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Why Cardinals took a chance on Carl Scheib

April 15, 2018 by retrosimba

Desperate for pitching, the 1943 Athletics turned to Carl Scheib, a 16-year-old with a strong arm. Eleven years later, the 1954 Cardinals, desperate for pitching, took a chance on Scheib, a 27-year-old with a damaged arm.

Scheib finished his major-league career with the Cardinals after a brief, unsuccessful stint with them.

The Cardinals’ pitching in 1954 was so bad they were willing to try just about anything to give the staff a boost. On May 7, 1954, in a creative cash transaction, the Cardinals acquired Scheib from the Athletics on a conditional basis. The Cardinals agreed to give Scheib a look in exchange for a small amount of cash to the Athletics. If the Cardinals kept Scheib for 30 days, they would increase the amount of compensation to the Athletics.

Teen-age wasteland

Scheib, born Jan. 1, 1927, became the youngest player to appear in an American League game when he debuted with the Athletics in the ninth inning of the second game of a doubleheader against the Yankees on Sept. 6, 1943. Boxscore

The 1943 Athletics had the worst pitching staff (4.05 ERA) in the league and the team, managed by Connie Mack, finished in last place at 49-105.

A year later, on June 10, 1944, Joe Nuxhall, 15, became the youngest player to appear in a major-league game when he debuted with the Reds in the ninth inning against the Cardinals.

Scheib pitched for the Athletics from 1943-45 and from 1947-54. His best season was 1948 when he had a 14-8 record and 3.94 ERA with 15 complete games. He also experienced two particularly dreadful seasons in 1950 (3-10 record, 7.22 ERA) and 1951 (1-12, 4.47).

Bargain shopping

When Scheib got to spring training in 1954, it was evident to the Athletics he was experiencing weakness in his right shoulder, according to a biography by the Society for American Baseball Research. After making his final spring training appearance, Scheib didn’t appear in another game for more than a month until given a regular-season start against the White Sox on May 3, 1954. Scheib yielded five runs in two innings and took the loss. Boxscore

Four days later, on May 7, 1954, the Cardinals made the conditional deal to land Scheib.

Cardinals pitchers gave up 34 runs in their last three games prior to acquiring Scheib. The staff would finish the 1954 season with a 4.50 ERA. Their relievers formed the worst bullpen in franchise history.

Cardinals manager Eddie Stanky said Scheib was “the best we could do because we couldn’t get a big-name pitcher without giving up too much playing strength in return.”

Two days after the deal was made, Scheib reported to the Cardinals in Cincinnati and threw pitches to coach Johnny Riddle while Stanky watched. Scheib “showed speed, a sweeping curve and promising knuckler,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Said Reds manager Birdie Tebbetts, a former American League catcher who had faced Scheib often: “Don’t worry about his record. He was with a poor ball club over there. If waivers had been asked on him, I’d have claimed him.”

Short stay

Scheib made his first Cardinals appearance in a start against the Phillies in the second game of a doubleheader on May 16, 1954, at Philadelphia. He struck out the first two batters, but gave up five runs, including back-to-back home runs by Johnny Wyrostek and Del Ennis, in two innings and was the losing pitcher. Boxscore

Cardinals general manager Dick Meyer said catcher Del Rice “didn’t think Scheib was as bad as those five early runs would indicate.”

Scheib was used twice in relief by the Cardinals, pitching two scoreless innings against the Reds on May 22 and yielding a home run to Cubs catcher Joe Garagiola in a stint that lasted two-thirds of an inning on May 24.

By then, the Cardinals decided Scheib wasn’t effective enough to pay additional compensation to the Athletics. On May 27, they returned Scheib to the Athletics. Two days later, the Athletics asked waivers on Scheib for the purpose of giving him an unconditional release.

Unclaimed and free to make his own deal, Scheib signed with the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League. He spent two years (1954-55) with Portland and two more (1956-57) with the San Antonio Missions, managed by future Cardinals coach Joe Schultz, of the Texas League before ending his playing career.

Posted in Games, Pitchers, Trades | Leave a Comment »

How Bob Pettit brought a championship to St. Louis

April 12, 2018 by retrosimba

(Updated Aug. 2, 2022)

In a feat that ranks as the St. Louis basketball equivalent of the World Series heroics performed by Cardinals such as Grover Cleveland Alexander, Enos Slaughter, Bob Gibson and David Freese, Bob Pettit lifted the Hawks onto his broad shoulders and carried them to a NBA championship.

