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How Chuck Finley came to Cardinals instead of Reds

Posted in Games, Pitchers, Trades on July 3, 2022| 6 Comments »

In a year of turmoil in his personal life, pitcher Chuck Finley experienced satisfying success in his professional life when he joined the Cardinals.

On July 19, 2002, the Cardinals acquired Finley from the Cleveland Indians for minor-league first baseman Luis Garcia and a player to be named. Three weeks later, the Cardinals sent another prospect, outfielder Coco Crisp, to the Indians, completing the deal.

Though Crisp went on to produce 1,572 hits and 309 stolen bases in 15 seasons in the American League, the Cardinals got a double benefit from obtaining Finley. He was the starting pitcher they needed to replace Daryl Kile, who died a month earlier. The trade also kept the Cardinals’ closest competitor, the Reds, from getting Finley.

Bright lights

Born and raised in Monroe, La., Finley attended Louisiana Tech for a year, dropped out and went to work for his family’s nursery and landscaping businesses, planting trees and tilling soil, according to Sports Illustrated.

A year later, he enrolled at Northeast Louisiana University (now named University of Louisiana Monroe). A left-handed pitcher, he lacked command but had an exceptional fastball. The Angels drafted him in January 1985 and sent him to their farm system to be a reliever.

Finley developed a curve to go with his fastball, and in May 1986 he made the jump from Class A Quad Cities in Davenport, Iowa, to the majors.

The Angels were home at Anaheim Stadium when Finley made his big-league debut in relief of future Hall of Famer Don Sutton. “I got to the mound and I couldn’t believe how bright it was,” Finley recalled to Sports Illustrated. “A night game in A ball, you turn on the porch lights.” Boxscore

In 1988, Finley joined the Angels’ starting rotation. Adding a split-fingered pitch, or forkball, to his arsenal, he posted double-figure win totals in 10 of his 12 seasons as an Angels starter.

After Finley had back-to-back 18-win seasons in 1990 and 1991, Angels executive Whitey Herzog rewarded him with a four-year $18.5 million contract, largest in franchise history. Sports Illustrated declared Finley “the best left-handed pitcher in baseball.”

Match game

In November 1997, Finley married actress Tawny Kitaen. She appeared with Tom Hanks in the 1984 movie “Bachelor Party.” Cast as the fiancee of Hanks’ character, Kitaen played the part “fetchingly,” according to the New York Times review.

She also performed in music videos for the British hard-rock band Whitesnake. Kitaen married band member David Coverdale in 1989 and they divorced in 1991.

After Finley married Kitaen, he told Paul Gutierrez of Sports Illustrated in 1998, “I found a great girl that put up with me. I couldn’t be with anybody better. We’re so much alike it’s incredible.”

Finley earned 14 consecutive wins for the Angels from July 1, 1997, to April 27, 1998. Granted free agency after the 1999 season, he signed a three-year $27 million contract with the Indians. Finley remains the Angels’ franchise leader in career wins (165), innings pitched (2,675) and starts (379).

Domestic violence

In 2002, the Indians opened the season at Anaheim, giving Finley a chance to be at home in Newport Beach with Kitaen and their two children.

On April 1, Finley and Kitaen argued while having dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steak House in Irvine, according to the Los Angeles Times. When they got home, Finley said, “his wife hit, kicked and scratched him and then called 911 before hurling a telephone through the window of their car,” the Los Angeles Times reported.

Police said, when they arrived, they saw cuts and bruises on Finley, the Associated Press reported. Kitaen was arrested and charged with two misdemeanors _ corporal injury on a spouse, and battery.

In exchange for her pleading guilty and after completing a counseling program, the case was dismissed, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Finley and Kitaen soon divorced. She died in May 2021 at age 59.

Cost factors

On the morning of July 19, 2002, the Cardinals were atop their division, 3.5 games ahead of the second-place Reds. Though Finley, 39, was 4-11 with a 4.44 ERA for the 2002 Indians, both the Cardinals and Reds envisioned him as a starter who could tip the balance of the title chase.

According to The Cincinnati Post, the Indians agreed in principle to trade Finley to the Reds for minor-league pitcher Josh Hall. 

Reds outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. volunteered to defer $1 million of his 2002 salary to clear payroll room for the $2 million still to be paid Finley for the season, The Cincinnati Post reported. Reds general manager Jim Bowden thought he had a done deal, but the club’s chief operating officer, John Allen, vetoed the trade. “We can’t add payroll,” Allen told the Cincinnati Enquirer.

According to ESPN.com, the Reds were close to sending outfielder Brady Clark and three prospects to the Red Sox for the cash to pay Finley, but that also fell through.

The Indians then turned to the Cardinals.

“We went back and forth,” Cardinals general manager Walt Jocketty said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “This morning, I didn’t think it was going to happen. This afternoon, it fell back into our laps.”

With Woody Williams sidelined by injury, Finley joined a rotation of Matt Morris, Andy Benes and Jason Simontacchi.

“The Cardinals addressed their most pressing problem” and got a starter “who may alter the balance of power within a depleted division,” Joe Strauss wrote in the Post-Dispatch.

Said Cardinals center fielder Jim Edmonds, who had been Finley’s teammate with the Angels: “He’s the ultimate workhorse. He’s one of the best professionals I’ve ever seen. When you play a big game, you want him to have the ball.”

Getting it done

Finley made his first Cardinals start on July 21, 2002, at Pittsburgh. With Mike Matheny as his catcher, Finley got the win, striking out eight in six innings.

