RetroSimba

Bob Gibson and his final days with Cardinals

August 30, 2015 by retrosimba

In a span of three days, Bob Gibson experienced the emotional swing of being honored for his Cardinals achievements before ending his career on a downturn.

The Cardinals designated Sept. 1, 1975, as Bob Gibson Day. Gibson, 39, was feted in an hour-long ceremony before the Cubs played the Cardinals in front of 48,435 spectators on a Labor Day afternoon at St. Louis.

Two days later, Sept. 3, Gibson yielded a grand slam and took the loss in his final Cardinals appearance.

Nervous ace

Before reporting to spring training, Gibson had said 1975 would be his last year as a player. He began the season in the starting rotation but was shifted to the bullpen during the summer.

The Gibson Day event was an opportunity to salute the Cardinals’ all-time best pitcher. Gibson was the ace on 1960s Cardinals clubs that won three National League pennants and two World Series titles. He is the franchise’s career leader in wins (251), shutouts (56), strikeouts (3,117), complete games (255), innings pitched (3,884.1) and games started (482).

In a ceremony at home plate, the Cardinals declared Gibson’s uniform No. 45 would join the No. 6 of Stan Musial and the No. 17 of Dizzy Dean as the only numbers retired by the franchise. Club owner Gussie Busch presented Gibson with a $32,250 luxury motor home.

Gibson told onlookers, including former teammates Musial and Bill White, “I’m more nervous than I was before a World Series game.”

Then it was Gibson’s turn to address the crowd.

In the book “Gibson’s Last Stand,” author Doug Feldmann wrote, “At first, Gibson was too moved to speak when he approached the microphone down on the field. Several times he stepped toward it again, but had to pause with every attempt, as each standing ovation was louder than the one a moment earlier.”

When he was ready, Gibson told the crowd, “One thing that I’ve always been proud of is the fact that I’ve never intentionally cheated anyone out of what they paid their money to come and see. Most of all, I’m proud of the fact that whatever I did, I did it my way.”

Reflecting on his future as a retired player, Gibson said, “It’s going to be a new life, a strange life for me. I just hope I can be half as successful as I have been in baseball.”

To cap the festivities, Busch got behind the wheel of the motor home and drove Gibson, his mother and his two daughters around the perimeter of the field as the stadium organist played “Auld Lang Syne.” Said Busch to Gibson: “I bet you never had a chauffeur like this before.”

Inspired, the Cardinals went out and beat the Cubs, 6-3, behind Lou Brock (three hits, three steals, two runs) and the pitching of Bob Forsch and Al Hrabosky. The victory moved the second-place Cardinals to within three games of the Pirates in the NL East Division. Boxscore

Tough to take

On Sept. 3, in the finale of the series, the Cubs led, 6-1, before the Cardinals rallied for five runs in the sixth, tying the score at 6-6.

Sensing an opportunity to give his fading star another shot at glory, Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst called on Gibson to relieve starter Ron Reed and hold the Cubs in the seventh.

The move backfired.

The Cubs loaded the bases on a Champ Summers infield single and walks to Jose Cardenal and Andre Thornton. With two outs, Gibson uncorked a wild pitch and Gene Hiser, running for Summers, raced home from third, giving the Cubs a 7-6 lead. Gibson issued an intentional walk to Jerry Morales, reloading the bases.

Pete LaCock, a pinch-hitter, batted next. LaCock, who had lost the starting first base job to Thornton, was best-known as the son of game-show host Peter Marshall of “Hollywood Squares.”

With the count 3-and-2, LaCock stunned Gibson by drilling a fastball over the right-field wall for a home run _ the lone grand slam of his big-league career.

Dejected, Gibson retired the next batter, Don Kessinger, on a groundout and walked off the mound for the final time. Boxscore

“I had reached my absolute limit in humiliation,” Gibson said in his book “Stranger to the Game.” “I said to myself, ‘That’s it. I’m out of here.’ ”

Gibson remained idle while the Cardinals fell out of contention.

On Sept. 15, two weeks after his special day, Gibson said goodbye to his teammates and headed home with 10 games remaining in the season, knowing he’d never pitch again.

