(Two American League players also tripled twice in their first games in the majors: Bill Irwin of the 1912 Tigers and Roy Weatherly of Cleveland in 1936. Boxscore and Boxscore)

Sipin was one of the first players of Filipino descent to reach the majors. The first was Bobby Balcena. Born in California to Filipino parents, he had two at-bats for the 1956 Reds. The only Philippines native to play in the majors was Bobby Chouinard. Born in Manila, he pitched for four big-league clubs from 1996-2001.

Sipin followed his two-triple game with a three-hit performance against the Cubs. Boxscore

On May 30, Sipin’s first home run, in the 10th inning against Dan McGinn, gave the Padres a 3-2 win at Montreal. He hit another homer versus the Dodgers’ Don Sutton. On July 30, Sipin had a double and a single against Bob Gibson at St. Louis. Boxscore, Boxscore, Boxscore

Sipin remained the Padres’ second baseman until August when a back ailment required hospital treatment and he was shut down for the season. Sipin made 54 starts for the 1969 Padres, committed just seven errors in 477 innings but batted .223 and had no triples after his first game.

Lion Maru

Sipin had stellar minor-league seasons in 1970 and 1971, but the Padres never brought him back to the majors.

Learning to handle breaking pitches and hit to the opposite field, Sipin batted .301 for Salt Lake City in 1970 and led manager Don Zimmer’s club in total bases (237), slugging (.510), runs (74), doubles (31), homers (20) and RBI (80).

After spring training in 1971, Sipin was with the Padres on Opening Day, but, when he got to the ballpark, management informed him he was being sent to Hawaii. Sipin batted .318 for Hawaii and was the team leader in total bases (262), hits (174) and doubles (26).

Sipin found his comfort zone at his next stop: Japan. He signed with the Taiyo Whales of the Japan Central League in 1972 and became one of the country’s most popular players. Like Ted Simmons, who was nicknamed “Simba” with the Cardinals, Sipin let his hair grow long and was called “Lion Maru,” because he resembled a Japanese TV action hero who was able to transform from a ninja swordsman into a lion-headed warrior.

His play on the field helped earn him fan support, too. As Taiyo’s second baseman in 1972, Sipin, 25, became the first foreign player to win a Japanese Gold Glove Award. He also slugged three grand slams.

Grateful to be playing where he was appreciated, Sipin learned to speak fluent Japanese. “I’m content to stay over there,” he told the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

After six successful seasons (1972-77) as Taiyo’s second baseman, Sipin was traded to the Yomiuri Giants, cut his hair and became Sadaharu Oh’s teammate. Oh and Sipin often batted back-to-back.

In 1979, the Associated Press called Sipin “the most consistent American to play in Japan.” He retired after the 1980 season. In 1,036 career games in Japan, Sipin produced 1,124 hits, including 218 home runs, and batted .297. He three times clouted 30 or more homers in a season.

Sipin went on to have a second career in real estate in Japan and California.

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Ron Northey was a cinch in the pinch for Cardinals

Posted in Games, Hitters, Records, Trades on May 21, 2026| 13 Comments »

When Ron Northey ordered a double, it was for extra portions of ice cream, milk and chocolate syrup, not whiskey. Northey had a weakness for chocolate milkshakes. He sampled his favorite drink in just about every lunch counter or malt shop in each big-league city during his playing days in the 1940s and 1950s.

Northey’s diet gave him a physique as thick as a milkshake. His weight usually fluctuated between 200 and 220 pounds on a 5-foot-10 frame, giving him a shape “reminiscent of a fire hydrant,” Don Daniels of the Philadelphia Inquirer noted.

Sportswriters called him Round Ron. Phillies manager Ben Chapman told the Philadelphia Record, “Ron has a waistline that looks like a man who has just swallowed a watermelon.”

Chapman preferred the outfielder look like a cucumber, but, as The Sporting News noted, when “Northey’s waist shrinks so does his hit output.”

A left-handed batter, roly-poly Northey was a menacing hitter, especially in a pinch. He was the first big-leaguer to clout three career pinch-hit grand slams, doing it for the Cardinals in 1947 and 1948 and for the Cubs in 1950.

Three others have matched Northey’s feat: Willie McCovey with the Giants (1960, 1965) and Padres (1975); Rich Reese with the Twins (1969, 1970, 1972); and Ben Broussard with Cleveland (two in 2004) and Seattle (2007).

That jingle jangle

Northey was from Pennsylvania’s anthracite coal region. When he was in high school, a coach, Charlie Dunkelberger, took him to Philadelphia to work out for Athletics manager Connie Mack. According to the Pottsville Republican and Herald, Mack helped Northey get an athletic scholarship to Duke.