His pitching was only part of the story. Finley doubled to left off Josh Fogg in the fourth and scored the go-ahead run on Fernando Vina’s single. The double was Finley’s first hit in 27 big-league at-bats. Boxscore

“I like what I’ve seen of this team in the two days I’ve been here,” Finley said. “When you look around and see very good players all around you, it really picks you up.”

Finley also won his second Cardinals start, beating the Cubs at St. Louis. Boxscore and Video

Three days later, Jocketty swung a deal for Scott Rolen, acquiring the third baseman, along with pitcher Doug Nickle and cash, from the Phillies for infielder Placido Polanco and pitchers Mike Timlin and Bud Smith.

The Cardinals, who entered July 2002 tied with the Reds for first place in the Central Division, closed July with a five-game lead over second-place Cincinnati.

On Aug. 27, Finley shut out the Reds on a two-hitter and Rolen hit a three-run home run in the game. Boxscore

With Finley and Rolen, the Cardinals were 17-14 in August and 21-6 in September, finishing 13 games ahead of the runner-up Astros. The Reds limped in at 78-84.

Finley finished 7-4 in 14 regular-season starts for the 2002 Cardinals, giving him a career record of 200-173.

In his last game of a 17-year big-league career, Finley started and won Game 3 of the 2002 National League Championship Series at San Francisco. Boxscore

 

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Cardinals got lift from fantastic forkball of Diego Segui

Posted in Games, Pitchers, Trades on June 5, 2022| 14 Comments »

Diego Segui brought much-needed relief to the Cardinals.

On June 7, 1972, the Cardinals bought the contract of Segui from the Athletics.

A right-hander whose best pitch was a forkball, Segui gave the Cardinals a quality closer. Before acquiring him, the 1972 Cardinals totaled one save. The year before, their save leader had eight.

As the St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted, Segui “arrived to breathe life into a bullpen that had been horrible.”

From ranch to diamond

Segui was born and raised in southeastern Cuba near the seaport city of Santiago. His father was a ranch foreman who taught his son to rope horses and cattle. “I was pretty good with a lasso,” Segui told the Post-Dispatch.

The work strengthened his hands and helped Segui become a pitcher able to grip a variety of pitches.

He was 20 and pitching for the Tucson Cowboys of the Arizona-Mexico League when the Kansas City Athletics signed him on the recommendation of their scout, former big-league outfielder Al Zarilla. Segui entered their farm system in 1959 and reached the majors with the Athletics in 1962.

While with Kansas City, Segui met the woman he married, Emily. They were introduced by the mother of Athletics catcher Joe Azcue.

Segui developed a forkball, so named because the ball was held in the fork of the hand, between the forefinger and middle finger.

“A pitcher must have reasonably long and flexible fingers to throw the forkball, which is one reason it is not a common pitch,” the Kansas City Star noted. “The forkball is thrown with the same motion as a fastball, but the velocity is much slower and the ball breaks down as it reaches the plate.”

Segui pitched at a deliberate pace. As the Oakland Tribune observed, “He rubs up the ball between every pitch _ even during intentional walks _ straightens out the Virgin Mary medallion he wears around his neck, counts his fielders, steps off the mound to blow on his hand, and smooths the dirt in front of the rubber.”

Come and go

Segui pitched for Kansas City from 1962-65, got traded to the Senators, spent 1966 with them and was reacquired by the Athletics.

After two more seasons with the Athletics, Segui was selected by the Seattle Pilots in the American League expansion draft, pitched in their first regular-season game and finished the season with 12 wins and 12 saves. Boxscore

The Athletics, who had relocated to Oakland, reacquired him again, and Segui posted a 2.56 ERA, best in the American League, for them in 1970.

Rich with starting pitching (Catfish Hunter, Vida Blue, Ken Holtzman) and relievers (Rollie Fingers, Bob Locker, Darold Knowles) in 1972, their first of three consecutive World Series championship seasons, the Athletics didn’t have enough work for Segui, prompting the deal with the Cardinals.

When informed he’d be leaving the Athletics for the third time, Segui told the Oakland Tribune, “Maybe I’ll get a chance to pitch for St. Louis, but I would rather have stayed on this club and not pitched.”

Good impression

Segui’s perspective changed after he experienced immediate success with the Cardinals. In his National League debut, he pitched three scoreless innings against the Giants and got the win. Boxscore

“He has a hard slider that breaks at the last second,” Cardinals catcher Ted Simmons told the San Francisco Examiner. “His forkball is murder on a left-handed batter, dropping off the table.”

Two nights later, Segui got his first Cardinals save with 1.2 scoreless innings versus the Padres. Boxscore

“When a guy can throw strikes and has an out pitch like his forkball, you’re in business,” Simmons told the Post-Dispatch. “Segui has a fantastic forkball. It looks like a fastball to the batter, and before you know it, wham, the ball is by you.”

Orioles scout Jim Russo told columnist Bob Broeg, “In Segui, they’ve got one of their best pickups of late. He’s a nice guy, a good man on a club, and he knows how to pitch.”

Segui, who turned 35 two months after joining the Cardinals, finished the 1972 season as the team leader in saves (nine) and relief outings (33). He was 3-1 with a 3.07 ERA. Batters hit .184 against him with runners in scoring position. Video at 30-second mark

Say hey, Segui

Segui followed up with a strong season for St. Louis in 1973. He led the club in saves (17) and games pitched (65), posting a 7-6 record and 2.78 ERA. He struck out 93 in 100.1 innings and allowed a mere 78 hits.

