RetroSimba

How big-league baseball entered the Television Age

August 24, 2019 by retrosimba

Dodgers president Larry MacPhail, accustomed to rocking the status quo, was the first executive in the major leagues to go to bat for television.

On Aug. 26, 1939, a big-league baseball game was televised for the first time when NBC aired the opener of a doubleheader between the Reds and Dodgers at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn.

MacPhail, an innovator who introduced night games and yellow baseballs to the big leagues, approved the experiment to televise a Dodgers game when the opportunity was presented to him by team broadcaster Red Barber.

Today, television is as much a part of baseball as bats and gloves, but in 1939 the medium barely was part of American culture.

Greatest showman

MacPhail, a lawyer and colleague of Cardinals executive Branch Rickey, worked in the Cardinals’ system as president of their Columbus, Ohio, farm club before getting to the big leagues as general manager of the Reds in 1934. MacPhail installed lights at Cincinnati’s Crosley Field and introduced night baseball to the big leagues on May 24, 1935, when the Phillies played the Reds.

In 1938, MacPhail became general manager of the Dodgers and was promoted to team president a year later. MacPhail chose Leo Durocher, the fiery former Gashouse Gang Cardinals shortstop, to manage the Dodgers and brought Barber to Brooklyn from Cincinnati, where they had worked together with the Reds.

Barber’s folksy Southern charm and catchy phrasing on his Dodgers radio broadcasts entertained and attracted listeners. According to The Sporting News, Barber in 1939 helped “to establish a record attendance at Ebbets Field by the interest he aroused in the team.”

Modern technology

Television sets were demonstrated to the American public at the New York World’s Fair in 1939. A television set cost about $600, the same price as a new car.

The U.S. had fewer than 500 television sets in 1939 and most were in New York City, but advancements rapidly were occurring. In April 1939, Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first U.S. president to have a speech televised. A month later, in May 1939, a college baseball game featuring Princeton and Columbia was televised. A heavyweight bout between Lou Nova and Max Baer was televised in June 1939.

Alfred Morton, a NBC vice president in charge of their fledgling television division, was looking for more opportunities to test the technology. He called his friend, Barber, and asked whether he thought MacPhail would allow NBC to televise a major-league game from Ebbets Field. Barber agreed to find out.

In his 1968 book, “Rhubarb in the Catbird Seat,” Barber said he went to MacPhail’s office and said, “Larry, would you like to be the first man ever to put on a television broadcast of a major-league baseball game?”

MacPhail replied simply, “Yes.”

Barber said MacPhail didn’t charge NBC any rights fees. He only asked for the network to install a television set in the Ebbets Field press room so club officials and media could watch the telecast.

New world

In August 1939, NBC”s New York station, W2XBS, was on the air for four hours a day (2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.) and five days a week (Wednesday through Sunday).

“Television then was on about the same level of speculation as a trip to the moon is now,” Barber said. “It was feasible, within reach, about to happen, actually happening, but, even so, it was still away out in the future.”

Barber was chosen to be the broadcaster for the Saturday afternoon telecast from Ebbets Field. Only the first game of the doubleheader was televised.

NBC set up two cameras. One was near the visitors’ dugout on the third-base side and the other was on the second deck behind home plate.

Barber did his announcing from a seat among the fans in the upper deck behind third base because the radio broadcast was being done from the press box booth.

“I had to guess which way the camera was pointing, and I never knew for sure what was on the picture,” Barber said. “Burke Crotty was the director and every once in a while he would holler at me through the earphones that the camera was on second base now, or it was on the pitcher.”

Barber ad-libbed commercials for the three telecast sponsors _ Wheaties, Mobil Oil and Ivory Soap.

“They put the camera on me and I held up a box of Wheaties and poured them in a bowl,” Barber said. “I took a banana and a knife and I sliced the banana onto the Wheaties. Then I poured in some milk and said, ‘That’s the breakfast of champions.’

“I put on a Mobil service station cap and held up a can of oil. For Ivory Soap, I held up a bar of soap.”

