A skilled administrator unafraid to make bold trades involving prominent players, Cardinals general manager Bob Howsam also was unpopular with many on the club and was second-guessed by bosses who restricted his authority and threatened his job security.
Jumping at an offer for a higher salary, a multi-year contract and the opportunity to be fully in charge of baseball operations, Howsam left the Cardinals on Jan. 22, 1967, and joined the Reds as executive vice president and general manager.
The club Howsam left behind won the 1967 National League pennant and World Series title. Two players acquired by Howsam, first baseman Orlando Cepeda and right fielder Roger Maris, were important contributors to that Cardinals championship squad.
With Cincinnati, Howsam enjoyed his greatest success, building the Big Red Machine teams that won four pennants (1970, 1972, 1975 and 1976) and two World Series crowns (1975 and 1976).
Not welcome
A minor-league executive in Denver, Howsam replaced ousted Cardinals general manager Bing Devine in August 1964. Branch Rickey, a Cardinals consultant and former general manager, had recommended Howsam to club owner Gussie Busch.
Devine, who had acquired for the Cardinals key players such as outfielders Lou Brock and Curt Flood and infielders Bill White, Julian Javier and Dick Groat, was well-liked by club employees and media. After Devine departed, the Cardinals won 31 of 45 regular-season games, clinched the pennant and defeated the Yankees in the World Series.
Cardinals manager Johnny Keane and most players were upset Howsam, not Devine, was the general manager celebrating the championship. Howsam contributed only “three cheers” to the title run and his relationship with Keane was so sour their conversations consisted of two kinds: “little and none,” sports editor Bob Broeg of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
Howsam angered many when he attempted to take some credit for the 1964 success. According to the Post-Dispatch, Howsam said, “My personal feeling is Devine’s firing led us to the pennant and world championship. It fired up everybody _ the manager, the players and the entire Cardinals staff. They got to thinking about contracts for the next season and they simply produced.”
St. Louis shakeup
In 1965, Howsam’s first full season as general manager, the Cardinals finished in seventh place at 80-81. After the season, Howsam created an uproar when he traded three-fourths of the Cardinals’ infield: White, Groat and Ken Boyer. Most of the players St. Louis received in return were busts.
“He had nerve, if not judgment,” Broeg wrote.
Howsam worsened matters when he tried to defend the trade of White by claiming the first baseman was older than he was. In my 2011 interview with White, he said Howsam’s remarks upset him and he challenged the general manager.
The Post-Dispatch reported White “denounced Howsam and said he no longer could have any respect for him.”
Cardinals vice president Stan Musial had been “brought late into trade talks,” and “said he felt badly about the Bill White deal because he felt that he and others had been misled by Howsam’s approach to the deal,” the Post-Dispatch reported.
Hot seat
Howsam created ill will with players who “resented efforts to trim salaries in times of plenty,” Broeg reported, and were upset to receive notes from Howsam “telling them how to dress on the field, for instance, and how to sit in the bullpen.”
Howsam was successful in helping the Cardinals open a stadium in 1966 and with developing promotions to attract women and children to games.
However, when the Cardinals floundered early in the 1966 season _ they lost 14 of their first 22 games _ Howsam was “close to being fired,” Broeg reported.
What saved him was the trade he made on May 8, 1966, when the Cardinals got Cepeda from the Giants for pitcher Ray Sadecki. With Cepeda providing run production, the Cardinals improved, finishing with an 83-79 record, though in sixth place.
Ties that bind
Busch and the Cardinals’ hierarchy, including executive vice president Dick Meyer, lost confidence in Howsam and blocked two major trades he tried to make.
Before trading for Cepeda, Howsam tried to deal pitchers Steve Carlton and Nelson Briles, outfielder Mike Shannon and infielder Phil Gagliano to the Reds for shortstop Leo Cardenas, first baseman Gordy Coleman and pitcher Joey Jay, but the Cardinals’ “high command” vetoed the trade, The Sporting News reported.
After the 1966 season, Howsam wanted to trade Carlton, Briles and outfielders Bobby Tolan and Alex Johnson to the Cubs for outfielder Billy Williams, but again was stopped. “The price in promising young talent was too high, ownership concluded,” Broeg wrote.
The consolation prize was Maris, whom Howsam acquired from the Yankees for third baseman Charlie Smith.
Reds to rescue
For its Jan. 1, 1967, edition, the Post-Dispatch asked Howsam to respond to a story that listed him as the top candidate to become Reds general manager. “It’s news to me,” Howsam replied, adding he’d had no contact with the Reds.
Bill DeWitt Sr., a St. Louisan, had been owner of the Reds until selling the club to a syndicate led by Cincinnati Enquirer publisher Francis Dale in December 1966. DeWitt Sr. suggested the new owners pursue Howsam, calling him “one of the 10 best baseball men around.”
The Reds contacted Busch, who gave permission for them to approach Howsam. On Jan. 11, 1967, Howsam was interviewed by a Reds committee.
Soon after, the Reds offered Howsam a three-year contract at $50,000 per year. Howsam, working without a contract and receiving a $35,000 Cardinals salary, gave Busch a chance to match the offer, but he was uninterested.
“I wish him the best of luck except when his team plays ours,” Busch said.
A day after Howsam was hired by the Reds, Musial was named general manager of the Cardinals.
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