RetroSimba

Brute force: How Dick Butkus tangled with Cardinals

October 20, 2023 by retrosimba

(Updated Dec. 27, 2025)

Even as a NFL rookie, Dick Butkus wreaked havoc on the St. Louis Cardinals. In his first regular-season appearance against them, the Chicago Bears middle linebacker intercepted a pass and got into a fight.

An eight-time Pro Bowl selection in nine seasons (1965-73) with the Bears, Butkus prowled the football field “like a hungry grizzly,” the Dallas Morning News noted. “His vicious hits and ferocious demeanor made the middle linebacker position synonymous with pain.”

The Associated Press called him “the most devastating middle linebacker in pro football” during his time in the NFL.

In his book “Tarkenton,” Minnesota Vikings quarterback Fran Tarkenton said, “Dick Butkus is the greatest football player I have ever seen. Certainly the toughest … He kept his team in a frenzy every game. He was the most dominating single player I’ve ever seen in a football defense … He was a sight. He snorted and cursed and looked like Godzilla’s brother crouching there in front of the center.”

Butkus played in five regular-season games versus the Cardinals, though in one of those he left early because of an injury. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.

Humble beginning

Richard Marvin Butkus “was 13 pounds, 6 ounces at birth, the eighth Butkus kid but the first born in a hospital,” according to the Chicago Tribune. He needed to be incubated for a week because his skin turned blue from low oxygen in the blood.

His father, John, an electrician, was a Lithuanian immigrant, according to the Tribune. Mother Emma worked 50 hours a week in a laundry.

At their four-room home on Chicago’s South Side, Butkus slept in an 8-by-10 room with four brothers, according to the Tribune.

Playing football at Chicago’s Vocational High School, Butkus was a 230-pound fullback and linebacker. He chose the University of Illinois for his college career.

(“Northwestern was … well, they ain’t my kind of people,” Butkus told Sports Illustrated in 1964. “Notre Dame looked too hard.”)

Illini head coach Pete Elliott used him as a linebacker and center. In his junior season, when the Illini were Big Ten Conference champions, Butkus made 145 tackles in 10 games, including 23 versus Ohio State.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch described him as “a savage tackler whose body slams led to six fumble recoveries for Illinois” in 1963.

On offense, Butkus was an outstanding center, “with his blocks gouging holes in the enemy line for key short yardage plays.”

Staying home

By the end of his senior season in 1964, Butkus was regarded the top defensive player eligible to turn pro. At that time, the National Football League and American Football League were rivals and held separate drafts.

With the first pick in the 1965 NFL draft, the New York Giants said they considered taking Butkus but went instead for Auburn’s Tucker Frederickson “because he is the best all-around fullback in the country,” team executive Wellington Mara told the Chicago Tribune.

The San Francisco 49ers, picking second, selected North Carolina running back Ken Willard.

Counting their lucky stars, the Bears, who had the third and fourth picks in the first round, went with Butkus and Kansas running back Gale Sayers. “We’ve been after Butkus ever since he led Illinois to the Big Ten title,” Bears head coach George Halas told the Tribune. “We’ve got to have him. He’s a great one.”

(With the 12th pick in the first round, the Cardinals took Alabama quarterback Joe Namath. Opting for Broadway rather than Lindbergh Boulevard, Namath signed with the AFL’s New York Jets.)

The Jets had visions of signing both Namath and Butkus. After the Denver Broncos took Butkus in the AFL draft, they gave their rights to him to the Jets.

“Most people think that I am already sewed up for the Bears,” Butkus said to the Tribune. “They can think it if they want to, but it isn’t so. As far as I’m concerned, it’s still wide open.”

Chicago attorney Arthur Morse, who represented Butkus in negotiations, told the Tribune that the Jets made an offer which “I would have to consider more substantial than that of the Bears.”

Butkus signed with the Bears anyway. “I had a big offer from the New York Jets to go to the AFL,” Butkus told the New York Times, “but I accepted less money to play with the Bears just because they were in Chicago where I grew up.”

Seeing Big Red

In the ninth game of his rookie season in 1965, Butkus faced the Cardinals at Wrigley Field in Chicago. He contributed to a defense that harassed quarterback Charley Johnson, who was sacked four times.

In the fourth quarter, Butkus intercepted a Johnson pass and returned the ball 38 yards to the St. Louis 6-yard line. “Butkus was barging over one Cardinal after another until he finally came crashing down in a heap with guard Ken Gray,” the Tribune reported. “Gray and Butkus had been tiffing, mostly with censored language, all afternoon, but on this occasion it went beyond words.”

Butkus and Gray squared off in a fight, the Post-Dispatch reported. The Bears won, 34-13. Game stats

The next year, with the Bears at St. Louis on Halloween night, Butkus got in for only a few plays before he was injured, according to the Post-Dispatch. An understudy, Mike Reilly, replaced him, but, as the Tribune noted, “Nobody backs up the line with Butkus’ violence.” Johnny Roland rushed for two touchdowns and the Cardinals won, 24-17. Game stats

Butkus and the Bears’ defense were at their best on Nov. 19, 1967, against the Cardinals at Wrigley Field. The Bears intercepted seven passes (five on Jim Hart throws and one each on throws from Charley Johnson and Johnny Roland) and recovered two fumbles in a 30-3 victory.

“Hart, pressured by the Bears blitz and often hit hard after he got off his passes, was off target,” the Post-Dispatch reported. “Several times he threw directly to Bears defenders, who could have had a few more interceptions if they had held the ball.”

Years later, recalling the game for Sports Illustrated, Roland said, “I have a bruise under my lip to this day where he (Butkus) shattered my mask.” Game stats

Making of a legend

Stories about Butkus’ bruising antics became part of NFL lore.

A Bears teammate, Doug Buffone, told Dan Pompei of the Tribune, “I used to line up at the outside linebacker position and look inside. I’d see him hulking over the center. He always had a little blood trickling down his face. I don’t know if he would cut himself or what, but I’d always say to myself, ‘Thank you, Lord, he’s on my side.’ “

With about a minute to go in a game the Bears were losing big, the Detroit Lions had first down and were intending to run out the clock. After the first play, Butkus called a timeout.