On April 12, 1958, Pettit scored 50 points and grabbed 19 rebounds, leading the St. Louis Hawks to a 110-109 victory over the Boston Celtics in Game 6 of the NBA Finals. The triumph was the Hawks’ fourth in the best-of-seven series and gave the franchise its first and only NBA title.

Pettit, a 6-foot-9 power forward in his fourth NBA season, scored 19 of the Hawks’ last 21 points in the championship clincher. His final basket made the difference in the outcome.

Hot ticket

Until the Hawks relocated from Milwaukee to St. Louis in 1955, the baseball Cardinals were the only big-league professional sports franchise in town. There was no NHL team and no NFL team in St. Louis then, and the American League Browns had moved to Baltimore in 1954.

The Hawks reached the NBA Finals against the Celtics in 1957, but Boston won four of seven games. The same teams came back for a rematch in 1958.

The Hawks’ first three victories in the 1958 NBA Finals were by margins of two points (104-102 in Game 1), three points (111-108 in Game 3) and two points (102-100 in Game 5).

Game 6 was played at St. Louis’ Kiel Auditorium and drew 10,216. Police arrested scalpers who offered a $2.50 ticket for $5, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

The Hawks, coached by Alex Hannum, started a lineup of guards Slater Martin and Jack McMahon, forwards Pettit and Cliff Hagan, and center Ed Macauley, a St. Louis native who’d been a standout at St. Louis University.

The Celtics, coached by Red Auerbach, had guards Bob Cousy and Bill Sharman, forwards Frank Ramsey and Tommy Heinsohn and center Bill Russell.

Down to the wire

In what Harold Flachsbart of the Post-Dispatch described as a “tension-packed playoff battle,” the Hawks relied heavily on Pettit and Hagan (15 points, six rebounds), while the Celtics were led by Sharman (26 points), Heinsohn (23 points) and Cousy (15 points, nine assists).

Pettit, a former Louisiana State University standout, was “uncanny with jump shots, under-the-basket twisters and sometimes drove in for layups with his long legs covering lots of space in spurts of speed,” the Post-Dispatch reported.

Russell, who got into early foul trouble, was limited to 20 minutes of playing time, but he was in the game during the fourth quarter and assigned to guard Pettit.

According to the Post-Dispatch, Pettit “out-jumped, on numerous occasions, Boston’s great defensive star, Bill Russell, who played despite an ankle injury that hobbled him.”

The Hawks never trailed in the final five minutes of the game, but the Celtics got within a point three times in the last two minutes.

With 16 seconds remaining and the Hawks ahead by a point, Pettit tapped in a missed shot by Martin, giving St. Louis a 110-107 lead. Looking to avoid a foul, the Hawks let Sharman score an uncontested layup, narrowing the lead to one with nine seconds left, and Martin ran out the clock with a deft display of dribbling. Boxscore and video

One and done

When the buzzer sounded, ending the game, “the St. Louis players jumped into each other’s arms, received kisses from women spectators and back-pounding from male rooters,” the Post-Dispatch reported. Pettit was carried by teammates into the locker room, according to the Associated Press.

Pettit, who averaged 29.3 points and 17 rebounds a game in the series, said of the triumph, “It wasn’t me _ it was the team. I’m so happy to be with this group.”

(In 1998, on the 40th anniversary of the title, Macauley told Tom Wheatley of the Post-Dispatch, “Bob Pettit may have put on the greatest individual performance in the history of sports.” Pettit said, “It was a talented group, but it was a very, very closely knit group. It was a very unselfish ballclub.”)

The total playoff payout to the champion Hawks was $23,000, according to the Post-Dispatch. The players voted to divide the amount into 11 shares, or $2,289 per share. Hannum and nine players received full shares, and the other share was split between the trainer and two players who were there part of the season.

The championship by the Hawks was the first in a major-league sport for a St. Louis team since 1946 when the Cardinals beat the Red Sox in the World Series.

St. Louis remained a NBA town until 1968, when the Hawks moved to Atlanta, but the franchise never won another NBA championship.

Posted in Games | 13 Comments »

Dick LeMay: Consistent winner in Cardinals’ system

April 9, 2018 by retrosimba

Dick LeMay was a pitcher who impressed Carl Hubbell, earned a complete-game win in his first major-league start against Bob Gibson and was the ace on Cardinals minor-league teams managed by Warren Spahn.

