RetroSimba

Bob Gibson put aside grief to pitch while mourning MLK

March 29, 2013 by retrosimba

(Updated April 4, 2019)

Devastated by the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Cardinals pitcher Bob Gibson still fulfilled his professional obligations and pitched the day after King’s death and the day after King’s funeral.

King was murdered on April 4, 1968, in Memphis. The civil rights leader and clergyman was 39.

In his 1968 book “From Ghetto to Glory,” Gibson said he was in his room at spring training camp in St. Petersburg, Fla., when he thought he heard a television report about King’s death. Uncertain of what he heard, Gibson went to teammate Lou Brock’s room. “Orlando Cepeda was there and from the expressions on their faces I knew I had heard correctly,” Gibson said.

“I think the emotions I felt most strongly were bitterness and frustration.”

In his 1994 book “Stranger to the Game,” Gibson said, “I reeled from the impact of the assassination _ the cold-blooded murder of the one man in my lifetime who had been able to capture the public’s attention about racial injustice, break through some of the age-old social barriers and raise the spirits and hopes of black people across the country.”

On Friday April 5, the day after King’s death, the Cardinals and Tigers proceeded with a scheduled spring training exhibition game at St. Petersburg. Gibson and another black pitcher, the Tigers’ Earl Wilson, were the starters.

Cardinals catcher Tim McCarver, a Memphis native, is quoted in “Stranger to the Game” as recalling an intense conversation before the game with Gibson about King’s death. Said McCarver:

“Everybody on the club was dismayed by what happened to Martin Luther King. It was a very disorienting time in many respects and that was probably the hardest moment. Bob and I had a very serious discussion in the clubhouse that morning. He was very emotional and initially he turned his back on me.

“Probably the last person he wanted to talk to that morning was a white man from Memphis, of all places. But I confronted him on that, as I knew he would have done if the tables had been turned. I told him that I had grown up in an environment of severe prejudice, but if I were any indication, it was possible for people to change their attitudes.

“He didn’t really want to be calmed down and told me in so many words that it was plainly impossible for a white man to completely overcome prejudice … I found myself in the unfamiliar position of arguing that the races were equal and that we were all the same. It was a soul-searching type of thing and I believe Bob and I reached a meeting of the minds that morning. That was the kind of talk we often had on the Cardinals.”

In “From Ghetto to Glory,” Gibson said, “Some of the white players on the Cardinals felt his death was a shame, but their feeling was not the same as ours. I guess there were more who didn’t care one way or the other than there were those who did care and that’s the whole trouble _ there are too many white people who don’t care.”

On the afternoon of April 5, Gibson pitched four innings against the Tigers and yielded a run on three hits. He also drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. McCarver caught and also produced two singles and scored a run. The Cardinals won, 3-2, on Bobby Tolan’s ninth-inning RBI-single.

The Cardinals and Tigers played again the next afternoon, April 6, in a game won by Detroit, 4-2, at Lakeland, Fla. Brock led off the game with an inside-the-park home run.

President Lyndon Johnson declared Sunday, April 7, a day of national mourning for King. All spring training exhibition games were canceled that day.

The 1968 major-league regular season was scheduled to begin with three Opening Day games on Monday April 8 and eight more openers, including the Braves vs. the Cardinals at St. Louis, on Tuesday April 9. King’s funeral was April 9 in Atlanta.

Gibson said some Cardinals players gathered in Cepeda’s apartment and decided to inform Cardinals management they wouldn’t open the season as scheduled.

But, before the players expressed that view, the major leagues moved back the entire slate of openers to Wednesday, April 10.

Cardinals general manager Bing Devine said it was a time “when unity of thinking, purpose and action is desirable,” the Associated Press reported.

A day after King was buried in Atlanta, the Atlanta Braves faced the Cardinals before 34,740 at Busch Stadium. Among the prominent African-American players in the lineups were Gibson, Brock and Curt Flood for the Cardinals and Hank Aaron for the Braves.

In an interview with the Newspaper Enterprise Association, Aaron said King “could walk with kings and talk with presidents. He wasn’t for lootings and bombings and fights, but he wasn’t afraid of violence either. He was 20 years ahead of his times.”

Gibson never hesitated in making the start in the 1968 opener.

“As disturbed as I was about Dr. King, I knew, also, that I couldn’t let it undermine my pitching,” Gibson said.

