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In control: How Ken Raffensberger confounded Cardinals

July 6, 2023 by retrosimba

Ken Raffensberger began his major-league career with the Cardinals, then spent a big part of it pitching against them.

A left-hander who relied on pinpoint control and an assortment of breaking pitches, Raffensberger faced the Cardinals a lot _ 79 times, including 59 starts. He lost (34 times) more than he won (23 times) versus St. Louis, but when he was good he was nearly unhittable.

In 1948, Raffensberger pitched two one-hitters against the Cardinals.

Making the rounds

A Pennsylvania Dutch boy from the town of York, home of the Peppermint Pattie, Raffensberger entered the Cardinals’ farm system in 1937. His manager at Rochester in 1938, Ray Blades, managed the Cardinals in 1939 and put Raffensberger, 21, on the Opening Day roster.

“He has exceptional wrist action,” The Sporting News noted. “He flexes the wrist with each throw and the result is speed that is a bit startling to the hitter. There is no evidence of the speed in his delivery, which makes for deception.”

The St. Louis Star-Times reported, “He delivers the ball with little or nothing on it _ so it seems _ but it gains speed, twist, curve and what have you, as it floats toward the plate.”

In his lone appearance for the 1939 Cardinals, Raffensberger pitched a scoreless inning against the Reds, then was sent back to Rochester. Boxscore

(The 1939 Cardinals were the only team Raffensberger played for in his 15 years in the majors that finished a season with a winning record. As the York Sunday News noted, “A pennant race was as foreign to Raffensberger as a French dictionary.”)

Traded to the Cubs in December 1939, Raffensberger was mentored in 1940 by their player-manager, catcher Gabby Hartnett. “He taught me the value of control,” Raffensberger told The Sporting News. “I learned almost everything I know about pitching from him.”

Raffensberger spent most of the next three seasons (1941-43) in the minors, learning how to get batters to hit into outs, before being traded to the Phillies in September 1943.

The Phillies were bad but provided Raffensberger with opportunity, if not many runs. In 1944, he had a 2.72 ERA versus the Cardinals in 53 innings pitched, but his record against them that season was 1-5. The win was a shutout Boxscore and, in one of the losses, he pitched 16 innings in a duel of endurance with Mort Cooper. Boxscore

Named to the National League all-star team for the only time in his career, Raffensberger pitched two scoreless innings and was the winning pitcher against the American League in the 1944 game. Boxscore

Despite a 3.06 ERA, Raffensberger was 13-20 for the 1944 Phillies (61-92), who finished 43.5 games behind the league champion Cardinals (105-49).

On May 18, 1947, Raffensberger pitched a 12-inning shutout against the Cardinals, but a month later, after he lost four in a row, the Phillies traded him to the Reds. Boxscore

Slow and steady

Raffensberger, 30, made two starts against the Cardinals in April 1948 and got no decision in either. Stan Musial went a combined 5-for-8 (two singles, a double, a triple and a home run) against him in those games.

Raffensberger spent most of the next month in the bullpen. He had a 4.34 ERA for the season when he got a start in the second game of a Memorial Day doubleheader against the Cardinals at Cincinnati.

United Press called him a “creaking” veteran. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch described him as a “softball-throwing” pitcher. According to The Sporting News, wise-guy teammates nicknamed him “Cannonball” because of his slow pitches.

Nothing indicated the performance he was about to give.

With two outs in the first inning, Raffensberger walked Musial and Whitey Kurowski before retiring Enos Slaughter. Then he set down the Cardinals in order in every inning from the second through the seventh with what the Post-Dispatch called “his nuthin’-at-all pitch.”

Nippy Jones, leading off the eighth, got the Cardinals’ first hit, a lined single to center, but Raffensberger retired the next three batters.

In the ninth, Musial walked with two outs, but Raffensberger got Kurowski on a grounder to shortstop, completing the one-hit shutout. He achieved it with one strikeout. Boxscore

No fluke

The next time Raffensberger faced the Cardinals, on July 4 at Cincinnati, they beat him, scoring four runs in seven innings. His ERA for the season was 4.57 when he got another start, at St. Louis, on July 11.

After the Reds scored in the first, Raffensberger retired the first 10 batters before Marty Marion singled with one out in the fourth. Don Lang drew a two-out walk in the inning but Enos Slaughter’s grounder to third ended the threat.

The Cardinals got only two more base runners (Musial walked in the seventh and Nippy Jones reached on an error in the eighth), and Raffensberger completed his second one-hitter in the Reds’ 1-0 victory. None of the Cardinals’ outs were strikeouts. Boxscore

“His slider, when acting right, breaks about six inches in toward right-handed batters, making them hit it with the handle of their bats,” Reds catcher Ray Lamanno told The Sporting News. “Left-handed batters see it suddenly break away from them. It starts spinning rapidly just as it begins to break. By that time, batters usually are off stride. Kenny threw curves to Musial in both his one-hitters, keeping the ball away from him.”

In a story headlined, “Raffensberger Zero Ball Too Fast for Cards,” Cubs general Jim Gallagher, in St. Louis to see the game, told the St. Louis Star-Times, “Gremlins carry the ball up to the plate for the last 20 feet.”

Raffensberger said to The Sporting News, “To listen to the hitters, I don’t have anything. I take a lot of kidding that I don’t have a fastball, and don’t have a curveball. All I got, I guess, is confidence in myself to get that ball over.”

For the 1948 season, Raffensberger was 11-12 with four shutouts and only 37 walks in 180.1 innings. He made nine starts against the Cardinals and was 3-3 with a 3.04 ERA. 

High praise

In 1949, Raffensberger was 18-17 for a Reds team that won just 62. He led the National League in shutouts (five). On Aug. 14, he pitched 12 innings against the Cubs and three days later he went 13 innings versus the Cardinals. Boxscore

Branch Rickey, the Cardinals’ executive who traded Raffensberger in 1939, tried multiples times to acquire him for the Dodgers in 1949, but the Reds wouldn’t deal, The Sporting News reported.

