RetroSimba

Manager Whitey Herzog bluntly opposed the notion of the Cardinals signing Bob Horner to replace Jack Clark. Too bad management didn’t listen.

Desperate to fill a hole in their lineup because of the surprise departure of Clark to the Yankees as a free agent, the Cardinals took a chance on Horner, signing him to a one-year, $950,000 contract on Jan. 14, 1988, despite Herzog’s warnings Horner “can’t hit and can’t field.”

The move turned out to be one of the Cardinals’ biggest personnel flops. Plagued by a damaged left shoulder, Horner, playing first base and batting cleanup for the 1988 Cardinals, lacked Clark’s pop, hitting three home runs in 60 games. By mid-June that year, he was through as a major-league player.

Clark, the slugger who powered the Cardinals to two National League pennants in three years, indicated after the 1987 World Series he hoped to stay with St. Louis, but as talks dragged on he became miffed by the club’s negotiating tactics. Though the Cardinals eventually offered him more money than the Yankees did, he signed a two-year, $3.5 million contract with New York on Jan. 6, 1988.

“If they (the Cardinals) had made the same offer earlier, it would have been done,” Clark said to the Associated Press. “But it was too late … I just had enough of it. All I kept hearing was that I was a one-dimensional player … I didn’t like the abuse I was getting. Things just broke down to the point where it was time for a change. It wasn’t about money. I was offered more money by St. Louis.”

Without Clark, the Cardinals lacked run production. In 1987, St. Louis had averaged 5.3 runs per game with Clark in the lineup and 3.6 per game when he wasn’t playing.

Cardinals general manager Dal Maxvill tried luring free-agent Gary Gaetti to replace Clark, but Gaetti, a third baseman, didn’t want to switch to first base, so he re-signed with the Twins. (Seven years later, the Cardinals did sign Gaetti and he played third base for them from 1996-98.)

Maxvill also approached the Dodgers about slugger Mike Marshall, but when they asked for infielder Jose Oquendo and reliever Ken Dayley in return, the talks ended, Maxvill told Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Horner, 30, wanted to return to the majors after playing for the Yakult Swallows of the Japanese Central League in 1987. He rejected Yakult’s offer of a multi-year contract after he hit .327 with 31 home runs in 93 games for them.

In nine seasons with the Braves before his year in Japan, Horner compiled a .278 batting mark and averaged 24 home runs a year.

To Maxvill, who had been a coach with the Braves from 1982-84, Horner became the best available replacement for Clark. When Hummel called Herzog to seek his reaction, Herzog replied, “I don’t like Horner. Of his lifetime homers, about 70 percent were hit in Atlanta. He never could hit in St. Louis. He can’t hit and he can’t field.”

“I just don’t think Horner is the answer,” Herzog said. “I don’t know what he’d hit in our ballpark. He’s a fly ball hitter. He never did hit much on the road.”

Horner had hit 142, or 66 percent, of his big-league homers in Atlanta. Though he had a .325 career batting mark in 118 at-bats at St. Louis’ Busch Stadium, he had hit just five home runs there.

The combination of Herzog’s resistance and Horner’s demand of a multi-year contract cooled the Cardinals’ interest. Horner had offers from the Braves and Rangers, but the Junction City, Kan., native preferred St. Louis. Concerned the opportunity would slip away, Horner called Maxvill and said he’d take a one-year contract. Maxvill said that was fine but a deal needed Herzog’s buy-in.

Horner called Herzog and they spoke for about 20 minutes. He told Herzog he wanted to be a Cardinal, that he could help the club and would sign for less than what Clark had wanted. Herzog gave his approval. The deal was announced the next day.

“It’s been a dream of mine to play for the Cardinals,” Horner said to United Press International. “What an absolute fit for me.”

Asked how he felt about Herzog’s initial remarks about him, Horner said, “No player wants to hear comments like that in the paper about him. After talking to Whitey last night, I was very convinced he wanted me on the St. Louis Cardinals.”

Said Maxvill: “Whitey has been consulted all along, is in complete agreement and is enthusiastic about Bob being with us.”

Herzog still had concerns. He explained to Hummel that Cardinals pitchers facing Horner at Busch Stadium were instructed to give him pitches away so he’d be more likely to hit to the deep outfield gaps rather than pull balls over the wall. “He’s got a good home run swing, but will he be able to hit the ball out of the park in right-center and left-center?” Herzog asked.

A decade later, in his book “You’re Missin’ a Great Game,” Herzog said, “Horner had been a 30-dinger guy for the Braves, but that was in their old Launching Pad ballpark. It didn’t take a genius to see that Busch, with its deep power alleys and humid air, was too big for him.”