Previously: Bob Gibson and his final Opening Day with Cardinals

Previously: How Ron Reed replaced Bob Gibson in Cards rotation

Previously: How Bob Gibson achieved career win No. 250

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents, Pitchers | Leave a Comment »

Why the Cardinals traded Willie McGee to Athletics

August 27, 2015 by retrosimba

Unwilling to reward him sufficiently for being one of their key players of the 1980s, the Cardinals were prepared to let Willie McGee depart as a free agent after the 1990 season, but when the Athletics unexpectedly found themselves in need of a center fielder, the Cardinals suddenly were in position to deal.

On Aug. 29, 1990, the Cardinals traded McGee to the Athletics for outfielder Felix Jose, third baseman Stan Royer and minor-league pitcher Daryl Green.

The Cardinals had been resigned to receiving only a compensation pick in the amateur draft if, as expected, McGee had become a free agent and signed with another club.

General manager Dal Maxvill was delighted when his counterpart, Sandy Alderson of the Athletics, called and expressed interest in trading for McGee. Because McGee figured to become available as a free agent, Maxvill said he hadn’t been receiving attractive trade offers for him.

The Athletics, though, became motivated to deal when their center fielder, Dave Henderson, suffered a knee injury on Aug. 20 and went on the disabled list. Unsure how long Henderson would be sidelined but fearing it could be for the remainder of the season, the defending World Series champions didn’t want to jeopardize a chance at another title by lacking an experienced center fielder.

Right circumstance

Alderson said he and Maxvill talked for several days about a deal for McGee. The Cardinals wanted Jose. The Athletics were reluctant to trade him. Alderson described Jose as being “a powerful switch-hitter” with an “outstanding arm” and “excellent speed.” When Alderson relented, the Cardinals felt fortunate to receive such a prized prospect.

“I feel pretty good about it, really,” Maxvill said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “If we had to move McGee for whatever reasons, we did well. But it was circumstance _ Henderson’s injury _ more than any ability on my own.”

Said Cardinals manager Joe Torre: “We made out very well rather than (McGee) walking off and us getting a draft choice.”

Added Alderson: “With the injury to Henderson, we really looked at the short term rather than the long term potential for us.”

Being a switch hitter added to the Athletics’ interest in McGee. Anticipating they would face the Red Sox and their right-handed aces, Roger Clemens and Mike Boddicker, in the American League Championship Series, the Athletics wanted hitters who could bat left-handed. On the same day they acquired McGee, the Athletics also got Harold Baines, a designated hitter and left-handed batter, from the Rangers.

Athletics manager Tony La Russa told the Los Angeles Times, “Felix Jose has done a fine job for us … but if anyone thinks he gave us a better chance to win than Willie McGee does, I’d have to question that judgment.”

Location added to the appeal of the trade. McGee was born in San Francisco, went to high school in Richmond (10 miles north of Oakland) and had a house about a 25-minute drive from Oakland Coliseum.

“I just didn’t want to trade him to some city just for the heck of it,” Maxvill said. “I made an effort to get him back home to Oakland.”

Said McGee: “If I had any place to go, that was it.”

Late-night goodbye

McGee, 31, was a four-time all-star and fan favorite who had played a central role in the Cardinals winning three National League pennants and a World Series championship in the 1980s. He won the NL Most Valuable Player Award and a batting title in 1985.

After the 1987 season, McGee signed a three-year, $4.1 million contract. With that deal about to expire after the 1990 season, McGee was seeking a contract from the Cardinals for three years and $9 million. The Cardinals, though, were offering no more than $7 million for three years, according to Rick Hummel of the Post-Dispatch.

Maxvill conceded that the Cardinals were unlikely to sign McGee. They had a prospect, Ray Lankford, ready to take over in center field.

After the Cardinals beat the Reds in Cincinnati on Aug. 29, they were preparing to leave the ballpark about 1 a.m. and go to the airport for a flight to Atlanta when McGee, walking in a tunnel at Riverfront Stadium, was approached by Torre and informed of the trade.

McGee, with a smile and with tears welling in his eyes, told Hummel, “I just appreciated the opportunity to play in St. Louis. There were some of the best people and some of the best managers there.” He added that playing for the Cardinals since 1982 had been “a beautiful nine years of my life.”

