RetroSimba

How Don Choate helped Cardinals acquire Bill White

February 15, 2018 by retrosimba

Along with Bob Gibson and Ray Sadecki, Don Choate was a prized pitching prospect who was projected to be in the Cardinals’ plans entering the decade of the 1960s, but he never got the chance to play for them in the regular season.

Instead, Choate went to the Giants in the trade that brought Bill White to the Cardinals.

Choate, a right-hander, reached the major leagues with the Giants in 1960.

A native of Potosi, Mo., Choate grew up in East St. Louis, Ill. He signed with the Cardinals in 1956, the year he turned 18, and made his pro debut that season with their minor-league club in Peoria, Ill. In February 1957, Cardinals general manager Frank Lane cited Choate as one of the “talented kids from the St. Louis area in the Cardinals organization,” The Sporting News reported.

Assigned to the Billings, Mont., team in the Cardinals’ farm system, Choate had a breakout season in 1957, posting a 19-8 record. At 19, he pitched 20 complete games and 240 innings. On successive days, Aug. 30-31, Choate pitched shutouts against Salt Lake City. He pitched a one-hitter in a 5-0 victory cut to five innings because of rain, and came back the next night with a three-hitter in another 5-0 triumph in the seven-inning opener of a doubleheader.

Choate pitched in spring training exhibition games for the Cardinals in 1958 and was touted by The Sporting News as an “impressive” prospect. He split the 1958 season between Cardinals farm clubs in Omaha and Houston. When Choate retired 19 consecutive batters in a game against Denver, The Sporting News reported he “scintillated on the mound.”

After producing a combined record of 12-11 in 34 games for Omaha and Houston in 1958, Choate played winter ball for the Licey team in the Dominican Republic. He won his first six decisions and had a 1.54 ERA. Choate “has developed into the Dominican loop’s leading hurler,” The Sporting News reported. Cardinals assistant farm director George Silvey said Choate “is sneaky fast and his curve has been improving. He’s a pitcher, not a thrower. A definite big-league prospect.”

Cardinals manager Solly Hemus and farm director Walter Shannon went to the Dominican Republic to see the top players. Hemus filed a favorable report on Choate. As the Cardinals prepared for spring training in 1959, Choate seemed a likely candidate to earn a spot on the big-league team.

While in the Dominican Republic, Hemus and Shannon also saw Bill White, who was in the Giants’ organization, and were impressed by his power, run production and versatility at first base and in the outfield. Eddie Stanky, a Cardinals scout who managed White in the minor leagues, also recommended him.

On March 25, 1959, the Cardinals traded Choate and a starting pitcher, Sam Jones, to the Giants for White and utility player Ray Jablonski. Most analysts said the deal favored the Giants. Bob Broeg of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch predicted Choate “eventually might make the grade” as a major-league pitcher.

“There’s no doubt in my mind we’ve improved our pennant chances tremendously with Jones coming to our team,” Giants manager Bill Rigney told United Press International. Rigney added, “It was the most important pitching deal we’ve made since I’ve been manager.”

Said Bing Devine, who replaced Lane as Cardinals general manager, “We believe White will solve our outfield problem and give us the added power at the plate we have been looking for.”

White became one of the Cardinals’ best players and a premier first baseman in the National League.

Choate was assigned to the Giants’ farm club at Phoenix in 1959 and was 4-7 in 22 appearances.

In 1960, after posting a 10-15 record for Tacoma, Choate was called up to the Giants in September. He made four relief appearances, including a one-inning scoreless stint against the Cardinals at St. Louis on Sept. 17, and had a 0-0 record and 2.25 ERA.

Choate pitched one more season, 1961, with Tacoma, hurt his arm and was finished as a pro player at 23. He had a second career as a firefighter.

Posted in Pitchers, Prospects, Trades | 6 Comments »

Guy Bush, Dizzy Dean engaged in intense duels

February 12, 2018 by retrosimba

During his prime years with the Cubs, pitcher Guy Bush was an archrival of Cardinals ace Dizzy Dean. Later, within a span of two months, Bush joined the Cardinals and Dean went to the Cubs.

On Feb. 5, 1938, Bush was acquired by the Cardinals from the Braves in a cash transaction. Two months later, in April 1938, the Cardinals dealt Dean to the Cubs.

Bush, nicknamed the Mississippi Mudcat, was among the best pitchers in the National League in the 1930s. For 10 consecutive years (1926-1935), he achieved double-digit win totals each season. His peak years with the Cubs were 1932 (19-11, 3.21 ERA) and 1933 (20-12, 2.75 ERA).