“You wish you had 25 men like him,” Cardinals player personnel director Bob Kennedy told the Post-Dispatch. Kennedy was Segui’s manager with the 1968 Athletics.

“You couldn’t ask for a better guy,” Kennedy said. “He’s one of the finest men I’ve known in baseball.”

Segui had a couple of interesting matchups in 1973 with Willie Mays, 42, who was with the Mets in the final season of his Hall of Fame career.

On July 26 at St. Louis, with the Cardinals ahead, 2-1, in the ninth, the Mets had a runner on base, two outs, when Segui struck out Mays on a forkball to end the game. Boxscore

A week later, on Aug. 3 at New York, Mays, batting .207 for the season, faced Segui in the seventh, with two on, two outs and the Mets ahead, 4-3. Mays got a low inside fastball from Segui and hit it over the wall in center for a three-run home run. Boxscore

“I was just looking for something fast, and there it was,” Mays said to the Associated Press.

The home run was the 659th of Mays’ career. He hit his last, No. 660, two weeks later against Don Gullett of the Reds.

Family and fishing

After the season, the Cardinals swapped Segui, pitcher Reggie Cleveland and infielder Terry Hughes to the Red Sox for pitchers John Curtis, Mike Garman and Lynn McGlothen.

“Segui really did a job for us,” Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst told the Boston Globe, but he said Segui became expendable with the emergence of Al Hrabosky as a potential closer.

Segui pitched in a World Series with the Red Sox in 1975.

His final season in the majors was in 1977 with the expansion Seattle Mariners. Segui, who turned 40 that year, was their Opening Day starting pitcher. Naturally, he was called the “Ancient Mariner.” Boxscore

Segui is the only player to appear in games for both the Seattle Pilots and Seattle Mariners.

He continued to pitch professionally until 1984, when he turned 47 and earned 10 wins for Leon, a Mexican League team managed by ex-Cardinal Benny Valenzuela.

Diego and Emily Segui raised four children. One of them, David, played 15 seasons in the majors, just like his father did. Primarily a first baseman, David hit .291 for his career.

When David was a youngster, his father played baseball all year, including winters in the Caribbean. To fill the void, Emily would “play catch in the backyard and hit fungoes to David to help him work on his defensive skills,” the New York Times reported.

“All the credit must go to my wife,” Diego told the New York Daily News. “If my wife never takes him to play, and hitting ground balls, he would never be what he is.”

After seven years as a minor-league pitching coach for the Giants, Diego Segui retired in Kansas City and pursued his lifelong passion for fishing. He became an accomplished bass fisherman who excelled in local tournaments.

“In March, I won $2,200 for catching one fish,” Segui told the Kansas City Star in 1998. “When I broke into the big leagues, I made $6,000 a year. I made more in one cast than I would make in four months back in those days.”

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Jimmie Reese was gallant second baseman for Cardinals

Posted in Games, Hitters, Trades on June 1, 2022| 12 Comments »

One look at Jimmie Reese was all it took for the Cardinals to entrust him with a position held by a future Hall of Famer.

On June 4, 1932, the Cardinals purchased Reese’s contract from the minor-league St. Paul Saints.

On his first day with the Cardinals, Reese fielded so well at second base that manager Gabby Street kept him there the rest of the season and shifted Frankie Frisch to third.

A scrapper who energized the lineup, Reese had a short stint with the Cardinals, but a long career in baseball.

Hymie to Jimmie

Hyman Solomon was born in New York City in October 1901, a “son of an Irish mother and a Jewish father,” according to Red Smith of the St. Louis Star-Times.

The father suffered from tuberculosis and the family moved to Los Angeles when Hymie was 5. Hymie’s dad died a year later, according to the Star-Times.

The mother remarried and Hymie changed his name. Hymie was anglicized into Jimmie, and Solomon was dropped in favor of the last name of his mother’s second husband, Reese, the Orange County Register reported.

Jimmie Reese had a passion for baseball. In 1917, when he was 15, he became a bat boy for the minor-league Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League. From then until 1994, when he died at 92, Reese was employed in professional baseball over nine decades.

A left-handed batter, Reese was a second baseman with the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League before his contract was purchased by the Yankees.

Babysitter for Babe

In 1930, Yankees manager Bob Shawkey assigned Reese to be the road roommate of Babe Ruth because he hoped the clean-cut rookie might be a good influence on the notorious playboy. Ruth liked Reese and treated him well, but didn’t change his lifestyle. As Reese fondly said, “I roomed with his suitcase.”

Reese excelled as a pinch-hitter and backup at second to future Hall of Famer Tony Lazzeri. Reese hit .346 overall in 1930 and had a .519 on-base percentage as a pinch-hitter (12 hits, two walks, 27 plate appearances).

Just as impressively, Reese earned the respect of his star-studded teammates for his professionalism and demeanor. “A prince among good fellows,” Lou Gehrig wrote on a photo he autographed for Reese.

After wrenching a knee in spring training and hitting .241 in 1931, Reese was traded by the Yankees to St. Paul.

Dazzling debut

Being sent back to the minors “knocked me out,” Reese told the Star-Times. “I was broken-hearted and I couldn’t get the old spirit back. I was a complete flop in St. Paul.”

