RetroSimba

Michigan mentor: Bill Freehan prepared Mike Matheny

June 19, 2012 by retrosimba

When Mike Matheny played baseball for the University of Michigan, his coach the final two seasons was Bill Freehan, who had been an all-star catcher for the Detroit Tigers.

Freehan foresaw Matheny as a big-league ballplayer and manager. He mentored Matheny with those goals in mind and instilled confidence in the college catcher.

“It was very interesting that he saw that,” Matheny told Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com in February 2012. “It wasn’t just some random guy. It was a guy with great credibility.”

Freehan, an 11-time American League all-star and five-time Gold Glove Award winner who played 15 years (1961-76) for the Tigers, encouraged Matheny to take Spanish courses so he could communicate fully with Hispanic players.

“He (Freehan) called me into his office one day and said, ‘If you’re going to be in this game for a long time, even after your playing days, you need to change all your electives to learning Spanish,’ ” Matheny said to Chris Girandola of MLB.com.

Matheny earned his degree in sports management and communication, with a minor in Spanish. He managed the Cardinals from 2012-2018 and led them to a National League pennant in 2013.

A native of the Columbus suburb of Reynoldsburg, Ohio, Matheny was recruited to Michigan by baseball coach Bud Middaugh. After the 1989 season, Matheny’s first with the Michigan varsity, Middaugh resigned amid allegations he had diverted money to baseball players from the sale of football game programs.

Michigan athletic director Bo Schembechler turned to Freehan, who had been an all-America catcher at Michigan in 1961.

In six seasons (1990-95), Freehan coached Michigan to a 166-167-1 record, including 76-89 in the Big Ten. In 1991, Freehan named Matheny co-captain. A three-year letter winner (1989-91) and academic all-Big Ten (1990), Matheny was named Michigan’s most valuable player in 1991. He also met his wife, Kristin, a varsity field hockey player for Michigan.

Matheny was selected by the Brewers in the eighth round of the 1991 major league draft, extending a tradition of Michigan baseball players who became professionals. Like Matheny, other Michigan standouts who would play for the Cardinals included infielders Dave Campbell, Chris Sabo and Ted Sizemore, and pitcher Lary Sorensen. Branch Rickey, who was Michigan’s baseball coach from 1910-13 while earning a law degree from the school, became manager and chief baseball executive of the Cardinals.

(Ted Simmons is a Michigan graduate. The physical education and speech major earned his degree in 1996, 29 years after enrolling. Simmons, a catcher, never played for Michigan’s baseball program. Instead, he signed with the Cardinals after graduating from high school in 1967.)

Matheny would go on to win four Gold Glove awards (with the Cardinals in 2000, 2003 and 2004, and with the 2005 Giants) and help St. Louis to four postseason appearances and a National League pennant.

Freehan won his Gold Glove awards in consecutive years (1965-69).

Previously: Bill Freehan, Lou Brock and a World Series controversy

Previously: Should Curt Flood have caught Jim Northrup’s drive?

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How Jack Buck became broadcaster for Cardinals

June 17, 2012 by retrosimba

In February 1954, Jack Buck was hired to join Harry Caray on the Cardinals broadcast team.

Caray was entering his 10th season as play-by-play voice of the Cardinals when Buck was chosen to join him after calling minor-league games for Rochester in 1953. Buck replaced former catcher Gus Mancuso as Caray’s broadcast partner.

Buck had been given a tryout in 1953, broadcasting a Cardinals-Giants regular-season game from New York. In his book, “That’s a Winner,” Buck said, “What stood out to me that day was how helpful some people were, like the Giants’ announcer, Russ Hodges. He gave me all the information I needed and offered a lot of encouragement.”

In April 1954, two months after Buck got the offer to join Caray on the broadcast team, Milo Hamilton, who had done television work in the St. Louis area for WTVI of Belleville, Ill., was hired “to handle commercials and color on road broadcasts,” meaning Buck’s work in the booth initially was limited to home games.

“(Hamilton) and I split time on the air,” Buck said. “Milo went on the road with Caray for the first half of the season. I did the scoring updates and commercials from the studio. We switched at the all-star break, and I went on the road, but didn’t have a lot to do because the broadcasts definitely were Harry’s. I did a couple of innings a game, and that was it.”

