RetroSimba

Bob Gibson couldn’t spoil big night for Jackie Hernandez

October 26, 2019 by retrosimba

Jackie Hernandez experienced one of his most joyful moments in baseball after one of his most frustrating performances.

Born in Cuba, Hernandez was a shortstop in the major leagues for nine seasons with the Angels (1965-66), Twins (1967-68), Royals (1969-70) and Pirates (1971-73).

Hernandez had his most memorable season in 1971 when the Pirates won the World Series championship. He opened the season as the starting shortstop because incumbent Gene Alley was sidelined with a broken hand. Late in the season, Alley had a bad knee and Hernandez was the primary shortstop in the pennant stretch and in the postseason.

PIrates manager Danny Murtaugh “isn’t looking for base hits from Hernandez,” The Sporting News reported. “The manager wants steady shortstop play.”

On Sept. 22, 1971, at St. Louis, Hernandez struck out four times against Bob Gibson, but the Pirates beat the Cardinals, 5-1, and clinched the National League East Division title.

Hernandez contributed with his fielding, helping the Pirates turn three double plays.

As the Pirates celebrated inside the clubhouse at Busch Memorial Stadium, Hernandez smiled as he wiped champagne off his spikes. He never had been on a club that qualified for the postseason.

“For the first time in my life, I struck out four times and it didn’t bother me,” Hernandez said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I don’t care if I get a hit, or if I get on base. Just so we win the game. That’s all I cared about.” Boxscore

Hernandez started six of the seven games in the 1971 World Series against the Orioles and committed no errors in 53.2 innings at shortstop.

In the ninth inning of Game 7, with the Pirates clinging to a 2-1 lead at Baltimore, Hernandez cleanly handled the last two outs.

After Frank Robinson popped out to Hernandez for the second out in the ninth, Merv Rettenmund hit one on the ground. “The ball skipped up the middle and a foot or so to the right of second base,” The Sporting News reported. “Base hit? No chance. Hernandez was playing almost behind second. It wasn’t a routine play, but he was there in plenty of time to grab the ball and fire to first baseman Bob Robertson for the clinching out.” Boxscore

Hernandez hit .208 in his major-league career, including .205 versus the Cardinals.

One of his most productive games with the bat occurred against the Cardinals on May 17, 1972, at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Hernandez, batting eighth in the order, was 3-for-4 with three RBI in a 12-0 Pirates victory.

He entered the game with a season batting average of .167 and no RBI.

Hernandez broke the game open in the fourth inning. The Pirates led, 3-0, when Hernandez batted against Cardinals starter Reggie Cleveland with one out and the bases loaded. Hernandez hit a single to left, driving in two and giving the Pirates a 5-0 lead.

In the fifth, the Pirates scored three times against Joe Grzenda, extending their lead to 9-0. Hernandez scored Richie Hebner from third with a two-out single.

Hernandez also had a double to left in the seventh against Lance Clemons. Boxscore

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents | 4 Comments »

Why Cubs accused Cardinals of having scoreboard spy

October 23, 2019 by retrosimba

(Updated June 25, 2021)

On a rainy St. Louis Sunday in 1961, the Cubs became convinced the Cardinals had someone inside the Busch Stadium scoreboard who was stealing the signs of catcher Sammy Taylor.

On May 7, 1961, the Cubs and Cardinals were scheduled to play a Sunday doubleheader at St. Louis. The starting pitchers in Game 1 were Don Cardwell for the Cubs and Ernie Broglio for the Cardinals. Caldwell, who brought a 3-0 season record into the game, had pitched a no-hitter against the Cardinals the year before.

Detective work

In the doubleheader opener, the Cubs scored twice in the first inning and the Cardinals got a run in the bottom half on Ken Boyer’s sacrifice fly.

In the second, the Cardinals battered Caldwell, scoring three runs on four hits. Carl Sawatski, batting eighth in the order, drove in a run with a single and Julian Javier knocked in two with a double. The damage could have been worse if the Cardinals hadn’t had a runner thrown out at the plate.

