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How John Lackey helped Cardinals sharpen their edge

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers, Trades on July 28, 2024| 9 Comments »

John Lackey was a big guy (6-foot-6) with a big presence on the mound who often came up big in the biggest games.

On July 31, 2014, the Cardinals acquired Lackey from the Red Sox for outfielder Allen Craig and pitcher Joe Kelly. The Red Sox also sent the Cardinals a minor-league pitcher, Corey Littrell, and $1.75 million cash.

Just nine months earlier with the Red Sox, Lackey beat the Cardinals in the decisive Game 6 of the 2013 World Series, making him the first pitcher to start and win the clinching game of a World Series for two franchises. As an Angels rookie, he started and won Game 7 of the 2002 World Series against the Giants.

David Eckstein, shortstop for two World Series champions (2002 Angels, 2006 Cardinals), said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about Lackey, “The bigger the stage, the better the performance. The bigger the game, the better he is.”

Lackey’s success in big games was an obvious quality that appealed to the Cardinals. Another was his demeanor. On the mound, Lackey was intense, edgy. Or, as Cubs catcher David Ross described it to the Chicago Tribune, full of “competitive fire.” The Cardinals would benefit from that kind of approach.

Pitching provides path

Lackey, naturally, came from a big state _ Texas. He was born and raised in Abilene. In high school, Lackey played almost exclusively at first base and hit .541 as a senior.

He went to the University of Texas-Arlington as a first baseman, but also was given the chance to pitch his freshman season. Then he enrolled at Grayson College in Denison, Texas, where he planned to play one season before transferring to Texas Tech.

At Grayson, Lackey, a right-hander, developed his pitching skills. “I like it a lot,” he told the Abilene News-Reporter in May 1999. “It gives me a chance to be in control of the game. It’s been fun so far. I still like to hit, though.”

Grayson won the national junior college baseball championship in 1999 and Lackey canceled his plans of transferring to Texas Tech when the Angels selected him in the second round of the 1999 amateur draft.

Three years later, in June 2002, he made his Angels debut, replacing Scott Schoeneweis in the starting rotation.

Rookie won’t rattle

Lackey, 23, made 18 regular-season starts for the 2002 Angels and was 9-4. He lost just once in his final seven starts of the season and won the game that clinched the Angels’ first playoff berth in 16 years.

“A lot of John’s success is due to his makeup, which started long before he pitched in the major leagues,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. “His passion for the game and his makeup and his willingness to work … You mix that with his talent, it’s an incredible combination.”

In the American League Championship Series against the Twins, Lackey started Game 4 and pitched seven scoreless innings for the win. Boxscore The Angels clinched the pennant the next day, reaching the World Series for the first time.

When Scioscia chose Lackey to start World Series Game 7 versus the Giants, Angels closer Troy Percival told the Los Angeles Times, “You couldn’t ask for a better man to be out there than Lackey. He’s not scared of anything.”

Lackey did the job, allowing one run in five innings and becoming the first rookie since the Pirates’ Babe Adams in 1909 to win a World Series Game 7. Boxscore

Noting how Lackey established the inside fastball early in the game, Angels pitching coach Bud Black told the New York Times, “You can’t discount experience, but a lot of times youthful aggressiveness pays off.”

Lackey said to the Los Angeles Times, “If you don’t want to go out there with a little pressure and pitching in big games, you shouldn’t be around.”

Lackey pitched eight seasons (2002-09) with the Angels, posting a 102-71 record, then became a free agent and took a five-year contract from the Red Sox for $82.5 million.

Getting it done

When the Red Sox missed qualifying for the playoffs in 2010 and 2011, “Lackey became one of the symbols of what had gone wrong,” the Boston Globe noted. “Fans booed him and Lackey’s angry exchanges with reporters caused team officials to wince.”

Lackey tore a ligament in his right elbow during the 2011 season, managed to make 28 starts but had a 6.41 ERA. He underwent surgery and sat out the 2012 season, when the Red Sox (69-93) finished in last place.

John Farrell, a former pitcher, replaced Bobby Valentine as Red Sox manager in 2013 and Lackey returned to the rotation. The 2013 Red Sox had the best record in the American League (97-65). In the playoffs, Lackey beat the Rays in Game 2 of the Division Series and won Game 3 of the League Championship Series against the Tigers. Then he beat the Cardinals in the decisive Game 6 of the World Series. Boxscore, Boxscore, Boxscore

“You can foresee him being successful for years to come because of the style of pitcher he is,” Farrell told the Globe. “He can put the ball on the ground. Because he throws the ball on a downhill angle, he doesn’t rely on velocity as much.”

When the Red Sox floundered in 2014 and sunk to last place in July, they shopped Lackey and fellow starter Jon Lester.

Finding a bargain

The 2014 Cardinals needed a boost. After losing, 12-1, to the Padres on July 30, the Cardinals (56-50) were in third place in a five-team division. That day, they acquired pitcher Justin Masterson (4-6, 5.51 ERA) from Cleveland for a prospect, outfielder James Ramsey.

