RetroSimba

How Lee Thomas helped build Cardinals into champions

September 16, 2022 by retrosimba

(Updated June 16, 2024)

After a playing career as an outfielder and first baseman in the majors during the 1960s, Lee Thomas was willing to do whatever it took to remain in the game. The Cardinals gave him a chance and he made the most of it.

Thomas served several roles with the Cardinals before becoming a top baseball executive. Having earned the respect and trust of Whitey Herzog, Thomas was responsible for developing the pipeline that supplied much talent for the Cardinals’ championship clubs in the 1980s.

Impressed by what he accomplished, the Phillies hired Thomas and he was their general manager when they won a National League title in 1993.

Settled in St. Louis

Born in Peoria, Thomas moved with his mother and stepfather, an auto mechanic, to Jacksonville, Ill., and Waco, Texas, before settling in St. Louis when he was 8, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

A standout athlete at Beaumont High School in St. Louis, Thomas, 18, hit .580 his senior baseball season and was signed by the Yankees in June 1954.

Another Yankees outfield prospect at the time was Whitey Herzog.

A left-handed batter who hit for power and average, Thomas spent seven seasons in the Yankees’ farm system before reaching the majors with them in 1961.

A special opportunity occurred for Thomas when the Yankees played the Cardinals at St. Louis in a pair of exhibition games on the eve of the 1961 season opener. Substituting for right fielder Roger Maris late in both games, Thomas got to play before friends and family, and singled in an at-bat against Mickey McDermott.

Two weeks later, making his big-league debut as a pinch-hitter at Baltimore, Thomas singled to center against future Hall of Famer and former Cardinal Hoyt Wilhelm. Playing right field for the Orioles was Whitey Herzog. Boxscore

In his book, “Season of Glory,” Yankees manager Ralph Houk said, “Lee hit good in the minors but he came to the Yankees at a bad time. He came along when we had (Mickey) Mantle and (Roger) Maris, and there just wasn’t a place for him.”

Fitted for a halo

In May 1961, the Yankees dealt Thomas to the Angels, a first-year expansion club. He became the first Angels player to hit a grand slam (against the Orioles’ Milt Pappas), the first to hit three home runs in a game and the first to go 5-for-5.

On Sept. 5, 1961, Thomas had 9 hits in 11 at-bats in a doubleheader against the Athletics at Kansas City. Boxscore and Boxscore

The next year, Thomas hit .290 with 26 home runs and 104 RBI for the 1962 Angels and was named an American League all-star.

Those early Angels teams were stocked with colorful characters such as veterans Steve Bilko, Rocky Bridges, Art Fowler and Ted Kluszewski, and newcomers the likes of Bo Belinsky, Dean Chance, Jim Fregosi, Bob “Buck” Rodgers and Thomas.

“We were a group of guys no one wanted and were out to prove we could play,” Thomas told the Los Angeles Times.

Rodgers, who went on to manage the Brewers, Expos and Angels, was Thomas’ road roommate with the Angels. He gave Thomas the nickname “Mad Dog” for hurling a 3-wood into a tree during a celebrity golf outing at the Rio Hondo Club.

“I can’t say anything bad about him, except I had to order the pizza all the time when we were roomies,” Rodgers said to the Los Angeles Times.

After the 1962 season, Thomas had surgery on a knee he damaged during his prep football days. He wasn’t the same after that. In his last five big-league seasons (1964-68), he played for five teams (Angels, Red Sox, Braves, Cubs, Astros).

(On the morning of May 28, 1966, the Braves dealt Thomas to the Cubs for reliever Ted Abernathy. That afternoon, Thomas made his Cubs debut and drove in the tying run with a single against Abernathy. Boxscore)

Multiple skills

Thomas made his last big-league playing appearance on Sept. 27, 1968, as a pinch-hitter for the Astros against the Cardinals at St. Louis. Boxscore

After playing for the Nankai Hawks in Japan in 1969 (a teammate was former Cardinals second baseman Don Blasingame), Thomas finished his playing career with the Cardinals’ Tulsa affiliate managed by Warren Spahn.

“I knew I wanted to stay in the game,” Thomas said to the Los Angeles Times.

Back home in St. Louis, he got hired by the Cardinals. According to the team media guide, Thomas filled the following roles:

_ 1971-72: Cardinals batting practice pitcher and bullpen coach.

_ 1973: Manager of a Cardinals team in the rookie Gulf Coast League in Sarasota, Fla.

_ 1974: Manager of the Cardinals’ Modesto farm club in the California League.