Caray didn’t get along with Buck and Hamilton. “It didn’t take me long to realize that Harry and I not only had different styles of announcing, we had different personalities and lifestyles,” Buck said. “Our relationship got off badly because he didn’t want me to get the job in the first place. He wanted the Cardinals to hire Chick Hearn, who at the time was a broadcaster in Peoria, Illinois (and eventually would become the voice of the NBA Lakers.)

“Harry didn’t get along with Milo any better than he got along with me at the time,” Buck said, “and we knew he wanted to get somebody else on the broadcast with whom he was more friendly. The man he wanted _ and got _ was Joe Garagiola.” (Hamilton was fired after the 1954 season and replaced by Garagiola.)

All three members of the Cardinals’ 1954 broadcast team would receive the Ford C. Frick Award from the National Baseball Hall of Fame for their career achievements. (Buck won the award in 1987; Caray in 1989; and Hamilton, 1992.)

Buck’s first regular-season Cardinals broadcast as an official member of the team was the 1954 season opener on April 13 at St. Louis. The Cubs beat the Cardinals, 13-4, behind the hitting of Clyde McCullough (4-for-5, two RBI) and Randy Jackson (three RBI). Paul Minner earned a complete-game win for Chicago. Among the Cardinals’ few highlights were solo home runs by Wally Moon and Stan Musial. Boxscore

“The most memorable event of my first season in St. Louis came on a Sunday afternoon, May 2, 1954, in a rain-delayed doubleheader against the Giants,” said Buck. “Stan Musial hit five home runs, three in the first game, two in the second, and might have had another with the longest ball he hit all day, but it was to straightaway center and was caught by Willie Mays. Caray was on the air for all five homers, and it was just as well. It used to bother him when he wasn’t on the air when something really big happened.” Game 1 and Game 2

Posted in Broadcasters, Games, Pitchers | 4 Comments »

Cardinals were Royals’ first opponent in Kansas City

June 15, 2012 by retrosimba

The Cardinals have been a part of the Royals’ history ever since Kansas City entered the American League as an expansion franchise in 1969.

The Cardinals were the opponent for the Royals’ first game at Kansas City, an exhibition on Saturday, April 5, on the weekend before the opening of the 1969 regular season.

St. Louis won, 1-0, behind the pitching of Mike Torrez and Dave Giusti. Torrez, a native of Topeka, Kan., held Kansas City to three singles in five innings and scored the lone run. Left fielder Lou Brock drove in Torrez with a triple to right-center off Roger Nelson after Torrez had doubled into right field with two outs in the third.

Giusti, one of the Cardinals’ key off-season acquisitions, limited the Royals to a hit over the last four innings. In addition to Nelson, who went five innings, the Royals also pitched Bill Butler and Dave Wickersham.

Stan Musial, who would be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame that summer, delivered the ceremonial first pitch for the second and last game of the exhibition series the following day, Easter Sunday, April 6. St. Louis won, 6-5.

“If the Cardinals don’t clinch the pennant by July, there ought to be an investigation,” Royals coach Charlie Metro said to The Sporting News.

After winning National League pennants in 1967 and 1968, plus the 1967 World Series championship, the Cardinals were considered favorites to at least finish atop the NL East in 1969, the first year Major League Baseball split the two leagues into two divisions each. In addition to adding Giusti, a former Astro, St. Louis had acquired Vada Pinson from the Reds to replace Roger Maris in right field and Joe Torre from the Braves to replace Orlando Cepeda at first base.

“As much as everyone liked Roger Maris and appreciated what he did for us, I think Vada will help us more,” Cardinals reliever Ron Willis said.

Pinson hit .449 in spring training for St. Louis. Third baseman Mike Shannon batted .371 with 17 RBI in the spring exhibition season.

“Mike looks 50 percent better, at bat and at third base,” said St. Louis hitting coach Dick Sisler.

Said Cardinals infielder Phil Gagliano: “Those first three hitters (Brock, Curt Flood and Pinson) are tough. Moon (Shannon) will drive in 100 runs _ if Torre doesn’t get ’em first.”

