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Cardinals gambled, lost with Ray Busse at shortstop

March 5, 2013 by retrosimba

(Updated Nov. 27, 2018)

In 1973, the Cardinals lost a gamble when they selected Ray Busse as their starting shortstop.

ray_busseBusse was a top prospect in the Astros system when he hit .271 with 13 home runs in 92 games for Class AAA Oklahoma City in 1971. Bob Kennedy, the Cardinals’ director of player development, rated Busse the best shortstop in the minor leagues that year, The Sporting News reported.

Misfortune struck in 1972. Busse’s father committed suicide. Busse suffered a shoulder injury. Limited to 70 games, Busse hit .207 and committed 27 errors for Oklahoma City in 1972.

Cardinals general manager Bing Devine went to baseball’s winter meetings in November 1972 determined to find  “a shortstop with some sting in his bat,” The Sporting News reported. The Cardinals were seeking a replacement for Dal Maxvill, who they traded to the Athletics in August 1972.

Harry Walker, who joined the Cardinals as a hitting instructor after managing the Astros, recommended Busse. So did Kennedy.

On Nov. 28, 1972, the Cardinals dealt catcher Skip Jutze and infielder Milt Ramirez to the Astros for Busse and infielder Bobby Fenwick.

“Walker considers Busse a good gamble because of his age (24) and his batting potential,” Devine told The Sporting News.

Said Kennedy: “He (Busse) has a fine arm, good range and could become a good hitter.”

Busse went to spring training in competition with Mick Kelleher, Mike Tyson, Dwain Anderson and Ed Crosby for the starting shortstop position and “quickly took charge of the shortstop sweepstakes,” The Sporting News reported.

In his first spring training at-bat for the Cardinals, Busse singled in a run. Soon after, he hit a three-run home run against the Mets’ Ray Sadecki. Busse completed spring training as the Cardinals’ leader in RBI (11) and hit .254.

Though he ended spring training in an 0-for-18 slump, the Cardinals named him their starting shortstop. “He’s done a real fine job,” Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst told Larry Harnly of The State Journal-Register of Springfield, Ill. “He’s done everything expected of him … If you make a mistake on Busse, he’ll hit that ball.”

The Cardinals opened the 1973 regular season on April 6 at Pittsburgh with an all-rookie left side of the infield (Ken Reitz was at third base).

It was a disaster for Busse from the beginning.

Busse made an error on the first ball hit to him _ a grounder by Pirates leadoff batter Rennie Stennett in the first inning. Busse went 1-for-4, made two errors and the Pirates won, 7-5. Boxscore

The Cardinals lost 20 of their first 25 games. Busse took much of the blame.

On May 14, 1973, fans booed Busse and Reitz throughout a 10-5 Phillies victory at St. Louis. The loss dropped the Cardinals’ record to 8-23. Busse was batting .143 with 21 strikeouts in 24 games and he had committed 11 errors. Boxscore

After the game, Reitz shrugged off the boos when approached by reporters. Busse responded to the booing by saying, “Often I wonder what we come to the ballpark for. When you’re down, it’s pretty easy for somebody to get down on you, but that’s when you need them (the fans) the most.”

Busse never appeared in another game for the Cardinals. Schoendienst named Tyson the starting shortstop. Busse remained on the bench until the Cardinals traded him back to the Astros for infielder Stan Papi on June 8, 1973.

Asked by The Sporting News whether he had been given a fair shot by the Cardinals, Busse replied, “No, but that’s nobody’s fault but my own.”

Astros manager Leo Durocher said, “We’re tickled to get him back.”

Busse never recovered. He hit .059 in 15 games for the Astros in 1973 and .206 in 19 games for them in 1974, his last season in the major leagues.

 

Posted in Games, Hitters, Trades | 4 Comments »

Why the Cardinals chose Cairo, Ill., for spring training

March 2, 2013 by retrosimba

In 1943, the defending World Series champion Cardinals shifted their spring training site from Florida to Illinois. Compared with where other big-league clubs had to go, the Cardinals considered themselves fortunate.

billy_southworth2With the United States pouring resources into its fight against Germany and Japan in World War II, big-league baseball offered to help conserve by placing travel restrictions on where clubs could train in the spring.

Clubs were ordered to choose sites north of the Potomac and Ohio rivers and east of the Mississippi River.

The Browns of the American League selected Cape Girardeau, Mo., located 135 miles south of St. Louis. (Because Cape Girardeau is on the west bank of the Mississippi, the Browns technically were in violation of the rules, but baseball officials allowed it.)