“We line up,” Buffone recalled. “He is over the top of the center, Ed Flanagan, then takes five steps back. The center snaps it and Dick comes running 100 mph and just smashes the center. Then he jumped up and called timeout again. He just wanted three more cracks at the center before the game ended.”

In a 1969 exhibition game against the Miami Dolphins, Butkus got into a brawl and was ejected by referee Red Morcroft, who accused Butkus of biting his finger during the melee, causing it to bleed. “If I bit his finger,” Butkus said to United Press International, “he wouldn’t have it on his hand now.”

According to the Tribune, during a game versus the Bears, Lions running back Altie Taylor saw Butkus closing in on him and stepped out of bounds to avoid being walloped. Enraged, Butkus kept chasing him around the perimeter of the field. “That man’s crazy,” Taylor told teammate Charlie Sanders.

The image Butkus created helped make him famous, but it wasn’t the full picture. He read Shakespeare after being introduced to the playwright’s work by Robert Billings, a Chicago Daily News reporter. He also got into acting (he spent half his life residing in Malibu, Calif.) and enjoyed watching classic movies. He married his high school sweetheart in 1963 and they remained together.

“Butkus has been caricatured as a monosyllabic creature who communicates only by grunts and groans and savage growls, a half man, half beast,” the Tribune noted. About his persona as a brute, Butkus told the paper, “I was just saying shit to go along with what everybody wanted. It actually was playing a role.”

On the ball

On Sept. 28, 1969, at St. Louis, Butkus blocked a Jim Bakken extra-point attempt (ending the kicker’s streak of converting 97 in a row). Bakken’s left shoulder got battered when Butkus crashed into him. “Sometimes you get mad at that Butkus, but you’ve got to respect him,” Cardinals head coach Charley Winner told the Post-Dispatch. “He makes the big play all the time.”

The Cardinals won the game, 20-17. Game stats

(In an exhibition game between the Bears and Cardinals on Aug. 29, 1970, four 15-yard personal foul penalties were called on Butkus, the Post-Dispatch reported.)

Butkus opposed the Cardinals for the final time on Oct. 29, 1972, at St. Louis. He led a defense that rattled quarterback Tim Van Galder (intercepted three times, sacked twice) in a 27-10 Bears triumph. Game stats

Restricted by a damaged right knee, Butkus, 30, called it quits after the ninth game of the 1973 season.

Butkus had four years remaining on a five-year contract. When he and the Bears were unable to come to terms on a payout, he sued them for breach of contract. In the lawsuit, Butkus said extensive injections of cortisone and other drugs caused irreparable damage to his right knee and that he had not been advised what the long-term effects of the drugs might be, the Associated Press reported.

In 1976, the Bears agreed to pay Butkus $600,000 to settle the suit.

Because of the conflict, Butkus and George Halas didn’t speak for several years. Then, in 1979, Butkus asked Halas, 84, to autograph a copy of the retired coach’s autobiography. According to the Tribune, Halas wrote, “To Dick Butkus, the greatest player in the history of the Bears. You had that old zipperoo.” Video highlights

Posted in Football, Games, Opponents | 10 Comments »

Cardinals had role in big moments for Tim Wakefield

October 15, 2023 by retrosimba

A right-handed knuckleball specialist, Tim Wakefield had 200 wins in the majors. The first came against the Cardinals. It was the only time he beat them.

The Cardinals and St. Louis were involved in two other prominent games in Wakefield’s career:

_ His only World Series appearance, for the Red Sox in 2004, was a start against the Cardinals in Game 1.

_ His only selection to an All-Star Game was in 2009 at St. Louis.

Wakefield pitched 19 seasons in the majors _ two with the Pirates; 17 with the Red Sox _ and supported many charities, including those helping children with cancer.

Change in course

Born and raised on the Space Coast in Melbourne, Fla., 25 miles from Cape Canaveral, Wakefield learned how to throw a knuckleball during backyard tosses with his father, Stephen, according to Florida Today.

Attending a hometown college, Florida Tech, Wakefield was a first baseman for the baseball team. His 22 home runs and .798 slugging percentage as a sophomore in 1987 remain single-season school records.

Picked by the Pirates in the eighth round of the 1988 draft, Wakefield went to their farm club in Waterford, N.Y., and hit .189 as a first baseman. The adjustment from metal bats in college to wood ones in the pros was one reason Wakefield struggled. Another was the loss of a grandfather, Lester Wakefield, who died of cancer at 71 in June 1988 soon after Wakefield was drafted. “After that, I had a problem dealing with baseball and life in general,” Wakefield recalled to The Sporting News. “After a while, I thought about quitting the game.”

Assigned to Augusta, Ga., in 1989, Wakefield hit .235 in 11 games and was demoted to Welland, Canada, a club managed by former Royals shortstop U.L. Washington. Wakefield was tried at second base and third base, but it didn’t help his hitting.

Playing catch on the sidelines, Wakefield fooled around with the knuckleball taught by his father. Wanting to know whether he could throw the pitch for strikes, the Pirates made him a pitcher. “It was a hard thing to do at first because you feel like you failed as a hitter,” Wakefield told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “but it’s not often you get a second chance to redeem yourself.”

Wakefield pitched in 18 games for Welland and the Pirates liked what they saw. He worked his way up the farm system. In 1992, Pirates minor league pitching instructor Pete Vuckovich, the former Cardinal, tabbed Wakefield as a potential big-league prospect, The Sporting News reported.

During spring training in March 1992, White Sox knuckleballer Charlie Hough, 44, was asked by a Pirates staffer to meet with Wakefield and offer advice. Hough and Wakefield chatted for 20 minutes and played catch in jeans and T-shirts behind a fence at the White Sox training camp in Sarasota, Fla. “He showed Wakefield a few things from his own grip,” the Boston Globe reported.

Assigned to the Class AAA Buffalo Bisons in 1992, Wakefield was 10-3 in 20 starts. When Pirates pitcher Zane Smith went on the disabled list in late July, Wakefield got promoted to Pittsburgh to replace him.

Prime time

Wakefield’s big-league debut against the Cardinals at Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Stadium came on a Friday night, July 31, 1992, two days before he turned 26.

