RetroSimba

How Ernie Lombardi enabled Reds to win by a nose

July 5, 2024 by retrosimba

In a game in which both catchers were perfect at bat, Ernie Lombardi won it for the Reds with his mitt.

On July 6, 1934, the Reds edged the Cardinals, 16-15, at St. Louis. Lombardi, the Reds catcher and future Hall of Famer who was nicknamed “Schnozz” because of his big nose, produced five hits in five trips to the plate. Cardinals catcher Spud Davis, a career .308 hitter, was 4-for-4 with two walks.

The game ended when Lombardi tagged out Leo Durocher at the plate.

Theatre of the absurd

Played on a Friday afternoon, a paid gathering of 1,100 came to Sportsman’s Park to see the last-place Reds (22-46) and second-place Cardinals (41-28).

The home team gave what the St. Louis Star-Times described as a “burlesque performance,” committing three errors, stranding 12 runners and allowing the Reds to score in six of the first seven innings.

Of the seven pitchers used by the Cardinals, three were future Hall of Famers (Jesse Haines, Dizzy Dean and Dazzy Vance), but the only one who didn’t give up a run was Tex Carleton, who worked the ninth.

The Reds led 8-0 in the second and 15-8 in the sixth, but their pitchers were as ineffective as those on the Cardinals.

More to come

Ahead by five, the Reds scored the decisive run in the seventh when Lombardi drove in ex-Cardinal Chick Hafey from second with a two-out single, extending the lead to 16-10.

However, an error by Lombardi in the bottom half of the inning gave the Cardinals a chance to create some drama.

The first batter, Jack Rothrock, hit a pop fly near the plate in fair territory. Lombardi called for it, but dropped the ball, and Rothrock was safe at first. Frankie Frisch flied out and Joe Medwick, on what should have been the third out, fanned.

Rip Collins then drove a pitch onto the pavilion roof in right for a two-run home run, getting the Cardinals within four, at 16-12.

The Cardinals scored again in the eighth, making it 16-13.

In the ninth, Tex Carleton “showed his pals how real baseball should be pitched,” the Star-Times noted, and retired the Reds in order.

Fantastic finish

In the home half of the ninth, the Cardinals had runners on first and second, two outs, when their eighth-place batter, Leo Durocher, came to the plate against Si Johnson, who was on his way to a 22-loss season with the Reds.

Durocher hit a pop-up in foul ground, but “got a break when a boy in a grandstand box prevented Lombardi from reaching over for a catch,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Given a second chance, Durocher drilled a double to right, driving in both runners and making the score 16-15.

Next up was the pitcher, Carleton.

Cardinals player-manager Frankie Frisch had used 20 of his 22 players, including five as pinch-hitters. Only pitchers Paul Dean and Bill Hallahan hadn’t appeared in the game. Deeming neither a better option than Carleton, Frisch let Tex bat.

(Carleton produced 100 hits in the majors, including 17 in 1934.)

Carleton hit a sharp grounder to the right of shortstop Mark Koenig, who fielded the ball, but his low throw to first wasn’t in time to nail the runner.

When Durocher, who rounded third, saw first baseman Jimmy Shevlin fumble the ball, he dashed for the plate, hoping to score the tying run.

According to the Star-Times, “Shevlin quickly recovered the ball but his throw home was bad. Lombardi reached out, pulled in the ball and wheeled around just as Durocher tried to slide under him. Umpire Bill Klem whipped off his mask and cap and shouted, ‘You’re out!’ “

Believing he was safe, an angry Durocher “wanted to throw a fistful of dirt” at Klem, “but resisted the impulse,” the Post-Dispatch reported. Boxscore

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents | 7 Comments »

Chris Speier was in right place, right time for Cardinals

July 1, 2024 by retrosimba

The Cardinals took out an insurance policy on their shortstop position and it turned out the timing was fortuitous.

On July 1, 1984, the Cardinals and Expos swapped utility infielders, with Chris Speier coming to St. Louis for Mike Ramsey.

Though Ramsey, 30, had been a valuable backup for the World Series champion Cardinals in 1982, manager Whitey Herzog preferred a reserve with extra-base potential at the plate. Speier, 34, was better at that than Ramsey.

With Gold Glove Award winner Ozzie Smith at shortstop, Speier’s role figured to be mostly as a pinch-hitter who filled in at third for Andy Van Slyke against some left-handers and gave Smith an occasional breather.

The plan changed when Smith got hit on the wrist by a pitch and went on the disabled list for a month. All of the sudden, Speier was the Cardinals’ shortstop.

His stint as the emergency replacement started off with a bang.

Full steam ahead

Speier was from Alameda, just across the bay from San Francisco, but was playing for a semipro team in Stratford, Ontario (where his college pitching coach had gone), when Giants scout Herman Hannah discovered him. On Hannah’s recommendation, the Giants drafted Speier, 19, in January 1970.