Seeking another starter, the Cardinals had their eyes on Lackey, Lester and the Rays’ David Price, according to the Post-Dispatch.

Lackey, who would turn 36 in October, became their focus. In addition to his 11-7 record for the 2014 Red Sox, Lackey had an enticing contract structure. Though owed $5.08 million for the remainder of 2014, a clause in his contract gave his team the option to bring him back in 2015 for a salary of $500,000.

When the Cardinals agreed to include Joe Kelly (2-2, 4.37 ERA), along with Allen Craig (.237, 44 RBI), the trade was made.

Get to work

Craig and Kelly were “cherished teammates” among the Cardinals and the trade “left the clubhouse stunned,” the Post-Dispatch reported.

Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak was “a little stunned,” too, “by the immediate take of disappointment” among the players, he told the Post-Dispatch.

One of the players who applauded the deal was a newcomer, catcher A.J. Pierzynski, 37. Released by the Red Sox on July 16, he signed with St. Louis five days before Lackey was acquired.

“He brings a presence,” Pierzynski told the Post-Dispatch. “He brings competitiveness, He wants the ball. He’s won big games wherever he’s been.”

As the Post-Dispatch noted, Lackey “proved reliable, if not dominant,” for the 2014 Cardinals. In 10 starts, he was 3-3. Additionally, he “brought an edge to us,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny told the Post-Dispatch.

From 2.5 games out of first place on the day Lackey was acquired, the Cardinals finished atop their division, two games ahead of the runner-up Pirates. The Cardinals were 34-22 after Lackey joined them and finished at 90-72.

Trading Craig and Kelly sent a message that served as a wakeup call to Cardinals players. “I think we came out of it as a stronger, tougher, more energized team,” Mozeliak said to the Post-Dispatch.

Wins matter

In the 2014 National League Division Series, Lackey pitched a gem in Game 3 (seven innings, one run) and beat the Dodgers. Boxscore

He started Game 3 of the National League Championship Series versus the Giants and was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning with the score tied. The Giants won, 5-4, and eventually prevailed in the series. Boxscore

Back with the Cardinals in 2015, Lackey, 36, was 13-10 with a 2.77 ERA and led the team in starts (33) and innings pitched (218). No Cardinal has pitched that many innings in a season since. Video

The 2015 Cardinals (100-62) had the best record in the National League and were pitted in the playoffs against the third-place finisher from their division, the Cubs, a team they’d defeated 11 times in 19 tries.

In Game 1, matched against Jon Lester, Lackey was superb (no runs, two hits, 7.1 innings) and St. Louis won. Boxscore

It was a different story in Game 4. Lackey allowed four runs in three innings. The Cardinals came back and tied the score, but the Cubs prevailed and advanced to the next round. Boxscore

Granted free agency, Lackey joined the Cubs, whose manager, Joe Maddon, coached the Angels when Lackey was with them. Reflecting on how Lackey didn’t want to be bothered on days he pitched, Maddon said to the Chicago Tribune, “Honestly, you can’t talk to him that day in the dugout.”

Lackey was 11-8 (including 1-1 with a 2.03 ERA versus the Cardinals) in 29 starts for the 2016 Cubs. Though he didn’t win a game in the 2016 World Series against Cleveland, the Cubs prevailed for the first time since 1908.

After a final season with the Cubs in 2017, Lackey finished with a career record of 188-147 and three World Series championship rings.

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Dave Williams started out on right track with Cardinals

Posted in Football, Games, Prospects, Trades on July 15, 2024| 6 Comments »

A hurdler in track, Dave Williams used those skills on the football field to spring above defenders and catch passes in a crowd.

The NFL St. Louis Cardinals projected him to be the deep threat who would replace longtime standout Sonny Randle.

Williams came through for St. Louis in his first three seasons, but couldn’t sustain the success. 

Athletic ability

Though born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Williams grew up in Tacoma, Wash., and went to Lincoln High School, where he excelled in football and track. He won a state championship for Lincoln in the hurdles in 1963.

Williams then competed in both sports at the University of Washington. According to Bob Broeg of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Washington head football coach Jim Owens said, “He’s the finest natural athlete I ever coached.”

Williams was a collegiate all-America in four different events in track and field _ broad jump, 120-yard hurdles, 440-yard hurdles and 440-yard relay. He qualified to compete in the 1964 Olympic trials in the decathlon.

His football career at Washington was not as consistent. As Tacoma News Tribune sports editor Earl Luebker noted, “Much of his time was spent in frustration.”

In his first varsity season as a sophomore in 1964, Williams made a mere three catches. “He started his sophomore season as one of the most widely heralded pass receivers,” the News Tribune reported, “yet, before the year had progressed too far, he found himself working as a third-stringer in the defensive secondary.”

Williams’ breakout season came as a junior in 1965 when he made 38 catches, including 10 for touchdowns. The 6-foot-2 receiver had 10 catches, including one for a touchdown, against Stanford and another 10 catches, for 257 yards and three touchdowns, versus UCLA.

