RetroSimba

The Cardinals hoped a reunion of pitcher Bobby Witt and coach Dave Duncan would yield the kind of results they produced in their first go-around, but it didn’t work out.

On June 22, 1998, the Cardinals acquired Witt from the Rangers for future considerations. Three months later, the Rangers got outfielder Scarborough Green from the Cardinals to complete the transaction.

Witt pitched for the Athletics when Tony La Russa was manager and Duncan was pitching coach. Witt led the 1993 Athletics in wins (14), starts (33), innings pitched (220) and strikeouts (131). With a 14-13 record, Witt was the only pitcher to achieve a double-digit win total for an Athletics team that finished 68-94.

In 1998, La Russa and Duncan were with the Cardinals and seeking pitching help. Though Witt, 34, was being battered by American League hitters, the Cardinals took a chance on him.

Wild thing

Witt was a first-round choice of the Rangers in the 1985 amateur draft. He was the third overall pick, behind B.J. Surhoff of the Brewers and Will Clark of the Giants, and just ahead of Barry Larkin of the Reds and Barry Bonds of the Pirates.

Witt made his major-league debut with the Rangers in 1986. He threw hard but lacked command. Mark Simon of ESPN aptly described Witt as both entertaining and exasperating.

In his second major-league start, against the Brewers, Witt pitched five innings, struck out 10 and allowed no hits, but walked eight, threw four wild pitches and allowed two runs. “I wasn’t going to finesse you,” Witt told Simon. “My thought process was to go out there and let it go.” Boxscore

Witt had his best big-league season with the 1990 Rangers, posting a 17-10 record, 3.36 ERA and striking out 221 batters in 222 innings.

In August 1992, the Rangers traded Witt, reliever Jeff Russell and outfielder Ruben Sierra to the Athletics for outfielder Jose Canseco. Granted free agency after the 1994 season, Witt signed with the Marlins and was traded back to the Rangers in August 1995.

Low risk

In 1998, Witt was 5-4 for the Rangers. They made him available because his ERA was 7.66, foes batted .328 against him and he allowed 95 hits in 69.1 innings.

Signed for $3.25 million in 1998, Witt had $1.77 million remaining on his contract, but the Rangers were so eager to deal him they agreed to pay $1.5 million of that, leaving the Cardinals responsible for $270,000, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. “I’m very confident (Witt’s) past relationship with Dave Duncan and Tony La Russa would help turn him around,” said Cardinals general manager Walt Jocketty. “He’s had problems with his control and it may be just a mechanical problem that he and Dunc can work out. Basically, it’s at very little risk to us.”

Witt arrived in St. Louis on June 23 and had a throwing session in the bullpen. “Everything looked fine,” said Duncan. “I didn’t see anything I didn’t like.”

Witt added, “Physically, there was nothing wrong … Hopefully, Duncan can take a look at me and figure it out.”

Throwing hard

On June 25, against the Indians at Cleveland, Witt made his first Cardinals appearance. Relieving starter Manny Aybar with the Indians ahead, 4-2, Witt retired the side in order in the seventh and got the first batter in the eighth, David Justice, to fly out. The next six Indians batters reached base against Witt and four scored. Jim Thome hit a home run, Manny Ramirez walked, Sandy Alomar singled, Mark Whiten reached on an error by Mark McGwire, Travis Fryman singled and David Bell doubled. Boxscore

Witt got his first Cardinals win in his first start for the club on July 22 at San Francisco. Backed by a two-run home run from Gary Gaetti and a solo home run from Brian Jordan, Witt held the Giants to two runs in five innings and the Cardinals won, 3-2. Boxscore

Witt’s other win for the Cardinals came in relief on Aug. 8 against the Cubs at St. Louis. Witt pitched a scoreless 13th, getting Mark Grace to ground out to first with two outs and two on, and the Cardinals won, 9-8, on Ray Lankford’s RBI-single in the bottom half of the inning. Boxscore

Witt finished with a 2-5 record and 4.94 ERA in 17 appearances for the 1998 Cardinals. He was 1-1 with a 3.52 ERA in 12 relief stints and 1-4 with a 6.29 ERA in five starts.