After the Reds won the game, 5-2, before 33,535 spectators, Barber did television’s first postgame show on the field, interviewing Durocher, Reds manager Bill McKechnie, Dodgers first baseman Dolph Camilli and Reds pitcher Bucky Walters. Boxscore

“I got Camilli to show his hands on camera,” Barber recalled. “I had always been much impressed with the size, the agility, the dexterity, the grace, the beauty, the strength of Camilli’s hands.”

That’s entertainment

Public response to the telecast was “instantaneous and amazing,” according to The Sporting News.

The Television Building at the World Fair, which showed the telecast, had to shut its doors because the crowd wanting to get in was so great. A Broadway theater which showed the game on its television set “was swamped” with curious viewers, The Sporting News noted.

International News Service marveled at how the game could be seen by television viewers “as far as 50 miles away” from Brooklyn.

As for the quality of the telecast, International News Service reported, “At times, despite the great speed of play, the baseball was visible in the television image, particularly when pitchers Luke Hamlin and Bucky Walters resorted to slower delivery, or when the batter drove out a hit directly away from the iconoscope camera.”

According to The Sporting News, “The players were clearly distinguishable, but it was not possible to pick out the ball.”

On Sept. 30, 1939, a college football game between Waynesburg and Fordham was televised. A NFL game featuring Philadelphia and Brooklyn was televised a month later.

About 2,000 television sets were in use in the U.S. by 1940, but World War II slowed development because people and resources were needed for the military effort. At the close of World War II in 1945, there were 7,000 television sets in the U.S. and nine stations on the air. By 1960, the number of TV sets nationwide was 52 million.

Posted in Broadcasters, Games | 4 Comments »

Yankees gave Johnny Mize what Cardinals did not

August 21, 2019 by retrosimba

Johnny Mize barely missed out on being part of the Cardinals’ championship run of the early 1940s, but his timing was right with the Yankees.

On Aug. 22, 1949, the Giants sold Mize’s contract to the Yankees for $40,000.

The slugging first baseman played for the Yankees for five seasons, 1949-53, and they were World Series champions in each of those years.

Mize, one of the National League’s most feared sluggers when he played for the Cardinals and Giants, became a valued role player with the Yankees, platooning at first base and excelling as a pinch-hitter.

Cardinals clouter

In 1936, two years after the Gashouse Gang Cardinals won a World Series title against the Tigers, Mize made his major-league debut and replaced Rip Collins as the first baseman.

A left-handed batter nicknamed “The Big Cat,” Mize hit with consistent power. He was the first Cardinals player to hit three home runs in a game four times.

Mize had 100 or more RBI in five of his six St. Louis seasons. He established the Cardinals’ single-season home run record with 43 in 1940. The mark held until Mark McGwire, using performance-enhancing drugs, hit 70 in 1998.

Mize batted .336 with 1,048 hits in 854 games as a Cardinal, but the club never won a pennant in any of his seasons with them.

On Dec. 11, 1941, the Cardinals traded Mize, 28, to the Giants for pitcher Bill Lohrman, first baseman Johnny McCarthy, catcher Ken O’Dea and $50,000.

The Cardinals went to the World Series in each of the next three years, winning championships in 1942 and 1944.

Differences with Durocher

After one season with the Giants, Mize joined the Navy and served for three years (1943-45) during World War II. He returned to the Giants in 1946 and twice led the league in home runs, hitting 51 in 1947 and 40 in 1948.

Leo Durocher became Giants manager in July 1948 and he was tough on his former Cardinals teammate. Mize’s “slowness afoot displeased Durocher,” the Associated Press reported, and, according to The Sporting News, Durocher tried to get Mize “to change his stance in order to pull outside pitches instead of poking them into left field.”

Mize “rebelled quietly at the harshness” of Durocher, the New York Daily News reported.

During spring training in 1949, the Dodgers inquired about Mize but lost interest when the Giants asked for $200,000 in return, the Associated Press reported.