McGee’s departure left shortstop Ozzie Smith as the lone remaining Cardinals player from their 1982 World Series championship team.

Saying he and McGee “were like brothers,” Smith added, “It’s a sad ending to a great time in baseball history for St. Louis.”

Batting champ

McGee hit .335 in 125 games for the 1990 Cardinals. He ranked second in the NL in batting at the time of the trade. At the end of the season, McGee had the best batting average in the NL and was declared the league’s batting champion because he had 542 plate appearances with the 1990 Cardinals, exceeding the requisite number (502) needed to qualify for the title.

McGee hit .274 in 29 games for the Athletics. With 31 hits for Oakland and 168 for St. Louis, McGee led the major leagues in hits in 1990, with a total of 199.

After the season, McGee became a free agent and signed with the Giants for four years and $13 million. After stints with the Giants and Red Sox, McGee, again a free agent, returned to the Cardinals for the 1996 season and was reunited with La Russa. McGee’s second stint with St. Louis lasted four years. He retired after the 1999 season.

Jose was the Cardinals’ starting right fielder in 1991 and 1992. He batted .298 overall for St. Louis, with an on-base percentage of .352. The Cardinals traded him to the Royals in the deal that brought them first baseman Gregg Jefferies.

Royer hit .258 in parts of four seasons (1991-94) with the Cardinals. Green pitched in the Cardinals’ farm system in 1991 and never reached the big leagues.

Previously: Five fabulous facts about Willie McGee

Posted in Hitters, Trades | 2 Comments »

Cesar Cedeno and his amazing month with Cardinals

August 24, 2015 by retrosimba

Three years after his pitching helped the Cardinals to a National League pennant and World Series title, Jim Kaat used his skills as a talent evaluator to help them to another championship season.

Kaat, a left-handed reliever for the 1982 champion Cardinals, was a coach for the 1985 Reds when he recommended Cesar Cedeno to St. Louis manager Whitey Herzog.

Acting on Kaat’s advice, the Cardinals acquired Cedeno from the Reds on Aug. 29, 1985, for minor-league outfielder Mark Jackson.

The deal rejuvenated the Cardinals and Cedeno.

Filling in for injured first baseman Jack Clark, Cedeno batted .434 (33-for-76) with six home runs in 28 games, sparking the Cardinals to the 1985 NL East Division title and onto a path to a pennant and a berth in the World Series.

After clinching the division crown in the next-to-last game of the 1985 season, Herzog told The Sporting News, “If we hadn’t got Cedeno, we would have been at least three games out of first, maybe more, going into this last week.”

Breakfast bunch

With the Astros from 1970-81, Cedeno hit .289 with 343 doubles and 487 stolen bases. He was named an all-star four times and twice led the NL in doubles.

The Astros dealt Cedeno to the Reds in December 1981 for third baseman Ray Knight. By 1985, Cedeno, 34, had a falling out with Reds manager Pete Rose.

Cedeno, eligible to become a free agent after the 1985 season, said he expected to be traded and heard the Blue Jays were interested.

The Cardinals were in Cincinnati for an Aug. 26-28 series with the Reds when Kaat, who pitched for St. Louis from 1980-83, and Herzog met for breakfast.

In his book “White Rat: A Life in Baseball,” Herzog said, “Kaat told me Cesar Cedeno might be available to us, to fill in for Clark. Cesar was on the outs with Pete Rose … Kaat said he thought (Cedeno) could still play.”

The Cardinals and Reds arranged a deal.

“I’m very happy an opportunity like this _ to play with a contender _ came around,” Cedeno said. “I will welcome whatever they want me to do. I’m thrilled an organization like the Cardinals has interest in me. It’s a great feeling to be wanted.”

When the trade was made, the Cardinals led the second-place Mets by 2.5 games.

A right-handed batter, Cedeno hit .241 in 83 games for the 1985 Reds, but the Cardinals saw him as a good fit to platoon with Mike Jorgensen at first base until Clark, who had suffered a rib injury on Aug. 23, could return to the lineup.

Hot hitter

The trade paid immediate dividends.