With St. Louis starting right-hander Jose DeLeon, former Cardinal Mike LaValliere (who batted left-handed) normally would be the Pirates catcher, but Pittsburgh manager Jim Leyland opted instead for Don Slaught, who had experience catching Charlie Hough’s knuckleball when both played with the Rangers.

It was a windy night in Pittsburgh and that made Wakefield’s knuckleball especially elusive. “I was actually diving for balls that were (called) strikes,” Slaught said to the Post-Dispatch.

Pirates center fielder and ex-Cardinal Andy Van Slyke told the St. Louis newspaper that he had trouble anticipating where a batter would hit Wakefield’s knuckler. “His pitch was moving so much I sometimes had to break twice,” Van Slyke said. “I’d break to left-center and then I’d break to right-center.”

In the second inning, the Cardinals had runners on first and third, none out, but Wakefield struck out Luis Alicea and Tom Pagnozzi, and then Slaught threw out Todd Zeile attempting to swipe second.

The Cardinals had two on with one out in the third, but the threat fizzled when Ray Lankford and Felix Jose were retired.

With the help of an error, the Cardinals scored twice in the fifth and had the bases loaded with two outs, but Wakefield struck out Zeile looking on a 3-and-2 knuckler. “When they got guys in scoring position, he stuck with his knuckleball and threw it for strikes,” Slaught told the Post-Dispatch.

Backed by home runs from Barry Bonds and Jay Bell, Wakefield went the distance and the Pirates won, 3-2. Wakefield issued five walks and threw three wild pitches, but he also struck out 10, including Zeile and Ozzie Smith twice each. “You can be embarrassed by a knuckleballer,” Zeile told the Post-Dispatch. Boxscore

The Cardinals were not alone in being baffled by the rookie. Wakefield was 8-1 with a 2.15 ERA for the 1992 Pirates, who won a division title. Asked to name his club’s pitching rotation for the playoffs, Pirates general manager Ted Simmons told the Associated Press, “(Doug) Drabek, (Danny) Jackson and The Miracle.”

In the National League Championship Series versus the Braves, Wakefield worked his wonders. Matched against future Hall of Famer Tom Glavine in Games 3 and 6, Wakefield won both. Boxscore and Boxscore

Former Braves knuckleballer Phil Niekro told The Sporting News, “You don’t hit a good knuckleball. If you do, it’s by luck.”

Feeling lost

Wakefield threw a lot of bad knuckleballs in 1993. He was winless in May and his ERA for June was 7.62. In July, the Pirates sent him to the minors.

“The magic of Wakefield’s knuckleball deserted him,” the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette observed. “When he had his good knuckleball, he couldn’t seem to throw it for strikes. When his pitch wasn’t moving, it was hit hard.”

Wakefield was assigned to the Class AA Carolina Mudcats because their pitching coach was the aptly named Spin Williams, “who helped him most when he developed his knuckleball in the minor leagues,” the Post-Gazette reported.

The Pirates brought Wakefield back in September 1993 and he lost three consecutive starts, including one against the Cardinals, Boxscore but then he closed with shutouts of the Cubs and Phillies. For the season, Wakefield was 6-11 with a 5.61 ERA with Pittsburgh.

Afterward, Wakefield had surgery to remove bone chips from his right elbow. He was ineffective at spring training in 1994. “After the surgery, I just lost a feel for the knuckleball,” he told the Post-Gazette. “When you cut somebody open, a lot of muscle memory is lost.”

He spent the 1994 season in the minors, with Buffalo, and was 5-15 with a 5.84 ERA. Wakefield was 28 when the Pirates released him in April 1995.

Striking it rich

Red Sox general manager Dan Duquette was the only one to put in a claim for Wakefield. The Red Sox hired Phil Niekro and his brother, fellow knuckleball master Joe Niekro, to work with Wakefield. They noticed Wakefield was aiming instead of throwing the knuckler. “You’ve got to be a gorilla when you throw the knuckleball,” Phil Niekro told Florida Today. “Mentally, inside, you’ve got to have that edge.”

Wakefield went to the minors, pitched well and was called up to the Red Sox in May 1995.

Then the magic, like a miracle, came back. In his first 17 starts for the 1995 Red Sox, Wakefield was 14-1 with a 1.65 ERA.

“No one, not Hoyt Wilhelm, not Phil Niekro, not anyone, was ever as unhittable while throwing a knuckleball as Wakefield was from late May to mid August of 1995,” columnist Bob Ryan exclaimed in the Boston Globe.

(Note: Knuckleball reliever Barney Schultz had a 1.64 ERA in 30 appearances after being called up from the minors in August, helping the 1964 Cardinals become World Series champions.)

When Florida Today reporter David Jones went to Boston in August 1995 to report on Wakefield’s phenomenal comeback, he noted that the knuckleballer “is more like a rock star than a major league baseball player … Wakefield is a hotter dish than lobster and clam chowder this summer.”

Marveling at the club’s good fortune in acquiring Wakefield, Red Sox left fielder Mike Greenwell told Florida Today, “There was a pile of rocks and we found gold.”

Highlight reel

Wakefield had double-digit win seasons 11 times in his 17 seasons with the Red Sox. (His career record: 200-180.) Video

He started Game 1 of the 2004 World Series against the Cardinals at Boston and was ineffective, allowing five runs in 3.2 innings. The Red Sox broke a 9-9 tie in the eighth and won, 11-9. Boxscore

In 2007, when Wakefield was a 17-game winner, a shoulder injury prevented him from pitching in the World Series that fall against the Rockies.

Wakefield was named an all-star for the only time in 2009, but was not one of the eight pitchers used by manager Joe Maddon in the American League’s 4-3 triumph at St. Louis. Boxscore

Helping others

Wakefield’s popularity in New England had as much to do with his persona _ humble, accessible, generous _ as it did with his success on the mound.

In 2003, Florida Today’s Peter Kerasotis wrote, “Wakefield has donated six figure sums to the Space Coast Early Intervention Center. (Later renamed the Space Coast Discovery Academy for Promising Futures.) He also has donated six figures to Florida Tech, basically keeping baseball a sport there. Up in Boston, he stays active, too, not only helping children with cancer, but also donating money to the Make-A-Wish Foundation every time he strikes someone out or gets a victory.”