Dean, the Cardinals’ brash future Hall of Famer, and Bush were matched in intense duels during their primes. In 1933, Bush challenged Dean to a fight during a game, according to the Society for American Baseball Research. “I get more satisfaction out of beating that guy once than I do winning from anyone else twice,” Bush said.

When Bush joined the Cardinals, he was on the back end of his career. Bush, 36, was 8-15 for the 1937 Braves. Dean, 28, also was in decline, losing the zip on his fastball after getting injured in the 1937 All-Star Game.

As spring training approached in 1938, the Cardinals were looking for a reliever who could make spot starts. They acquired Bush “for protection around the edges of our pitching staff,” Cardinals executive Branch Rickey told The Sporting News.

Dean and Bush pitched in the Cardinals’ second spring training exhibition game, a 8-1 victory over the Yankees. The Sporting News wrote of Bush, “He hasn’t the stuff that once made him one of the stars of the Cubs, but he knows the hitters in the league and has developed a fairly effective slow ball.”

Once the regular season began, the Cardinals soured on Bush. He made six relief appearances, posting an 0-1 record and 4.50 ERA, before he was released on May 7. Seven years later, with rosters depleted by calls to military service during World War II, Bush, 43, surfaced again in the major leagues for a stint with the Reds.

Bush achieved a big-league career record of 176-136, including 19-23 versus the Cardinals.

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Oscar Gamble: Prominent Padres production vs. Cardinals

February 8, 2018 by retrosimba

Oscar Gamble twice teamed with a future member of the 1982 World Series champions to help the Padres beat the Cardinals.

Gamble was an outfielder in the major leagues for 17 seasons (1969-1985), including five years in the National League with the Cubs (1969), Phillies (1970-1972) and Padres (1978).

He was the Opening Day left fielder on a Padres team that included future Cardinals Ozzie Smith at shortstop, George Hendrick in center field and Gene Tenace at catcher. Smith, Hendrick and Tenace went on to play for the 1982 World Series champion Cardinals. In 1978, Smith and Tenace paired with Gamble in providing prominent production in wins over the Cardinals.

The first of those games was May 5, 1978, at St. Louis. The Padres won, 2-1, and Gamble and Smith played key roles versus starter John Urrea. Smith had two triples, a single and a stolen base. Gamble drove in the winning run with a triple. The game was the sixth for Ken Boyer as Cardinals manager.

Cardinals second baseman Mike Tyson deprived Gamble of a second RBI in the eighth inning when he dived for Gamble’s hard smash, snared the ball, leaped to his feet and threw out Smith, who was attempting to advance from third base to home.

Two months later, on July 28, 1978, at San Diego, Gamble and Tenace were culprits in defeating the Cardinals. Gamble had a RBI-double against starter John Denny and a two-run single off Buddy Schultz. Tenace drove in five runs and scored twice. He produced a RBI-single and solo home run against Denny and a three-run homer off Aurelio Lopez.

It was the 10th time in a row the Cardinals lost to the Padres at San Diego.

For his career, Gamble batted .254 (30-for-118) against the Cardinals.

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Moose Stubing missed with Cards, flourished as coach

February 4, 2018 by retrosimba

A candidate to replace Bill White as Cardinals first baseman, Moose Stubing had his path blocked by Orlando Cepeda for the second time in his career.

Stubing went on to have a long career as a coach and manager.

Nicknamed “Moose” because of his size, Larry Stubing was a Bronx, N.Y., native and a standout high school athlete. He rejected a football scholarship to Penn State and signed a professional baseball contract with the Pirates. Stubing stood 6 feet 3 and weighed 220 pounds.

After one season (1956) in the Pirates’ system, Stubing was sent to the Giants. He played eight seasons (1957-1964) in the Giants’ minor-league organization. The Giants had two future Hall of Famers, Cepeda and Willie McCovey, who were naturals at first base and there was no room at the big-league level for Stubing, a left-handed batter with power.

In April 1965, the Giants dealt Stubing, 27, to the Cardinals for George Williams, a minor-league third baseman. White was the Cardinals’ first baseman then and he was coming off a successful 1964 season, batting .303 with 102 RBI for the World Series champions. Cardinals general manager Bob Howsam, however, was looking for potential successors to White, making Stubing a candidate.

The Cardinals assigned Stubing to the Jacksonville Suns, their Class AAA affiliate in the International League and made him the starting first baseman. Stubing, however, flopped, batting .209 with 13 home runs in 132 games. He was surpassed by another prospect, George Kernek, as the likely successor to White.

After the 1965 season, White was traded to the Phillies and Kernek was picked to replace him. Stubing was demoted to the Arkansas Travelers, the Cardinals’ Class AA club in the Texas League.

After a slow start in 1966, Stubing began hitting with consistent power and production for Arkansas. In a 51-game stretch in June and July, he hit .381. Of his first 19 home runs, 18 came in games won by Arkansas. By then, however, Cepeda was the Cardinals’ first baseman. He was acquired in May and Kernek was sent back to Class AAA.

Stubing finished the 1966 season with a .274 batting average and 25 home runs for an Arkansas team, managed by Vern Rapp, that won the pennant in its first season in the Texas League. A team photo in the Sept. 17, 1966, edition of The Sporting News showed Stubing standing between future Cardinals pitchers Wayne Granger and Mike Torrez.

Though Stubing did well at Arkansas, he no longer fit in the Cardinals’ plans. Howsam departed for the Reds and Stan Musial replaced him as general manager. Before the start of the 1967 season, the Cardinals sent Stubing to the Angels.

Joining the Angels was a break for Stubing. He made his major-league debut with them in 1967, but went hitless, with four strikeouts, in five at-bats. Stubing stayed in the Angels’ organization and eventually became a minor-league manager for them for many years.

From 1985-1990, Stubing was back in the major leagues as an Angels hitting coach. In 1988, when the Angels fired manager Cookie Rojas near the end of the season, Stubing filled in with eight games remaining, but the Angels lost all eight.

Posted in Hitters, Trades | 1 Comment »

Johnny Edwards was a good catch for 1968 Cardinals

January 31, 2018 by retrosimba

Johnny Bench made Johnny Edwards available to the Cardinals and Ted Simmons made him expendable.

On Feb. 8, 1968, the Cardinals acquired Edwards from the Reds for catcher Pat Corrales and infielder Jimy Williams. The trade was made by general managers Bing Devine of the Cardinals and Bob Howsam of the Reds. When Devine was fired in August 1964, ending his first stint with the Cardinals, Howsam replaced him as Cardinals general manager before departing for the Reds in January 1967.

The deal brought together Edwards and Tim McCarver, giving the Cardinals an all-star catching tandem. Corrales and Williams went on to become big-league managers after their playing careers.

McCarver, the Cardinals’ first-string catcher, was outstanding in 1967. He batted .295, finished second in balloting for the National League Most Valuable Player Award and handled a pitching staff that carried the Cardinals to a World Series championship.

The Cardinals, however, wanted a strong backup who could fill in when McCarver was fulfilling his Army reserve duties one weekend a month and when McCarver needed a rest.

“It’s up to me to prove I can be of some value to them and I’m going to spring training in an optimistic frame of mind, even knowing McCarver is there,” Edwards said to the Dayton Journal-Herald.

Edwards, 29, became available because Bench, a rookie phenom, was ready to take over the starting catcher role for the Reds in 1968. Edwards, who debuted with the Reds in 1961, twice won a Gold Glove Award for fielding excellence (1963-64) and three times was named a National League all-star (1963-65) with the Reds.

He fell out of favor with the Reds when his batting averages dipped substantially in 1966 (.191) and 1967 (.206). Unhappy with being platooned and aware Bench was ready to take over, Edwards publicly requested a trade. “It was a real good deal to get out of Cincinnati,” Edwards said to The Sporting News. “The (management) people in Cincinnati were down on me.”

In joining the Cardinals, Edwards was reunited with Dick Sisler, who was Reds manager in 1965 before becoming Cardinals hitting coach in 1966. “Maybe Sisler can help me with my swing,” Edwards said. “I used to hit to all fields. Then they wanted me to try to pull the ball more.”

Recalling Wally Pipp, the Yankees first baseman who missed a game, was replaced by Lou Gehrig and never got his job back, McCarver said, “Maybe I would be better off with a little more rest, but I don’t want to get Wally Pipped out there.”

On March 10, 1968, in his spring training debut for the Cardinals, Edwards caught 14 innings in a game against the Mets and impressed his teammates.

Edwards quickly contributed to the Cardinals during the regular season. After Edwards produced three hits in a Cardinals victory over the Astros on May 1, outfielder Roger Maris needled McCarver. “I’m sure glad we had a good-hitting catcher in there tonight,” Maris said. Boxscore

A left-handed batter, like McCarver, Edwards hit a two-run home run off Juan Marichal in Bob Gibson’s 3-0 shutout of the Giants on July 6. Boxscore Edwards caught 10 of Gibson’s starts in 1968 and Gibson had a 0.89 ERA in those games, according to baseball-reference.com.

On Sept. 18, Edwards caught Ray Washburn’s no-hitter, the first by a Cardinals pitcher since Lon Warneke in 1941. Boxscore

Edwards appeared in 85 games for the 1968 National League champions, made 52 starts and batted .239.