Cubs manager Harry Craft concluded batters knew what pitches were coming and suspected it was because the Cardinals were stealing the signs Taylor gave Caldwell.

Craft said he “became suspicious when Cardinals hitters in the lower end of the batting order were hitting pitches they ordinarily wouldn’t be able to handle,” The Sporting News reported.

According to Chicago reporter Jerome Holtzman, Craft and Cubs players “discovered someone from inside the Cardinals’ left-field scoreboard was signaling on every pitch.”

“It was very simple,” Craft said. “Someone just lifted what looked like a white tile into one of the scoreboard openings every time Caldwell was going to throw a curve. When he would throw a fastball, they would just leave the opening black.”

The switcheroo

Craft and Caldwell came up with a plan to cross up the Cardinals.

Craft told Taylor to give the sign for a curve, but to expect Caldwell to throw a fastball.

When Boyer came to the plate to lead off the third for the Cardinals, Taylor gave Caldwell the sign for a curve. Boyer leaned “way over the plate,” Craft told The Sporting News, in anticipation of a breaking ball.

Instead, Caldwell buzzed a fastball near Boyer’s chin and the pitch nearly hit him.

For the remainder of the game, the Sporting News reported, “there was no more signaling from the scoreboard.”

Caldwell held the Cardinals scoreless for the next three innings. The game was called after five innings because of rain and the Cardinals, on the strength of those early runs, won, 4-2. Boxscore

Do unto others

Two months later, on July 1, 1961, when the Cubs beat the Cardinals, 13-1, at Wrigley Field in Chicago, the Cardinals accused the Cubs of spying.

Cardinals manager Solly Hemus “charged that the Cubs have been stealing the catcher’s signs the past two days by placing a spy in center field,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Cardinals catcher Jimmie Schaffer said “he noticed that a red television light in center field would blink when he called for a fastball,” the Post-Dispatch noted.

Schaffer added, “If it was a curve, the light didn’t blink.”

According to the Post-Dispatch, a Cardinals pitcher was sent to the center field seats “as a counter-spy.” Boxscore

Posted in Games, Opponents | 2 Comments »

How Cardinals unwittingly gave Pirates an elite closer

October 20, 2019 by retrosimba

The Cardinals never envisioned Dave Giusti to be a closer and neither did the Pirates. When Giusti transformed into one of the National League’s best saves specialists, he helped the Pirates become an East Division power.

On Oct. 21, 1969, the Cardinals traded Giusti and catcher Dave Ricketts to the Pirates for outfielders Carl Taylor and Frank Vanzin.

Giusti, a right-hander, wanted to remain a starting pitcher and the Cardinals didn’t see a spot for him in their projected rotation in 1970.

The Pirates figured Giusti to be a spot starter and middle-inning reliever.

Giusti became the Pirates’ closer only because they had no one else available after their other options faltered.

His emergence as a stopper gave the Pirates an advantage over the Cardinals. The Pirates finished in first place in the East Division five times in a six-year stretch from 1970-75. The Cardinals, who struggled for bullpen help while trading pitchers who became quality closers, failed to win a title in that period.

Wanted man

After winning their second consecutive pennant in 1968, the Cardinals sought to acquire Giusti from the Astros to join a starting rotation of Bob Gibson, Steve Carlton, Nelson Briles and Ray Washburn. Giusti achieved a double-digit win total for the Astros each season from 1966-68.

On Oct. 11, 1968, the Cardinals got Giusti and catcher Dave Adlesh from the Astros for catchers Johnny Edwards and Tommy Smith, but three days later the Padres selected Giusti in the National League expansion draft.

Cardinals general manager Bing Devine was willing to try again. On Dec. 3, 1968, the Cardinals acquired Giusti from the Padres for infielder Ed Spiezio, outfielder Ron Davis, catcher Danny Breeden and pitcher Philip Knuckles.