_ 1975: Cardinals administrative assistant to Joe Cunningham in sales and promotions.

“I sold season tickets,” Thomas told author Tom Wheatley. “It wasn’t easy. You had to wine and dine people to sell them … and we were horsefeathers for a while there.”

_ 1976-80: Cardinals traveling secretary.

In his autobiography, Cardinals general manager Bing Devine, who brought Thomas into the organization, said, “He did more than just make travel arrangements for the ballclub. When I had a question on player development, I always valued him as a sounding board. I liked to check with him when I wanted an opinion from someone not so close to me in the baseball office.”

_ 1981-88: Cardinals director of player development.

Whitey Herzog, who had the dual role of Cardinals manager and general manager, chose Thomas to be director of player development after the 1980 season.

“Lee is a lot like me,” Herzog told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “Lee has enough confidence in his ability to make a decision and go ahead and do it.”

During Thomas’ time as director of player development, the Cardinals developed players such as Vince Coleman, Danny Cox, Ricky Horton, Terry Pendleton, Joe Magrane, Greg Mathews, John Stuper, Andy Van Slyke and Todd Worrell. Thomas suggested the successful shifting of Pendleton from second base to third. Thomas and scout Hal Smith also initiated the conversion of Worrell from starter to closer.

In 1983, Thomas brought in his close friend and former Angels teammate, Jim Fregosi, to manage the Cardinals’ top farm team at Louisville. With Thomas and Fregosi in synch, the talent pipeline flowed.

“We respect each other’s abilities, and we have no problem about communication,” Fregosi told the Los Angeles Times.

Winning touch

The Cardinals won three National League pennants and a World Series championship during Thomas’ time as director of player development.

Herzog, who as director of player development for the Mets helped build the team that won the 1969 World Series title, said to the Los Angeles Times, “The guy in charge of player development manages six or seven clubs at the same time. He has to have a feel for every player at every level.”

As for Thomas, Herzog said, “He gave me the right answer every time I called to ask if a certain player or pitcher was ready. That’s what you want from a guy in that position.”

When Cardinals general manager Joe McDonald was ousted in January 1985, “I wanted Lee Thomas” to replace him, Herzog told the Los Angeles Times, but the Cardinals hired Dal Maxvill.

In June 1988, Thomas left the Cardinals to be general manager of the last-place Phillies. He hired Fregosi to be Phillies manager in 1991. Two years later, with Thomas and Fregosi in charge, the Phillies became National League champions.

“Big-league front offices are well-stocked with executives who have a hard time pulling the trigger,” wrote Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Frank Dolson. “They hem. They haw. They hedge. Thomas does none of the above. He shoots from the hip. In that way, he is much like his old boss, Whitey Herzog.”

Thomas told Cardinals Magazine, “I don’t think I would have ever been a general manager without working for Whitey and the success that we had. When I got to be a GM, I’d still call him.”

Posted in Executives, Hitters | 9 Comments »

A stretch of sustained excellence for Rogers Hornsby

September 12, 2022 by retrosimba

Rogers Hornsby set a standard that, a century later, never has been matched by another Cardinals player.

In 1922, Hornsby had a 33-game hitting streak for the Cardinals. It remains the franchise record.

Hornsby, 26, achieved the feat in a dominant season for him. A right-handed batter and second baseman, Hornsby in 1922 led the National League in batting (.401), on-base percentage (.459), slugging percentage (.722), runs (141), hits (250), total bases (450), doubles (46), home runs (42), RBI (152) and extra-base hits (102). He also had 17 stolen bases and struck out a mere 50 times in 704 plate appearances.

Collared by Cubs

On Aug. 12, 1922, Hornsby was hitless in a game against the Cubs at St. Louis. His long fly to right against Tiny Osborne (6-foot-5, 215-pound rookie starter) with the bases loaded in the fifth was caught near the fence by former Cardinal Cliff Heathcote.

(When Osborne was lifted in the seventh, Cubs shortstop and team captain Charlie Hollocher, a St. Louis native, “took the ball from the big pitcher and in so doing must have made some sort of a curt remark,” the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported. “Osborne took exception and made a break as if to swing on the captain’s jaw. As he did, umpire Charlie Moran interfered and Osborne was dragged off the field by two huskier mates.”)

