RetroSimba

(Updated March 5, 2022)

An injury to Tommy Herr opened a path to the big leagues with the Cardinals for Rafael Santana.

On Feb. 16, 1981, the Cardinals purchased the contract of Santana, a minor-league infielder, from the Yankees on a conditional basis. The Cardinals wanted to take a look at Santana in training camp before deciding whether to keep him or send him back to the Yankees.

After choosing to retain Santana and assigning him to their farm system, the Cardinals agreed to give the Yankees a player to be named as compensation.

Santana remained in the minors the next two seasons and wasn’t prominent in the Cardinals’ plans when spring training began in 1983, but that changed when Herr, their second baseman, got sidelined because of a knee injury.

Santana made the 1983 Cardinals’ Opening Day roster as a backup infielder. A year later, he replaced Jose Oquendo as Mets shortstop. He still was the starter at that position in 1986 when the Mets became World Series champions.

Minor prospect

Born and raised in the Dominican Republic, Santana was 18 when he signed with the Yankees in 1976. He spent four seasons (1977-80) in their farm system, with Class AA being the highest level he reached.

When the Cardinals acquired Santana in 1981, they sent him to their Class AA club at Arkansas. He played shortstop and batted .233 for the season.

For a while that year, it seemed the Cardinals had gotten the worst of the deal.

Go figure

On June 7, 1981, four months after they got Santana, the Cardinals sent pitcher George Frazier, who was with their Springfield, Ill., farm team, to the Yankees as the player to be named, completing the transaction.

According to columnist Dick Young in The Sporting News, the Cardinals and Cubs had agreed to a swap of Frazier for pitcher Doug Capilla in spring 1981, but when Cubs manager Joey Amalfitano objected, the trade was called off. Then the Cardinals sent Frazier to the Yankees.

The move got little attention. A right-hander, Frazier was 3-11 with three saves in parts of three seasons (1978-80) with the Cardinals.

“I had three trials and I really had not done a magnificent job,” Frazier told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I was getting to a stagnant situation.”

The Yankees sent him to their farm team in Columbus, Ohio. “I thought I was going from one graveyard to another,” Frazier said.

After Yankees minor-league coach Sammy Ellis changed Frazier’s delivery and taught him to throw a forkball, he thrived. In 27 appearances for Columbus, Frazier was 4-1 with nine saves.

In August 1981, when closer Goose Gossage developed shoulder soreness, the Yankees called up Frazier and he gave the bullpen a boost. In 16 relief appearances for the Yankees, Frazier had three saves and a 1.63 ERA. He also won Game 2 of the American League Championship Series against the Athletics.

The storybook run from Cardinals reject to Yankees standout skidded to a halt in the 1981 World Series. Frazier was the losing pitcher in Games 3, 4 and 6 versus the Dodgers. Unfazed, he told the New York Times, “If I was still with the Cardinals, I’d be home fishing or mending fences. I’d rather be where I am.”

Getting a chance

With Class AAA Louisville in 1982, Santana primarily played third base and also made starts at shortstop and second. A right-handed batter, he impressed the Cardinals by learning to hit to the opposite field. His .286 batting mark was the best he produced since becoming a professional.

When Santana went to spring training in 1983, “it was unlikely” he would make the Cardinals’ Opening Day roster, the Post-Dispatch reported. The defending World Series champions were set at the three positions Santana played. Starters were Herr at second, Ozzie Smith at short and Ken Oberkfell at third. Mike Ramsey was the backup at second and short. Jamie Quirk could fill in at third.

When Herr injured his left knee and needed arthroscopic surgery in March, Ramsey took over at second and the Cardinals sought a backup. The candidates were a pair of rookies: Santana and Kelly Paris.

Santana, 25, emerged as the favorite. One reason: he was out of options. If the Cardinals sent Santana to the minors, he would have to clear waivers before they could recall him. Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog also rated Santana “a better infielder defensively” than Paris, the Post-Dispatch reported.

“What he’s really done is grow up a lot,” Herzog said of Santana. “He’s more mature than he was when we got him.”

The Cardinals opened the 1983 season with Ramsey at second, Herr on the disabled list and Santana as the backup middle infielder.

Coming through

On April 29, 1983, Herr was reinstated to the roster but the Cardinals kept Santana. That night, Santana got his first big-league hit, a single against the Giants’ Jim Barr. Boxscore

Two weeks later, the Cardinals played the Giants again. In the top of the ninth, with the Cardinals trailing by a run, Santana made his fourth plate appearance in the majors, batting with the bases loaded and two outs.

“I wasn’t nervous,” Santana told the Post-Dispatch. “I’m never nervous in this game.”