Initially, the move paid dividends. Giusti won two of his first three starts for the 1969 Cardinals, but in May he injured his back and spent a month on the disabled list. When he returned, he struggled and was moved into a long-inning relief role. Giusti finished the 1969 season with a 3-7 record and 3.61 ERA.

The Cardinals in 1970 planned to have a starting rotation of Gibson, Carlton, Briles, Mike Torrez and Jerry Reuss. In need of a hitter to improve their bench strength, the Cardinals dangled Giusti in trade talks.

Supply and demand

Devine was confident the Cardinals made a good deal in acquiring Taylor for Giusti. A right-handed batter and the step-brother of Orioles slugger Boog Powell, Taylor hit .348 in 221 at-bats for the 1969 Pirates. He had a .415 batting average (17-for-41) as a pinch-hitter. After Taylor accused Pirates management of keeping him on the bench because of “politics,” teammates nicknamed him “Senator.”

The Tigers offered pitcher Joe Sparma for Taylor, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported, but the Pirates preferred Giusti after getting a recommendation from their best player, Roberto Clemente. “He always had good stuff and he is a tough competitor,” Clemente said.

Pirates general manager Joe Brown told The Sporting News, “He can start and relieve. This was a big factor in making the trade.”

The Pirates projected their 1970 starting pitchers to be Steve Blass, Bob Moose, Dock Ellis, Bob Veale and Luke Walker, but Giusti said, “I want to be in the starting rotation. I think I can be a better pitcher if I’m used in rotation.”

Surprising development

Giusti, 30, went to spring training, hoping to convince Pirates manager Danny Murtaugh to make him a starter. Instead, he pitched poorly, yielding 12 runs in 15 spring training innings.

“His curveball hangs and his fastball lacks zip,” the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. “He is not getting the ball down. Most of his pitches, especially his breaking pitches, appear to go to the hitter’s strength, about chest high.”

Giusti told the Pittsburgh Press, “I guess I was pressing. I went down there trying to show the club I could become the fifth starter and, as a result, I wasn’t throwing the ball the way I can.”

The Pirates opened the 1970 season with Giusti as a middle-inning reliever and Chuck Hartenstein as their closer. A slender right-hander, Hartenstein was nicknamed “Twiggy.” He struggled in April, posting a 7.04 ERA in six appearances. Two other closer candidates, Joe Gibbon and Bruce Dal Canton, weren’t the answer, so in desperation Murtaugh turned to Giusti.

Using a palmball, his version of a changeup, Giusti was able to pitch often and well as the closer. By mid-July, he was 8-0 with 14 saves and a 2.37 ERA.

“He’s our bread and butter now,” Murtaugh said.

In June 1970, the Pirates placed Hartenstein on waivers and he was claimed by the Cardinals. A month later, after he posted an 8.77 ERA in six appearances for the Cardinals, Hartenstein was released.

No relief

Giusti finished with a 9-3 record and 26 saves in 1970. The Pirates (89-73) won the division title, five games ahead of the second-place Cubs, and the Cardinals (76-86) came in fourth.

One of the Cardinals’ biggest problems was relief pitching. The staff produced 20 total saves, including eight by team leader Chuck Taylor.

Cardinals management counted on the starters to pitch deep into games and was slow to recognize the growing importance of having a strong bullpen with a dependable closer. The Cardinals weren’t developing top relievers, and they were giving away pitchers, like Giusti, who had the ability to do the job.

In 1970, three of the top closers in the majors were pitchers recently traded by the Cardinals _ Wayne Granger (35 saves) of the Reds, Giusti (26) and Mudcat Grant (24) of the Athletics. The Pirates acquired Grant from Oakland in September 1970 to join Giusti for the pennant push.

Against the Cardinals in 1970, Giusti was 3-0 with a save.