Gibson held the Braves to three hits and an unearned run in seven innings and was lifted with the Braves ahead, 1-0. The Cardinals rallied for a run in the eighth on Cepeda’s RBI-double and won, 2-1, on a RBI-single by Dave Ricketts in the ninth. Boxscore

“I had tremendous admiration for Dr. King, for the great work he was doing,” Gibson said in his 1968 book. “His was one approach to the problem and there are others with different approaches and I think you have to have all types if the fight is to be successful. You have to have the non-violent and you have to have the violent. If it could be accomplished the way Martin Luther King wanted it done, that would be the best way.”

The 1968 season turned out to be Gibson’s greatest. He was 22-9 with a 1.12 ERA, pitched 13 shutouts and won both the Cy Young Award and the Most Valuable Player Award in the National League.

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers | 3 Comments »

Spring classic: Cardinals’ Murry Dickson no-hits Yankees

March 20, 2013 by retrosimba

Unconcerned about potential wear and tear on his arm, a Cardinals starter pitched a nine-inning no-hitter in a spring training exhibition.

Using a knuckleball, curve and slider, Murry Dickson became the second major-league pitcher to produce a nine-inning no-hitter in a spring training game. He baffled the Yankees in a 7-0 Cardinals victory on March 30, 1948, before 1,948 at Al Lang Field in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Dickson received slugging support from Stan Musial (three-run inside-the-park home run) and Red Schoendienst (three-run double).

Cardinals manager Eddie Dyer told The Sporting News he had intended to pitch Dickson for six innings. After Dickson pitched a hitless seventh, Dyer gave his approval for Dickson to pitch the eighth and the ninth.

Dyer received criticism for stretching Dickson in an exhibition game. National League president Ford Frick looked into the matter and was told by Dickson he wanted to test his arm by pitching nine innings.

“From all I hear, it wasn’t a hard game he had to work,” Frick said. “It was a warm day, he didn’t have to bear down too much and apparently he wasn’t trying for a no-hitter.”

(Cy Blanton of the Pirates pitched the first nine-inning no-hitter in a spring training exhibition. It occurred on Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939, at New Orleans, against the Indians. Pirates manager Pie Traynor later told The Sporting News he regretted allowing Blanton to go the distance because Blanton soon lost his effectiveness. After an 11-7 record for the 1938 Pirates, Blanton was 2-3 for the 1939 Pirates.)

Dickson struck out six, hit a batter and walked five (including Joe DiMaggio twice). He faced 30 batters. The Yankees hit into three double plays and stranded three.

DiMaggio smoked a line drive “straight at shortstop Tommy Glaviano” for the hardest-hit out, according to the Associated Press. DiMaggio and Phil Rizzuto were two future Hall of Fame players in the Yankees lineup that day.

In the ninth, Dickson got Lonny Frey to fly out to center and Ed Stewart to line out to second before Johnny Lindell flied out to center for the final out.

Dan Hall, covering the game for the St. Petersburg Times, wrote, “Dickson’s curve was breaking beautifully and he used a slider and a knuckleball delivery to cross up the Yankees sluggers.”

Del Wilber caught the first five innings for the Cardinals and Del Rice caught the last four. Asked by The Sporting News about Dickson’s knuckleball, Wilber replied, “Dickson really puts a lot of speed on it and the ball is tough to catch … (It) wobbles all over the place.”

Facing sore-armed Bill Bevens, the Cardinals scored all seven runs in the first inning. After Schoendienst walked and Erv Dusak singled, Musial “drove a pitch to the 450-foot sign in the right-center field corner and raced around the paths for an inside-the-park home run,” reported the St. Petersburg Times.

Dickson drove in the fourth run on a bases-loaded walk and Schoendienst, batting for the second time in the inning, followed with a bases-clearing double.

The United Press wire service wrote, “For Bevens, the game may have marked the end of a Yankees career that has been nothing but one bad break after another.”