Unlike Hubbell, Gibson and Spahn, who were Hall of Fame pitchers, LeMay was a journeyman. Though he pitched in the big leagues for the Giants and Cubs, LeMay spent a significant portion of his playing career in the Cardinals’ system.

LeMay pitched for Cardinals Class AAA clubs during a five-year period (1964-68) when the major-league team won three National League pennants.

Screwball specialist

A Cincinnati native, LeMay, 19, received an offer to begin his professional career with the Reds, but chose to sign with the Giants as an amateur free agent in 1958 because they offered the most money, a $12,000 signing bonus.

LeMay was toiling in the Giants’ system when, in 1961, Hubbell, the organization’s director of player development, scouted him and filed a favorable report. Like Hubbell, who had been a Giants ace in the 1930s, LeMay was left-handed and threw an effective screwball.

“When I looked at LeMay, I discovered he had a good forkball and screwball, wasn’t too fast, but could consistently get his breaking ball over,” Hubbell told The Sporting News.

Backed by Hubbell’s endorsement, LeMay was promoted to the Giants and he made his major-league debut for them on June 13, 1961, with 2.2 innings of scoreless relief against the Dodgers. After two more scoreless relief stints, LeMay got his first big-league start on June 24, 1961, versus the Cardinals at St. Louis.

The game matched LeMay against Gibson, who was in his third big-league season and starting to emerge as a consistent winner.

LeMay shut out the Cardinals until the ninth, when he yielded a run-scoring single to Carl Warwick. Powered by home runs from Orlando Cepeda (a three-run shot off Gibson) and Willie McCovey, the Giants prevailed, 6-1. LeMay got the complete-game win. Gibson went five innings and gave up five runs. Boxscore

Bob Broeg of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported LeMay threw “soft breaking stuff with a big motion, using a screwball and forkball more than he did a fast one.”

Appearing with Cardinals broadcaster Harry Caray on a post-game radio show, LeMay said he hoped Giants manager Al Dark “lets me get back in the bullpen. You get in more games that way.”

Ups and downs

After LeMay was shelled for seven runs in 5.2 innings in a start against the Cardinals on July 8, he returned to the bullpen. He got a win against the Cardinals on July 20, with 3.1 innings in relief of starter Sam Jones. LeMay gave up a bases-loaded double to Bill White in the sixth (two of the runs were charged to Jones), but shut out the Cardinals over the last three innings. With the score tied at 6-6 in the eighth, LeMay sparked a four-run rally against Lindy McDaniel by drawing a walk on five pitches. Boxscore

LeMay posted a 3-6 record with three saves and a 3.56 ERA for the 1961 Giants.

He made nine relief appearances for the 1962 Giants and was 0-1 with a 7.71 ERA. The loss came against the Cardinals on Sept. 20 when LeMay was unable to protect a 4-3 lead in the ninth. Boxscore

Upset by the loss, Dark “knocked a box containing three dozen hardboiled eggs off a table and scattered them about the clubhouse,” the Post-Dispatch reported.

After the 1962 season, the Giants traded LeMay to the Colt .45s. Toward the end of spring training in 1963, the Colt .45s (who later became the Astros) dealt LeMay to the Cubs. The Cubs loaned LeMay to the Atlanta Crackers, a Class AAA affiliate of the Cardinals, and he was 3-3 with a 2.22 ERA for that club before being called up by the Cubs. LeMay made nine appearances, three versus the Cardinals, for the 1963 Cubs and was 0-1 with a 5.28 ERA.

Stuck in minors

The Cubs cut loose LeMay and he signed with the Cardinals, who invited him to their 1964 major-league spring training camp as a non-roster player. When the season began, LeMay was assigned to the Class AAA Jacksonville Suns and he did well for them (12-7 record, 2.81 ERA). The Cardinals rewarded LeMay by placing him on their 40-man big-league winter roster, putting him in the mix to earn a relief job in 1965.

Before the start of spring training in 1965, The Sporting News said of the defending World Series champion Cardinals, “The bullpen shapes up pretty well, with Barney Schultz and Ron Taylor as the bellwethers and such men as Bob Humphreys, Mike Cuellar, Fritz Ackley and Dick LeMay available.”

