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Lots of great starts, sad endings for Jose DeLeon

Posted in Games, Pitchers, Trades on March 11, 2024| 10 Comments »

Jose DeLeon had the talent, but not the won-loss record, to be an ace. Some of it was bad luck. Some of it was bad teams. Some of it was his own doing.

DeLeon was the first Cardinals pitcher since Bob Gibson to lead the National League in strikeouts. He outdueled Roger Clemens twice in five days. Some of the game’s best hitters were helpless against him. Cal Ripken was hitless in 12 at-bats versus DeLeon. George Brett batted .091 (1-for-11) against him.

“George Brett told me he (DeLeon) was the toughest guy he ever hit against,” Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 1988. “He said his stuff was nasty.”

Yet DeLeon twice had 19 losses in a season and his career record in the majors was 86-119.

A right-hander who threw four pitches (fastball, curve, forkball and slider), DeLeon pitched 13 seasons (1983-95) in the majors with the Pirates, White Sox, Cardinals, Phillies and Expos. He was 63 when he died on Feb. 25, 2024.

Playing favorites

DeLeon was 11 when he moved with his family from the Dominican Republic to Perth Amboy, N.J., in 1972. He followed baseball and adopted pitcher Mike Torrez as his favorite player. Like DeLeon, Torrez, who began his major-league career with the Cardinals, was a big right-hander.

Though he played only one season of varsity high school baseball, DeLeon, 18, was drafted by the Pirates in 1979 and called up to the majors in July 1983. In his third appearance, a start versus the Mets, he was matched against Mike Torrez.

The result was storybook. As the New York Daily News put it, “Jose DeLeon waged a brilliant pitching war with his longtime idol, Mike Torrez.”

DeLeon, 22, held the Mets hitless until Hubie Brooks lined a single with one out in the ninth. DeLeon totaled nine scoreless innings. Torrez, 36, was even better: 11 scoreless innings. Neither got a decision. The Mets won, 1-0, in the 12th. Boxscore

Torrez said to the Daily News, “I pitched well enough to win. DeLeon pitched well enough to win. Sometimes, this game can drive you batty.”

Told that DeLeon was a fan of his, Torrez replied to the newspaper, “That’s a nice compliment. He showed a lot of poise and showed he’s a big-league pitcher.”

Three weeks later, DeLeon beat the Reds, pitching a two-hit shutout and striking out 13. “He has the best forkball I’ve ever seen,” Reds shortstop Dave Concepcion told the Dayton Daily News. “It looks like a knuckleball.” Boxscore

No-win situations

DeLeon was 7-3 with the 1983 Pirates, but it would be five years before he’d have another winning season in the majors.

“I had success early, then I thought it would be easy,” DeLeon told Mike Eisenbath of the Post-Dispatch. “My arm was ready, but my mind wasn’t.”

With the 1984 Pirates, he finished 7-13, including 0-4 versus the Cardinals. The Pirates were shut out in six of his 13 losses and scored only one run in five others. On Aug. 24, 1984, DeLeon pitched a one-hitter against the Reds _ and lost, 2-0. Boxscore

The next year was worse. His 2-19 record for the 1985 Pirates included an 0-2 mark versus the Cardinals. (DeLeon never beat the Cardinals in his career.) The Pirates were held to two runs or less in 14 of his 19 losses. They averaged 2.3 runs in his 25 starts.

Nonetheless, “His problems are a combination of his being too nice a guy and relying strictly on his arm,” Pirates general manager Syd Thrift told The Pittsburgh Press. “He has to take charge from the first pitch.”

In July 1986, DeLeon was traded to the White Sox for Bobby Bonilla. His first two wins for them came against Roger Clemens, the American League Cy Young Award recipient that year. Boxscore and Boxscore

Though he was 11-12 for the 1987 White Sox, DeLeon won six of his last seven decisions, totaled more than 200 innings (206) for the first time in the big leagues and led the White Sox in strikeouts (153).

“Trying to catch his forkball is like trying to catch Charlie Hough throwing a 90 mph knuckleball,” White Sox catcher Carlton Fisk told The Pittsburgh Press.

The Cardinals saw DeLeon, 27, as a pitcher on the verge of fulfilling his potential. On Feb. 9, 1988, they sent Ricky Horton, Lance Johnson and cash to the White Sox for DeLeon.

That’s a winner

For the next two seasons, DeLeon was a winner and did things no Cardinals pitcher had done since Bob Gibson.

In 1988, DeLeon struck out 208 batters, the most for a Cardinal since Gibson had the same total in 1972. DeLeon averaged 8.2 strikeouts per nine innings. He had a 13-10 record, but the Cardinals were 20-14 in his 34 starts. In DeLeon’s 10 losses, the Cardinals scored a total of 15 runs.

(DeLeon did it all that season. In a 19-inning marathon against the Braves, he played the outfield for four innings while Jose Oquendo pitched.)

On Sept. 6, 1988, DeLeon beat the Expos with a three-hit shutout. He also doubled versus Dennis Martinez and scored the game’s lone run. Boxscore

“His forkball and curveball were really working,” Expos slugger Andres Galarraga told the Post-Dispatch. “You didn’t know what to expect.” (Galarraga, a National League batting champion, hit .061 in 33 career at-bats versus DeLeon.)

Late in the 1988 season, DeLeon pitched in Pittsburgh for the first time since the Pirates traded him. He threw a three-hitter and won. “He looks different and acts different,” The Pittsburgh Press noted. “This was not the confused, defeated, befuddled child of a man the Pirates had traded away. This was a confident, mature adult who stuck it to the Pirates.” Boxscore

The 1989 season was DeLeon’s best. He was 16-12 and had 201 strikeouts, becoming the first Cardinals pitcher since Gibson in 1968 to lead the league in fanning the most batters. DeLeon also joined Gibson as the only Cardinals pitchers then with consecutive seasons of 200 strikeouts.

Batters hit .197 versus DeLeon in 1989. Right-handed batters had the most trouble against him, hitting .146 with more than twice as many strikeouts (115) as hits (54).

“I wish I had what he had,” Scott Sanderson, an 11-game winner with the 1989 Cubs, said to the Post-Dispatch.