Santana blooped a two-run single against Gary Lavelle, putting the Cardinals ahead. “I didn’t hit it good,” Santana said. “It was off the end of the bat, but there was nobody there to catch it.”

The Giants rallied for two runs versus Bruce Sutter in the bottom half of the inning and won. Boxscore

On June 16, Ramsey went on the disabled because of a back ailment. When he returned in July, Santana was shipped to Louisville.

Santana played in 30 games for the 1983 Cardinals, made one start at second base and hit .214. At Louisville, he mostly played third and batted .281.

Big Apple adventures

As a veteran of six seasons in the minors, Santana was eligible to become a free agent. Unable to keep him, the Cardinals released him on Jan. 17, 1984.

“He’s not flashy, but he’s always consistent, always makes the plays,” Cardinals director of player development Lee Thomas told the New York Daily News. “That son of a gun made a good hitter out of himself. He wasn’t as good a hitter when we got him as he was when we let him go.”

The Dodgers, Mets and Tigers made Santana offers. “I picked the Mets because I thought I had a better chance with this organization as a utility player,” Santana told the Daily News. “When I signed, I didn’t dream I could become the regular shortstop.”

Jose Oquendo was the Mets’ shortstop, but he fell into disfavor with manager Davey Johnson. “Oquendo can be a great shortstop, but right now he doesn’t know how to play shortstop,” Johnson said to the Daily News. “He has a great arm, but doesn’t know how to use it. Rafael Santana knows how to play shortstop.”

Santana replaced Oquendo as the Mets’ shortstop in July 1984. Nine months later, Oquendo was traded to the Cardinals.

In 1986, Santana’s fielding was a factor in the Mets’ success. He fielded flawlessly in the National League Championship Series versus the Astros and made one error in 58 innings against the Red Sox in the World Series.

After the 1987 season, Santana was traded to the Yankees and he was their shortstop in 1988. After sitting out the 1989 season following elbow surgery, Santana closed his playing career in a brief stint with the Indians.

Santana played in the infield with first baseman Keith Hernandez for three franchises: Cardinals (1983), Mets (1984-87) and Indians (1990).

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During his time in the Cardinals’ organization, Tommy Sandt won a labor grievance, played in the same infield with Tony La Russa and Jim Riggleman, and got traded for a pitcher who became a World Series hero.

Though he never played in the majors for the Cardinals, Sandt was in their farm system after being acquired from the Athletics.

It was an unconventional adventure.

Hanging in there

Sandt was chosen by the Athletics in the second round of the 1969 amateur baseball draft. He said he almost quit in 1973 when he was demoted from Class AA Birmingham to Class A Burlington, but Burlington manager Rene Lachemann convinced him to keep trying. “He saved my career,” Sandt told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Sandt hit .301 for Burlington and began to advance again. In 1975, his seventh season in the minors, Sandt was called up to the Athletics in June, made his debut in the majors as a defensive replacement at second base in a game against the Angels, and was sent back down. He hit .309 for Class AAA Tucson in 1975.

At spring training in 1976, Sandt was considered a longshot to earn a spot with the Athletics until he caught the attention of manager Chuck Tanner during a baserunning drill.

“The A’s wore white shoes then and I didn’t have any, so someone loaned me some new white shoes,” Sandt told the Pittsburgh Press. “I wore them to run the bases and came up with blisters. They started bleeding and Chuck told me to go in and change my shoes. I told him I’d gut it out. I didn’t know it, but Chuck told me later I made the club right there.”

Tanner confirmed to the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, “Tommy made my club that day. I figured if a guy will do that, he must want it bad.”

Sandt spent the 1976 season with the Athletics as a backup to second baseman Phil Garner and shortstop Bert Campaneris, played in 41 games and hit .209.

Instead of it being the start to a playing career in the majors, it turned out to be the end.

Money matters

Though Jack McKeon had become Athletics manager after cash-strapped club owner Charlie Finley traded Tanner to the Pirates, Sandt figured to be back with the team in 1977.

At spring training, Sandt got into a contract squabble with Finley. Rather than negotiate, Finley invoked a clause to renew Sandt’s contract and cut his salary by more than 20 percent. Under baseball’s labor agreement with the players’ union, Finley had the right to renew Sandt’s contract but the maximum he could cut a salary was 20 percent.

Sandt filed a grievance. Finley retaliated by selling Sandt’s contract to the Cardinals on March 26, 1977.

Off and on

The Cardinals assigned Sandt, 26, to their Class AAA New Orleans farm club. New Orleans opened its season with a double-play combination of Tony La Russa at second and Sandt at shortstop. In a game against Iowa, Sandt and La Russa each hit a home run.

La Russa, in his final season as a player before embarking on a Hall of Fame managing career, also was serving as a coach for New Orleans manager Lance Nichols. Ken Oberkfell eventually took over at second base. La Russa managed New Orleans for five games while Nichols was treated for lymphoma.