The Cardinals picked Cairo, Ill., the southernmost spring training site of all 16 major league clubs. Cairo, then a town of 14,000, is located where the Ohio River flows into the Mississippi. It is 40 miles south of Cape Girardeau.

“We’re going farther south than any other big-league training outfit,” Cardinals owner Sam Breadon said to The Sporting News. “We’ll be only a short distance from Tennessee and the weather down there is always from 12 to 15 degrees warmer than it is in St. Louis.”

Here is where the big-league teams trained in 1943:

NATIONAL LEAGUE

CLUB……………1943 TRAINING SITE……………1942 TRAINING SITE

Braves…………..Wallingford, Conn……………………..Sanford, Fla.

Cardinals……….Cairo, Ill……………………………………St. Petersburg, Fla.

Cubs………………French Lick, Ind……………………….Catalina Island, Calif.

Dodgers…………Bear Mountain, N.Y…………………..Havana, Cuba

Giants……………Lakewood, N.J………………………….Miami, Fla.

Phillies…………..Swarthmore, Pa……………………….Miami Beach, Fla.

Pirates……………Muncie, Ind…………………………….San Bernardino, Calif.

Reds………………Bloomington, Ind…………………….Tampa, Fla.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

CLUB……………1943 TRAINING SITE……………1942 TRAINING SITE

Athletics…………Wilmington, Del………………………..Anaheim, Calif.

Browns…………..Cape Girardeau, Mo…………………..DeLand, Fla.

Indians…………..West Lafayette, Ind……………………Clearwater, Fla.

Red Sox………….Medford, Mass………………………….Sarasota, Fla.

Senators…………College Park, Md………………………Orlando, Fla.

Tigers……………..Evansville, Ind…………………………Lakeland, Fla.

White Sox………..French Lick, Ind………………………Pasadena, Calif.

Yankees……………Asbury Park, N.J…………………….St. Petersburg, Fla.

The Cardinals didn’t report to Cairo, Ill., until mid-March, at least two weeks later than they usually went to St. Petersburg. They trained outdoors on a large field and indoors in a high school gym.

According to The Sporting News, the field drained well, “usable the day after a heavy rainfall,” and the gym was like “a steam room” because the Cardinals kept the temperature above 80.

Cardinals manager Billy Southworth projected a positive attitude, telling The Sporting News after the first week of workouts, “Let us have three days outdoors out of every five and we’ll be in thoroughly satisfactory condition for the pennant race. And let us have warm weather through most of the last two weeks and we’ll be in as good condition as we could attain anywhere in the country.”

The Cardinals’ Cairo spring didn’t hurt. They repeated as National League champions in 1943. They trained again in Cairo in 1944 and 1945 (winning a World Series title in 1944) before returning to St. Petersburg in 1946.

Previously: How Mort Cooper pitched 2 straight 1-hitters for Cardinals

Posted in Executives, Managers | Tagged , | 9 Comments »

Cards find Jupiter fine fit as St. Petersburg replacement

February 27, 2013 by retrosimba

Today, Jupiter, Fla., is as familiar as a spring training home to the Cardinals and their fans as the bird on bat is as a logo. In 1998, though, when the Cardinals left St. Petersburg for Jupiter, it was like landing on another planet.

mark_mcgwire2The Cardinals had trained in St. Petersburg, on Florida’s serene west coast, from 1938 through 1997 (with the exception of three years when travel was restricted during World War II).

Jupiter is on Florida’s east coast, in glitzy and congested Palm Beach County.

The move 200 miles southeast was prompted by several factors, including the chance to train in larger and more modern facilities and because the American League expansion team, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, arrived in 1998 and made St. Petersburg their base.

Sharing the Jupiter complex with the Cardinals in 1998 were the Montreal Expos. Today, the Miami Marlins are the Cardinals’ spring-training neighbors.

Bob Broeg, longtime St. Louis baseball reporter, wrote in the February 1998 St. Louis Post-Dispatch he was looking forward to seeing the Cardinals’ new spring training site, “although it’s sad to see them leaving St. Petersburg, the ballclub’s home since Pepper Martin slid down a hotel’s emergency rope fire escape.”

Broeg described the scene at St. Petersburg in 1946, when players returned in droves from military service in World War II, and a pair of glamour teams, the Cardinals and Yankees, trained there:

“This was the last year of rickety old Waterfront Park in St. Pete.

“The memories of many of that spring … included a favorite watering trough – the crowded Sundown Club of lightly publicized St. Petersburg Beach. The beach would have superstars Joe DiMaggio and Stan Musial having a drink, back to back.

