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The big-name baseball adventures of Don Ferrarese

November 25, 2024 by retrosimba

As a high school all-star, Don Ferrarese impressed Babe Ruth, who, like the California teen, knew what it was like to be a left-handed pitcher with stuff. Later, when Ferrarese was in the majors, he hit like Ruth, too, at least for one game _ cracking three consecutive doubles.

In his first big-league start, Ferrarese struck out 13. In his first win, he held the Yankees hitless for eight innings, then completed the shutout by retiring Mickey Mantle with the potential tying run in scoring position.

For Stan Musial and Ted Williams, Ferrarese was as hard to hit as it was to say his name correctly.

Ferrarese (pronounced “Fer-ar-ess-ee,” with the emphasis on the “ess”) ended his playing career as a Cardinals reliever and was especially effective against left-handed batters. He also pitched for the Orioles (1955-57), Indians (1958-59), White Sox (1960) and Phillies (1961-62).

Meeting Babe

Born in Oakland, Don Ferrarese was the son of Italian immigrants, Hugo and Bruna Ferrarese. (“I am a rare Italian that cannot sing a note,” Don told the Victorville, Calif., Daily Press.) The family moved to Lafayette, Calif., and that’s where Don attended high school while working in his parents’ produce business.

(Ferrarese went to Acalanes High School, also the alma mater of Hall of Fame quarterback Norm Van Brocklin.)

As a prep freshman, Ferrarese was a left-handed second baseman. A math teacher suggested he try pitching, the Oakland Tribune reported.

Though he was short and slight, Ferrarese’s pitches had speed and movement. After his senior season, he was chosen for an August 1947 prep all-star game sponsored by Hearst newspapers at the Polo Grounds in New York. Other future big-leaguers invited to play included Gino Cimoli, Dick Groat and Bill Skowron.

Babe Didrikson Zaharias performed a golf and baseball skills exhibition as part of the entertainment before the game, which drew 31,232 customers.

Starting for the U.S. all-stars, Ferrarese pitched three scoreless innings and lined a double to the wall in left against the Metropolitan all-stars. Named most valuable player of the game, Ferrarese was presented a trophy by Eleanor Gehrig, widow of Lou Gehrig. A spectator was the game’s honorary chairman, Babe Ruth.

“Babe Ruth asked to meet me,” Ferrarese told Newspaper Enterprise Association. “He was in the front row of box seats, all hunched over and wearing a camel’s hair beanie. Ruth had throat cancer, so it was hard to hear him.”

(Ruth died a year later at 53.)

Ferrarese enrolled at Saint Mary’s College in California, pitched well as a freshman and caught the attention of Jimmy Hole, a scout for the 1948 Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League. The Oaks’ manager was Casey Stengel. Ferrarese signed with them for $4,000 in June 1948, three days before he turned 19, and was sent to Stockton of the California League.

The little left-hander was effective _ when he got the ball over the plate, which wasn’t often enough. In his first three seasons in the minors, he walked 48 in 32 innings with Stockton, 184 in 188 innings with Albuquerque, and 209 in 185 innings with Wenatchee (Wash.).

The best experience Ferrarese had at Wenatchee was he met Betty Jean Olsen, “who ate lunch at the same restaurant where he ate breakfast at noon,” according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The couple married and Ferrarese did a two-year hitch in the Army. After his discharge, he pitched poorly (6.28 ERA) for the 1953 Oakland Oaks.

Then he got the break his career needed.

True grit

After the Dodgers fired manager Chuck Dressen, who led them to two National League pennants in three seasons, he went to Oakland to manage the 1954 Oaks. Ferrarese won 18 that season and struck out 184.

“It was Chuck Dressen who helped me most,” Ferrarese said to the New York Daily News. “Chuck taught me how to throw my curve and helped me with my control.” He also told Newspaper Enterprise Association, “I was strictly a thrower before Dressen got hold of me in Oakland.”

Dressen said to the Baltimore Sun, “He’s got a great curve, and can really fire that ball when he relaxes and doesn’t try to aim it.”

The Oaks capitalized, selling Ferrarese’s contract to the White Sox for $30,000 in December 1954. The White Sox then packaged him in a trade with the Orioles.

Ferrarese, 5-foot-9, 170 pounds, opened the 1955 season with the Orioles, made six relief appearances and was sent down to the San Antonio Missions. In 12 games for them, including nine starts, he was 9-0 with a 1.48 ERA.

Sticking with the Orioles in 1956, Ferrarese’s first start came against the Indians, who won, 2-1, though Ferrarese struck out 13. “When you’ve got a curve like he has and don’t have to be afraid to throw it when you’re behind, you’re a tough man,” Indians pitching Mel Harder said of Ferrarese to the Baltimore Sun. Boxscore

Ferrarese’s next start was another nail-biter. Displaying what the Sun called “170 pounds of grit and heart,” he entered the ninth at Yankee Stadium with a 1-0 lead (Ferrarese’s single drove in the run) and a chance for a no-hitter. First up in the inning was Andy Carey, who, like Ferrarese, had attended Saint Mary’s College.

Carey swung down on a pitch. The ball struck near home plate and bounced high over the mound _ a classic Baltimore chop. Ferrarese pedaled backward, peering for the ball in the afternoon glare, while Carey raced toward first. “I lost it in the sun as it was coming down,” Ferrarese told the Baltimore newspaper.

As the ball plopped into Ferrarese’s glove, he stumbled slightly, then bounced a hurried throw to first _ too late to nab Carey, who reached base with the first hit.

After Billy Martin struck out, Hank Bauer blooped a single off the bat handle into short left, moving Carey to second. Pitcher Don Larsen, pinch-hitting for second baseman Bobby Richardson, popped out to the catcher. Mickey Mantle, leading the American League in hitting, was next.

According to the Baltimore Sun, Mantle “swung viciously” at a Ferrarese curve and lofted a gentle fly to center for the final out. Boxscore

“That near no-hitter Ferrarese pitched ranks as one of my big thrills,” Orioles manager Paul Richards told the Sun. “It really was something to watch him battle them inning after inning and finish up strong after Carey got that first hit.”

Yankees manager Casey Stengel said to the newspaper, “I thought he deserved a no-hitter. Neither hit was a good one.”