In his first at-bat with the Cardinals, Cedeno hit the first pitch he saw from the Astros’ Mike Scott for a home run on Aug. 30 at St. Louis. Boxscore

A week later, on Sept. 6, Cedeno, batting for Jorgensen, clouted a grand slam off Gene Garber in an 8-0 Cardinals victory over the Braves at St. Louis. Boxscore

Cedeno had eight hits in his first 16 at-bats for the Cardinals. “He’s been awesome, hasn’t he?” teammate John Tudor said. “He’s done everything we’ve asked him to do. It seems like every time he’s up he hits the ball on the nose.”

Beat the Mets

On Sept. 10, the Mets beat the Cardinals at New York and moved into first place in the NL East, a game ahead of St. Louis.

The next night, Sept. 11, produced a matchup of aces: Tudor vs. Dwight Gooden. Both were sharp and the game was scoreless through nine innings.

In the 10th, Jesse Orosco relieved Gooden and the first batter he faced was Cedeno. Orosco hung a slider and Cedeno belted a home run, giving the Cardinals a 1-0 lead. Tudor held the Mets scoreless in the 10th, clinching the victory and moving the Cardinals into a tie for first place with New York. Boxscore and Video

Thanks, Pete

Four days later, Sept. 15, with the Cardinals clinging to a half-game lead over the Mets, Cedeno went 5-for-5 with four RBI in a 5-1 St. Louis victory over the Cubs at Chicago. Cedeno had two singles, two doubles, a two-run home run and a stolen base. Boxscore

Cedeno said he spoke with Rose and told him, “Thank you, thank you, thank you for trading me to St. Louis.”

Said Herzog: “He’s been a blessing to us.”

In his month with the Cardinals, Cedeno hit .528 (19-for-36) at home and .541 (20-for-37) against left-handers. He had a .477 batting average (21-for-44) with runners on base. Cedeno further endeared himself to Cardinals fans by shredding Cubs pitchers at a .560 clip (14-for-25) with nine RBI.

It was a different story in the postseason. Cedeno hit .167 (2-for-12) in the NL Championship Series versus the Dodgers and .133 (2-for-15) against the Royals in the World Series.

Cedeno became a free agent after the 1985 postseason, signed with the Blue Jays, got released before the 1986 season began and was picked up by the Dodgers, who released him in June. A month later, he signed with the Cardinals and was sent to Class AAA Louisville. Cedeno hit .169 in 20 games for Louisville and never returned to the big leagues.

Previously: Jim Kaat interview: ’82 Cards were close-knit club

Previously: How Cardinals’ Jim Kaat appeared forever young

Previously: Jim Kaat revived both his career and the Cardinals

Posted in Games, Hitters, Trades | 10 Comments »

Why Jack Spring, Paul Toth are part of Cardinals lore

August 21, 2015 by retrosimba

For pitchers Jack Spring and Paul Toth, being part of one of the Cardinals’ best trades did little for their careers other than making them answers to a trivia question.

Who were the players the Cardinals acquired with outfielder Lou Brock from the Cubs on June 15, 1964, for pitchers Ernie Broglio and Bobby Shantz and outfielder Doug Clemens?

Spring and Toth.

Because of the impact of the deal on Brock and the Cardinals, few recall St. Louis got anyone else in the trade.

Brock sparked the Cardinals to the 1964 National League pennant and World Series championship and built a Hall of Fame career in St. Louis.

For Spring, the Cardinals became a brief stop during a year in which he played for three big-league teams before finishing the season in the minors.

For Toth, the trade was a reunion, returning him to the organization he started with but doing nothing to get him back to the major leagues.

Aloha, Jack

Spring, a left-hander, debuted in the major leagues with the 1955 Phillies. He also pitched for the 1957 Red Sox and 1958 Senators before joining the expansion Angels in 1961. In four years with the Angels, Spring was 11-2 with eight saves.

In 1964, Spring began the season with the Angels before being sent to the Cubs on May 15 in a cash transaction.