“As Red Schoendienst recalls, if a young ballplayer or young reporter would have had $2,500 to spend then, he could have acquired enough sand dune-seaweed waterfront real estate to make a small fortune.”

Schoendienst’s first spring in St. Petersburg was in the 1940s.

“I’ll miss St. Pete,” Schoendienst said to Mike Eisenbath of the Post-Dispatch in February 1998. “When we left St. Louis every year to go there, it was like going from your home to another home.”

Said Cardinals instructor George Kissell, who resided year-round in St. Petersburg: “It’s like being evicted from home. I’ve lived in St. Pete for 42 years, and for 42 years everybody came to me. But it made sense to move. This (Jupiter) will be a great place. You can’t judge it today. Wait until a year from today.”

Cardinals broadcaster Mike Shannon, who enjoyed St. Petersburg, quickly became a Jupiter booster because of the quality of the baseball facilities.

“St. Pete is a great city and has fantastic memories for the Cardinals,” Shannon said to the Post-Dispatch. “But comparing the facilities in St. Petersburg to the ones here, it was like having a minor-league outfit for a major-league team there. This is the big leagues here.”

In a preview of spring training 1998, Dan O’Neill of the Post-Dispatch wrote:

“For a number of Cardinals fans, the spring migration to the soft breezes and lazy life of St. Petersburg, Fla., was a given – like barbecuing in the summer and tree-shopping in December.

“In Palm Beach County, life, as well as traffic, moves more briskly.”

Adding to the excitement of the Cardinals’ first spring at Jupiter was the arrival of slugging first baseman Mark McGwire. He had been acquired by St. Louis in July 1997. He arrived early for his initial spring training at Jupiter.

“I love it,” McGwire said to Rick Hummel of the Post-Dispatch.

Said manager Tony La Russa: “When key guys get there early, it sends the right message.”

McGwire went on to hit a record 70 home runs that season.

The Cardinals won two World Series titles (2006 and 2011) since they started training at Jupiter. Playing at 6,800-seat Roger Dean Stadium, they had spring training game attendance averages in the years after those championships of 6,600 in 2007 and 6,700 in 2012, according to the Palm Beach Post.

Posted in Games | 3 Comments »

Gregg Jefferies deal was good gamble for Cardinals

February 15, 2013 by retrosimba

Cardinals general manager Dal Maxvill dealt for Gregg Jefferies, believing the error-prone third baseman could transform into a first baseman and provide consistent hitting.

gregg_jefferies2On Feb. 22, 1993, the Cardinals acquired Jefferies and outfielder Ed Gerald from the Royals for outfielder Felix Jose and infielder Craig Wilson.

Jefferies, who made 26 errors at third base for the 1992 Royals and never played first base in the major leagues, was tabbed to replace departed free agent Andres Galarraga.

Seeking contact

The deal was made because the Cardinals were looking to cut down on the number of runners stranded in scoring position. Jose, who usually batted third or fourth, too often stranded a runner at third base with less than two outs because of his inability to make contact consistently. “That killed us more than anything last year,” Cardinals manager Joe Torre said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Jefferies struck out a mere 29 times in 604 at-bats for the 1992 Royals and said he took pride in driving in runners from third by making contact.

“Having somebody with thunder in the lineup is going to help,” said Cardinals pitcher Bob Tewksbury. “It’s not thunder like Jack Clark, but (Jefferies) is going to hit the ball hard a lot.”

Said Torre: “Jefferies is a legitimate good hitter. Felix probably scared people more, but he would swing and miss too often.”

Jefferies never balked at learning to play first base and said, “I take as much pride in my defense as I do in my offense … It will be nice taking throws from (shortstop) Ozzie Smith. I can get used to that.”

Though Jefferies was 5 feet 10, short by most first baseman standards, Maxvill noted Steve Garvey, an all-star first baseman with the Dodgers and Padres, was the same height. “I don’t think that’s a factor,” Maxvill told the New York Times. “Most throws from infielders are in the dirt rather than high.”

Maxvill and Royals general manager Herk Robinson discussed a Jefferies-for-Jose deal at the 1992 winter meetings, but it wasn’t until Maxvill agreed to include Wilson that the deal was made shortly before the start of spring training.

“We feel he’s a more consistent and more disciplined hitter (than Jose),” Maxvill said of Jefferies. “… We think he can win a batting championship.”

Big numbers

The move paid off spectacularly.

Jefferies, 26, had a career year for the 1993 Cardinals, hitting .342 with 16 home runs, 83 RBI and 46 stolen bases. He committed only nine errors.