When told during a road trip to Milwaukee that his contract had been purchased by the Cardinals, “I never was so happy in my life,” Reese said.

Reese departed Milwaukee by train the night of June 4, 1932, and arrived in St. Louis the next day, just in time for the Cardinals’ doubleheader against the Reds.

With Frisch out because of leg ailments, Reese started at second base in both games, singled in his first at-bat as a Cardinal, and dazzled on defense.

With a runner on first, the Reds’ Mickey Heath “hit a sharp grounder toward second base. It looked like a sure hit, but Reese raced over for a pretty stop, stepped on the bag and then, still in full stride, cocked an eye toward first and flipped the ball to Rip Collins for a double play,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Boxscore

For the doubleheader, Reese handled 18 chances without an error, turned five double plays, totaled two hits and a walk, and scored a run. Boxscore

Displaying desire

When Frisch returned to the lineup June 8, he moved to third base and Reese stayed at second. Three days later, Reese collided with Dodgers catcher Al Lopez and tore shoulder ligaments. After sitting out 10 days, Reese “came back, his shoulder lumpy with bandages, and played courageously despite the pain,” the Star-Times reported.

Reese played “with a grin as broad as a south side cop’s shirtfront, a pair of legs that are brothers to the west wind, and a heart simply groaning under its load of ambition,” Red Smith wrote.

His style fit well with the Cardinals, who were the reigning World Series champions and developing their Gashouse Gang persona. 

Regarding Frisch, Reese told the Los Angeles Times, “What a money player. He wasn’t as good when there was nothing at stake.”

Reese also saw similarities between Babe Ruth and Cardinals pitcher Dizzy Dean. “Dean thought he could get any human being out, and Ruth thought he could hit any human being,” Reese said. “Dean and Pepper Martin, they were pranksters, but they never hurt anybody. They were kids at heart.”

Reese’s contributions to the 1932 Cardinals included:

 _ A two-run walkoff double to beat the Cubs. Boxscore

_ Four RBI in a game against the Giants. Boxscore 

_ Four hits in a game versus the Dodgers. Boxscore

“He uses his head at the plate, waits out the pitcher, chokes his bat and slices line singles over the heads of the infielders,” the Star-Times noted.

Described by Smith as “a scintillating defensive player,” Reese made 71 starts at second base for the 1932 Cardinals and had a mere nine errors in 645 innings. He hit .265.

Gentleman of the game

After the season, the Cardinals couldn’t resist signing Rogers Hornsby, who was released by the Cubs. Hornsby, the former Cardinal and future Hall of Famer, was projected to be a pinch-hitter and backup to Frisch at second base.

Seeing he wasn’t in the Cardinals’ plans, Reese asked for permission to make a deal for himself with another club, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported. The Cardinals agreed. In February 1933, Reese’s contract was purchased by his hometown Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League.

Reese never again played in the majors, but he stayed in baseball the rest of his life. After his playing career, he primarily was a scout and minor-league coach. He tried managing in the minors but didn’t like it. “Ballplayers can be like children,” he told the Los Angeles Times, “and I just couldn’t get tough. When I was managing, all I did was worry.”

Reese was 70 when he became a big-league coach for the first time with the 1972 Angels. He continued to serve in uniform for the Angels until his death 22 years later. Los Angeles Times columnist Mike Penner pegged Reese “the spirit-lifter” for the club.

“He elevated the status of those around him simply by his presence,” Penner wrote. “He generated more goodwill and publicity for this team in a single day than a thousand spin-doctoring press conferences.”

Reese was a mentor and friend to several players, including Nolan Ryan, who named his second son Reese in honor of the coach. “There are special people in your life who make an impact on you,” Ryan told the Los Angeles Times. “Jimmie was that to me. He helped me on and off the field.”

Reese amazed players with his ability to place a ball almost anywhere he wanted with a fungo bat. He created the bats from hickory or oak, one side rounded, the other flat, in a workshop behind his house. He also had a hobby of making wood picture frames and giving them to friends, the Orange County Register noted.

At the memorial service for Reese in July 1994, uniforms from the Yankees, Cardinals and Angels were displayed. The Angels retired his uniform No. 50.

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Cardinals were stop on fleet adventure of Lowell Palmer

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers, Trades on May 25, 2022| 10 Comments »

Lowell Palmer had a penchant for the fast lane. A right-handed pitcher, he mostly threw fastballs. Off the field, he drove a Corvette convertible, rode a Triumph motorcycle, worked as a private investigator, and dated the manager’s daughter.

Palmer wore shades when he pitched, not to look cool, but because his eyes were highly sensitive to light. To a batter peering from the plate to the mound, the sight of a hard thrower with erratic control in a pair of black sunglasses could be unsettling, if not intimidating.

On May 16, 1972, the Cardinals acquired Palmer from the White Sox for pitcher Santiago Guzman.

Palmer’s stint with the Cardinals was unsatisfying and brief, but not forgettable.

Born to be wild

Born and raised in Sacramento, Palmer struck out 127 batters in 67 innings as a high school senior, according to the Sacramento Bee. He also walked 21 in a game _ and won.

“I had no idea where that ball was going,” Palmer said to the Bee. “Sometimes, I didn’t give a damn. There were times I wanted to throw the ball so hard, I didn’t care where it went.”

Or, as he told The Sporting News, “I could throw it through a brick wall, but I didn’t know which wall.”