He made his Cardinals debut on the same day he was traded from the Cubs. In an inning of relief against the Colt .45s at Houston, Spring yielded four runs, one earned, on three hits and walk. In the eighth, Brock made his Cardinals debut, pinch-hitting for Spring. Boxscore

“When the trade was made, I was home in Chicago,” Spring told the Society for American Baseball Research. “My wife called out to me that they’re talking about it on the TV. Brock and I flew to Houston, where the game had already started. I went to the bullpen. They told me to warm up and go into the game. The catcher was Tim McCarver. I got to the mound, and he said, ‘Hi, Jack. I’m Tim. What do you throw?’ ”

Five days later, on June 20, Spring made his second and last Cardinals appearance. In two innings of relief against the Giants at St. Louis, Spring gave up five runs on five hits, including a three-run double by Hal Lanier and a two-run home run by Orlando Cepeda. All the runs were unearned. Boxscore.

Spring had yielded nine runs in three innings for St. Louis but had an ERA of 3.00 because only one of those runs was earned.

The Cardinals assigned Spring, 31, to their Class AAA club at Jacksonville, but he refused to report. If he was going to accept a demotion to the minors, Spring, a resident of Spokane, Wash., preferred to play in the Pacific Coast League.

On July 9, the Cardinals accommodated Spring, sending him to the Angels in a cash transaction. The Angels assigned him to their Pacific Coast League team in Hawaii. Bob Lemon, the Hall of Fame pitcher, was Hawaii’s manager. Spring thrived there, posting a 3-3 record and 2.11 ERA in 30 games.

Spring got his final big-league chance with the 1965 Indians, pitching in 14 games. He spent the remainder of his playing career in the Pacific Coast League, finishing with his hometown club, Spokane, in 1969.

Cardinals prospect

Unlike Spring, Toth was sent directly to the minor leagues after his trade to the Cardinals and never returned to the big leagues.

Toth, a right-hander, was signed by the Cardinals in 1955. He pitched in their system until 1958 before spending two years in military service.

When he resumed his playing career in 1961, the Cardinals sent Toth to Class AA Tulsa. He had his best season, posting an 18-7 record and 2.37 ERA.

That performance caught the attention of Cardinals manager Johnny Keane. At the 1962 spring training camp, Toth got to pitch in Cardinals exhibition games and did well. He held the Mets to a hit in three innings in the second spring exhibition and was cited by The Sporting News as the camp’s “sleeper” prospect.

Toth was one of 10 pitchers on the Cardinals’ 1962 Opening Day roster. He appeared in six games and was 1-0 with a 5.40 ERA. His highlight was a complete-game win in a start against the Colt .45s on Aug. 5 at St. Louis. Boxscore

“Paul showed a good assortment and plenty of poise,” said Cardinals pitching coach Howie Pollet.

Wrote The Sporting News: “Toth’s chief assets are a good slider and a reputation as a tough battler.”

Less than a month later, though, on Sept. 1, the Cardinals traded Toth to the Cubs for pitcher Harvey Branch.

Toth was 3-1 with a 4.24 ERA for the 1962 Cubs. He earned his first win for them on Sept. 18 against the Cardinals in a 4-3 victory at Wrigley Field. Toth pitched 8.2 innings, yielding a solo home run in the second to his former road roommate, catcher Carl Sawatski, and a two-run homer in the ninth to Stan Musial. Boxscore

“He figures in my plans for next year,” Cubs manager Charlie Metro said. “He’s the kind of guy you like to have on your club. A real bear-down guy. He knows how to pitch. He moves all of his pitches around and showed a real good change-up.”

Toth was 8-12 in three seasons with the Cubs. He was with their Salt Lake City farm club when he was traded back to the Cardinals in the Brock deal.

The Cardinals assigned Toth, 29, to Jacksonville. He was 4-6 with a 3.25 ERA. After the 1964 season, Toth was sent to the Yankees, managed by Keane, in a cash transaction.

Toth never pitched for the Yankees, finishing his playing career in the minor leagues in 1967.

Previously: Lou Brock hit the ground running in 1st start with Cardinals

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Tony La Russa and the night he got to be No. 3

August 18, 2015 by retrosimba

(Updated Oct. 22, 2022)

On Aug. 25, 2005, Tony La Russa got his 2,195th win as a big-league manager when the Cardinals beat the Pirates, 6-3, at Pittsburgh. The victory moved him into third place for career wins as a manager, ahead of Sparky Anderson (2,194) and behind Connie Mack (3,731) and John McGraw (2,763).