The Cardinals, however, returned LeMay to Jacksonville for the 1965 season and he again did well (17-11, 3.19) for the Suns.

Though he was excelling at the highest level of their farm system, LeMay wasn’t prominent in the Cardinals’ plans. Left-handers such as Steve Carlton and Larry Jaster surpassed LeMay as premier prospects. LeMay, who turned 28 in 1966, spent that season with the Tulsa Oilers, a Cardinals Class AAA club, and was 14-13 with a 4.35 ERA.

In 1967, Spahn, who retired as the all-time leader in wins among left-handed pitchers, became manager of the Oilers. LeMay was Spahn’s most durable starter in 1967 (13-18, 3.48) and 1968 (16-10, 3.29).

After that, LeMay went back to the Cubs organization, pitched two more seasons at the Class AAA level, retired from playing and managed the Class A Quincy (Ill.) Cubs of the Midwest League in 1971 and 1972.

LeMay pitched in 45 major-league games, nine versus the Cardinals. He was 2-1 with a 5.13 ERA against St. Louis. His overall career mark in the big leagues is 3-8 with a 4.17 ERA.

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers, Prospects, Trades | 4 Comments »

Familiar foes: Rusty Staub vs. Bob Gibson

April 3, 2018 by retrosimba

(Updated Nov. 25, 2019)

Rusty Staub, who did his best hitting versus right-handed pitchers, and Bob Gibson were matched against one another often. Though Staub didn’t hit Gibson as well as he did most right-handers, he had a couple of significant games while facing the Cardinals’ ace.

Staub had more plate appearances (162) and more at-bats (143) versus Gibson than he did against any other pitcher in his major-league career.

A left-handed batter, Staub played 23 seasons in the big leagues, starting in 1963, when he was 19, with the Houston Colt .45s before they were renamed the Astros. An outfielder and first baseman, Staub also played for the Expos, Mets, Tigers and Rangers.

Staub had career totals of 2,716 hits and 1,466 RBI, with a .279 batting average. Against right-handed pitching, he hit .291. Gibson was among the few right-handers who fared well against Staub, limiting him to a .224 batting average, but Staub was a respected adversary, compiling 32 hits, 16 walks and 15 RBI against him.

Cardinals nemesis

In 256 games against the Cardinals, Staub batted .273, with 226 hits, 109 walks and 102 RBI. He hit .300 or better versus the Cardinals every year from 1966 to 1973. Some of his performances against St. Louis were dominant: .484 batting average and 13 RBI in 1966; .328 and 15 RBI in 1967; and .343 and 15 RBI in 1975.

In a November 2019 interview with broadcaster Dan McLaughlin, longtime Cardinals catcher Ted Simmons said, “If Rusty decided he wasn’t going to strike out, you couldn’t strike him out. I mean, it wasn’t a matter of him trying to foul the ball off. He would put an at-bat on you. Every swing was critical.”

Staub was tough on Cardinals right-handers such as Nelson Briles (.384 batting average against) and Ray Washburn (.327), and one of the left-handers he solved was Steve Carlton (.308). Staub had more RBI (25) versus Carlton than he did against any other pitcher. All four of his career home runs off Carlton came while the pitcher was with the Cardinals.

Staub was 20 when he hit his first home run against a Cardinals pitcher, left-hander Curt Simmons, 35, in 1964.

Another longtime Cardinals left-hander, Ray Sadecki, struck out Staub more times (21) than any other major-league pitcher.

Perfect at plate

On May 1, 1968, Gibson pitched 12 innings, yielding seven hits and no earned runs, in a 3-1 Cardinals victory over the Astros at Houston. Staub gave him the most trouble, with four hits and a sacrifice bunt in five plate appearances.

“You can’t trick Staub,” Gibson said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Said Cardinals center fielder Curt Flood: “Staub has a good, short stride and he seems to know what kind of pitch is coming.”

Staub, batting in the cleanup spot, produced three singles and a double.

Explaining how Gibson relied on fastballs and sliders, Cardinals catcher Johnny Edwards said, “I think Gibby threw two curves all night and the only changeup was the one Rusty Staub hit up the middle (in the fourth) for a single.”

In the Astros’ half of the 11th, with the score tied at 1-1, Jim Wynn drew a leadoff walk. Staub was up next, and even though he was perfect at the plate against Gibson, Astros manager Grady Hatton instructed him to bunt. Staub executed, moving Wynn into scoring position at second base.

