(Updated June 11, 2024)
Keith Hernandez was a World Series hero, the best-fielding first baseman in the sport, the most consistent hitter in the Cardinals’ lineup, winner of a league Most Valuable Player Award and a fan favorite.
To Whitey Herzog, none of that made up for what the Cardinals manager considered an unforgivable sin _ lack of maximum effort.
In a trade that remains one of the Cardinals’ most unpopular and contentious, Hernandez was dealt to the Mets on June 15, 1983, for pitchers Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey.
The deal, which Mets catcher John Stearns called “the biggest heist since the Thomas Crown Affair,” was made, in part, because of the Cardinals’ need for pitching. Their top two starters, Joaquin Andujar and Bob Forsch, were having subpar seasons and the Cardinals also lacked a reliable replacement for departed No. 5 starter Steve Mura. “Good arms are hard to come by,” Cardinals general manager Joe McDonald said to United Press International. “If Allen was not having a bad year, there’s no way we could have gotten him.”
Herzog told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “We had to decide if we were going to have enough hitting if we did this. Or did we have enough pitching if we didn’t do it? We need pitching.”
The primary reason for the deal, though, was the deteriorating relationship between Herzog and Hernandez.
Do the hustle
In his book “White Rat: A Life in Baseball,” Herzog was unsparing in his criticism of Hernandez, saying:
“Keith Hernandez was dogging it … He’s the best defensive first baseman I’ve ever seen. But on offense, he was loafing. He loafed down the line on ground balls and he wasn’t aggressive on the bases.
“What I couldn’t live with was his attitude. I’ve got two basic rules _ be on time and hustle _ and he was having trouble with both of them … His practice habits were atrocious. He’d come out for batting practice, then head back to the clubhouse to smoke cigarettes and do crossword puzzles … It was getting to the point where I was fed up with him.”
Herzog began clashing with Hernandez soon after taking over as Cardinals manager in June 1980. In a game at Atlanta during Herzog’s first series as manager, Hernandez didn’t run hard on a fly ball that was dropped. “Hernandez has the ability to be among the best players in the major leagues,” Herzog told The Sporting News, “but one little thing like that can make him a bad guy for a long time. When you’re out there, run hard.”
According to the Post-Dispatch, the Cardinals first offered Hernandez to the Mets after the 1980 season in exchange for Allen, second baseman Doug Flynn and pitcher Tim Leary, but the Mets declined.
Time to go
Early in the 1983 season, Hernandez came close to being dealt to the Astros. According to the Post-Dispatch, the Astros offered to swap first baseman Ray Knight and pitcher Vern Ruhle for Hernandez.
In an interview for the book “Whitey’s Boys,” Hernandez said, “I could tell a trade was coming (in 1983) because I knew I wasn’t in Whitey’s good graces.”
On June 15, 1983, Hernandez was taking batting practice at Busch Stadium when he was called into Herzog’s office. As he approached the office, Hernandez told the Post-Dispatch, “I knew I was gone.”
Herzog informed Hernandez of the trade to the Mets 20 minutes before it was announced. “It wasn’t an easy thing for him to tell me,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez called his agent to find out whether he could block the trade. “I wasn’t shocked I was traded,” Hernandez said. “I was shocked it was to the Mets.”
“I’m disappointed,” Hernandez told the Post-Dispatch. “I loved it here and the fans were great to me.”
When the deal was announced on the Busch Stadium scoreboard, fans booed.
Eight months earlier, Hernandez had produced seven hits and eight RBI in the last three games of the 1982 World Series. He sparked a Cardinals comeback in the decisive Game 7, driving in the tying run with a two-run single. He hit .299 in 10 years with St. Louis, won the 1979 National League batting title, shared the Most Valuable Player Award that year (with the Pirates’ Willie Stargell) and won five consecutive Gold Glove awards from 1978-82.
In a column about the trade, Kevin Horrigan of the Post-Dispatch wrote, “The Mets are getting a great hitter and a great first baseman, but they’re also getting a good guy, a man who has grown up a lot in the last three years.”