The next season, the Pirates became World Series champions. Giusti produced 30 saves and a 2.93 ERA. His ERA against the Cardinals, who finished as runners-up to the Pirates in the division, was 1.13. The Cardinals’ saves leader in 1971 was Moe Drabowsky, with eight.

Giusti pitched a total of 5.1 scoreless innings in the 1971 World Series against the Orioles and got a save in Game 4.

In seven seasons with the Pirates, Giusti was 47-28 with 133 saves and a 2.94 ERA.

Posted in Opponents, Pitchers, Trades | 12 Comments »

Donnie Moore: Stint with Cardinals tainted by tragedy

October 17, 2019 by retrosimba

Donnie Moore embraced the opportunity to join the Cardinals, but his two-year stay in the organization was marred by his involvement in a deadly accident.

On Oct. 17, 1979, the Cardinals traded second baseman Mike Tyson to the Cubs for Moore, a right-handed relief pitcher.

Moore opened the 1980 season with the Cardinals, pitched in 11 games, was ineffective and got sent to the minors.

Near the end of spring training with the 1981 Cardinals, Moore was involved in a fatality in Florida. A passenger was killed when the car Moore was driving became airborne and crashed upside down. Moore was injured, recovered and pitched in the Cardinals’ farm system in 1981.

The fatal accident drew little national attention, but eight years later, long after Moore left the Cardinals, he was involved in another horrific incident.

On July 18, 1989, Moore’s life came to a violent end when he shot himself in the head after critically injuring his wife.

Looking for work

Moore began his professional career in the Cubs’ organization and, like fellow prospect Bruce Sutter, learned to throw a split-fingered pitch taught by instructor and former Cardinals pitcher Fred Martin.

“The best at it, besides Bruce, is Donnie Moore, but he threw it so much harder,” Cubs pitcher Mike Krukow said to The Sporting News.

Moore made his major-league debut with the Cubs in 1975 and had his breakout season in 1978 when he earned nine wins, four saves and led the club in games pitched (71) as the setup reliever for the closer, Sutter.

In May 1979, Moore’s role changed when the Cubs acquired Dick Tidrow from the Yankees. Tidrow became the setup man for Sutter. As Moore’s workload decreased, so did his effectiveness and he finished the season with a 1-4 record and 5.18 ERA.

After the 1979 season, the Cubs approached the Cardinals about Tyson, who had lost the second base job to Ken Oberkfell. Tyson was eligible to be a free agent, so the Cardinals were delighted when the Cubs offered to make a trade if Tyson would agree to a long-term contract. When Tyson, 29, accepted their five-year offer, the Cubs dealt Moore, 25, for him.

“I’m truly happy to be going to St. Louis,” Moore told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Warning sign

Like many on the 1980 Cardinals, Moore struggled. He allowed 15 runs in 21.2 innings and was 1-1 with a 6.23 ERA. Even in his win against the Giants on May 6, 1980, he gave up four runs in 1.2 innings. Boxscore

(Third baseman Ken Reitz recalled to Jeff Gordon of the Post-Dispatch that during a 1980 Cardinals road trip Moore showed him two loaded guns in his suitcase. “The guy was a little off-center,” Reitz said.)

In late May 1980, the Cardinals sent Moore to their farm club in Springfield, Ill., and he produced a 6-5 record and 3.07 ERA.

The next year, Moore went to spring training as a Cardinals non-roster player.

On April 11, 1981, four days after he was assigned to the Cardinals’ minor-league camp, Moore was injured and his passenger, Donald Harvey, 31, was killed when Moore’s car sped through a dead-end street in St. Petersburg, Fla., shortly after 2 a.m., police told the St. Petersburg Times.

Moore was driving a 1981 Mustang “at a high rate of speed,” a police spokesman said to the newspaper. The car “jumped a curb and rode up an incline to a railroad track,” the Tampa Tribune reported. The car “became airborne, flipped several times and landed upside down atop several junk cars in a vacant lot,” according to the St. Petersburg Times. A police spokesman told the Tampa Tribune the car soared 152 feet before landing.