Six years later, when La Russa left the Cardinals after leading them to the 2011 World Series championship, he remained third in career wins with 2,728, just 35 shy of tying McGraw.

On Oct. 29, 2020, La Russa was named manager of the White Sox, giving him a chance to pass McGraw. After the 2022 season, La Russa retired, ranking second in career wins with 2,902.

Mack and McGraw compiled all of their wins between 1894 and 1950.

Mack managed the Pirates from 1894-96 and the Athletics from 1901-50.

McGraw managed the Orioles in 1899 and from 1901-02 and the Giants from 1902-32.

La Russa managed the White Sox from 1979-86 and from 2021-22, the Athletics from 1986-95 and the Cardinals from 1996-2011.

Sparky helps Tony

Anderson, while managing the Tigers, offered advice to La Russa when he was with the White Sox.

“Nobody was as ready to help or impart knowledge as Sparky,” La Russa told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

In the book “Tony La Russa: Man on a Mission,” La Russa said Anderson, who managed in the Cardinals minor-league system in the 1960s, taught him a major responsibility of a manager “is to try to figure out what your guys do well and where they struggle _ and try to play one away from the other.”

“For example,” said La Russa, “if a guy can’t bunt, don’t put him in a position to bunt. If someone is a bad runner, don’t give him a green light to run. If a guy has trouble going back on the ball but can come in, play him deeper. If a guy can go better to his right, shade him to the left. All of that crystallized the idea to play to strengths and away from weaknesses.”

Cardinals celebrate

On the night La Russa passed Anderson in career wins, Cardinals outfielder Jim Edmonds told the Post-Dispatch, “To have the most wins in the modern era is pretty special.” Boxscore

The Cardinals made sure the achievement was treated as special.

After the game, Edmonds spoke to his teammates in a closed-door meeting to make certain everyone understood the significance of the win.

Reliever Jason Isringhausen presented La Russa with the ball from the final out.

The players doused La Russa with beer. First baseman Albert Pujols playfully dumped a tub of ice water on him.

Isringhausen said the beer shower was planned; the ice water dump was spontaneous _ and momentarily worrisome. “We were afraid his heart was going to stop,” Isringhausen told reporter Rick Hummel.

The club brought out a case of Dom Perignon champagne and made a toast to their field leader.

Jim Leyland, a coach for La Russa with the White Sox from 1982-85 and a scout for the 2005 Cardinals, presented La Russa with a personal check for $2,194 _ a dollar for each win that tied La Russa with Anderson _ to be donated to the manager’s Animal Rescue Foundation.

Asked what career he would have pursued if he had flopped as a baseball manager, La Russa said, “I’d be an attorney. That would have been bad. I don’t think I would have been a very good one.”

La Russa thanked his wife, Elaine, and daughters Bianca and Devon.

“Without the support of Elaine and the two girls, I would have been gone a long time ago,” La Russa said.

Third will suffice

Anderson had said La Russa could pass McGraw on the wins list. “I don’t think so,” La Russa told Hummel.

Pujols predicted La Russa would aim higher. “I’m pretty sure he’s going to shoot for No. 1,” Pujols said. “Knowing him, it’s going to be real tough for him to walk out of this game.”

During the 2011 season, though, La Russa privately determined he was ready to stop managing. He wasn’t getting enough enjoyment from the job, even though he still loved the game.

In the book “One Last Strike,” La Russa said he spoke with his wife Elaine in September 2011 about his plan to leave the Cardinals that year.

“She said it would mean a lot to her and the girls if I passed John McGraw for second on the list for most managerial wins in a career,” La Russa said. “I could understand their thinking, but I couldn’t give in to it because that was something personal and not professional. Doing it for them, knowing that I shouldn’t be there, wasn’t something I could do. I hated to disappoint them.”

Posted in Games, Managers, Records | Leave a Comment »

5 surprising facts about Curt Flood

August 15, 2015 by retrosimba

(Updated April 6, 2026)

Five facts that may surprise you about Cardinals center fielder Curt Flood:

No. 1: Cardinals foe

Flood made his major-league debut against the Cardinals.