“We couldn’t cover that fellow Williams,” UCLA head coach Tommy Prothro told the Los Angeles Times. “We tried to play him loose, but it was no go … Williams, who sort of reminds me of (the Green Bay Packers’) Don Hutson, has such deceptive speed. Looks like he’s running slow with that easy gait.”

As a senior in 1966, Williams “was used largely as a decoy,” the Tacoma News Tribune reported, and had no touchdowns among his 21 catches.

Promising rookie

Williams caught the attention of the Cardinals with his play in college all-star games after his senior season. In the East-West Shrine Bowl, he snared a 48-yard touchdown toss from Stanford’s Dave Lewis. Then, in the Hula Bowl, Purdue’s Bob Griese connected with Williams on touchdown throws of 43 and 40 yards.

The Cardinals picked Williams in the first round of the 1967 NFL draft. He was the second wide receiver taken. The first was Michigan State’s Gene Washington by the Minnesota Vikings.

“Williams was the surest bet to help us,” Cardinals head coach Charley Winner said to the Post-Dispatch. “He has ideal size. In addition to speed, he’s big enough to crack back as a blocker and he definitely can catch the ball in a crowd.”

Cardinals receivers coach Fran Polsfoot told the newspaper, “He excels at catching the hard passes. He’ll go up and fight for the ball with a good spring in his legs and intense desire.”

At training camp with the 1967 Cardinals, Williams was accepted by veteran receivers Bobby Joe Conrad and Sonny Randle, and quarterback Charley Johnson.

“I’ve been really surprised by the help I’ve got from the other receivers,” Williams told the Post-Dispatch. “Bobby Joe Conrad showed me how to break on my pass patterns. Sonny Randle helped me in learning to make certain alignments. Charley Johnson has helped in telling me how to read defenses and be in the right place.”

Randle said to the newspaper, “He has all the tools. As soon as he knows the right places to be, he’ll be a good one.”

Williams did so well in exhibition games that the Cardinals traded Randle to the San Francisco 49ers for a draft choice three days before the 1967 season opener.

On Monday night, Oct. 30, 1967, the reigning NFL champion Green Bay Packers played at St. Louis. Matched against Herb Adderley, destined for election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Williams caught touchdown passes of 49 and 48 yards from Jim Hart. On a halfback option play, Johnny Roland also completed a pass to Williams in the end zone but it was nullified by an offsides penalty on a lineman. Described by the Green Bay Press-Gazette as “jet-like” and “explosive,” Williams made six catches for 147 yards in the game.

“The kid’s good,” Adderley told the Post-Dispatch. “I predict a great future for him. He’s not like most of these rookies who go out and see how fast they can run. Williams makes moves. I backed off and played him loose the second half. He could have those short ones, but no more bombs.” Game stats and Video

Williams completed his rookie season with 28 catches and five touchdowns.

Hard to cover

Convinced Williams was headed for stardom, the Cardinals traded Billy Gambrell to the Detroit Lions for a draft choice just before the start of the 1968 season, making Williams and Bobby Joe Conrad the starting wide receivers.

Williams had 43 catches, including a team-high six for touchdowns, in 12 starts for the 1968 Cardinals before an injury to his left knee sidelined him for the final two games.

One of his season highlights was a 71-yard touchdown catch on a pass from Hart against the Pittsburgh Steelers. “I was supposed to cut him off short and (safety) Clendon Thomas was supposed to take him long,” Steelers cornerback Marv Woodson told the Post-Dispatch, “but Williams just outran Thomas, and Jim Hart threw a perfect pass. No cornerback can stop a good receiver from catching a perfect pass, no matter how well he covers his man.” Game stats

(Of Williams’ 22 touchdown receptions in his five seasons with St. Louis, 12 were of more than 30 yards.)

In 1969, Williams led the Cardinals in receptions (56). His seven touchdown catches came in two games.

On Nov. 2, 1969, Williams scored four touchdowns on passes from Charley Johnson, but the Saints beat the Cardinals, 51-42. “Here I am with my greatest day statistically, but the luster is taken off,” Williams said to the Post-Dispatch. “You come away with an empty feeling because you lost the ballgame.” Game stats

A month later, Jim Hart connected with Williams on three touchdown passes against the Steelers. Game stats

Unhappy days

Based on his first three seasons, the Cardinals had high hopes for Williams in 1970. At training camp, Bob Broeg of the Post-Dispatch observed that Williams “gives promise of leadership because he’s sharp, articulate and the kind of performer who can inspire.”

Broeg added, “Williams’ forte is the incredible leaping ability and possessiveness that permits him to get higher than backfield defenders and to out-grapple them for the ball.”

The season, though, was a bust. Williams clashed with head coach Charley Winner and told the Post-Dispatch, “Most of the players didn’t respect him.”