In exchange for Hernandez, the Cardinals got Allen (2-7, 4.50 ERA) and Ownbey (1-3, 4.67). Allen had told the Mets he thought he had an alcohol problem. Instead, he was diagnosed as suffering from stress.
“So the Cards had to enter the pitching market, which is so badly inflated it looks like it’s being run by an Argentinian junta,” Horrigan wrote in the Post-Dispatch. “Inflation touches us all. Ten grand for a Chevrolet? Outrageous. A buck for a hamburger? Absurd. Buck and a quarter for a gallon of gas? Ridiculous. A Keith Hernandez for Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey? Outrageous, absurd and ridiculous.”
Said Herzog: “If Allen falls on his butt, then we got jobbed, but everybody in the organization … were in agreement this had to be done.”
Hernandez told Cardinals Magazine, “Whitey was the best manager I ever played for. That’s not a criticism of the others. Whitey made me a better player … He just basically taught us how to win.”
Mets make out
Mets general manager Frank Cashen called the acquisition of Hernandez “the biggest deal” he had made since joining the club, the New York Daily News reported. Cashen said the Cardinals initiated the trade. “Joe McDonald told me right off we could have Hernandez if we were willing to give up Allen,” Cashen told the Daily News.
The Associated Press declared the trade “a total surprise.”
Second baseman Tommy Herr told the Post-Dispatch, “I really don’t understand why they had to trade Keith. It’s difficult taking his bat out of the lineup.”
In remarks to the Daily News, Mets pitcher Tom Seaver said, “This may be the best deal the Mets have ever made because of the overall reaction Keith’s presence will create … The one thing we have not had is a consistent third-place hitter. There are not many more consistent players in baseball than Keith.”
Herzog said to Cardinals Magazine, “He might have been the best hit-and-run man I ever managed. I thought George Brett was good when I managed him and he was very good, but Keith Hernandez never, ever swung and missed a (hit-and-run) ball. He loved to hit-and-run, and we used it an awful lot with him.”
John Stearns spoke for many when he told Frank Dolson of Knight-Ridder Newspapers, “Were they (the Cardinals) drunk when they made that deal? I just couldn’t believe it. I thought, ‘Do they know something about Hernandez that we don’t? Is there a problem somewhere?’ ”
Turns out there was more of a problem than most knew.
Drug deal
In testimony two years later in a federal court case, Hernandez said he had used “massive” amounts of cocaine, starting in 1980 after he was introduced to the drug by Cardinals teammate Bernie Carbo, and had developed an “insatiable desire for more.”
Hernandez testified he broke his cocaine habit on his own just before the trade to the Mets. Hernandez said what motivated him to stop using was seeing teammate Lonnie Smith have a “bad experience” with the drug after a game at Philadelphia.
Herzog said he didn’t know Hernandez had been using drugs, but that he had become suspicious.
Meet the Mets
Hernandez would thrive with the Mets. At the time of the trade, the Mets had the worst record in the major leagues. Hernandez helped transform them into contenders by 1984 and World Series champions in 1986.
In his book “Mookie,” Mets center fielder Mookie Wilson said of Hernandez, “One thing I didn’t envision was what kind of clubhouse presence he would bring. Even before we saw what he could do on the playing field every day, it was his mannerisms and professionalism that made him stand out. He didn’t come in with the rah-rah stuff or any glitter. Instead, it was clear that he was a student of the game and learned a lot about leadership from guys like Lou Brock and some of the other great Cardinals veterans he played with.”
Allen was 20-16 with five saves in three seasons with St. Louis. Ownbey was 1-6 in two Cardinals seasons.
Said Herzog: “People always say it’s the worst deal I’ve ever made, but I don’t believe that … Getting rid of Hernandez was addition by subtraction. I really feel that, if we had kept him, his attitude and his bull would have ruined our ball club. I know he never would have been as good for us as he has been with the Mets.”
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