Five months earlier, on Oct. 3, 1947, Bevens was one out away from pitching the first no-hitter in World Series history. In Game 4 at Brooklyn, Bevens held the Dodgers hitless for 8.2 innings and was protecting a 2-1 Yankees lead. The Dodgers had two runners on base _ the ninth and 10th walks given by Bevens _ when Cookie Lavagetto, batting for Eddie Stanky, doubled both home, lifting the Dodgers to a 3-2 victory. Boxscore

(Bevens, 31, didn’t fully recover from the arm ailment that hampered him in that exhibition game against the Cardinals. He never again appeared in the major leagues after the 1947 World Series, though he did pitch in the minors until 1952, including a stint in the Cardinals’ organization in 1949 for Houston, where his manager was Del Wilber.)

Meanwhile, Dickson’s stock rose after his spring training no-hitter. United Press wrote, “The nigh-perfect performance virtually assured Dickson of ranking as the ace of the Cardinals’ staff.”

Dickson earned the Opening Day start and pitched a complete-game shutout in the Cardinals’ 4-0 triumph over the Reds at St. Louis on April 20, 1948. Boxscore

The hot start wasn’t sustainable. Dickson went 1-5 in July, finished 12-16 with a 4.14 ERA and was sent to the Pirates after the season.

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The story of how Mark Whiten joined Cardinals

March 18, 2013 by retrosimba

In a tragic twist of fate, a deadly boating accident during spring training led the Cardinals to acquire outfielder Mark Whiten.

On March 22, 1993, Indians pitcher Steve Olin was killed and pitchers Tim Crews and Bob Ojeda were injured severely in a boating accident on a Florida lake. Crews died the next day.

After the accident, Cardinals general manager Dal Maxvill called his counterpart with the Indians, John Hart, who asked whether pitcher Rene Arocha was available. Maxvill replied, “No.”

“He said, ‘We really need pitching now,’ ” Maxvill told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I said, ‘Which one of our pitchers are you interested in?’ And he said, ‘Anybody, really.’ ”

Maxvill wanted an outfielder to back up projected starters Ray Lankford, Brian Jordan and Bernard Gilkey. Maxvill was about to make a deal for Braves outfielder Keith Mitchell, who was ticketed to open the 1993 season in the Atlanta farm system.

Hart was offering to trade Whiten, the Indians’ starting right fielder, to the Cardinals if Maxvill would offer a pitcher Hart liked.

Maxvill and Hart had discussed a possible deal during the winter meetings in December 1992. At that time, Hart asked about pitcher Mark Clark, who was 3-10 with a 4.45 ERA for the 1992 Cardinals.

Remembering that exchange, Maxvill offered Clark to the Indians. Hart wanted a second player added to the deal. When Maxvill suggested minor-league infielder Juan Andujar, Hart accepted.

Maxvill contacted the Braves and nixed the proposed trade for Mitchell. On March 31, seven days before the 1993 season opener, the Cardinals sent Clark and Andujar to Cleveland for Whiten.

“It was a shock for me,” Whiten said of the trade.

Whiten, 26, was joining his third major-league club. (He had played for the Blue Jays before joining the Indians.) He had a strong throwing arm, speed and power, but generally was considerd a raw talent. “I’m still learning,” Whiten conceded.

The acquistion of Whiten ended Ozzie Canceso’s spring training quest to make the Cardinals’ Opening Day roster as a reserve outfielder. Canseco produced four home runs and 14 RBI for St. Louis in spring training exhibition games, but admitted, “My defense is lacking … It’s something I realize I have to improve.”

Whiten became a standout for the 1993 Cardinals, generating 25 home runs, 99 RBI and 15 stolen bases. On Sept. 7, 1993, in the second game of a doubleheader at Cincinnati, Whiten hit four home runs and drove in 12 while batting sixth in the order. Whiten, who hit a grand slam, two three-run home runs and a two-run home run, tied the major-league single-game RBI record established by Cardinals first baseman Jim Bottomley in 1924. Boxscore

Clark finished 7-5 with a 4.28 ERA for the 1993 Indians. In three seasons with Cleveland, Clark was 27-15. Andujar never reached the big leagues.

In two seasons with St. Louis, Whiten had 39 home runs and 152 RBI. On April 9, 1995, the Cardinals traded Whiten and pitcher Rheal Cormier to the Red Sox for third baseman Scott Cooper and pitcher Cory Bailey.

Previously: Mark Whiten, Josh Hamilton: Same feat, different path

Posted in Games, Hitters, Pitchers, Trades | 6 Comments »

Edgar Renteria had epic season at shortstop in 2003

March 15, 2013 by retrosimba

(Updated Dec. 27, 2024)

In 2003, Cardinals shortstop Edgar Renteria won both a Gold Glove Award and a Silver Slugger Award for the second season in a row.