In a fitting tribute, Florida Tech’s Web site described Wakefield as “a gifted athlete and compassionate soul whose magic with the baseball was surpassed only by his generosity, kindness and selfless service to his native Space Coast and adopted New England home.”

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers | 9 Comments »

Field of dreams: Julian Javier paced lineup of Latino stars

October 11, 2023 by retrosimba

In a special game that featured the best Latino players in the majors, Cardinals second baseman Julian Javier did as well as anyone on the field.

On Oct. 12, 1963, the last baseball game played at the Polo Grounds in New York was a charity event called the Latin American Major League Players Game.

Part of the proceeds from the game were targeted for the Hispanic-American Baseball Federation, a group committed to developing baseball programs for Spanish-speaking youth in the United States.

Growing market

New York sportscaster Guy LeBow was the director of the Latin American charity game. He hoped to make it an annual event, the Bayonne (N.J.) Times reported.

LeBow was a “schmaltzy, do-everything sportscaster,” according to Phil Mushnick of the New York Post. He called hockey, basketball and baseball games, boxing and wrestling matches, hosted a popular bowling show and was a local news TV sports anchor in New York. As a child, he was bedridden with polio for two years. He walked with a limp the rest of his life. LeBow also played a sportscaster in the Woody Allen film “Radio Days.”

(In LeBow’s online obituary, Mets radio broadcaster Howie Rose left this comment: “I learned a lot from you _ some of it has even been put to good use, and I say that lovingly. You were an original.”)

George Schreier, a former Jersey Observer sports reporter who was hired by LeBow to help promote the Latin American game, told the Bayonne Times, “A new crop of promoters has risen today, one very much interested in the Spanish language market, a tremendous one in the greater (New York) metropolitan area.”

The event organizers put together two teams _ one of Latino American Leaguers and the other of Latino National Leaguers. Each player was paid $175 to participate, according to the Society for American Baseball Research.

Though the game was not sponsored by Major League Baseball, it had the approval of commissioner Ford Frick.

The Polo Grounds, most recently the home of the New York Mets, was awaiting to be demolished and replaced by a housing project. Promoters of the Latin American event touted it as a chance to see the last baseball game played at the venerable ballpark.

Talent galore

Played on a Saturday afternoon, the Latin American game drew 14,235 spectators. They were treated to pregame entertainment from bandleaders Tito Rodriguez and Tito Puente, and singer La Lupe.

The starting lineup for the American League squad: shortstop Luis Aparicio, first baseman Vic Power, right fielder Tony Oliva, left fielder Hector Lopez (also the manager), catcher Joe Azcue, center fielder Roman Mejias, third baseman Felix Mantilla, second baseman Zoilo Versalles and pitcher Pedro Ramos.

(Vic Power “was a favorite with the fans because of his one-handed catches of pop fouls,” the New York Times noted.)

For the National League team: shortstop Leo Cardenas, third baseman Tony Taylor, left fielder Felipe Alou, first baseman Orlando Cepeda, center fielder Tony Gonzalez, right fielder Roberto Clemente (also the manager), second baseman Julian Javier, catcher Cuno Barragan and pitcher Juan Marichal.

Six of the players _ Aparacio, Oliva, Cepeda, Clemente, Marichal and an American League reserve, outfielder Minnie Minoso _ would be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. (Minoso, 39, a former Cardinal, “received warm applause” when introduced to the Polo Grounds crowd, the New York Times reported.)

Javier, the only Cardinals player in the game, was coming off a successful 1963 season. He was the National League starting second baseman in the All-Star Game, led the league’s second basemen in putouts, produced 160 hits and scored 82 runs.

Javier was in the mix when the Latin American National Leaguers scored three runs in the fourth against Ramos. With the National Leaguers ahead, 1-0, Cepeda and Gonzalez singled. Then Javier drove in Cepeda with a single. Later in the inning, Gonzalez and Javier scored on a single by Manny Mota, who was batting for Marichal.

Al McBean, who relieved Marichal, provided the most entertaining play of the game. Batting in the sixth, the pitcher from the Virgin Islands ripped a deep drive. “There was a Listerine sign in left field (422 feet from home plate) and that’s where I hit the ball,” McBean told Rory Costello of the Society for American Baseball Research.

As Minnie Minoso chased the ball in left, McBean streaked around the bases. He reached third safely as Minoso threw to shortstop Luis Aparicio. Trying for a home run inside the park, McBean continued toward the plate, but Aparacio’s relay to catcher Joe Azcue was strong and McBean was out by five feet.

The Latino National Leaguers won, 5-2. Javier was 2-for-2 with a RBI, a run scored and a stolen base before he was lifted for a pinch-hitter, Chico Fernandez, in the sixth. (The Polo Grounds often was a tough venue for Javier. During the 1963 season, he batted .194 in 31 at-bats in the Polo Grounds. For his career, Javier was a .200 hitter in 70 at-bats there.)

Others with two hits in the Latin American game were Mota and Gonzalez for the National Leaguers and Tony Oliva for the American League side.

Oliva, 25, a Cuban who was in New York for the first time, recalled to MLB.com, “I was very timid.”

He told Adrian Burgos of La Vida Baseball, “I think very fondly of that game because that was where I actually first met Cepeda, Marichal, Clemente and all the others, and we have become friends, like brothers, since then.”

Cepeda said to MLB.com’s Michael Clair, “I was very happy to all get together. For me to be able to participate and to spend some time together with so many great players like Roberto Clemente, Vic Power, Zoilo Versalles _ that was a great day.”

Gate receipts were between $25,000 and $50,000, according to the Society of American Baseball Research. Boxscore

Despite the goodwill generated, the game never was held again.

Posted in Games, Hitters, Pitchers | 12 Comments »

Homeward bound: Sonny Siebert, Cardinals connect at last

October 6, 2023 by retrosimba

As a youth in south St. Louis County, Sonny Siebert was a fan of second baseman Red Schoendienst and the hometown baseball teams, Cardinals and Browns. Years later, Siebert played for Schoendienst when he managed the Cardinals.

A right-hander with the skill to pitch a no-hitter or belt a home run, Siebert was acquired by the Cardinals from the Rangers on Oct. 26, 1973, when he was at the back end of his playing career.