Williams had 23 receptions in 1970 (33 fewer than the year before) and, according to the Post-Dispatch, Jim Hart lost confidence in him. “Dave Williams was a dejected, withdrawn football player, dressing quickly and leaving the locker room before his teammates, and intentionally ostracizing himself from the club,” the Post-Dispatch reported.

Charley Winner was fired after the season and became an assistant on the staff of Washington Redskins head coach George Allen. The Cardinals offered to trade Williams to Washington for a second-round draft pick, but Winner recommended to Allen that he decline the proposal, the Post-Dispatch reported.

Bob Hollway was the Cardinals’ head coach in 1971 but Williams regressed, losing his starting job to rookie Mel Gray and finishing with 12 catches.

On Feb. 1, 1972, after the Cardinals made Oregon wide receiver Bobby Moore (who later became Ahmad Rashad) their first pick in the draft, they traded Williams to the San Diego Chargers for wide receiver Walker Gillette. (Like Williams, Moore went to high school in Tacoma.)

“Williams had been a big disappointment to the Cardinals,” the Post-Dispatch exclaimed. “His teammates often accused him of not running correct patterns, and this alienated him from the squad.”

Never a dull moment

After a season and a half with the Chargers (21 total catches, three touchdowns), Williams was placed on waivers and acquired by the Steelers in October 1973. He played in one game for them and joined the Southern California Sun of the World Football League in 1974.

Playing for head coach Tom Fears, Williams spent two seasons with the Sun and revived his career _ 59 catches, 11 touchdowns in 1974, and 21 catches, nine touchdowns in 1975. “Williams runs like a deer, is sure-handed and runs exemplary pass patterns,” the Los Angeles Times noted.

In November 1975, Williams, 30, became the first player to sign with the Seattle Seahawks, an NFL expansion team slated to begin its inaugural season in 1976. Part of his contract required Williams to make promotional appearances to generate interest in the fledgling franchise.

Williams entered a professional indoor track meet in Seattle in the spring of 1976 after receiving approval from the Seahawks. While running an obstacle course, his spikes caught in the boards and he tore cartilage in his left knee.

Meanwhile, in June 1976, Williams filed a damage lawsuit against Dr. Arnold Mandell, a former team psychiatrist for the Chargers, who wrote a book, “The Nightmare Season,” about his experiences with the team. In his lawsuit, Williams said Mandell falsely accused him of “defects of character.”

Two months later, in August 1976, the Seahawks put Williams on waivers because he failed a physical. Williams threatened to sue the Seahawks, claiming they were responsible for the knee injury he suffered in the track meet.

In December 1976, Williams told the Tacoma News Tribune that he and the Seahawks reached an out-of-court settlement. “We sat down and resolved the matter in about 20 minutes,” Williams said to the newspaper.

With his playing career done, Williams eventually became a spokesman for the Pro Football Retired Players Association.

In May 1979, a San Diego County Superior Court jury awarded Williams $300,000 in his libel trial against the former Chargers psychiatrist.

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Chris Speier was in right place, right time for Cardinals

Posted in Games, Hitters, Trades on July 1, 2024| 16 Comments »

The Cardinals took out an insurance policy on their shortstop position and it turned out the timing was fortuitous.

On July 1, 1984, the Cardinals and Expos swapped utility infielders, with Chris Speier coming to St. Louis for Mike Ramsey.

Though Ramsey, 30, had been a valuable backup for the World Series champion Cardinals in 1982, manager Whitey Herzog preferred a reserve with extra-base potential at the plate. Speier, 34, was better at that than Ramsey.

With Gold Glove Award winner Ozzie Smith at shortstop, Speier’s role figured to be mostly as a pinch-hitter who filled in at third for Andy Van Slyke against some left-handers and gave Smith an occasional breather.

The plan changed when Smith got hit on the wrist by a pitch and went on the disabled list for a month. All of the sudden, Speier was the Cardinals’ shortstop.

His stint as the emergency replacement started off with a bang.

Full steam ahead

Speier was from Alameda, just across the bay from San Francisco, but was playing for a semipro team in Stratford, Ontario (where his college pitching coach had gone), when Giants scout Herman Hannah discovered him. On Hannah’s recommendation, the Giants drafted Speier, 19, in January 1970.

After one season at the Class AA level of the minors, Speier, 20, went to the Giants’ 1971 spring training camp as a non-roster player and won the shortstop job from incumbent Hal Lanier. “Here, I took his job, and he ends up being my roommate on the road, and helping me learn pitchers,” Speier said to the San Francisco Examiner.

The 1971 Giants were 18-5 in April and Speier was a key contributor, batting .319 for the month, with 30 hits and 11 walks in 22 games. “He’s been the difference in our club,” Giants manager Charlie Fox said to the Associated Press.

Though a rookie making the leap from Class AA to the majors, Speier boldly stepped into a lineup featuring Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and Bobby Bonds.

“He didn’t so much play baseball then as attack it,” Dwight Chapin of the Examiner observed, “and he had a similar approach to life. He may have led the league in hell-raising. He’d yell at teammates, umpires, anybody in sight. He threw so many batting helmets that people lost count.”