Palmer was 18 when he was signed by Eddie Bockman, a Phillies scout who also got for them another Sacramento native, shortstop Larry Bowa.

When he was 20, Palmer was with the Phillies at spring training, saw a young woman poolside at the team hotel, and asked her for a date. She accepted.

She was Leanne Mauch, daughter of Phillies manager Gene Mauch.

“All I know is that I took her out one night, and the next morning I was sent to the minors,” Palmer told The Sporting News.

Fast worker

In 1969, Mauch was managing the Expos and Palmer was with the Phillies’ farm club in Eugene, Ore. After producing an 8-1 record, he was called up to the Phillies in June. His first big-league win was a shutout of Mauch’s Expos in Montreal. Seated behind home plate and keeping score was his date for the weekend, Leanne Mauch. Boxscore

“She’s a terrific girl,” Palmer told the Philadelphia Daily News, “but don’t go starting any romance rumors, like I’m getting married or something. I don’t have the money to get married.”

Phillies officials rated Palmer’s fastball the best in the organization. According to The Sporting News, he threw fastballs “90 percent of the time.”

“He has the kind of fastball that breaks bats and rules,” Stan Hochman wrote in the Philadelphia Daily News.

Palmer said, “When my fastball is right, it moves in and out without me knowing which way it’s going. Sometimes it runs like a slider, and other times it tails off and hits the corner.”

Palmer faced the Cardinals for the first time on July, 9, 1969, at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. He gave up 12 hits, including home runs by Joe Torre, Vada Pinson and Lou Brock. Boxscore

Three months later, on Oct. 1, 1969, Palmer relieved in the ninth against the Cardinals. With the score tied at 5-5, two outs and none on, he walked Torre, and Ted Simmons followed with a walkoff RBI-triple to left-center. Boxscore

“He threw me a fastball, high and away, and I went with the pitch,” Simmons told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “If I’d pulled it, I probably would have popped it up.”

Undercover work

In 1970, Palmer appeared on a Topps baseball card wearing dark sunglasses.

“He has sensitive eyes, so he wears dark glasses that look as though they were carved out of chunks of bituminous coal when he pitches,” Stan Hochman wrote in the Philadelphia Daily News.

Palmer told the newspaper, “I was born missing a cover over my eyes that you’re supposed to have to help filter out light. My eyes are ultra-sensitive to light, even on cloudy days.”

On May 12, 1970, Dick Allen, facing the Phillies for the second time since they traded him to the Cardinals, walloped a Palmer pitch into the upper deck seats above the Stadium Club windows in left at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Boxscore

“He jumped on Palmer’s fastball and pulled the stitches off it,” Bill Conlin wrote in the Philadelphia Daily News. “The ball soared over diners in the plush Stadium Club, melting their Baked Alaskas.”

After the season, Palmer joined his stepfather in forming a private investigation agency in Sacramento, The Sporting News reported. Driving a Corvette convertible, Palmer was a private eye for multiple years, according to the Sacramento Bee.

Summer in St. Louis

At spring training in 1971, Palmer had shoulder trouble, prompting the Phillies to propose surgery. Palmer credited his motorcycle for altering the plan.

“I bought a Triumph, a shaky one, though I didn’t know that at the time,” Palmer told the Post-Dispatch. “The vibrations broke up the (calcium) deposits in my shoulder. I didn’t need any surgery.”

After the season, the Phillies traded Palmer to the White Sox, who projected him as a reliever. At spring training in 1972, when reminded that Palmer had dated Gene Mauch’s daughter, White Sox manager Chuck Tanner quipped to The Sporting News, “I’d give up a daughter for a good relief pitcher anytime. Good relievers are hard to find.”

Tanner kept his daughter, and Palmer began the season in the minors. After pitching in eight games for Tucson, the White Sox dealt Palmer, 24, to the Cardinals. He was assigned to their Tulsa farm team, started two games and was called up to St. Louis.

Manager Red Schoendienst used Palmer as a reliever. On July 11, he entered in the 15th inning against the Braves and loaded the bases. With two outs, Palmer threw two fastballs for strikes to Oscar Brown, then tried a slider. “The pitch bounced into the dirt and away from catcher Ted Simmons,” the Post-Dispatch reported, enabling Gil Garrido to score from third with the winning run. Boxscore

“To be truthful, I haven’t been sharp since I’ve been here,” Palmer said.

During his summer in St. Louis, Palmer met KSD-TV’s Dianne White, the first black weathercaster in America, and they began a collaboration on a book, The Sporting News reported.

“Then somebody broke into her car and stole all the tapes and stuff, and it just kind of died,” Palmer told the Post-Dispatch.

In 16 appearances for the 1972 Cardinals, Palmer was 0-3, walking more batters (26) than he struck out (25). 

With two weeks left in the season, the Cardinals placed him on waivers and he was claimed by the Indians.

Take that!

Palmer was with the Indians’ Oklahoma City farm team, managed by former Phillies manager Frank Lucchesi, in 1973 and led American Association pitchers in strikeouts (203 in 196 innings).

“Maybe this means I’m a prospect again, not a suspect,” Palmer said to The Sporting News.

In 1974, he pitched for the Yankees’ Syracuse affiliate, managed by future Hall of Famer Bobby Cox, and was 5-1 in eight starts before returning to the majors that season with the Padres.