Raffensberger beat the Cardinals four times in 1951. In one of those wins, he pitched 14 innings before his catcher, Johnny Pramesa, walloped a walkoff grand slam. Boxscore

Raffensberger, 35, again led the National League in shutouts (six) in 1952, won 17 (including four versus the Cardinals) and posted a 2.81 ERA. He walked 45 in 247 innings. “I was the best control pitcher in the big leagues during my time,” he told the York Sunday News.

He pitched his last game in the majors for the Reds in June 1954, finishing with a career mark of 119-154. He achieved four one-hitters: one each versus the Cubs and Dodgers and two against the Cardinals.

Asked by The Sporting News to name the toughest batters he faced, Raffensberger chose Musial, Jackie Robinson and Carl Furillo. Musial returned the compliment. According to the Associated Press, when Musial appeared on “The Ed Sullivan Show” he named Raffensberger as the toughest pitcher he had faced.

In 201 at-bats against Raffensberger, Musial hit .323 with six home runs but also struck out 20 times, according to Retrosheet.org. Only Warren Spahn struck out Musial (30 times) more often than Raffensberger did.

In his autobiography, “Stan Musial: The Man’s Own Story,” Musial said, “The toughest pitchers for me were Ken Raffensberger, Johnny Vander Meer and Curt Simmons, left-handers, and Clem Labine, a right-hander.”

Raffensberger “had nothing except slow stuff, and a forkball,” Musial said. “With changing speeds and control, he made those pitches seem so fat when they weren’t. The forkball looked as big as a grapefruit but fell off the table, low. I stubbornly tried to slug with him and didn’t have much success.”

 

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers | 6 Comments »

Why Homer Jones scared the daylights out of defenses

July 2, 2023 by retrosimba

(Updated Dec. 27, 2025)

When Homer Jones made a catch, he turned the football field into a dance floor, spinning and shifting with an array of flashy moves.

A receiver with the 1960s New York Giants, Jones was a master at producing long gains. He did it either one of two ways _ hauling in deep passes, or using his deft footwork to add yardage after a grab. His career average of 22.3 yards per catch is a NFL record.

The St. Louis Cardinals faced him often, and then he joined them for a brief time at the tail end of his playing career.

Music man

A high school saxophonist in Pittsburg, Texas, Jones played football his senior year because “I wanted to go to college and they didn’t give scholarships to sax players,” he told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

At Texas Southern, Jones excelled in track as well as football. He and Bob Hayes of Florida A&M were two of the fastest sprinters in the United States. Jones and Hayes were on the men’s 400-meter relay team that beat the Russians in an international dual meet at Palo Alto, Calif., in July 1962.

A year later, at the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics meet at Sioux Falls. S.D., in June 1963, Jones won the 220-yard dash, nipping Hayes at the finish line in 21 seconds.

(Later that month, Hayes won the 100-yard dash in 9.1 seconds, a world record, at the Amateur Athletic Union meet in St. Louis. Described as “the world’s fastest human,” Bullet Bob Hayes won two gold medals, in the 100 meters and as a member of the 4×100-meter relay team, at the 1964 Summer Olympics. Like Jones, Hayes became a NFL receiver, with the Dallas Cowboys.)

Jones was a flanker at Texas Southern and one of his favorite plays was a reverse. It basically called for a ball carrier to hand off to a receiver running in the reverse direction. Jones added a twist. “I reversed the reverses on my own just to see how that would work,” Jones told the Post-Dispatch. “I guess I was the first scrambling flanker in Texas.”

Drafted in 1963 by the Houston Oilers of the American Football League and the New York Giants of the National Football League, Jones opted for the Oilers, but reported to training camp with a twisted knee.

“I couldn’t do any knee bends, and you couldn’t play for the Oilers unless you did knee bends,” Jones said to the Post-Dispatch.

Released, Jones contacted the Giants, who signed him to their practice squad in July 1963. After a doctor repaired the cartilage damage in the knee, Jones and the Giants were relieved to discover he still had speed.

Freestyle football

After spending most of the 1963 and 1964 seasons on the practice squad, Jones, a raw talent, filled in for injured Giants receiver Del Shofner in 1965.

“They used to call him Homer Q, and Jones himself said the Q stood for questionable,” Milton Gross of the North American Newspaper Alliance noted.

“They can never tell what I’m going to do,” Jones said.

He inverted the pass routes designed for him and had trouble holding onto the ball. As the New York Daily News noted, “Homer has a reputation for ad-libbing pass patterns.”

Giants quarterback Earl Morrall told Milton Gross, “You look at the films and at times you’re wondering where he’s wandering to.”

“They used to laugh (head coach Allie Sherman almost cried) when Homer lined up in the wrong place, ran pass patterns in reverse, missed blocks and signals,” The New York Times reported.

Jones explained to Milton Gross, “You’ve got to confuse the defense as much as he confuses you. The one who confuses the most comes out the winner.”

Crowd pleaser

In warmup drills before the Giants played the Philadelphia Eagles on Oct. 17, 1965, at Yankee Stadium, Jones dropped nine passes in a row, the New York Times reported.

Show time was another matter.

In the second quarter, the Giants were on their 11-yard line when Earl Morrall called for Jones to run a fly pattern down the sideline. Morrall backpedaled and was near the goal line when he heaved the ball.

At the Eagles’ 40, Jones turned and looked up. “The sun was pretty strong,” he told the New York Daily News. “I saw a black spot in the sky and I didn’t know whether it was a bird or the ball.”

Jones reached for the object, speared it “and then completed a full pivot around defender Irv Cross, who went sprawling out of bounds,” the Daily News reported. Jones sprinted to the end zone, completing an 89-yard play for his first NFL touchdown.

According to NFL.com, Jones wanted to throw the ball to fans in the stands, but the league would fine a player $500 for doing that, so he flicked it into the ground. He is “believed to be the first player to spike a football after a touchdown,” NFL.com reported. Video and Game stats

Hard to stop

Jones averaged 23 yards per catch each year between 1966 and 1968. His 14 touchdowns (13 receiving and one rushing) in 14 games led the NFL in 1967. He made 49 catches that year, averaging 24.7 yards per reception.