The Tigers made a bid for Mize in July 1949, but it didn’t work out. According to the New York Daily News, the Tigers determined Mize, 36, was “too old and slow.”

Good move

In August 1949, the Giants placed Mize on waivers and none of the other seven National League teams put in a claim for him.

The Cardinals had first basemen Nippy Jones and Rocky Nelson, and club owner Fred Saigh said, “We’re in good shape at first base and didn’t need any more help.”

Said Phillies owner Bob Carpenter: “The fact all the clubs waived on him speaks for itself.”

Though past his prime, Mize still was an effective run producer, with 18 home runs and 62 RBI for the 1949 Giants.

By clearing waivers, Mize could be dealt to an American League team.

The first-place Yankees thought their closest pursuers, the Red Sox, “would take Mize if they didn’t,” the New York Daily News reported, and offered the most money for him. Acquiring Mize also enabled the Yankees to return Tommy Henrich, who was playing first base, to the outfield, his most natural position.

In five seasons with the Giants, Mize hit .299 with a .389 on-base percentage, but, like with the Cardinals, never played in a World Series for them.

Puffing on a cigar, Mize told United Press, “I wouldn’t say I’m glad to get away from the Giants. I got along all right with Leo Durocher, although I didn’t always agree with him.”

The Yankees were credited with making a shrewd move.

“Mize may turn out to be the longball-hitting first sacker the Yankees have been seeking ever since the immortal Lou Gehrig retired,” the Associated Press declared.

Sid Keener of the St. Louis Star-Times wrote, “The Yankees are playing table stakes with blue chips in their effort to bring the 1949 pennant to New York.”

Mize’s mother, Emma, immediately recognized the potential benefits for her son, telling United Press, “All my life I’ve wanted to see him in the World Series. Maybe he’ll make it at last.”

A lot left

In his second game for the Yankees, Mize hit a two-run home run against Bob Feller, sparking them to a victory. Boxscore

The 1949 Yankees went on to win the pennant and Mize got to play against the Dodgers in his first World Series.

In 1950, Mize produced 25 home runs and 72 RBI in just 90 regular-season games for the Yankees.

He was a standout of the 1952 World Series when he batted .400 and slugged three home runs against the Dodgers. He would have had a fourth home run, but Dodgers outfielder Carl Furillo “leaped high, leaned back and robbed” Mize, catching a drive headed for the bleacher seats, The Sporting News reported.

Mize appeared in 18 World Series games for the Yankees and hit .286 with nine RBI.

In 1953, his final season, Mize, 40, was at his best as a pinch-hitter, batting .311 (19-for-61) in the role.

When Mize completed his career in the majors, his 359 home runs ranked sixth all-time. He finished with 2,011 hits, 1,337 RBI and a career batting average of .312.

Mize hit 20 or more home runs nine times and never struck out more than 57 times in any of those seasons. When he hit his career-high 51 home runs for the 1947 Giants, he struck out only 42 times.

Posted in Games, Hitters, Trades | 6 Comments »

Why Cardinals, Grover Cleveland Alexander parted ways

August 19, 2019 by retrosimba

(Updated Dec. 1, 2024)

Grover Cleveland Alexander lost his spot on the Cardinals when manager Bill McKechnie lost confidence in the pitcher’s ability to come to games ready to play.

On Aug. 19, 1929, McKechnie determined Alexander’s alcoholism made him unreliable and sent him back to St. Louis during a road trip.

Cardinals owner Sam Breadon, who liked Alexander and was sympathetic to him, told him to go home to Nebraska, sit out the rest of the 1929 season and try to get sober.

Alexander never pitched for the Cardinals again.

Shell shocked

After posting a 190-88 record in seven seasons with the Phillies, Alexander was dealt to the Cubs in December 1917. He entered the Army in the spring of 1918 and experienced extensive combat in Europe during World War I.

Exposed to heavy artillery shelling, Alexander lost hearing in his left ear, suffered damage to his right ear, developed epilepsy and became an alcoholic.