After one season at the Class AA level of the minors, Speier, 20, went to the Giants’ 1971 spring training camp as a non-roster player and won the shortstop job from incumbent Hal Lanier. “Here, I took his job, and he ends up being my roommate on the road, and helping me learn pitchers,” Speier said to the San Francisco Examiner.

The 1971 Giants were 18-5 in April and Speier was a key contributor, batting .319 for the month, with 30 hits and 11 walks in 22 games. “He’s been the difference in our club,” Giants manager Charlie Fox said to the Associated Press.

Though a rookie making the leap from Class AA to the majors, Speier boldly stepped into a lineup featuring Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and Bobby Bonds.

“He didn’t so much play baseball then as attack it,” Dwight Chapin of the Examiner observed, “and he had a similar approach to life. He may have led the league in hell-raising. He’d yell at teammates, umpires, anybody in sight. He threw so many batting helmets that people lost count.”

That temperament carried over to his activities off the field. “I was single, brash and very immature,” Speier recalled to the Examiner. “I partied and caroused all the time. I guess I was trying to experience everything all at once.”

(Speier got married in October 1972 and that’s “what turned me around,” he told the Examiner. As Dwight Chapin put it, Speier’s wife became “an engineer to halt the runaway train.”)

The 1971 Giants were division champions. In the National League Championship Series, Speier hit .357, scored four runs and made just one error in 34 innings, but the Pirates prevailed and went to the World Series.

Named to the National League all-star team three years in a row (1972-74), Speier was a San Francisco treat, but in 1977 he and general manager Spec Richardson came to an impasse on contract negotiations. Eligible for free agency after the season, Speier wanted a five-year contract.

On April 27, 1977, Speier was sent to the Expos for shortstop Tim Foli. The Expos’ general manager was Speier’s first manager with the Giants, Charlie Fox. He gave the shortstop the five-year contract he wanted.

Canadian convert

While with the Expos, Speier, his wife and children became year-round residents of Canada, moving to the town of Sainte-Adele, 40 miles north of Montreal. They bought “a house built in the 1930s as a replica of a 17th-century Quebec farmhouse, with big casement windows, brick fireplaces and lots of charm,” the Montreal Gazette reported.

Speier’s wife and children learned to speak French. To show its gratitude for him becoming a year-round resident, the town presented Speier with a woodcut of him in uniform, the Gazette reported.

For six seasons (1977-82), Speier was the Expos’ everyday shortstop. He became the second Expo to hit for the cycle (in 1978 against the Braves) and the first to total eight RBI in a game (in 1982 versus the Phillies.) Boxscore and Boxscore

On June 14, 1982, Speier successfully worked the hidden ball trick on Ozzie Smith. After Willie McGee flied out, center fielder Andre Dawson threw to Speier, who returned to his shortstop position while still in possession of the ball. Pitcher Bill Gullickson instinctively knew what to do. He got set on the mound as Ken Oberkfell stepped to the plate. When Smith took a lead off second, “Speier swooped down” and tagged him for the third out, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Boxscore

“I bet I haven’t seen that play in 20 years,” Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog said to the Post-Dispatch.

Speier told the newspaper it was the first time he’d tried the play. Expos manager Jim Fanning added, “It was nothing that came from the bench. It was never plotted or rehearsed … Speier is capable of pulling that off on his own.”

In 1983, Bill Virdon became Expos manager and clashed with Speier, who called it a “personality conflict,” according to the Gazette. Speier gradually was phased out of the starting shortstop role in 1983. The next year, much to Speier’s chagrin, Virdon told him he’d be a utility player.

Speier asked to be traded and, when the Expos sent him to St. Louis, he told the Gazette, “I’m out of prison. They buried me here.”

Big blast

Speier knew at least one member of the 1984 Cardinals _ coach Hal Lanier, who lost the Giants’ shortstop job to him 13 years earlier.

Speier’s first two appearances for the Cardinals were starts at third.

Then, on July 13, 1984, in the second inning of a game against the Padres at St. Louis, an Ed Whitson pitch struck Ozzie Smith on the right wrist and fractured a bone. Smith was replaced by Speier.

In the 10th, with two on, two outs and the score tied at 4-4, Speier got a hanging slider from Luis DeLeon, a former Cardinal, and slammed it into the seats near the left field foul pole for a walkoff three-run home run. Boxscore

Speier hit just two walkoff home runs in the majors. The other was in August 1975 for the Giants against the Astros’ J.R. Richard.

Replacement player

With Smith sidelined, Speier became the starting shortstop and the Cardinals called up rookie Terry Pendleton to take over at third.

“I think I’m a capable shortstop,” Speier told the Post-Dispatch. “I think I can do an adequate job, but Ozzie … is on a plateau all by himself.”

Speier made 33 starts at shortstop for the Cardinals, committing three errors in 287.2 innings. Though he batted .178, 11 of his 21 hits were for extra bases _ seven doubles, one triple, three home runs.