In the 1967 season opener against the Cardinals at St. Louis, Jones had five catches for 175 yards and two touchdowns. On one of the scores, Jones beat cornerback Jimmy Burson, made a jumping catch of a Fran Tarkenton pass at the Cardinals’ 10 and “dragged tackler Larry Wilson the last five yards across the goal line,” the Post-Dispatch reported. Game stats

In the season finale rematch at Yankee Stadium, Jones had five catches for 125 yards and a touchdown. Here’s how the Daily News described his score: “Homer caught a turn-in pass in front of Phil Spiller on the St. Louis 45, foot-shuffled his way past a few defenders and shook off rookie Mike Barnes at the 10 to make it a 69-yard play.” Game stats

“Homer is the top offensive weapon in football today,” Tarkenton said to the Daily News in 1967. “Catching the ball is only part of his value. It’s what he does after the catch that makes him so remarkable. He’s a tough man to bring down.”

(In his autobiography, Tarkenton said, “Homer was the fastest guy I ever saw in a football suit, without question … He didn’t have much refinement as a receiver, and sometimes he missed the easy passes, but if he ever got a step on a defensive back, you couldn’t keep him in the stadium.”)

Giants radio broadcaster Marty Glickman told the Daily News, “There have been receivers who had, or have, Homer’s great speed. There have been receivers who are strong and can break tackles. But I never saw both _ the tremendous speed and the power running _ in one man until I saw Homer Jones.”

Teams regularly double-covered Jones. “We feel that any time they play me one-on-one I have a better than 75 percent chance of beating him,” Jones told Newsday. “I myself feel I have a 99 percent chance of beating him. Only a great play by him can stop me.”

In addition to speed and strength, Jones had huge hands. “He palms watermelons,” the Post-Dispatch declared.

Jones made one-handed catches before those became commonplace. He wore a size 13 glove. (A size 11 is considered XL.) According to the North American Newspaper Alliance, when shaking hands, “his fingers reach up to your forearm.”

Stepping out

In January 1970, the Giants traded Jones to the Cleveland Browns for running back Ron Johnson, defensive tackle Jim Kanicki and linebacker Wayne Meylan. Jones was nearly 29, but “there are some in the Giants family” who suspect he is two or three years older than his listed age, the Daily News reported.

The Browns acquired Jones to replace Paul Warfield, who was dealt to the Miami Dolphins, but a second-year player, Fair Hooker, outperformed Jones at training camp in 1970 and won the starting job.

Jones was used primarily as a kick returner with the 1970 Browns. He returned 29 kickoffs for 739 yards, including one for a touchdown against the New York Jets. Video

On July 13, 1971, the Browns traded Jones to the Cardinals for a draft choice. The Cardinals envisioned Jones rounding out a wide receiver corps that featured John Gilliam, Dave Williams, Fred Hyatt and rookie Mel Gray.

“When a receiver of the caliber of a Homer Jones becomes available, you just have to take a look at him,” St. Louis head coach Bob Hollway explained to the Post-Dispatch. “We felt he could add depth and experience. He’s bound to upgrade the receivers and create hard competition.”

Jones told the newspaper, “I’d say it was a happy day. I’ve always had respect for the Cardinals and I like the idea of playing for them.”

Two weeks later, though, when he was supposed to report to Cardinals training camp, Jones had a change of heart. He informed the club he was finished playing.

“When I broke into pro football, I said I would play for five years,” Jones told the Post-Dispatch. “I played for eight and I’ve thought about quitting for some time.” Video highlights

Posted in Football, Games, Opponents | 10 Comments »

Neil Allen: Good start, bad finish, with Cardinals

June 27, 2023 by retrosimba

Pitcher Neil Allen was given a mission impossible of sorts in his first assignment with the Cardinals.

Having worn out his welcome in New York, Allen felt instantly unwelcomed in St. Louis when the Cardinals acquired him and pitcher Rick Ownbey from the Mets for first baseman Keith Hernandez on June 15, 1983. When the crowd attending a game at Busch Memorial Stadium heard about the deal, they booed.

Being traded for Hernandez _ a World Series hero, Gold Glove winner and league MVP _ was challenge enough for Allen. The Cardinals increased the degree of difficulty by having him make his debut for them against Hernandez and the Mets.

Though Allen made a good first impression, it wasn’t a lasting one.

Under pressure

A right-hander from Kansas City, Kan., Allen was 21 when he earned a spot on the Mets’ Opening Day roster in 1979. He flopped as a starter, moved to the bullpen and flourished as a reliever. His first big-league win came against the Cardinals. Boxscore

Entrusted with the closer role, Allen ranked among the top six in saves in the league for three consecutive seasons (1980-82). The New York Times described him as “the life of the locker room, endearing but hyperactive and volatile.”

Trouble developed in 1983. In his second appearance of the season, Allen gave up a game-winning single. The next night, after he allowed a walkoff grand slam to the Phillies’ Bo Diaz, Allen “stalked off the mound, flung his glove into the dugout and then sat there with his head in his hands for fully five minutes, the tears flowing like a faucet,” the New York Daily News reported. Boxscore

From there, the Mets went to St. Louis for a series with the Cardinals. Allen got involved in a barroom fracas across the river in Illinois, told Mets management he had a drinking problem and asked for help. He was sent to a specialist, who determined Allen’s problem was stress, not alcohol, The Sporting News reported.

(Allen later told the New York Times he knew he didn’t have an alcohol problem. “I was talking out of desperation,” he said. “I’m ashamed of myself for saying it … What I had was an emotional problem.”)

Nothing was wrong with his arm though. The Mets discovered there was a trade market for him, and the Cardinals made the best offer.

Strong start

The Cardinals had a closer, Bruce Sutter, but needed a starter, so manager Whitey Herzog put Allen in the rotation. His first appearance came on June 21, 1983, against the Mets at New York’s Shea Stadium.

Allen pitched eight scoreless innings and got the win. He struck out Hernandez twice and held him hitless. Boxscore

“That was vintage Neil Allen,” Hernandez said to the Daily News. “That was one of the best curves I’ve faced in eight years in the league.”

Allen told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “I felt like I had a lot to prove. Everybody thought the trade was so outrageous. To be honest, I thought so at first, too.”

Allen also got his first career RBI in the game. His squeeze bunt scored Ozzie Smith from third. “I couldn’t believe I got it down,” Allen told the Post-Dispatch.