After Doug Rader struck out, Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst ordered Gibson to walk John Bateman to get to Denis Menke, a career .184 batter versus Gibson. Menke grounded into a forceout. Boxscore

Sweet swing

Seven years later, on April 23, 1975, Gibson was matched against Mets ace Tom Seaver in a game at New York. Staub was with the Mets then.

In the fifth, with the Cardinals ahead, 1-0, Jack Heidemann singled against Gibson and moved to second on Jerry Grote’s single. With Seaver at the plate, Gibson made a pickoff throw to second baseman Ted Sizemore. Sizemore applied a tag, but umpire Tom Gorman ruled Heidemann safe.

“He never got to the bag,” Sizemore complained.

After Seaver grounded out, Wayne Garrett walked, loading the bases, and Felix Millan hit a two-run double. After an intentional walk to Del Unser, reloading the bases, Staub came up, swung at Gibson’s first pitch, a fastball, and walloped it for a grand slam. The Mets won, 7-1.

“I’ve always said the key to hitting is to have men on base,” Staub said to The White Plains Journal News. “It doesn’t matter who bats behind you in the batting order. It matters only if men are on base in front of you and you can get a pitch to hit.”

Said Gibson: “I was having control problems and when you have control problems you don’t throw the same.” Boxscore

The grand slam was the sixth of nine Staub hit in the big leagues. Two other future Hall of Fame pitchers, Rollie Fingers and Dennis Eckersley, also yielded grand slams to Staub.

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents, Pitchers | 2 Comments »

Why Cardinals gave up on hometown prospect Dick Sisler

March 31, 2018 by retrosimba

Dick Sisler, a standout as a St. Louis prep school athlete and son of a Hall of Fame baseball player, came to the Cardinals amid high expectations. He earned starts in two Opening Day lineups for the Cardinals but departed before he developed into a major-league all-star.

On April 7, 1948, the Cardinals traded Sisler to the Phillies for infielder Ralph LaPointe and $20,000.

Initially, the deal disappointed Sisler, who hoped to establish a big-league career with the hometown Cardinals. Sisler soon learned, however, that joining the Phillies was a good break for him.

Preps to pros

Dick Sisler excelled at baseball, basketball, football and track at John Burroughs School in the St. Louis suburb of Ladue. His father, George Sisler, a first baseman, was one of baseball’s best hitters, primarily for the St. Louis Browns of the American League, in a major-league career that spanned from 1915 to 1930.

As a high school senior, Dick Sisler accepted a college scholarship offer from Colgate, but when the Cardinals came calling with a professional contract in February 1939, Sisler, 18, went with them instead.

Sisler made his major-league debut with the Cardinals in 1946, starting at first base on Opening Day. When a hand injury sidelined Sisler in June, Cardinals manager Eddie Dyer moved Stan Musial from the outfield to first base. After Sisler recovered from his injury, Dyer kept Musial at first and put Sisler in left. Sisler hit .260 with 42 RBI in 83 games as a Cardinals rookie.

When the 1947 season opened, the Cardinals started Musial at first base and Sisler in left field. Sisler didn’t provide the power the Cardinals sought, and in May they acquired left fielder Ron Northey from the Phillies and moved Sisler to the bench. Sisler batted .203 in 46 games for the 1947 Cardinals.

When Sisler signed his Cardinals contract for the 1948 season, club owner Robert Hannegan informed him Musial would be moved back to the outfield. Sisler was told he would have the chance to compete for the starting first base job, but would be traded if someone else got the role, according to The Sporting News.

Spring cleaning

Sisler played well for the Cardinals at spring training in 1948. “Dick was meeting the ball better and seemed to be on his way to a bright season,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Sisler told the St. Louis Star-Times, “I was given to understand that I had a real chance to make the Cardinals’ ball club if I had a good spring training season. Well, I had a big spring. I know I led the club in home runs. In extra-base slugging, my percentage must have been over .600.”

After the Cardinals left Florida and made their way north, they stopped in Columbus, Ga., to play an exhibition game on April 7, 1948, against their farm team. The Cardinals were at a team barbecue when Hannegan approached Sisler and told him he’d been traded to the Phillies.

The Post-Dispatch reported the deal as “something of a surprise move” and the newspaper’s editorial page predicted the Cardinals are “going to regret trading Dick Sisler.”