On the move

The magic didn’t last. Two weeks later, Ferrarese faced the Yankees again and gave up seven runs in two innings. He finished the 1956 season at 4-10.

The next year, demoted to Vancouver and instructed to develop a slider, Ferrarese became “almost discouraged enough to quit,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. A teammate, former Cardinals outfielder Joe Frazier, showed him how to throw the pitch. “I’ve had a good slider ever since,” Ferrarese said.

Traded to the Indians for Dick Williams in April 1958, Ferrarese started against the Orioles four months later, pitched 11 scoreless innings, then walked Williams with the bases loaded in the 12th and lost, 1-0. Boxscore

In 1959, Ferrarese won four of his first six decisions for the Indians. A highlight came on May 26 when he smacked three doubles versus the White Sox’s Dick Donovan and pitched 6.1 scoreless innings for the 3-0 win at Chicago’s Comiskey Park. Ferrarese drove in two of the runs and scored the other. “There was nothing fluky about Ferrarese’s hits: all were hard smashes into right-center,” the Akron Beacon Journal reported. Boxscore

A month later, inflammation spread throughout Ferrarese’s left shoulder. After the season, he was dealt to the White Sox, who sent him to the minors. Eventually, his shoulder healed and the Phillies acquired him in April 1961. He didn’t throw as hard, but his control was better.

Appearing in 42 games, including 14 starts, for the 1961 Phillies, Ferrarese had the best ERA (3.76) for a team that lost 107 games, including 23 in a row.

Lefty specialist

Early in the 1962 season, the Cardinals acquired two left-handed relievers _ Ferrarese from the Phillies (for Bobby Locke) and Bobby Shantz from Houston.

Between May 13 and June 12, Ferrarese made nine relief appearances totaling 12.2 innings for the Cardinals, didn’t allow a run and got a win against the Phillies at St. Louis. Boxscore

In his first appearance at Philadelphia since the trade, he clouted the lone home run of his big-league career, a two-run shot versus Jim Owens. Boxscore

Ferrarese earned a save for the Cardinals against the Reds, striking out Vada Pinson to end the game with the potential tying run on second. Boxscore

As a Cardinal, left-handed batters hit .195 against Ferrarese. For his career, he limited them to a .214 batting average. Stan Musial hit .091 (1 for 11) versus Ferrarese and Ted Williams was at .143 (1 for 7).

(A right-handed batter, the Cardinals’ Julian Javier, who had a career .299 batting mark against left-handers, was hitless in 15 at-bats versus Ferrarese.)

In February 1963, the Cardinals dealt Ferrarese to Houston for pitcher Bobby Tiefenauer, but Ferrarese opted to go home and help his parents run Hugo’s Deli in Apple Valley, Calif.

After his folks retired in 1974, Ferrarese owned and operated Ferrarese’s Ristorante in Victorville, Calif., and then another restaurant, Hugo’s, in Apple Valley. He also ran a commercial real estate company.

A charitable foundation created by Ferrarese provided college scholarships to students based on how much they’d done to help their communities.

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers, Trades | 15 Comments »

Unbearable: The saga of baseball’s St. Louis Pandas

November 18, 2024 by retrosimba

Gabby Street knew well the highs and lows of managing professional baseball clubs in St. Louis.

In 1931, Street piloted the St. Louis Cardinals to their second consecutive National League pennant and a World Series title. Seven years later, as manager of the 1938 St. Louis Browns, his American League team had a 53-90 record before he was fired with 10 games left in the season.

That wasn’t the low point, though.

In November 1939, Street managed the St. Louis Pandas of the fledgling National Professional Indoor Baseball League.

The eight-team circuit, which had Baseball Hall of Famer Tris Speaker as its president, sought to provide fans an indoor version of professional baseball from November to March. Instead, the league folded after a month.

Winter wonder

In August 1939, the St. Louis Star-Times reported that “promoters, elated over the success of softball as an outdoor attraction during the summer, plan an indoor organization that has all the trimmings of major league baseballers.”

The National Professional Indoor Baseball League, slated to begin play in November 1939, proposed to operate franchises in eight markets: Boston, Brooklyn, New York and Philadelphia in the Eastern Division, and Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland and St. Louis in the Western Division.

Tris Speaker “is exuberantly enthusiastic about the venture which he confidently predicts will be a major sport during the comparatively dull, dead winter months,” International News Service reported.

Each club was scheduled to play 102 games in the season. The division champions would compete in a World Series in March for the league title.

Though the league marketed itself as a brand of professional baseball, the indoor game in 1939 was more a hybrid of softball and baseball to fit the dimensions of the arenas, fieldhouses and armories that served as game sites.

The baseball used for the indoor game was 14 inches in circumference (it’s nine inches for regulation baseball) and “quickly gets squishy,” The Sporting News noted. Also for indoor baseball:

_ The distance between the bases was 60 feet rather than 90.

_ The pitcher stood 41 feet from the plate rather than 60 feet, six inches.

_ Pitchers were required to use an underhand delivery.

_ Most of the players came from outdoor softball leagues.

St. Louis showman

The owner of the St. Louis franchise was Earl Reflow, a sports promoter who had been a professional boxer and vaudeville actor. As a youth, he stowed away on a freighter to fulfill a desire to see Australia and New Zealand. In St. Louis, he promoted ice shows, midget auto racing, boxing and rodeo, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

From 1929-32, Reflow also was secretary-treasurer of the St. Louis Flyers of the American Hockey Association. The Flyers played their home games at St. Louis Arena. Reflow’s connections to the operators of that facility enabled him to get his indoor baseball team booked there for its home games.

Like other indoor baseball franchise owners, Reflow sought someone with experience in the big leagues to manage the team. Gabby Street, 57, was a good hire for him. 

A former catcher in the majors, Street was quite familiar to St. Louis sports fans. He was a Cardinals coach in 1929 and then their manager from 1930-33 before being replaced by Frankie Frisch. Street coached the Browns in 1937 and was their manager in 1938, beating out Babe Ruth for the job.

(Street went on to broadcast Browns and Cardinals games. He was Harry Caray’s first partner on Cardinals broadcasts, starting in 1945.)