(Mike Ramsey hit a total of two home runs in six years with the Cardinals.)

On Aug. 17, 1984, Speier had a RBI-double and home run against Pascual Perez in the Cardinals’ 3-1 victory over the Braves. Boxscore

Two days later, with Smith ready to return, Speier was traded to the Twins for cash and a player to be named (minor-league pitcher Jay Pettibone).

“Chris played well for us,” Herzog told The Sporting News, but he noted that with Smith back and Pendleton at third, Speier would mostly sit if he stayed with the Cardinals. Trading him to the Twins gave him a chance to play before becoming a free agent after the season.

Helping hand

Speier spent two seasons (1985-86) as a utility player with the Cubs. One of his highlights for them came on June 6, 1986, when he slugged two home runs in a 9-3 Cubs win at St. Louis Boxscore

Don Zimmer, a coach with the Cubs when Speier was there, became a Giants coach in 1987 and recommended Speier, a free agent, to general manager Al Rosen. The Giants signed him and it became a happy homecoming.

Speier, 36, was a reliable role player for the 1987 Giants, filling in when injuries sidelined their second baseman and third baseman. Speier made 35 starts at third, 33 at second and seven at shortstop. He batted .400 as a pinch-hitter. On May 5, 1987, Speier’s grand slam against reliever Ray Soff carried the Giants to a 10-6 victory at St. Louis. Boxscore

“Chris Speier is the most valuable player on this ballclub,” Giants manager Roger Craig told the Associated Press in August 1987.

The Giants in 1987 won a division title for the first time since Speier’s rookie season in 1971. In the National League Championship Series against the Cardinals, Speier was hitless in five at-bats and the Cardinals prevailed.

In 1988, Speier hit for the cycle in a 21-2 Giants rout of the Cardinals and scored four runs in a game for the only time in his career. Boxscore

His last season as a player was 1989, when the Giants won the pennant and went to the World Series, but a bad back kept him off the playoff roster.

Speier went on to coach for 13 seasons in the majors with the Brewers (2000), Diamondbacks (2001), Athletics (2004), Cubs (2005-06), Reds (2008-13) and Nationals (2016-17).

Posted in Games, Hitters, Trades | 16 Comments »

How Gee Walker got a wakeup call versus Browns

June 28, 2024 by retrosimba

Gee Walker took a nap in St. Louis. Problem is, he did it on the base paths.

On June 30, 1934, Walker was picked off base twice in the same inning while sleep-walking for the Tigers against the Browns at Sportsman’s Park.

His blunders ruined a potential Tigers scoring threat, opening the door for the Browns to win in extra innings, and enraged Tigers player-manager Mickey Cochrane, who fined and suspended Walker.

Born to run

Gerald “Gee” Walker was an exciting ballplayer with multiple skills. He could run, hit for average and drive balls into the gaps for extra bases.

An outfielder and right-handed batter, Walker hit .300 or better in six of his 15 seasons in the majors with the Tigers (1931-37), White Sox (1938-39), Senators (1940), Indians (1941) and Reds (1942-45). He twice ranked among the top 10 in the American League in doubles, triples, RBI and total bases. He had 20 or more steals in a season five times.

At the University of Mississippi, Walker played football as well as baseball. He was a member of the “The Flying Five” backfield which also included Tadpole Smith, Rube Wilcox, Doodle Rushing and Cowboy Woodruff.

Walker brought a football-type aggressiveness to the diamond that could thrill but sometimes backfired. The Detroit News described him as a “base-running screwball” and the Detroit Free Press called it “dizzy base running.”

“He frequently was in hot water with his manager because of reckless running and his penchant for being picked off base,” The Sporting News noted.

Costly gaffes

The Tigers, who had not won a pennant since 1909, were challenging the Yankees for control of the American League in 1934. Entering a series-opening Saturday afternoon game with the Browns at St. Louis, the Tigers (40-25) were a mere half game behind the first-place Yankees (40-24). The Browns (28-34) were a team the Tigers were expected to beat, so Mickey Cochrane, Detroit’s manager and catcher, was looking for a strong start to the series.

With the score tied at 3-3, Hank Greenberg led off the Tigers’ eighth with a single. Walker followed with a grounder to third baseman Harlond Clift, who threw low trying to force out Greenberg at second.

Clift’s error gave the Tigers a scoring chance, with Greenberg at second, Walker at first, no outs and Marv Owen (who drove in 98 runs that season) at the plate.

Greenberg’s presence on second meant Walker had nowhere to go and thus didn’t need to take anything more than a normal lead, but after Jack Knott made a pitch to Owen, catcher Rollie Hemsley noticed Walker had drifted into a no-man’s land off first. Hemsley fired the ball to first baseman Jack Burns and Walker was trapped between first and second.