Witt said his velocity increased and credited Duncan. “Mechanically, I was out of whack,” Witt said. “Dave Duncan noticed something right away and I went up three to four miles per hour. I was actually hitting 90 to 91.”

Granted free agency, Witt signed with the Rays and was 7-15 with a 5.84 ERA in 32 starts for them in 1999.

After pitching in seven games for the Indians in 2000, Witt finished his career on an upswing, posting a 4-1 record for the 2001 Diamondbacks and pitching a scoreless inning for them in Game 6 of the World Series against the Yankees.

In 16 seasons in the major leagues, Witt was 142-157 with a 4.83 ERA.

Chuck Taylor patiently persevered in the minor leagues for most of a decade before getting a chance to pitch for the Cardinals. Joining Cardinals staffs featuring Bob Gibson and Steve Carlton, Taylor emerged as a versatile contributor.

Taylor started and relieved for the Cardinals. In three seasons (1969-71) with St. Louis, Taylor pitched in 126 games, 21 as a starter, and had a 16-13 record with 11 saves and a 2.99 ERA.

After the 1971 season, Taylor was traded by the Cardinals and pitched for the Mets (1972), Brewers (1972) and Expos (1973-76) in an eight-year major-league career.

Valuable lesson

Taylor was enrolled at Middle Tennessee State University when he was signed by Cardinals scout Buddy Lewis for $4,000 in 1961.

On Feb. 17, 1964, after three seasons in their minor-league system, Taylor was traded by the Cardinals, along with outfielder Jim Beauchamp, to the Houston Colt .45s for outfielder Carl Warwick.

A year later, on June 15, 1965, the Cardinals reacquired Taylor. In a trade of four pitchers, the Cardinals sent Ron Taylor and Mike Cuellar to Houston for Hal Woodeshick and Chuck Taylor.

Taylor’s return to the Cardinals didn’t appear to help him. The Cardinals assigned him to the minor leagues and he wasn’t prominent in their plans.

The Cardinals loaned Taylor to Indianapolis, a White Sox farm club, in 1967 and that’s when he turned around his career. Eli Grba, a former pitcher for the Yankees and Angels, was with Indianapolis and he showed Taylor how he threw a slider.

“I’d been in pro ball since 1961, but it wasn’t until Grba showed me the right way to throw a slider in 1967 that I began to make much progress,” Taylor said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I had thrown it as early as 1963, but the elbow got awfully sore and I gave up on the slider. Grba, though, taught me the right way.”

In 1968, pitching for manager Warren Spahn with the Cardinals’ Tulsa farm team, Taylor was 18-7 with a 2.35 ERA. He pitched 16 complete games, five shutouts and issued 38 walks in 230 innings. Still, the Cardinals, on their way to a second consecutive National League pennant, didn’t bring him to the big leagues.

Taylor went to spring training with the Cardinals in 1969 and pitched well, but didn’t make the Opening Day roster. Before Taylor went back to Tulsa, Cardinals general manager Bing Devine promised him he’d be called up to the big leagues “in four or five weeks” if the pitcher did well with the minor-league club.

Hitting his spots

Taylor did his part. Selected to start Tulsa’s 1969 season opener on April 18, his 27th birthday, Taylor earned a complete-game win against Denver. On May 9, Taylor, with Ted Simmons catching, pitched 11 innings and got the win against Oklahoma City.

After beating Indianapolis with a four-hitter on May 22 and improving his record to 5-1, Taylor was called up to the Cardinals to replace injured pitcher Dave Giusti.

In his first 13 appearances for the 1969 Cardinals, all in relief, Taylor posted a 1.59 ERA. He got his first big-league win on July 6 with 6.1 scoreless innings in relief of Mike Torrez in a 6-3 Cardinals victory over the Cubs at St. Louis. Boxscore

“Taylor made it easy for me to catch because he was able to get both his fastball and his slider over the plate almost any time he wanted to,” said Cardinals catcher Joe Torre.