On Sept. 9, 1956, at St. Louis, Flood, 18, was a pinch-runner for Smoky Burgess, the stocky Reds catcher who hit a double in the eighth inning off Cardinals starter Murry Dickson.

Flood was stranded when Bob Thurman popped out to third, ending the inning. Boxscore

As a September call-up, Flood played in five games for the 1956 Reds and three for the 1957 Reds. The Cardinals were the foe in three of those eight games.

Flood and outfielder Joe Taylor were traded by the Reds to the Cardinals for pitchers Willard Schmidt, Ted Wieand and Marty Kutyna on Dec. 5, 1957.

It was the first trade made by Cardinals general manager Bing Devine and it was one of his best. Devine credited Cardinals manager Fred Hutchinson with encouraging him to make the deal.

In his book “October 1964,” author David Halberstam wrote, “Devine was uneasy because it was his first deal and because he had not only never seen (Flood) but he had no sense of him either. But (Hutchinson) seemed confident of Flood’s ability and Devine had a good deal of faith in Hutchinson’s ability to judge talent.”

No. 2: Cardinals infielder

Flood, who won seven consecutive Gold Glove awards as a Cardinals center fielder from 1963-69, played two games at third base and one at second for St. Louis.

In all three instances, Flood shifted from the outfield to the infield late in games. The breakdown:

_ On July 6, 1958, Flood started in center field against the Giants at San Francisco. In the ninth, Ken Boyer moved from third base to shortstop and Flood replaced Boyer at third. Flood didn’t field any chances in the inning. Boxscore

_ On May 10, 1959, at St. Louis against the Cubs, Flood moved from center field to second base in the 10th, replacing Don Blasingame, who had been lifted for a pinch-runner the previous inning. Flood played two innings at second base and didn’t field any chances. Boxscore

_ On June 21, 1960, Flood started in center field versus the Pirates at Pittsburgh. In the eighth, Boyer was ejected and Flood replaced him at third base. Flood had one ball hit to him at third _ by Burgess, then with the Pirates _ and fielded it cleanly. Boxscore

In the book “Redbirds Revisited,” Flood said to authors David Craft and Tom Owens, “There was a time when I was with Cincinnati … when they were hoping to teach me to play the infield (but) I had trouble making the double play, trouble throwing toward shortstop.”

No. 3: Tough and durable

At 5 feet 9 and 165 pounds, Flood was an iron man. He played in 150 or more games in a season seven times.

Flood ranks eighth all-time in games played (1,738) as a Cardinal. Just ahead of him is Red Schoendienst (1,795).

No. 4: Hit man

Flood ranks 10th all-time in most hits (1,853) by a Cardinal, just two behind Ken Boyer (1,855).

No. 5: Hitting the best

Flood often was at his best when facing the best.

Here are his career batting marks against some Hall of Fame pitchers:

_ .394 (13-for-33) vs. Don Sutton.

_ .326 (29-for-89) with a home run vs. Warren Spahn.

_ .319 (44-for-138) with two home runs vs. Don Drysdale.

_ .296 (32-for-108) with two home runs vs. Sandy Koufax.

_ .286 (34-for-119) with four home runs vs. Juan Marichal.

_ .286 (14-for-49) with two home runs vs. Ferguson Jenkins.

On May 3, 1968, at San Francisco, before a crowd that included his mother and other relatives, Flood hit two home runs in a game against Marichal. Flood hit a solo home run in the first and a two-run shot in the fifth “Curt hit a good pitch (fastball) the first time, but I hung a slider on the second home run,” Marichal told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Boxscore

Postscript

Flood was an integral member of a Cardinals franchise that won two World Series championships and three National League pennants in the 1960s.

In 12 seasons with the Cardinals, Flood was a three-time all-star who hit .293 with 1,853 hits in 1,738 games, including two consecutive seasons (1963-64) with 200 or more hits. When the Cardinals traded him to the Phillies after the 1969 season, Flood refused to report and challenged baseball’s reserve clause, paving the way for free agency.

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents, Pitchers | 4 Comments »

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