In the book “Baseball As I Have Known It,” Alexander said to author Fred Lieb, “I don’t feel sorry for myself, or excuse my drinking. I guess I just had two strikes on me when I came into this world. My father was a hard drinker before me, and so was my grandfather before him. I tried to stop. I just couldn’t.”

Alexander returned to the Cubs in May 1919 and pitched effectively for several seasons, but his drinking eventually got him in trouble with rookie manager Joe McCarthy, who took over in 1926 and wanted him off the team.

Years later, Alexander’s wife, Aimee Alexander, told Sport magazine, “Alex always thought he could pitch better with a hangover, and maybe he could, at that.”

In June 1926, the Cubs granted McCarthy’s request, placed Alexander on waivers and he got claimed by the Cardinals.

Under control

In his book “Redbirds: A Century of Cardinals Baseball,” author Bob Broeg described Alexander, 39, as “freckled and turkey-wattled from a long, hard athletic life, knock-kneed, wearing his cap perched on top of his head like a peanut.”

Alexander may not have had control of his personal demons, but he still had command of his pitches. According to Broeg, Alexander was called “Old Low and Away” by teammate Jesse Haines for his ability “to pinpoint pitches down across the lower, outer edge of the plate.”

Alexander was 9-7 for the Cardinals the remainder of the 1926 season, helping them win their first National League pennant. In the 1926 World Series against the Yankees, Alexander made two starts, won both, and earned the save in Game 7 with 2.1 innings of hitless relief, including an iconic strikeout of Tony Lazzeri with two outs and the bases loaded in the seventh.

Alexander was 21-10 for the Cardinals in 1927 and 16-9 in 1928 when they won their second National League championship.

At 42, Alexander still was a starter for the Cardinals in 1929, but he delivered one of his best performances in a relief stint.

On Aug. 10, 1929, in the second game of a Saturday doubleheader against the Phillies at Philadelphia, McKechnie brought Alexander into the game in the eighth inning with the Cardinals trailing, 9-8. According to Broeg, McKechnie said to Alexander, “Hold ’em, and we’ll win it for you.”

The Cardinals got a run in the ninth to tie the score at 9-9 and two in the 11th for an 11-9 lead. Alexander did his part, pitching four scoreless innings and earning the win, the 373rd and last of his major-league career. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Cardinals catcher Jimmie Wilson said Alexander had such control of his pitches against the Phillies “he could have hit a gnat in the eyebrow.” Boxscore

Basic training

Philadelphia prohibited Sunday baseball, so with a day off on Aug. 11, 1929, Alexander informed McKechnie he planned to go to Atlantic City to visit friends.

According to Broeg, Alexander told McKechnie, “I won’t take a drink.”

McKechnie replied, “I don’t care if you take a drink. Just return Monday, fit and ready to work.”

(In “Baseball As I Have Known It,” McKechnie said he told Alexander, “I know you have many friends here and that you like to be with them. I am going to trust you. You can have a few beers, but no gin.”)

Alexander returned to the club on Monday looking “unsightly and shaky,” according to Broeg.

McKechnie told Fred Lieb, “He was a sight. His eyes were watery and bloodshot … His clothes looked as though someone had rolled him in the gutter. Two minutes after he arrived, the room reeked of bad gin. When Alexander was on a real bender, he not only drank quantities of gin, but rubbed it into his skin.”

McKechnie warned Alexander not to let it happen again.

On Aug. 17, 1929, Alexander got the start against the Giants in Game 2 of a Saturday doubleheader in New York and took the loss, yielding five runs in three innings and dropping his record to 9-8.

Alexander went on a drinking binge again. Two days later, on Aug. 19, 1929, during a day off in Brooklyn, McKechnie “ordered Alexander to leave the team for breaking training” rules, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported.

McKechnie had given Alexander “repeated warnings” and said he decided “to use stern measures” because “leniency had failed to gain results,” the Associated Press reported.