The Cardinals opened the 1988 season on April 4 at Cincinnati. Herzog recalled the poor impression Horner made that day.

“I called him Buddha,” Herzog said. “He was a little on the portly side and spent a lot of quality time slouched in his chair in the clubhouse … I had a rule that everybody took infield before the game, but I didn’t see Horner out at first base, so I went to the clubhouse to find him.

“There he sat, in one of his deep trances. I said, ‘Hey, Bob, what the hell are you doing? You’re supposed to be taking infield.’ He looks up at me, blinks like an old frog on a lily pad and says, ‘I’m tired.’ A hundred-and-sixty-two games left to play and the man is gassed.”

Horner went homerless in 31 games at St. Louis in 1988. His three homers that season all were solo shots on the road.

In 60 games for the Cardinals, Horner batted .257 with 33 RBI before his left shoulder gave out. He appeared in his final big-league game, June 16, 1988, producing a pinch-hit, RBI-double in a Cardinals victory at Pittsburgh. Boxscore

Horner underwent two shoulder surgeries that summer. The Cardinals started 10 players at first base. In August, they solidified the position by acquiring Pedro Guerrero from the Dodgers for pitcher John Tudor.

After the season, Horner wasn’t offered a contract by the Cardinals. The Orioles invited him to spring training, but on March, 9, 1989, Horner, saying shoulder weakness limited his ability to play, announced his retirement.

(Updated Sept. 20, 2023)

In 1973, the year he turned 24, Ted Simmons achieved an ironman feat that remains largely unappreciated and mostly unmatched.

Simmons caught a staggering total of 1,352.2 innings for the 1973 Cardinals. To put the achievement in perspective, consider:

_ Hall of Fame catchers such as Johnny Bench, Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella and Ivan Rodriguez never caught that many innings in a season.

_ The only Hall of Fame catchers who topped Simmons’ 1973 total were Carlton Fisk, who caught 1,355.2 innings for the Red Sox in 1978, and Gary Carter, who caught 1,353.2 innings for the Expos in 1982, according to baseball-reference.com.

_ Yadier Molina, a multiple Gold Glove Award winner, caught a career-high 1,218.1 innings for the 2016 Cardinals. That’s 134.1 innings, or the equivalent of 15 games, fewer than what Simmons did for the 1973 Cardinals. Simmons’ 1,352.2-inning total is a franchise record. The next closest is Tim McCarver, who caught 1,261.1 innings for the 1966 Cardinals.

Randy Hundley holds the major-league record for most innings caught in a season. He caught 1,385 innings _ 32.1 more than Simmons _ for the 1968 Cubs.

Playing primarily on the punishing artificial surface of Busch Memorial Stadium, Simmons appeared in 161 of the Cardinals’ 162 games in 1973. He caught in 152 of those games.

“He’s about as strong a human being as I’ve ever seen,” Simmons’ teammate, Joe Torre, a former catcher, said to The Sporting News. “He’s so durable. That’s tough, catching every day in August and September.”

Looking back at Simmons’ endurance, teammate Mike Tyson said to Cardinals Magazine, “How’d he do it? He was a beast.”

Cardinals reliever Al Hrabosky told the Baseball Hall of Fame Yearbook, “His best attributes were his strong will to win and dedication to being out there every day.”

Shortstop Dal Maxvill said to Cardinals Magazine, “He wanted to be in the lineup every day. He was strong, he was young and he was a real gamer. He would take a foul ball off the shoulder _ chest protectors didn’t have flaps then _ and you could see he was in pain.”

Getting it done

Simmons played in every inning of the Cardinals’ first 91 games in 1973 before being held out of a July 18 night game against the Giants at St. Louis, The Sporting News reported. Although Simmons spent that day serving military reserve duty, he asked to be in the lineup that night, but manager Red Schoendienst decided to rest him.

Simmons established single-season career highs in 1973 for defensive chances (975), putouts (888) and plate appearances (690).

“There were days I felt terrible and I did wonderful, and days I felt wonderful and did terrible,” Simmons told Cardinals Magazine. “I realized fairly quickly there wasn’t any connection. Besides, it wasn’t going to do me any good to worry about it because I was going to play no matter if I felt good, bad or indifferent.”

Though playing the most demanding position on the field without hardly a rest, Simmons excelled on defense and offense.

He caught 50 runners attempting to steal in 1973. Only the Phillies’ Bob Boone, who threw out 54, had a higher total among National League catchers that year. Simmons ranked third in the league in percentage of runners caught attempting to steal (44 percent). Only Bench and Boone did better.

“He’s still not the smoothest catcher, but he gets the job done,” Torre said after the 1973 season. “He’s throwing better and catching better.”