When Greenberg saw the predicament Walker was in, he tried to help by galloping toward third but got caught in a rundown. Before Greenberg was tagged out, Walker advanced to second. Owen then lined to left for the second out.

Though picked off once that inning, Walker wandered six feet from second base. Before making a pitch to the next batter, Knott whirled and threw to shortstop Alan Strange, covering second. Walker was caught flat-footed and tagged out, ending the inning. As the Detroit Free Press noted, Walker “broke up a rally with some of his characteristic crackpottery.”

The Browns won, 4-3, in 10 innings. Boxscore

Out of sight

“Cochrane was furious with Walker,” the Free Press reported. “Before he left the Tigers’ dugout at the end of the game, he almost blew four fuses.”

Citing Walker’s bungling on the base paths, Cochrane suspended him indefinitely and issued a fine.

“I’m through with that fellow,” Cochrane said to the Free Press. “I’ve done everything I could to help him. Then he goes and kicks away a ballgame through reckless, stupid base running. It would not be fair to the other players to keep a fellow of Walker’s type around.”

Walker told the Detroit newspaper, “I don’t blame Mickey for doing what he has done. I had it coming to me.”

(The contrite comments were in contrast to what Walker said years later. Walker said to Chicago reporter Edgar Munzel, “I thought it was a rotten deal because I had violated no baseball rule on the club. A base runner has to be given a lot of latitude. Cochrane never forgot that day … He never liked me after that.”)

The next day, Sunday, July 1, the Tigers and Browns split a doubleheader and Walker, not in uniform, watched from a box seat. Afterward, the Tigers departed by train for a series in Cleveland and Walker took a separate train back to Detroit.

“All I want to do is get that fellow out of my sight in a hurry,” Cochrane told the Free Press.

While the Tigers were splitting a doubleheader at Cleveland on Monday, July 2, Walker met with Tigers owner Frank Navin. Though it was a pleasant session, Navin told Walker he backed Cochrane’s right to fine and suspend the player.

Cochrane wanted to send Walker to the minors, but he needed to clear waivers first. When the Browns made a waiver claim for Walker, the Tigers scrapped the idea of a demotion, the Free Press reported.

After the Tigers beat the Indians at Cleveland on Tuesday, July 3, both teams headed to Detroit for a July 4 doubleheader.

Gee whiz

Walker met with Cochrane before the holiday games at Detroit and offered to make an apology to the team if given another chance. He also asked if he could work out with the club, but the request was denied. Walker watched from the stands as the Tigers and Indians split the doubleheader.

After the games, Cochrane asked his players to vote on whether Walker should be reinstated. Walker’s teammates supported his return. Cochrane then declared the suspension would end after 10 days. Because the punishment began July 1, Walker was eligible to play again July 11.

“When he returns, I’ll be for him again, provided he plays the right kind of ball,” Cochrane told the Free Press.

Three days later, on Saturday, July 7, Cochrane was the catcher when the Tigers faced the Browns at Detroit. In the first inning, Cochrane doubled, driving in a run. Then, lo and behold, Browns catcher Rollie Hemsley picked off Cochrane. He took off for third but was tagged out.

In the seventh, after Cochrane walked, Hemsley tried to pick off Cochrane again but he scrambled back to the bag in time.

The Tigers won, 4-0. Cochrane fined himself $10 for getting picked off second, the Free Press reported. Boxscore

He’s back

Although back in uniform on July 11, Walker didn’t get into a game until making a pinch-hit appearance against the Yankees’ Red Ruffing on July 13. He popped out to second.

The next day, July 14, Cochrane started Walker in center and he contributed a double, two singles and three RBI in the Tigers’ 12-11 victory at home versus the Yankees. Walker got an ovation from the crowd when he singled against Lefty Gomez in the first.

The game also was noteworthy because Lou Gehrig was listed in the starting lineup as the shortstop, batting leadoff. Gehrig was “weak from an attack of lumbago,” according to the Free Press, and was in the lineup “only long enough to extend to 1,427 the string of consecutive games in which he has played.”

After Gehrig led off the game with a single, Red Rolfe ran for him and stayed in to play shortstop. Boxscore

Walker went on to hit .300 with 20 stolen bases for the 1934 Tigers, who won the pennant, but Cochrane didn’t start him in any of the World Series games against the Cardinals. Walker was 1-for-3 in that Series as a pinch-hitter. In Game 2, his RBI-single against Bill Hallahan tied the score at 2-2. Bill Walker relieved _ and picked Walker off first. Boxscore

Most popular

Walker had outstanding seasons for the Tigers in 1936 (.353 batting average, 55 doubles, 105 runs scored) and 1937 (.335 batting average, 213 hits, 113 RBI, 105 runs scored). On Opening Day in 1937, he hit for the cycle against Cleveland. Boxscore

Walker “won the hearts of all Detroit baseball fans with his daring, hard play,” International News Service reported.