On April 21, 1989, DeLeon beat the Expos on a two-hit shutout. Boxscore Four months later, he did even better _ holding the Reds scoreless on one hit (a Luis Quinones broken-bat single) for 11 innings. The Cardinals, though, stranded 16 base runners and the Reds won, 2-0, in the 13th against reliever Todd Worrell. Boxscore

Down and out

DeLeon appeared headed for another good season in 1990, winning four of his first six decisions. One of those wins came against the Reds when DeLeon pitched 7.1 scoreless innings _ “The Reds appeared to be swinging at pebbles” columnist Bernie Miklasz wrote in the Post-Dispatch _  and also tripled and scored versus Tom Browning. The triple occurred when right fielder Paul O’Neill tried unsuccessfully to make a shoestring catch and the ball skipped to the warning track. “DeLeon had no choice but to leg out a slow-motion triple,” Jack Brennan of The Cincinnati Post observed. Boxscore

After beating the Expos on June 17, DeLeon’s record was 6-5. Then he went 1-14 over his last 18 starts, finishing at 7-19.

Cardinals broadcaster Mike Shannon told Bill Conlin of the Philadelphia Daily News, “Jose DeLeon defines the word ‘siesta.’ If he could just establish some intensity, there’s no doubt he could be the best pitcher in the game. He’s got the best pure stuff in our league.”

DeLeon pitched a lot better for the Cardinals in 1991 (2.71 ERA in 28 starts) but his record was 5-9. The Cardinals totaled 17 runs in his nine losses. DeLeon had the lowest run support among National League starters (3.5 runs per nine innings). “Bad luck seems to find him,” Cardinals manager Joe Torre said to the Post-Dispatch.

Back-to-back seasons like DeLeon had in 1990 and 1991 might put almost anyone into a funk. Torre and pitching coach Joe Coleman worked to boost his confidence. “I was really down,” DeLeon said to Dan O’Neill of the Post-Dispatch. “In my mind, everything was negative.”

After a strong spring training, DeLeon was named the 1992 Cardinals’ Opening Day starter. He pitched well (one run in seven innings) but the Mets won. Boxscore and video

From there, his season unraveled. In a stretch from May 22 to June 8, DeLeon lost four consecutive starts, dropping his record to 2-6, and was moved to the bullpen. The Cardinals released him on Aug. 31 and he got picked up by the Phillies.

“DeLeon is a swell fellow,” Bernie Miklasz wrote in the Post-Dispatch. “Quiet. Unobtrusive. A gentleman. Doesn’t whine. Doesn’t blame others for his problems. Doesn’t make excuses _ but he doesn’t win as many games as he should.”

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Down and out: Bob Reynolds got decked by Frank Robinson

Posted in Games, Hitters, Pitchers, Trades on February 2, 2024| 15 Comments »

An incident involving a future Hall of Famer and a former Cardinals pitcher turned the relaxed atmosphere of an exhibition game between the Cleveland Indians and their top farm team into an awkward embarrassment.

On June 30, 1976, Cleveland’s player-manager, Frank Robinson, went to the mound and slugged Toledo reliever Bob Reynolds before 5,013 stunned spectators at the Mud Hens’ ballpark. (I was one of those in attendance.)

Robinson said Reynolds provoked him. Reynolds said Robinson was the instigator. Either way, the sight of a big-league manager punching one of the franchise’s players during a goodwill game made for a strange, ugly scene.

Hard stuff

A right-handed pitcher, Bob Reynolds was nicknamed Bullet as a high school player in Seattle because of the speed of his fastball. The Giants took him in the first round of the 1966 amateur draft and sent him to Twin Falls, Idaho, to pitch for the Magic Valley Cowboys of the Pioneer League. Reynolds, 19, struck out 147 batters in 86 innings.

Unprotected in the October 1968 expansion draft, Reynolds was chosen by the Expos. At spring training, he showed “a good, live fastball,” Expos catcher Ron Brand told the Montreal Star. “Reynolds makes it hop and sail.”

On March 6, 1969, in the Expos’ first exhibition game, Reynolds retired the Royals in order in the ninth, sealing a 9-8 victory. “I was tickled to death at Reynolds’ poise,” Expos manager Gene Mauch told the Star. “He knows he can throw strikes, and he protected our lead. He really blows smoke past them, doesn’t he? He’s a hard-throwing youngster.”

Preferring he get experience at the Class AAA level, the Expos sent Reynolds to Vancouver, a farm team managed by future Hall of Famer Bob Lemon.

“I was my own worst enemy,” Reynolds told the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. “I used to lose my head, kick dirt around the mound, throw things. Just blow up when things weren’t going right. I got to be known as a hothead. When you get a tag like that, it’s awfully hard to shake.

“In 1969 at Vancouver, I got so hot after a loss, I was ready to swing at the first person who walked in the clubhouse. Bob Lemon called me in his office, pointed to his big belly and said, ‘You want to hit something? Hit this.’ He calmed me down so much, I came out laughing at myself for my stupidity.”

The Expos called up Reynolds in September 1969. After being told he would make his big-league debut the next day in a start against the Phillies, “I took sleeping pills and everything else I could find, but nothing worked,” Reynolds recalled to the Baltimore Sun. “I was a nervous wreck the next day.”

Reynolds gave up three runs in 1.1 innings and never appeared in the regular season for the Expos again. Boxscore

Traveling man

On June 15, 1971, the Cardinals acquired Reynolds from the Expos for Mike Torrez. “We’d already lost Reynolds because his options had run out and he was frozen on Winnipeg’s roster,” Expos general manager Jim Fanning said to the Montreal Star. “A lot of clubs were interested in him and we decided to take the first good offer. Torrez became available … and we grabbed him.”

Cardinals scout Joe Monahan told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “Reynolds should be able to help us … His control has improved since the Expos sent him to Winnipeg because they made him stick to his fastball and slider, and forget about his curve.”

Reynolds made four relief appearances for the 1971 Cardinals and gave up runs in three of those games. As the Post-Dispatch noted, “Reynolds made little noise on the Cardinals scene except when he flapped his arms and gave his crow call. The bird imitation kept the bullpen crew from falling asleep.”

Two months after he joined the Cardinals, Reynolds was dealt to the Brewers. A Brewers instructor, former big-league pitcher Wes Stock, helped Reynolds with his slider. “Stock got me to come over the top with it,” Reynolds told the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. “I had been coming down the side a little with it and it was a flat slider.”

Reynolds was on the move again the following March when the Brewers sent him to the Orioles, who assigned him to their Rochester farm team. Working mostly in relief, he had a 1.71 ERA and struck out 107 in 95 innings. The Orioles brought him back to the majors in September 1972.

Doggone it

At spring training in 1973, Reynolds suffered a hairline fracture in his right hand and dislocated the little finger when he fell against a wall in his apartment while playing with his dog.