In the groove

Nine days later, in St. Louis, Allen beat the Mets again. The only run he allowed came on a Jose Oquendo RBI-single. Allen again held Hernandez hitless. 

Allen also got another RBI, lining a Walt Terrell pitch off the outfield wall for a double. “I floated that one in at about 50 mph,” Terrell told the Post-Dispatch.

Thinking the ball would carry over the wall, Allen went into a home run trot. “I never hit a ball like that in my life,” Allen said to the newspaper. “I took a lot of kidding for my home run trot.” Boxscore

In July, Allen pitched shutouts in consecutive starts versus the Padres and Dodgers, giving him a 5-1 record and 2.02 ERA with St. Louis. Boxscore and Boxscore 

Then he lost four consecutive decisions and was moved back to the bullpen before returning to the rotation in September.

On Sept. 14, Allen beat the Mets for the third time, winning a matchup with Tom Seaver. Boxscore

Allen was 3-0 with an 0.87 ERA against the Mets in 1983. Overall for the Cardinals, he was 10-6.

Another adjustment

The Cardinals rewarded Allen with a four-year contract. At 1984 spring training. Herzog named him to the starting rotation, then changed his mind. With the 1983 Cardinals, Allen’s ERA as a reliever (1.88) was better than it was as a starter (3.94). “Neil has been a good starter, but I think he’ll be an excellent reliever,” Herzog told The Sporting News.

Another factor in Herzog’s decision was Allen’s inability to develop a changeup or to mix pitches during a game. “In short relief, he can get by with just his fastball and big breaking curve _ more power than brainpower,” The Sporting News noted.

Allen told the publication, “I’m not your ideal brain surgeon. if I start worrying about what’s in my noodle, what I have there, then I’ll be in real trouble.”

He said to the Post-Dispatch, “I don’t have the pitches for a starting pitcher. And, if I did, I’m still too hyper. I’ve got to have the ball, and if I die out there, I’ve got to have the ball again tomorrow or I go berserk. If I don’t get the ball except every fifth day or so, I go crazy.”

With Bruce Sutter established as the closer, Allen took a setup role with the 1984 Cardinals. In 56 relief appearances, he was 9-5 with three saves.

Wrong role

Sutter, who had 45 saves for the 1984 Cardinals, became a free agent and went to the Braves. Herzog named Allen the closer. Asked about replacing Sutter in 1985, Allen told The Sporting News, “Nobody but God can get 45 saves, and God is in Atlanta. If I can do half, I’ll be happy.”

Post-Dispatch columnist Kevin Horrigan wrote, “The fact remains that unless Neil Allen does the job _ two dozen saves or more _ the Cardinals will be lucky to stay out of the National League East basement.”

The Cardinals opened the 1985 season at New York against the Mets and it was a disaster for Allen. On Opening Day, he gave up a game-winning home run to Gary Carter. The next day, the Mets won when Allen walked Danny Heep with the bases loaded. Boxscore and Boxscore and Video

“I didn’t use the right psychology,” Herzog told the Post-Dispatch. “I was trying to get him past the first one and I doubled the whammy.”

In his book “White Rat: A Life in Baseball,” Herzog said, “His confidence was shot. A relief pitcher without confidence is like tits on a boar hog.”

Allen said to the Post-Dispatch, “Mentally, I was messed up.”

In 22 appearances for the 1985 Cardinals, Allen was 1-4, with two saves and a 5.59 ERA. In June, they sent him to the Yankees. According to the Post-Dispatch, Herzog told Yankees manager Billy Martin, “He can help you if he can get his head on straight.”

Cardinals pitcher Joaquin Andujar told the newspaper, “Someone with a weak mind, like Neil Allen, will go into a slump for two months. If he had a strong mind, I think Neil Allen would be pitching good. He gives up too easy.”

In his book, Herzog said, “Neil Allen, a fine young man with a live arm and a great curveball, kept expecting disaster to strike, and it usually did.”

The Cardinals, who called up rookie closer Todd Worrell in late August, won the 1985 pennant.

Allen went on to pitch for the Yankees (1985, 1987-88), White Sox (1986-87) and Indians (1989). His career record: 58-70, 75 saves. In three years with the Cardinals, he was 20-16 and five saves.

Allen was pitching coach on the staff of Twins manager Paul Molitor from 2015-17.

Posted in Games, Pitchers, Trades | 9 Comments »

Jack Baldschun played pivotal part in pennant chase drama

June 23, 2023 by retrosimba

Something screwy usually happened to Cardinals batters when they faced Jack Baldschun, but the one time they beat him, it opened a crack in the solid hold the Phillies had on first place in the National League.

Soon after, when the crack turned into a chasm, the Phillies fell and the Cardinals climbed past them to win the 1964 pennant.

A right-hander who relied on a screwball and thrived on a heavy workload, Baldschun was one of baseball’s best relievers in the early 1960s.

The right stuff

As a youth in his hometown of Greenville, Ohio, 40 miles northwest of Dayton, Baldschun was interested in several sports, including harness racing. “My dad owned some horses and drove them in races in Ohio, Michigan and Illinois,” Baldschun told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “I traveled with him (as a stable boy) in the summer.”

Baldschun was good at playing golf and the piano, but even better at baseball. He attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, for two years, then entered baseball’s minor leagues in 1956 when he was 19.

Pitching in the Reds’ system, “I only threw 80, maybe 83, mph,” Baldschun said to the Philadelphia Daily News. “I’d never get by with just a fastball.”

Baldschun experimented with a variety of other pitches but nothing clicked. Then in 1960, when he was with Class A Columbia (S.C.) of the South Atlantic League, Baldschun discovered a way to make a screwball move sharply onto the corners of the plate. “I threw it three-quarters, off the backside of my fingers,” he told the Philadelphia Daily News.

Columbia manager and former big-league pitcher Max Macon encouraged Baldschun to use the pitch in games and successfully converted him from starter to reliever. 

“I’ve got three different screwballs,” Baldschun said to the Dayton Daily News. “I can make it break straight down, down and in, and down and out.”

Macon said he recommended Baldschun “two or three times” to the Reds during the 1960 season but they weren’t interested, the Greenville Daily Advocate reported. After the season, the Reds didn’t put Baldschun on their 40-man winter roster and the Phillies picked him in the draft of unprotected players.