After achieving double-digit win totals in eight of his 10 seasons in the American League, Siebert was up to the challenge of switching to the National League. He pitched a shutout in his Cardinals debut and punctuated his 1974 season with a win in an epic marathon during the September title chase.

At home on the hardwood

Named after his father, a foreman at a lead company, Wilfred Siebert (better known as Sonny) was an infielder for the Bayless High School baseball team in St. Louis and a high jumper for the track squad, but he got the most attention for his basketball abilities. Described by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in February 1953 as a “sprout who is the pride of the Bayless fans,” Siebert got selected to the South County League all-star basketball team his sophomore season.

When Siebert was 15, he attended a Cardinals tryout camp. “They put me at shortstop,” he said to the Post-Dispatch. “Four balls were hit to me and I fielded all of them perfectly and flipped perfectly underhand to first base. I was quite proud. Red Schoendienst had been my idol and I copied his underhanded flip.”

The Cardinals told him to stay home. “They said I didn’t throw hard enough and I ought to forget about baseball,” Siebert said to the Post-Dispatch.

Experiencing a growth spurt, Siebert was 6-foot-2 when he reported for his junior basketball season in high school. (He eventually grew another inch.) He was a prolific scorer, popping jump shots from all ranges. Siebert topped 1,000 points for his varsity career early in his senior year. On Jan. 14, 1955, his 18th birthday, Siebert scored 43 points against Eureka.

“I don’t think there is a shot in the book that Sonny didn’t make that night,” Bayless coach Clyde Ficklin told the Post-Dispatch. “Jump shots, hook shots, drive-ins, layups, fall-away shots _ you name ’em.”

The Post-Dispatch noted, “Wilfred Siebert is an unobtrusive, retiring sort of high school boy who does average-well in class and seldom makes himself noticed. There is almost nothing out of the ordinary about him except when he puts on a basketball uniform for the Bayless High team. Then Wilfred becomes Sonny Siebert, a running, shooting demon who drives opponents batty.”

A two-time Class B all-state selection, Siebert accepted a basketball scholarship to the University of Missouri in June 1955. As a sophomore in his first varsity season, Siebert averaged 13.4 points a game. His 308 total points broke the Missouri sophomore record held by Norm Stewart (256).

Playing in a conference dominated by Wilt Chamberlain of Kansas and Bob Boozer of Kansas State, Siebert averaged a team-high 16.7 points for Missouri as a junior. He scored 27 in an upset victory against Indiana and his free throw with four seconds left gave Missouri a one-point triumph versus Marquette.

Missouri coach Sparky Stalcup called Siebert the “league’s best shot,” United Press reported. The wire service also observed that Siebert “is troubled by myopia, an eye condition making distant objects blurry.” Siebert was taking “pupil dilation treatment” for his eyes.

Change in plans

Siebert didn’t play baseball at Missouri as a sophomore but he did his junior year. A first baseman, he hit .368 with eight home runs in the regular season. Missouri reached the championship game of the 1958 College World Series before losing to University of Southern California, 8-7, in 12 innings on June 19. Two days later, Siebert, 21, got married.

Receiving interest from professional baseball teams, Siebert decided to skip his senior year at Missouri. The Cleveland Indians brought him to their ballpark for workouts that summer under the supervision of talent evaluators Hoot Evers and Bob Kennedy.

“(Outfielder) Rocky Colavito was there then and he worked with me every day, teaching me how to make the throw from the outfield,” Siebert recalled to The Sporting News. “Evers and Kennedy seemed to like the way I threw the ball, so they decided to make an outfielder out of me.”

Siebert signed with the Indians on July 16, 1958, and received a $48,000 bonus, the Post-Dispatch reported. He was one of three St. Louis athletes who left University of Missouri early for pro baseball deals in 1958. The others, football players Charlie James and Mike Shannon, signed with the Cardinals.

Sent to a Class B farm club in Burlington, N.C., Siebert struggled in the outfield, didn’t hit (.147) and was dropped to Class D Batavia, N.Y. “On the last day of the season, we didn’t have any pitchers left, so I pitched two innings of relief and I did all right,” Siebert told The Sporting News. “I think the batters were afraid to stand in there against me. It was the first time I was ever on the mound.”

Still an outfielder in 1959 with the Class C Minot (N.D.) Mallards, Siebert broke an ankle and was limited to 185 at-bats. After the season, he went to the Indians’ Florida Instructional League team. Asked to pitch batting practice, Siebert impressed coach Spud Chandler, the former Yankees pitcher, who urged him to stick with pitching.

(Siebert then accepted an invitation to try out for the NBA St. Louis Hawks. He participated in their training camp before the 1959-60 season but didn’t make the team.)

An outfielder at spring training in 1960, Siebert got frustrated when instructors tried to change his batting style. According to The Sporting News, he “was ready to quit,” but then, remembering Chandler’s advice, asked to become a pitcher.

On the rise

Success was not immediate but Siebert persevered. He was 27 when he reached the majors with the 1964 Indians.

In 1965, Siebert had 16 wins and a 2.43 ERA for Cleveland. He struck out 15 in shutting out the Washington Senators. Boxscore

The next year, Siebert won 16 again, including a no-hitter versus the Senators. Boxscore

He got to pitch in St. Louis for the first time as a professional, appearing in the 1966 All-Star Game at Busch Memorial Stadium. Siebert retired all six batters he faced _ Jim Ray Hart, Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, Hank Aaron, Willie McCovey, Ron Santo. Boxscore

Experienced pro

In April 1969, Siebert was traded to the Red Sox. He had 15 wins for them in 1970 and 16 in 1971. He also hit .266 with six home runs for the 1971 Red Sox. Two of those homers came in a game versus Pat Dobson of the Orioles, who were shut out by Siebert. Boxscore

“Sonny Siebert has the best stuff on the staff,” Red Sox pitcher Bill Lee said to The Sporting News.

In 1973, Siebert had a falling out with Red Sox manager Eddie Kasko, who banished him to the bullpen. The Rangers, managed by Whitey Herzog, acquired Siebert in May 1973 and he became their ace.