The Free Press referred to Walker as the “people’s choice” and rated him as “probably the most popular player on the Tigers.”

Thus, there was an outcry when on Dec. 2, 1937, in a trade engineered by Cochrane, the Tigers sent Walker, Marv Owen and Mike Tresh to the White Sox for Vern Kennedy, Tony Piet and Dixie Walker.

“Fans by the thousands were protesting” the trading of Gee Walker, the Associated Press reported. The angry phone calls and letters produced “the biggest fan protest in the club’s history,” according to The Sporting News.

John Lardner of the North American Newspaper Alliance noted that “Mickey Cochrane, hitherto a public monument, is being wildly reviled for trading” Walker.

Cochrane said he made the deal to get Kennedy, a pitcher who was 14-13 with a 5.09 ERA for the White Sox in 1937 after earning 21 wins the year before. “We had to have pitching, and the only way we could get it was by giving up Walker,” Cochrane told the Associated Press. “The Sox wanted him and they had the only pitcher I thought could help us.”

Asked his reaction to the trade, Walker, referring to Cochrane, said, “I am out of the doghouse for the first time in six years.”

Kennedy was 12-12 with a 5.20 ERA for the Tigers before they dealt him to the Browns in May 1939. Walker did well with the White Sox (.305 batting average in 1938; 111 RBI in 1939) before joining the Senators (96 RBI in 1940).

Walker finished his big-league career with 1,991 hits and a .294 batting average.

Posted in Games, Hitters, Managers, Opponents | 9 Comments »

Say hey! Cardinals made a pitch for Willie Mays

June 23, 2024 by retrosimba

Imagine Willie Mays and Stan Musial in the same Cardinals lineup. The Cardinals could. They tried to make it happen.

In June 1957, the Cardinals offered the New York Giants a combination of cash and players for Mays, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported.

In the authorized biography, “Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend,” author James S. Hirsch wrote that Giants owner Horace Stoneham “seriously considered the deal but didn’t pull the trigger because of the club’s pending transfer to San Francisco.”

Opportunity knocks

The Cardinals opened the 1957 season with rookie Bobby Gene Smith as their center fielder, but he struggled to hit and, in desperation, the club shifted Ken Boyer from third base to fill the hole in center.

Meanwhile, the Giants were looking to move from New York. In 1956 and 1957, the only major-league team that drew fewer fans than the Giants was the Washington Senators.

As Mays biographer Hirsch noted, “Unlike their money-losing years from 1948 to 1953, the Giants did squeak out profits, but they could not keep pace with their Gotham rivals. Between 1947 and 1956, the Giants earned $405,926; the Dodgers earned $3.5 million, and the Yankees, $3.6 million.”

The Giants, Hirsch added, “made money only because of their increasing media revenue, receiving $600,000 a year for their television rights.”

In May 1957, National League club owners gave permission to the Giants to move from New York to San Francisco and for the Dodgers to transfer from Brooklyn to Los Angeles after the season.

A month later, the Cardinals made their pitch for Mays.

High stakes

Cardinals executive vice president Dick Meyer and general manager Frank Lane had the approval of Cardinals owner Gussie Busch to attempt a deal for Mays.

“Mr. Busch told me that I was a good general manager and that I ought to get Mays,” Lane told the Globe-Democrat. “I told him I’d try.”

Meyer said to the newspaper, “We were really anxious to get Mays … When we first told Lane to see what he could do about getting Mays, we fixed the cash price at $500,000. That apparently wasn’t enough and we authorized Lane to increase the ante.”

Lane said negotiations started with Giants vice president Chub Feeney and then club owner Horace Stoneham got involved.

“We made four offers for Mays, including one totaling $1 million,” Lane told the Globe-Democrat.

That offer was: $750,000 cash, outfielder Wally Moon, one or two other players on the Cardinals roster and several in the minors, the Globe-Democrat reported.

(According to the Federal Reserve inflation calculator, $750,000 in 1957 would be the equivalent of about $8.1 million today.)

Mays, 26, already had sparked the Giants to two National League pennants (1951 and 1954) and a World Series title (1954). In 1957, the Gold Glove center fielder would have another stellar season, leading the league in triples (20), stolen bases (38) and slugging percentage (.626). He slammed 35 home runs and scored 112 runs that season.

What a duo he and Musial would have formed. Musial, 36, won his seventh league batting title in 1957. He hit .351 and Mays was second at .333. Musial also was the 1957 league leader in on-base percentage (.422) and Mays was runner-up (.407). Musial had 29 home runs and 102 RBI for the 1957 Cardinals.

Mays and Musial had a bond. According to Mays’ biographer, the three players Mays followed as a youth in the 1940s were Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams and Musial. When Mays traveled with the Negro League Birmingham Black Barons in 1948, he attended his first big-league game at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis and got to see Musial hit.