Doing it all

Batting primarily in the cleanup position, Simmons led the 1973 Cardinals in batting average (.310), RBI (91), doubles (36), total bases (271) and slugging percentage (.438). He also tied with Torre for the team lead in home runs (13).

Impressively consistent, Simmons, a switch-hitter, hit .310 against right-handed pitching and .311 against left-handed pitching in 1973. “That was a great shot in the arm _ batting over .300 from both sides,” Simmons said. He struck out just 47 times in 619 at-bats.

“He doesn’t often look bad at the plate,” Cardinals coach Vern Benson said. “He’s so good at adjusting with one or two strikes.”

Rather than wane under the toll, Simmons grew more productive as the season progressed. After hitting .212 with no homers in April, Simmons batted .272 in May, .333 in June, .314 in July, .295 in August and a stunning .391 (43-for-110) in September when the Cardinals challenged the Mets for the division title.

In an interview with the Baseball Hall of Fame magazine, “Memories and Dreams,” McCarver, who had returned to the Cardinals in 1973 as a utility player, recalled, “That year, Ted Simmons hit more balls hard than anybody I’ve ever seen in the course of a season. Honestly, I felt he could have gotten 350 hits that year.”

Dal Maxvill said to Cardinals Magazine, “Ted has said he learned a lot about hitting from his teammates. By watching Matty Alou from the left side, he learned how to get his hands into a position that led to countless line drives to right field. (From) Joe Torre, Ted says he developed an approach to fight off inside fastballs from the right side.”

Will to win

On a hot, humid Labor Day at Pittsburgh on Sept. 3, 1973, Simmons caught all 22 innings of a doubleheader (the first game went 13 innings) and produced three hits in each game, helping the Cardinals split.

“This is the closest I’ve ever been to a division title,” Simmons said to the Associated Press, “and I’m at the point where I’m willing to sacrifice everything to get there.”

The next night, Simmons made what Schoendienst called the “play of the game” when he stretched for a relay throw from second baseman Ted Sizemore and tagged out Richie Zisk at the plate, preserving a 4-2 Cardinals victory that moved them two games ahead of the second-place Pirates. Boxscore

Simmons had a 19-game hitting streak from Aug. 19 through Sept. 8. He hit safely in 36 of the 1973 Cardinals’ last 39 games.

Asked how he was able to perform so well in the season’s final four weeks when it would have been natural to weaken, Simmons said, “It was the thought of the $25,000 (that went to the World Series winners) and the Series ring.”

Julio Gonzalez gave the Cardinals an Easter treat.

A reserve infielder, Gonzalez hit a ninth-inning triple, igniting a winning streak that put the Cardinals on the path to the 1982 National League pennant and World Series title.

After winning their season opener at Houston, beating Nolan Ryan, the Cardinals erased most of the good vibes from that victory by losing their next three.

On April 11, 1982, a chilly, gray Easter Sunday in St. Louis, the Cardinals were looking to get back on track against the Pirates.

The Cardinals led 5-1 after seven innings, but the Pirates scored four in the eighth to tie and a run in the ninth to take a 6-5 lead.

After reliever Enrique Romo retired the first two batters, George Hendrick and Darrell Porter, in the bottom of the ninth, it appeared the Cardinals would lose their fourth in a row.

When Manager Whitey Herzog sent Orlando Sanchez, a third-string catcher, to bat for center fielder David Green, it seemed more desperation than inspiration.

Sanchez, though, coaxed a walk.

That brought up Gonzalez, who had entered in the top of the ninth to play third base after Mike Ramsey was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the eighth.

With one unlikely swing, Gonzalez turned around the Cardinals’ season.

Swinging at a high slider, he tripled to left, scoring pinch-runner Gene Roof with the tying run. Then, he scored the game-winner when Dane Iorg followed an Ozzie Smith walk with a single to left, lifting the Cardinals to a 7-6 victory. Boxscore

“Gonzalez’s hit was our biggest of the season,” Iorg said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “It was something we needed badly.”

Inspired, the Cardinals rolled to a 12-game winning streak that put their record at 13-3. That early-season surge helped propel them to their first postseason appearance in 14 years.

Despite his Easter heroics, Gonzalez rarely played after that, but he did finish with a flourish.

On Oct. 3, 1982, in the Cardinals’ regular-season finale against the Cubs at Wrigley Field, Gonzalez entered in the third inning as a replacement for second baseman Tommy Herr. Gonzalez went 4-for-5 and led off the 14th inning with a home run, giving the Cardinals a 5-4 victory. Boxscore

It would be the last at-bat of his Cardinals career.

Gonzalez didn’t play in the 1982 postseason. He was released in December after batting .241 in 42 games for the 1982 Cardinals. The Tigers signed him and he played in 12 games for them in 1983, ending his big-league career after seven seasons.