In his Rangers debut, Siebert pitched five scoreless innings to beat Catfish Hunter and the Athletics. Boxscore On June 20, Siebert shut out the Twins and ended Rod Carew’s 18-game hitting streak. Boxscore Five days later, he pitched six scoreless innings in a win versus Ken Holtzman and the A’s. Boxscore

Mike Shropshire of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram wrote, “When Sonny Siebert pitches, the Rangers’ games take on a peculiar air of dignity and sophistication. Instead of the usual orgy of runs, it’s strictly a matter of law and order.”

In July, with his ERA at 2.10 for the Rangers, Siebert suffered a shoulder separation and was sidelined for a month. When he returned, he lost five decisions in a row. Herzog was fired in September and replaced by Billy Martin.

Headed for home

The Cardinals acquired Siebert (for outfielder Tommy Cruz) to join a revamped starting rotation that included two other former Red Sox pitchers, John Curtis and Lynn McGlothen, and holdovers Bob Gibson and Alan Foster.

At 1974 spring training, Siebert, 37, pitched well and Schoendienst declared him the No. 2 starter behind Gibson. “Siebert has been our best pitcher down here,” Schoendienst told the Post-Dispatch. “In fact, he might also be our best hitter.”

Making his National League debut in the Cardinals’ second game of the season against a Pirates lineup with Willie Stargell and Dave Parker, Siebert pitched a four-hit shutout and drove in two runs with a single. Boxscore

In May, Siebert made five starts and had a 1.66 ERA for the month. He pitched consecutive shutouts against the Cubs and Padres. Boxscore and Boxscore

After he won his fourth straight decision on June 5 versus the Giants, giving up one unearned run in 8.2 innings, Siebert had a season record of 6-3 with a 1.95 ERA for the Cardinals. Boxscore

The bubble burst when Siebert went on the disabled list on July 4 because of an inflamed tendon in his right elbow. He returned on July 28, went winless in August and was moved to the bullpen in September.

Siebert’s last win for the Cardinals came in a doozy of a game _ a 25-inning endurance test with the Mets. Siebert, the Cardinals’ seventh pitcher, performed a high-wire act for 2.1 scoreless innings.

Relieving Claude Osteen with two on and two outs in the 23rd, Siebert walked Felix Millan to load the bases, then got Cleon Jones to fly out to right.

In the 24th, the Mets had the bases loaded with two outs, but Siebert got Rusty Staub to ground out.

The Cardinals broke the 3-3 tie in the 25th when Bake McBride scored from first on a wild pickoff throw by pitcher Hank Webb. Siebert gave up a single to Brock Pemberton (his first big-league hit) in the bottom half of the inning but then shut down the Mets. Boxscore

In 28 games, including 20 starts, for the 1974 Cardinals, Siebert was 8-8 with a 3.84 ERA. After the season, he was traded to the Padres.

Siebert, 38, finished his career with the 1975 Athletics, winning four times for a team that finished with the best record in the American League (98-64) and secured its fifth consecutive West Division title.

His career record was 140-114 with 16 saves. Of his 114 hits, 12 were home runs.

Posted in Games, Pitchers, Trades | 12 Comments »

Hit or miss: Roric Harrison and the Cardinals

October 1, 2023 by retrosimba

Roric Harrison was an intriguing talent with a distinctive name. A right-hander, he possessed power on the mound and at the plate.

After seeing Harrison pitch at spring training in 1973, Phillies ace Steve Carlton told the Philadelphia Daily News, “Just a super, fantastic arm. He could win 20 with that arm just throwing strikes with his fastball.”

Harrison had some special performances, but inconsistent command of his pitches, as well as injuries, hampered him. A pitcher for the Orioles (1972), Braves (1973-75), Indians (1975) and Twins (1978), he had a career mark of 30-35 with 10 saves. He also produced 15 hits _ six were home runs.

During his five seasons in the majors, Harrison earned two wins versus the Cardinals. Both were complete games. He hit a home run in each, including one against Bob Gibson.

Later, Harrison went to spring training with the Cardinals but failed in an attempt to make the club as a reliever.

Top of the morning

Roric Harrison was from Los Angeles but his family roots were in Ireland, which is how he got his name. He told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 1973, “I’m Irish and the first rebel king of Ireland was named Roric. My father liked it.”

(The rebel king in the 1500s was Brian O’Rourke, or O’Ruairc in Irish Gaelic. Handsome, proud, defiant, he got into territorial disputes with the English, who arrested and executed him for his rebelliousness.)

Harrison was a Dodgers fan as a youth. He turned 13 a couple of weeks before they clinched the 1959 World Series title against the White Sox at Chicago. At the Los Angeles airport, Harrison hung on a fence to glimpse the players arriving home. “I had tears in my eyes seeing my heroes get off the plane _ Maury Wills, Don Drysdale, Gil Hodges,” he recalled to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.

Five years later, when he turned 18, Harrison signed with the Astros. Pitching in their farm system, he threw hard, not accurately. Harrison struck out the first seven batters he faced as a pro, then walked the next five, according to the Akron Beacon Journal. He told the Rochester newspaper, “My fastball was hard to control at times. I was overthrowing.”

In 1969, still in the minors, Harrison tore up his left knee while fielding a bunt and had surgery. (He’d need operations on the knee again in 1971 and 1974.) An American League expansion team, the Seattle Pilots, took a chance on him while he mended. On Aug. 24, 1969, they traded pitcher (and “Ball Four” author) Jim Bouton to the Astros for Harrison and Dooley Womack.

The Pilots moved from Seattle to Milwaukee in 1970 and were renamed the Brewers, but Harrison was not in their immediate plans. He got assigned to the minors for a sixth straight year.

Change of plans

Finally, at spring training with the Brewers in 1971, Harrison had a breakthrough. He pitched well and made the Opening Day roster. Then, the day before the season opener, with the Brewers in need of a left-hander, he got traded to the Orioles for Marcelino Lopez.

“It was the kind of deal you sometimes hate to make because a fine young arm can come back to haunt you,” Brewers general manager Frank Lane told The Sporting News. “Harrison showed a lot of stuff this spring.”

The 1971 Orioles (who would win the American League pennant) were loaded with pitchers, so Harrison was sent again to the minors. He joined a Rochester Red Wings team featuring prospects such as Don Baylor, Bobby Grich and Ron Shelton, who later became director and screenwriter of the 1988 film “Bull Durham.”

Harrison found his groove with Rochester. In June 1971, he pitched a two-hit shutout and slugged a grand slam versus the Toledo Mud Hens. A month later, against Toledo again, he struck out 18, pitched a three-hitter and drove in a run with a triple. Harrison told the Rochester newspaper, “My fastball was really doing its thing. Jumping. Tailing off.”

On Aug. 12, 1971, Harrison pitched a one-hitter against Syracuse. Three days later, he was in the dugout when a foul ball struck him on the right side of the head, damaging an ear drum. “Thank God he turned his head,” Dr. Armand Cincotta told the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. “If he hadn’t turned his head, the ball would have hit him flush in the face.”

Harrison was treated at a hospital, but two days after the accident he started the first game of a doubleheader versus Syracuse. Despite a ringing sound in his right ear, he pitched a seven-inning one-hitter. “It was a strange feeling,” he told the Rochester newspaper, “because I couldn’t hear the ball hit the catcher’s mitt.”

Harrison finished with a 15-5 record, including five shutouts, and a 2.81 ERA for Rochester in 1971. He struck out 182 in 170 innings. He also hit .273 with four home runs.

At spring training in 1972, Harrison impressed Orioles manager Earl Weaver, who told the Baltimore Evening Sun, “Harrison exceeds my expectations. He throws as hard as anyone we’ve got in this camp except maybe one guy (Jim Palmer).”

With a starting staff of Palmer, Mike Cuellar, Pat Dobson and Dave McNally, Harrison primarily was a reliever with the 1972 Orioles, but, at last, he was in the big leagues for the first time. The rookie led the club in appearances (39) and was second (to Palmer) in ERA (2.30).

When the Orioles made a pitch for Braves slugger Earl Williams after the season, they had to include Harrison (along with Davey Johnson, Pat Dobson and Johnny Oates) to complete the trade. Video

Clashes with Cardinals

After beginning the 1973 season in the bullpen, Harrison became part of the starting rotation for the Braves. His first win for them was on June 10, a 5-2 victory against the Cardinals. His home run against Tom Murphy broke a scoreless tie in the third. Harrison held the Cardinals to one hit (a Ken Reitz triple in the sixth) in eight innings before Danny Frisella relieved in the ninth.

Regarding Harrison, Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst told the Post-Dispatch, “He’s the best pitcher they got.” Boxscore

Two months later, the Cardinals torched Harrison in a seven-run third inning capped by pitcher Rick Wise’s grand slam, but the Braves (with four RBI from Dusty Baker, three from Hank Aaron and three scoreless innings of relief from Phil Niekro) rallied and won, 11-7. Boxscore

Harrison made 38 appearances, including 22 starts, for the 1973 Braves and finished 11-8 with five saves.

Placed in a Braves starting rotation with Phil Niekro, Ron Reed and Carl Morton, Harrison struggled in 1974. He had ERAs of 5.20 in April and 4.41 in May.

A highlight came on June 14, 1974. Matched against Bob Gibson, Harrison hit a two-run homer and limited the Cardinals to one unearned run for the win. Braves manager Eddie Mathews told the Atlanta Journal, “It might have been the best I’ve seen him look since he got here last year.” Boxscore

A month later, Gibson and Harrison were matched again. Gibson needed three strikeouts to become the first National League pitcher with 3,000. He got two. Harrison gave up a three-run home run to Ted Simmons and departed after six innings, but it was Gibson who took the loss. Boxscore

Out of luck

In June 1975, Harrison was traded to the Indians for Blue Moon Odom and Rob Belloir. Ten months later, in April 1976, the Indians sent him to the Cardinals for Harry Parker.

When Harrison, 29, learned the Cardinals would assign him to the minors, he thought about not reporting, but reconsidered after a talk with general manager Bing Devine. “He assured me that I was obtained with the big-league club in mind,” Harrison said to the Tulsa World.

Harrison’s 1976 season got curtailed in June when he had surgery to remove bone chips from his right elbow. “The surgery made me a sort of bionic man,” he told The Sporting News. “It seemed they put in a new arm.”

The Cardinals put him on their big-league winter roster and he went to spring training with them in 1977 as a candidate for a relief role.

The luck of the Irish was with Harrison on St. Patrick’s Day when he pitched three scoreless innings for the win in a spring training exhibition against the White Sox. “My arms feels as good as it did when I was a rookie with the Orioles,” he told The Sporting News.

His other performances, though, were inconsistent. In four Grapefruit League appearances, his ERA was 4.64.

First-year Cardinals manager Vern Rapp opted to keep nine pitchers on the Opening Day roster _ four starters (Bob Forsch, John Denny, Pete Falcone, Eric Rasmussen), a swingman (John D’Acquisto) and four relievers (Al Hrabosky, Clay Carrol and rookies John Urrea and John Sutton).

Released by the Cardinals, Harrison pitched in the farm systems of the Tigers (1977) and Twins (1978). The Twins called him up in June 1978 and he ended his big-league career with them, making nine relief appearances.

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers, Prospects, Trades | 7 Comments »

Why 1973 was a year of extremes for the Cardinals

September 27, 2023 by retrosimba

After starting the 1973 season in a funk, the Cardinals finished it with a flourish, but the feeling was the same on both ends of the spectrum: frustration.

In September 1973, the Cardinals won their final five games of the season. Highlighted by the return to health of Bob Gibson and the return to form of Rick Wise and Reggie Cleveland, the Cardinals allowed two runs over 45 innings during the season-ending win streak.

The big finish wasn’t enough, though, to earn them a division title. Weighed down by a miserable start (20 losses in their first 25 games) and more slumps in the second half of the season (11 losses in 12 games from Aug. 6 to Aug. 18, and 13 losses in 17 games from Sept. 7 to Sept. 25), the Cardinals ended up 81-81, 1.5 games behind the division champions.

Slipping away

On the morning of Sept. 25, 1973, the Cardinals (76-80) were in third place in the National League East. Ahead of them were the Mets (79-77) and Pirates (78-77). The division champion would advance to the playoffs.

The Cardinals had six games remaining, all at home _ three with the Cubs (75-80) and three with the Phillies (69-87). If they won all six, the Cardinals figured they’d have a chance to finish tied or alone atop the division.