In the Post-Dispatch, J. Roy Stockton wrote, “Everybody knows what caused Alexander’s final break with Bill McKechnie. His waywardness has been disguised by a kindly newspaper world as mumps, measles, lumbago, indigestion and ptomaine poisoning, but it is doubtful if anybody is fooled.”

Fond farewell

When he got back to St. Louis, Alexander told the St. Louis Star-Times, “I’ve been a bad boy of baseball and I’m paying for it. There’s no one to blame but myself. I hold no hard feelings toward anyone. Everyone knows I never was an angel.”

Alexander met with Sam Breadon the next day, Aug. 21, 1929. Breadon thought it best for Alexander to take a break from baseball, but said he would continue to pay him during his leave of absence.

“Mr. Breadon told me to go home and straighten up with a long rest and all would be all right,” Alexander said to the Post-Dispatch. “I am going home to St. Paul, Nebraska, and go fishing for bullheads. I expect to regain my best condition and to pitch for the club next year.”

According to the Globe-Democrat, Breadon said McKechnie “did right to order (Alexander) away from the team and I support McKechnie in his moves.”

Breadon added, “I have always been very fond of Alexander and I could not deal harshly with him. It has been said I have disciplined my managers for not holding Alexander closer to the mark, but the actual truth is I have been even more lenient with Alexander than the managers.”

Four months later, on Dec. 11, 1929, the Cardinals traded Alexander and catcher Harry McCurdy to the Phillies for pitcher Bob McGraw and outfielder Homer Peel.

Alexander was 0-3 with a 9.14 ERA in nine appearances for the 1930 Phillies, got sent to the minors and didn’t play in the big leagues again.

He and Christy Mathewson are tied for third among major leaguers in career wins at 373. Only Cy Young (511) and Walter Johnson (417) have more.

Alexander struggled with personal and financial problems during the Great Depression. According to Broeg, Breadon, for the rest of his life, paid Alexander $100 a month, sending the check through the National League office. After Breadon died in 1949, Fred Saigh, part of the Cardinals’ new ownership, kept up the payments to Alexander and paid for the funeral when Alexander died in 1950.

Posted in Games, Pitchers | 2 Comments »

How Terry Moore used speed for 2 home runs in a game

August 16, 2019 by retrosimba

Taking advantage of clumsy defensive work by the Pirates, Terry Moore achieved an unusual feat for the Cardinals.

On Aug. 16, 1939, Moore hit two inside-the-park home runs in one game, driving in all four runs in a 4-3 Cardinals victory over the Pirates at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh.

Moore was the first player to hit two inside-the-park home runs in one game at Forbes Field, according to the Pittsburgh Press.

First homer

In the opener of the Wednesday afternoon doubleheader at Pittsburgh, Bob Klinger, a second-year right-hander, held the Cardinals scoreless for six innings and the Pirates led, 2-0.

In the seventh, Pepper Martin led off for the Cardinals and reached base when his grounder was fumbled by shortstop Arky Vaughan for an error.

Moore followed with a drive to the gap in left-center. Running hard and trying for a triple, Moore took advantage of what the St. Louis Globe-Democrat described as “a disconnected relay throw” by the Pirates and motored safely to the plate behind Martin with a two-run, inside-the-park home run, tying the score at 2-2.

The Pirates regained the lead, 3-2, in the bottom of the seventh with an unearned run against Cardinals starter Bob Weiland.

Second homer

In the top of the ninth, after Martin singled with one out, Moore drilled a pitch from Klinger to deep left. The ball struck the scoreboard, about halfway up.

Left fielder Johnny Rizzo, a former Cardinals prospect best known for his hitting, “went one way and the ball caromed another,” according to the St. Louis Star-Times.

As Rizzo looked around left-center for the baseball, it rolled toward the left-field foul line, the Globe-Democrat reported.

When he finally spotted the ball, Rizzo “frantically chased” it, the Pittsburgh Press reported. Moore tore around the bases and scored behind Martin with his second two-run, inside-the-park home run of the game, giving the Cardinals a 4-3 lead.