The cumulative production numbers put up by Renteria in 2003 were unprecedented for a Cardinals shortstop: .330 batting average, 194 hits, 47 doubles, 13 home runs, 100 RBI and 34 stolen bases. The hits, doubles and RBI were single-season career highs for Renteria, who spent 16 years in the major leagues.

He was the first National League shortstop with 100 RBI since Hubie Brooks of the 1985 Expos.

“It’s not easy for a guy who is not a power hitter to get 100 RBI _ and I’m not a power hitter,” Renteria said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in September 2003.

Renteria came within six hits of joining Honus Wagner as the only National League shortstops to achieve 200 hits and 100 RBI in a season. Wagner had 201 hits and 109 RBI for the 1908 Pirates.

“To hit .330 with 100 RBI, a bunch of stolen bases and great defense _ what a year he’s had,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said to the Post-Dispatch in the final weekend of the 2003 season.

On Sept. 27, 2003, in the Cardinals’ next-to-last game of the season, Renteria got his 100th RBI when his fielder’s choice grounder to short scored Albert Pujols from third with the deciding run in St. Louis’ 3-2 victory over the Diamondbacks at Phoenix. Boxscore

Renteria twice drove in five runs in a game in 2003.

On April 13, in the Cardinals’ 11-8 victory over the Astros at Houston, Renteria hit a pair of home runs against Roy Oswalt and had five RBI. Boxscore

On Sept. 18, Renteria was 4-for-4 with two doubles and five RBI in the Cardinals’ 13-0 victory over the Brewers at St. Louis. Boxscore

Renteria hit .492 (30-for-61) with 17 RBI against the Brewers in 2003.

In his report card on the Cardinals’ 2003 season, Joe Strauss of the Post-Dispatch wrote, “Edgar Renteria compiled one of the best offensive seasons of the last 20 years by a National League shortstop while committing fewer errors (16) than during last year’s Gold Glove season (19).”

Looking back on his time with the Cardinals, pitcher Woody Williams said to Stan McNeal of Cardinals Magazine in 2024, “Edgar Renteria … had such a desire to win. He wasn’t a big talker, but I appreciated the way he carried himself and loved being around him. He was a pro all the time.”

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Departure of football Cardinals helped baseball Cardinals

March 13, 2013 by retrosimba

(Updated March 15, 2023)

In March 1988, the NFL approved the move of the St. Louis football Cardinals to Arizona, leaving the St. Louis baseball Cardinals as the sole tenant of Busch Memorial Stadium for the first time since it opened in 1966.

The departure of the football Cardinals ended 28 years of NFL existence in St. Louis, but it was a boon to the baseball Cardinals, who benefitted from improvements to Busch Memorial Stadium.

In April 1988, when the defending National League champion Cardinals opened their baseball season a month after the football Cardinals left St. Louis, 1,000 seats and 10 luxury suites were added to Busch Memorial Stadium, increasing seating capacity for baseball to 54,224.

A year later, among the upgrades made to the stadium for the 1989 Cardinals baseball season were a 65,000-watt sound system, seven new concession areas and remodeling of 11 others.

In 1992, the baseball Cardinals installed a spongier and darker artificial playing surface. Four years later, they went to a natural grass surface at Busch Memorial Stadium for the first time since 1969.

Bill Bidwill, owner of the football Cardinals, asked the NFL on Jan. 15, 1988, for permission to move to Phoenix because he believed Busch Memorial Stadium limited his revenue opportunities and he didn’t have hope a football stadium would be built in St. Louis. The NFL wanted Bidwill to relocate the team to Baltimore because it intended to place an expansion franchise in Phoenix.

Bidwill preferred Arizona. Sun Devil Stadium in Phoenix offered 73,000 seats (20,000 more than Busch Memorial Stadium did for football). Bidwill stood to gain $2.5 million from luxury suite seats. He also was optimistic of having a domed stadium built in downtown Phoenix.

On March 15, 1988, NFL owners voted 26-0, with two abstentions, to approve the move. Abstaining were Raiders owner Al Davis and Dolphins owner Joe Robbie.