Harvey “was thrown from the car and died at the scene,” police said to the newspaper. Moore “suffered lacerations and internal injuries.”

According to Pinellas County public records, Moore was charged with one count of manslaughter, entered a plea of no contest and was placed on probation.

Ups and downs

Moore rejoined the Cardinals’ Springfield club in the middle of May 1981. After posting an 8-6 record and 3.42 ERA for Springfield, the Cardinals traded Moore to the Brewers for cash on Sept. 3, 1981.

Moore pitched in three September games for the Brewers, but they returned him to the Cardinals two months later “without telling us why,” Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog told The Sporting News.

On Feb. 1, 1982, the Cardinals traded Moore to the Braves for pitcher Dan Morogiello. Working with Braves minor-league instructor Johnny Sain, Moore produced 12 saves and a 2.29 ERA for Richmond.

“I learned it’s better to get someone out with one pitch rather than trying to strike everybody out,” Moore said.

In August 1982, Moore was called up to the Braves. Playing for manager Joe Torre and coach Bob Gibson, Moore was 3-1 with a save in helping the Braves win a division title. Moore pitched 2.2 scoreless innings against the Cardinals in the 1982 National League Championship Series.

“Moore now uses a split-fingered changeup that leaves hitters flat-footed,” The Sporting News noted. “He no longer tries to break a bat with every pitch.”

In 1984, Moore became the Braves’ closer and had 16 saves and a 2.94 ERA.

“I’ve been on a roller coaster my whole career,” Moore said. “Up and down. Up and down. That gets old after a while. Maybe I’m a survivor.”

After the 1984 season, Moore became a free agent and Torre, fired by the Braves, became an Angels broadcaster. The Angels signed Moore on Torre’s recommendation. Moore earned 31 saves for them in 1985 and 21 in 1986.

In the best-of-seven 1986 American League Championship Series, the Angels won three of the first four games against the Red Sox. In Game 5 at Anaheim, the Red Sox trailed, 5-4, with two outs and a runner on first in the ninth inning. Needing one more out to clinch the pennant, Angels manager Gene Mauch brought in Moore to relieve Gary Lucas and face Dave Henderson.

Moore’s moment of glory turned into a nightmare when Henderson hit a two-run home run, giving the Red Sox a 6-5 lead. Video Though the Angels rallied to tie the score in the bottom of the ninth, the Red Sox won, 7-6, scoring a run against Moore in the 11th. Boxscore

The Red Sox won the next two games at Boston, advancing to face the Mets in the World Series.

Terror and pain

Moore, plagued by shoulder and rib ailments, was limited to 14 appearances for the 1987 Angels. In 1988, he had a 4.91 ERA when he was released in August.

In 1989, the Royals signed Moore on the recommendation of their catcher, Bob Boone, Moore’s former Angels teammate, and assigned him to Omaha. Moore, 35, pitched in seven games for Omaha, had a 6.39 ERA and was released in June 1989, about the same time he and his wife, Tonya, also 35, separated.

A month later, Donnie and Tonya Moore met at the house they owned in Anaheim. The couple argued after Moore said he wanted to sell the $850,000 estate. Moore grabbed a .45-caliber handgun and fired at his wife. Tonya Moore was struck by three bullets, one in the neck and two in the upper torso.

The Moore’s 17-year-old daughter, Demetria, who was in the house with her two brothers, ages 7 and 10, and her best friend, managed to get her mother into a car. Before they drove off, Donnie Moore pointed the gun at his head and, in front of his sons, killed himself with a single shot, police said to the Los Angeles Times.

Demetria got her mother to a hospital, where she underwent surgery and eventually recovered from her wounds.

Donnie Moore “was despondent over his failing career and marital troubles,” the Associated Press reported.

Moore’s agent, David Pinter, cited the home run to Henderson as a contributing factor. “Ever since Henderson’s home run, he was extremely depressed,” Pinter told the Associated Press. “He blamed himself for the Angels not going to the World Series.”