More drama

The Pirates threatened against reliever Bob Bowman in the bottom of the ninth. Pep Young led off with a double and advanced to third on Ray Mueller’s sacrifice bunt. Left-hander Clyde Shoun relieved Bowman and struck out Paul Waner, who was batting for Klinger.

Lloyd Waner, who had entered the game in the top half of the ninth as a defensive replacement in center for rookie Fern Bell, was due up next. Lloyd Waner, like his brother Paul, was destined for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame and was batting .285 for the season. However, he batted left-handed, and Pirates manager Pie Traynor apparently wanted a right-handed batter to face Shoun with two outs and the potential tying run at third.

Traynor sent Jim Tobin, a pitcher, to bat for Lloyd Waner. Tobin, who was batting .265 for the season, grounded out to first, ending the game. Boxscore

Moore finished the 1939 season with 17 home runs, second on the club to Johnny Mize, who slugged 28.

In 11 seasons with the Cardinals, Moore hit 80 home runs. He hit three inside-the-park home runs, all at Forbes Field. The first occurred on Sept. 7, 1936, leading off the game against Waite Hoyt of the Pirates. Boxscore

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents | 2 Comments »

The night Lou Brock got his 3,000th career hit

August 13, 2019 by retrosimba

After getting lit up by Dennis Lamp, Lou Brock nearly turned out the lights on the Cubs pitcher.

On Aug. 13, 1979, Brock got his 3,000th career hit, a smash that struck Lamp’s right hand, turning three of his fingers purple.

Brock’s single came on the first pitch after Lamp brushed him back.

“I should thank Lamp for that fastball under the chin,” Brock said to the Chicago Tribune. “It brought me back to reality because it was a pretty close pitch. All the thoroughbred players I know bounce back from that, so I was ready for the next pitch. My concentration was back where it should have been.”

Setting the stage

After batting .221 in 1978, Brock said the 1979 season would be his last as a player. He needed 100 hits to reach 3,000. “I seriously doubted he’d make them,” Bob Broeg of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote. “I hoped a grand guy wouldn’t wind up an embarrassment in the batting order.”

Brock, 40, made an adjustment in his batting stance, keeping his weight on his front foot, and began spraying hits consistently again. He went into the game against the Cubs with a .321 batting average and 2,998 hits.

The Monday night game at Busch Memorial Stadium matched Lamp against Cardinals starter Pete Vuckovich. Cardinals manager Ken Boyer put Brock in the No. 2 spot in the batting order between Garry Templeton and Keith Hernandez.

The Cubs were the ideal opponent for Brock’s attempt at the milestone. They were Brock’s first major-league team before they traded him to the Cardinals in 1964.

In the Cardinals’ clubhouse before the game, Brock’s mood was loose and relaxed, the Post-Dispatch reported. “He’s so even-keel you’d never know what was at stake,” Hernandez said.

Brock and Templeton shadow-boxed. Third baseman Ken Reitz reminded Brock of a bet they made in spring training regarding whether Brock would reach 3,000 hits before Reitz got to 1,000.

Playing before a crowd of 44,457, Templeton led off the Cardinals’ half of the first with a single. Boyer called for a hit-and-run and Brock lined a single to left for hit No. 2,999.

Big hit

Brock’s second at-bat of the game, and his first attempt at hit No. 3,000, came when he led off in the fourth.

“I pictured in my mind a hit up the middle,” Brock said.

The count was 1-and-2 when Lamp unleashed his brushback pitch. The high and tight fastball set up the next pitch, a curve Lamp hoped Brock would miss or hit weakly. “I thought it was a good pitch,” Lamp said.

Instead, Brock drilled the ball, “a line drive that would clean the sawdust off a 2-by-4,” according to Post-Dispatch columnist Tom Barnidge.

Brock told writer Roger Angell, “It was the hardest ball I hit all year.”