After winning the two exhibition games at Kansas City, the Cardinals went to St. Louis to open the regular season with three games against the Pirates. “It’ll take a lot of luck to stop the Cardinals,” Pirates manager Larry Shepard said to the Associated Press. “They’re far and away the best club. This is the best team they’ve had in three years.”

Only Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst expressed caution. Asked whether the Cubs were the Cardinals’ top threat, Schoendienst said, “The Cubs and the Mets. The Mets have had great pitching the last couple of years and now some of their young guys at the other positions are coming through. They’re not making so many mistakes as they used to.”

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, Schoendienst was right and everyone else was wrong. The Pirates swept the opening series against the Cardinals. Pinson didn’t live up to expectations, batting .255 in 1969 and posting a weak on-base percentage of .303. Shannon fell far short of 100 RBI, with 55. The Cardinals finished in fourth place in the six-team NL East, a game behind the third-place Pirates.

The Mets, dubbed a miracle team by most, developed just as Schoendienst had feared, winning the division and league titles and defeating the Orioles in the World Series.

The Royals? The expansion club finished as high in the standings as the Cardinals _ fourth in the six-team American League West.

Posted in Games, Opponents | 2 Comments »

Carlos Beltran challenged 78-year-old Cardinals record

June 13, 2012 by retrosimba

(Updated Nov. 13, 2017)

Carlos Beltran had a chance in 2012 to break one of the longest-lasting records in Cardinals history.

Beltran was a threat to top the Cardinals’ single-season record for home runs by a switch-hitter, a mark established by Rip Collins, with 35, for the 1934 World Series championship team.

Beltran finished the 2012 season with 32 home runs, three shy of tying Collins’ mark.

Cardinal with clout

James “Rip” Collins, a 5-foot-9 first baseman, played for the Cardinals from 1931-36 before being traded to the Cubs. He hit better than .300 in four of his nine big-league seasons and played in three World Series (for the Cardinals in 1931 and 1934 and for the Cubs in 1938.)

Collins was the first switch-hitter to top the 30-homer mark in the big leagues. His 35 home runs in 1934 tied him with Mel Ott of the Giants for the National League lead. Collins remains the only Cardinals switch-hitter to lead the NL in homers in a season.

After Collins, no other NL switch-hitter achieved a 30-homer season until the Dodgers’ Reggie Smith hit 32 in 1977. It took 53 years for a NL switch-hitter to break Collins’ league record of 35 homers in a season. Howard Johnson of the Mets did it with 36 homers in 1987. (Johnson also hit 36 in 1989 and 38 in 1991 for the Mets.)

The home run barrage was part of a career year for Collins in 1934. His 128 RBI were second in the NL to Ott’s 135. His .333 batting average tied for fourth in the NL. Collins led the league in both slugging percentage (.615) and total bases (369.) He collected 200 hits, including 40 doubles and 12 triples.

Collins was described by Bob Broeg of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch as a “choked-grip longball batter (who) hit for more distance left-handed but he stroked the ball better and for higher average right-handed.”

Batting left-handed, Collins hit 30 of his 35 homers in 1934 against right-handers.

One of three starters on the 1934 Cardinals who switch-hit (second baseman Frank Frisch and right fielder Jack Rothrock were the others,) Collins primarily batted fifth in the order (behind cleanup batter and left fielder Joe Medwick.)

Included in his top performances that year:

_ On June 2, 1934, in the first game of a doubleheader at Pittsburgh, Collins had a triple, two home runs and seven RBI in the Cardinals’ 13-4 victory over the Pirates. Boxscore

_ Collins went 5-for-5 against the Giants on July 23, 1934, in the Cardinals’ 6-5 victory at New York. Boxscore

_ In the 1934 World Series, Collins hit .367 (11-for-30) in helping the Cardinals defeat the Tigers in seven games.

Merry prankster

Clever, with a devilish sense of humor, Collins fit in well with the Gashouse Gang Cardinals of the 1930s. A 1975 article in Baseball Digest detailed one incident:

“A carefree refugee from the Pennsylvania coal mines, Rip Collins was reportedly the instigator of one unforgettable prank pulled off by the Cardinals at a hotel in Philadelphia where the club stayed.