“He comes highly recommended,” Phillies manager Gene Mauch told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “Max Macon said he’d stake his reputation that Baldschun has what it takes to help a big-league club in relief.”

Power pitcher

Making the leap from Class A to the majors, Baldschun, 25, earned a spot with the 1961 Phillies. The rookie was a bright light in a dark season. The Phillies lost 23 in a row and finished 47-107, but Baldschun (5-3) had a winning record and led National League pitchers in appearances (65, all in relief). In July, he pitched in eight consecutive games and allowed only one run in that stretch.

“He has done it by using a bewildering screwball, the confidence of a burglar, and a right arm that looks like it belongs to Popeye,” Ron Smith of the Philadelphia Inquirer concluded.

Estimating he unleashed the screwball for 85 to 90 percent of his pitches, Baldschun told the newspaper, “I believe I could throw 10 straight screwballs, tell them it’s coming and still get them out, somehow, eight of the 10 times.”

The rookie also began a workout regimen to help his right arm withstand the strain of delivering screwballs. “He performed a set of isometric exercises before each game and increased the strength of his forearm until it was as big as his bicep,” the Greenville Daily Advocate reported.

Mauch told the Dayton Daily News, “Baldschun is blessed with some kind of arm that defies all the rules. I never saw a man with a freak pitch who could work as often. That’s where his personal exercising program comes in. His entire right side is actually brutish.”

His rookie season was no fluke. The next year, Baldschun was 12-7 and led the 1962 Phillies in ERA (2.96), saves (13) and appearances (67). He followed that with an 11-7 record and 2.30 ERA in 1963, achieving team highs in saves (16) and appearances (65). On Easter Sunday, Baldschun won both games of a doubleheader against the Cardinals at St. Louis. Boxscore and Boxscore

Down and out

Tempers flared when the Phillies and Cardinals played in St. Louis on May 4, 1964. After the Phillies’ Dennis Bennett knocked down Julian Javier with a pitch, Bob Gibson retaliated when Bennett came to bat.

The next time Gibson batted, Baldschun was pitching. His first pitch made Gibson skip away from the plate. The next one plunked him in the thigh. Gibson flipped his bat toward Baldschun, who caught it with his glove hand. Gibson was ejected, but the Cardinals got revenge. On the first pitch from Baldschun after he hit Gibson, Carl Warwick slammed a two-run home run.

The Phillies, who won 10 of their first 12, remained contenders in 1964. In July, Mauch pitched Baldschun in 19 games, including five in a row.

When the Cardinals came to Philadelphia on Sept. 9, 1964, the Phillies (83-55) were in first place, six games ahead of three teams in second: Cardinals (77-61), Reds (77-61) and Giants (78-62).

Phillies ace Jim Bunning pitched six innings in the series opener against the Cardinals before being lifted for Baldschun, who was tasked with protecting a 4-3 lead. Baldschun pitched a scoreless seventh and a scoreless eighth, then drove in a run with a double (the only extra-base hit of his big-league career) versus Barney Schultz and extended the lead to 5-3.  “I felt sure we’d win after that,” Baldschun told the Philadelphia Daily News.

The Connie Mack Stadium scoreboard showed two significant results: the Giants lost to the Dodgers and the Reds lost to the Pirates. If Baldschun could secure a win over the Cardinals with a shutdown ninth, the Phillies’ lead in the standings would increase to seven games.

“If they win it, they break it open,” Cardinals third baseman Ken Boyer told the Philadelphia Daily News. “A seven-game pad would have been tough.”

In the ninth, the Cardinals scored a run, making it 5-4, and had Lou Brock on third, two outs, with Boyer at the plate. With the count 1-and-2, Boyer stroked a single to center, driving in Brock with the tying run.

Mauch stuck with Baldschun. He pitched a scoreless 10th, but in the 11th, his fifth inning of relief, the Cardinals knocked him out, and won, 10-5. Boxscore

Instead, of being seven games back, the Cardinals were five behind.

A week later, Baldschun lost back-to-back games against the Dodgers. Mauch tried others in the closer role, the Phillies lost 10 in a row, and the Cardinals clinched the pennant on the last day of the season.

Changing the script

Though Baldschun led the 1964 Phillies in saves (21) and appearances (71), Mauch proposed changes to him in 1965. “He wanted me not to throw the screwball,” Baldschun recalled to the Philadelphia Daily News. “I just hated to give up my best pitch.”

Mauch said he thought Baldschun was nibbling the corners too much with the screwball and getting behind on counts, and that the pitch would be more effective thrown with two strikes on the batter, or in special situations, instead of most of the time, the Dayton Daily News reported.

In the book “We Played the Game,” Phillies reliever Ed Roebuck said, “Baldschun was an excellent relief pitcher but he always went deep in the count, and this really upset Mauch.”

Another Phillies pitcher, Chris Short, told the Philadelphia Daily News, “I know that three-fourths of the gray hair Gene Mauch got _ and he got a lot _ came from Jack Baldschun. He had a great year for us, but he was always falling behind in the count. We used to call him ‘Three-and-Oh.’ “

Baldschun pitched in 65 games for the 1965 Phillies but shared the closer role with rookie Gary Wagner.  

On Dec. 6, 1965, Baldschun was traded to the Orioles for Jackie Brandt and Darold Knowles. Three days later,  the Orioles sent him with Milt Pappas and Dick Simpson to the Reds for Frank Robinson.

(According to The Cincinnati Post, Reds owner Bill DeWitt Sr. said the club initially wanted Pappas and Curt Blefary, but the Orioles wouldn’t part with Blefary. The trade was revived when the Orioles acquired Baldschun and offered him.)

Baldschun (1-5, 5.49 ERA) flopped with the Reds in 1966, and spent most of 1967 and 1968 in the minors. “The Reds wanted me to die in the minor leagues,” Baldschun told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “In my heart, I knew I could pitch.”

An expansion team, the Padres, picked him up in 1969. Roger Craig was their pitching coach. Though Baldschun pitched in 61 games for the 1969 Padres and had a 7-2 record, he confessed to the Philadelphia Daily News, “The screwball wasn’t breaking. It was rolling.”