(Updated Dec. 17, 2019)

Joe Girardi and Mike Matheny have much in common. Both attended Big Ten Conference schools (Northwestern for Girardi; Michigan for Matheny). Both were catchers who played in the World Series for franchises they later managed (Yankees for Girardi; Cardinals for Matheny). Both were teammates for one season, with the 2003 Cardinals.

On Dec. 17, 2002, Girardi, a free agent, signed with the Cardinals to be the backup to Matheny. Because of injuries, Girardi was limited to 16 games played for the Cardinals in 2003, the last of his 15 seasons as a big-league player.

Six months before joining the Cardinals, Girardi had helped them during one of their saddest days.

On June 22, 2002, before the Cardinals and Cubs were to play a Saturday afternoon game at a packed Wrigley Field, the teams learned St. Louis pitcher Darryl Kile had been found dead in his hotel room. After officials agreed to call off the game, it was decided Girardi, the Cubs’ catcher, should inform the crowd.

Displaying his leadership skills, Girardi stood on the field, faced the fans and informed them through the public-address system that a “tragedy in the Cardinals’ family” had occurred, that the game would not be played and the spectators should show respect and “pray for the Cardinals’ family.”

Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote, “Girardi’s statements helped turn what some club officials feared might be an unseemly response by a disappointed crowd into one of quiet sympathy.”

Helping to recruit Girardi to the Cardinals was first baseman Tino Martinez, who had played with Girardi for four seasons with the Yankees. “Tino told me St. Louis would be a great place to play,” Girardi said to the Associated Press.

Girardi, 38, acccepted a one-year, $750,000 contract from the Cardinals. Strauss wrote Girardi “is considered a solid complement to Matheny.” (The Cardinals also had catcher Eli Marrero, but planned to play him primarily in the outfield in 2003.)

At spring training, Girardi indicated he was picking up the vibe of a championship club.

“To me, this is very similar to the feel in New York,” said Girardi, who played for three World Series-winning Yankees clubs (1996, 1998 and 1999). “They (the Cardinals) expect to win. Anything short of a World Series is considered a failure. Guys were here early before they had to report, working out. It’s just a good group and you can see that.”

Girardi was hitting .375 in 27 at-bats for St. Louis in 2003 spring training games, but after a March 20 exhibition against the Orioles he complained of pain in his side and stiffness in his neck. Medical tests showed he had an enlarged disc. The Post-Dispatch reported he would miss four to six weeks of the regular season “after undergoing a procedure to alleviate potentially career-ending pressure on his spine caused by a herniated disc.”

Wrote Strauss: “When Girardi left camp with his family, those he left behind were unsure when, or if, he would return to uniform.”

The Cardinals signed Chris Widger, who had been released by the Yankees, to replace Girardi. After missing the first 61 games of the season, Girardi was activated June 10, 2003. He made his Cardinals debut June 11 at Fenway Park and went 0-for-4 against Pedro Martinez and John Burkett. Boxscore

Three days later, at Yankee Stadium, Girardi got his first Cardinals hit, a single off rookie Jason Anderson. Boxscore

On July 1, 2003, Girardi returned to the disabled list, suffering back spasms unrelated to his disc problem. He wasn’t activated by the Cardinals until two months later. “It hasn’t been the season I had in mind,” Girardi said. “I was really looking forward to contributing to a championship team.”

On Sept. 28 at Phoenix, in the Cardinals’ last game of the 2003 season, Girardi came to bat for the final time as a big-league player. He led off the ninth inning with a single against Edgar Gonzalez. It was Girardi’s 1,100th hit in the majors. (Girardi batted .130, 3-for-23, for the 2003 Cardinals.)

Unable to overome injuries to players such as outfielder J.D. Drew, pitchers Matt Morris and Jason Isringhausen, second baseman Fernando Vina and Girardi, the 2003 Cardinals finished third in the National League Central, five games behind the first-place Cubs. “This team doesn’t need heart,” Girardi said to Dan O’Neill of the Post-Dispatch. “It needs health.”

Girardi sat out the 2004 season. The Cardinals, with Matheny and rookie Yadier Molina catching, won the pennant for the first time in 17 years and went to the 2004 World Series.

In 2005, Girardi became a coach for Yankees manager Joe Torre and the next year he became manager of the Marlins. In 2008, Girardi replaced Torre as Yankees manager. The next year, Girardi managed the Yankees to the 2009 World Series championship.

Girardi was Yankees manager for 10 seasons until he was fired on Oct. 26, 2017.

After the 2019 season, Girardi was hired to manage the Phillies in 2020 and Matheny, fired by the Cardinals in July 2018, was hired to manage the Royals.