(Davis, in a legal battle with the league, told the New York Times, “It’s all a sham. They vote any way they want and allow anyone they want to move.” Robbie told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he abstained out of loyalty to his friend Joe Foss, who headed a group seeking an expansion franchise in Phoenix. “A man who forgets his friends doesn’t deserve friends,” Robbie said.)

Cardinals defensive lineman Curtis Greer said Bidwill had given St. Louis the chance to build a stadium and keep the team.

”I would think that you’ve got to appreciate Mr. Bidwill’s patience in trying to give the city of St. Louis time to get a new stadium,” Greer said to the Post-Dispatch. ”I think it was about 3 1/2 years since he first talked of moving. He took the route of being courteous and following the guidelines of the league. I think you’ve got to admire a guy like that.”

St. Louis mayor Vincent Schoemehl ripped the NFL for permitting the move. Schoemehl told the Post-Dispatch that “communities have a right to be treated better” by the NFL.

“This is a reflection on them (the NFL) and not us,” Schoemehl said. “I think our code of conduct in this city is frankly superior to theirs.”

Regarding the NFL commissioner, Schoemehl added, “I find it hard to hold Pete Rozelle in high regard.”

Seven years later, St. Louis regained a NFL franchise when the Rams moved there from Los Angeles. The Rams played their first four home games of the 1995 season at Busch Memorial Stadium before relocating to a domed stadium built for the franchise in downtown St. Louis.

After the 2015 season, the Rams returned to Los Angeles.

Previously: Football Cardinals finally got it right with Don Coryell

Posted in Executives | Tagged baseball, sports, st louis football cardinals, super-bowl | 3 Comments »

Why Jose Oquendo, not Ozzie Smith, opened at shortstop

March 11, 2013 by retrosimba

The shortstop position was a model of stability when Ozzie Smith was on the Cardinals roster.

Smith played for the Cardinals for 15 seasons (1982-96). He was their starting shortstop on Opening Day in 13 of those years.

The exceptions: 1996, when first-year manager Tony La Russa went with newcomer Royce Clayton, and 1989, when Smith opened the season on the disabled list because of a pulled muscle in his left side.

If not for that injury, Smith would have made 14 consecutive Opening Day starts at shortstop for St. Louis.

The only player other than Smith to start at shortstop for the Cardinals from 1982 to 1995 was Jose Oquendo, who shifted from second base as the substitute for Smith in 1989.

On March 30, less than a week before the Cardinals’ 1989 regular-season opener, Smith was injured stealing third base in an exhibition game against the Blue Jays at Dunedin, Fla. The initial prognosis was he would be sidelined until May 1. Smith was placed on the disabled for the first time since 1984.

Manager Whitey Herzog decided to move Oquendo from second base to shortstop and place utilityman Tim Jones at second base. Asked why he opted for Oquendo rather than Jones at shortstop, Herzog told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “Jones can play it. I just think that Oquendo probably is as good a shortstop as there is in the National League.”

The Cardinals opened the 1989 season on April 3 at New York against the Mets. Oquendo, batting sixth, went 0-for-4, striking out twice against starter Dwight Gooden and once against Don Aase. The Mets won, 8-4. Boxscore

Oquendo, who had hit .384 (28-for-73) in spring training, appeared to be pressing. He went hitless in his first 13 at-bats.

The Cardinals stayed with the starting middle infield duo of Oquendo and Jones for the first seven games. Oquendo batted .167 and made one error. Jones hit .200 and fielded flawlessly.

Smith returned to the lineup on April 15, in the Cardinals’ second home game, against the Mets. Batting second, behind Vince Coleman, Smith was 2-for-5. His 10th-inning single moved Coleman from second to third _ “I can’t run into an out,” Coleman explained in why he agreed with third-base coach Rich Hacker’s stop sign _ and positioned Coleman to score the game-winning run on Pedro Guerrero’s one-out single.

Appearing comfortable with Smith in the lineup, Coleman swiped three bases in the Cardinals’ 3-2 victory. “I know he (Smith) is going to sacrifice himself so I can steal,” Coleman told the Post-Dispatch. Boxscore

With Smith at shortstop, Oquendo went back to second base and Jones to the bench.

Smith started in 152 games in 1989, leading National League shortstops in assists (483) and winning his 10th consecutive Gold Glove Award.

Previously: Buddy Bell almost joined Ozzie Smith in Cardinals’ infield

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