That temperament carried over to his activities off the field. “I was single, brash and very immature,” Speier recalled to the Examiner. “I partied and caroused all the time. I guess I was trying to experience everything all at once.”

(Speier got married in October 1972 and that’s “what turned me around,” he told the Examiner. As Dwight Chapin put it, Speier’s wife became “an engineer to halt the runaway train.”)

The 1971 Giants were division champions. In the National League Championship Series, Speier hit .357, scored four runs and made just one error in 34 innings, but the Pirates prevailed and went to the World Series.

Named to the National League all-star team three years in a row (1972-74), Speier was a San Francisco treat, but in 1977 he and general manager Spec Richardson came to an impasse on contract negotiations. Eligible for free agency after the season, Speier wanted a five-year contract.

On April 27, 1977, Speier was sent to the Expos for shortstop Tim Foli. The Expos’ general manager was Speier’s first manager with the Giants, Charlie Fox. He gave the shortstop the five-year contract he wanted.

Canadian convert

While with the Expos, Speier, his wife and children became year-round residents of Canada, moving to the town of Sainte-Adele, 40 miles north of Montreal. They bought “a house built in the 1930s as a replica of a 17th-century Quebec farmhouse, with big casement windows, brick fireplaces and lots of charm,” the Montreal Gazette reported.

Speier’s wife and children learned to speak French. To show its gratitude for him becoming a year-round resident, the town presented Speier with a woodcut of him in uniform, the Gazette reported.

For six seasons (1977-82), Speier was the Expos’ everyday shortstop. He became the second Expo to hit for the cycle (in 1978 against the Braves) and the first to total eight RBI in a game (in 1982 versus the Phillies.) Boxscore and Boxscore

On June 14, 1982, Speier successfully worked the hidden ball trick on Ozzie Smith. After Willie McGee flied out, center fielder Andre Dawson threw to Speier, who returned to his shortstop position while still in possession of the ball. Pitcher Bill Gullickson instinctively knew what to do. He got set on the mound as Ken Oberkfell stepped to the plate. When Smith took a lead off second, “Speier swooped down” and tagged him for the third out, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Boxscore

“I bet I haven’t seen that play in 20 years,” Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog said to the Post-Dispatch.

Speier told the newspaper it was the first time he’d tried the play. Expos manager Jim Fanning added, “It was nothing that came from the bench. It was never plotted or rehearsed … Speier is capable of pulling that off on his own.”

In 1983, Bill Virdon became Expos manager and clashed with Speier, who called it a “personality conflict,” according to the Gazette. Speier gradually was phased out of the starting shortstop role in 1983. The next year, much to Speier’s chagrin, Virdon told him he’d be a utility player.

Speier asked to be traded and, when the Expos sent him to St. Louis, he told the Gazette, “I’m out of prison. They buried me here.”

Big blast

Speier knew at least one member of the 1984 Cardinals _ coach Hal Lanier, who lost the Giants’ shortstop job to him 13 years earlier.

Speier’s first two appearances for the Cardinals were starts at third.

Then, on July 13, 1984, in the second inning of a game against the Padres at St. Louis, an Ed Whitson pitch struck Ozzie Smith on the right wrist and fractured a bone. Smith was replaced by Speier.

In the 10th, with two on, two outs and the score tied at 4-4, Speier got a hanging slider from Luis DeLeon, a former Cardinal, and slammed it into the seats near the left field foul pole for a walkoff three-run home run. Boxscore

Speier hit just two walkoff home runs in the majors. The other was in August 1975 for the Giants against the Astros’ J.R. Richard.

Replacement player

With Smith sidelined, Speier became the starting shortstop and the Cardinals called up rookie Terry Pendleton to take over at third.

“I think I’m a capable shortstop,” Speier told the Post-Dispatch. “I think I can do an adequate job, but Ozzie … is on a plateau all by himself.”

Speier made 33 starts at shortstop for the Cardinals, committing three errors in 287.2 innings. Though he batted .178, 11 of his 21 hits were for extra bases _ seven doubles, one triple, three home runs.

(Mike Ramsey hit a total of two home runs in six years with the Cardinals.)

On Aug. 17, 1984, Speier had a RBI-double and home run against Pascual Perez in the Cardinals’ 3-1 victory over the Braves. Boxscore

Two days later, with Smith ready to return, Speier was traded to the Twins for cash and a player to be named (minor-league pitcher Jay Pettibone).

“Chris played well for us,” Herzog told The Sporting News, but he noted that with Smith back and Pendleton at third, Speier would mostly sit if he stayed with the Cardinals. Trading him to the Twins gave him a chance to play before becoming a free agent after the season.

Helping hand

Speier spent two seasons (1985-86) as a utility player with the Cubs. One of his highlights for them came on June 6, 1986, when he slugged two home runs in a 9-3 Cubs win at St. Louis Boxscore

Don Zimmer, a coach with the Cubs when Speier was there, became a Giants coach in 1987 and recommended Speier, a free agent, to general manager Al Rosen. The Giants signed him and it became a happy homecoming.