In the book, “Tony La Russa: Man on a Mission,” Oberkfell recalled a lesson he learned from La Russa and Sandt after Oklahoma City baserunner Lonnie Smith upended him on a slide into second.

“I guess it was kind of a cheap shot, but I didn’t really know any better and I didn’t think anything about it,” Oberkfell said. “I got to the bench after the inning and Tony and Tommy Sandt came up to me and said, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll get him for you.’ I was like, ‘Get who for what?’ That was a part of the game I really didn’t know much about.”

On May 28, 1977, an arbitrator who reviewed Sandt’s grievance against Finley ruled in favor of Sandt, declared the contract invalid and made him a free agent.

Sandt left the New Orleans club and went home, hoping to field offers. The Cardinals showed the most interest, and on June 18, 1977, they signed Sandt and sent him back to New Orleans.

The Cardinals also promoted Jim Riggleman from Class AA to be the New Orleans third baseman. Riggleman, a future Cardinals coach and big-league manager, and Sandt provided pop in the lineup. Four times, they combined to hit home runs in the same game.

Sandt was called up by the Cardinals when rosters expanded in September 1977, but never played in a game for them.

Moving ahead

The Cardinals were loaded with infielders at the major-league and Class AAA levels in 1978, so they loaned Sandt to the Blue Jays. Sandt was assigned to Class AAA Syracuse, a club managed by Vern Benson, a former Cardinals player and coach. Sandt played second base next to the shortstop, basketball’s Danny Ainge.

With his path to the Cardinals blocked by better prospects, Sandt was traded to the Pirates on Jan. 25, 1979, for a minor-league pitcher, John Stuper.

Stuper got called up to the Cardinals in 1982, became a member of the starting rotation and earned a complete-game win in Game 6 of the World Series, positioning them to clinch the championship the next night.

After three more seasons as a player in the Pirates’ farm system, Sandt became a minor-league manager for them in 1982. He managed for five seasons, including at Hawaii, where he was named manager of the year in the Pacific Coast League and helped a promising prospect, Barry Bonds.

In 1987, Sandt became a coach on the staff of Pirates manager Jim Leyland. Sandt was a Pirates coach for Leyland from 1987-96. Leyland kept Sandt on his coaching staff when he managed the Marlins (1997-98) and Rockies (1999). Sandt also was a Pirates coach for managers Gene Lamont (2000) and Lloyd McClendon (2001-02).

On Twitter, Pirates broadcaster Greg Brown called Sandt “a brilliant baseball man and as humble as they come.”

Asked by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette what three words described him best, Sandt replied, “Fun-loving, emotional, dedicated.”

As a coach, Sandt developed a reputation for being a master at using the fungo stick to hit balls to players during fielding drills.

Another coach, Rich Donnelly, told the Miami Herald, “There’s no one better with a fungo. If the fungo was a sand wedge, Tommy Sandt would be Tiger Woods.”

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Gene Tenace brought to the Cardinals a winning pedigree, leadership and a consistent ability to get on base. Willing to accept a reserve role as a catcher and first baseman, Tenace was a good fit for a franchise looking to change its culture and transform from underachievers to champions.

On Dec. 8, 1980, the Cardinals got Tenace, pitchers Rollie Fingers and Bob Shirley, and a player to be named, catcher Bob Geren, from the Padres for catchers Terry Kennedy and Steve Swisher, infielder Mike Phillips and pitchers John Littlefield, John Urrea, Kim Seaman and Al Olmsted.

Fingers, a closer and future Hall of Famer, was the player who got the attention for the Cardinals when the deal was made, but Tenace was the one who contributed the most.

Four days after acquiring Fingers, Whitey Herzog, who had the dual roles of Cardinals manager and general manager, dealt him and another future Hall of Famer, catcher Ted Simmons, to the Brewers. Tenace remained with the Cardinals for two years, fulfilled the role Herzog envisioned for him, and helped them become World Series champions in 1982.

Finding his way

Tenace was born Fiore Gino Tennaci in Russelton, Pa. He grew up in Lucasville, Ohio, and his name was changed to Fury Gene Tenace because the family wanted it to be more American than Italian.

He was 18 and a shortstop when the Athletics selected him in the 20th round of baseball’s first amateur draft in 1965. Tenace was an outfielder and third baseman in the Athletics’ farm system before he was converted to catcher in 1968.

A right-handed batter, Tenace generated tremendous bat speed. “I play to hit,” Tenace told The Sporting News. “I love to hit.”