“The Ripper had noticed ladders, paint buckets, white overalls and other paraphernalia of painters in a corner of the service area of the hotel. He rounded up Dizzy Dean, Heinie Schuble and Billy DeLancey. They donned the overalls, took the equipment into a busy dining room and began painting the walls and ceiling, splattering paint on the customers, shouting instructions to one another ala the Marx brothers and promoting general chaos.

“It took all of general manager Branch Rickey’s persuasive powers to prevent the hotel management from evicting the entire ballclub immediately.”

Collins said, “It was great until the cops showed up.”

Posted in Hitters, Records | 2 Comments »

As player, Robin Ventura was tough on Cardinals

June 11, 2012 by retrosimba

(Updated Dec. 15, 2018)

Robin Ventura had a record of delivering knockout blows against the Cardinals.

In a 16-year playing career (1989-2004) as a third baseman for the White Sox, Mets, Yankees and Dodgers, Ventura hit .250 versus the Cardinals, with five home runs and 19 RBI.

Two of his most devastating hits came on June 10, 1998, at Chicago. The Cardinals had built a 7-0 lead through five innings and were ahead of the White Sox, 8-4, entering the bottom of the ninth.

Curtis King retired the first two batters of the inning and needed one out to seal a Cardinals win, but Mike Caruso got an infield hit, Frank Thomas walked and Albert Belle slugged a three-run home run, making the score 8-7. Ventura followed with a home run, tying the score.

In the 11th, Belle singled with one out and Ventura hit a 3-and-0 pitch from Sean Lowe over the right-field fence for a two-run walkoff home run and a 10-8 White Sox victory. Boxscore

“I was just trying to get a pitch to hit in the air and I did,” Ventura said to the Arlington Daily Herald.

Asked about Ventura swinging on a 3-and-0 count, White Sox manager Jerry Manuel replied, “All three of those guys (Ventura, Belle and Thomas) have the green light to hit. They’re marquee players.”

Ventura became a free agent after the 1998 season and signed with the Mets. On June 17, 1999, he went 3-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored in the Mets’ 4-3 victory over the Cardinals at St. Louis. Ventura’s two-run home run to right-center in the sixth off Kent Mercker pushed the Mets’ lead from 2-1 to 4-1 and produced the winning run. Boxscore

“I made a bad pitch to Ventura and it cost me a game,” Mercker said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “It was probably right down the middle of the plate. Three-and-two count, you leave a pitch down the middle to Robin Ventura … You expect bad things to happen.”

In 2000, Ventura had consecutive three-RBI games in Mets victories over the Cardinals at St. Louis, 5-2 on May 26 Boxscore and 12-8 on May 27. Boxscore

The Cardinals and Mets advanced to the National League Championship Series that year, with New York winning in five games. Ventura had the key hit in Game 4, a two-run first-inning double off Darryl Kile that landed between center fielder Jim Edmonds and right fielder J.D. Drew and gave New York a 3-2 lead. Ventura had a team-high three RBI in the game, which the Mets won, 10-6, at Shea Stadium. Boxscore

A year later, the Mets traded Ventura to the Yankees for outfielder David Justice. On June 15, 2003, Ventura won a classic duel with pitcher Woody Williams and lifted the Yankees to a 5-2 victory over the Cardinals in New York. Boxscore

In the sixth inning, with the Cardinals ahead 2-1, the Yankees had runners on first and second. Ventura faced Williams, who quickly got two strikes on the batter. Ventura fouled off four two-strike pitches. On the 10th pitch of the at-bat, Williams threw a high fastball on a 3-and-2 count and Ventura laced a two-run double into the gap in right-center, giving New York a 3-2 lead.

“That was a huge at-bat,” Yankees manager Joe Torre said to the New York Daily News. “He got behind and he was fighting off and fighting off. Those are the kind of at-bats we need.”

Posted in Games, Managers, Opponents | 1 Comment »

Bob Forsch had disputed no-hitter against Phillies

June 8, 2012 by retrosimba

(Updated May 26, 2020)

An official scorer’s ruling created a controversy when Bob Forsch pitched his first big-league no-hitter for the Cardinals.