About a month after Taylor was promoted to the Cardinals, another Chuck Taylor, a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and a goodwill ambassador for Converse for more than 40 years, died at 68 on June 22, 1969. No relation to the Cardinals pitcher, basketball’s Chuck Taylor remains prominent as the brand name of the iconic Converse All-Star sneakers.

The Cardinals gave their Chuck Taylor his first major-league start on July 15, 1969, against the Phillies and he earned a complete-game win, striking out nine in an 8-2 St. Louis victory. Taylor also got his first big-league hit and drove in two runs. Boxscore

Taylor continued to produce strong starts for the 1969 Cardinals. On July 28, he yielded no earned runs in a complete-game win against the Padres and on Aug. 13 he pitched his first major-league shutout, a six-hitter against the Dodgers. Boxscore Taylor improved his record to 6-1 with a two-hitter against the Reds on Aug. 20. Boxscore

“Chuck upsets the hitters’ rhythm,” said Cardinals catcher Tim McCarver. “He threads the corners so well that the batters always have to reach for the ball. Chuck doesn’t even know where the middle of the plate is.”

Tailoring his role

In 27 appearances, including 13 starts, for the 1969 Cardinals, Taylor was 7-5 with a 2.56 ERA. Only Gibson (2.17) and Carlton (2.18) had better earned run averages for the club.

Taylor followed that with a 6-7 record and 3.11 ERA for the Cardinals in 1970. He led the team in saves (eight) and games pitched (56).

In 1971, the Cardinals mostly used Taylor in relief and he produced a 3-1 record with three saves and a 3.53 ERA.

On Oct. 18, 1971, seven years after the Cardinals traded Taylor and Beauchamp to Houston, they again packaged those two in a deal. In addition to Taylor and Beauchamp, the Cardinals sent pitcher Harry Parker and infielder Chip Coulter to the Mets for outfielder Art Shamsky and pitchers Jim Bibby, Rich Folkers and Charlie Hudson.

Mets manager Gil Hodges said he intended to use Taylor in long-inning relief, the New York Daily News reported.

After pitching for the Mets and Brewers in 1972, Taylor joined the Expos in 1973. He was their closer in 1974, posting a 6-2 record and 2.17 ERA and leading the Expos in saves (11) and games pitched (61).

(Updated Jan. 10, 2025)

The Cardinals became a bridge for Sal Maglie, enabling him to transition from being a pitcher to a coach.

On June 14, 1958, the Cardinals acquired Maglie from the Yankees for minor-league pitcher Joe McClain and $20,000.

Maglie was nicknamed The Barber “for the close shaves he gave hitters with high and tight pitches designed to intimidate,” according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

With a scowl and heavy, dark stubble, the sight of Maglie glaring at batters from the mound “resembles Jack Dempsey stepping into the ring,” Bob Broeg wrote.

“When I throw at a guy, I put it right here,” Maglie said, swiping his hand under his chin, “so he can’t hit it, but I never throw to hit a man.”

Maglie, 41, was past his prime when the Cardinals got him to be a spot starter, but he still was a prominent name and his acquisition attracted attention.

Traveling man

Maglie reached the major leagues in 1945 with the Giants and was mentored by pitching coach Dolf Luque. The next year, Maglie jumped to the Mexican League, even though it meant he would be banned from returning to the major leagues.

In Mexico, Maglie’s manager with the Puebla Parrots was Luque, who taught him a variety of curveballs. Described by Broeg as “chorus girl curves,” Maglie’s assortment ranged from slow and sweeping to sharp and darting.

After pitching in Mexico in 1946 and 1947, Maglie returned to the United States and played in 1948 for a barnstorming team of former major-leaguers against semipro clubs. In 1949, Maglie pitched in an independent pro league in Canada.

When baseball commissioner Happy Chandler lifted the ban on players who defected to the Mexican League, Maglie, 33, rejoined the Giants and thrived, compiling records of 18-4 in 1950, 23-6 in 1951 and 18-8 in 1952.

