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Why Cardinals dealt Orlando Cepeda for Joe Torre

March 9, 2019 by retrosimba

(Updated April 13, 2025)

For such a straightforward deal, the trade of Joe Torre to the Cardinals for Orlando Cepeda took some twists and turns involving pitcher Nolan Ryan and center fielder Curt Flood.

On March 17, 1969, the Cardinals sent Cepeda to the Braves for Torre in a swap of first basemen.

The Braves were shopping Torre because he was feuding with general manager Paul Richards and hadn’t signed a contract. Most thought Torre would go to the Mets, who’d been in trade talks with the Braves for several weeks.

The Mets offered pitcher Nolan Ryan, first baseman Ed Kranepool, infielder Bob Heise and a choice of catchers, J.C. Martin or Duffy Dyer, for Torre and third baseman Bob Aspromonte, The Sporting News reported. Torre and Aspromonte were Brooklyn natives.

Ryan, who would become baseball’s all-time leader in strikeouts, impressed the Braves but was a raw talent. Richards rejected the four-for-two proposal because he wanted catcher Jerry Grote or outfielder Amos Otis, but the Mets “labeled them untouchables,” according to Atlanta Constitution sports editor Jesse Outlar.

When the Mets wouldn’t budge, the Braves offered Torre to the Dodgers for catcher Tom Haller, but the Dodgers weren’t interested, the Constitution reported.

Cardinals general manager Bing Devine offered Cepeda and Flood for Torre and outfielder Felipe Alou, according to the Constitution, but Richards wouldn’t trade Alou, so the clubs settled on Cepeda for Torre. Seven months later, when the Cardinals traded Flood to the Phillies, he refused to report, prompting his legal challenge of the reserve clause and opening a path to the creation of free agency.

Cepeda feels chill

The Cardinals were willing to trade Cepeda because his performance declined in 1968 and he miffed management by reporting late to spring training in 1969.

After batting .325 with 111 RBI and winning the National League Most Valuable Player Award with the Cardinals in 1967, Cepeda hit .248 with 73 RBI in 1968.

Cepeda “found himself taken advantage of by well-wishing friends who helped him pile up debts and other problems that didn’t endear him to management … especially when at times he’d duck out of the dugout between innings to conduct personal matters,” Bob Broeg of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

The Cardinals hoped Cepeda would be more focused in 1969, but he informed Devine by telegram he would report late to spring training.

When Cepeda arrived at camp on March 5, he said he’d been sick, but Devine fined him $250 for reporting 48 hours later than he said he would.

Cepeda said he detected “a coolness” from Devine, and Broeg reported “Cepeda realized there had been a change in attitude toward him.”

“Bing was not terribly friendly and he was all business,” Cepeda said in his 1998 book “Baby Bull.”

In his 2004 book “The Memoirs of Bing Devine,” Devine said, “I thought Cepeda might be on the way down.”

Mother knows best

Torre, meanwhile, was having issues with Braves management because Richards wanted him to take a salary cut. Torre hit .294 in nine seasons (1960-68) as Braves catcher, but he tore ligaments in his ankle in 1967 and suffered a broken cheek and broken nose when hit by a pitch from Chuck Hartenstein of the Cubs in 1968. Limited to 115 games in 1968, Torre batted .271 with 55 RBI.

The Braves planned to move Torre to first base in 1969, but when he refused to report to spring training because of the salary squabble, Richards told him he could “hold out until Thanksgiving” because the club would be OK without him.

The Cardinals were interested because Torre (28) was three years younger than Cepeda (31), had a less expensive salary ($65,000) than Cepeda ($80,000) and could play multiple positions.

“This is all part of our belief that we can’t just sit and ride along with a winner, but must look for changes that make sense,” Devine said.

Devine projected Torre to play first base and back up Tim McCarver at catcher.

When Torre told his mother he’d been traded to the two-time defending National League champions, she replied, “Now go to church and thank God.”

“Mom recognized what going with a championship ballclub like the Cardinals meant,” Torre said.

Looking back on the trade, Torre told Cardinals Yearbook in 2014, “The fact I was traded for Orlando Cepeda surprised the hell out of me. He was so well thought of as a player and a great leader.”

Cepeda, described by pitcher Bob Gibson as the team’s “spiritual leader,” said he was “shocked” by the trade, “but I’m not mad at the Cardinals. They treated me very well.”