Pinter said to the Los Angeles Times, “That home run killed him.”

A week after the shooting, the attorney for the Moore family, Randall Johnson, revealed he arranged to have Moore’s body brought to the hospital where Tonya Moore was being treated. The lawyer acted on the request of Tonya Moore, who wanted a private viewing because she couldn’t travel to Texas for the funeral. According to the Los Angeles Times, “The body was delivered to a vacant room at the hospital and Tonya Moore was wheeled from her private room.”

In an interview from her hospital bed, Tonya Moore told the Los Angeles Times, “I told him I forgive him. I told him I love him. I asked, ‘Why?’ “

Posted in Games, Pitchers, Trades | 6 Comments »

Why Pepper Martin made comeback with Cardinals at 40

October 14, 2019 by retrosimba

(Updated Aug. 8, 2025)

Pepper Martin interrupted a successful stint as a manager to return to the Cardinals as a player and help them get to another World Series.

In 1943, Martin managed in the Cardinals’ farm system for the third consecutive year. After the season, while in St. Louis to interview for a radio sports announcer job, Martin met with Cardinals owner Sam Breadon, who was looking for players to replace those called to serve in the military during World War II.

Accepting Breadon’s offer to come back to the Cardinals, Martin, 40, was a utility player for them in 1944 and contributed to a successful run to a third consecutive National League pennant.

With mission accomplished, Martin sought to resume his managing career and the Cardinals obliged by giving him his unconditional release in October 1944.

Spice to the lineup

When Martin was an infant in Temple, Oklahoma, he’d nap on a sack in the cotton fields while his family harvested the crop, according to Wilbur Adams of the Sacramento Bee. Martin was 6 when the family moved to Oklahoma City.

“Ever since I was old enough to handle a baseball, I loved the game,” Martin recalled in a column for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

When Martin was 9, he worked a newspaper route in Oklahoma City. “I’d get up at 3:30 every morning to get the Daily Oklahoman to the homes of my readers,” Martin said to the St. Louis Star and Times, “but before I delivered a single paper I used to sit down under a street corner lamp and study the box scores of the major leagues. In winter, I’d read the gossip of the hot stove league.”

Martin told the Inquirer, “The Red Sox were going great in those days and they were my favorite team. I had a pretty good memory as a kid and I knew by heart the averages of pretty nearly every big leaguer. I saved enough out of my earnings as a newsboy to buy my first glove and I had it stuck in my back pocket wherever I went and whatever I did. Not so many kids in my neighborhood had gloves, and owning that mitt gave me almost as much happiness as would a couple of home runs in a World Series game.”

While playing for a minor-league team in Texas when he was 21, Martin was signed by Cardinals scout Charley Barrett.

Martin debuted with the Cardinals in 1928. With his aggressive, fun-loving style of play, he was a prominent part of the Cardinals clubs of the 1930s. Martin and his pal, pitcher Dizzy Dean, symbolized the spirit of the group known as the Gashouse Gang. Dean “was just a big-hearted old country boy, from a cotton patch, like myself,” Martin said to The Sporting News. “So I guess that’s why I liked old Diz.”

An outfielder and third baseman nicknamed “Wild Horse of the Osage,” Martin led the National League in stolen bases three times and scored more than 120 runs in a season three times.

As a third baseman, Martin “introduced a style of play all his own,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Martin described his approach to fielding groundballs as “stop it with your chest, then throw them out.”

In the 1931 World Series against the Athletics, Martin had an on-base percentage of .538, producing 12 hits and two walks in 26 plate appearances, and swiped five bases. He batted .355 and scored eight runs in the 1934 World Series versus the Tigers. “Pepper always was fighting to win, trying for that extra base or an impossible chance, no matter whether his team was miles ahead or furlongs behind,” The Sporting News noted in an editorial.