Other indoor league managers included former Indians second baseman Bill Wambsganss (who turned an unassisted triple play in the 1920 World Series) at Cleveland, former Reds catcher Bubbles Hargrave at Cincinnati, former Dodgers catcher Otto Miller at Brooklyn, former Giants outfielder Moose McCormick at New York and former Athletics first baseman Harry Davis at Philadelphia.

As a favor to Davis, A’s owner Connie Mack allowed one of his big-league players, rookie infielder Al Brancato, to play for the Philadelphia indoor team, The Sporting News reported. Brancato apparently was the only big-league player to appear in a National Professional Indoor Baseball League game.

Name of the game

In a contest to name the St. Louis franchise, the winning entry, Pandas, was submitted by W.R. “Pick” Messmer, a sign painter, who was inspired by two giant pandas brought to the Saint Louis Zoo from China. After being informed he’d won two Pandas season tickets, Messmer told the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, “I am going out to the zoo today to see a panda for the first time.”

The Pandas settled on a roster recruited primarily from neighborhood fast-pitch softball teams:

_ Pitchers: Dave McDowell, Santo Catanzaro (the oldest player at 28), Les Lees and Freddie Geldmacher.

_ Catcher: Ray Stroot.

_ Infielders: First baseman John Moynihan, second baseman Bill Hoffman, shortstop Joe Spica, third baseman Rich Egan.

_ Outfielders: Joe Herman, Joe Dennis, Barney Wallerstein.

_ Utility players: Eddie Moran, Bill Clifford.

“We hope the league will develop into a proving ground for big-time ballplayers,” Tris Speaker said to the Associated Press.

Shaky start

The Pandas were supposed to open their season with home games against Chicago on Nov. 21 and Nov. 23, but the league granted Earl Reflow’s request for a postponement because St. Louis Arena was not ready for play.

As the Globe-Democrat explained, “The rules insist that games be played on a tightly spread canvas infield. Large nets have not as yet been placed in front of the boxes and seats for the protection of fans.”

Playing their inaugural game on the road Nov. 24 against Cincinnati at Xavier University’s fieldhouse, the Pandas lost, 17-4, before 947 paid spectators. “Before the seventh inning, more than half of those who saw the start of the game had gone,” the Globe-Democrat reported. The Pandas made seven errors and struck out 17 times in the nine-inning game.

After two more losses at Cincinnati (and postponement of a game at unprepared Chicago), the Pandas returned to St. Louis for their Nov. 28 home opener. Tickets were priced at 40 cents, 75 cents and a $1.10.

The Pandas also signed Milford Wildenhauer, a second baseman in the Yankees’ farm system.

Facing Cincinnati again, the Pandas drew 2,200 for their home debut, but lost, dropping their record to 0-4.

Two nights later, in the opener of a doubleheader before 750 spectators at St. Louis Arena, the Pandas got their first win, beating Cincinnati, 7-1.

Going bust

The Pandas were scheduled to play Dec. 2 at Cleveland, but didn’t show. Skeptical of the game drawing enough people to make the trip worthwhile, the Pandas asked the league to guarantee expenses would be covered. When the league refused to do so, the Pandas stayed home.

“Cleveland is too far away to make one-night stands profitable,” Earl Reflow told the Globe-Democrat.

(The Cincinnati club filled in for the missing Pandas and played before 137 Cleveland spectators.)

With the Chicago club still unprepared to play and the St. Louis club reluctant to travel, Tris Speaker suspended the league schedule on Dec. 3.

“More and more it becomes evident that the league was not solidly organized before the schedule was started,” The Sporting News observed.

Unable to work out the problems, especially in finding suitable buildings for the dates games were scheduled, the National Professional Indoor Baseball League was dissolved on Dec. 22.

The St. Louis Pandas finished with a record of 1-5.

Posted in Executives, Games, Managers | 7 Comments »

Why the Cardinals took a chance on Jason Heyward

November 11, 2024 by retrosimba

Seeking a right fielder to complete a lineup counted on to contend for a championship, the Cardinals made a bold move and acquired a good one.

On Nov. 17, 2014, the Cardinals obtained outfielder Jason Heyward and reliever Jordan Walden from the Braves for pitchers Shelby Miller and Tyrell Jenkins. The Cardinals needed a right fielder to replace Oscar Taveras, who died in an auto accident three weeks earlier on Oct. 26.

As St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz presciently noted when the deal was made, Heyward was “an elite defender, the best right fielder in baseball (and) should do an effective job of getting on base and energizing the Cardinals’ speed on the bases.”

Nurturing talent

Heyward moved from New Jersey to suburban Atlanta with his family when he was 2. His parents, Eugene and Laura, graduated from Dartmouth. Eugene became an electrical engineer for ITT Technologies, designing electronic warfare systems for Robins Air Force Base, and Laura was an insurance underwriter for Life of Georgia before joining Georgia Power, according to the Atlanta Constitution.

Laura helped Jason develop a love of writing. “He did a writing project on the Negro baseball league in high school,” Laura told the Atlanta newspaper, “and I could see he really had a talent for writing. I thought maybe he could be a sports writer, because you never know if it’s going to work out with baseball. I wanted him to be well-rounded.”

Though his father played basketball at Dartmouth, baseball became Jason’s favorite sport. He began playing the game when he was 5.

Two decades later, when asked by Bernie Miklasz why he preferred baseball to other sports, Heyward said, “It’s the tradition that it holds. It’s the history. It’s timeless … For me growing up, it was just easy to fall in love with it. There’s all the thought that goes into it. The strategy, the cat and mouse games. It’s also a humbling game, because you will fail more times than you succeed and then it becomes all about how you handle it going forward.”

Heyward became a fan of the Braves, who won five National League pennants and a World Series title in the 1990s when he was a youth. After a stellar high school playing career, the Braves made Heyward the first outfielder taken in the opening round of the 2007 amateur draft.

Dazzling debut

A left-handed batter, Heyward was 6-foot-5, 240 pounds and had all the tools. After three seasons in the minors, Baseball America magazine named him the best prospect in the game.

He had a storybook start to his major-league career.

On April 5, 2010, the Braves opened against the Cubs at Atlanta. Heyward was tabbed by manager Bobby Cox to debut in right field and bat seventh.

Braves icon Hank Aaron was there to throw the ceremonial first pitch and Heyward was given the honor of catching the toss.

After delivering the pitch, Aaron offered advice to the rookie. “He said, ‘Have fun. You’re ready to do this,’ ” Heyward told the Atlanta Constitution.

In the opening inning, with the score tied at 3-3, the Braves had two runners on base against Carlos Zambrano, an imposing right-hander.

Zambrano’s first two deliveries to Heyward missed the strike zone and Heyward didn’t bite at either. On the 2-and-0 pitch, Zambrano threw a sinking fastball toward the inner part of the plate. Heyward sent a drive deep into the right-field stands for a three-run home run. Boxscore and Video

Heyward, 20, became the youngest player to hit a homer in his first big-league plate appearance since Ted Tappe, 19, of the Reds did it in 1950. Boxscore

Heyward followed the Opening Day drama with a strong season (.393 on-base percentage and 83 runs scored) and placed second to Giants catcher Buster Posey, whom he competed against in high school, in National League Rookie of the Year Award balloting.

Good as gold

In his first plate appearance on Opening Day in 2011, Heyward again slammed a home run. He joined Kaz Matsui of the (2004-05) Mets as the only other player to hit a homer on Opening Day in his first at-bat in each of his first two seasons. Boxscore

The next year, Heyward slugged 27 homers for the 2012 Braves, scored 93 runs and earned the first of five Gold Glove awards. In a playoff game, he made a leaping grab above the wall in right to deprive the Cardinals’ Yadier Molina. Video and Boxscore

In 2013, Heyward suffered a fractured jaw after being struck by a pitch from Mets left-hander Jon Niese. The next year, Heyward batted .169 versus left-handers and later admitted he wasn’t swinging aggressively against them. His fielding remained spectacular, though. Heyward had the highest number of total chances (375) among National League right fielders and committed one error.

Mix and match

Like Heyward had been for the Braves, the Cardinals had their own highly touted right field prospect, Oscar Taveras, who debuted with them in 2014 and helped bring a division title. Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak said Taveras, 22, would have been the right fielder in 2015. Taveras’ death in an alcohol-related car crash in the Dominican Republic changed that plan.

With Heyward eligible to become a free agent after the 2015 season, the Braves were willing to trade him, and when the Cardinals offered to part with Shelby Miller, 24, who had 15 wins for them in 2013 and 10 in 2014, the deal was made.

Though there was a risk Heyward could leave the Cardinals after one season, Mozeliak told the Post-Dispatch, “We had to look at a way to add an impact player to our club … We’ve said all along we’re focused on 2015.”

Knowing Heyward wore uniform No. 22 with the Braves, Cardinals manager Mike Matheny, who also wore that number, gave it to his new right fielder. When he’d debuted with the Braves, Heyward chose No. 22 in memory of a former high school teammate, Andrew Wilmot, who was killed in a car accident.

Switching sides

On Opening Day for the 2015 Cardinals, Heyward produced three hits, including two doubles, in a win against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Boxscore

After a slow April (.217 batting mark), he produced consistently well, achieving career highs in hits (160), doubles (33), stolen bases (23) and batting average (.293) and winning a Gold Glove Award. He was successful on 88 percent of his steal attempts (23 of 26). Video

As Heyward’s 2015 season neared its end, Derrick Goold of the Post-Dispatch wrote, “He’s the best defensive right fielder in the majors … He’s exceptional with his glove, precise with fundamentals and takes extra bases.”

The 2015 Cardinals finished with the best record (100-62) in the majors. Their reward: a matchup in the fall tournament with the third-place finisher in their division _ the Cubs. Heyward batted .357 in the series, but the Cubs prevailed. Then they stung the Cardinals again, signing Heyward to an eight-year $184 million contract.

In explaining why he went to the Cubs, even though the Cardinals’ offer was greater in guaranteed value and more overall money, Heyward said he saw Chicago as more of the up-and-coming franchise.

“You have to look at age, you have to look at how fast the (Cardinals) team is changing and how soon those changes may come about,” Heyward told the Chicago Tribune. “You have Yadier (Molina), who is going to be done in two years, maybe. You have Matt Holliday, who is probably going to be done soon … (Adam) Wainwright is probably going to be done in three or four years … I felt like if I was to look up in three years and see a completely different (Cardinals) team, that would kind of be difficult. Chicago really offers an opportunity to come into the culture and be introduced to the culture by a young group of guys.”

The Cubs further strengthened themselves, while weakening the Cardinals, by signing free-agent pitcher John Lackey, who won 13 for St. Louis in 2015. Reacting to the defections of two prominent Cardinals to the Cubs, Tribune columnist David Haugh wrote, “What’s next, a Mike Shannon Grill in Wrigleyville?”

Heyward was correct about the Cubs being on the rise. In 2016, his first season with them, the Cubs became World Series champions for the first time since 1908.

Heyward won another Gold Glove Award with the 2016 Cubs but he batted .230 with a mere seven home runs. In the World Series versus Cleveland, he had no RBI, scored no runs and batted .150.

In seven seasons with Chicago, Heyward batted .245. The Cubs released him in November 2022. According to the Tribune, the Cubs were on the hook to pay him $22 million for 2023, the final year of the eight-year contract. Heyward also was to get four $5 million installments from 2024 through 2027 as part of his initial signing bonus with Chicago.

Posted in Games, Hitters, Trades | 9 Comments »

How Fred Hutchinson saved the day for Joey Jay

November 5, 2024 by retrosimba

The Milwaukee Braves looked at Joey Jay and saw a problem pitcher. Fred Hutchinson looked at him and saw an ace.

A right-hander, Jay became the first former Little League player to reach the majors when he joined the Braves out of high school at 17 in 1953.

At 6-foot-4, 225 pounds, Jay looked like a man but acted like a boy. He was immature, got labeled a spoiled kid and the Braves were reluctant to pitch him.

Fred Hutchinson, when he managed the Cardinals, got a look at what Jay was capable of accomplishing. In 1958, Jay, who had seven wins that year as a fill-in starter, was 3-1 with an 0.86 ERA versus the Cardinals.

Two years later, when Hutchinson was Cincinnati manager, the Reds acquired Jay at Hutchinson’s urging and he prospered, achieving consecutive 21-win seasons and helping the club become 1961 National League champions.

Not ready for prime time

As a Little Leaguer in Connecticut, Jay played first base. He was a pitcher in high school. Multiple pro teams were interested, including the Pirates. Jay met with their general manager, Branch Rickey, but accepted a $40,000 bonus from the Braves, in part, because his summer league coach was a Milwaukee scout, according to Sports Illustrated.

Because of the bonus amount, Jay was required under baseball rules then to be on the Braves’ roster for two full years before he could be sent to the minors.

The teen didn’t receive much of a welcome when he joined the Braves in June 1953. He rarely pitched and manager Charlie Grimm “never said two words to me,” Jay told The Sporting News.

According to Sports Illustrated’s Walter Bingham, “Jay quickly won himself a reputation as an eater and sleeper of championship caliber. He seldom was seen awake without a candy bar or a soft drink, often with both. He would eat in the bullpen during games. At one point, he weighed 245 pounds, which, even at his height, made him look fat.

“On his first trip with the Braves, he overslept one day and arrived at the park 20 minutes before game time. Some of the older players, who resented bonus players anyway, didn’t let Jay forget it. Another time, Jay fell asleep on the bus coming back from Ebbets Field. When the bus arrived at the hotel, all the players tiptoed off and the bus driver drove away still carrying Jay, fast asleep.” 

Jay pitched 10 innings for the 1953 Braves and didn’t allow a run, but he was unhappy. “I felt I was a burden on the club,” he told The Sporting News. “My dad finally talked me out of quitting.”

The following year, he totaled 18 innings for the 1954 Braves and then 19 innings for the 1955 club before being sent to Toledo. Jay was in the minors in 1956 and for most of 1957.

“He hadn’t grown up,” Ben Geraghty, who managed Jay with Wichita in 1957, told Sports Illustrated. “He had an awful temper.”

One day, Jay got mad during a game, sulked and began lobbing pitches. Afterward, Geraghty said to him during a team meeting “that if he didn’t have the guts to act like a man, he could clear out,” Sports Illustrated reported.

Jolted, Jay went on to post a 17-10 record for Wichita.

Looking good

Jay, 22, began the 1958 season in the Braves’ bullpen, struggled (9.00 ERA in four appearances) and was “the lowest-ranking” of the club’s relievers, according to The Sporting News.

When starter Bob Buhl went on the disabled list in May because of elbow pain, Gene Conley replaced him but disappointed.

In desperation, manager Fred Haney started Jay on June 13 at St. Louis. He held the Cardinals scoreless and got the win in a game shortened to six innings because of rain.

“Stan Musial (0-for-2 with a walk) praised Jay” for showing the ability “to get over his good fastball, curve, changeup and slider,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Boxscore

Nine days later, matched against Sal Maglie, Jay was a hard-luck loser in a 2-1 Cardinals triumph, but his impressive pitching in two starts versus St. Louis convinced Haney to keep him in the rotation. Boxscore

“He has the confidence to throw his best curve at two balls and no strikes,” Braves catcher Del Crandall told Sports Illustrated.

In seven July starts for the 1958 Braves, Jay was 5-2 with a 1.39 ERA. Two of those wins came against the Cardinals _ a four-hitter to beat Maglie at St. Louis on July 15, and a two-hit shutout at Milwaukee a week later. Boxscore and Boxscore

“There isn’t a better pitcher in our league right now,” Braves coach Whit Wyatt said to The Sporting News.

The good vibes didn’t last long, though. Jay pulled a tendon in his right elbow and was limited to 11 innings in August. Then, in his lone September appearance, a relief stint against the Cardinals, he fractured his left ring finger when he knocked down a hard grounder from Irv Noren. Boxscore

Milwaukee won the pennant but didn’t include Jay (7-5, 2.14 ERA) on the World Series roster.

Change of scenery

Jay regressed in 1959 (6-11, 4.09 ERA).  “He just won’t do anything in pregame drills,” Haney complained to Sports Illustrated. “He’s fat and he’s too lazy to get in shape.” In 1960, he was 9-8.

Fred Hutchinson, fired by the Cardinals near the end of the 1958 season, became Reds manager in July 1959 and needed pitchers. The Reds allowed the most runs in the National League in 1959 and the second-most in 1960.

Hutchinson and Braves pitcher Lew Burdette had homes on Anna Maria Island in Florida and attended cookouts together. Hutchinson asked Burdette about Jay and Burdette recommended him, Jay told the Cincinnati Enquirer.

In December 1960, the Reds dealt shortstop Roy McMillan to the Braves for Jay and Juan Pizarro. (Pizzaro was flipped to the White Sox for third baseman Gene Freese, who played for Hutchinson with the Cardinals.)

Jay got off to a shaky start in his Reds debut at St. Louis. In the first inning, after he gave up two runs, he walked a batter to load the bases with two outs. Jay expected to be lifted when Hutchinson came to the mound. Instead, the manager challenged him: “Don’t walk yourself out of there. Make them knock you out.”

As author Doug Wilson noted in a book about Hutchinson, “Jay, surprised and grateful, pitched his way out of the jam. Jay lost his first three decisions in 1961 but his manager stuck with him. Jay responded to this confidence by turning into one of the best pitchers in the league.” Boxscore

“That’s all I did for him: Let him pitch,” Hutchinson told The Sporting News.

Joining a rotation with Jim O’Toole and Bob Purkey, Jay helped transform the Reds’ pitching staff from one of the worst in the league to the best.

In his book “Pennant Race,” reliever Jim Brosnan recalled how during a clubhouse meeting at Pittsburgh a confident Jay held a scorecard in one hand and a cigar in the other while going over the Pirates’ batters. After the game, which Jay won, he sat next to Brosnan on the bus ride to the airport and puffed on a pipe.

“You always smoke a pipe when you win?” Brosnan asked him. “Usually you got a cigar in your mouth.”

“Pipe relaxes me,” Jay replied. “You should try one.”

Jay still packed on the pounds _ “I’m about 12 jelly rolls and 15 cream puffs too heavy,” he told Brosnan. “I buy them for the kids, then eat them myself” _ but was fattening up on wins, too. He led the league in wins (21) and shutouts (four) as the 1961 Reds (93-61) won a pennant for the first time in 21 years.

In the World Series against the Yankees, Jay got the Reds’ only win _ a four-hitter in Game 2. Video and Boxscore

Ups and downs

Jay won 21 again in 1962, though he was 0-3 versus the Cardinals. The 1962 Reds (98-64) totaled five more wins than they did in their championship season, but finished in third place.

On the final day of the 1963 season, Stan Musial played his last game for the Cardinals and exited after getting a pair of singles against Jim Maloney. The Cardinals won in the 14th on Dal Maxvill’s RBI-double versus Jay. He lost 18 that season, including all four decisions against the Cardinals. Boxscore

Jay was involved in another noteworthy game on the last day of the 1964 season. The Cardinals and Reds entered the day tied for first place.

At Cincinnati, Jay relieved in the fifth with one out, two on and the Phillies ahead, 4-0, and got Tony Taylor to ground into a double play. In the sixth, however, Jay gave up a two-run single to Tony Gonzalez and a three-run homer to Dick Allen. The Phillies won, 10-0, enabling the Cardinals to secure the pennant when they beat the Mets. Boxscore

In spring 1966, Cardinals general manager Bob Howsam agreed to trade Nelson Briles, Steve Carlton, Phil Gagliano and Mike Shannon to the Reds for Leo Cardenas, Gordy Coleman and Jay, but the deal was blocked by Cardinals upper management, The Sporting News reported.

Soon after, in June 1966, Jay was dealt to the Atlanta Braves and he completed his career with them that season.

Jay was 99-91 in the majors. Willie Mays batted .200 (8-for-40) against him and Stan Musial was at .208 (10-for-48).

In his autobiography, Musial said of Jay, “Fred Hutchinson gave him confidence and a good talking-to. At Milwaukee, Jay struck me as having pretty good stuff … but he threw a lot of slow curves and wasted his fastball. When the Reds got him, Hutchinson … made him throw that good fastball for strikes.”

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers, Prospects | 11 Comments »

Why Cardinals had Rudy May on their shopping list

November 1, 2024 by retrosimba

Rudy May pitched 16 years in the majors. He never appeared in an All-Star Game, and he lost more than he won, but at times he nearly was unhittable, performing on a par with teammates such as Nolan Ryan, Catfish Hunter and Jim Palmer.

One of May’s nicknames was The Dude. He got it, the Baltimore Sun noted, because of “his funky wardrobe” and “unflappable optimism.”

He was an interesting dude for more reasons than that though. His boyhood friend was Joe Morgan, the future Hall of Fame second baseman. May’s first marriage was to a rhythm and blues singer. When he wasn’t playing baseball, May worked as a licensed commercial scuba diver.

Though he spent most of his baseball career in the American League, the Cardinals saw plenty of him during a stint with the Montreal Expos and sought to sign him when he became a free agent.

Early journeys

Though born in Kansas, May was raised in Oakland. That’s where he and Joe Morgan became friends. They’d go to Arroyo Viejo Park near their homes and “we’d pitch and catch for hours,” May recalled to the Montreal Gazette. May and Morgan also were baseball teammates at Castlemont High School.

A left-hander, May was with four organizations in his first three seasons as a pro. He was 18 when the Twins signed him in November 1962. They sent him to Bismarck, N.D., and, though he won 11 and struck out 173 in 168 innings there, he also walked 120 and threw 25 wild pitches.

After a season (1964) in the White Sox system, May was traded to the Phillies, who flipped him to the Angels for Bo Belinsky.

May, 20, made the 1965 Angels’ Opening Day roster as a starter. “We never had any question about Rudy’s stuff being major league,” Angels pitching coach Marv Grissom told the Oakland Tribune. “The only question is his control.”

In his big-league debut, May was matched against Detroit’s Denny McLain. The rookie held the Tigers hitless until Jake Wood doubled with one out in the eighth. May completed nine innings, striking out 10 and allowing the one hit, but the Tigers won in the 13th. Boxscore

In his next appearance, a start versus the Yankees and Mel Stottlemyre, May gave up his first home run, a Mickey Mantle solo shot, and lost, 1-0. Boxscore

Treasure hunts

During that 1965 season, outfielder Leon Wagner introduced May to Eleanor Green, a singer with the group The Superbs.

“She was only 18 and she was singing at this club in L.A. and I thought when I saw her that, ‘whoo-eee _ this was some kind of chick,’ ” May said to the Los Angeles Times. “She’d had these two hit records that year _ ‘Baby, Baby All The Time,’ and ‘Baby’s Gone Away‘ … I really came on strong. She showed me who the real pro was. She put me off good.

“Later that year, I was peddling my threads _ you know, just walking around, cooling it _ in Hollywood when I stopped at this club and saw this same girl. I sent a note backstage and she came out to met me. It was different this time, man … Three weeks later, we flew to Las Vegas and got married.”

While his personal life was on the upswing, May’s pitching career hit a sour note. He hurt his shoulder, developed arm problems and was demoted to the minors.

Limited to 35 innings pitched in 1966 and 84 in 1967, May “admits he thought about saying goodbye to baseball” until his wife convinced him to continue, the Los Angeles Times reported.

May wanted a backup plan, though. A recreational scuba diver since his teens, May took commercial diving courses in 1967, earned a license and began spending winters “working on salvage and construction projects beneath the sea,” United Press International reported.

Asked about his most dangerous dive, May told the wire service that while working on a salvage project about 400 feet under the surface, “I got the bends and blacked out. I was in a coma in a depression chamber for about six hours.”

On the road again

May spent a third consecutive season in the minors in 1968. Pitching for El Paso, May was 2-7, then performed his own salvage operation, closing with six consecutive wins. The Angels brought him back to stay in 1969.

May’s highest win total for the Angels was 12 in 1972. In a game against the Twins that year, he struck out 16. Rod Carew and Harmon Killebrew each fanned twice. Boxscore

The wins, though, didn’t come often enough. In seven seasons with the Angels, May was 51-76. In June 1974, they shipped him to the Yankees. He won 14 for them in 1975, got traded to the Orioles in 1976 and won 15 that year.

May did even better in 1977, winning 18 for the Orioles and leading the staff in shutouts (four), but after the season he was on the move again, getting traded to the Expos.

His first win in the National League came against the Cardinals. Boxscore

Expected to be a big winner, as he had been with the Orioles, May was mediocre with Montreal. In one stretch, he lost three in a row to the Cardinals, including two in three days. Removed from the rotation by manager Dick Williams, May broke an ankle in July. Given a start against the Cardinals when he returned two months later, May crafted a gem, pitching a three-hitter for the win. Boxscore

He finished the 1978 season with an 8-10 mark, including 3-3 versus St. Louis.

Back in the groove

May was deep in Dick Williams’ doghouse as the 1979 season got underway. As the Montreal Gazette noted, “May was not only out of the rotation, but he wasn’t even called when the Expos needed fifth and sixth starters. If that wasn’t bad enough, he wasn’t used in important relief assignments.”

He asked to be traded but the Expos didn’t oblige. It turned out well for them. Needing relief help in July, Williams called on May and he delivered.

Then, on July 31, May got his first start of the season and came through with a three-hit shutout against the Cardinals.

“There wasn’t any team in the world that could have hit him tonight,” Cardinals manager Ken Boyer told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Cleanup hitter Ted Simmons, unable to get a ball out of the infield, said to the Montreal Gazette, “May has an exceptional curveball and, when he gets it over like he did tonight, he’s virtually unbeatable.”

After watching May blank the Cardinals, scout and former Yankees pitcher Eddie Lopat told the Gazette, “I’ve never seen him pitch better. He’s right back where he was when he won those 18 games with Baltimore. Tonight he had command of all his pitches _ fastball, slider and curve. When he has control of his breaking ball, he’s almost impossible to beat.” Boxscore

For the month of July, May was 4-0 with a 1.44 ERA in 25 innings pitched.

Moved into the rotation in September, May contributed a 10-3 record and 2.31 ERA for the 1979 Expos.

In demand

Seeking left-handed pitching, the Cardinals pursued May and a couple of their former players, John Curtis and Al Hrabosky, in the free agent market.

General manager John Claiborne “expressed serious interest in May and Hrabosky,” the Post-Dispatch reported.

However, May took a three-year deal totaling $1 million from the Yankees. “Our offer was not in the ballpark,” Claiborne confessed to the Post-Dispatch.

After Hrabosky signed with the Braves and Curtis went to the Padres, the Cardinals shifted gears. To fill their left-handed pitching spots, they got free agent Don Hood in March 1980 and acquired Jim Kaat from the Yankees a month later.

Kaat turned out well for the Cardinals, helping them become World Series champions in 1982, and May turned out well for the Yankees. He was 15-5 for them in 1980 and had the best ERA (2.46) in the American League.

May credited Hall of Fame pitcher Whitey Ford, a Yankees spring training instructor, with helping his approach.

“Ford told me I should learn to pitch when I didn’t have it all going for me,” May said to the Montreal Gazette. “I had it in my head that the only way to get guys out was to strike them out. Ford taught me the mechanics of pitching. He showed me how to mix up my fastballs. I’ve always had a good curve, but he showed me how to take something off my curve as well.”

In 1981, May pitched in three World Series games for the Yankees. The next season, when he turned 38, he appeared in 41 games and his ERA was 2.89.

He pitched for the final time in 1983 and completed his career with a 152-156 mark. Jim Rice, who batted .706 (12-for-17) against May, was sorry to see him go. George Brett, a career .174 hitter (4-for-23) versus May, felt differently.

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers | 5 Comments »

Pitching guru: Joe Becker brought out best in the best

October 28, 2024 by retrosimba

For a club with Bob Gibson and Steve Carlton, the Cardinals hired a coach who caught Bob Feller and aided the development of Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale.

In October 1964, Joe Becker joined the Cardinals as pitching coach on the staff of newly appointed manager Red Schoendienst.

Becker, a St. Louisan, came to the Cardinals from the Dodgers after serving 10 seasons (1955-64) as their pitching coach. During that time, the Dodgers won three World Series titles (1955, 1959, 1963) and four National League pennants (1955, 1956, 1959, 1963). Becker coached three Cy Young Award winners: Don Newcombe (1956), Don Drysdale (1962) and Sandy Koufax (1963).

A catcher who played in the Cardinals farm system, Becker reached the majors with Cleveland the same year another rookie, Bob Feller, joined the club.

Learning the ropes

Becker grew up on the south side of St. Louis and attended Cardinals games as a Knothole Gang member. His favorite player was catcher Bob O’Farrell.

In 1930, the year he turned 22, Becker signed with Des Moines, an independent minor league team. “I started at $200 a month in the middle of the Depression and I was the richest kid on the block,” Becker told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The Cardinals purchased his contract during the 1930 season on the recommendation of scout Charley Barrett. Becker played four seasons (1930-33) in the Cardinals’ farm system, then was declared a free agent by baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis. After sitting out a year, Becker signed with the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League in 1935 and became a teammate of their 20-year-old center fielder, Joe DiMaggio.

The Seals sold his contract to the Cleveland Indians and that’s how Becker reached the majors as a backup catcher in 1936. His first big-league hit was a home run at Boston’s Fenway Park against winning pitcher Jim Henry. Boxscore

Most of the time, though, Becker, 28, was catching warmup throws of Cleveland pitchers, including those of 17-year-old fellow rookie Bob Feller.

“Feller was just a kid … but he had the liveliest fastball I ever saw,” Becker said to Bob Broeg of the Post-Dispatch in 1965. “Afterward, he developed not only one good curve, but three or four different sizes and speeds.”

Though Feller’s fastball was a rocket, the ball came in “alive and light” rather than heavy and didn’t sting the catcher’s hand, Becker told the Los Angeles Times.

After a second season with Cleveland in 1937, Becker returned to the minors. At 36, he joined the Navy and served for two years (1944-45) as a chief gunner’s mate on the USS Wake Island, a converted Casablanca-class escort carrier in the Pacific during World War II.

Discharged in February 1946, Becker went to play for a Giants farm team but tore cartilage in a knee early in the season. Discouraged, “I just wanted to go home and forget baseball,” Becker told the Sioux City (Iowa) Journal.

Giants farm director Carl Hubbell convinced Becker to try managing instead. Becker took over a club in Seaford, Del., in 1946 and went on to manage in the minors for nine years in the Giants, Browns and White Sox systems.

Special project

After his first season as Dodgers manager in 1954, Walter Alston replaced pitching coach Ted Lyons with Becker, who had impressed Alston when they managed against one another in the minors.

Becker was put in charge of a pitching staff that included Don Newcombe, Carl Erskine, Johnny Podres and a 19-year-old rookie, Sandy Koufax.

When he first saw Koufax, the left-hander “had a world of stuff,” Becker told the Chicago Tribune, but “was so damn wild he couldn’t throw the ball through an open barn door.”

At spring training in Vero Beach, Fla., “we had a half-dozen mounds and home plates so that several pitchers could work at the same time,” Becker said to Bill Bryson of the Des Moines Register. “They were spaced far enough so there wasn’t any danger from wild pitches _ until Koufax came along.”

Becker moved Koufax to a secluded area of the training site. “Sandy was a sensitive boy and he was getting awfully self-conscious about his wildness,” Becker told Bryson. “The guys were laughing at him and he was losing what little confidence he had. So we had the groundkeepers build us a mound over behind the barracks where nobody could see us.”

Though it took six years to get the desired results _ “Many kids would have given up,” Becker told the Post-Dispatch _ he and Koufax put in the effort to improve the pitcher’s poise, control and confidence. “I’d made up my mind that what the boy needed most was kindness and encouragement _ and work,” Becker said to the Des Moines newspaper. “I never had a pitcher who worked harder.”

Koufax told Bill Bryson, “Becker taught me the curve and just about everything else about pitching. I don’t know whether I ever would have mastered control if Joe hadn’t been so patient with me in those early years.”

(Don Drysdale, a more polished rookie, joined the Dodgers a year after Koufax did, in 1956. Though Becker helped him, too, such as on location of pitches and footwork, the approach was sometimes different. “Becker will bawl me out and chew me out and even tell me I’m lousy, but I like that,” Drysdale told the Los Angeles Mirror. “He does it face to face.”)

Change of scenery

In 1964, the Cardinals won the pennant, dethroning the Dodgers, who finished 80-82, even though Becker’s pitching staff had the best ERA (2.95) in the National League. Management reacted by overhauling Alston’s entire coaching staff. Becker was banished to the minors to manage Spokane. “I’d spent too many years in the minors to go back,” Becker told the Post-Dispatch.

After the Cardinals beat the Yankees for the World Series title, manager Johnny Keane resigned (in part, because club owner Gussie Busch clumsily schemed during the season to hire Dodgers coach Leo Durocher as manager) and joined the Yankees. Red Schoendienst, who replaced Keane, told the Post-Dispatch he talked with pitching coach Howie Pollet about staying but Pollet indicated he wanted to spend more time on his insurance business in Houston.

Schoendienst and the Cardinals then reached out to Becker, who agreed to replace Pollet as pitching coach. (A week after Becker was hired, Pollet was named pitching coach of the Astros.)

“I had talked with some of the Dodgers pitchers abut Joe,” Schoendienst told the Post-Dispatch. “They all said Joe helped them quite a bit, especially with control.”

Though the Cardinals were champions in 1964, their pitching staff allowed more runs than all but three National League teams. Becker said to the Los Angeles Times, “It’s quite a challenge to see if I can improve the Cardinals’ staff and make it easier for the club to win the pennant again.”

Good stuff

Bob Gibson was the ace of the Cardinals’ staff. He earned 19 wins in 1964, including the pennant-clinching season finale, and also won Games 5 and 7 of the World Series.

“Of 100 pitchers in the National League, not more than five or six can throw high strikes,” Becker said to the Toronto Star. “By that, I mean throwing strikes to a batter’s strength _ up where he can hit them. Koufax and Drysdale can do it. So can Bob Veale and Jim Maloney. Gibson is on that list, too.”

Becker said to the Post-Dispatch, “With what Gibson has going for him, there’s no reason in the world why he can’t become the best pitcher in the league.”

Gibson was averaging 140 to 145 pitches per game, according to Becker. He worked with Gibson to cut that to 120 to 125 by getting ahead in more counts.

The results were impressive: Gibson won 20 in a season for the first time with the 1965 Cardinals and struck out 270 batters.

(At spring training in 1965, Becker also took notice of a 20-year-old Steve Carlton. “He can be a good one in the future,” Becker told the Post-Dispatch.)

Moving on

A year later, with a mix of established starters (Gibson, Al Jackson and Ray Washburn) and emerging prospects (Carlton, Larry Jaster and Nelson Briles), Becker’s pitching staff ranked second in the National League in ERA.

Gibson won 21 in 1966 and his 78 walks were quite an improvement from the 119 he totaled five years earlier when he joined the starting rotation.

“The big thing about Gibson is that he’s continuing to cut down on his pitches and he’s not just trying to overpower the hitters,” Becker told the Post-Dispatch. “No doubt it, Gibson has been much more a pitcher than a thrower. His concentration is so much better. He’s (pitching) to spots much better.”

Despite the strides he made, Becker resigned after the 1966 season because he objected to “interference from the front office,” the Post-Dispatch reported.

According to the newspaper, “It is no secret that Becker has resented numerous suggestions and memorandums from general manager Bob Howsam regarding the pitching staff.”

Red Schoendienst tried to get Becker to reconsider but was unsuccessful. “My relationship with Schoendienst has been happy,” Becker told the Post-Dispatch. “Red has done a real good job under the circumstances. I’ve enjoyed working with the Cardinals players, especially the pitchers.”

A couple of weeks later, at the urging of manager Leo Durocher, the Cubs hired Becker to be their pitching coach. He completed the conversion of Ferguson Jenkins from reliever to starter and worked with another emerging left-hander, Ken Holtzman.

Becker wanted to retire after the 1969 season but the Cubs convinced him to come back for another year. In August 1970, Becker, 62, suffered a heart seizure and collapsed in the clubhouse. He recovered but his coaching days were finished.

Posted in Games, Hitters, Pitchers | 14 Comments »

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