Baldschun, 33, pitched his final big-league games with the Padres in 1970. The Cardinals, the first team he faced in the majors, also were the last he pitched against. Boxscore

In 49 games versus the Cardinals, Baldschun was 5-1 with three saves. Overall for his big-league career, he was 48-41 with 60 saves.

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers | 10 Comments »

Good old country hardball: Bobby Bolin vs. Cardinals

June 19, 2023 by retrosimba

Though Juan Marichal and Gaylord Perry were the most prominent pitchers on the 1960s Giants, Bobby Bolin was an important member of those staffs, too.

A right-hander with a fastball rated among the best in the National League, Bolin was effective both as a starter and a reliever.

In 1968, when Bob Gibson led the league in ERA (1.12), the pitcher who was next-best was not Marichal or Perry or Ferguson Jenkins or Tom Seaver or any of the other future Hall of Famers pitching then. It was Bolin (1.99).

In the only game they started against one another that year, Bolin beat Gibson.

For his career, Bolin was 9-5 with a 2.75 ERA versus the Cardinals.

Country kid

Bolin was raised on a farm in Hickory Grove, S.C., a town of about 300 residents, located 55 miles from Charlotte, N.C. Years later, in a chat with the Rock Hill (S.C.) Herald, his mother, Blanche, said of Bobby and his two brothers, “It was hard to get any work out of those boys. They were either listening to a ballgame on the radio, or out in the backyard throwing rocks.”

Bolin switched from rocks to baseballs and became a pitcher. “Bobby played three years of baseball at Hickory Grove High School. The other year, when he was a junior, Hickory Grove had no team, so he pitched for York High School,” the Rock Hill Herald reported.

A gangly 6-foot-4, Bolin overpowered batters in high school and American Legion games with a fastball thrown from a sidearm delivery. His “big hand so completely covers the horsehide that you expect to see the stuffing fly out at any time,” the Charlotte Observer noted.

Herman Crump, Bolin’s American Legion coach, told the Charlotte newspaper, “It was hard to believe any 16-year-old could throw the ball as hard as Bobby did.”

According to the Rock Hill newspaper, the Pittsburgh Pirates signed Bolin, but the deal was voided because he was ineligible. Bolin was 17 when he signed with the Giants in December 1956.

Rookie year

Bolin, 22, reached the majors with the Giants in 1961 and was made a reliever. His first save came in his second appearance, on April 23, 1961, against the Cardinals at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

In the ninth inning, with the Giants ahead, 2-1, the Cardinals had runners on first and third, one out, when Bolin was brought in to work out of the jam.

The first batter he faced, Daryl Spencer, looked at a 2-and-2 pitch for strike three. Upset with the call by umpire Tom Gorman, Spencer slammed his bat to the ground and was ejected. “I thought the pitch was four inches inside,” Spencer said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Bolin told the San Francisco Examiner, “I thought it was a good pitch _ high enough and over the plate.”

The next batter, Mickey McDermott, lined a pitch foul before striking out swinging to end the game.

Noting that Bolin delivered only fastballs to the Cardinals, Giants catcher Hobie Landrith told the Examiner that the rookie threw “faster than anyone on our club can throw, and maybe as fast as anybody in the league.” Boxscore

Bolin said to the Charlotte Observer, “As my fastball goes, so go I.”

Two months later, on June 23, 1961, Stan Musial timed a Bolin fastball and belted it onto the roof of the right field pavilion “as Busch Stadium trembled with uproarious acclaim,” the Examiner reported. The grand slam was Musial’s ninth, and last, of his career and gave him seven RBI for the game. Boxscore

Learning on the job

The next year, Bolin (seven wins, six saves) helped the Giants win the 1962 pennant and pitched in two games of the World Series against the Yankees.

In 1964, Bolin appeared in more games as a starter than as a reliever for the first time since reaching the majors. In the first game he pitched that season, a start against the Cardinals, Bolin limited them to four hits in seven innings, but three were solo home runs _ by Johnny Lewis, Ken Boyer and Curt Flood _ and St. Louis won, 3-2. Boxscore

At the urging of his road roommate, pitcher Billy Pierce, 37, Bolin, 25, ditched the sidearm delivery and began throwing with more of an overhand motion. “As a result, his fastball moves _ and never the same way twice,” Pierce told The Sporting News.

On Aug. 14, 1964, Bolin pitched a one-hit shutout against the Braves. “A blind hog will find an acorn once in a while,” he modestly told the Examiner. Boxscore

Eight days later, he struck out 11 Cardinals, including Lou Brock four times, and got the win. Down by three in the seventh, the Cardinals had the bases loaded with two outs when Bolin struck out Brock on three consecutive fastballs. “I don’t think anyone could have hit those pitches,” Brock’s teammate, Tim McCarver, told the Examiner. “They tailed away and caught a sliver of the back of the plate.”

Giants catcher Tom Haller told the newspaper, “He’s as fast as he ever was, but he’s hitting spots. He’s got to throw it there to be effective.” Boxscore

Different look

Even with his overpowering fastball, Bolin needed a breaking pitch to keep batters from digging in. After much tinkering, he developed a slider. 

Bolin had 14 wins (eight in relief) in 1965 and 11 in 1966 (when he made 34 starts and pitched 10 complete games).

In his first appearance at the Cardinals’ new Busch Memorial Stadium, on June 28, 1966, Bolin pitched a two-hitter for the win. His former teammate, Orlando Cepeda, grounded a single to right for the Cardinals’ first hit in the seventh and Charlie Smith got the other on an infield hit in the eighth.

“I was missing with the fastball the last couple of innings, so I threw mostly sliders at the end,” Bolin told the Examiner. “Both the hits were on good pitches. Cepeda hit an outside slider and so did Smith.” Boxscore

A year later, on June 29, 1967, Bolin pitched the equivalent of a complete game in a relief stint against the Cardinals at St. Louis. The Giants scored 11 runs in the top of the first, nine against Bob Gibson, but, when Giants starter Joe Gibbon allowed two runs without recording an out in the bottom half of the inning, he was relieved by Bolin, who pitched nine innings for the win. Boxscore

Classic duels

To his disappointment, Bolin was used mostly in relief in the first half of the 1968 season. Moved into the starting rotation after the all-star break, he prospered. Bolin was 8-3 in the second half of the season. In those three losses, the Giants totaled one run.