Forsch’s gem in the Cardinals’ 5-0 victory over the Phillies on April 16, 1978, at St. Louis stirred an array of emotions. Boxscore

Garry Maddox opened the eighth against Forsch with a grounder to the left of third baseman Ken Reitz, who was playing in front of the bag. “I thought he might bunt,” Reitz told the Philadelphia Inquirer. The ball bounced into the outfield after Reitz appeared to tip it with his glove. Video at 8:36 mark

Official scorer Neal Russo, a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, ruled it an error. The next batter, Bob Boone, grounded into a double play and Forsch retired the final four batters without incident for the first of his two big-league no-hitters. Video

It was the first Cardinals no-hitter in St. Louis since Jesse Haines achieved the feat against the Braves, also by a 5-0 score, on July 17, 1924. Boxscore

Varying opinions

The Phillies were unsparing in their criticism of Russo’s call.

“Base hit all the way,” Phillies manager Danny Ozark told Russo. “Reitz didn’t even touch the ball.”

Said Phillies third baseman Mike Schmidt: “Forsch pitched a dazzling one-hitter.”

Bake McBride, the Phillies’ right fielder and a former Cardinal, said, “We almost all fell off the bench when the call was made.”

Russo, who had 15 years of experience scoring National League games, never wavered. “I thought Reitz should have had it,” Russo told the Associated Press. “I called it immediately. It was an ordinary play, maybe a step to Reitz’s left. The ball wasn’t hit that hard. There was no doubt in my mind.”

Responding to the criticism, Russo said, “Of course, the Phillies, to a man, argued. That’s human nature.”

The Cardinals were just as adamant in their support of the call. Broadcaster Mike Shannon, the former Cardinals third baseman, told Russo, “It was an error, but it’s going to be controversial. Reitz had a chance to make the play and he didn’t.”

Catcher Ted Simmons told the Post-Dispatch, “It hit off his glove. If it wasn’t an error, I’d say so.”

Explained Reitz: “I thought the ball was hit a lot harder than it was. When I went for the ball, I double-pumped and when I came up with the glove the second time, the ball hit the webbing and went by me. I make that play 99 out of 100 times. This was the 100th time. It was an error all the way.”

Good luck

Somewhat lost amid the hubbub was the pitching of Forsch, who used mostly fastballs, curves and changeups to stop the Phillies. “He had full command of everything he threw,” Simmons said.

In a 2020 interview with Stan McNeal of Cardinals Gameday Magazine, Simmons recalled, “Forsch threw a profound power sinker,” and he used it to try to get the Phillies to hit grounders.

Said Forsch: “When I was warming up, I didn’t think I had real good stuff. So I just tried to keep the ball down in the first three innings and mixed up my pitches.”

Forsch’s biggest threat to the no-hitter was Schmidt, who hit three drives to the warning track. All were caught by center fielder Tony Scott. “1,200 feet of outs,” the Philadelphia Inquirer declared.

On a day when the temperature was 41 degrees, the wind was blowing in “and the ball carried like a shotput through the heavy river air,” wrote Bill Conlin of the Philadelphia Daily News.

“The ball Schmidt hit in the first inning I thought was going to hit the Stadium Club,” Forsch said candidly to the Philadelphia Daily News. “I think that’s a home run easy on a normal day here.”

Forsch concluded, “You’ve got to be lucky to pitch a no-hitter, and I was lucky, but I made some good pitches and any time I got into trouble I got right out of it.”

It was the first Cardinals no-hitter since Bob Gibson’s masterpiece against the Pirates in an 11-0 victory at Pittsburgh on Aug. 14, 1971. Simmons also was the catcher in that game. Boxscore

An appreciative Cardinals manager Vern Rapp said of Forsch, “He’s a complete pitcher now. He was a master out there this time. An artist.”

It would be the last win of Rapp’s tenure as St. Louis manager. After the Cardinals lost their next five in a row, Rapp was fired.

Previously: The story of how Bob Forsch converted to pitching

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers | 2 Comments »

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