The ball pounded into the fingers of Lamp’s throwing hand _ “It felt like having your hand caught in a car door,” he said to The Sporting News _ and caromed across the third-base line. Third baseman Steve Ontiveros retrieved it but had no chance to throw out Brock, who streaked across first base. Video

Crowning achievement

As the crowd roared, club owner Gussie Busch and Stan Musial, the first Cardinal to achieve 3,000 hits, joined Brock and his teammates in a ceremony on the field.

“I’ve always wanted to leave baseball in a blaze of glory,” said Brock, who became the 14th major-league player to achieve 3,000 hits. “I’ve always wanted to orchestrate my own exodus.”

Lamp was removed from the game and replaced by a former Cardinal, Doug Capilla. “My middle and index fingers swelled up and turned purple,” Lamp said.

In the fifth inning, with Ken Oberkfell on second base and two outs, Boyer sent Tony Scott to bat for Brock.

Brock went into the Cubs’ clubhouse to check on Lamp, who was relieved X-rays showed no fractures to his fingers. “I told him not to be afraid to pull the ball next time,” Lamp said. “I guess what this means is that they’ll be sending my fingers to Cooperstown.”

That’s a winner

In the bottom of the ninth, with the score tied at 2-2, Reitz got his 1,000th career hit, a single against Willie Hernandez, but too late to win his bet with Brock. Tommy Herr, making his major-league debut, was sent in to run for Reitz.

After Hernandez hit Oberkfell with a pitch, moving Herr to second, Bruce Sutter relieved and yielded a single to Dane Iorg, loading the bases.

Templeton followed with a flyout to left fielder Dave Kingman. Herr tagged and headed toward the plate. The throw was wide and Herr scored the winning run. Boxscore

Great champion

Among the post-game reactions to Brock’s achievement:

_ Ted Sizemore, Cubs second baseman and former Cardinal: “Lou Brock is the most mentally prepared player I ever saw. He’s a guy who can identify with goals. When he sets his mind to it, he can get it. He’s one of the great champions in the game.”

_ Bob Forsch, Cardinals pitcher: “I think he wanted to do this against the Cubs. I mean, they’re the club that traded him away. There had to be a real sense of satisfaction.”

_Ted Simmons, Cardinals catcher: “You look at Lou’s career and you envy it. I do. I think most players do. I’ve enjoyed every ballgame I’ve ever played with him. What he’s done has been remarkable.”

The Sporting News called the 3,000 hits “a testimony to his ability, pride, determination and competitive spirit.”

In an editorial, the Post-Dispatch concluded, “What truly sets him apart is the self-discipline and fidelity to purpose that made possible the consistency and stamina demanded by such a sports milestone.”

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents | 6 Comments »

Why Cardinals management told players: Take a hike

August 10, 2019 by retrosimba

At a time when big-league baseball lost its way, Cardinals players got stranded and fans were abandoned.

On Aug. 12, 1994, major-league players went on strike. The season never resumed and there were no postseason games.

The Cardinals’ last game of the season was played Aug. 11, 1994, at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami against the Marlins.

With management and players showing no signs of reaching a labor settlement, the Cardinals’ front office told the players they weren’t allowed on the team’s charter flight and would have to find their own way back to St. Louis.

Lost souls

The 1994 Cardinals ended June with a 39-36 record, but went into a tailspin in July, losing 20 of 28 games.

Manager Joe Torre said his players had “a tough time concentrating” and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted the Cardinals “often seemed like lost souls.”

In a game against the Cubs, outfielders Ray Lankford and Mark Whiten let a routine fly ball fall untouched between them. “It’s something that shouldn’t happen,” Torre said. “Mental shutdowns shouldn’t happen.”

The baseball players’ union set a strike date of Aug. 12 if a settlement wasn’t reached with team owners. Some wondered whether the Cardinals were distracted by the likelihood of a work stoppage, but shortstop Ozzie Smith said, “The way we’ve been playing has nothing to do with the strike or anything else. We’ve just been playing like a bad baseball team.”