On Sept. 6, 1968, fans came to Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis, hoping to see Juan Marichal and Bob Gibson as the starting pitchers in Game 1 of a doubleheader, but Giants manager Herman Franks had other ideas. He opted to start Bolin (7-4, 1.89) versus Gibson (20-6, 0.99) and save Marichal (24-7, 2.33) for Game 2 against Steve Carlton (12-9, 2.83).

Regarding his choice of Bolin to oppose Gibson, Franks told the Post-Dispatch, “I didn’t pitch any humpty-dumpty, you know.”

When the public address announcer read Bolin’s name in giving the Game 1 lineups, the crowd booed, the Post-Dispatch reported.

Bolin was up to the challenge. He limited the Cardinals to two runs (both earned) in 7.2 innings before Frank Linzy took over and provided scoreless relief. Gibson gave up three runs (two earned) in eight innings and lost for only the second time in his last 20 starts. Boxscore

(Neither Marichal nor Carlton pitched especially well in the second game, an 8-7 victory for the Giants. Boxscore)

Two weeks later, when the Cardinals were in San Francisco, Gaylord Perry pitched a no-hitter against them. The next day, the Cardinals’ Ray Washburn turned the tables, pitching a no-hitter versus the Giants. Bolin was the losing pitcher in that game. He shut out the Cardinals on two hits before they struck for a run in the seventh and another in the eighth. Boxscore

Changing leagues

In December 1969, Bolin was traded to the Seattle Pilots, who moved to Milwaukee before the start of the 1970 season and became the Brewers. He was sent to the Red Sox in September 1970 and became a relief specialist.

Bolin led the Red Sox in saves (15) in 1973 when Eddie Kasko was manager. Darrell Johnson, who replaced Kasko after the season, wanted to shake up the roster. In March 1974, in what Peter Gammons of the Boston Globe described as “the biggest single surprise of spring training,” Bolin, 35, was released. He opted to return home to South Carolina rather than try to extend his playing career.

He later quipped to the Rock Hill Herald, “I had to quit in 1974 for health reasons. The Red Sox were sick of me.”

In 13 seasons in the majors, Bolin totaled 88 wins and 51 saves. He three times finished in the top 10 in the National League in ERA _ 1965 (2.76), 1966 (2.89) and 1968 (1.99).

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers | 14 Comments »

Old pro: Orlando Pena worked wonders with Cardinals

June 14, 2023 by retrosimba

Orlando Pena was a baseball sorcerer, a mound magician who delivered a mix of deceptive pitches and overcame formidable odds to repeatedly revive his career.

Pena worked his wizardry for the Cardinals after they acquired him from the Orioles for cash on June 15, 1973.

Pena was 39, a castoff who had gone to spring training that year as a batting practice pitcher after suffering an elbow injury a few months earlier. Acquiring him turned out to be a marvelous, or even Merlinesque, move.

Give me a chance

Born and raised in Cuba, in the town of Victoria de las Tunas, Pena ran errands as a youth for his father, a grocer. The boy made a baseball glove from a pair of kid’s cowboy boots, cutting off the upper halves and sewing the two portions together to create a mitt, according to the Kansas City Star.

A right-handed pitcher, Pena was signed by the Cincinnati Reds, who sent him to their Daytona Beach (Fla.) farm club in 1955. Pena was 21, skinny (about 140 pounds, according to The Cincinnati Post) and considered a marginal prospect.

The Reds told Daytona Beach manager Johnny Vander Meer (who pitched consecutive no-hitters for Cincinnati in 1938) to give Pena a look and, if he didn’t like what he saw, the club would release the pitcher, the Associated Press reported. Given a chance to relieve in a game, Pena impressed. “To think I was told to let this man go was something I couldn’t believe when I saw him pitch,” Vander Meer said to the wire service.

Moved to the starting rotation, Pena was 21-8 with a 1.96 ERA for Daytona Beach in 1955. Three years later, the Reds brought him to the majors.

“I tell him he does not have a major-league fastball,” the Reds’ Cuban-born coach, Reggie Otero, informed The Cincinnati Post in 1959, “but he has a real good sinker. I tell him to keep the ball down, or you will find yourself back in Havana.”

Pena got too many pitches up (6-10 with Cincinnati), returned to the minors and resurfaced with the Kansas City Athletics in August 1962. He lost 20 games with the 1963 Athletics, gave up 40 home runs in 1964 and went 0-6 for them in 1965 before being placed on waivers.

Fork in the road

The Tigers took a chance and signed Pena in June 1965.

A high school player, Ted Simmons, was the Tigers’ batting practice catcher for home games. “Pena was the only guy on the team who would even talk to me,” Simmons recalled years later to Hal McCoy of the Dayton Daily News.

With a wink, Simmons added, “That’s how I learned to catch a forkball.”

McCoy wrote, “The wink was meant to inform the listener that he really meant a spitball.”

Pena told the Associated Press, “Everybody accuses me of spitting on the ball. I call it my Cuban forkball.”

Pena said a Reds minor-league manager, Bert Haas, taught him to throw the forkball, the Miami News reported.

To throw the forkball, Pena gripped the ball between his index and middle fingers, “which he spreads as wide as the extension of an average person’s three middle fingers,” the Miami News noted. Pena told the newspaper, “The forkball has a rotation the same as a spitter … If it weren’t for the forkball, I’d be selling peanuts in Cuba.”

Besides the forkball, Pena threw a wide assortment of other offerings and tried to distract the batter by turning his back on him in the middle of his delivery. Orioles manager Earl Weaver said to The Sporting News, “He’s got every pitch in the book _ a forkball, curve, fastball, slider and sinker from several arm positions, and a screwball, too.”

Pena also threw a palmball (a type of changeup) and dabbled with a knuckleball.

Down and out

In three seasons with the Tigers, Pena had eight wins, 11 saves and a 3.01 ERA but in May 1967 they sent him to the Indians. Pena notched eight saves with the 1967 Indians, but was demoted to the minors the following year. At 34, he seemed done as a big-league pitcher.