“I can’t blame it on the dog,” Reynolds said to the Baltimore Sun. “It was me who suggested the game in the first place.

“Reminds me of the time I was playing high school basketball and I tried to jazz it up as I went in for a layup. The ball got stuck behind my back and in trying to get straightened out I ran into a wall. Nearly knocked myself cold. Fans thought it was great. Coach didn’t like it too much.”

For the next two years (1973-74), Reynolds was the Orioles’ top right-handed reliever. He had a 1.95 ERA in 1973 and his nine saves tied left-hander Grant Jackson for the team lead. In 1974, Reynolds led the Orioles in games pitched (54) and had a 2.73 ERA.

At the urging of manager Earl Weaver, Reynolds was traded to the Tigers for pitcher Fred Holdsworth in May 1975. Three months later, the Cleveland Indians claimed Reynolds off waivers.

Missing the cut

At Indians spring training in 1976, the final spot on the pitching staff came down to a choice between Reynolds and Stan Thomas. “Bullet is faster, but his ball is straighter,” catcher Ray Fosse told the Akron Beacon Journal. “Thomas’ ball moves more and he has a greater selection of pitches.”

Frank Robinson and general manager Phil Seghi chose Thomas. “It was difficult having to make a decision like this,” Robinson said to the Akron newspaper. “Reynolds has a good attitude. He did everything we asked him to do.”

Reynolds, 29, was assigned to Toledo. Because he had no more options, he would need to remain on the Mud Hens’ roster all season.

The 1976 season was the last for Frank Robinson as a player and his second as a big-league manager. (He would finish with 586 career home runs and get elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.) The Indians, who had a streak of seven straight losing seasons, seemed to be improving under Robinson. Their record was 36-33 when they went to play the exhibition game with Toledo.

On the warpath

Among those in the Indians’ starting lineup on a rainy evening for the Toledo game were Boog Powell at first base, Duane Kuiper at second, George Hendrick in left and Rico Carty as the designated hitter. The Mud Hens had the likes of catcher Rick Cerone and first baseman Joe Lis.

Robinson began substituting in the third inning. He sent coach Rocky Colavito, 42, to replace Hendrick in left. Another coach, Jeff Torborg, got to play, too. Robinson put himself in the game as a pinch-hitter in the fifth. Reynolds, who relieved Cardell Camper (a former Cardinals prospect), was on the mound for Toledo.

Reynolds’ first pitch to Robinson went about six feet over his head. “That was no accident,” Robinson told the Associated Press. “I’ve played long enough to know. The first inning he pitched he never threw a ball above the waist and he never threw one above the waist to the batter before me.”

Robinson said to United Press International, “I feel he was trying to intimidate me and show (off) in front of his teammates.”

(“I wasn’t throwing at him,” Reynolds said to Ron Maly of the Des Moines Register. “The ball just got away from me. I was trying to throw a fastball and my spikes were cluttered with mud.”)

The at-bat continued and Robinson hit a fly ball that was caught for an out. As Robinson cut across the diamond to return to the dugout on the third base side, he said to Reynolds, “You got a lot of guts throwing at me in a game like this,” United Press International reported.

According to Robinson, Reynolds replied, “You had a lot of guts sending me down, you (obscenity).”

Robinson rushed toward Reynolds and punched him with a left-right combination. The left struck Reynolds in the teeth and jaw. The right “sent Reynolds to the ground in a sitting position,” The Cleveland Press reported.

Reynolds told the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle that he blanked out “momentarily, maybe for just a second.”

Robinson was ejected and booed by the Toledo fans. Reynolds, spitting blood, insisted on staying in the game. His tongue was cut and his jaw was swollen, according to The Cleveland Press.

“The whole thing could have been avoided,” Toledo manager Joe Sparks said to the Des Moines Register. “The manager of a big-league club should go out of his way to not let something like that happen.”

Robinson told United Press International, “If the circumstances were the same, I would do it again.”

Cleveland won the exhibition game, 13-1. Right fielder Charlie Spikes, who would total three home runs for the Indians in 1976, hit three homers against Toledo. In the seventh inning, Ray Fosse also hit a home run for Cleveland but injured a knee during his trot around the bases. Pitching coach Harvey Haddix, 50, had to come in and complete circling the bases for Fosse.

Robinson went on to manage 17 seasons in the majors with the Indians, Giants, Orioles, Expos and Nationals. Reynolds never got back to the big leagues.

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How Jeff Torborg ended his playing days at Cardinals camp

Posted in Hitters, Opponents, Trades on December 30, 2023| 15 Comments »

A catcher who earned the trust of Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale and Nolan Ryan, Jeff Torborg came to the Cardinals to work with a pitching staff led by Bob Gibson.

On Dec. 6, 1973, the Cardinals acquired Torborg from the Angels for pitcher John Andrews. With 10 years of big-league experience and a reputation as a defensive specialist who worked well with pitchers, Torborg, 32, seemed a good fit to back up Cardinals catcher Ted Simmons, 24, in 1974.

Instead, when the Cardinals decided on a different roster configuration, Torborg departed and began a second career as a coach and manager.

Giants fan

As a youth in Westfield, N.J., Torborg was a New York Giants fan. “I remember walking on the field (after attending a game) at the Polo Grounds with my dad and I couldn’t believe I was really there,” Torborg recalled to the Bridgewater (N.J.) Courier-News. “I remember seeing Monte Irvin hit one into the upper deck in the deepest part of left field, and I couldn’t imagine anybody hitting the ball that far.”

Torborg played college baseball at Rutgers and was a power-hitting catcher. After he saw Torborg hit two home runs and a triple in a game against Army, Dodgers scout and former Giants infielder Rudy Rufer said to the Courier-News, “I raced for the nearest phone, called up (general manager) Buzzie Bavasi, and told him Torborg was a prospect we couldn’t afford to miss.”

A right-handed batter, Torborg hit .537 for Rutgers in 1963 and produced 67 total bases in 67 at-bats.

The Dodgers signed him on May 23, 1963, and sent him to their Albuquerque farm club. He arranged to return home to receive his Rutgers diploma on June 5 (he earned a degree in education), got married the next day to a former Miss New Jersey, Susan Barber, and went back to Albuquerque on June 8.

(The Dodgers gave Torborg and his wife a two-week paid honeymoon in Hawaii after the season, according to the Courier-News.)

Higher education

Torborg, 22, made the Opening Day roster of the 1964 Dodgers as a backup to catcher John Roseboro. Don Drysdale dubbed the rookie “Rudy Rutgers” because he looked the part of a clean-cut collegian, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Sandy Koufax, a bachelor, had a collection of kitchen appliances he’d received for being a guest on postgame radio shows. One day, in the locker room, he handed Torborg a new electric can opener. According to author Jane Leavy in the book “A Lefty’s Legacy,” Koufax said to the newly married Torborg, “You can use this more than me.”

On days Koufax didn’t pitch, he would hit fungoes to Torborg so that the rookie could acclimate himself to pop-ups behind the plate at Dodger Stadium, Leavy noted. She also explained in her book that Koufax told Torborg to stop jumping up from his crouch after every pitch. “I like the picture of the catcher being quiet behind the plate, staying down, so everything I see is low,” Koufax said.

John Roseboro also would “offer help every chance he had,” Torborg said to the Los Angeles Times. According to The Sporting News, Torborg was grateful to Roseboro for “tutoring him on how to handle low pitches and block the plate.”

Torborg didn’t hit well in the majors but he had his moments. On July 25, 1965, he contributed a two-run single against the Cardinals’ Nelson Briles in a five-run Dodgers fifth inning. Boxscore Five days later, he sparked a Dodgers comeback at St. Louis with a home run against Curt Simmons that went deep over the hot dog stand in left. Boxscore

The highlight of Torborg’s 1965 season came on Sept. 9 at Dodger Stadium when he caught Koufax’s perfect game against the Cubs.

As Koufax crafted his masterpiece, “my heart was beating so loudly it was pounding in my ear,” Torborg said to the Los Angeles Times. Boxscore

All rise

Torborg was Roseboro’s backup for four seasons (1964-67). When Roseboro got traded to the Twins, “I felt I was No. 1,” Torborg told the Los Angeles Times. Instead, the Dodgers acquired Tom Haller from the Giants and made him the starting catcher.

“I got very frustrated,” Torborg said to the Times. “I let myself get overweight and I had back trouble.”

Torborg was the catcher when Don Drysdale beat the Giants on May 31, 1968, for his fifth consecutive shutout, and he caught Bill Singer’s no-hitter against the Phillies on July 20, 1970. Boxscore and Boxscore

Mostly, though, Torborg watched as Haller did the bulk of the Dodgers’ catching from 1968-70. Torborg served so much time on the bench he was nicknamed “The Judge,” according to The Sporting News.

Change of scenery

In March 1971, Torborg was sent to the Angels. He shared catching duties with John Stephenson and Jerry Moses in 1971 and with Art Kusnyer and Stephenson in 1972.

With Bobby Winkles as manager and John Roseboro as a coach for the Angels in 1973, Torborg, 31, finally became a No. 1 catcher.

On May 15, 1973, Torborg caught his third career no-hitter, the first of seven pitched by Nolan Ryan. “He called an outstanding game,” Ryan told The Sporting News. Boxscore

(Since then, Carlos Ruiz of the Phillies and Jason Varitek of the Red Sox each caught four no-hitters, according to MLB.com.)

With the 1973 Angels, Torborg played in a career-high 102 games, but hit .220. As he told Bob Broeg of the Post-Dispatch, “I’m a no-hit catcher in more ways than one.”

After the season, the Angels acquired catcher Ellie Rodriguez from the Brewers and projected him to be the starter in 1974. 

New script

Ted Simmons caught in 152 games, totaling a franchise-record 1,352.2 innings, for the 1973 Cardinals. Hoping to give him more breaks from the grind in 1974, the Cardinals acquired Torborg.

(According to The Sporting News, Nolan Ryan “loved to pitch to” Torborg and “was upset” when he got traded.)

The Cardinals went to 1974 spring training with four catchers on the roster _ Simmons, Torborg, Larry Haney and Marc Hill. According to the 1974 Cardinals media guide, Torborg “has a good chance to be the No. 2” catcher.

Described by The Sporting News as “a proficient receiver with an excellent arm,” Torborg told the publication, “I feel I can help (the Cardinals) a lot even if I’m not playing. I can help the pitchers in the bullpen and I can talk with the pitching coach (Barney Schultz) on the bench.”

Late in spring training, the Cardinals decided that their catcher from the 1960s, Tim McCarver, 32, who was on the roster as a reserve first baseman, would suffice as the backup to Simmons. In an emergency, first baseman and former catcher Joe Torre also could fill in.

Torborg was released, Larry Haney got sent to the Athletics and Marc Hill went to the minors.

“I had a pretty good spring, but the Cardinals ran into a (roster) numbers problem and they let me go,” Torborg told The Sporting News.

Torborg went home to New Jersey. Two months later, in May 1974, the Red Sox brought him to Boston for a tryout after catcher Carlton Fisk injured a knee, but they opted to go with Tim Blackwell as the backup to Bob Montgomery.

At 32, Torborg’s playing days were finished. Among the Hall of Famers he caught were Don Sutton (51 games), Drysdale (49 games), Ryan (41 games) and Koufax (24 games).

Coach and manager

Torborg, who earned a master’s degree in athletic administration from Montclair (N.J.) State, became athletic director and head baseball coach at Wardlaw School in Edison, N.J., but left for a spot on the 1975 Cleveland Indians coaching staff of manager Frank Robinson.

In June 1977, Torborg, 35, replaced Robinson as manager. Years later, he told the Bridgewater Courier-News, “I really wasn’t prepared to manage. I was a young coach who was still very close to the players. I made a lot of mistakes.”

After he was fired in July 1979, Torborg joined the Yankees coaching staff in 1980. He was ready to become head baseball coach at Princeton in 1982 but changed his mind when Yankees owner George Steinbrenner gave him a seven-year contract to stay as a coach.

According to Newsday’s Tom Verducci, Steinbrenner offered Torborg the Yankees general manager job in 1982 but he rejected it because he wanted to remain in a role on the field. Billy Martin, one of several managers Torborg coached for with the Yankees, distrusted him. “He thought I was a pipeline upstairs (to Steinbrenner),” Torborg told Verducci.

After nine seasons (1980-88) as a Yankees coach, Torborg managed the White Sox (1989-91), Mets (1992-93), Expos (2001) and Marlins (2002-2003).

In 1992, Torborg and Mets outfielder Vince Coleman “engaged in an angry and physical confrontation on the field,” the New York Times reported. Coleman was suspended for two days without pay for shoving Torborg and swearing at him after the Mets manager tried to break up Coleman’s argument with an umpire.