On a plane to an All-Star Game in the mid-1950s, several black players were in the rear, playing cards. According to Mays’ biographer, Musial approached them and said, “Deal me in.” That was his way of telling those players they belonged. “That told me how classy he was,” Mays said, “and I never forgot that.”

Wrong time

The Giants’ gave “serious consideration” to the Cardinals’ offer for Mays, the Globe-Democrat reported, before opting to decline. Lane said to the newspaper, “Feeney told me the last time we talked about a Mays deal that it was out of the question. As I recall, Chub told me that if they traded Mays and then moved to San Francisco, the people out there would throw them into the bay.”

Stan Isaacs of Newsday wrote that moving the Giants to San Francisco “wasn’t nearly as shocking” as considering a trade of Mays to the Cardinals.

The San Francisco Examiner noted, “Willie certainly must be a lot of baseball player to be worth that kind of money. Since the offer made by the Cardinals was turned down, it must be assumed Stoneham thinks Willie is worth even more.”

Stoneham told International News Service he “appreciated” the offer. In explaining why he rejected it, Stoneham said, “The money was not important. We’re not broke … What we want … above all else is a winning ballclub. All ballclubs have one special player … and to us it is Willie who is that ballplayer. We can build a team around Willie. Maybe that’s the answer to why we didn’t trade him to the Cardinals or anyone else.”

Then Stoneham, in that 1957 interview with International News Service, added, “Maybe we will sell him about 15 years from now, if somebody has a few ballplayers nearly as good.”

Fifteen years later, in May 1972, the Giants dealt Mays, 41, to the Mets for pitcher Charlie Williams and $50,000.

Posted in Executives, Hitters, Trades | 11 Comments »

Jerry West could give St. Louis the basketball blues

June 21, 2024 by retrosimba

Fans of St. Louis basketball found out in a hurry how gifted Jerry West was as an all-round playmaker.

Whether facing the St. Louis University Billikens as a college senior or the St. Louis Hawks as a NBA rookie, West performed with excellence, totaling consistently impressive numbers of points, rebounds and assists.

A 6-foot-3 guard who played three varsity seasons at West Virginia University and 14 seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers, West averaged 24.8 points per game in college and 27 in the pros. (The NBA career leader is Michael Jordan at 30.1). West became the inspiration for the NBA logo.

College classic

As a junior at West Virginia, West averaged 26.6 points and 12.3 rebounds per game. West Virginia reached the championship final of the 1959 NCAA Tournament, but lost to California, 71-70. West had 28 points and 11 rebounds in that game. Boxscore

With West back for his senior season, West Virginia roared to a 6-0 start before facing St. Louis University in the first round of the Kentucky Invitation Tournament at Lexington in December 1959.

St. Louis assistant coach Fred Kovar, who scouted West that month when he scored 28 against Richmond, described him to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch as “a great all-round player with a lot of finesse and a fine jump shot. He’s a dynamic rebounder and defensively tough.”

The Billikens tried having one of their top players, 6-foot-5 Pete McCaffrey, guard West, but it didn’t work out. West scored 25 points in the first half and his team led, 51-36, at halftime.

St. Louis head coach John Benington made a defensive adjustment for the second half, having his team go to a zone-and-chaser defense. The chaser was George Latinovich, a 5-foot-11 sophomore. Described by the Post-Dispatch as “agile and aggressive,” Latinovich chased and hounded West.

As the newspaper noted, “The idea was to make West think he could take the short defender into the middle. West did, and that’s where the taller, zone-playing other Billikens ganged him and cut down his scoring.”

With West slowed, the Billikens clawed back from a 20-point deficit in the second half. As the West Virginia lead evaporated, Benington had his Billikens switch to a zone press. West fouled out with 22 seconds remaining.

St. Louis trailed by two, 87-85, when Billikens senior Jim Dailey was fouled with one second left. Dailey made the first free throw, but the second “hit the right side of the rim, looped, and rolled off the left side,” the Post-Dispatch reported.

West Virginia escaped with an 87-86 win. West had 37 points (12 in the second half) and 22 rebounds. “He’s the best I ever played against,” McCaffrey, who finished with 22 points, told the Post-Dispatch. “West can jump higher and he is quicker than Oscar (Robertson). Oscar is a better team player, though.”

The next night, St. Louis beat North Carolina, 68-52, in the consolation game, and West scored 33 to lead West Virginia to a 79-70 triumph over Kentucky for the tournament title.

Tough rookie

Three outstanding guards _ all destined for induction to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame _ were taken among the first six picks in the opening round of the 1960 NBA draft. Oscar Robertson, chosen first, went to the Cincinnati Royals. The next pick, West, went to the Minneapolis Lakers. With the sixth selection, the St. Louis Hawks took Lenny Wilkens.

West’s first season with the Lakers was their first in Los Angeles. They relocated from Minneapolis before the 1960-61 season and hired Fred Schaus, West’s college coach, to be their head coach.