Said Richards: “Now we have someone to hit behind Hank Aaron. The opposition can no longer pitch around Aaron.”

Good fit

When Torre joined the Cardinals at training camp, he was greeted by Warren Spahn, a manager in their farm system and a former battery mate. “You’ll love it here,” Spahn told Torre.

Torre wore uniform No. 15 with the Braves, but McCarver had that number with the Cardinals. “I think I’ll ask for No. 6,” Torre said with a smile, knowing it was the retired number of Stan Musial.

Torre was given No. 9, last worn by recently retired Roger Maris. “I thought No. 9 was great, knowing who had worn it the year before,” Torre recalled to Cardinals Yearbook in 2014. “I knew Roger a little bit, and I knew what kind of guy he was, so I was really proud to have it.”

In his 1997 book, “Chasing the Dream,” Torre said, “I felt a lot of pressure trying to replace Cepeda, but found myself surrounded by a great bunch of teammates.”

With Cepeda, the Braves won a division title in 1969 and played in the National League Championship Series against the Mets, who’d acquired Donn Clendenon to play first after they failed to get Torre. The Cardinals placed fourth in their division and Gibson good-naturedly chided Torre, saying, “You know, we used to win before you got here.”

Individually, Torre had a better 1969 season than Cepeda. Torre hit .289 with 101 RBI. Cepeda hit .257 with 88 RBI.

Cepeda played four seasons with the Braves and hit .281. Torre played six seasons with the Cardinals and hit .308. In 1971, Torre was named winner of the National League Most Valuable Player Award when he batted .363 with 137 RBI as Cardinals third baseman.

Years later, Devine said acquiring Torre “was one of my favorite deals on the basis of his long-term success.”

Posted in Hitters, Trades | 13 Comments »

Don Newcombe used multiple skills to torment Cardinals

March 6, 2019 by retrosimba

(Updated April 13, 2020)

Don Newcombe was as tough on the Cardinals with a bat as he was with pitches.

Newcombe was a hard-throwing, hard-hitting pitcher who spent his prime years with the Dodgers.

At 6-4, 220 pounds, Newcombe was an imposing figure on the mound, where he threw right-handed, and at the plate, where he hit left-handed.

In 10 years in the major leagues, Newcombe had a 149-90 record and hit .271 with 15 home runs. Against the Cardinals, Newcombe was 23-11 and hit .299 with six home runs.

In 1955, when he was 20-5 for the champion Dodgers, Newcombe “toyed with the Cardinals as though they were a sandlot team,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Newcombe was 4-0 with a 1.75 ERA and batted .524 with seven RBI versus the 1955 Cardinals.

Newcombe “is downright unbelievable these days,” marveled the Post-Dispatch. “The way he’s going, the only question is whether he can throw as hard as he can hit, or hit as hard as he can throw.”

Rookie vs. Redbirds

Newcombe, 22, made his major-league debut for the Dodgers against the Cardinals on May 20, 1949, at St. Louis and it was a hard-luck initiation.

With the Cardinals ahead, 3-2, Newcombe relieved Rex Barney to open the bottom of the seventh inning. The St. Louis Star-Times, getting its first glimpse of the rookie, described him as “bull-shouldered” and a “massive mountain man.”

Newcombe struck out the first batter, Chuck Diering, on three pitches _ two fastballs and a curve _ and Red Schoendienst followed with a lined single to right.

Next up was Stan Musial. Newcombe fooled him with a low, outside pitch, causing Musial to check his swing, but the ball met his bat and was blooped into shallow left for a single, moving Schoendienst to second.

Newcombe overpowered the next batter, Eddie Kazak, who topped the ball to short so weakly Pee Wee Reese had no play.

The infield single loaded the bases for Enos Slaughter, who drove Newcombe’s first pitch deep down the left-field line for a bases-clearing double. Newcombe was relieved by Erv Palica and the Cardinals won, 6-2. Boxscore

“I had good stuff,” Newcombe said to The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. “My arm felt good and loose, too.”

According to a Saturday Evening Post article reported on in The Sporting News, when Newcombe struck out Diering, “the Negro fans in the right field stands at Sportsman’s Park went wild. White fans resented this _ cheers for the visiting Negro player and hoots for the hometown Cardinals. So when the Cardinals began pounding away at Newcombe, the white fans gave him the business.”

Three months later, on Aug. 24, 1949, in what The Brooklyn Daily Eagle called “quite possibly the most important single game the Dodgers will have this season,” Newcombe pitched a shutout and drove in three runs in a 6-0 victory over the Cardinals at Brooklyn. The win moved the Dodgers within a game of the first-place Cardinals. Boxscore

Newcombe is “the closest thing to a real blow-’em-down pitcher the National League has seen since Mort Cooper was at his best,” declared the Post-Dispatch.

Solved by Stan

The Dodgers won the 1949 pennant, finishing a game ahead of the Cardinals. Newcombe posted a 17-8 record, pitched 244.1 innings and won the National League Rookie of the Year Award.

In the 1994 book “We Played the Game,” Newcombe said as a rookie, “I had the talent and desire _ and I was cocky. I knew I was good, as good or better than the white guys who were trying to keep me from being there.”

Newcombe led the National League in winning percentage in 1955 (20-5, .800) and 1956 (27-7, .794), and was 4-0 versus the Cardinals in each season.

The Cardinal who hit Newcombe the hardest was Musial. Newcombe gave up more home runs (11) to Musial than to any other batter. Musial hit .349 against him.

In “We Played the Game,” Newcombe said, “I pitched toward batters’ weaknesses. Except for Stan Musial and Hank Aaron, they all had weaknesses, even Willie Mays.”

On June 21, 1956, during a season when Newcombe won both the Cy Young Award and the National League Most Valuable Player trophy, Musial hit a pair of two-run home runs and a single against him, but the Dodgers won, 9-8, with a four-run rally in the bottom of the ninth. Boxscore

Newcombe and Carl Erskine were the pitchers when Musial hit for the cycle against the Dodgers on July 24, 1949, at Brooklyn. Musial tripled against Newcombe and had a single, double and home run off Erskine. Boxscore

In his 1964 autobiography, “Stan Musial: The Man’s Own Story,” Musial said, “Newk had as great control for a hard thrower as any pitcher I ever faced. I hit him good, but he had a good fastball and curve.”

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents, Pitchers | 4 Comments »

Dazed and confused: Bernie Carbo and his Cardinals encore

March 3, 2019 by retrosimba

The return of Bernie Carbo to the Cardinals after a six-year absence was a minor free-agent signing with major consequences.

In March 1979, the Cardinals signed Carbo to a two-year contract for a guaranteed $115,000 per season.

Carbo was projected to be a backup outfielder and pinch-hitter for the Cardinals in 1979 and 1980.

Years later, Keith Hernandez, the Cardinals first baseman who in 1979 won a National League batting title and was named co-winner of the Most Valuable Player Award, testified in federal court he began using cocaine with Carbo when they were Cardinals teammates.

In retaliation for testifying against him, Carbo said he offered to pay someone to have Hernandez’s arms broken.

From Reds to Redbirds to Red Sox

Carbo had a troubled childhood in Detroit, but he possessed baseball talent and was chosen by the Reds in the first round of the 1965 amateur draft.

He made his major-league debut with the Reds in 1969, became their left fielder in 1970 and helped them win the National League pennant. Carbo batted .310 with 21 home runs and a .454 on-base percentage for the 1970 Reds, but was hitless in the World Series versus the Orioles.

According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, the relationship between Carbo and Reds manager Sparky Anderson deteriorated, and on May 19, 1972, Carbo was dealt to the Cardinals for first baseman Joe Hague.

As the Cardinals’ right fielder, Carbo batted .258 with a .381 on-base percentage in 1972 and .286 with a .397 on-base percentage in 1973.

The Cardinals traded Carbo and pitcher Rick Wise to the Red Sox for outfielder Reggie Smith and pitcher Ken Tatum on Oct. 26, 1973.

Two years later, in the 1975 World Series against the Reds, Carbo joined another former Cardinal, Chuck Essegian of the 1959 Dodgers, as the only players with two pinch-hit home runs in one World Series.

Limited options

In June 1978, the Red Sox sent Carbo to the Indians. After the season, Carbo, 31, became a free agent and “was shocked to find there was hardly any demand for his services,” according to The Sporting News.

The Cardinals were the only club to make him an offer. Carbo said, “I was depressed very, very much” by the lack of interest. “It hurts that nobody wants you.”

The reason the Cardinals took a chance was because of Carbo’s history with general manager John Claiborne, who’d been a Red Sox administrator.

With Lou Brock in left, Tony Scott in center and George Hendrick in right, Carbo was a backup for the 1979 Cardinals. He seldom played and hit .281 in 64 at-bats. In July, he showed up late for a game and got into an argument with manager Ken Boyer. Fined and told to stay out of uniform, Carbo apologized the next day and was reinstated.

In 1980, Carbo again opened the season as a Cardinals reserve, but he hit .182 in 11 at-bats and got released in May.

Demons and drugs

In September 1985, Hernandez was called to testify in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh in the trial of a man accused of dealing drugs. Under oath, Hernandez said Carbo introduced him to cocaine in 1980.

Hernandez testified he used cocaine from 1980 to 1983 and played in one game for the Cardinals while under the influence of the drug. “It was a demon in me, an insatiable urge,” Hernandez said. Hernandez said other cocaine users on the Cardinals were Carbo, Joaquin Andujar, Lary Sorensen and Lonnie Smith, the New York Times reported.

Asked about Hernandez’s testimony, Carbo told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “He’s saying this to save his own career. He wants to put the blame on somebody else … He’s the one with the problem, spending big bucks on stuff like that.”

Twenty-five years later, in a 2010 interview with ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” program, Carbo said he sought to hire someone in 1985 to break the arms of Hernandez.

“I knew some people, and I had $2,000, and I asked them to break his arms,” Carbo said to ESPN.

According to the New York Post, Carbo changed his mind when told he likely would be implicated in any attack on Hernandez.

Carbo told ESPN, “When I went to an individual to have it done, he said, ‘We’ll do it in two or three years if you want it done, but we’re not going to do it today, Bernie. If we went and broke his legs today, or broke his arms, you don’t think they would understand that you are the one that had it done?’ ”

Years later, Carbo told ESPN, he wanted to apologize to Hernandez for getting him started on cocaine. “I would tell Keith Hernandez I’m sorry that I introduced you to the drug and I’m sorry that I was your problem,” Carbo said.

Hernandez told Newsday, “He doesn’t owe me an apology.”

Getting clean

In a 2001 interview with The Sporting News, Carbo said, “I was a drug addict and alcoholic for 28 years.” He said he “did cocaine when I was 22 or 23, and got into crystal meth, Dekedrines, Benzedrines, Darvons, codeine. There wasn’t much that I didn’t do.”

Carbo said to ESPN, “I was addicted to the point where I couldn’t play without the drugs.”

After Carbo was implicated in the drug trial, his mother committed suicide and his father died two months later. Carbo told ESPN, “I felt at that time I was responsible for my mother’s death.”

In 1992, Carbo wanted to take his own life. “I really didn’t have any hope or any reason to live any longer, so I was really contemplating suicide,” he said.

Carbo later wrote a book, “Saving Bernie Carbo,” and said he overcame his addiction to drugs and alcohol with the help of the Baseball Assistance Team (BAT) and with the encouragement of former players Ferguson Jenkins, Bill Lee and Sam McDowell.

In an April 2018 interview with The Detroit News, Carbo speculated clubs knew of his substance abuse problems during his playing days. “I think that’s why I got traded so many times,” he said. “I got traded every two or three years. They were probably aware of my wrongdoings.”

Posted in Hitters | 13 Comments »

Keith Hernandez vs. Darryl Strawberry: Mets maulers

February 28, 2019 by retrosimba

Early in spring training in 1989, Mets teammates Keith Hernandez and Darryl Strawberry provided a snapshot of the season ahead and it wasn’t pretty.

On March 2, 1989, Hernandez and Strawberry got into a scuffle while the Mets gathered for a team photo at training camp in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

Hernandez, the former Cardinal, and Strawberry were two of the Mets’ most prominent players and their fight was visible evidence all was not right with team chemistry.

“It is not without reason the Mets have a psychiatrist on the premises,” New York Daily News columnist Mike Lupica observed.

Sticks and stones

In a four-year stretch from 1985-88, the Cardinals and Mets ruled the National League East. The Cardinals won the division title in 1985 and 1987; the Mets did it in 1986 and 1988. Hernandez, the smooth-fielding first baseman acquired from the Cardinals in 1983, and Strawberry, the slugging right fielder, were instrumental in the Mets’ success.

When Strawberry showed up at training camp in 1989, he informed the Mets he wanted to renegotiate a contract which had two years remaining. “I feel I’m not being appreciated for what I’ve done,” Strawberry said to the New York Times.

Mets management was uninterested in reworking the agreement and Hernandez sided with the front office, telling a newspaper Strawberry was “getting bad advice” and “a deal’s a deal.”

At the photo session on a Thursday morning before workouts began, Strawberry said to Hernandez, “Why did you say those things about me?’

Hernandez replied, “I’m tired of your baby stuff.”

Strawberry said, “I’ve been tired of you for years,” and took a swing at Hernandez.

The backhand punch grazed Hernandez on the cheek, according to the Daily News.

Pitchers Dwight Gooden and Bob Ojeda restrained Strawberry, and pitcher Randy Myers grabbed Hernandez and lifted him off the ground to keep him from going after Strawberry, the Daily News reported. Video

“Another day in fantasy land,” said Mets pitcher Ron Darling. “Like Barnum and Bailey and the great traveling show.”

The photo session continued, with Gary Carter and Howard Johnson sitting between Hernandez and Strawberry, the SunSentinel of Fort Lauderdale reported. Strawberry and Hernandez took batting practice on separate fields. Later, they met together with team psychiatrist Dr. Alan Lans and shook hands, the New York Times reported.

“Do not believe anything was resolved beyond a truce,” Lupica wrote in the Daily News. “The two men still do not like each other.”

With management refusing to budge on his demand for a new contract, Strawberry capped the day by skipping an intrasquad game and walking out of camp, saying he wouldn’t return unless the Mets agreed to renegotiate.

“Someday, a Met will go on the disabled list with hurt feelings,” Lupica predicted.

Strawberry smooch

The next day, March 3, Strawberry didn’t show at training camp and was fined by the club.

With the Mets playing the Dodgers in an exhibition game at Port St. Lucie on March 4, the soap opera took a twist when Strawberry returned with a grand entrance.

As a public address announcer called their names in pre-game introductions, Mets players emerged one by one from the dugout and formed a line on the field. After Hernandez came out, Strawberry’s name was called and the prodigal player appeared to a chorus of boos from the home crowd. Strawberry acknowledged the fans by gesturing for more boos, the Daily News reported.

As Strawberry lined up next to Hernandez, they hugged and Strawberry kissed him on the right cheek.

“It took all of three seconds for Darryl Strawberry to offer Keith Hernandez the ultimate olive branch,” the Daily News reported.

Strawberry, claiming the kiss was spontaneous, declared the fight “should have never happened” and said, “We’re friends now.”

“Me and Keith have had a special relationship and I don’t want it to be destroyed by what happened in the past,” Strawberry said.

Hernandez told Gannett News Service, “It should be water under the bridge. We’ll just go forward from here. We’re here to play ball.”

Sad season

Both Hernandez and Strawberry had subpar seasons for the 1989 Mets and their performances were factors in why the team failed to reach the postseason.

Hernandez hit .233 with a paltry 19 RBI. He became a free agent after the season and signed with the Indians.

Strawberry hit .225 with 29 home runs. He played another year for the Mets, fulfilling the contract, became a free agent and joined the Dodgers in 1991.

The 1989 Mets finished at 87-75, six games behind the first-place Cubs and a game ahead of the third-place Cardinals.

Posted in Hitters, Opponents | 2 Comments »

Why Mickey Mantle walked away from Yankees

February 25, 2019 by retrosimba

Five years after he faced the Cardinals in his 12th World Series with the Yankees, Mickey Mantle knew he wouldn’t play in another.

On March 1, 1969, Mantle, 37, announced his retirement, bringing an end to the career of one of baseball’s most exciting and popular players.

Hampered by leg injuries and other ailments, Mantle’s performance declined steadily in the years after he hit .333 with three home runs in the 1964 World Series against the Cardinals.

On the day Mantle made his retirement announcement at the Yankees’ spring training base in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., his friend and former teammate, Roger Maris, was visiting the Cardinals’ camp across the state in St. Petersburg. Maris, who retired after playing in a second consecutive World Series for the Cardinals in October 1968, said he wasn’t surprised by Mantle’s decision and “seemed relieved his former teammate had hung up his uniform,” according to Bob Broeg of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Mick and The Man

Mantle was born in Oklahoma and his boyhood baseball idol was the Cardinals’ Stan Musial. In 1946, when he was 14, Mantle and his father went to St. Louis to see a Cardinals game and were in a hotel elevator when Musial got on, according to author Jane Leavy in the book “The Last Boy.” Mantle’s dad wouldn’t allow him to ask Musial for an autograph. “A glimpse of a hero was enough,” Leavy wrote.

On the day he signed with the Yankees in 1949, Mantle told them Musial was his favorite player, but general manager George Weiss instructed him to tell the media Joe DiMaggio was his baseball hero, according to the Leavy book.

Mantle, a switch-hitting outfielder, had astonishing power and speed, but eventually became hampered by injuries, most significantly to his knees.

Mantle led the American League in home runs four times and earned the Triple Crown in 1956 when he topped the AL in batting average (.353), home runs (52) and RBI (130). He won the league’s Most Valuable Player Award three times and slugged 18 World Series home runs.

In 1964, Mantle had his last big season, batting .303 with 35 home runs, 111 RBI, and led the league in on-base percentage at .423. In Game 3 of the World Series versus the Cardinals, his home run against Barney Schultz leading off the bottom of the ninth gave the Yankees a 2-1 walkoff win. Boxscore He also hit a home run off Curt Simmons in Game 6 and another against Bob Gibson in Game 7.

In each of the next four seasons, Mantle failed to hit .300 or produce 60 RBI, but his on-base percentage remained high, ranging between .379 and .391.

After hitting .237 in his final year, 1968, Mantle decided he was finished, but the Yankees and the players’ union asked him to delay an announcement until spring training, according to the Leavy book. The Yankees wanted to use his popularity to sell tickets and the union wanted to use his clout in labor negotiations.

In the Nov. 17, 1968, New York Daily News, columnist Dick Young broke the story of Mantle’s intention to retire and reported, “Official announcement will be withheld until Mickey joins the Yankees at their training camp in March.”

Time to go

When Mantle arrived in Fort Lauderdale on Feb. 28, 1969, he still was on the Yankees’ active roster. He spoke privately that night with Yankees manager Ralph Houk and informed him he wanted to retire. The next morning, Mantle had breakfast with team president Michael Burke and gave him the same news.

Burke, like Houk, told Mantle he could keep playing for the Yankees, but Mantle’s mind was made up.

The Yankees hastily arranged an afternoon news conference and Mantle made his decision public.

“I can’t play anymore,” Mantle said to the Associated Press. “I don’t hit the ball when I need to. I can’t steal when I need to. I can’t score from second when I need to.”

Mantle said “my right knee is what they call a 100 percent disability _ there’s nothing left to fix.”

“I was actually dreading playing another season,” Mantle said, adding, “I figured it would be best for the team if I stop now.”

After 18 Yankees seasons (1951-68), Mantle finished with a .298 batting average, 536 home runs, 1,509 RBI, 2,415 hits and a .421 on-base percentage. It bothered him he didn’t hit .300 for his career, a goal he would have achieved if he had quit a season sooner. “If I kept playing, I would only keep lowering my average,” he said. “I have known for two years that I couldn’t hit anymore, but I kept trying.”

He told The Sporting News, “It has become embarrassing to have young kids throw the ball past me.”

Yankees royalty

Reactions to Mantle’s decision brought a flood of tributes.

_ Musial told the Post-Dispatch, “If he’d been completely sound physically, I think he would have been the best ballplayer any of us ever saw.”

_ DiMaggio said to The Sporting News, “I know exactly how Mickey feels. They all told me I had a couple of years left when I quit, but I couldn’t bounce back anymore.”

_ In an editorial, The Sporting News declared, “This last of the Yankees superstars captured the public fancy as did few players before him and certainly none since. A Mantle arrives about as frequently as the birth of quintuplets.”

_ Broeg wrote in the Post-Dispatch, “For the first time in the nearly half-century since New York acquired Babe Ruth, the Yankees are a bunch of nondescript guys named Charlie Smith. Retirement of Mickey Mantle did more than take from baseball the bat of a big-name player, for it also deprived the Yankees of their last vestige of playing field glamour.”

_ Dick Young wrote in the New York Daily News, “There is much more than muscle in Mickey Mantle. There is class and guts, and his own special kind of dignity, and there is enough pride for 10 men. I suppose it was the pride, after all, that made him decide he’d had it.”

Posted in Hitters, Opponents | 4 Comments »

Tall order: Dodgers were tough on little Joe Presko

February 22, 2019 by retrosimba

Joe Presko pitched for the Cardinals at a time when the Dodgers dominated the National League.

Presko was with the Cardinals from 1951-54, a period when the Dodgers won two National League pennants and twice finished in second.

Those Dodgers teams were immortalized in the Roger Kahn book “The Boys of Summer” and featured players such as Roy Campanella, Gil Hodges, Pee Wee Reese, Jackie Robinson and Duke Snider.

Presko was 24-36 with a 4.70 ERA in his four seasons with St. Louis, but those numbers look better when excluding his performances against the Dodgers. Presko was 2-11 with a 6.33 ERA versus the Dodgers and 22-25 against the rest of the National League.

Big talent

Presko, a 5-foot-9 right-hander with a boyish appearance, didn’t play organized baseball until his senior year in high school in Kansas City, Mo., according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Because he threw hard, he got the attention of Yankees scout Bill Essick, who concluded Presko was too small to play professional baseball.

After graduating high school, Presko was playing for a drug store team in Kansas City when the Cardinals got a tip to give him a look, The Sporting News reported. Scout Runt Marr liked what he saw and signed him.

Presko rapidly rose through the Cardinals’ minor-league system, producing win totals of 16 in 1948, 14 in 1949 and 16 again in 1950.

Cardinals manager Marty Marion kept him with the big-league club after spring training in 1951. “He has a fastball that breezes right by you if you guess it’s a curve,” said Marion. “He throws everything with the same motion, seemingly the same speed.”

On May 3, 1951, Presko got a win in his major-league debut with four innings of one-hit relief against the defending National League champion Phillies. Presko yielded a solo home run to the second batter he faced, Eddie Pellagrini, and retired the next 11 in a row. Boxscore

Referring to him as Little Joe, the Post-Dispatch reported Presko “won the admiration of his teammates.”

In his second Cardinals appearance, Presko got a save with two scoreless innings against the Dodgers. Boxscore

Hot streak

Marion moved Presko into the starting rotation and after losses to the Giants and Reds on the road he made his first appearance before the home crowd in St. Louis on May 17, 1951, in a start against the Phillies.

Described by Bob Broeg of the Post-Dispatch as looking “more like a bat boy than a major-league pitcher,” Presko outdueled Phillies ace Robin Roberts and pitched a complete game in a 2-1 Cardinals victory.

“He throws as hard as any little man I ever saw _ and just by flicking his wrist,” said Cardinals pitcher Harry Brecheen.

Said Cardinals catcher Del Rice: “It was a pleasure catching him. His fastball is sneaky because he throws with such an easy motion. He’s got good control and he works with you as you move your target, hitting your glove outside or inside, high or low, and comes side-armed whenever you give him the sign.” Boxscore

Presko won five consecutive decisions between May 17 and June 8 for the 1951 Cardinals. Broeg, who began referring to the baby-faced rookie as “Baby Joe,” declared him “the nicest gift from the Cardinals’ farm system since Red Schoendienst came up six years ago.”

Presko’s winning streak ended on June 14, 1951, when Hodges hit a two-run home run with two outs in the ninth, lifting the Dodgers to a 2-1 victory. Boxscore

Hodges would remain a nemesis, hitting four home runs against Presko in his career.

Arm ailment

In late June 1951, Presko developed a sore arm and a month later it was discovered he’d torn tendons in the right shoulder. He sat out the last two months, finishing the season at 7-4 with a 3.45 ERA.

Presko returned to the Cardinals in 1952 and achieved one of his career highlights on June 10 when he pitched a 10-inning shutout against the Dodgers at St. Louis.

After Presko retired the Dodgers in the top of the 10th, he felt a twinge in his right shoulder and was told by player-manager Eddie Stanky he was done for the night. When Stanky batted for Presko to lead off the bottom of the 10th, he was booed.

“Everyone knows there’s nothing I like better than winning, but I just couldn’t take a chance of hurting Joe Presko,” Stanky said. “I took him out because of his shoulder. He’s had his arm hurt once before and I don’t want it to happen again.”

After Stanky grounded out, Solly Hemus was hit by a pitch from Chris Van Cuyk and Schoendienst followed with a game-winning triple, enabling Presko to earn the win. Boxscore

Presko lost six of his last seven decisions in 1952 and finished at 7-10 with a 4.05 ERA. He was 6-13 in 1953 and 4-9 in 1954. One of the highlights of his final St. Louis season in 1954 was a win versus the Dodgers with a scoreless inning of relief on April 28. Boxscore

After spending 1955 with the Cardinals’ farm club at Omaha, Presko was taken by the Tigers in the Rule 5 draft of unprotected players. He pitched briefly for the Tigers in 1957 and 1958.

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