According to New York Times columnist George Vecsey, “Coleman has been both a cause and a symbol of the Mets’ slide to the bottom. This is an outfielder with little baseball savvy and bad wheels and an unsavory image.”

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Ken MacKenzie played it smart on diamond and ice

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers, Trades on December 26, 2023| 8 Comments »

During his National League pitching career, Ken MacKenzie produced one hit. It resulted in his only RBI _ a game-winning single against the Cardinals.

Doing the unexpected came naturally to MacKenzie. A hockey player from a small town on a Canadian island, he went to Yale, graduated and became a big-league pitcher.

A left-handed reliever, MacKenzie was the only pitcher on the original 1962 New York Mets to finish the season with a winning record. In an encore, he also was the only pitcher with a winning record on the 1963 Mets.

Bespectacled and unassuming, MacKenzie was called Mr. Peepers by his Mets teammates, according to Newsday’s George Vecsey.

The Cardinals acquired him for a possible pennant run. After his playing career, MacKenzie coached baseball and hockey at Yale. He was 89 when he died on Dec. 14, 2023.

Out of the wilderness

MacKenzie was from Gore Bay, a town on Manitoulin Island in Ontario, Canada, at the north end of Lake Huron. His father, John, who ran a hardware store, lost an eye serving in Europe with the Black Watch Royal Highland Regiment of Canada during World War II, according to the Hartford Courant.

Like his father, Ken MacKenzie excelled at hockey. Years later, he recalled to the Atlanta Constitution, “I never played baseball until I was 15 … I started pitching for the town team.”

MacKenzie was so inexperienced at pitching, “I didn’t even know how to wind up until I was 16,” he said to The Sporting News.

He went to Yale for an education (majoring in industrial administration) and to play hockey. After playing for Yale’s freshman hockey team, he made the varsity as a defenseman his sophomore year.

Though he hadn’t played freshman baseball, MacKenzie tried out for the varsity as a sophomore and earned a spot on the pitching staff. He became “one of the best college pitchers I’ve seen,” Hartford Courant columnist Bill Newell observed.

Relying on pinpoint control, MacKenzie was 19-6 with a 1.77 ERA in three varsity baseball seasons. He was 6-0 versus Harvard and 5-1 against Princeton.

(MacKenzie also played three varsity hockey seasons at Yale and was the team’s leading scorer as a junior.)

Beating the odds

Though he was successful in the Ivy League, conventional wisdom was MacKenzie didn’t throw hard enough to pitch in the pros. “Ken, even in his wildest dreams, never pictured himself being a major-league player,” the Hartford Courant noted.

After he graduated in 1956, MacKenzie received one baseball offer _ from the Milwaukee Braves. He signed with them in September 1956 and reported to their Class AA Atlanta Crackers farm club at spring training in 1957.

According to the Atlanta Constitution, MacKenzie “kept his bags packed” because he was uncertain he’d make the team. “Every time I heard a rumor someone was going, I figured it would be me,” he told the Atlanta newspaper.

Instead, he made the team and became a prominent starter, pitching a one-hitter against Mobile and finishing the 1957 season with a 14-6 record.

Progressing through the farm system, MacKenzie got called up to the Braves to fill a relief role in May 1960. His first decision, a loss to the Reds, came when he gave up a walkoff grand slam to Ed Bailey. Boxscore

In October 1961, the Braves sold MacKenzie’s contract to the Mets.

New York, New York

The 1962 Mets (40-120) were a bad team but had some smart pitchers. In addition to MacKenzie (Yale), the college graduates on the staff included Craig Anderson (Lehigh) and Jay Hook (Northwestern). Their manager was the Ol’ Perfessor, Casey Stengel, 72.

In recalling the 1962 Mets, MacKenzie told Dick Young of the New York Daily News, “Grounders went through all the time, and the ones they got to they didn’t pick up. All singles were doubles. I had an earned run average of 5, and maybe half of it was mine. We had to get five and six outs an innings. One day, Frenchy Daviault was pitching and it was brutal. The Old Man (Stengel) came out and said, ‘What’s the matter?’ Frenchy said, ‘What do you expect me to do?’ The Old Man said, ‘Strike somebody out. You know they can’t catch grounders.’ “

According to the New York Times, when MacKenzie came into a game one time in a crucial situation, Stengel handed him the ball and said, “Make like those guys are the Harvards.”

MacKenzie and his wife, Gretchen, a Vassar College graduate, lived in a Greenwich Village apartment during their time with the Mets. “We’d walk around and see all the art shows, drop in the coffee shops, or just watch the people,” MacKenzie told Newsday. “We liked the people down there. Everybody was open-minded. That’s the way we like to operate.”

Timely hitting

On July 28, 1962, at St. Louis, MacKenzie relieved Jay Hook in the fifth inning of a game against the Cardinals. With the Mets ahead, 8-6, in the ninth, MacKenzie, hitless as a big-leaguer, stroked a single against Don Ferrarese, scoring Joe Christopher and increasing the lead to 9-6.

(It was MacKenzie’s only hit and only RBI in 36 at-bats in the majors. MacKenzie told the Hartford Courant that Mets hitting coach Rogers Hornsby said to him, “You know, MacKenzie, you’re not a bad hitter. You put the bat on the ball.”)

The run was important because, in the bottom half of the inning, MacKenzie walked Bill White and gave up a home run to Curt Flood, pulling the Cardinals to within one at 9-8. (Flood hit .700 _ 7 for 10 _ against MacKenzie in his career.) After Willard Hunter relieved and walked Stan Musial, Craig Anderson came in and rescued the Mets, retiring the next three batters and securing the win for MacKenzie. Boxscore

MacKenzie was 5-4 with a save for the 1962 Mets, becoming the first pitcher to complete a season with a winning record for them. His ERA was 4.95. According to the Hartford Courant, when MacKenzie told Casey Stengel that at $10,000 per year he was the lowest paid member of Yale’s class of 1956, Stengel replied, “But you had the highest ERA.”

Cardinals calling

With the 1963 Mets, MacKenzie had a torrid start to the season (2-0, one save, 0.00 ERA in six appearances in April) but hit the skids hard in May. In one stretch of three games, he gave a walkoff home run to the Dodgers’ Frank Howard, a shattering home run to the Cardinals’ Bob Gibson and a game-winning home run to another Cardinal, Charlie James. (For his career, James hit .800 _ 4 for 5 _ versus MacKenzie.) Boxscore, Boxscore, Boxscore

Nonetheless, three months later, on Aug. 5, 1963, the Cardinals traded pitcher Ed Bauta to the Mets for MacKenzie. With a 3-1 record and three saves for the 1963 Mets, MacKenzie again was their only pitcher with a winning record.

(Regarding MacKenzie’s combined record of 8-5 for the 1962-63 Mets, Dick Young wrote, “If they ever decide to hand out medals, Ken MacKenzie belongs in the front line.”)

Manager Johnny Keane, whose Cardinals were five games behind the first-place Dodgers at the time of the trade, said to The Sporting News, “We got MacKenzie to help Bobby Shantz with the left-handed job in the bullpen.”

Though he told Newsday he was pleased to join a pennant contender, MacKenzie also had regrets about leaving the Mets. “I felt I was one of the originals on the club, and that meant something,” he said.

MacKenzie made eight appearances totaling nine innings for the 1963 Cardinals, who finished in second place. After the season, they traded him to the Giants for catcher Jim Coker.

Back to school

After brief stints with the 1964 Giants and 1965 Astros, MacKenzie was done as a player. In October 1965, he was named coach of the freshman baseball and hockey teams at Yale.

Three years later, in June 1968, MacKenzie became head coach of the Yale varsity baseball team, replacing Ethan Allen, who retired.

Among the players on the first varsity team MacKenzie coached were first baseman Steve Greenberg (son of Baseball Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg) and center fielder Brian Dowling (who also was the quarterback on Yale’s football team). Steve Greenberg became deputy commissioner of Major League Baseball, and the character of B.D. in the Doonesbury comic strip was based on Brian Dowling, a classmate of cartoonist Garry Trudeau.

In 1969, MacKenzie made a surprise return to the majors. Montreal Expos general manager John McHale, who had been in the Braves’ front office when MacKenzie first came to the big leagues, put MacKenzie on the Expos’ roster on Sept. 1, 1969, as a favor to add the necessary 26 days for the minimum five years needed for a pension, the Montreal Gazette reported. A grateful MacKenzie spent the month pitching batting practice and didn’t get into a game.

After that adventure, he resumed his coaching duties at Yale. MacKenzie coached varsity baseball for 10 seasons and then worked in the school’s alumni office until he retired.

 

 

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Lynn McGlothen was key to Cardinals deal with Red Sox

Posted in Games, Pitchers, Trades on December 15, 2023| 8 Comments »

When a proposed trade between the Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox involving Gaylord Perry hit a snag, the Cardinals swooped in and snatched the pitchers the Indians wanted.

On Dec. 7, 1973, the Cardinals acquired John Curtis, Mike Garman and Lynn McGlothen from the Red Sox for Reggie Cleveland, Diego Segui and Terry Hughes. It was the second major trade between the teams since the end of the season. Two months earlier, the Cardinals got Reggie Smith and Ken Tatum from Boston for Rick Wise and Bernie Carbo.

McGlothen was the primary reason the Cardinals made the second deal. He was thought to have the potential to be another Bob Gibson.

Louisiana lightning

At Grambling High, a public school operated by Grambling State University in Louisiana, McGlothen earned 16 varsity letters in four sports _ baseball, basketball, football and tennis. He took up tennis after trying the sport in a physical education class, according to the Des Moines Register, and became a three-time high school state singles champion.

Football, though, was the sport McGlothen liked best. Attending Grambling State games, “I grew up watching (linemen) Ernie Ladd and Buck Buchanan, wanting to play for (coach) Eddie Robinson,” he told the Register.

“I was a middle linebacker at Grambling High School, all-state (as a junior) … I thought I had a chance to play pro football,” McGlothen said to Lindsay-Schaub News Service.

He told the Register, “I didn’t have any intentions of being a (pro) baseball player.”

McGlothen was one of three top prep pitchers in north Louisiana in the late 1960s. The others: Vida Blue and J.R. Richard. McGlothen and Blue never started against one another, but McGlothen and Richard (with Lincoln High in Ruston) were opposing starters many times.

“I made it a point to save him for J.R. as much as possible,” Grambling High School baseball coach Donnell Cowan told United Press International. “Those two really had some great games during that time.”

(Richard and McGlothen were opposing starters five times in the big leagues. Richard won four of those games.)

Baseball beckons

McGlothen’s high school pitching impressed Red Sox scout Ed Scott.

(In 1951, Scott was scouting for Indianapolis of the Negro American League when he saw Hank Aaron play recreational ball in Mobile, Ala. Aaron joined the semipro team Scott managed, the Mobile Black Bears. Then on Scott’s recommendation, Indianapolis signed Aaron.)

After his high school graduation in 1968, McGlothen enrolled in summer classes at Grambling State. Soon after, based on Scott’s scouting reports, the Red Sox took McGlothen in the third round of the June 1968 draft. Unsure whether to stay in school on a football scholarship or join the Red Sox, McGlothen consulted with Dr. Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones, who was both the president of Grambling State and its head baseball coach. Jones “told me I had baseball potential,” McGlothen recalled to Lindsay-Schaub News Service.

He signed with the Red Sox and was sent to a farm club in Waterloo, Iowa. It wasn’t exactly the “Field of Dreams,” but the club did have a manager whose name seemed taken from a Hollywood script _ Rac Slider.

“He set out trying to make men out of us,” McGlothen said to the Des Moines Register. “He watched me throw and said, ‘There are a lot of things wrong, but I can teach you.’ He was like an army sergeant and I was a cocky kid who had just left home. He rode me and (pitcher) Roger Moret pretty hard, and used to take the keys to our cars away from us.

“I’d just got my bonus and paid $7,000 _ which was a lot for a car then _ for a Mustang with a powerful motor. Waterloo is not a big place. Seemed like every time I’d screech the tires at an intersection, someone would call Rac and he’d take the keys for a day.”

High hopes

At Class A Winston-Salem in 1970, McGlothen was 15-7 with a 2.24 ERA. After the season, he went to the Florida Instructional League, where he impressed Red Sox outfielder Carl Yastrzemski, who was working with the prospects. “This kid can be a real good big-league pitcher,” Yastrzemski told the Boston Globe. “Right now, he’s as good, if not better, than that (rookie Bert) Blyleven of Minnesota.”

Though McGlothen, 21, hadn’t pitched at a level above Class A in the minors, Ray Fitzgerald of the Globe wrote at spring training in 1971, “Maybe Lynn McGlothen is a potential Bob Gibson … The Red Sox feel he’s something special.”

A year later, in June 1972, McGlothen was called up to the Red Sox. His first win for them was a three-hit shutout of the Twins at Boston’s Fenway Park on July 4. Boxscore

McGlothen began the 1973 season with the Red Sox, got sent to the minors in May and was discovered to have torn cartilage in his right knee. He underwent surgery and returned to action with Class AAA Pawtucket in August. In a playoff game against the Cardinals’ Tulsa team, McGlothen pitched a two-hit shutout and held Keith Hernandez hitless.

Price is right

In October 1973, the Red Sox had trade talks with the Cleveland Indians about their ace pitcher, Gaylord Perry. The Indians wanted McGlothen and John Curtis but the Red Sox said they would not include both pitchers in a deal.

According to the Boston Globe, a compromise was reached between general managers Phil Seghi of the Indians and Dick O’Connell of the Red Sox. Boston would send Curtis and pitchers Marty Pattin and Craig Skok to Cleveland for Perry, but Indians owners Nick Mileti and Ted Bonda vetoed the deal.

Those trade talks were revived at the December 1973 baseball winter meetings. The Indians and Red Sox agreed to a swap of McGlothen and three others for Perry, the Globe reported, but, again, Nick Mileti intervened, wanting Curtis included in the trade.

Frustrated, the Red Sox fielded other proposals. When the Cardinals offered Reggie Cleveland (14-10 in 1973), the Red Sox accepted.

“Quite frankly, if we couldn’t have got McGlothen, we never would have made (the trade),” Cardinals general manager Bing Devine told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “On the basis of our scouts’ reports, we said, ‘No McGlothen, no deal.’ “

Devine said to The Sporting News, “McGlothen has an outstanding curve as well as a good fastball. We’ve been interested in him for some time, but until now they wouldn’t even talk to you about him.”

According to the Alabama Journal, Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst said, “When we made the trade with Boston, they tried to throw someone else in instead of McGlothen, but if the trade was to be made he had to be in.”

McGlothen, 23, was projected to join a Cardinals rotation led by Bob Gibson, 38. Reggie Smith, who played with McGlothen in Boston, said to reporter Arnold Irish, “Lynn will remind you of Bob Gibson. He works fast and throws hard.”

Strong start

In the first half of the 1974 season, McGlothen looked every bit the part of a young ace. He won 12 of his first 15 decisions with the Cardinals. On May 7, he pitched a four-hit shutout against the Reds. In the fifth inning he faced three batters _ Pete Rose, Joe Morgan and Johnny Bench _ and struck out each of them. Boxscore

“I am a fastball pitcher,” McGlothen told the Shreveport Times. “I don’t like to set hitters up. I like to set them down.”

The next month, McGlothen had a three-hit shutout versus the Padres and got three hits in a win against the Braves. Boxscore and Boxscore

“Lynn reminds me of Gibson a lot, especially the way he’s so confident of his fastball no matter what the count or the situation,” Cardinals catcher Ted Simmons told the Alabama Journal. “Like Bob, he challenges the hitter, supplements the smoke with both a big curve and slow curve, and helps himself at the plate, too.”

Named to the National League all-star team, McGlothen worked a scoreless inning against the American Leaguers and struck out Reggie Jackson. Boxscore

In his book “Reggie: A Season With a Superstar,” Jackson said, “McGlothen struck me out on three breaking balls. Breaking balls! I mean, this is the All-Star Game, man. Throw the ball and let the batter hit it. He went at it like it was the World Series. Which is why they win.”

Tragic ending

McGlothen was 16-12 with a 2.69 ERA for the 1974 Cardinals and led the club in wins and strikeouts (142). He had 15 wins in 1975 and 13 in 1976.

After the 1976 season, the Cardinals acquired a pair of potential starters, Larry Dierker and John D’Acquisto, and deemed McGlothen expendable. On Dec. 10, 1976, McGlothen was dealt to the Giants for third baseman Ken Reitz.

“I was the Cardinals’ highest-paid pitcher and I kind of figured they would trade me,” McGlothen told The Sporting News.

Over the next six years, he pitched for four clubs (Giants, Cubs, White Sox and Yankees) and finished with a career record of 86-93 (44-40 as a Cardinal). Video of McGlothen for Cubs versus Cardinals

Out of baseball, McGlothen, 34, died on Aug. 14, 1984, at Dubach, Louisiana, in a mobile home fire that also killed a woman he was visiting there, Joey Davidson of the Lincoln Parish sheriff’s office told the Shreveport Times. Davidson said the fire started about 2 a.m. in the living room of the mobile home of Gloria Reed Smith. Smith rescued her daughters, ages 13 and 7, then went back inside to help McGlothen, Davidson said.

“They were together when we found them, right at the entrance to the bedroom,” Davidson told the Shreveport Times.

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How Pete Richert, Bing Devine bonded in Vietnam

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers, Trades on December 5, 2023| 10 Comments »

For pitcher Pete Richert, fatigues became as much a part of his wardrobe as a baseball uniform in 1968.

In April, he served with the National Guard, trying to quell riots in Washington, D.C. In the fall, he went to Vietnam, looking to boost the spirits of U.S. troops. In between, he pitched in relief for the Baltimore Orioles.

Among those who accompanied Richert to Vietnam was Cardinals general manager Bing Devine. Five years later, on Dec. 5, 1973, Devine acquired Richert for the Cardinals in a trade with the Dodgers.

A left-hander, Richert was a two-time American League all-star and pitched on Orioles teams that won three pennants and a World Series title. His stint with the Cardinals, though, didn’t go the way either he or the team had hoped it would.

Blazing heat

Richert was from Floral Park, N.Y., a village on Long Island. He went to Sewanhaka High School. (The name translates to “island of shells.”) Its alumni also include actor Telly Savalas and Heisman Trophy winner Vinny Testaverde.

In August 1957, Richert, 17, signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers, the day before the club declared it was moving to Los Angeles after the season.

Richert steadily worked his way through the Dodgers’ farm system as a starting pitcher. In 1960, for the Class AA Atlanta Crackers managed by Rube Walker, Richert had 19 wins and struck out 251 batters in 225 innings. The Atlanta Journal called him “the Cracker with the golden arm” and described his best pitch as a “miracle whip fastball.”