Among the highlights of West’s rookie season were a pair of regular-season games against the Hawks.

On Feb. 2, 1961, as part of a NBA doubleheader at Philadelphia’s Convention Hall, the Lakers beat the Hawks, 116-115. West’s drive to the hoop resulted in a basket that tied the score at 115-115 with 38 seconds left. The Lakers won on Frank Selvy’s free throw in the final five seconds.

With forward Elgin Baylor sidelined because of an ankle injury, West snared 21 rebounds to go along with his 29 points. Boxscore

Ten days later, the Lakers faced the Hawks at St. Louis’ Kiel Auditorium. Though Baylor was in the lineup, West was a force on the boards again. He grabbed a career-high 24 rebounds and scored 17 points in a 105-95 Lakers victory. Boxscore

As the Post-Dispatch noted, West “caused no little embarrassment among the Hawks” and was “a major factor in the Lakers’ wide edge in rebounding. West charged the boards while his teammates blocked out the taller St. Louis players.”

Hawks head coach Paul Seymour told the newspaper, “To let their small men go in for rebounds as they did had to insult our guards.”

The loss was a rare one at home for the Hawks that season. It dropped their home record to 24-3. The other two losses were to the Boston Celtics.

In his 1970 book, “Mr. Clutch,” West said, “The fans in St. Louis were the toughest in the league. At Kiel Auditorium, they were closer to the court than in most arenas, and it was hard not to hear them. I have no complaints with most fans. They pay their way in and have a right to express themselves within reason. The sort of support they give teams in St. Louis, Boston and Philadelphia really helped those teams.”

West also was impressed with the Hawks’ standout player, Bob Pettit. “He was the most agile 6-foot-9 forward I ever faced and one of the greatest competitors,” West said in his 1970 book.

The Hawks (51-28) were regular-season conference champions in 1960-61, but the NBA then (like all professional sports now) had a playoff system that allowed also-rans in as wild cards. The Lakers (36-43) were one of the teams “rewarded” with a wild card spot.

Though undeserving of a playoff berth based on their record in the regular season, the Lakers took advantage of the gift and nearly knocked out the Hawks in the conference finals. The Lakers won three of the first five games before the Hawks eked out a 114-113 win in overtime in Game 6 and a 105-103 triumph in Game 7. West, the rookie, averaged 24.7 points and 8.7 rebounds per game in that series.

In his autobiography, West criticized the NBA for awarding playoff berths to clubs with mediocre or losing records. “If the games in October and November aren’t going to count, why charge for them?” West said. “It isn’t a big-league operation if the fourth-place team can win the championship.”

Class act

West had several other noteworthy performances against St. Louis. In 1962, he scored 46 points in a game at Los Angeles and 45 at St. Louis. Boxscore and Boxscore

He also dished out 16 assists to go with 23 points in a 1966 game versus St. Louis. Boxscore

Facing St. Louis in the 1966 conference finals, West averaged 34.6 points, 6.1 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game. West was the Lakers’ high scorer in six of the seven games in that series.

Guarded by St. Louis player-coach Richie Guerin, West scored 42 in Game 4. As the Post-Dispatch noted, “West was able to score because of his phenomenal skill firing in baskets despite hands in his face and constant harassment.” Boxscore

In the Game 7 finale, a 130-121 win for the Lakers, West had 35 points and six assists, even though he was called for his fifth foul late in the third quarter. West played the rest of the game without committing a disqualifying sixth foul.

“We did our best to take him under the basket, where he might get his sixth foul, but when we did that, we sacrificed some of our movement on offense,” Guerin told the Post-Dispatch. Boxscore

West was a guest instructor at the summer basketball camp run by former St. Louis University and NBA standout Ed Macauley at Hillsboro, Mo., in 1962.

One of the tips West gave the campers was: “If you’re trying to steal the ball, slap up, not down, and you’re less likely to be caught off balance.”

West also told the newspaper, “Quickness is more important than speed. The Hawks’ Bob Pettit has it, and so does Lenny Wilkens. The first move is the key one. It gets you past your man, or at least in the clear long enough to shoot.”

West was 36 when he opted to end his playing career in October 1974. Though he had a guaranteed $300,000 contract and had just scored 19 points in an exhibition game against the Portland Trail Blazers, West told the New York Times, “The major reason for my retirement is because I have set high standards for myself that I’m not willing to compromise. I have seen other players play longer than I thought they should have. I did not want to do that.”

Posted in Games, Opponents | 14 Comments »

How 28 equaled 30 for Cardinals’ Dizzy Dean

June 17, 2024 by retrosimba

Dizzy Dean was plenty good for the 1934 Cardinals, but he needed a helping hand from an influential source to achieve 30 wins.

In two June relief appearances Dean made for the 1934 Cardinals, National League president John Heydler credited him with wins in both, even though other pitchers appeared to qualify instead.