Speier, 36, was a reliable role player for the 1987 Giants, filling in when injuries sidelined their second baseman and third baseman. Speier made 35 starts at third, 33 at second and seven at shortstop. He batted .400 as a pinch-hitter. On May 5, 1987, Speier’s grand slam against reliever Ray Soff carried the Giants to a 10-6 victory at St. Louis. Boxscore

“Chris Speier is the most valuable player on this ballclub,” Giants manager Roger Craig told the Associated Press in August 1987.

The Giants in 1987 won a division title for the first time since Speier’s rookie season in 1971. In the National League Championship Series against the Cardinals, Speier was hitless in five at-bats and the Cardinals prevailed.

In 1988, Speier hit for the cycle in a 21-2 Giants rout of the Cardinals and scored four runs in a game for the only time in his career. Boxscore

His last season as a player was 1989, when the Giants won the pennant and went to the World Series, but a bad back kept him off the playoff roster.

Speier went on to coach for 13 seasons in the majors with the Brewers (2000), Diamondbacks (2001), Athletics (2004), Cubs (2005-06), Reds (2008-13) and Nationals (2016-17).

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Say hey! Cardinals made a pitch for Willie Mays

Posted in Executives, Hitters, Trades on June 23, 2024| 11 Comments »

Imagine Willie Mays and Stan Musial in the same Cardinals lineup. The Cardinals could. They tried to make it happen.

In June 1957, the Cardinals offered the New York Giants a combination of cash and players for Mays, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported.

In the authorized biography, “Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend,” author James S. Hirsch wrote that Giants owner Horace Stoneham “seriously considered the deal but didn’t pull the trigger because of the club’s pending transfer to San Francisco.”

Opportunity knocks

The Cardinals opened the 1957 season with rookie Bobby Gene Smith as their center fielder, but he struggled to hit and, in desperation, the club shifted Ken Boyer from third base to fill the hole in center.

Meanwhile, the Giants were looking to move from New York. In 1956 and 1957, the only major-league team that drew fewer fans than the Giants was the Washington Senators.

As Mays biographer Hirsch noted, “Unlike their money-losing years from 1948 to 1953, the Giants did squeak out profits, but they could not keep pace with their Gotham rivals. Between 1947 and 1956, the Giants earned $405,926; the Dodgers earned $3.5 million, and the Yankees, $3.6 million.”

The Giants, Hirsch added, “made money only because of their increasing media revenue, receiving $600,000 a year for their television rights.”

In May 1957, National League club owners gave permission to the Giants to move from New York to San Francisco and for the Dodgers to transfer from Brooklyn to Los Angeles after the season.

A month later, the Cardinals made their pitch for Mays.

High stakes

Cardinals executive vice president Dick Meyer and general manager Frank Lane had the approval of Cardinals owner Gussie Busch to attempt a deal for Mays.

“Mr. Busch told me that I was a good general manager and that I ought to get Mays,” Lane told the Globe-Democrat. “I told him I’d try.”

Meyer said to the newspaper, “We were really anxious to get Mays … When we first told Lane to see what he could do about getting Mays, we fixed the cash price at $500,000. That apparently wasn’t enough and we authorized Lane to increase the ante.”

Lane said negotiations started with Giants vice president Chub Feeney and then club owner Horace Stoneham got involved.

“We made four offers for Mays, including one totaling $1 million,” Lane told the Globe-Democrat.

That offer was: $750,000 cash, outfielder Wally Moon, one or two other players on the Cardinals roster and several in the minors, the Globe-Democrat reported.

(According to the Federal Reserve inflation calculator, $750,000 in 1957 would be the equivalent of about $8.1 million today.)

Mays, 26, already had sparked the Giants to two National League pennants (1951 and 1954) and a World Series title (1954). In 1957, the Gold Glove center fielder would have another stellar season, leading the league in triples (20), stolen bases (38) and slugging percentage (.626). He slammed 35 home runs and scored 112 runs that season.

What a duo he and Musial would have formed. Musial, 36, won his seventh league batting title in 1957. He hit .351 and Mays was second at .333. Musial also was the 1957 league leader in on-base percentage (.422) and Mays was runner-up (.407). Musial had 29 home runs and 102 RBI for the 1957 Cardinals.

Mays and Musial had a bond. According to Mays’ biographer, the three players Mays followed as a youth in the 1940s were Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams and Musial. When Mays traveled with the Negro League Birmingham Black Barons in 1948, he attended his first big-league game at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis and got to see Musial hit.

On a plane to an All-Star Game in the mid-1950s, several black players were in the rear, playing cards. According to Mays’ biographer, Musial approached them and said, “Deal me in.” That was his way of telling those players they belonged. “That told me how classy he was,” Mays said, “and I never forgot that.”