Batting for the Duke freshman team, Northey was beaned and suffered a punctured ear drum. “Since that day, Ron has had a buzz in his head,” The Sporting News reported.

The continual hum in his ear was so annoying that Northey sometimes slept with a radio on as a soothing distraction, according to The Sporting News.

It didn’t hurt his hitting, though. Northey had a power stroke. He also had an exceptionally strong right throwing arm that kept runners in check.

After a year at Duke, Northey entered the Athletics’ farm system in 1939. Two years later, his contract was sold to the Phillies.

Ready to hit

In his first big-league at-bat, with the 1942 Phillies, Northey walloped a double versus the Braves’ Al Javery. Two years later, he beat Javery with a home run in the 15th inning of a scoreless game. Boxscore and Boxscore

That 1944 season was Northey’s best _ 35 doubles, 22 home runs and 104 RBI. He pounded right-handed pitchers and was vulnerable against left-handers. With the 1946 Phillies, Northey batted .266 with 16 home runs versus right-handers and .159 with no home runs against left-handers.

After working in a stockroom at Sears during the winter, Northey reported late to 1947 spring training because of a salary dispute with the Phillies. Arriving 20 pounds overweight, he landed in Ben Chapman’s doghouse.

Punch, not Judy

After winning the 1946 World Series championship, the Cardinals had a dreadful start to the 1947 season. They lost 10 of their first 12 games, including the last eight in a row. They scored two runs or less in five of those 10 losses.

Harry Walker was deemed a weak link. After he batted .200 with no RBI in 10 games, the Cardinals stepped up efforts to acquire an outfielder with pop.

On May 3, 1947, they traded Walker and pitcher Freddy Schmidt to the Phillies for Northey. As a left-handed pull hitter, Northey’s swing was tailored to take advantage of the short distance (310 feet) down the line from home plate to the right field wall at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis. Cardinals owner Sam Breadon told the St. Louis Star-Times, “Harry Walker is a fine defensive outfielder, but what we need right now is punch and I think Northey has it.”

The Cardinals, though, didn’t know Walker was close to mastering a revamped swing that would lead to a breakthrough.

Let ‘er rip

Making his Cardinals debut in a May 4 doubleheader at Boston, Northey singled and scored in the opener, a 4-3 Braves victory that extended the St. Louis losing streak to nine. In the second game, he went 3-for-4 with four RBI and three runs scored, sparking St. Louis to a 9-0 triumph. One of the hits was a two-run home run off Mort Cooper, the former Cardinals ace. Boxscore

Cardinals manager Eddie Dyer mostly platooned Northey in right field with Erv Dusak and Joe Medwick. Playing against right-handers, Northey delivered in the clutch, either as a starter or a pinch-hitter.

When the Cardinals played the Phillies for the first time since the trade, Northey’s former teammates heckled him unmercifully from the dugout, The Sporting News reported. As he heard shouts of “Well, well, here’s old Two Ton,” and “Roll out the barrel,” Northey’s neck turned red and “he swung and missed a pitch with a viciousness that shook the ground in the batter’s box.”

Later that season, Northey got his revenge, clouting a walkoff home run onto the Sportsman’s Park roof in right against Dutch Leonard to beat the Phillies. The first of his pinch-hit grand slams came while batting for catcher Del Rice against Doyle Lade of the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Boxscore and Boxscore

Northey was the central figure in a bizarre play at Brooklyn. He crushed a long drive toward the center field stands. As Northey steamed around second, umpire Beans Reardon signaled home run and, according to the Star-Times, said, “What are you running for? It’s a home run.”

Northey slowed to a trot, Another umpire, Larry Goetz, who’d gone into center to follow the ball, saw it strike the tip of the wall and bound onto the field. Goetz signaled the ball was in play. Outfielder Dixie Walker (Harry’s brother) retrieved it and relayed to second baseman Eddie Stanky, who threw to the plate. Northey started to run, but not fast enough. Catcher Bruce Edwards tagged him out.

The Cardinals filed a protest with National League president Ford Frick, saying Northey would have scored if Reardon hadn’t caused him to slow down. Frick ruled in the Cardinals’ favor. The game was declared a tie. All the statistics would count, but not the score. Boxscore

Frick ordered the game to be replayed in its entirety as part of an Aug. 18 doubleheader. The Dodgers won both. The Cardinals finished in second place at 89-65, five behind the Dodgers.

Northey was adept at reaching base for the 1947 Cardinals. His on-base percentages: .391 overall, .459 with runners in scoring position; and .484 as a pinch-hitter. He hit .313 versus right-handers; .154 versus southpaws.

Hot hitting

Meanwhile, Harry Walker went on a tear as soon as he joined the Phillies, getting 10 hits in his first 24 at-bats. He stopped trying to pull pitches and perfected a batting style suggested by Dixie Walker, who urged his sibling to close his stance and spray the ball to all fields.

In 130 games for the 1947 Phillies, Walker batted .371 with 181 hits, including a league-leading 16 triples.

Even with his 5-for-25 effort for the Cardinals added to his season total, Walker easily won the National League batting crown at .363. The runner-up, Bob Elliott of the Braves, hit .317.

Walker also placed second in the National League in on-base percentage at .436. Only the Reds’ Augie Galan (.449) did better.

Getting on base

Northey played two more seasons for St. Louis. He was good again in 1948, hitting .321 overall and .444 as a pinch-hitter. His on-base percentage for the season was .420, including .516 as a pinch-hitter. His first home run of the season was a pinch-hit grand slam against the Pirates’ Elmer Singleton. Boxscore

Harry Walker batted .292 for the 1948 Phillies, was traded to the Cubs after the season and then shipped to the Reds.

Northey hit two grand slams, including one against the Phillies’ Robin Roberts, for the 1949 Cardinals but was hitless as a pinch-hitter.

After the 1949 season, in a classic example of what goes around comes around, the Cardinals sent Northey and infielder Lou Klein to the Reds to reacquire Walker.

Northey’s time with the Reds was short. They dealt him to the Cubs. In a game against the Dodgers at Ebbets Field, he delivered his third pinch-hit grand slam, a shot over the right field screen against Dan Bankhead. Boxscore

Northey also played for the White Sox (1955-57) and scouted for them (1958-60).

Pirates manager Danny Murtaugh, Northey’s friend and former Phillies teammate, made him the hitting coach and he served in that role in Pittsburgh for three seasons (1961-63). The chocolate milkshake fan then took a job in public relations for Pittsburgh Brewing Company, makers of Iron City Beer.

A son, Scott Northey, was a big-league outfielder with the 1969 Kansas City Royals, an American League expansion team.

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Bad business: Why Cardinals gave up on Reggie Smith

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents, Trades on April 17, 2026| 20 Comments »

Reggie Smith was a proud, obstinate ballplayer. Gussie Busch was a proud, obstinate team owner. The combination made for a combustible mix.

With the Cardinals in 1976, Smith opted to play without a signed contract because Busch wouldn’t agree to defer part of Smith’s salary. If Smith stayed unsigned, he could play out his option and become a free agent after the season.

Busch, an imperious meddler, would not tolerate what he perceived as defiance. “Get rid of him,” Busch barked to general manager Bing Devine, Smith told the Los Angeles Times.

On June 15, 1976, in a trade they would come to regret, the Cardinals sent Smith, their all-star switch-hitting right fielder, to the Dodgers for catcher Joe Ferguson and prospects Bob Detherage and Freddie Tisdale.

They are the egg men

Carl Reginald Smith was one of eight children raised in a family in Los Angeles County near Compton. His father had an egg delivery service and young Reggie helped him on the truck during weekends.

Smith became a high school baseball and football standout. A quarterback and defensive back, “I felt football was my best sport,” he told the Los Angeles Times.

Baseball, though, provided the best chance for him to earn money and help the family. Big-league clubs showed interest in the shortstop. In 1963, the Houston Colt .45s brought Smith to Dodger Stadium to work out before a game. “I was throwing as hard as possible on the sidelines when one throw got away from me,” Smith recalled to the Los Angeles Times. “Sandy Koufax was hitting fungoes to the outfielders and my throw missed his head by less than three inches. I still break into a cold sweat when I think about it.”

The Twins ended up being the club that signed Smith, 18, in June 1963 and assigned him to Wytheville (Va.) of the Appalachian League. The woman who ran the boarding house for blacks in the segregated town “told me to never go out alone,” Smith recalled to the Times. “I hit a white kid who called me a nigger. I yelled back to people in the stands … I’m lucky I’m not hanging from some tree.”

Smith played shortstop for Wytheville, made 41 errors in 65 games and had more strikeouts (69) than hits (65). The Twins made him available in the minor-league draft and the Red Sox took him. Four years later, Smith began the 1967 season as the Red Sox’s Opening Day second baseman and finished it as their center fielder in the World Series against the Cardinals.

Booed in Boston

Smith won a Gold Glove Award in 1968 and led the American League in doubles. He was tops in the league in total bases and extra-base hits in 1971.

He had one of the best arms in baseball, but his knees ached. The Red Sox wanted to trade Smith for pitching. They offered him to the Cubs for Ferguson Jenkins at the 1972 winter meetings, but the deal fell apart, the Boston Globe reported. Smith then was headed to the Dodgers for Bill Singer, but the Red Sox backed out at the last minute, general manager Al Campanis told the Times.

So Smith was back in Boston in 1973. He produced a .303 batting average, .398 on-base percentage and slugged at a .515 clip, but it was a miserable season for Smith. He confronted teammate Bill “Spaceman” Lee during a game in Milwaukee and called him gutless for not brushing back Brewers batters. Lee challenged him to a fight. Smith had the Spaceman seeing stars. The pitcher was knocked out cold. “He had it coming,” Smith told Frank Dolson of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

In a game at Boston, fans booed Smith when he didn’t run to first on a grounder. They booed him again when a shallow fly fell in front of him for a single. Smith mockingly doffed his cap on the way to the dugout, marched into the clubhouse, changed and went home while the game continued.

“My anger is like a balloon,” Smith told the Los Angeles Times. “Blow it up, let it go all over the place, then it lies on the floor, exhausted.”

The Red Sox put him on the trading block after the season. The Dodgers wanted him, but when the Red Sox demanded either Don Sutton or Andy Messersmith in return “that stopped that,” Al Campanis told The Sporting News.

The Cardinals won the prize, obtaining Smith and Ken Tatum for Rick Wise and Bernie Carbo on Oct. 26, 1973.

A Spike in spikes

Smith was a National League all-star in each of his first two seasons with St. Louis. He led the club in total bases in 1974, and his on-base percentage (.389) and slugging mark (.528) were tops among the regulars. Though sidelined for three weeks of the 1975 season because of back ailments, Smith was the Cardinals’ home run leader (with 19), and again produced quality on-base (.382) and slugging (.488) percentages.

Cardinals players appreciated him in those years. “He gives 100 percent all the time,” second baseman Ted Sizemore told the Los Angeles Times. “He’ll do anything to win.” In the book “The Spirit of St. Louis,” pitcher Rich Folkers said, “Reggie Smith was a good guy … When Reggie was in the lineup, he did real well.”

Bob Gibson saw Smith as a soulmate. In his book “Stranger to the Game,” Gibson said, “My affinity for Reggie Smith was a natural because we were very much alike, both of us maintaining an exterior toughness that really wasn’t what we were about. Smith was a very bright, thoughtful guy who was ready to fight if somebody looked at him wrong. I called him Spike because he reminded me of those spike-collared bulldogs on Saturday morning cartoons.”

Things go wrong

On the advice of agent Tom Reich, Smith requested the Cardinals defer a portion of his 1976 salary. When Gussie Busch said no, Smith opted to play without a signed contract. That meant the Cardinals would renew his pact basically at 1975 terms, but Smith would qualify to become a free agent after the season. “We had no quarrel with the Cardinals over gross salary,” Reich told the Los Angeles Times. “The difficulty was in working out the draft of the deferred arrangement.”

At 1976 spring training, a trade proposal was discussed: Reggie Smith and Ted Sizemore to the Dodgers for shortstop Bill Russell and outfielder Willie Crawford, Al Campanis confirmed to the Times.

When the Cardinals balked at giving up Smith, the trade became a swap of Sizemore for Crawford on March 2.

The 1976 Cardinals were a bad team. Their record entering the June 15 trade deadline was 25-34. Smith, experiencing pain in his left shoulder, struggled to hit. The injury caused him to alter his batting style. He couldn’t hold his hands as high as he wanted on the bat. Smith batted .174 in April and .219 in May. The bright spot was a three-homer game against the Phillies.

With third baseman Hector Cruz and first baseman Keith Hernandez struggling early in the season, manager Red Schoendienst had Smith fill in at third and first. In his book “I’m Keith Hernandez,” Hernandez recalled, “Reggie was a premier player … but he’d spent the last month, since being moved to the infield, sulking and brooding in the clubhouse. Everywhere he went, a dark cloud followed.”

Gussie Busch was fed up. The team was a mess and he viewed Smith as a problem. Busch assumed Smith wasn’t playing hard because of the contract disagreement. He wanted him gone _ just like he had ordered the trades of others who angered him such as Steve Carlton and Jerry Reuss.

“The Cardinals thought Reggie was jaking it,” Tom Reich said to the Los Angeles Times. “There were some words between Reggie and management. Hell, Reggie was playing in a lot of pain.”

Smith told the newspaper, “The Cardinals accused me of malingering to force a trade. I can’t understand them making that kind of statement. I have too much pride to stoop to that sort of thing.”

On June 15, Bing Devine called Al Campanis and offered him Smith. Campanis knew Devine was being forced to deal and had little leverage. Now, instead of Bill Russell, the Dodgers gave up Joe Ferguson, batting .222.

The deal was completed when the Dodgers agreed to the deferred salary arrangement and Smith agreed to sign a two-year contract for 1976-77. “Smith will receive in excess of $100,000 for each season, with a large portion of it deferred,” the Los Angeles Times reported.

Rot at the top

About a month after the trade, the Dodgers came to St. Louis for three games. Smith hit a home run in each. The pitchers were John Denny (solo shot), Pete Falcone (two-run) and Bob Forsch (three-run). “The pitch I threw to Reggie just straightened out,” Forsch told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I was trying to sink it outside … The last time I saw it, it was sinking over the wall in right.” Boxscore Boxscore Boxscore

Smith batted .476 against the 1976 Cardinals. Five of his 10 hits were home runs. After the season, exploratory surgery by Dr. Frank Jobe showed Smith had been playing with a torn rotator cuff, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Smith went on to produce 41 RBI in 57 career games versus the Cardinals and had a .404 on-base percentage against them.

(Joe Ferguson batted .201 for the 1976 Cardinals and was peddled to Houston for Larry Dierker after the season.)

In a five-year stretch from 1977-81, Smith helped the Dodgers win three National League pennants and a World Series title.

Asked about the Dodgers’ success, Smith told the Post-Dispatch in 1977, “It’s something that comes down right from the top, from the man at the head of the organization to everyone on the club. It’s something every team could have if management wanted it.

“I think the Cardinals might have had it in the past, but I don’t think they have it in the organization anymore, and you have to go right to the top man for the reason it’s not there anymore. I think Mr. Busch soured on his players a few years ago in those contract disputes and it’s still having an effect. He took the hard line, and to him the answer to negotiating a contract was to trade the player if the player also took the hard line.

“As a result, it became every player for himself, and pretty soon you no longer had a team but a bunch of individuals.”

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Wayne Granger was no stranger to the artistry of pitching

Posted in Games, Pitchers, Trades on March 15, 2026| 19 Comments »

A string bean who slung sinkers with a sweeping sidearm motion, Wayne Granger peered warily from the mound as Hank Aaron took his stance in the batter’s box. It was the ninth inning, two outs, bases loaded, and the 1973 Cardinals led the Braves, 4-3, at Atlanta.

Granger had been in this spot before since getting to the majors with St. Louis in 1968. Aaron would wait for the right-handed reliever’s sinking fastball and bash it if it didn’t dip as it neared the plate.

This time, Granger told himself, he’d do it differently. He’d throw soft instead of hard.

“He was throwing that slow curveball,” Aaron said to Dick Kaegel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “and it just kept getting slower and slower and slower, and slower and slower and slower.”

Aaron took the first pitch for ball one. He fouled off the second, looked at strike two and watched another go by for ball two. Tension building on every pitch, he fouled off seven in a row. Four of the fouls sailed deep into the seats in left.

“I wasn’t about to turn up one notch to his speed,” Granger said to the Atlanta Journal. His offerings to Aaron were “my slop pitch, a sort of slider-curve thrown underhanded,” Granger told the Post-Dispatch

Finally, on Granger’s 12th pitch to him, Aaron lofted a shallow fly to Lou Brock in left for the game-ending out.

“I love that kind of situation _ except he won,” Aaron told the Journal. Boxscore

Finding his form

Granger might have become Aaron’s teammate if not for a scout changing jobs.

Pitching for a semipro team in his home state of Massachusetts, “I was all set to sign with the Braves in the fall of 1964,” Granger recalled to Wilt Browning of the Atlanta Journal. “Jeff Jones, who was the regional scout for the Braves in New England, had made me a good offer, but he asked me to wait until the first of the year. He didn’t say why, but he said it was something good. Then he called me on the first of January and asked me if I’d like to sign with the world champions.”

Jones had jumped from the Braves to the Cardinals, the 1964 World Series champions. The Cardinals agreed to give Granger the $20,000 bonus Jones had offered when he worked for the Braves. Granger, who turned 21 in 1965, followed the money, signing with St. Louis.

At 6-foot-2 and 165 pounds, Granger was a broomstick. “He might be mistaken for Ichabod Crane,” the Tulsa World noted. According to the Post-Dispatch, “He’s so skinny that you couldn’t get three digits on the back of his uniform.”

“Other pitchers complained of sore muscles,” Granger told the Cincinnati Enquirer, “but I didn’t have any muscles to get sore.”

The Cardinals tried him as a starter his first season in their farm system. Granger threw overhand then. Though he totaled 200 innings, “I just didn’t throw with enough velocity to (eventually) get the ball past major league hitters,” Granger told the New York Times, “so I switched from a three-quarter motion to sidearm, where my natural sinker is much more effective.”

Granger broke a thumb on a rundown play at 1966 spring training. When he recovered, Arkansas manager Vern Rapp had Granger work himself into condition in the bullpen. Granger did so well as a reliever that Rapp kept him in that role. Granger responded with an 11-2 record and 1.80 ERA.

Promoted to Tulsa in 1967, Granger came under the guidance of its manager, Warren Spahn.

“The luckiest break I had in my career was when I had Warren Spahn as my manager,” Granger said to Arthur Daley of the New York Times. “He’s to pitching what Ted Williams is to hitting. It’s a pure science to them. They know absolutely everything there is to know about their specialties.

“Spahnie told me about the instructions he once had given Del Crandall, his catcher. ‘When you give a target,’ he said, ‘I don’t want to see the glove. I want to be able to see the pocket of the glove so that I can feel I’m looking down a funnel at the precise target, and that’s where I want to put the ball.’ He taught me concentration. I can’t throw within the six-inch circle he used to target, but I can hit it one out of three times and come close enough on the others.”

Redbirds to Reds

Called up to the Cardinals in May 1968, Granger’s sidearm sinker baffled National League batters. He totaled four wins, four saves and posted a 2.25 ERA in 34 games. Asked what was the best thing about being a big-leaguer, Granger replied to the Enquirer, “Getting up at noon and going to have a steak and then going to the ballpark to play a boy’s game.”

In the 1968 World Series, the rookie made one appearance, mopping up in Game 6 when the Tigers led, 13-0. “Nervous as hell,” Granger recalled to the Orlando Sentinel. After hitting Al Kaline with a pitch in the eighth inning, “I got a lot more nervous,” Granger said. Then he plunked Willie Horton, too. Boxscore

On the day after the Tigers won Game 7, Granger and Bobby Tolan were sent to the Reds for Vada Pinson. One reason Granger was included was the Cardinals didn’t think they could protect him from being taken in the Oct. 14, 1968, National League expansion draft. In addition to their core veterans, the Cardinals had prospects Jerry Reuss and Ted Simmons among the 15 players on their protected list. Rather than lose Granger to the draft, the Cardinals offered him to help land Pinson, a player they coveted to replace Roger Maris, who retired.

(In an unusual twist, Granger and Tolan continued to play for the Cardinals for a while after the trade. The Reds gave permission for Granger and Tolan to participate in the Cardinals’ 18-game goodwill tour of Japan in fall 1968. Granger was 5-0 for the Cardinals against Japanese all-star teams.  “The Japanese baseball is smaller than ours,” Granger told John Hollis of the Houston Post. “I swear I threw a pitch one time that dropped three feet. You can make that Japanese baseball do a lot of funny things.”)

Reds general manager Bob Howsam, who had the same title with the Cardinals when Granger and Tolan were in the St. Louis farm system, was delighted to acquire the pair. “It had to come close to being the worst trade St. Louis ever made,” Arthur Daley of the Times declared.

While Pinson disappointed and lasted one season in St. Louis, Granger and Tolan had breakout years for the 1969 Reds. Tolan batted .305 with 93 RBI and 26 stolen bases. Granger pitched in 90 games and had nine wins, 27 saves and a 2.80 ERA. Enquirer columnist Barry McDermott described the lanky reliever as “a 165-pounder with a 500-pound arm and 1,000-pound heart.”

“He’s the coolest individual I’ve ever seen under pressure,” Reds manager Dave Bristol told the newspaper. “Nothing seems to bother him.”

In 1970, with Sparky Anderson as manager, the Reds won the pennant and Tolan and Granger were key contributors. Tolan hit .316 with 80 RBI and 57 steals. Granger had 35 saves and a 2.66 ERA. “His sidearm ball zings in with whiplash effect,” the New York Times observed.

(Granger did not pitch well, though, in the 1970 World Series. In Game 3, he gave up a grand slam to Orioles pitcher Dave McNally. “”It was probably the worst pitch in baseball history,” Granger told the Enquirer. Boxscore, Video

Turn on the power

The zip began disappearing from Granger’s sinker. As he told the Orlando Sentinel, “From 1971 on, it was a downhill race.” He ended up pitching for seven clubs in nine big-league seasons. The Cardinals reacquired Granger in November 1972 and it turned out to be another bad deal for them. They gave up Larry Hisle and John Cumberland to get him. Granger was 2-4 with five saves and a 4.24 ERA for the 1973 Cardinals before they shipped him to the Yankees.

This post, though, started with a story about Granger and Hank Aaron, so it’s fitting that it ends with a story about a home run.

In a most unlikely scenario, Granger made like Babe Ruth, calling his shot, and swatting the lone home run of his professional career.

On July 9, 1971, Granger retired five Mets batters in a row. With the Reds ahead, 5-3, in the eighth, Sparky Anderson wanted to keep Granger in the game, so he let him bat with two outs, none on, against Ray Sadecki, the former Cardinal.

Granger rarely batted. He’d never produced a RBI or extra-base hit since coming to the majors.

He grabbed a bat belonging to slugger Lee May and went to face Sadecki. Reds pitching coach Larry Shepard yelled out, “Take a good cut, Wayne.” Granger yelled back, “You watch this swing,” and then pointed to the center field stands.

Granger took a big swing at Sadecki’s first pitch and missed it by a foot. He took a similar hack at the second pitch. This time, the skinny man got the fat part of the bat on the ball, and it carried over the wall in left-center for a home run.

As Granger trotted around the bases, his teammate, Jim Merritt, was stretched out in the dugout as though he had fainted, the Dayton Journal Herald reported.

Granger told the Troy Daily News, “I never hit a ball that far before.” Boxscore

 

 

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Cardinals batters got a sinking feeling facing Frank Linzy

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers, Trades on March 10, 2026| 14 Comments »

A right-handed sinkerball specialist, Frank Linzy pitched for and against the Cardinals. During his prime, as a Giants reliever, some of his most noteworthy achievements came versus St. Louis. He was on the backside of his career when he joined the Cardinals in 1970.

In 11 seasons with the Giants (1963, 1965-70), Cardinals (1970-71), Brewers (1972-73) and Phillies (1974), Linzy totaled 110 saves, 62 wins and a 2.85 ERA. He led the Giants in saves for five years in a row (1965-69). “The first five years were fun,” Linzy told the Tulsa World. “The next five were a struggle.”

Country boy

Linzy was born “out in the bushes” near Fort Gibson, Okla., according to the Tulsa newspaper. His father farmed cotton and soy beans. The family moved to Porter, Okla., when Frank was 5. One of his boyhood friends was Jim Brewer, who, like Linzy, would become a relief pitcher in the majors. “Jim and I played basketball under the street lights by the hour,” Linzy recalled to the Tulsa World.

While in school, Linzy helped his father chop cotton. He also played baseball and basketball, fished for crappie and hunted for quail. Linzy developed into a standout baseball and basketball player at Porter High School. As a senior, he averaged 20 points per game in basketball and posted a 12-2 pitching record.

The Reds offered him a $10,000 bonus, according to Bob Broeg of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, but Linzy instead took a basketball scholarship offer from famed coach Hank Iba at Oklahoma State. He lasted one semester. “I couldn’t make my grades,” Linzy told the Tulsa World. “I never studied before. I took recess more than anything else (in high school) and they didn’t have recess (in college).”

Linzy tried another semester at Northeastern State in Tahlequah, Okla., then returned home. He was playing baseball for a town team when offered a contract (but no signing bonus) from Giants scout Bully McLean, a former minor-league outfielder with the Chickasha Chicks and Henryetta Hens.

The Giants assigned Linzy to a farm club in Salem, Va., in July 1960. He wanted to be an outfielder because his favorite player was Duke Snider, but Salem manager Jodie Phipps, a former Cardinals prospect who totaled 275 wins in 19 seasons as a minor-league pitcher, told Linzy he’d do better on the mound.

As a starting pitcher, Linzy advanced through the Giants’ system. With Springfield (Mass.) in 1963, he was 16-6 with a 1.55 ERA. Impressed, the Giants called him to the majors in August 1963 and he joined them on the road.

“All I had were Levis and just plain old shirts, and I walked into the hotel lobby and there’s all these guys with sport coats on and dress pants,” Linzy recalled to the Tulsa World. “The only time I felt equal was when we were on the baseball field and I had the same kind of clothes on as they did.”

Super sinker

Linzy made his Giants debut in a start against the Reds. (One of just two starts in 516 big-league appearances.) He struck out the first batter he faced, Pete Rose. In his second appearance, against the Cardinals, Linzy came in with the bases loaded, one out, and fanned Bill White, then got Stan Musial to pop out. In Linzy’s third game, he struck out Hank Aaron. Boxscore  Boxscore Boxscore

After another season in the minors, Linzy stuck with the Giants in 1965, beginning his five-year run as their closer.