In what would be their last home game of 1994, the Cardinals lost, 9-7, to the Cubs on July 31 before 48,921, dropping their record to 47-56 before embarking on an 11-game trip to Montreal, Pittsburgh and Miami. Boxscore

No deal

On Aug. 8, 1994, Donald Fehr, executive director of the players’ union, told the Associated Press, “This doesn’t have the air of a dispute that’s going to settle.”

Richard Ravitch, chief negotiator of the baseball owners, wouldn’t make a prediction but added, “That doesn’t mean I think the fairy godmother will descend with a solution.”

The dispute focused on a salary cap, salary arbitration and player compensation. The owners wanted a salary cap and elimination of salary arbitration. The players wanted higher minimum salaries, more postseason money and preservation of the free agency system.

Cardinals general manager Dal Maxvill said, “I’m concerned. We’re not talking about apples and apples here. Or apples and oranges, or apples and bananas. We’re talking about apples and sabers.”

Hardball tactics

On Aug. 10, with a strike looking inevitable in two days, Cardinals president Stuart Meyer told Todd Zeile, the club’s player union representative, the players wouldn’t be allowed on the team charter flight to St. Louis after the series-ending game with the Marlins on Aug. 11.

“Paternalism is gone,” Meyer said. “It isn’t a friendly situation anymore. It’s a fact of life. It’s a business decision.”

Cardinals pitcher Bob Tewksbury called the ploy by Cardinals management “kind of unbelievable.”

“I can’t see any other point they’re trying to make other than, ‘We don’t care about you and we’re going to try to stick it to you,’ ” said Tewksbury.

Said catcher Tom Pagnozzi, the club’s alternate player union representative: “One thing I think this did is it unified the players a little bit more. There are some guys who are real bitter.”

Ozzie Smith said, “It’s not surprising. We’ve had to deal with it for years. Nothing has changed. The faces change, but the actions remain the same.”

Zeile and Pagnozzi arranged for the players to charter a TWA DC-9 airplane to take them back to St. Louis. They also lined up a bus to take the players from the Miami stadium to the airport and rented a truck to load the players’ equipment. Zeile said it cost $18,000 to charter the plane and the cost was split among the players, according to the Post-Dispatch.

Fitting ending

In another controversial cost-saving move by Cardinals management, catcher Erik Pappas was recalled from the minor leagues on Aug. 11 “because he makes $140,000 on a major-league contract,” the Post-Dispatch explained.

By having Pappas on the active big-league roster, the Cardinals wouldn’t have to pay him during a strike. “If the strike would last the rest of the season, the Cardinals would save about $40,000 in Pappas’ salary,” the Post-Dispatch reported.

On Aug. 11, a Thursday night, the Cardinals and Marlins played what would be their last game of the season. In the top of the eighth, with the Cardinals ahead, 8-6, “God punished everyone,” Rick Hummel wrote in the Post-Dispatch, when rain delayed the game for 1 hour, 19 minutes before crew chief Harry Wendelstedt called it off. Boxscore

When the Cardinals players arrived at the Fort Lauderdale airport for their flight to St. Louis, “they could see the team’s regular charter plane preparing to take off,” the Post-Dispatch reported. Torre, coaches, staff and broadcasters were onboard the official Cardinals charter.

The next day, Aug. 12, the strike began and management permitted Cardinals players to go into Busch Memorial Stadium and clean out their lockers.

“The fans are the ones who have had to endure over and over again,” said Torre. “I hope they’ll give this thing one more chance. We’ve got to stop teasing the fans.”

The strike didn’t end until April 2, 1995, soon after U.S. District Judge Sonia Sotomayor issued an injunction requiring baseball owners to comply with the expired collective bargaining agreement.

The first regular-season game since the strike began was played April 25, 1995, between the Dodgers and Marlins in Miami. The Cardinals opened at home the next day, April 26, versus the Phillies.

Posted in Games | 2 Comments »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »