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Road to closer role for Bill Caudill began with Cardinals

Posted in Games, Pitchers, Trades on March 7, 2025| 6 Comments »

Batters might have thought Bill Caudill spelled his name with a K, for strikeout, because that’s what happened to many when trying to hit his fastball.

The correct spelling, though, was C, for closer, because that’s what Caudill became in the American League after beginning his career with the Cardinals.

The letter C also fit because this closer was a clubhouse cut-up who caught attention as much for his pranks as for his pitching.

Big-league prospect

As a high school starter in Redondo Beach, Calif., Caudill didn’t lose an Ocean League game in three varsity seasons. Coach Ken Wilson told the Torrance Daily Breeze, “He can really hum it. It used to be where one good catcher mitt would last the whole season, but I’ve had to buy two because he wears them out that quickly _ and I buy top-quality mitts.”

In June 1974, a month before he turned 18, Caudill was chosen by the Cardinals in the eighth round of the amateur draft.

(Of the Cardinals’ top 20 picks in 1974, the only two to reach the majors were shortstop Garry Templeton and Caudill. In the 28th round, St. Louis selected shortstop Paul Molitor, but he opted to attend college.)

Sent to the Cardinals’ rookie club in Sarasota, Fla., Caudill’s teammates included Scott Boras (the future agent), David Boyer (son of Ken Boyer), Lon Kruger (future head basketball coach of the NBA Atlanta Hawks and multiple college teams), Michael Pisarkiewicz (brother of NFL Cardinals quarterback Steve Pisarkiewicz) and Templeton.

Striking out 35 in 30 innings for Sarasota, Caudill was moved up to Class A St. Petersburg in 1975 and excelled there as a starter (14-8, including five shutouts). After Caudill, 19, pitched a one-hit shutout against the Tampa Tarpons, a Reds farm club, in the opening game of the Florida State League championship series, Cardinals director of player personnel Bob Kennedy told the St. Petersburg Times, “You looked at a big-league prospect tonight.”

A right-hander, Caudill went to Class AA Arkansas in 1976, struck out 140 in 140 innings, and was placed on the Cardinals’ 40-man winter roster.

Excited to be here

At his first big-league spring training camp in 1977, Caudill, 20, entered the Cardinals’ clubhouse and hardly could believe his eyes. “I saw Lou Brock and I was awed,” he told the Torrance Daily Breeze.

When Caudill’s hometown team, the Dodgers, arrived for an exhibition game, he stood near the batting cage and marveled at being among hitters he followed as a youth. “These players were just names to me not that long ago,” Caudill said to the Daily Breeze. “(Steve) Garvey, (Ron) Cey, (Davey) Lopes. This is something else. These are guys I watched on television. I paid to see them at Dodger Stadium. I think it’s an honor just to be here on the same field with them.”

Cardinals veterans were “all nice guys,” Caudill told the Torrance newspaper. “They call me Rook … They all came up to introduce themselves and wish me good luck. I dress next to (catcher) Dave Rader. He talks to me. He’s a serious fellow, an established major leaguer, and I listen to him. He helps me, and I appreciate it.”

In his first exhibition game appearance, against the Mets, Caudill’s nervousness showed. He pitched two innings and didn’t allow a hit, but he walked four, hit two batters with pitches and committed a balk.

“Sometimes I sit on the bench sort of in a daze,” Caudill said to the Daily Breeze. “It seems just like yesterday when I was in my high school uniform. I used to listen to these games on the radio.”

The Cardinals planned to have Caudill begin the season at Class AAA, but just before the end of spring training they traded him to the Reds for Joel Youngblood. The Reds initially asked for pitcher Doug Capilla, but the Cardinals countered with Caudill, the Dayton Daily News reported. (Three months later, the Cardinals sent Capilla to the Reds for Rawly Eastwick.)

Windy City welcome

In October 1977, the Reds sought to acquire Cubs pitcher Bill Bonham. Bob Kennedy was now the Cubs general manager. According to the Chicago Tribune, he told the Reds he would make the deal only if they included Caudill, who’d spent the season in the minors. “I raised him as a baby … He’s going to be a good one,” Kennedy told the Tribune.

The Reds accepted the terms, trading Caudill and Woodie Fryman for Bonham.

After more time in the minors, Caudill, 22, reached the big leagues with the Cubs in May 1979. Used as both starter and reliever, he showed promise but experienced growing pains. Caudill struck out 104 in 90 innings. “He’s the hardest thrower in the league,” the Cardinals’ Keith Hernandez, the 1979 National League batting champion, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. However, Caudill also gave up 16 home runs, including four in one game against the Dodgers.

With a season record of 0-7, Caudill made his final appearance of 1979 in a relief stint against the Pirates at Pittsburgh. In the 11th inning, with two on and the score tied at 6-6, he struck out slugger Willie Stargell. After the Cubs went ahead with a run in the 13th, Stargell came up with two on and two outs. “I was shaking,” Caudill told the Chicago Tribune. “I had to step off the mound and forget who he was.”

Stargell whiffed again, ending the game and giving Caudill his first win in the majors. “All I threw were fastballs, inside and outside,” Caudill said to The Pittsburgh Press.

Told of Caudill’s comment, Stargell’s teammate, Dave Parker, replied, “That’s all he needs. He’s a good pitcher with good stuff.” Boxscore

No fun

The Cubs made Caudill a reliever in 1980. By September, their bullpen consisted of two future Hall of Famers (Bruce Sutter and Lee Smith), a future American League Most Valuable Player and Cy Young Award winner (Willie Hernandez), the 1980 National League leader in games pitched (Dick Tidrow) and Caudill.

Caudill fit in amid all that talent. In 72 appearances, his ERA was 2.19.

Emboldened by the bullpen depth, the Cubs traded Sutter to the Cardinals, but Caudill regressed in 1981 (5.83 ERA). He said one reason for his poor season was he followed the club’s orders to lose weight. Caudill claimed he dropped at least 20 pounds “but I lost about two feet off my fastball, too,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “My strikeout pitch turned into a single or double pitch.”

Cubs management suggested Caudill’s ineffectiveness was caused by too many late nights on the town. “I found he couldn’t put his body down at night,” Cubs manager Lee Elia told Sports Illustrated. “History had shown here that he couldn’t adapt to day games.”

Caudill said to the magazine, “Show me a Chicago Cub without sacks under his eyes and I’ll show you a Cub who’s only been with the team two weeks.”

Responding to criticism that he was a boisterous presence in the clubhouse, Caudill told Newsday, “The Cubs didn’t really care for all that emotion. It was more like putting on a business suit than a uniform there.”

Elementary, dear Watson

On April 1, 1982, the Cubs sent Caudill to the Yankees, completing a deal for Pat Tabler. Caudill was a Yankee for less than 30 minutes. George Steinbrenner’s club flipped him to the Mariners almost as soon as they acquired him. Regarding his fleeting moments as a Yankee, Caudill told the Los Angeles Times, “Maybe Steinbrenner will send me one pinstripe to put on my mantel.”

Caudill, 25, felt right at home with the Mariners, who made him the closer and encouraged his free spiritedness.

After the Mariners returned from a road trip ruined by a lack of clutch hitting, Caudill reached into his hat collection, pulled out a deerstalker cap and did his best Sherlock Holmes impersonation. “I went up to the bat rack and told everybody I was going to solve The Case of the Missing Hits,” Caudill told the Los Angeles Times. “I took out every bat, looked them over, held them up to my ear and shook them. I threw about four in the trash can. Those were the rotten apples. Now they’re out of the barrel and we’re ready to go.”

Sure enough, the Mariners began producing timely hits. Caudill got dubbed “The Inspector” _ as in Peter Sellers’ Inspector Clouseau _ and was greeted with Henry Mancini’s “The Pink Panther Theme” from the organist whenever he entered a home game. Fans sent him magnifying glasses.

During a rain delay in Detroit, Caudill came onto the field wearing a Beldar the Conehead mask and a jersey of teammate Gaylord Perry with a pillow stuffed underneath. Caudell did an impersonation of the spitball pitcher, “wiping grease from behind his ears and off his eyebrows,” Sports Illustrated noted.

The show ended when Perry tackled Caudill. Though Perry did so good naturedly, “Dick Butkus couldn’t have hit me any harder,” Caudill told the Chicago Tribune.

On another night, Caudill shaved off half his beard. “I told everybody that since we were playing half-assed, I might as well pitch half-bearded,” he told the Sacramento Bee.

Ups and downs

Caudill had 12 wins, 26 saves and 111 strikeouts in 95.2 innings for the 1982 Mariners. The next year, he again earned 26 saves for them. Traded to the Athletics, he posted nine wins and 36 saves in 1984, then got dealt to the Blue Jays for Dave Collins, Alfredo Griffin and cash.

Represented by his former Cardinals minor-league teammate, agent Scott Boras, Caudill got a five-year contract from the Blue Jays. His stay with them, though, was much shorter.

Caudill was removed from the closer role during the 1985 season and replaced by Tom Henke. The next year, shoulder and elbow problems limited Caudill’s effectiveness. Released by the Blue Jays in April 1987, he returned to the Athletics, but broke his right hand when he punched a man Caudill said grabbed his wife in a hotel parking lot, the Associated Press reported. At 31, Caudill was done as a big-league pitcher.

He went to work for Scott Boras and also coached youth baseball. One of the players he instructed, Blake Hawksworth, said Caudill taught him a changeup. Hawksworth used the pitch to reach the majors with the Cardinals in 2009.

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How a young Curt Flood tried muscling up with Cardinals

Posted in Games, Hitters, Prospects, Trades on February 5, 2025| 10 Comments »

Early in his big-league playing career, Curt Flood had a tendency to try hitting home runs, which wasn’t a good idea for someone his size.

In 1958, his first season with the Cardinals, Flood, 20, clouted 10 homers. Those are the most home runs of any Cardinals player 20 or younger, according to researcher Tom Orf.

The long balls caused Flood to overswing. It wasn’t until a teammate helped him kick the habit that Flood became one of the National League’s top hitters.

Big talent

As a youth in Oakland, Flood was a standout art student and high school baseball player. A mentor, George Powles, also coached him with an American Legion team and in the semipro Alameda Winter League.

“This kid can do everything,” Powles told the Oakland Tribune. “He can run, throw, field and hit a long ball. He is smart and has great desire to get ahead.”

Big-league scouts took a look, but most determined Flood was too small to reach the majors.

In his autobiography “The Way It Is,” Flood recalled, “One day George Powles sat me down for a talk. He told me I had the ability to become a professional, but that I should prepare for difficulties and disappointments. He pointed out I weighed barely 140 pounds (and) was not more than five feet, seven inches tall … Small men seldom got very far in baseball.”

Reds scout Bobby Mattick, a former big-league shortstop, took a chance on Flood. In January 1956, after Flood turned 18 and graduated from high school, he signed with the Reds for $4,000.

Down in Dixie

Assigned to a farm club in High Point, N.C., a furniture factory town, Flood experienced racist teammates and fans.

“Most of the players on my team were offended by my presence and would not even talk to me when we were off the field,” Flood said in his autobiography. “The few who were more enlightened were afraid to antagonize the others.

“During the early weeks of the season, I’d break into tears as soon as I reached the safety of my room … I wanted to be free of these animals whose 50-cent bleacher ticket was a license to curse my color and deny my humanity. I wanted to be free of the imbeciles on the ball team.”

Flood’s pride kept him from quitting and he answered the bigots by performing better than any other player in the Carolina League. “I ran myself down to less than 135 pounds in the blistering heat,” he said in his book. “I completely wiped out that peckerwood league.”

The 18-year-old produced an on-base percentage of .448 (190 hits, 102 walks). He scored 133 runs, drove in 128 and slugged 29 home runs.

Called up to the Reds in September 1956, Flood made his big-league debut at St. Louis as a pinch-runner for catcher Smoky Burgess. Boxscore

The next season became another ordeal when the Reds returned Flood, 19, to the segregated South at Savannah, Ga. Adding to the pressure was the Reds’ decision to shift Flood from outfield to third base. One of his infield teammates was shortstop Leo Cardenas, a dark-skinned Cuban.

“Georgia law forbade Cardenas and me to dress with the white players,” Flood said in his book. “A separate cubicle was constructed for us. Some of the players were decent enough to detest the arrangement. I particularly remember (outfielder) Buddy Gilbert (of Knoxville, Tenn.), who used to bring food to me and Leo in the bus so that we would not have to stand at the back doors of restaurants.”

A future seven-time Gold Glove Award winner as a National League outfielder, Flood made 41 errors at third base with Savannah, but produced a .388 on-base percentage (170 hits, 81 walks), 98 runs scored and 82 RBI.

Earning another promotion to the Reds in September 1957, Flood’s first hit in the majors was a home run at Cincinnati against Moe Drabowsky of the Cubs. It turned out to be Flood’s last game with the Reds. Boxscore

Good deal

At the 1957 baseball winter meetings in Colorado Springs, Cardinals general manager Bing Devine and manager Fred Hutchinson met until 3 a.m. with Reds general manager Gabe Paul and manager Birdie Tebbetts, trying to make a trade, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported.

After much give and take, the Reds proposed sending Flood and outfielder Joe Taylor to the Cardinals for pitchers Marty Kutyna, Willard Schmidt and Ted Wieand. Devine, in his first trade negotiations since replacing Frank Lane as general manager, “had some fear and trepidation” about doing the deal, he said in his autobiography “The Memoirs of Bing Devine.”

As Devine recalled in his book, Hutchinson said to him, “Awww, come on. I’ve heard about Curt Flood and his ability. Flood can run and throw. He could probably play the outfield. Let’s don’t worry about it.”

Bolstered by his manager, Devine made the trade, his first for the Cardinals.

(Concern of having an all-black outfield of Frank Robinson, Vada Pinson and Flood prompted the Reds to trade him, Flood said in his autobiography.)

Devine told the St. Louis newspapers that Flood had potential to become the Cardinals’ center fielder. “We’re counting on him for 1959, not next year,” Devine told the Globe-Democrat.

Cardinals calling

The Cardinals opened the 1958 season with Bobby Gene Smith in center and sent Flood to Omaha, but Smith didn’t hit (.200 in April) and Flood did (.340 in 15 games). On May 1, they switched roles, Flood joining the Cardinals and Smith going to Omaha.

(When the Cardinals sent Flood a ticket for a flight from Omaha, he was concerned how he would get his new Thunderbird automobile to St. Louis. Omaha general manager Bill Bergesch kindly offered to drive the car there for him and Flood accepted, according to Bergesch’s son, Robert. Not knowing anyone in St. Louis, Flood rented a room in a house called the Heritage Arms on the recommendation of pitcher Sam Jones. In the book “The Curt Flood Story,” author Stuart L. Weiss noted that when Bill Bergesch arrived in St. Louis with Flood’s car, he found Flood was residing in one of the city’s most notorious bordellos.)

Flood, 20, played his first game for the Cardinals on May 2, 1958, at St. Louis against the Reds. The center fielder had a double and was hit by a Brooks Lawrence pitch. Boxscore

His first home run for the Cardinals came on May 15 at St. Louis against the Giants’ 19-year-old left-hander, Mike McCormick. Flood belted a changeup into the bleachers just inside the left field foul line. He also singled to center and doubled to right, prompting the Globe-Democrat to declare, “Flood resembled a junior grade Rogers Hornsby with a surprising ability to hit to all fields.” Boxscore

Among Flood’s 10 homers in 1958 were solo shots against Warren Spahn and Sandy Koufax. Boxscore and Boxscore

The power impressed, especially on a club with one 20-homer hitter (Ken Boyer), but Flood’s .261 batting average didn’t (the Cardinals had hoped for .280) and he struck out 56 times, the most of any Cardinal.

“I had fallen into the disastrous habit of overswinging,” Flood said in his autobiography. “Worse, I had developed a hitch in my swing. When the pitcher released the ball, my bat was not ready because I was busy pulling it back in a kind of windup.”

Fixing flaws

In February 1959, Flood got married in Tijuana, Mexico, to Beverly Collins, “a petite, sophisticated teenager with two children,” according to “The Curt Flood Story.” They’d met during the summer at her parents’ St. Louis nightclub, The Talk of the Town.

Solly Hemus, who’d replaced Fred Hutchinson as Cardinals manager, wanted a center fielder who hit with power. Trying to deliver, Flood went into a deep slump in 1959 and entered July with a batting mark of .192 for the season. “I now became more worried about my swing and more receptive to help,” Flood recalled in his book.

According to Flood’s book, when he asked Stan Musial for advice, Musial said, “Well, you wait for a strike. Then you knock the shit out of it.”

Help came from another teammate, pinch-hitter George Crowe, 38. “George straightened me out,” Flood said in his autobiography. “He taught me to shorten my stride and my swing, to eliminate the hitch, to keep my head still and my stroke level. He not only told me what to do, but why to do it and how to do it. He worked with me by the hour.”

It took a while, but Flood finally found his groove. In 1961, he hit .322, the first of six .300 seasons for the 1960s Cardinals. Flood twice achieved 200 hits in a season and finished with 1,854 in the majors.

In 1968, he told the Associated Press, “It took me five years to learn I’m not a home run hitter, and that’s the hardest thing in the world for a baseball player to tell himself. It’s a blow to your ego. You have to tell yourself you’re not as big and strong as the next guy. It hits at your masculinity, your manhood.”

Of Flood’s 85 big-league home runs, the most (15) came against the Reds. Flood hit four homers versus Juan Marichal and two each against Don Drysdale, Ferguson Jenkins and Sandy Koufax.

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Stubby Overmire came up big for Browns vs. Yankees

Posted in Games, Pitchers, Trades on December 13, 2024| 8 Comments »

(Updated Jan. 14, 2025)

A little guy with a big heart, Stubby Overmire pitched for one of baseball’s weaklings and beat up the league’s biggest bully.

On Dec. 15, 1949, the St. Louis Browns obtained Overmire from the Tigers on waivers for $10,000.

Frank Overmire got the nickname Stubby because he was short (5-foot-7, or less) and stout, and, as Joe Falls of the Detroit Free Press noted, he barely could wrap his stubby fingers around a baseball.

Relying on a dinky curve and a knuckleball, Overmire joined a cast of misfits on the 1950 Browns, a team that finished 58-96 in the American League. Against the first-place Yankees, the Browns were 5-17. Overmire won three of those _ and nearly earned a fourth.

Tigers territory

A Michigan native, Overmire went to high school in Grand Rapids and to college at Western Michigan. Even then, “I never had much of a fastball,” he told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I was winning with the curve.”

Signed by the Tigers for $500 after earning a bachelor of science degree in physical education in 1941, Overmire spent two seasons in the minors. Shortly before he turned 24 in 1943, he made his big-league debut in a start at Cleveland and completed a five-hitter for the win. “The chunky Grand Rapids youth pitched with poise and finesse,” the Free Press noted. Boxscore

Overmire followed that with a four-hitter for a win against the Browns. Boxscore

The rookie’s first shutout came against the Yankees on the Fourth of July at Detroit. In four starts versus the 1943 Yankees, who went on to prevail against the Cardinals in the World Series, Overmire crafted a 2.70 ERA. It was the start of many impressive performances in his career against the league’s top franchise. Boxscore

Championship season

Overmire won 11, including his last six decisions, in 1944, when the Tigers finished a game behind the league champion Browns. The next year, he contributed nine wins and four saves for the pennant-winning Tigers.

In the 1945 World Series with the Cubs, Overmire was the smallest player on either roster _ shorter than even Cubs left fielder Peanuts Lowrey. Getting the start in Game 3, Overmire stood tall, allowing two runs in six innings, but his counterpart, Claude Passeau, was better, pitching a one-hit shutout for the Cubs. Boxscore

“Overmire had little speed, but he was a smart pitcher,” The Sporting News noted.

He also was a likeable teammate. The Free Press deemed Overmire “hands-down winner of any popularity contest among Tigers players.”

Overmire, 28, reached a peak in 1947, with an 11-5 record, then never had another winning season. By 1949, the Tigers lost confidence in him. He totaled a mere 17.1 innings that year and had a 9.87 ERA.

Change of scenery

Being sent to St. Louis suited Overmire fine. “I’ll be glad to pitch for the Browns,” he told the Associated Press. “I certainly wasn’t being overworked in Detroit.”

Manager Zack Taylor picked Overmire to start the Browns’ 1950 home opener against Bob Feller and the Cleveland Indians, but the newcomer wasn’t up to the task. Overmire got knocked out in the second inning. Boxscore

Moved into a relief role, he was ineffective. Though his ERA for the season was 9.11, Overmire was given another chance to start on June 11 at Yankee Stadium.

What figured to be a mismatch instead was a thriller. Overmire and Vic Raschi put on a pitching clinic. Though he didn’t strike out a batter, Overmire limited the Yankees to one run, but he was a tough-luck loser. Raschi pitched a three-hit shutout for a 1-0 win.

The Yankees scored when a pair of pop flies, one by Cliff Mapes; the other by Hank Bauer, plopped in front of Browns fielders for hits in the same inning.

Joe Trimble of the New York Daily News wrote, “Runty Overmire was an amazing fellow to the Yankees … His soft stuff usually means improved batting averages, but he had the sluggers away off in their timing and the champs were mighty lucky to get the run.” Boxscore

Slow and steady

A week later, Overmire started against the Yankees again. Played before 2,824 on a Saturday afternoon at St. Louis, it was an unusual game. Yogi Berra stole a base. Joe DiMaggio went hitless and Ralph Houk got his only hit of the season.

Expertly mixing his pitches, Overmire baffled the batters, keeping the Yankees scoreless through eight. As the Post-Dispatch noted, “Overmire’s curve and tricky slow stuff succeeded where the fastball pitchers failed.”

Entering the ninth with a 7-0 lead, Browns outfielders got him trouble.

After the Yankees scored twice, they had Jackie Jensen and Jerry Coleman on base, with two outs, when Ralph Houk lifted a routine fly to left-center. Rookie Don Lenhardt and ex-Yankee Jim Delsing collided going after the ball and it fell safely for a fluke double, scoring Jensen. After Overmire walked Phil Rizzuto to fill the bases, another ex-Yankee, Duane Pillette, relieved and retired his former road roommate, Gene Woodling, on a grounder to second, ending the drama. Boxscore

On a roll

Overmire had a string of other impressive wins for the Browns in the second half of the 1950 season:

_ July 25: Starting against the Yankees at St. Louis, Overmire took a 4-0 lead to the ninth, gave up a home run to Johnny Mize and held on for a 4-3 win. Referred to by the New York Daily News as “roly-poly’ and “a little left-hander with an oversize waistline,” Overmire also drove in two runs with a single versus Vic Raschi. Boxscore

_ Aug. 5: Though he allowed seven hits and walked six, Overmire shut out the Athletics in a 4-0 win at St. Louis. Boxscore

_Aug. 20: In his first appearance at Detroit since being traded, Overmire beat the Tigers and his former road roommate, future Hall of Famer Hal Newhouser. Using an assortment of pitches described by the Free Press as “slow, slower, slowest,” Overmire gave up nine hits, walked four and threw a wild pitch, but allowed one earned run in a 6-2 triumph. Boxscore

In describing his approach to batters, Overmire told the Post-Dispatch, “When I get them looking for the curve, I slip them the knuckler, or I sneak over what I call my fastball … I am using the knuckleball a lot more this season.”

In the book “We Played the Game,” catcher Les Moss said, “No one liked catching knuckleballs, but, luckily, I didn’t think Stubby’s was that difficult to catch.”

_ Sept. 10: In a rematch with Bob Feller, Overmire prevailed in a 2-1 win at Cleveland. Feller drove in the Indians’ lone run. Boxscore

_ Sept. 17: Overmire beat the Yankees for the third time in 1950. He gave up the tying run in the ninth, but the Browns rallied against Joe Page in their half of the inning. The Yankees had five doubles (two by Johnny Mize) and a home run (by Yogi Berra) but Overmire held them to three earned runs. Boxscore

_ Sept. 24: Overmire shut out a White Sox lineup that had future Hall of Famers Nellie Fox and Luke Appling, plus slugger Gus Zernial. Boxscore

After losing nine of his first 12 decisions, Overmire won six of his last nine, finishing 9-12 for the 1950 Browns. His ERA in 19 starts was 3.13.

Fitted for pinstripes

Back with the Browns in 1951, Overmire was 1-6 but his 3.54 ERA convinced the Yankees he still was effective. On June 15, they acquired him from St. Louis for Tommy Byrne and cash.

Overmire’s lone win for the Yankees came at home against the Athletics when he started in place of sore-armed Allie Reynolds. Overmire looked shaky in the beginning, allowing singles to the first two batters. Then Allie Clark tore into a high curve.

“His towering poke looked like a certain triple,” the New York Times reported. “However, (Joe) DiMaggio was off with the crack of the bat and, sprinting with his back to the plate, snagged the ball over his shoulder just a step short of the running track in deepest left-center.”

Overmire settled down and pitched a complete game, a 3-2 Yankees victory. Boxscore

Returned to the Browns in 1952, Overmire pitched his final season with them.

Talent developer

Overmire went on to manage in the Tigers’ farm system for 16 seasons. Jim Bunning, Mickey Lolich and Mark Fidrych were among those who pitched for him in the minors.

Promoted to the staff of Tigers manager Chuck Dressen in June 1963, Overmire was Denny McLain’s first big-league pitching coach.

Years later, McLain told the Grand Rapids Press, “Stubby and I got along fine … Stubby was a heck of a guy. You could talk to Stubby off the record, and he would talk to the manager for you on your behalf. He was a trustworthy guy.”

McLain (16 wins in 1965; 20 in 1966) and Lolich (18 wins in 1964; 15 in 1965) developed into top starters with Overmire as pitching coach. When Mayo Smith became manager in 1967, he chose Johnny Sain to replace Overmire, who returned to managing in the minors. McLaim became a 30-game winner in 1968 with Sain as coach.

In the book “We Would Have Played For Nothing,” Twins slugger Harmon Killebrew noted, “I thought Denny McLain for a couple of years was about as good as any pitcher that you’d ever want to see … Johnny Sain taught him a quick curveball. It was bigger than a slider but faster than a regular curveball ,,, and that really made him an excellent pitcher.”

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Added value: How Bob Purkey did Bob Gibson a favor

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers, Trades on December 9, 2024| 10 Comments »

The Cardinals acquired right-hander Bob Purkey to be their fifth starter. It turned out they got a whole lot more from him.

On Dec. 14, 1964, the Cardinals traded Roger Craig and Charlie James to the Reds for Purkey, projecting him to join a rotation with Bob Gibson, Ray Sadecki, Curt Simmons and Tracy Stallard.

Purkey, 35, delivered 10 wins for the 1965 Cardinals, and also provided a bonus. Gibson credited Purkey with making him a better pitcher.

In his autobiography “Stranger to the Game,” Gibson said, “Purkey knew how to pitch and win. I learned more about pitching from Purkey in one season as his teammate than I did from any pitching coach I ever had.”

Pitching lessons

Gibson, 29, was the Cardinals’ ace, winning 19 in 1964 and then two more in the World Series, including Game 7, but Purkey helped him improve.

In his autobiography, Gibson said, “Purkey taught me a way to take advantage of my bad curveball. I seldom threw my curve because I was afraid of hanging it, but Purkey convinced me that a hanging curve can oddly enough be an effective pitch to left-handed hitters, who dive into (it) expecting the ball to break. So I’d leave the curveball hanging inside now and then to left-handed hitters.

“Another pitch Purkey added to my repertoire was the backup slider _ a slider that doesn’t break away from a right-handed hitter but holds its course and maybe even bends back a little like a screwball,” Gibson said in his autobiography. “Purkey explained that, especially in day games, hitters will recognize the spin on a pitch, and when they identify a slider they will instinctively lean out in anticipation of the ball breaking away from them. A quick backup slider, consequently, ought to result in broken bats and balls hit weakly off the fists.”

Gibson told Purkey he sometimes accidently threw sliders that backed up but didn’t know how to deliver the pitch on purpose.

In the book “Sixty Feet, Six Inches,” Gibson said Purkey “showed me how to do it purposely by raising your arm a little too high and then throwing it like mad, as hard as you can.”

As Gibson noted in his autobiography, “So I started deliberately overthrowing the slider on occasion, and just like that I had a nasty new pitch.”

The Tigers’ Willie Horton told Cardinals Magazine it was a backup slider Gibson threw him for his 17th strikeout to finish Game 1 of the 1968 World Series. Gibson said to Cardinals Yearbook he was trying to pitch a slider, but “I overthrew it and didn’t get it where I wanted. Instead of breaking outside, it went right at him. He flinched and it broke over the plate for strike three. I had missed by a big margin, but it was a good place to miss.”

In “Sixty Feet, Six Inches,” Gibson said of the backup slider, “Purkey had it perfected, but it takes a lot of guts to throw something that stays over the plate and doesn’t really do much. The vast majority of the time, I wasn’t that courageous. It’s not a pitch that children should try at home.”

Learning the craft

Born in Pittsburgh, Purkey grew up in the Mount Washington neighborhood across the river from downtown. He didn’t play for a baseball team until he was 13. Purkey took up pitching because his favorite player was the Cardinals’ Harry Brecheen. “I’d go to Forbes Field whenever (Brecheen) was pitching,” Purkey recalled to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I admired his style, his guts.”

Purkey, 18, signed with the hometown Pirates in 1948 for $150 a month. After four years in the minors and two in the Army, he reached the majors with the Pirates in 1954 when Branch Rickey was general manager. In his first start, Purkey beat the Cardinals and held Stan Musial hitless. Boxscore

At spring training in 1955, Purkey was given special instruction to learn an extra pitch. “Rickey himself took charge and showed some of us how to throw the knuckleball,” Purkey told the Post-Dispatch.

Purkey added the knuckler to an arsenal that included a sinker and slider. “He used to throw you everything but the kitchen sink,” the Dodgers’ Ron Fairly said, according to the Post-Dispatch. “Now he throws the sink, too.”

Joe Brown replaced Rickey as general manager in 1956 and a year later he dealt Purkey to the Reds for reliever Don Gross. “The worst trade I ever made,” Brown later told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

The Reds were managed by former catcher Birdie Tebbetts, and he and Purkey clicked. Purkey, who never had a winning season with the Pirates, was 17-11 for the 1958 Reds.

“I didn’t become a pitcher until I joined Birdie Tebbetts,” Purkey explained to the Post-Dispatch. “Birdie told me I’d been a defensive pitcher, meaning I nibbled too much at the corners and fell behind too much on the ball-and-strike count. He knew I could get the ball over. ‘Be aggressive,’ he told me. ‘Get that first pitch over with good stuff on it and challenge the hitter.’ “

Under control

With the Reds, Purkey began using the knuckleball more frequently. “It took five years to develop the knuckler where I could throw it effectively in a game,” he told the Post-Dispatch.

The Cardinals’ Ken Boyer said to The Cincinnati Post, “When he gets ahead of you (with the sinker), he throws you that knuckler _ and he has a good one.”

In a September 1961 win against the Cardinals, Purkey threw five consecutive knuckleballs to Stan Musial and struck him out looking. (As usual, Musial adjusted and hit .323 with three home runs versus Purkey for his career). Boxscore

“Of all the knuckleball pitchers I’ve seen, I’d have to rate Purkey’s second only to Hoyt Wilhelm’s,” Darrell Johnson, who caught in the majors for six years, told the Post-Dispatch.

Unlike many other knuckleballers, Purkey was a control pitcher. He walked 49 in 250 innings in 1958; 43 in 218 innings in 1959.

Because batters knew he threw strikes, Purkey made sure they didn’t get too comfortable at the plate. He eight times ranked among the top 10 in the league in hitting batters with pitches. He plunked 14 in 1962. A favorite target was the Cardinals’ Curt Flood, who got struck by Purkey pitches five times in his career.

“He’d brush back his own grandma if she crowded home plate and took too firm a toehold in the batter’s box,” Bob Broeg wrote in the Post-Dispatch.

Purkey said to Broeg, “Willie Mays must have thought I was the meanest man in the league. I’d brush him back, pitch him tight, brush him back, pitch him tight.”

Highs and lows

After being fired by the Cardinals, Fred Hutchinson became Reds manager and led them to a National League pennant in 1961. Purkey, who won 16 that season, got the start in Game 3 of the World Series versus the Yankees.

Ahead 2-1, Purkey got a slider too high to Johnny Blanchard, who tied the score with a home run in the eighth, and then a slider too low to Roger Maris, who won it for New York with a home run in the ninth. Regarding the Maris homer, Purkey said to the Dayton Daily News, “It looked to me, when he hit it, like a guy swinging at a golf ball with his No. 9 iron.” Boxscore

Everything came together for Purkey the next season. He had the best winning percentage (.821) in the league, with a 23-5 record for the 1962 Reds. Purkey won his first seven decisions and was 13-1 after beating Sandy Koufax and the Dodgers on June 22. Boxscore

Purkey tore a muscle in his right shoulder at spring training in 1963. He rebounded in 1964, winning eight of his last 11 decisions and finishing at 11-9.

Wrapping it up

Starting against the Reds in the 1965 Cardinals’ home opener, Purkey’s knucklers rolled toward the plate like beach balls. Vada Pinson hit one for a three-run homer and Gordy Coleman clouted another for a grand slam. After allowing nine runs in six innings, Purkey told the Post-Dispatch, “I just did a lousy job of pitching and I had the daylights kicked out of me.” Boxscore

With a 9.00 ERA after his first four starts, the Cardinals sent him to the bullpen for a month. When he returned to the rotation, he gradually got better. For the month of July, Purkey was 3-1 with a 1.76 ERA in four starts.

A week after he turned 36, Purkey pitched well against the Astros, but lost, 3-2, to 18-year-old Larry Dierker. In his next start, Purkey shut out the Giants and beat 44-year-old Warren Spahn. Boxscore and Boxscore

In April 1966, the Cardinals sold Purkey’s contract to the Pirates and he played his final season with them. His career record: 129-115, including 103-76 with the Reds. Purkey was 17-11 against the Cardinals.

Though he experienced tragedy in 1973 when his son, Bob Jr., died of a heart ailment at 18, Purkey had a long and successful second career operating an insurance agency in the Pittsburgh suburb of Bethel Park.

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The big-name baseball adventures of Don Ferrarese

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers, Trades on November 25, 2024| 15 Comments »

As a high school all-star, Don Ferrarese impressed Babe Ruth, who, like the California teen, knew what it was like to be a left-handed pitcher with stuff. Later, when Ferrarese was in the majors, he hit like Ruth, too, at least for one game _ cracking three consecutive doubles.

In his first big-league start, Ferrarese struck out 13. In his first win, he held the Yankees hitless for eight innings, then completed the shutout by retiring Mickey Mantle with the potential tying run in scoring position.

For Stan Musial and Ted Williams, Ferrarese was as hard to hit as it was to say his name correctly.

Ferrarese (pronounced “Fer-ar-ess-ee,” with the emphasis on the “ess”) ended his playing career as a Cardinals reliever and was especially effective against left-handed batters. He also pitched for the Orioles (1955-57), Indians (1958-59), White Sox (1960) and Phillies (1961-62).

Meeting Babe

Born in Oakland, Don Ferrarese was the son of Italian immigrants, Hugo and Bruna Ferrarese. (“I am a rare Italian that cannot sing a note,” Don told the Victorville, Calif., Daily Press.) The family moved to Lafayette, Calif., and that’s where Don attended high school while working in his parents’ produce business.

(Ferrarese went to Acalanes High School, also the alma mater of Hall of Fame quarterback Norm Van Brocklin.)

As a prep freshman, Ferrarese was a left-handed second baseman. A math teacher suggested he try pitching, the Oakland Tribune reported.

Though he was short and slight, Ferrarese’s pitches had speed and movement. After his senior season, he was chosen for an August 1947 prep all-star game sponsored by Hearst newspapers at the Polo Grounds in New York. Other future big-leaguers invited to play included Gino Cimoli, Dick Groat and Bill Skowron.

Babe Didrikson Zaharias performed a golf and baseball skills exhibition as part of the entertainment before the game, which drew 31,232 customers.

Starting for the U.S. all-stars, Ferrarese pitched three scoreless innings and lined a double to the wall in left against the Metropolitan all-stars. Named most valuable player of the game, Ferrarese was presented a trophy by Eleanor Gehrig, widow of Lou Gehrig. A spectator was the game’s honorary chairman, Babe Ruth.

“Babe Ruth asked to meet me,” Ferrarese told Newspaper Enterprise Association. “He was in the front row of box seats, all hunched over and wearing a camel’s hair beanie. Ruth had throat cancer, so it was hard to hear him.”

(Ruth died a year later at 53.)

Ferrarese enrolled at Saint Mary’s College in California, pitched well as a freshman and caught the attention of Jimmy Hole, a scout for the 1948 Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League. The Oaks’ manager was Casey Stengel. Ferrarese signed with them for $4,000 in June 1948, three days before he turned 19, and was sent to Stockton of the California League.

The little left-hander was effective _ when he got the ball over the plate, which wasn’t often enough. In his first three seasons in the minors, he walked 48 in 32 innings with Stockton, 184 in 188 innings with Albuquerque, and 209 in 185 innings with Wenatchee (Wash.).

The best experience Ferrarese had at Wenatchee was he met Betty Jean Olsen, “who ate lunch at the same restaurant where he ate breakfast at noon,” according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The couple married and Ferrarese did a two-year hitch in the Army. After his discharge, he pitched poorly (6.28 ERA) for the 1953 Oakland Oaks.

Then he got the break his career needed.

True grit

After the Dodgers fired manager Chuck Dressen, who led them to two National League pennants in three seasons, he went to Oakland to manage the 1954 Oaks. Ferrarese won 18 that season and struck out 184.

“It was Chuck Dressen who helped me most,” Ferrarese said to the New York Daily News. “Chuck taught me how to throw my curve and helped me with my control.” He also told Newspaper Enterprise Association, “I was strictly a thrower before Dressen got hold of me in Oakland.”

Dressen said to the Baltimore Sun, “He’s got a great curve, and can really fire that ball when he relaxes and doesn’t try to aim it.”

The Oaks capitalized, selling Ferrarese’s contract to the White Sox for $30,000 in December 1954. The White Sox then packaged him in a trade with the Orioles.

Ferrarese, 5-foot-9, 170 pounds, opened the 1955 season with the Orioles, made six relief appearances and was sent down to the San Antonio Missions. In 12 games for them, including nine starts, he was 9-0 with a 1.48 ERA.

Sticking with the Orioles in 1956, Ferrarese’s first start came against the Indians, who won, 2-1, though Ferrarese struck out 13. “When you’ve got a curve like he has and don’t have to be afraid to throw it when you’re behind, you’re a tough man,” Indians pitching Mel Harder said of Ferrarese to the Baltimore Sun. Boxscore

Ferrarese’s next start was another nail-biter. Displaying what the Sun called “170 pounds of grit and heart,” he entered the ninth at Yankee Stadium with a 1-0 lead (Ferrarese’s single drove in the run) and a chance for a no-hitter. First up in the inning was Andy Carey, who, like Ferrarese, had attended Saint Mary’s College.

Carey swung down on a pitch. The ball struck near home plate and bounced high over the mound _ a classic Baltimore chop. Ferrarese pedaled backward, peering for the ball in the afternoon glare, while Carey raced toward first. “I lost it in the sun as it was coming down,” Ferrarese told the Baltimore newspaper.

As the ball plopped into Ferrarese’s glove, he stumbled slightly, then bounced a hurried throw to first _ too late to nab Carey, who reached base with the first hit.

After Billy Martin struck out, Hank Bauer blooped a single off the bat handle into short left, moving Carey to second. Pitcher Don Larsen, pinch-hitting for second baseman Bobby Richardson, popped out to the catcher. Mickey Mantle, leading the American League in hitting, was next.

According to the Baltimore Sun, Mantle “swung viciously” at a Ferrarese curve and lofted a gentle fly to center for the final out. Boxscore

“That near no-hitter Ferrarese pitched ranks as one of my big thrills,” Orioles manager Paul Richards told the Sun. “It really was something to watch him battle them inning after inning and finish up strong after Carey got that first hit.”

Yankees manager Casey Stengel said to the newspaper, “I thought he deserved a no-hitter. Neither hit was a good one.”

On the move

The magic didn’t last. Two weeks later, Ferrarese faced the Yankees again and gave up seven runs in two innings. He finished the 1956 season at 4-10.

The next year, demoted to Vancouver and instructed to develop a slider, Ferrarese became “almost discouraged enough to quit,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. A teammate, former Cardinals outfielder Joe Frazier, showed him how to throw the pitch. “I’ve had a good slider ever since,” Ferrarese said.

Traded to the Indians for Dick Williams in April 1958, Ferrarese started against the Orioles four months later, pitched 11 scoreless innings, then walked Williams with the bases loaded in the 12th and lost, 1-0. Boxscore

In 1959, Ferrarese won four of his first six decisions for the Indians. A highlight came on May 26 when he smacked three doubles versus the White Sox’s Dick Donovan and pitched 6.1 scoreless innings for the 3-0 win at Chicago’s Comiskey Park. Ferrarese drove in two of the runs and scored the other. “There was nothing fluky about Ferrarese’s hits: all were hard smashes into right-center,” the Akron Beacon Journal reported. Boxscore

A month later, inflammation spread throughout Ferrarese’s left shoulder. After the season, he was dealt to the White Sox, who sent him to the minors. Eventually, his shoulder healed and the Phillies acquired him in April 1961. He didn’t throw as hard, but his control was better.

Appearing in 42 games, including 14 starts, for the 1961 Phillies, Ferrarese had the best ERA (3.76) for a team that lost 107 games, including 23 in a row.

Lefty specialist

Early in the 1962 season, the Cardinals acquired two left-handed relievers _ Ferrarese from the Phillies (for Bobby Locke) and Bobby Shantz from Houston.

Between May 13 and June 12, Ferrarese made nine relief appearances totaling 12.2 innings for the Cardinals, didn’t allow a run and got a win against the Phillies at St. Louis. Boxscore

In his first appearance at Philadelphia since the trade, he clouted the lone home run of his big-league career, a two-run shot versus Jim Owens. Boxscore

Ferrarese earned a save for the Cardinals against the Reds, striking out Vada Pinson to end the game with the potential tying run on second. Boxscore

As a Cardinal, left-handed batters hit .195 against Ferrarese. For his career, he limited them to a .214 batting average. Stan Musial hit .091 (1 for 11) versus Ferrarese and Ted Williams was at .143 (1 for 7).

(A right-handed batter, the Cardinals’ Julian Javier, who had a career .299 batting mark against left-handers, was hitless in 15 at-bats versus Ferrarese.)

In February 1963, the Cardinals dealt Ferrarese to Houston for pitcher Bobby Tiefenauer, but Ferrarese opted to go home and help his parents run Hugo’s Deli in Apple Valley, Calif.

After his folks retired in 1974, Ferrarese owned and operated Ferrarese’s Ristorante in Victorville, Calif., and then another restaurant, Hugo’s, in Apple Valley. He also ran a commercial real estate company.

A charitable foundation created by Ferrarese provided college scholarships to students based on how much they’d done to help their communities.

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Why the Cardinals took a chance on Jason Heyward

Posted in Games, Hitters, Trades on November 11, 2024| 9 Comments »

Seeking a right fielder to complete a lineup counted on to contend for a championship, the Cardinals made a bold move and acquired a good one.

On Nov. 17, 2014, the Cardinals obtained outfielder Jason Heyward and reliever Jordan Walden from the Braves for pitchers Shelby Miller and Tyrell Jenkins. The Cardinals needed a right fielder to replace Oscar Taveras, who died in an auto accident three weeks earlier on Oct. 26.

As St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz presciently noted when the deal was made, Heyward was “an elite defender, the best right fielder in baseball (and) should do an effective job of getting on base and energizing the Cardinals’ speed on the bases.”

Nurturing talent

Heyward moved from New Jersey to suburban Atlanta with his family when he was 2. His parents, Eugene and Laura, graduated from Dartmouth. Eugene became an electrical engineer for ITT Technologies, designing electronic warfare systems for Robins Air Force Base, and Laura was an insurance underwriter for Life of Georgia before joining Georgia Power, according to the Atlanta Constitution.

Laura helped Jason develop a love of writing. “He did a writing project on the Negro baseball league in high school,” Laura told the Atlanta newspaper, “and I could see he really had a talent for writing. I thought maybe he could be a sports writer, because you never know if it’s going to work out with baseball. I wanted him to be well-rounded.”

Though his father played basketball at Dartmouth, baseball became Jason’s favorite sport. He began playing the game when he was 5.

Two decades later, when asked by Bernie Miklasz why he preferred baseball to other sports, Heyward said, “It’s the tradition that it holds. It’s the history. It’s timeless … For me growing up, it was just easy to fall in love with it. There’s all the thought that goes into it. The strategy, the cat and mouse games. It’s also a humbling game, because you will fail more times than you succeed and then it becomes all about how you handle it going forward.”

Heyward became a fan of the Braves, who won five National League pennants and a World Series title in the 1990s when he was a youth. After a stellar high school playing career, the Braves made Heyward the first outfielder taken in the opening round of the 2007 amateur draft.

Dazzling debut

A left-handed batter, Heyward was 6-foot-5, 240 pounds and had all the tools. After three seasons in the minors, Baseball America magazine named him the best prospect in the game.

He had a storybook start to his major-league career.

On April 5, 2010, the Braves opened against the Cubs at Atlanta. Heyward was tabbed by manager Bobby Cox to debut in right field and bat seventh.

Braves icon Hank Aaron was there to throw the ceremonial first pitch and Heyward was given the honor of catching the toss.

After delivering the pitch, Aaron offered advice to the rookie. “He said, ‘Have fun. You’re ready to do this,’ ” Heyward told the Atlanta Constitution.

In the opening inning, with the score tied at 3-3, the Braves had two runners on base against Carlos Zambrano, an imposing right-hander.

Zambrano’s first two deliveries to Heyward missed the strike zone and Heyward didn’t bite at either. On the 2-and-0 pitch, Zambrano threw a sinking fastball toward the inner part of the plate. Heyward sent a drive deep into the right-field stands for a three-run home run. Boxscore and Video

Heyward, 20, became the youngest player to hit a homer in his first big-league plate appearance since Ted Tappe, 19, of the Reds did it in 1950. Boxscore

Heyward followed the Opening Day drama with a strong season (.393 on-base percentage and 83 runs scored) and placed second to Giants catcher Buster Posey, whom he competed against in high school, in National League Rookie of the Year Award balloting.

Good as gold

In his first plate appearance on Opening Day in 2011, Heyward again slammed a home run. He joined Kaz Matsui of the (2004-05) Mets as the only other player to hit a homer on Opening Day in his first at-bat in each of his first two seasons. Boxscore

The next year, Heyward slugged 27 homers for the 2012 Braves, scored 93 runs and earned the first of five Gold Glove awards. In a playoff game, he made a leaping grab above the wall in right to deprive the Cardinals’ Yadier Molina. Video and Boxscore

In 2013, Heyward suffered a fractured jaw after being struck by a pitch from Mets left-hander Jon Niese. The next year, Heyward batted .169 versus left-handers and later admitted he wasn’t swinging aggressively against them. His fielding remained spectacular, though. Heyward had the highest number of total chances (375) among National League right fielders and committed one error.

Mix and match

Like Heyward had been for the Braves, the Cardinals had their own highly touted right field prospect, Oscar Taveras, who debuted with them in 2014 and helped bring a division title. Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak said Taveras, 22, would have been the right fielder in 2015. Taveras’ death in an alcohol-related car crash in the Dominican Republic changed that plan.

With Heyward eligible to become a free agent after the 2015 season, the Braves were willing to trade him, and when the Cardinals offered to part with Shelby Miller, 24, who had 15 wins for them in 2013 and 10 in 2014, the deal was made.

Though there was a risk Heyward could leave the Cardinals after one season, Mozeliak told the Post-Dispatch, “We had to look at a way to add an impact player to our club … We’ve said all along we’re focused on 2015.”

Knowing Heyward wore uniform No. 22 with the Braves, Cardinals manager Mike Matheny, who also wore that number, gave it to his new right fielder. When he’d debuted with the Braves, Heyward chose No. 22 in memory of a former high school teammate, Andrew Wilmot, who was killed in a car accident.

Switching sides

On Opening Day for the 2015 Cardinals, Heyward produced three hits, including two doubles, in a win against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Boxscore

After a slow April (.217 batting mark), he produced consistently well, achieving career highs in hits (160), doubles (33), stolen bases (23) and batting average (.293) and winning a Gold Glove Award. He was successful on 88 percent of his steal attempts (23 of 26). Video

As Heyward’s 2015 season neared its end, Derrick Goold of the Post-Dispatch wrote, “He’s the best defensive right fielder in the majors … He’s exceptional with his glove, precise with fundamentals and takes extra bases.”

The 2015 Cardinals finished with the best record (100-62) in the majors. Their reward: a matchup in the fall tournament with the third-place finisher in their division _ the Cubs. Heyward batted .357 in the series, but the Cubs prevailed. Then they stung the Cardinals again, signing Heyward to an eight-year $184 million contract.

In explaining why he went to the Cubs, even though the Cardinals’ offer was greater in guaranteed value and more overall money, Heyward said he saw Chicago as more of the up-and-coming franchise.

“You have to look at age, you have to look at how fast the (Cardinals) team is changing and how soon those changes may come about,” Heyward told the Chicago Tribune. “You have Yadier (Molina), who is going to be done in two years, maybe. You have Matt Holliday, who is probably going to be done soon … (Adam) Wainwright is probably going to be done in three or four years … I felt like if I was to look up in three years and see a completely different (Cardinals) team, that would kind of be difficult. Chicago really offers an opportunity to come into the culture and be introduced to the culture by a young group of guys.”

The Cubs further strengthened themselves, while weakening the Cardinals, by signing free-agent pitcher John Lackey, who won 13 for St. Louis in 2015. Reacting to the defections of two prominent Cardinals to the Cubs, Tribune columnist David Haugh wrote, “What’s next, a Mike Shannon Grill in Wrigleyville?”

Heyward was correct about the Cubs being on the rise. In 2016, his first season with them, the Cubs became World Series champions for the first time since 1908.

Heyward won another Gold Glove Award with the 2016 Cubs but he batted .230 with a mere seven home runs. In the World Series versus Cleveland, he had no RBI, scored no runs and batted .150.

In seven seasons with Chicago, Heyward batted .245. The Cubs released him in November 2022. According to the Tribune, the Cubs were on the hook to pay him $22 million for 2023, the final year of the eight-year contract. Heyward also was to get four $5 million installments from 2024 through 2027 as part of his initial signing bonus with Chicago.

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