According to the Star-Times, the trade was made because Dyer and Sisler “were hardly of one mind on Dick’s baseball abilities or on other subjects.”

The Sporting News said Dyer planned to start Sisler at first base, but changed his mind because he wanted a right-handed batter to better balance a lineup with left-handed hitters such as Musial, Northey and Enos Slaughter. After the trade, Dyer named Nippy Jones, a right-handed batter, to start at first base.

“I feel the deal ultimately will prove to be in Sisler’s best interest as well as the Cardinals’,” Hannegan said.

Philadelphia freedom

After Sisler reported to the Phillies, he appeared to be more naturally relaxed in his approach than he had been with the Cardinals. “Perhaps it would have been better for Dick if he had started in a town other than St. Louis, someplace where the fans didn’t have as many recollections of his brilliant dad,” columnist J.G. Taylor Spink wrote in The Sporting News.

Meanwhile, LaPointe, the player the Cardinals acquired from the Phillies for Sisler, was tabbed by Dyer to be a backup to Red Schoendienst at second base and to Marty Marion at shortstop.

“Coming to this ball club is like falling into Utopia,” LaPointe said.

Sisler batted .274 with 56 RBI for the 1948 Phillies and Jones, his replacement at first base, hit .254 with 81 RBI for the 1948 Cardinals. In his lone St. Louis season, LaPointe batted .225 in 1948.

Sisler had his all-star season with the 1950 Phillies, hitting .296 with 83 RBI. In the final regular-season game that year, Sisler hit a three-run home run in the 10th inning against Don Newcombe, lifting the Phillies to a 4-1 pennant-clinching victory over the Dodgers.

In four seasons with the Phillies, Sisler hit .287. He went to the Reds in 1952 but was traded back to the Cardinals in May that year. He finished his big-league playing career with the 1953 Cardinals.

After a stint as a minor-league manager, Sisler was a Reds coach from 1961-64. Late in the 1964 season, he replaced an ailing Fred Hutchinson as Reds manager and guided them into a pennant race with the Cardinals and Phillies. The Reds finished in second place when the Cardinals clinched the pennant on the last day of the regular season.

Sisler managed the Reds in 1965, and though the club finished 89-73, he was fired after the season. He was a Cardinals coach on manager Red Schoendienst’s staff from 1966-70, and he also coached for the 1975-76 Padres (managed by John McNamara) and the 1979-80 Mets (managed by Joe Torre).

Posted in Hitters, Trades | 2 Comments »

Catcher Francisco Pena followed dad Tony to Cardinals

March 28, 2018 by retrosimba

(Updated May 2, 2019)

Francisco Pena provided one of the surprises of the Cardinals’ 2018 spring training, leapfrogging ahead of prospect Carson Kelly and earning the backup catcher spot behind Yadier Molina on the Opening Day roster.

Pena, son of former Cardinals catcher Tony Pena, played in the Mets’ system for seven seasons (2007-13) before reaching the majors with the Royals in 2014. After the 2015 season, his contract was sold to the Orioles and Pena was with them in 2016 and 2017.

The Cardinals signed Pena after he was granted free agency in October 2017.

Francisco Pena hit his first Cardinals home run, and his fourth overall in the major leagues, on May 18, 2018, versus the Phillies at St. Louis.

Tony Pena and Francisco Pena became the second father-son pair to hit home runs for the Cardinals, following Ed Spiezio and Scott Spiezio. Ed Spiezio played five years (1964-69) for the Cardinals and hit five home runs for them. His son, Scott Spiezio, played two years (2006-07) for the Cardinals and hit 17 home runs for them.

Tony Pena hit 107 big-league home runs, including 19 in three seasons (1987-89) with the Cardinals. Tony helped the Cardinals win the 1987 National League pennant and he was an all-star with them in 1989.

Francisco Pena never got to see his father Tony play for the Cardinals. Francisco was born on Oct. 12, 1989, 11 days after Tony played in his final game for the Cardinals. Tony Pena became a free agent on Nov. 13, 1989, and signed with the Red Sox two weeks later.

Francisco Pena hit .203 with two home runs in 58 games for the 2018 Cardinals. In 2019, the Cardinals sent Pena to the minor leagues and on May 2, 2019, they traded him to the Giants in a cash transaction.

Posted in Hitters, Records | 2 Comments »

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