In the World Series against the Tigers, McCarver started all seven games. Gibson won his first two starts but was the loser in the decisive Game 7. “I feel if I had caught Bob in the World Series, the result would have been different,” Edwards said to the Society for American Baseball Research.

On Oct. 11, 1968, Edwards was traded to the Astros in a deal for pitcher Dave Giusti. Simmons, a first-round draft choice of the Cardinals in 1967, was being groomed to replace McCarver and Edwards no longer was needed.

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments »

Price was right for Bob Forsch encore with Cardinals

January 27, 2018 by retrosimba

In the first eight months of 1988, Bob Forsch rejoined the Cardinals, turned in one of his best stretches as a starting pitcher and was traded when they determined he no longer fit their plans.

Forsch’s topsy-turvy 1988 was set in motion by the actions of the Cardinals in December 1987. Though Forsch tied for the team lead in wins (11) and also earned a win apiece in the National League Championship Series and World Series in 1987, the Cardinals released him in a cost-cutting move just before Christmas.

Baseball rules said a club could cut the salary of a player on the roster by no more than 20 percent, but the Cardinals wanted to reduce Forsch’s pay by more than that. By releasing him and making him a free agent, the Cardinals could re-sign him without restrictions.

The Cardinals offered Forsch a 1988 salary of $200,000, a reduction of 73 percent from the $750,000 he made in 1987, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

“I can’t think of too many players who won 11 games and they gave them a 73 percent cut,” Forsch said. “I can’t think of too many players who won 11 games and got released.”

Said Cardinals general manager Dal Maxvill: “I felt his performance last year, even though he tied for the lead in wins, was such that we didn’t feel we should pay him $750,000.”

Preferring to stay in St. Louis, Forsch, 38, negotiated a compromise. He would pitch for the 1988 Cardinals at a base salary that was 47 percent less than what he made in 1987. In January 1988, he signed a $400,000 contract with the Cardinals. The deal also gave Forsch the chance to earn more if certain incentives were met.

“I really want to stay here, but I’m not going to play very many more years and I plan to get as much money as I can before I retire,” Forsch said. “The whole Cardinals organization has been super to me, but you just get to a point where you get tired at the whole process … You get tired of hearing how old you are.”

Good enough to trade

Though he made 30 starts for them in 1987, the Cardinals projected Forsch to be a reliever in 1988. However, because injuries depleted the rotation, Forsch made 12 starts for the 1988 Cardinals, including six in August when he had a 5-1 record and a 2.25 ERA.

“Forsch’s secret has been consistency,” the Post-Dispatch reported. “He’s endured with the strength of a marathon runner, the fortitude of a mountain climber.”

Said Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog: “Just when you count the son of a buck out, he fights back. He’s something.”

By the end of August, Forsch was 9-4 with a 3.73 ERA in 30 appearances for the 1988 Cardinals. As a starter, he was 5-2 with a 2.97 ERA. Nonetheless, the Cardinals told Forsch they couldn’t commit to him being on the team in 1989.

“I know (Forsch) has pitched well, but he’s going to be 39 years old,” Maxvill said.

When Forsch signed in January, he and Maxvill had discussed the possibility of a trade late in the season, the Post-Dispatch reported.

Still wanting to pitch, Forsch said he would agree to a trade to a contender. As a player who spent five years with one team and 10 in the league, Forsch, under baseball rules, needed to approve any proposed deal involving him.

Business deal

The second-place Astros, managed by former Cardinals coach Hal Lanier, showed the most interest in Forsch. They saw him as a starter who could help them in their pursuit of the NL West-leading Dodgers.

Forsch agreed to the trade when the Astros guaranteed him a contract for 1989.

On Aug. 31, 1988, after 15 seasons with the Cardinals, Forsch was traded to the Astros for utility player Denny Walling.

“I hate leaving, but I’m going to someplace where I’m going to enjoy it,” Forsch said.

Said Forsch’s friend, Cardinals trainer Gene Gieselmann: “I was hoping he would always be a Cardinal, but baseball is a business and all of us in baseball have to look at it that way.”

Calling Forsch “a great teacher and a great person,” Maxvill told him the Cardinals would give him a job in the organization in 1989 if he was unable to pitch for the Astros. “I feel good about that,” Forsch responded.

Forsch won his first start for the 1988 Astros, shutting out the Reds for eight innings and contributing a three-run double. Boxscore However, in six starts for them, Forsch was 1-4 with a 6.51 ERA and the Astros finished in fifth place.

In 1989, his last season in the big leagues, Forsch was 4-5 with a 5.32 ERA for the Astros.

Previously: Why Bob Forsch didn’t end his career as a Cardinal

Posted in Games, Pitchers, Trades | 3 Comments »

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