Pena, 36, was a batting practice pitcher for the Royals in 1970 when the Pirates came to Kansas City in June to play an exhibition game. After watching Pena throw, Pirates outfielder Roberto Clemente met with club officials and, according to The Pittsburgh Press, told them, “Pena is as good as anyone in our bullpen.” 

Desperate for relievers, the Pirates signed him that day. (The Pirates used 20 pitchers in 1970 and 18 of those made relief appearances.) Pena was 2-1 with two saves in 23 games for the 1970 Pirates, but they released him in August after he injured an ankle.

Miami marvel

When spring training began in 1971, Pena, 37, was at home in Miami. Looking to stay in the game, he accepted a coaching job with the Orioles’ Miami farm club in the Class A Florida State League. The job also called for him to appear on Spanish-language radio and promote interest in the team.

“I was going to pitch some, help the young pitchers and try to sell tickets,” Pena told the Kansas City Star.

Instead, Pena became a starter. He was 9-4 with an 0.70 ERA when the Orioles called him to the big leagues in July. He made five relief appearances for them, then finished the season with the Class AAA Rochester (N.Y.) affiliate.

Back with minor-league Miami (where, according to The Sporting News, his teammates called him Poppa), Pena, 38, performed remarkably in 1972, posting a 15-3 record and 1.38 ERA for the Class A club. Promoted to Rochester late in the season, he dazzled there, too (7-0, 0.96), and helped the club reach the International League playoffs.

Pitching in pain

On Sept. 4, 1972, Pena was a front-seat passenger in a car driven by Rochester coach Chico Fernandez when the vehicle was struck broadside at an intersection, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reported.

According to the Baltimore Sun, the right front wheel of the car took the brunt of the collision. “If it had hit my door, I’d be a dead man,” Pena told the Rochester newspaper.

Pena said his right elbow slammed against the car door and he felt a “pulsing ache” from the shoulder blade to the elbow of his pitching arm, but the next day he threw for 15 minutes and declared himself ready to pitch in the playoff series against Louisville, the Democrat and Chronicle reported.

On Sept. 6, 1972, two days after being hurt in the accident, Pena started Game 2 of the playoff series and pitched nine innings before he gave in to the pain and asked manager Joe Altobelli to lift him for a pinch-hitter with the score tied at 3-3. Roger Repoz hit a two-run homer in the 10th and Rochester won, 5-3.

“He’s got heart,” Rochester trainer Rudy Owen told the Democrat and Chronicle. “I could tell he was going through some kind of pain, but he hung in there.”

Throughout the game, Owen applied a hot preparation to Pena’s aching elbow. “I mixed up a special compound of Capsulin and an analgesic,” Owen said. “We put it on him every other inning.”

Pena told the Rochester newspaper, “I’ve never had such a burning sensation before. Every time Doc would put it on, I’d hold my breath.”

After Louisville won the best-of-three series, Pena had the elbow re-examined and it was discovered he had fractured it in the car accident, the Baltimore Sun reported. He underwent surgery and, for the first time in 17 years, didn’t play winter league baseball in the Caribbean.

Unfinished business

There was no market for a 39-year-old pitcher on the mend from an elbow injury. As a courtesy, the Orioles invited Pena to spring training in 1973 as a batting practice pitcher.

In their second exhibition game, against the Yankees at Fort Lauderdale, the Orioles ran out of pitchers in extra innings. So they put Pena on the mound and he pitched well.

Given more appearances in spring training games, Pena surprised manager Earl Weaver and pitching coach George Bamberger with his effective assortment of pitches. “Pena has so many variations that Bamberger doesn’t know what they are sometimes when he charts them,” Weaver told The Sporting News.

When Opening Day came, Pena was on the Orioles roster.

In his first appearance for the 1973 Orioles, Pena earned a save against the Tigers. Three days later, Weaver named him the starting pitcher for the second game of a doubleheader versus the Brewers. It was Pena’s first start in the majors since 1967. He pitched 7.1 innings and the Orioles won. Boxscore

Helping hand

In June 1973, Cardinals starter Scipio Spinks was sidelined by a shoulder ailment and Tom Murphy was moved from the bullpen to replace him. Seeking a reliever to replace Murphy, the Cardinals purchased the contract of Pena from the Orioles.

Together with Diego Segui, Al Hrabosky and Rich Folkers, Pena gave the Cardinals a reliable relief corps. After his first nine appearances for St. Louis, Pena was 1-0 with two saves and an 0.00 ERA.

He also doubled as the Cardinals’ clubhouse clipper. Described by The Sporting News as “an accomplished barber,” Pena gave haircuts to teammates and became “one of the club’s most likeable members.”

Pena told The Cincinnati Post, “You know what they call me here? They call me Satchel. You know, like Satchel Paige.”

In September, when the 1973 Cardinals were contending for first place in the mediocre East Division, Pena was superb. In a doubleheader versus the Pirates on Sept. 3, he pitched in both games, earning a save in the second with 3.2 scoreless innings. For the month, Pena was 1-1 with two saves and a 1.71 ERA in 11 appearances. Boxscore

Pena was 4-4 in 42 games for the 1973 Cardinals and ranked second on the club in both saves (six) and ERA (2.18).

End of the line

The Cardinals were glad to have Pena, 40, back with them in 1974.

He picked up where he left off the previous year, winning his first five decisions. In 42 relief appearances for the 1974 Cardinals, Pena was 5-2 with four saves and a 2.60 ERA. He allowed no home runs in 45 innings pitched. Right-handed batters hit .158 against him.

Imagine his shock then when, to make room on the roster for newly acquired Claude Osteen, the Cardinals released Pena in August 1974.

“Sometimes they catch you by surprise and you feel like the whole ceiling falls over you,” Pena told The Sporting News.

Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst said, “Orlando is a great guy and a hell of a guy to have on the club, but we could keep only 10 pitchers.”

(Pena and Osteen had a history. Eleven years earlier, in a 1963 American League game, Pena hit a grand slam against him. Boxscore)

Pena agreed to stay in St. Louis as a batting practice pitcher. Then, on Sept. 5, 1974, he was traded to the Angels for a player to be named (pitcher Rich Hand).

Pena’s final big-league appearances were with the 1975 Angels, who had Dick Williams as manager and Whitey Herzog as a coach.

Posted in Games, Pitchers, Trades | 12 Comments »

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