After the 1940 season, Martin became a player-manager in the Cardinals’ farm system. His Sacramento teams finished 102-75 in 1941 and 105-73 in 1942.

In 1943, Martin took over a Rochester team which finished 59-93 the year before and helped it improve to 74-78. One of his best Rochester players was shortstop Red Schoendienst.

Martin batted .280 for Rochester and “was the best outfielder on the club,” Sam Breadon said. “He could outrun any man on the club on the bases.”

Slow to age

Martin told the Associated Press he was offered a radio sports broadcasting job for 1944 but after talking with Breadon decided to play instead.

Breadon told the Post-Dispatch, “I asked him how he would like to play with the Cardinals and he shot back, ‘I sure would.’ ”

Though he was 40, Martin insisted his age was 10 because his birthday was Feb. 29, a date which appears on the calendar only once every four years.

“He still has his old-time sparkle and speed,” said Cardinals manager Billy Southworth. “I think he will help a lot.”

Said Martin: “I’ll play any time and place they need me.”

Teaching by example

Martin played in 40 games, 29 as an outfielder, for the 1944 Cardinals, and had an on-base percentage of .386. He finished with a flourish, producing five hits, including a home run, in the last eight at-bats of his big-league career.

He also was a mentor who “sold the Cardinals’ rookies on his undying spirit,” the Post-Dispatch reported.

After the Cardinals won the 1944 Word Series championship against the Browns, Martin asked for his release so he could “negotiate for any coaching or managerial post he wants,” the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported.

Breadon mailed him the release on Oct. 13, 1944, and Martin received it on Oct. 16. “We hate to let him go, but he wants it that way,” Breadon said.

San Diego, an unaffiliated minor-league team in the Pacific Coast League, needed a manager and identified two finalists, Martin and Casey Stengel. Martin got the job and Stengel went to manage the Yankees’ farm club at Kansas City.

Martin managed 14 seasons in the minors and had an overall record of 1,083-910.

Posted in Hitters | 4 Comments »

Why Enos Slaughter was baseball’s ageless country boy

October 12, 2019 by retrosimba

At 43, Enos Slaughter, the oldest active player in the big leagues in 1959, still had the skills to be considered a difference maker to a team in a pennant race.

Slaughter, who began his big-league career with the Cardinals in 1938 and became one of their all-time best, played his last game in the majors for the Braves in 1959.

The Braves acquired Slaughter from the Yankees on Sept. 11, 1959, because they thought he could provide an edge in their pursuit of a third consecutive National League championship.

Though the Braves barely missed out, tying for first place before losing to the Dodgers in a playoff, Slaughter helped them win a pivotal regular-season game.

On Oct. 13, 1959, the Braves released Slaughter, ending a prolific major-league career. Slaughter, who batted .300 with 2,383 hits, 1,304 RBI and a .382 on-base percentage, was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

That’s a winner

An outfielder who batted left-handed, Slaughter developed a reputation for his all-out hustle. His daring dash from first base to home plate on a hit by Harry Walker provided the winning run for the Cardinals in Game 7 of the 1946 World Series against the Red Sox.

Slaughter played for the Cardinals from 1938 to 1942, spent three years in military service during World War II and returned to play for the Cardinals from 1946-53. He batted .305 with 2,064 hits in his 13 seasons with St. Louis.

In 1954, the Cardinals wanted to open an outfield spot for rookie Wally Moon. In spring training, shortly before his 38th birthday, Slaughter was traded by the Cardinals to the Yankees. In two stints with the Yankees, before and after being sent to the Athletics, Slaughter became a valuable role player and trusted favorite of manager Casey Stengel.

“Slaughter is really one of the most remarkable ballplayers I’ve ever known,” Stengel said to The Sporting News.

After playing in two World Series (1942 and 1946) for the Cardinals, Slaughter played in three World Series (1956, 1957 and 1958) for the Yankees.

Pitchers, beware

Considering his age, some were surprised the Yankees brought back Slaughter in 1959, but Stengel said, “Enos was my best pinch-hitter last year. We’re not carrying him for charity. He earns his pay.”

On May 16, 1959, in a game against the White Sox, Slaughter had a stolen base, becoming one of the oldest players to achieve the feat. Boxscore

Six of his first 11 hits for the season were home runs. On July 4, 1959, Slaughter, after pinch-running for a gimpy Mickey Mantle, hit a three-run home run against Pedro Ramos of the Senators. Boxscore Two weeks later, on July 19, 1959, he hit a pair of two-run home runs, one against Barry Latman and the other off Ray Moore, versus the White Sox. Latman was not quite 2 years old when Slaughter debuted with the 1938 Cardinals. Boxscore.

The Yankees, who won nine of 10 American League pennants between 1949 and 1958, had an off year in 1959. Trailing the first-place White Sox by 16.5 games after play on Sept. 10, 1959, the Yankees were ready to shake up the roster. Slaughter, batting .172, was placed on waivers and claimed by the Braves.

Slaughter displayed “a black scowl” as he packed his gear before departing Yankee Stadium for Milwaukee, according to New York Herald Tribune columnist Red Smith.

“This is an unusual fellow, a professional and a tough one,” Smith wrote. “He eats tobacco and he spits and he wants pitchers dead.”

The Hustler

In joining the Braves, Slaughter was reunited with a former Cardinals teammate, second baseman Red Schoendienst.

“I feel that my eyes are as good as ever and my legs are good,” Slaughter said. “I’ll keep on playing as long as they’ll let me.”

In his Braves debut on Sept. 13, 1959, his first National League game since 1953 with the Cardinals, Slaughter batted for infielder Felix Mantilla and singled to center against the Reds’ Bob Purkey. Boxscore

Three days later, on Sept. 16, 1959, the Braves opened a key series against the Giants at San Francisco. The Giants were in first place, two games ahead of the Braves and Dodgers.

Braves manager Fred Haney gave Slaughter the start in left field and batted him fifth in a lineup featuring fellow future Hall of Famers Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews.

The Braves won, 2-0, behind the pitching of Lew Burdette. Slaughter figured in both runs.

In the fourth, with one on and one out, Slaughter coaxed a walk from Sam Jones, advancing Joe Adcock to second base. After Bobby Avila struck out, Del Crandall singled, scoring Adcock. In the eighth, Slaughter’s two-out single scored Aaron from second. Boxscore

“We hoped he would win just one game for us and he did,” Braves executive Birdie Tebbetts said. “Unfortunately, one wasn’t quite enough.”

The Braves and Dodgers finished the regular-season schedule tied for first place with 86-68 records. In a subsequent best-of-three playoff, the Dodgers won the first two games and advanced to the World Series.

On Nov. 9, 1959, a month after the Braves released him, Slaughter was named player-manager of the Houston Buffs, a farm club of the Cubs.

Buffs president Marty Marion, Slaughter’s former Cardinals teammate, said, “The Chicago Cubs thought it was tremendous. They are happy to have their young players in Slaughter’s hands.”

The Associated Press referred to Slaughter as “baseball’s ageless country boy.”

“I’ll never be too old to learn,” Slaughter said. “I’ll listen to the rawest rookie about things that might help him or me.”

The top prospects on the Cubs’ Houston farm club were a pair of future Hall of Famers, third baseman Ron Santo and outfielder Billy Williams.

Slaughter managed Houston to an 83-71 record in 1960. He managed the Raleigh Capitals, a farm club of the fledgling Mets, in 1961.

In December 1961, a 20-year-old Reds prospect, Pete Rose, impressed observers with his aggressive approach in the Florida Instructional League. Asked how he developed his style of play, Rose, who would come to be known as “Charlie Hustle,” said, “I remember seeing Enos Slaughter play against the Reds on television. He ran to first after getting a walk. I’ve been doing it ever since.”

Posted in Games, Hitters, Trades | 4 Comments »

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