In the book “We Would Have Played For Nothing,” Dodgers pitcher Carl Erskine said, ‘I always admired Maglie … When he walked out on the mound, you knew who was in charge. No question … He had the sharpest, latest breaking curveball I ever saw. It would come right up under your arm, almost, and ‘shoom’ across the plate … He threw at hitters a lot to keep guys pushed back because he’s breaking the ball away all the time.”

Maglie pitched for the Giants (1945 and 1950-55), Indians (1955-56), Dodgers (1956-57) and Yankees (1957-58) before joining the Cardinals. He was the last player to appear with the Giants, Dodgers and Yankees while all three were based in New York.

(Don Drysdale, who was a rookie when Maglie joined the Dodgers in May 1956, told writer Roger Kahn, “I learned more from Sal than from any single individual.”)

Maglie pitched in three World Series and was the hard-luck Dodgers starter who opposed Don Larsen when he pitched a perfect game for the Yankees in 1956.

When the Cardinals acquired him, Maglie had a career record of 117-56 and his winning percentage of .678 was the best among active pitchers.

Good start

Maglie was 1-1 with a 4.63 ERA when Yankees manager Casey Stengel summoned him into his office and informed him he was being sent to St. Louis.

“I told him it was my fault because I didn’t produce for him when he gave me the chance,” Maglie told The Sporting News. “I’m the kind of fellow who has to work regularly to make the ball break the way I want it to and also to have control.”

Cardinals general manager Bing Devine said, “We expect to be able to give him more work than the Yankees could.”

Maglie was dealing with dental issues and an income tax problem when the trade was made. The Cardinals approved his request to resolve those situations and to drive his family from New York to their home in Niagara Falls before reporting to the team.

Maglie made his first appearance for the Cardinals in a June 22 start against the Braves at Milwaukee. He pitched seven innings and earned the win in a 2-1 Cardinals victory. Boxscore

In his second start, on June 28 at Philadelphia, Maglie won again, pitching a complete game against the Phillies in an 8-1 Cardinals triumph. Maglie had a shutout until Carl Sawatski hit a home run with one out in the ninth. Boxscore

Barber trimmed

Maglie left the Cardinals in July to be with his wife, who had surgery for cancer. When he returned, he wasn’t the same. After posting a 2-0 record and 1.12 ERA for the Cardinals in June, Maglie was 0-3 with a 6.48 ERA in July and 0-3 with a 6.20 ERA in August.

“First, my teeth bothered me. Then my wife became desperately ill,” Maglie said. “It wasn’t the physical or mental environment in which to win.”

Maglie finished with a 2-6 record and 4.75 ERA in 10 starts for the Cardinals.

“I feel I have another year of big-league pitching in me,” Maglie told columnist Dick Young.

Maglie reported to spring training with the Cardinals in 1959, hoping to impress manager Solly Hemus, but he yielded seven runs in the eighth inning of an exhibition game against the Phillies.

Maglie was released, but the Cardinals weren’t done with him.

Teaching role

On April 13, 1959, the Cardinals hired Maglie to be their minor-league pitching instructor. Asked which prospects impressed him, Maglie cited Bob Gibson. “All he needs is to improve his changeup to go with his speed,” Maglie said.

In June, Cal Browning, a minor-league left-hander, credited Maglie with correcting a flaw in his leg motion. In August, Bob Miller was called up to the Cardinals and said Maglie “helped me a lot with my breaking stuff.”

Reflecting on his season as Cardinals minor-league instructor, Maglie said, “I couldn’t concentrate on a player or a problem for more than three or four days at a time. No sooner would I get into a town than I’d have to leave for another. The kids did what I told them to do as long as I watched them, but slipped into their old ways as soon as I left.”

Maglie became Red Sox pitching coach in 1960 and was in that role in 1967 when Boston produced the American League Cy Young Award winner, Jim Lonborg, won the pennant and advanced to the World Series against the Cardinals. However, Maglie clashed with manager Dick Williams and was fired.

In 1969, Joe Schultz, who’d been a minor-league manager in the Cardinals system when Maglie was minor-league pitching instructor, became manager of the Seattle Pilots and hired Maglie to be pitching coach.