He was 22 when he made a spectacular big-league debut with the Dodgers on April 12, 1962. Relieving Stan Williams, Richert struck out the first six batters he faced _ Vada Pinson, Frank Robinson, Gordy Coleman (who advanced to first on a passed ball by John Roseboro), Wally Post, Johnny Edwards and Tommy Harper. Boxscore

(Until then, the only pitcher to strike out six consecutive batters in his debut in the majors was the Dodgers’ Karl Spooner against the Giants in 1954. Boxscore)

“I always say a little prayer when I’m nervous and excited, and I was tonight as I started walking to the mound,” Richert told the Los Angeles Times. “My father, who always wanted me to be a baseball player, died when I was 15. When I decided to try baseball, my brother told me that when I was nervous or excited to always say a prayer and dad would help me. As soon as I threw a pitch to Pinson, the nervousness left me.”

Called upon three days later, Richert struck out five, including Joe Torre twice, in two innings against the Braves. Boxscore

Setback in St. Louis

Richert’s robust rookie season got derailed on May 12, 1962, at St. Louis. Relieving in the 11th, he allowed no runs or hits to the Cardinals in 2.2 innings. Then, as Richert pitched to Bill White with two outs in the 13th, “the ball bounced to the plate, his glove sailed 15 feet away and he grabbed his left elbow in obvious agony,” The Sporting News reported.

Taken to a hospital, it was discovered Richert had tore ligaments in the elbow. Boxscore

He came off the disabled list two months later and was sent to the Dodgers’ Omaha farm team. Worried about reinjuring his arm, Richert resisted throwing hard. According to the New York Times, Omaha manager Danny Ozark said to Richert, “Pete, you’re scared to throw the ball. If you’re going to be a pitcher, you’ve got to make up your mind. It’s the difference between spending the rest of your life in the minors or going back to the big time.”

Richert responded, got brought back to the Dodgers in August and was put into their starting rotation.

He split each of the next two seasons (1963-64) between the Dodgers and their Spokane farm team (managed by Danny Ozark).

On Sept. 16, 1963, the first-place Dodgers went to St. Louis for a three-game showdown series with the Cardinals, who were a game behind them. Dodgers manager Walt Alston opted to start three left-handers. After Johnny Podres and Sandy Koufax prevailed in the first two games, Richert started the finale. He was knocked out in the third inning but the Dodgers got brilliant relief from another left-hander, Ron Perranoski, and completed the sweep. Boxscore

Capital gains

In December 1964, the Dodgers sent Richert to the Washington Senators. The trade reunited him with his former Atlanta manager, Rube Walker, who was a coach on the staff of Senators manager Gil Hodges.

Richert led the 1965 Senators in wins (15), ERA (2.60), innings pitched (194) and strikeouts (161). He also pitched two scoreless innings for the American League in the All-Star Game, striking out Willie Mays and Willie Stargell. Boxscore

He was the Opening Day starter for Washington in 1966 when Emmett Ashford became the first black umpire in the majors. Boxscore

On April 24, 1966, Richert struck out seven consecutive Tigers batters _ Don Demeter, Ray Oyler, Orlando McFarlane, Bill Monbouquette, Dick Tracewski, Don Wert and Norm Cash. Boxscore

Named again to the all-star team, Richert pitched in the 1966 game at St. Louis and gave up the game-winning hit to former teammate Maury Wills. Boxscore

Richert led the 1966 Senators in wins (14), innings pitched (245.2) and strikeouts (195). He was the first Washington Senators pitcher to strike out 195 in a season since Walter Johnson (228) in 1916.

War zones

Sent by the Senators to the Orioles in May 1967, Richert was moved to the bullpen in 1968 and never went back to starting.

Richert was a reservist with a National Guard unit in Washington, D.C. When rioting broke out there after Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered, Richert left the Orioles to join his outfit. His two weeks of emergency riot-control duty “consisted of street patrol with D.C. police, guarding the Washington jail and protecting firefighters,” the Baltimore Sun reported.

“I saw some things you couldn’t believe,” Richert said to the Sun. “The city and its destruction, burning, looting, violence … Two entire streets of 15 blocks and another 22-block street were leveled … Firemen would be fighting fires and there were arsonists throwing Molotov cocktails at the fire trucks.”

After the 1968 baseball season, in a trip arranged by the United Service Organizations (USO) and the baseball commissioner’s office, Richert went to Vietnam with Bing Devine, players Ernie Banks of the Cubs, Larry Jackson of the Phillies and Ron Swoboda of the Mets, and St. Louis publicist Al Fleishman.

“We’d fly by helicopter to a firebase (artillery post), spend a couple hours chatting with the men, then take off and fly to another post nearby,” Fleishman told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “We hit five or six small bases a day that way for 17 days.”

In his memoirs, Devine recalled, “One time, we were in a whaleboat going up this canal … They gave me a grenade launcher” in case of an ambush.

Devine told the soldiers, “I don’t know how to shoot a gun. If I need it, we’re hopeless.”

Richert said to the Baltimore Sun, “We visited 57 hospitals and they figured the six of us came in contact with better than 10,000 troops.”

According to the Post-Dispatch, Richert and Devine bonded during the Vietnam trip and exchanged Christmas cards each year after that.

Fall classics

Richert’s first World Series appearance came in 1969. With the score tied in Game 4, the Mets had runners on first and second, none out, in the bottom of the 10th when Richert relieved Dick Hall. His first pitch to J.C. Martin was bunted along the first-base line. Richert got to it but his throw hit Martin in the wrist and the ball rolled away, enabling Rod Gaspar to score from second with the winning run. Photos showed Martin interfered by running inside the base line and should have been called out, the Baltimore Sun reported. Boxscore Video

Richert had a better experience in Game 1 of the 1970 World Series. In the bottom of the ninth, with Pete Rose on first and two outs, Richert relieved Jim Palmer, looking to protect a 4-3 lead. His first pitch jammed Bobby Tolan, who hit a soft liner to shortstop Mark Belanger for the final out. Boxscore

On the move

In December 1971, Richert was reunited with the Dodgers when they acquired him from the Orioles.

Two years later, when the Dodgers dealt for closer Mike Marshall, they deemed Richert expendable and traded him to the Cardinals for Tommie Agee.

Richert, 34, joined Al Hrabosky and Rich Folkers as left-handers in the bullpen for the 1974 Cardinals, but he lacked command of his fastball, walking 11 in 11.1 innings. The highlight was the save he earned when he retired the Pirates’ Al Oliver with the potential tying runs on base. Boxscore

Placed on waivers in June 1974, Richert was claimed by the Phillies at the urging of their manager, Danny Ozark.

In 21 appearances for the 1974 Phillies, Richert was 2-1 (the loss was to the Cardinals) with a 2.21 ERA. In September, it was discovered he had a blood clot in his left arm and needed surgery, bringing an end to his pitching days.

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