Wrong time

The Giants’ gave “serious consideration” to the Cardinals’ offer for Mays, the Globe-Democrat reported, before opting to decline. Lane said to the newspaper, “Feeney told me the last time we talked about a Mays deal that it was out of the question. As I recall, Chub told me that if they traded Mays and then moved to San Francisco, the people out there would throw them into the bay.”

Stan Isaacs of Newsday wrote that moving the Giants to San Francisco “wasn’t nearly as shocking” as considering a trade of Mays to the Cardinals. 

The San Francisco Examiner noted, “Willie certainly must be a lot of baseball player to be worth that kind of money. Since the offer made by the Cardinals was turned down, it must be assumed Stoneham thinks Willie is worth even more.”

Stoneham told International News Service he “appreciated” the offer. In explaining why he rejected it, Stoneham said, “The money was not important. We’re not broke … What we want … above all else is a winning ballclub. All ballclubs have one special player … and to us it is Willie who is that ballplayer. We can build a team around Willie. Maybe that’s the answer to why we didn’t trade him to the Cardinals or anyone else.”

Then Stoneham, in that 1957 interview with International News Service, added, “Maybe we will sell him about 15 years from now, if somebody has a few ballplayers nearly as good.”

Fifteen years later, in May 1972, the Giants dealt Mays, 41, to the Mets for pitcher Charlie Williams and $50,000.

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Joining Cardinals became a career saver for Ken Dayley

Posted in Games, Pitchers, Trades on June 7, 2024| 14 Comments »

When the Cardinals acquired Ken Dayley, they thought they were getting a top of the line starting pitcher. Then they were worried he might be a dud.

As it turned out, Dayley developed into one of the top left-handed relievers in the National League during the 1980s.

On June 15, 1984, the Cardinals traded third baseman Ken Oberkfell to the Braves for Dayley and utility player Mike Jorgensen.

Dayley helped the Cardinals win two National League pennants.

Jorgensen also played for the 1985 league champion Cardinals and served several roles for the organization, including interim manager in 1995, minor-league manager (1986-89), director of player development (1992-2001) and special assistant to the general manager (2001-2018).

Easily rattled

A marketing major who played baseball and basketball at the University of Portland in Oregon, Dayley was the first pitcher selected in the 1980 June amateur draft. The Braves took him with the third overall pick.

Two years later, Dayley, 23, made his big-league debut in a start against the 1982 Cardinals, who roughed him up for four runs in 1.1 innings. The big blow was Tito Landrum’s two-run homer. Boxscore

Two months later, the Cardinals’ Willie McGee whacked a grand slam against Dayley. Boxscore

Shuttled back and forth between starting and relieving, Dayley had losing records with the Braves in 1982 and 1983. “He’s a fairly high-strung kid, and it seemed when we sent him to the mound, he felt he was pitching for his life,” Braves manager Joe Torre told the Atlanta Constitution.

Braves pitching coach Bob Gibson said to the newspaper, “He has to learn to relax more than he does now. He tries to give you the appearance that everything is fine and that he’s cool inside, but he’s really not.”

Dayley’s stress level wasn’t helped when, after the 1983 season, the Braves released franchise icon Phil Niekro and said doing so opened a starting spot for Dayley. “In other words,” wrote Gerry Fraley of the Atlanta Constitution, “Dayley is supposed to replace Phil Niekro on the mound and in the statistics, if not in the hearts of Braves fans.”

Pitching more like Phil Silvers than Phil Niekro, Dayley was 0-3 with a 5.30 ERA in four starts for the 1984 Braves before he was demoted to the minors. According to the Atlanta Constitution, trying to replace Niekro “became an oppressive mental burden for the already skittish Dayley.”

Braves director of player development Hank Aaron said to the Constitution, “We still think Ken Dayley has a tremendous future in the big leagues. It’s a matter of him getting his act together _ relaxing.”

High hopes

The Cardinals sent three scouts to watch Dayley at Class AAA Richmond (Va.) and they liked what they saw. When the Braves went looking for a third baseman to replace Bob Horner, who suffered a season-ending wrist injury in May 1984, the Cardinals agreed to swap Oberkfell for Dayley and Jorgensen.

Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog said Dayley, 25, had the capability to be a “No. 1 or No. 2” starter, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. “I feel he’s ready,” Herzog told the newspaper. “He’s paid his dues … He’s got a chance to be a very good pitcher.”

The results, though, were alarming. The Cardinals pitched Dayley in three games, including two starts, and he was shelled in each, allowing 16 hits and 10 earned runs in five total innings. Dayley gave up so many hard shots that “we had to get the married men off the infield, or there’d have been a lot of widows and orphans,” Herzog told The Sporting News.

Dayley said to the Post-Dispatch, “I was muscling up on the ball. I wasn’t smooth. I wasn’t relaxed in letting the ball go.”

The Cardinals dispatched Dayley to Class AAA Louisville and left him there for the rest of the 1984 season.

Pleasant surprise

At 1985 spring training, The Sporting News reported, Dayley “may be getting his last look by the Cardinals.” He told the Atlanta Constitution, “I was just trying to make the team.”