Jefferies placed third in the 1993 National League batting race, behind the Rockies’ Galarraga (.370) and the Padres’ Tony Gwynn (.358). Jefferies struck out 32 times in 612 plate appearances.

After hitting .325 for the Cardinals in strike-shortened 1994, Jefferies became a free agent and signed with the Phillies. In two years with the Cardinals, Jefferies had a .335 batting average and a .401 on-base percentage.

Posted in Hitters, Trades | 6 Comments »

Cardinals debut helped ease doubts about Chris Carpenter

February 8, 2013 by retrosimba

(Updated Oct. 26, 2024)

To appreciate how far pitcher Chris Carpenter had to come to develop into an ace, it’s helpful to go back to the beginning of his Cardinals career.

chris_carpenter9As Carpenter prepared for his first regular-season start with the Cardinals in 2004, there were genuine doubts about whether he could be an effective member of the rotation. Carpenter hadn’t pitched in a regular-season big-league game in 18 months and he had endured two shoulder surgeries since then.

In 2004, Carpenter began to show he was recovered from his shoulder ailments when he started the Cardinals’ fifth game of the season, April 9, at Phoenix, against the Diamondbacks.

Carpenter had made his previous regular-season start on Aug. 13, 2002, for the Blue Jays, against the Athletics. After signing with the Cardinals in December 2002, Carpenter didn’t pitch in the big leagues in 2003.

He got cuffed around in spring training games in 2004. Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote: “Carpenter confronted bouts of doubt late in spring training. He experimented with pitching from the opposite corner of the rubber, began leaving pitches up and was hit hard in his final two Grapefruit League appearances. The almost-daily winter workouts with teammate Matt Morris couldn’t eliminate the apprehension of appearing in a (regular-season) game for the first time in nearly 20 months.”

Step forward

Carpenter arranged for his wife, children and in-laws to travel from New Hampshire to Arizona to witness his Cardinals’ regular-season debut, according to the Post-Dispatch.

It began ominously. When Steve Finley and Roberto Alomar each singled and Luis Gonzalez followed with a double, Carpenter had yielded a run before recording an out. Arizona scored three in the first.

Fortunately for Carpenter, Cardinals batters teed off against Diamondbacks starter Casey Daigle, making his major-league debut.

After the Cardinals built a 4-3 lead in the second, Carpenter, with Mike Matheny catching, retired 12 of the next 15 batters. Meanwhile, the Cardinals hit five home runs _ two by Reggie Sanders and one each by Albert Pujols, Ray Lankford and Scott Rolen _ in the first three innings against Daigle.

When Carpenter departed after six innings, the Cardinals led, 9-5. They went on to a 13-6 victory. Carpenter earned the win, his first since July 24, 2002, against the Orioles, and the first by a Cardinals starter in 2004. Boxscore

Carpenter’s fastball reached 92 mph, a sign his shoulder was solid. He credited team orthopedic surgeon Dr. George Paletta and his staff and trainers Barry Weinberg and Mark O’Neal for his recovery.

“Physically, I felt great,” Carpenter told the Post-Dispatch. “I knew my stuff was there … Now I can tell myself no matter how hard I throw, or what I did, if I make quality pitches I’ll get hitters out at this level.”

Good guidance

Carpenter had an inconsistent April. In his second start, an 11-1 Astros victory over the Cardinals, he gave up a three-run home run to Lance Berkman. After five starts, Carpenter was 2-1 with a 5.28 ERA.

Pitching coach Dave Duncan helped find a key to turning Carpenter into a consistent winner. Rick Hummel of the Post-Dispatch reported Duncan “has been working with Carpenter on getting on top in his delivery by shortening his stride and consequently keeping the ball down more.”

Years later, Carpenter told Stan McNeal of Cardinals Magazine, “Duncan really understood how to get the best out of each pitcher he worked with. For me, that required a major change in the stuff I threw. Before I got to St. Louis, I relied on a four-seam fastball, sinker, curveball and a little on a changeup. In my first meeting with Duncan, he made it clear that would not be the mix moving forward.

“It wasn’t like he told me to never throw my four-seamer, but he wanted me to focus on my sinker. The other big thing: he wanted me to establish my cutter more. It was about keeping the ball down.”

Carpenter finished the season 15-5 with a 3.46 ERA and helped the Cardinals win their first National League pennant in 17 years.

In nine seasons with St. Louis, Carpenter had a regular-season record of 95-44 and a postseason mark of 10-4, including 3-0 in World Series games.

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Fred Whitfield was a phenom with 1962 Cardinals

February 6, 2013 by retrosimba

As a Cardinals rookie in 1962, first baseman Fred Whitfield was one of the best power-hitting prospects the franchise had produced in years.

fred_whitfield“He has a quicker bat than anyone on the Cardinals and he can reach the roof at Busch Stadium,” coach Vern Benson told The Sporting News.

Said Phillies manager Gene Mauch after watching Whitfield pound Philadelphia pitching: “Fred Whitfield is the greatest hitter I’ve ever seen _ for the number of times I’ve seen him bat against us.”

The Sporting News hailed Whitfield as the Cardinals’ “biggest surprise of 1962” and Whitfield was selected by big-league managers, coaches and players as the first baseman on the 1962 Topps all-star rookie team.

Signed by Cardinals scout Mercer Harris, Whitfield was a standout in the minor leagues. He hit .309 with 23 home runs for Keokuk in 1958; .285 with 28 homers for Winston-Salem and Tulsa in 1959; .310 with 22 homers for Tulsa in 1960; and .301 with 18 homers for Charleston in 1961.

Whitfield, 24, went to the big-league spring training camp in 1962, but was sent to the Cardinals’ farm club in Atlanta before the season began. Atlanta manager Joe Schultz said Whitfield “could hit 30 home runs in our park.”

He was batting .323 and leading the International League in home runs (eight) and RBI (28) when he was promoted to the Cardinals on May 26, 1962.

The Cardinals were seeking a right-handed batter to replace injured outfielder Minnie Minoso. Because of a weak throwing arm after he hurt his shoulder as an American Legion pitcher, Whitfield only could play first base. Unlike Minoso, he batted left-handed.

According to The Sporting News, it was Cardinals business manager Art Routzong who convinced general manager Bing Devine and manager Johnny Keane to promote Whitfield.

Routzong asked, “Why not bring up the best hitter in our farm system, Fred Whitfield?”

Replied Keane: “Maybe you’ve got something there.”

In his first five pinch-hit appearances for the Cardinals, Whitfield produced three hits and a walk.

On June 10, 1962, in the second game of a doubleheader at St. Louis against the Giants, Cardinals first baseman Bill White pulled a thigh muscle and Whitfield replaced him. In the sixth inning, Billy Pierce twice brushed back Whitfield. On the next pitch, Whitfield hit a three-run home run. “The ball disappeared over the roof in right-center and sailed across Grand Boulevard,” The Sporting News reported. Boxscore

Whitfield went on a tear, with 10 RBI in four games. On June 12, 1962, his two-run homer in the eighth inning off Paul Brown erased a one-run deficit and lifted the Cardinals to a 3-2 victory over the Phillies. Boxscore

“In the five years I’ve been with the Cardinals,” said Routzong, “we have never brought up anyone who has come through with so many clutch hits in so few opportunities as Whitfield.”

Among Whitfield’s other big hits for St. Louis:

_ A three-run pinch-hit home run against the Braves’ Claude Raymond on July 3, 1962. Boxscore

_ A 10th-inning pinch-hit home run off Pirates closer Roy Face on July 15, 1962. Boxscore

_ A pinch-hit three-run home run against Jay Hook of the Mets on July 28, 1962. Boxscore

_ A grand slam off Phillies left-hander Bill Smith on Aug. 12, 1962. Boxscore

Whitfield finished the 1962 season with a .266 batting average, eight home runs and 34 RBI in 158 at-bats for the Cardinals. He hit .333 as a pinch-hitter and .412 with two outs and runners in scoring position. He was especially effective versus the Phillies, batting .313 with 13 RBI in 12 games.

“Fred did an exceptionally good job, especially as a pinch-hitter and part-time player, jobs usually handled by older, experienced men,” Devine said.

However, Whitfield became expendable because White, who batted left-handed, was entrenched at first base, and the Cardinals needed pitching.

On Dec. 15, 1962, the Cardinals dealt Whitfield to the Indians for pitcher Ron Taylor and infielder Jack Kubiszyn.

“If eyebrows were raised over the price Devine had to pay … it was understandable,” The Sporting News reported. “The Cardinals had not come up with a genuine longball threat for years until Fred Whitfield exploded on the scene early last summer.”

Whitfield hit 20 or more home runs three times for the Indians (21 in 1963, 26 in 1965 and 27 in 1966). In a nine-year major-league career (1962-70), he played for the Cardinals, Indians, Reds and Expos, batting .253 with 108 home runs.

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