On Aug. 13, 1974, the Padres’ Vicente Romo, making his first start of the season, injured his pitching arm in the first inning against the Cardinals at St. Louis. Palmer relieved, pitched 8.1 innings allowed one run and got his last win in the majors, relying almost exclusively on fastballs. Boxscore

“He threw one speed all night,” Schoendienst moaned to the Post-Dispatch. “We’ve got to hit him.”

Palmer’s career mark in the majors was 5-18 with a 5.29 ERA.

In 1975, Palmer, 28, pitched in his hometown for the Sacramento Solons, a Brewers farm club, After the season, he tried out for the football team at Sacramento City College, where he studied political science, and made the squad as a defensive end and punter.

“They call me Old Man,” Palmer told the Post-Dispatch. “Most of them don’t even know my name. Just Old Man.”

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John Cumberland had detour on road to being a Cardinal

Posted in Games, Pitchers, Prospects, Trades on May 21, 2022| 8 Comments »

John Cumberland was a teenager from Maine who yearned to play professional baseball. A Cardinals scout took him to dinner and launched him on a path to becoming a big-league pitcher and coach.

A left-hander, Cumberland made his debut in the majors with the Yankees. He later joined Juan Marichal and Gaylord Perry as a starter for the division champion Giants, and got his last win in the big leagues as a reliever with the Cardinals.

As a coach, Cumberland mentored 18-year-old Dwight Gooden in the minors, and was the first big-league pitching coach for Zack Greinke with the Royals. 

Bargain player

Born and raised in Westbrook, Maine, Cumberland was a high school baseball and football player. Though he wasn’t selected in the amateur baseball draft, Cumberland’s ability to throw hard impressed Cardinals scout Jeff Jones. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jones bought Cumberland a steak dinner and got him to sign with the Cardinals in 1966.

“I got 52 scholarships out of high school, mostly for football, but the opportunity came up for baseball, so I signed for a steak dinner,” Cumberland recalled to the Clearwater (Fla.) Times. “What a dummy. If I’d waited a little longer, I could have gotten $30,000 or $40,000, even back then. I was anxious, though, for the publicity and all.”

Cumberland was assigned to the Eugene (Ore.) Emeralds, a minor-league club stocked with Cardinals and Phillies prospects. According to the Post-Dispatch, his roommate at Eugene was another future big-league pitcher, Reggie Cleveland.

After posting a 4-1 record for Eugene, Cumberland was taken by the Yankees in the November 1966 minor-league draft.

Two years later, he made his big-league debut for the Yankees against the Red Sox. The first batter he faced, Carl Yastrzemski, grounded a comebacker to Cumberland, who threw to first baseman Mickey Mantle for the out. Boxscore

After making two appearances with the 1969 Yankees, Cumberland got a chance to stick with them in 1970. He got his first big-league win, pitching 6.1 innings of relief against the Senators, and also stroked his first big-league hit, a single that scored Thurman Munson, in that game. Boxscore

The performance earned him a spot in the starting rotation. A month later, in a start against the Indians at Cleveland, Cumberland became the first Yankees pitcher to give up five home runs in a game. Ray Fosse and Tony Horton hit two apiece, and Jack Heidemann slugged the other. Boxscore

In his next start, against the White Sox at Yankee Stadium, Cumberland recovered and pitched his first complete game in the majors, a 3-1 victory. Boxscore

In July 1970, the Yankees traded him to the Giants for pitcher Mike McCormick.

Wakeup call

Soon after joining the Giants, Cumberland was demoted to the minors “with instructions to lose 15 pounds and gain a new pitch,” the New York Daily News reported.

“Getting sent down was the big blow,” Cumberland told reporter Phil Pepe. “It shook me up. I was kind of complacent until that happened. It made me think about my future.”

Cumberland worked on improving his curveball. Called up by the Giants in September, he was 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA in five relief appearances that month.

Pleasant surprise

In 1971, Cumberland entered spring training 15 pounds lighter than he was the previous year, and earned an Opening Day roster spot as a reliever.

When Frank Reberger got injured, Giants manager Charlie Fox chose Cumberland to start against the Cubs on June 22. He beat Ferguson Jenkins in a 2-0 duel. Boxscore

Cumberland remained in the rotation, and on July 3 he pitched a four-hitter, beating Steve Carlton and the Cardinals. Boxscore

“Cumberland is perhaps the most unartistic-looking left-handed pitcher since Hal Woodeshick went into retirement,” San Francisco columnist Wells Twombley observed.

The results, though, were effective. Cumberland was 9-6 for the 1971 Giants, who won a division title. He ranked second on the team in ERA (2.92) and third in innings pitched (185).

“He’s been the biggest surprise of the season,” Fox told United Press International. “What I like best about him is the way he battles the batters. He’s a real bulldog.”

Winding down

At spring training in 1972, teammate Juan Marichal worked with Cumberland on developing a screwball. After posting a 1.61 ERA in 28 exhibition game innings _ “My best spring training ever,” he told the Post-Dispatch _ Cumberland seemed poised to succeed in the regular season, but the opposite happened.

Cumberland was 0-4 with an 8.64 ERA for the Giants when they arrived in St. Louis on June 16, 1972, for a series with the Cardinals. Before the game that night, the Giants swapped Cumberland to the Cardinals for minor-league infielder Jeffrey Mason.

“He’s only 25 and has good control,” Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst told the Post-Dispatch. “If he can come along with that screwball, he could really help us.”

In his St. Louis debut, a start versus the Expos and former Cardinal Mike Torrez, Cumberland gave up six runs in 3.1 innings. Boxscore

After that, Schoendienst used Cumberland as a reliever.

On Aug. 19, facing the Giants in San Francisco, Cumberland pitched three innings and got the win, his last in the majors. Boxscore

“I can’t think of any club I’d rather beat,” Cumberland told the Oakland Tribune.

In 14 games with the 1972 Cardinals, Cumberland was 1-1 with a 6.65 ERA. After the season, they dealt him and outfielder Larry Hisle to the Twins for reliever Wayne Granger.

Helping hand

Cumberland’s final season in the majors was 1974. Eight years later, the Mets hired him to be a coach in the minors.

At the Lynchburg, Va., farm club in 1983, teen phenom Dwight Gooden got off to a mediocre start and was challenged by Cumberland.

“I just told him I didn’t think he wanted to win, and that he wasn’t much of a competitor,” Cumberland told the Newport News Daily Press.

According to Cumberland, Gooden responded, “You were right. I was too timid. That will never happen again.”

Gooden finished 19-4 with 300 strikeouts in 191 innings for Lynchburg.

At the Florida Instructional League after the season, Cumberland helped Gooden develop a changeup and worked with him to shorten his motion.

Cumberland coached in the Mets system from 1982-90. Others he mentored included Rick Aguilera, Randy Myers and Calvin Schiraldi.

“He was the best pitching coach we had in the minor leagues,” Mets scouting director Joe McIlvaine told the Boston Globe. “He toughened the kids up. He worked better with the mind of the player than with the body of the player. That’s a hard thing to get. When we sent a pitcher to John Cumberland in the minor leagues, he was always better for the experience.”

In addition to stints as a minor-league coach for the Padres and Brewers, Cumberland coached in the big leagues with the Red Sox and Royals.

When he was Red Sox pitching coach in 1995, the staff included Roger Clemens, and future Cardinals pitching coaches Derek Lilliquist and Mike Maddux. Derek Lowe transformed from starter to closer while Cumberland was Red Sox bullpen coach from 1999-2001.

Cumberland was Royals pitching coach for manager Tony Pena from 2002-04. When Zack Greinke, 20, made his big-league debut in 2004, he reminded Cumberland of Gooden at a similar age.

“Dwight was more of a power pitcher,” Cumberland told the Kansas City Star, “but the two have the same type of makeup: ‘Here I am. I’m not intimidated. Stand in the box. I’m going to get you out.’ That’s the way Dwight was at 18, just like this kid.”

 

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Bobby Shantz was mighty mite on mound for Cardinals

Posted in Games, Pitchers, Trades on May 3, 2022| 16 Comments »

When the Cardinals had Bobby Shantz in their lineup, it was like having two players instead of one _ a reliable reliever and a fifth infielder.

On May 7, 1962, the Cardinals traded pitcher John Anderson and outfielder Carl Warwick to the Houston Colt .45s for Shantz.

A month earlier, Shantz, 36, was the starting pitcher for the Colt .45s in the franchise’s first regular-season game. The Cardinals got him for the bullpen.

A left-hander who baffled batters with precision pitches and fielded with graceful glovework, Shantz gave the Cardinals what they hoped. In three seasons with them (1962-64), Shantz was 12-10 with 15 saves and a 2.51 ERA, and became the first Cardinals pitcher to earn a Gold Glove Award for fielding excellence.

Big talent

Born and raised in Pottstown, Pa., Shantz moved with his parents to the Frankford neighborhood of Philadelphia after he graduated from high school. He was 19 when he joined the Army in December 1944, and was discharged two years later.

Shantz was playing sandlot baseball in Philadelphia when he was signed by the hometown Athletics in November 1947 on the recommendation of Tony Parisse, a butcher and former big-league catcher.

Though no more than 5 feet 6 and 140 pounds, Shantz showed a big-league assortment of pitches. Assigned to Lincoln, Neb., in 1948, Shantz was 18-7 in his lone season in the minors.

Shantz, 23, opened the 1949 season with the Athletics, managed by 86-year-old Connie Mack. After debuting in relief against the Senators on May 1, Shantz was told he was being sent to the minors, but the Athletics changed their minds when another pitcher developed a sore arm.

Bravo, Bobby

On May 6, Shantz appeared in his second big-league game and gave a performance that, as the Philadelphia Inquirer described, “bordered on the incredible.”

Relieving Carl Scheib with none out in the fourth and the A’s trailing, 3-1, Shantz pitched nine hitless innings against the Tigers. He allowed no hits from the fourth through the 12th.

After the Athletics went ahead, 5-3, with two runs in the 13th, Shantz gave up two hits and a run in the bottom half of the inning, but held on for a 5-4 win.

The game showcased Shantz’s fielding as well as his pitching.

In the eighth, “Bob Swift cracked Shantz’s shins with a line drive, and Johnny Lipon bowled him over with a screamer to the throat in the 10th,” the Inquirer reported. “Both times Bobby picked himself up, grabbed the ball and threw his man out. After that, local rooters were with the kid.”

In the bottom of the 13th, George Kell led off with a double and scored on Vic Wertz’s single. Attempting to move Wertz into scoring position, Hoot Evers bunted. The ball was popped up near the first-base line. Catcher Buddy Rosar lunged for it and missed, but Shantz vaulted over the fallen catcher, caught the ball and whipped a throw to first base to nab Wertz for a rally-killing double play. Shantz struck out the next batter, Swift, to secure his first big-league win. Boxscore

Doing it all

Following an 18-10 season for the 1951 Athletics, Shantz was 24-7 for them in 1952 and received the American League Most Valuable Player Award.