The Cardinals’ closer, Bruce Sutter, had become a free agent and signed with the Braves. Herzog decided to use a committee of relievers to fill the void. “I never even thought about relieving,” Dayley said to reporter Chris Mortensen.

Herzog and pitching Mike Roarke envisioned a bullpen that featured a balance of right-handers and left-handers. Seeking another left-hander to join Ricky Horton, they worked on making Dayley a fulltime reliever.

“Dayley is kind of hyper and … we had to teach him to pitch in pressure situations,” Herzog told The Sporting News.

Roarke said to the Post-Dispatch, “We changed a few things in his delivery. He’s got better location with his pitches now. Last year (in 1984), he was throwing too many around the waist.”

Dayley made the 1985 Opening Day roster. Keeping his pitches low and on the corners, and maintaining his poise, he flourished, allowing one run in his first 13 appearances, covering 18.2 innings.

He’d become so valuable that when the Cleveland Indians offered starter Bert Blyleven to the Cardinals in July 1985 for three pitchers _ Dayley, Kurt Kepshire and Rick Ownbey _ the bid was rejected, The Sporting News reported.

“Dayley probably has been the biggest surprise” of the Cardinals’ bullpen committee, The Sporting News declared.

When the Cardinals clinched the 1985 pennant with a win in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series, Dayley got the save, retiring the Dodgers in order in the ninth. Boxscore and Video

He’d come a long way from the shaky candidate who went to spring training without a lock on a job. Dayley led the 1985 Cardinals in games pitched (57) and was second on the club in saves (11). His ERA was 2.76 and he yielded a mere two home runs (though one was a titanic game-winning shot by Darryl Strawberry) in 65.1 innings.

In the 1985 postseason, Dayley was nearly perfect, with six scoreless innings in five appearances in the playoff series against the Dodgers and six more scoreless innings in four games pitched versus the Royals in the World Series. He was the winning pitcher in World Series Game 2.

As Herzog said to the Post-Dispatch, “In 1985, he was the best left-handed reliever in the league.”

On the mend

In 1986, Dayley’s left elbow didn’t feel right. By July, the pain became unbearable and he was sidelined the rest of the season. An exam revealed a torn ligament.

A nerve and tendon from Dayley’s right arm were surgically transplanted to his left elbow in October 1986. By May 1987, he was pitching for the Cardinals. “It came along much faster than I had any right to hope,” Dayley exclaimed to the Post-Dispatch. “I kind of think it’s a miracle.”

Herzog told columnist Kevin Horrigan, “When we got Dayley back, and when it looked like he was going to pitch effectively, that’s when I began to think we could win (the pennant).”

A month after his return, Dayley faced another health hurdle when he was diagnosed with meningitis (an infection and inflammation of the fluid and membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord).

Dayley recovered and had an exceptional July (5-1, one save, 1.56 ERA in 15 games pitched that month). He finished the 1987 season as the team leader in ERA (2.66), posting a 9-5 record with four saves and striking out 63 in 61 innings.

In the 1987 National League Championship Series versus the Giants, Dayley saved two of the Cardinals’ four wins and didn’t allow a run in three appearances.

Dayley’s remarkable success in the postseason continued into the 1987 World Series against the Twins. He didn’t allow a run in his first three appearances, including 2.2 innings for a save in Game 4. Boxscore

His fourth appearance of the Series, Game 6, was a different story. Ahead, 6-5, in the sixth inning, the Twins had the bases loaded, two outs, when Herzog brought in Dayley to face left-handed batter Kent Hrbek.

Dayley had not allowed a home run to a left-handed batter all season. He had not allowed a run in 20.1 postseason innings.

According to the Associated Press, Herzog told Dayley, “Get this guy out and we’ve got a chance to win.”

The first pitch was a fastball “over the plate where he could extend his arms on it,” Dayley told the Louisville Courier-Journal. “I wanted it inside a little.”

Hrbek drove the ball 439 feet for a grand slam. The Twins won, 11-5, to even the Series and then clinched the title in Game 7. Boxscore

Dayley told columnist Rick Bozich, “When you’re a reliever, you’re either a hero or a zero.”

Falling out

Granted free agency after the 1990 season, Dayley signed with the Blue Jays. At spring training in 1991, he experienced dizzy spells and was diagnosed with a severe case of vertigo.

According to the 2005 book “Cardinals: Where Have You Gone?” doctors determined the vertigo most likely “stemmed from when he contracted meningitis in 1986. That virus stayed dormant until it moved out and traumatized a nerve years later.”

Appearing in just 10 games for the Blue Jays, Dayley’s pitching career ended at age 34.

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Lots of great starts, sad endings for Jose DeLeon

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

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

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

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

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

A right-hander who threw four pitches (fastball, curve, forkball and slider), DeLeon pitched 13 seasons (1983-95) in the majors with the Pirates, White Sox, Cardinals, Phillies and Expos.

Playing favorites

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

No-win situations

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That’s a winner

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Down and out

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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