If not for Heydler’s unconventional decisions, Dean would have finished with 28 regular-season wins in 1934. Instead, he got 30, becoming the last National League pitcher to achieve the feat.

Save or win?

On June 21, 1934, at St. Louis, Dean beat the Dodgers, pitching a complete game and boosting his season record to 10-3. Boxscore

Two days later, with the Dodgers ahead, 3-0, in the sixth inning, Bill Hallahan relieved for the Cardinals and gave up a run, extending the Brooklyn lead to 4-0. In the bottom half of the inning, Pat Crawford batted for Hallahan and delivered a two-run single, capping a five-run rally that put the Cardinals on top, 5-4.

Dean entered in the seventh, looking to protect the lead. Hallahan figured to be in line for the win if the Cardinals held on. Dean did the job, holding the Dodgers scoreless the last three innings. Boxscore

Official scorer Martin Haley, baseball reporter for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, awarded the win to Hallahan because the Cardinals were ahead when Dean was brought in.

As the St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted, “The official scorer, in naming Hallahan, was abiding by the scoring rules, which provide that ordinarily a pitcher shall be credited with the runs scored by his team in the inning, or innings, he pitches.”

Haley apparently had second thoughts, though, because that night he filed a report to Heydler, a former umpire, and asked him to make a decision on who should be the winning pitcher. Dean, the fourth Cardinals pitcher of the game, was the only one who held the Dodgers scoreless.

Rules to pitch by

Here is how Major League Baseball defines how a pitcher qualifies for a win:

“A pitcher receives a win when he is the pitcher of record when his team takes the lead for good _ with a couple rare exceptions. First, a starting pitcher must pitch at least five innings (in a traditional game of nine innings or longer) to qualify for the win. If he does not, the official scorer awards the win to the most effective relief pitcher.

“There is also a rarely used clause where an official scorer can deem a relief pitcher’s appearance ‘brief and ineffective.’ (For example, if a reliever relinquished a one-run lead by allowing three runs, but was still in line for a win after his team scored four runs in the following inning _ that may qualify.) If that’s the case, the scorer can award the win to a pitcher who followed that ‘brief and ineffective’ pitcher. Which relief pitcher earns the win specifically is also up to the judgment of the official scorer.”

Verdict is in

On the morning of June 27, 1934, Heydler declared Dean the winning pitcher of the June 23 game. “Dean pitched great ball … to protect (a) one-run lead,” Heydler ruled. “Hallahan pitched one inning rather poorly.”

According to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, “Hallahan himself suggested that the credit go to Dean.”

St. Louis newspapers supported Heydler’s decision.:

_ St. Louis Star-Times: “Hallahan, like Diz, entered the contest as a relief pitcher but, unlike Diz, failed to hold the foe in check.”

_ St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “It was (Dean’s) strong arm and determination, his pitching skill and his fielding agility that made it possible for the Cardinals to win.”

Heydler’s ruling gave Dean a season record of 11-3.

That afternoon, the Cardinals played the Giants at St. Louis. The groundkeeper’s thermometer at Sportsman’s Park recorded 115 degrees on the field, the New York Daily News reported.

Dizzy started for the Cardinals and labored into the ninth inning. With the score tied at 7-7, the Giants had runners on first and second, two outs, when Jim Mooney relieved Dean.

Mooney, an ex-Giant, got the Cardinals out of the jam when he fielded Mel Ott’s sharp grounder and threw to first for the third out. Ott’s comebacker “almost knocked the pitcher down,” the Post-Dispatch reported, but he made the play.

Facing 43-year-old reliever Dolf Luque in the bottom half of the ninth, Cardinals catcher Bill DeLancey drove a pitch onto the pavilion roof in right-center for a walkoff home run. Boxscore

Decisions, decisions

Though Mooney had done the job, retiring a future Hall of Famer with the outcome on the line, and was still in the game when Delancey hit his homer, official scorer Martin Haley awarded the win to Dean.

“He had toiled 8.2 innings under a blistering sun and had pitched shutout baseball from the third to that ninth,” the Post-Dispatch noted.

He also may have pitched with a hand injury. According to Dean, an X-ray showed a small piece of bone chipped off the knuckle, the Globe-Democrat reported.

Seeking cover for his decision, Haley again asked Heydler to make the final ruling. Heydler agreed with him. Dean got the win, improving his season record to 12-3.

In his book “Diz,” Dean biographer Robert Gregory wrote that the two rulings giving wins to Dean “were controversial” and the Giants “were said to be particularly indignant.”

Dean finished the 1934 regular season with a 30-7 record. In 33 starts, he pitched 24 complete games, including seven shutouts, and was 26-5. He was 4-2, including the two Heydler rulings, in 17 relief appearances. In three starts against the Tigers in the 1934 World Series, Dean was 2-1, including a shutout in Game 7.

Posted in Executives, Games, Pitchers | 13 Comments »

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