“He does everything you could ask any player to do,” Browns manager Rogers Hornsby told The Sporting News. “He pitches well, he fields superbly and he can hit the ball.”

(A right-handed batter, Shantz had 107 hits and 46 RBI in 16 years in the majors. His lone home run was a liner to left against Allie Reynolds at Yankee Stadium in 1950. Boxscore)

Yankees manager Casey Stengel called Shantz the greatest fielding pitcher. “The best I ever saw,” Stengel told the New York Journal-American. “He’s all over the infield.”

Shantz was with the Yankees the first time a Gold Glove Award was given in 1957. He won the award in eight consecutive seasons (1957-1964).

In four years with the Yankees (1957-60), Shantz was 30-18 with 19 saves and a 2.73 ERA. He pitched in six World Series games for them.

After the Senators claimed him in the American League expansion draft in December 1960, the Cardinals tried to acquire him, offering Bob Gibson, but the Senators dealt Shantz to the Pirates. After posting a 6-3 record, including a complete-game win against the Cardinals, for the 1961 Pirates, Shantz was selected by the Colt .45s in the National League expansion draft. Boxscore

Houston calling

Though The Sporting News described his fastball as “mostly a figure of speech,” Shantz, 36, dazzled with his all-around skills at spring training with the Colt .45s.

“That little fellow is a remarkable athlete,” manager Harry Craft said. “Have you ever noticed the way he moves toward every ball hit on the ground? He could play anywhere. I wouldn’t be afraid to let him catch. He’d be a darned fine catcher. Before the season is over, you may see him at third base.”

Shantz was the Opening Day starting pitcher against the Cubs at Houston. The first batter he faced was Lou Brock, who struck out. Shantz pitched a five-hitter in a 11-2 win. Brock was 0-for-3 with a sacrifice fly. Boxscore

(Two years later, Shantz was among the players the Cardinals dealt to the Cubs for Brock.)

In his next start, Shantz pitched 5.2 scoreless innings against the Mets before his shoulder tightened. Ten days later, he started against the Braves, allowed one earned run in six innings, but continued to experience tightness in his shoulder.

Short man

Because of the shoulder ailment, Shantz didn’t think he could pitch deep into games as a starter, but could be effective in short relief. The Cardinals determined he was worth the risk and traded for him.

“The only thing Shantz can’t do any more is pitch long or often,” Cardinals general manager Bing Devine told the Philadelphia Daily News.

In his Cardinals debut, Shantz pitched two scoreless innings against the Giants. Boxscore

(Shantz faced the Giants three times in 1962 and in each game Willie McCovey was lifted for a pinch-hitter against him. McCovey was 0-for-8 versus Shantz in his career.)

Special save

Shantz got his first Cardinals save with 1.2 scoreless innings against the Phillies on May 21.

With the Cardinals ahead, 4-1, in the eighth, the Phillies had Ted Savage on third and Johnny Callison on second, one out, when Shantz relieved Ray Washburn. Cleanup hitter Tony Gonzalez scorched a line drive toward the right of the mound. Shantz lunged, snared the ball backhanded, whirled and fired a strike to Ken Boyer at third, “doubling up a startled and stranded Savage, who had been on his way home, sure the ball would get through,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Boxscore

The Philadelphia Inquirer described it as “a play that had to be seen to be believed.”

Shantz “makes improbable plays look easy, and impossible plays just a trifle harder,” Stan Hochman wrote in the Philadelphia Daily News.

Bobby vs. Goliath

Shantz got his first Cardinals win on June 10 with three scoreless innings against the Giants. Boxscore

On Aug. 10, he had two infield hits and a RBI, and pitched four innings for the win against the Phillies. Boxscore

Shantz got a save in his final appearance of 1962. Trailing 7-4, the Giants had runners on first and third, two outs, in the bottom of the ninth when Shantz struck out Willie Mays. Boxscore

“Shantz caught Mays off-balance with a changeup for the third strike,” Curley Grieve of the San Francisco Examiner reported. “Catcher Gene Oliver called it a Stu Miller pitch _ all motion and nothing on the ball. The swing Willie took was just a gesture. He knew he was hooked.”

Shantz was 5-3 with four saves and a 2.18 ERA for the 1962 Cardinals.

The next year,  he appeared in 55 games for St. Louis and was 6-4 with 11 saves and a 2.61 ERA.

One of his highlights with the 1963 Cardinals occurred on July 16 when he struck out eight of 11 batters faced in a win against the Reds. Vada Pinson, 0-for-13 against Shantz in his career, struck out twice. Shantz also fanned Frank Robinson and Pete Rose. Boxscore

“He’s unbelievable,” Cardinals catcher Tim McCarver told the Post-Dispatch. “His control, his change of speed. I’ve never caught anybody who could change speeds like that.”

Shantz said, “I had about as good a curveball as I’ve had all year, but it still took a lot of luck. If they don’t swing at a lot of those balls, I’m in trouble because some of them were bad pitches.”

Shantz had a 1-3 record when he was sent to the Cubs in the Brock deal in June 1964. Two months later, his contract was sold to the Phillies, who were in first place. In 14 appearances with the Phillies, Shantz was 1-1 with a 2.25 ERA, but the Cardinals clinched the pennant on the last day of the season.

 

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