Linzy threw two pitches _ a heavy sinker and hard slider. “I didn’t have enough pitches,” he said to the Tulsa World. “That’s why I couldn’t have been a starter.”

The sinker was his specialty. Linzy said he gripped the slick part of the ball rather than the seams to make it spin. Catcher Ed Bailey told the San Francisco Examiner, “He’s holding an overlap grip with a back reverse and a flat flipper finger.” Or, as Linzy’s fellow pitcher, Bobby Bolin, put it, “The backspin on the ball, overlapping with the downspin, makes it sink.”

Linzy focused on getting grounders instead of strikeouts. He was durable and effective, but also “I was scared to death,” he told the Post-Dispatch. “… I could throw crooked. That’s about all I can say for what I did.”

Asked to describe the keys to being a reliever, he told the Tulsa newspaper, “You’ve got to have a strong back and a weak mind.”

Linzy earned his first big-league win on May 5, 1965, with two scoreless innings at St. Louis. Two months later, he got his first hit _ a home run into the wind at Candlestick Park versus the Cardinals’ Ray Washburn. “I’m strong enough to hit the ball out,” Linzy told the Examiner. “I just never connect.” Later in the game, he lined a single against Ray Sadecki. Boxscore  Boxscore

Linzy was 3-0 with two saves and a 1.08 ERA versus the 1965 Cardinals. Overall for the season, he won nine and converted 20 of 25 save chances.

The Cardinals were a club Linzy continued to do well against. For his career, he was 5-2 with nine saves and 1.65 ERA versus St. Louis. He never gave up a home to a Cardinals batter. In 1967, when the Cardinals were World Series champions, Linzy pitched 9.2 scoreless innings against them. When the Cardinals repeated as National League champions in 1968, Linzy faced them over 11.1 innings and posted an 0.79 ERA.

Career batting averages against Linzy among players on Cardinals championship clubs included Orlando Cepeda (.105), Ken Boyer (.167), Dick Groat (.143), Julian Javier (.167), Roger Maris (.000), Tim McCarver (.192) and Mike Shannon (.182).

Ups and downs

Linzy bought a 10-acre spread across a gravel road from his father-in-law’s cattle ranch near Coweta, Okla. The pitcher spent winters picking pecans from the trees on his property. Before heading to spring training in 1969, Linzy laid the foundation for his house. Using a blueprint he sketched on cardboard, his in-laws built Linzy and his wife their brick dream house, the Tulsa World reported.

Though he had 14 wins for the 1969 Giants, Linzy converted only 52 percent of his save chances. His sinker too often was staying up in the strike zone. Linzy noticed his right arm lacked the elasticity of his best seasons.

He looked terrible with the 1970 Giants (7.01 ERA in 25.2 innings), but the Cardinals, desperate for quality relievers, decided to take a chance. On May 19, 1970, the Giants sent Linzy to the Cardinals for pitcher Jerry Johnson.

The Cardinals hoped Linzy’s sinker would induce ground ball outs on their new artificial surface, but batters had other ideas. Linzy posted a 4.08 ERA in home games for the 1970 Cardinals. In 47 games overall for them that year, he walked more than he fanned and gave up more hits than innings pitched. Right-handed batters hit .298 against him.

Brought back by the Cardinals in 1971, Linzy rewarded them with a return to form early in the season. In April, he was 1-0 with three saves and a 1.88 ERA. He added two more saves in May, allowing no earned runs for the month.

On June 9, 1971, with his ERA for the season at 2.10, Linzy collided with first baseman Bob Burda as both pursued a ball bunted by the Braves’ Ralph Garr. Linzy suffered multiple fractures of the left cheekbone. Boxscore

The Cardinals swooned in June, with an 8-21 record for the month, and got only one save (from Don Shaw) during the nearly 30 days Linzy was sidelined.

After his return, Linzy pitched in 25 games but didn’t get many save chances. He finished the season with six saves, four wins and a 2.12 ERA. In 23 home games covering 30 innings, his ERA was 1.50. Overall, batters hit .226 against him in 1971, but he allowed 48 percent of inherited runners to score.

Dealt to the Brewers in March 1972 for pitching prospect Richard Stonum, Linzy spent two seasons with Milwaukee (totaling 25 saves) and one with the Phillies.

“I played as hard as I could as long as I could,” Linzy told the Tulsa World. “I didn’t ever quit. They just sent me home.”

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