That night, their hopes seemed to evaporate when they collapsed against the Cubs. The Cardinals blew a 2-1 lead with two outs in the ninth and lost, 4-3. A former Cardinal, Jose Cardenal, delivered a two-run double on an 0-and-2 pitch from Diego Segui. Boxscore

The Cardinals’ loss, coupled with the Mets’ win that night versus the Expos, was a crusher. It meant the Cardinals (76-81) trailed the Mets (80-77) by four with five to play. “We had to win this one,” Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The newspaper’s headline the next day declared: “Cardinals Face Reality: Loss To Cubs Ends Title Dream.”

Though the Cardinals mathematically still had a chance, the odds against them got higher when it was revealed that one of their best hitters, Joe Torre, would sit out the final five games because of an inflamed right shoulder.

Dominant pitching

The Cardinals saw a glimmer of hope the night of Sept. 26, when they beat the Cubs, 1-0, and the Mets lost to the Expos. Those results put the Cardinals (77-81) three behind the Mets (80-78) with four to play.

Rick Wise pitched his fifth shutout of the season for St. Louis. It was his second consecutive win after losing six in a row. The Cubs threatened in the eighth when Jim Hickman, a career .358 hitter in 53 at-bats versus Wise, came up with two on and two outs. Wise struck him out on three pitches, the last “a high, tight fastball with enough mustard on it to daub all the hot dogs in Busch Stadium,” Bob Logan of the Chicago Tribune reported.

The Cardinals got their run when Ted Simmons drove in Lou Brock from third with a single in the first. Boxscore

Brock and Reggie Cleveland were the standouts the next night, Sept. 27, when the Cardinals beat the Cubs, 2-0.

Cleveland, who had lost his last four decisions, pitched a one-hit shutout. He retired the first 16 batters before Ken Rudolph singled with one out in the sixth.

Brock slammed a two-run home run versus Burt Hooton in the bottom of the sixth. It was Brock’s only homer in 73 career at-bats against Hooton. “That was the first changeup I’ve hit out of the park in five years,” Brock told the Chicago Tribune. Boxscore

With the Mets (80-78) idle that night, the Cardinals (78-81) crept to within 2.5 games of first place. While the Cardinals prepared for three at home against the Phillies, the Mets were scheduled to play four versus the Cubs at Chicago.

Wet and wild

The Sept. 28 Friday afternoon doubleheader between the Mets and Cubs at Wrigley Field was rained out. It poured a lot in St. Louis that night, too, but the Cardinals withstood three rain delays totaling nearly two hours and posted their third consecutive shutout, a 3-0 triumph versus the Phillies.

Mike Thompson and Diego Segui combined for the shutout. Thompson, making just his second appearance for the Cardinals, pitched four hitless innings, then was lifted after an 89-minute rain delay. Segui pitched five innings of relief and yielded two hits. He got the last out as a fourth downpour began. Boxscore

The Cardinals’ outlook suddenly brightened. With a 79-81 record, they were two behind the Mets (80-78), who faced consecutive doubleheaders at Wrigley Field to end the season.

He’s back

The Cardinals got a boost from a franchise icon, Bob Gibson. Sidelined since tearing a right knee ligament on Aug. 4 and undergoing surgery, Gibson returned to start the Saturday afternoon Sept. 29 game against the Phillies. His mound opponent: former teammate and fellow future Hall of Famer Steve Carlton.

Gibson, 37, held the Phillies to one run in six innings and got the win. “It’s just like riding a bike,” Gibson told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “You never forget how.”

The Cardinals scored seven times and had 17 hits, including 11 against Carlton, who allowed five runs in six innings. The loss was Carlton’s 20th of the season. Tim McCarver, playing first base for the Cardinals, had two RBI-singles versus his friend Carlton. Boxscore

Meanwhile, at Chicago, the Mets-Cubs doubleheader was rained out for the second straight day. The Cardinals (80-81) had one game left against the Phillies. The Mets (80-78) still had four scheduled with the Cubs.

Wise choice

For their season finale on Sunday Sept. 30, the Cardinals started Alan Foster. The Phillies went with Jim Lonborg, the former Red Sox ace who six years earlier opposed the Cardinals in the 1967 World Series.

Just like he had done in that World Series, Lou Brock set the tone. He led off the first inning with a double versus Lonborg, stole third and scored on Bake McBride’s sacrifice fly.

In the fifth, with the Cardinals ahead, 2-0, the Phillies had two on, one out, when Foster was relieved by Diego Segui. After allowing a run-scoring single, Segui got the final two outs of the inning and the Cardinals still led, 2-1.

After Tommie Agee batted for Segui in the bottom half of the fifth, Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst made a bold move, choosing Rick Wise to pitch. Wise had not pitched in relief all season and had little experience in that role, but it turned out to be a good choice.

Wise worked the final four innings, yielding no runs or hits, and got the win, enabling the Cardinals to complete the season at 81-81. Boxscore

At Chicago, the Mets (81-79) and Cubs split their Sunday doubleheader. Another was scheduled for Monday Oct. 1. If the Cubs swept, the Mets and Cardinals would finish tied atop the division. The Pirates (80-81) still had one more game to play as well, at home versus the Padres, and needed a win to stay in the mix.

Silly season

Before a Monday afternoon gathering of 1,913 at Chicago, the Mets took a 5-0 lead against the Cubs in the first game of the scheduled doubleheader. Tom Seaver started for the Mets but faltered, allowing four runs and 11 hits before Tug McGraw took over in the seventh.

McGraw rescued the Mets with three scoreless innings and they won, 6-4. Boxscore

The victory gave the Mets an 82-79 mark, securing the division title and making the second game of the scheduled doubleheader unnecessary to play.

At Pittsburgh, the Pirates lost to the Padres, finishing 80-82 and leaving the Cardinals alone in second place.

In the best-of-five playoffs, the Mets, with the fourth-best record in the National League, played the team with the best record in baseball, the Reds (99-63), and beat them three times, winning the pennant.

That put them in the World Series, where the team with the second-best record in the American League, the A’s, prevailed, winning four of seven.

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents, Pitchers | 11 Comments »

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