A turning point in Tenace’s career came in 1969 when he was assigned to Birmingham, a Class AA club managed by Gus Niarhos. A former big-league catcher who started for the 1948 Yankees before being replaced by future Hall of Famer Yogi Berra, Niarhos taught Tenace how to play the position.

Tenace, 22, was called up to the Athletics in May 1969. After he went 0-for-4 in his debut against Denny McLain, Tenace got a single the next day versus Luis Tiant for his first hit in the majors.

Though the Athletics liked Tenace’s hitting, the catcher they liked best was Dave Duncan, the future Cardinals pitching coach. Duncan was the Athletics’ starting catcher in 1971, when they won the first of five consecutive division titles.

Duncan was the starter again in 1972 before he went into a hitting slump. “He wasn’t doing it with the bat and it was beginning to affect his catching,” Athletics manager Dick Williams said.

Tenace replaced Duncan for the last two months of the 1972 season, and he was the starter when the Athletics went into the World Series against the Reds.

Valuable player

Tenace took center stage in the 1972 World Series. In Game 1, he became the first player to hit home runs in his first two World Series at-bats. The homers versus Gary Nolan produced all the runs for the Athletics in a 3-2 victory. Boxscore

Tenace hit .348 with four home runs and nine RBI against the Reds and was named most valuable player of the 1972 World Series. Video

Moved to first base in 1973, he had 24 home runs and a .387 on-base percentage. In the World Series against the Mets, Tenace had 11 walks and three hits.

In 1974, when the Athletics won a third consecutive World Series title, Tenace again played first base and hit 26 home runs. He returned to catcher in 1975 and had 29 home runs and an on-base percentage of .395.

Regarding his ability to get on base often, Tenace told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “I’ve always used discipline at the plate. I know my limitations. I’ve been in the game long enough to know I can handle only certain pitches.”

Herr almost dealt

Tenace became a free agent after the 1976 season and signed with the Padres. He was tough versus the Cardinals. In 1978, he had 11 RBI in 12 games against them and his on-base percentage was .467.

In 1980, Tenace and Fingers clashed with manager Jerry Coleman and asked to be traded. According to The Sporting News, the Padres tried to trade Tenace to the Cubs in July 1980, but it didn’t work out.

Herzog was interested in both Fingers and Tenace. The Padres wanted a young catcher, and the Cardinals’ Terry Kennedy and the Pirates’ Tony Pena were the two who appealed to them most.

In his book, “White Rat: A Life in Baseball,” Herzog said Kennedy approached him near the end of the 1980 season and asked to be traded to a team needing a starting catcher.

Herzog and Padres general manager Jack McKeon met during the 1980 World Series and agreed to a trade of Kennedy, second baseman Tommy Herr and others for Fingers, Tenace and Bob Shirley. “I can make that deal now,” Herzog told the Post-Dispatch.

Herr said, “I don’t know if I’d like it or not. I want to play with a contender.”

The trade “was close” to being made, The Sporting News reported, but it got held up because of a snag over Fingers’ contract.

Herzog and McKeon resumed their talks at the baseball winter meetings in December. In his book, Herzog said he almost traded Kennedy to the Reds for reliever Tom Hume, but when the Padres agreed to take other players instead of Herr, Herzog closed the deal with them.

Good as advertised

Herzog said Fingers was “the great relief pitcher I needed, but not the one I really wanted. The guy I was really after was Bruce Sutter.”

Fingers was insurance in case Herzog couldn’t make a deal for Sutter.

On Dec. 9, 1980, the day after the trade with the Padres, the Cardinals acquired Sutter from the Cubs. With catcher Darrell Porter joining the Cardinals earlier in the week as a free agent and Sutter filling the closer role, Herzog decided to package Fingers and Ted Simmons in a trade to the Brewers.

Tenace was projected to back up Porter at catcher and Keith Hernandez at first base. Unfazed about a reserve role, Tenace said, “I’ve been adjusting all my life.”

Tenace delivered what was expected of him. He had on-base percentages for the Cardinals of .416 in 1981 and .436 in 1982.

A leader in the clubhouse, he made sure the reserves were as ready as he was to play. Outfielder Tito Landrum said, “If I start having a letdown, he comes over and kicks my rear end. Literally. He pulls no punches. He lets you know.”

After the Cardinals won Game 7 of the 1982 World Series versus the Brewers, Porter, like Tenace in 1972, was named the Series’ most valuable player, meaning the Cardinals had two catchers on the same team who had received the honor.

Tenace became a free agent after the 1982 World Series. Herzog said the Cardinals wanted to keep him, but on a one-year contract. When the Pirates gave Tenace a three-year deal, he accepted.

After one season with the Pirates, Tenace was through playing. He went on to coach, manage and instruct, including a stint with the Cardinals as minor league hitting coordinator from 2002-07.

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