In the ninth, facing Percy Lee Jones, Hornsby made the game’s last out, completing an 0-for-4 afternoon and dropping his season batting average from .381 to .377. He wouldn’t have another hitless game for more than a month. Boxscore

Hot hitting

During the 33-game hitting streak, Hornsby’s performances included:

_ Four hits against the Dodgers on Aug. 17. National League strikeout leader and future Hall of Famer Dazzy Vance was the Dodgers’ starter. Boxscore

_ Three hits and four RBI versus the Reds on Sept. 9. Boxscore

_ Three hits and six RBI against the Phillies on Sept. 15. Two of the hits were home runs, a solo shot and a grand slam, both versus starter Jimmy Ring. Four years later, Ring and Frankie Frisch were traded by the Giants to the Cardinals for Hornsby. Boxscore

On Sept. 19, with a cold breeze cutting through the field in Boston, Hornsby extended his streak to 33 games when he pulled a Frank Miller pitch past third baseman Walter Barbare and into left field for a single in his fourth and last plate appearance of the afternoon. Boxscore

Hornsby’s batting average for the season was .400 with 12 games left to play. During the streak, he batted .466, with 68 hits in 146 at-bats.

Nobody’s perfect

On Sept. 20, 1922, the Cardinals were in Brooklyn for a Wednesday doubleheader with the Dodgers at Ebbets Field.

In the opener, spitball specialist Burleigh Grimes was the Dodgers’ starter. Hornsby would collect 59 hits against Grimes in his career, but none came on that day. Grimes won the matchup of future Hall of Famers, holding Hornsby hitless in four plate appearances and snapping his streak.

Hornsby never got a ball out of the infield. In his first three plate appearances, he grounded out twice and struck out.

In the ninth, with Jack Smith on first and none out, Hornsby tapped a ball to Grimes, who made an accurate throw to shortstop Jimmy Johnston, covering second. Johnston dropped the ball and Smith was safe at second on the error. Hornsby reached first on the fielder’s choice.

“Hornsby was just stopped by a great pitcher,” the St. Louis Star-Times reported. “That was all there was to it.”

Grimes pitched a three-hitter and allowed only an unearned run in achieving his 16th win of the season, including four against the Cardinals.

“Burleigh Grimes probably would have held the Cards hitless and runless had Jimmy Johnston removed some of the lead from his shoes,” the New York Daily News noted. “As it was, Grimes allowed only three hits, each of which bounced off the glove of the Brooklyn shortstop.” Boxscore

In the second game, Hornsby, “considerably peeved at being held hitless” in the opener, according to the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, had two home runs and a single. The Dodgers’ Leon Cadore pitched the entire game, allowing 20 hits, two walks and 13 runs (three earned). Boxscore

(Two years earlier, on May 1, 1920, Cadore and Joe Oeschger each pitched 26 innings in a game between the Dodgers and Braves. Boxscore)

Entering the Oct. 1 season finale against the Cubs, Hornsby had a season batting average of .400. He went 3-for-5 in the finale to finish at .401, his first of three .400 seasons as a Cardinal. Boxscore

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents, Records | 2 Comments »

Knocked from their perch, 1982 Cardinals bounced back

September 8, 2022 by retrosimba

(Updated June 11, 2024)

With 21 games remaining in the season, bad omens hung over the Cardinals like a murky mist along the Delaware River and threatened to choke out their division title hopes.

In September 1982, the Cardinals clung to first place in the National League East Division by a half game, entering a series against the pursuing Phillies at Philadelphia.

It didn’t take a carnival fortune teller to see the warning signs:

_ After gaining a 3.5-game lead over the Phillies with a Sept. 1 win against the Dodgers, the Cardinals lost six of their next nine.

_ Shortstop Ozzie Smith had severe swelling in his right thigh and was unavailable for the Phillies series _ and for several games after that.

_ Like the ghost of seasons past, Steve Carlton, who relentlessly tormented his former club as payback for the pettiness of club owner Gussie Busch, was the scheduled starter for the Phillies in the series opener.

After winning 12 in a row in April and leading the division for most of the season, the Cardinals, who never had won a division title, were at a crossroads.

Crunch time

The mood in Philadelphia was electric with anticipation on the eve of the series.

“This is a month when a baseball man needs strong nerves and an informative scoreboard,” columnist Mark Whicker wrote in the Philadelphia Daily News.

Phillies third baseman Mike Schmidt told Jayson Stark of the Philadelphia Inquirer, “Our fate is in our hands for the next three or four days.”

If Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog felt pressure, it didn’t show. “A race like this is fun, to seesaw back and forth and watch that scoreboard,” Herzog said to the Inquirer’s Peter Pascarelli. “This is easy. I’ll tell you what’s tough. It’s managing a team in September that’s out of the race. That is the hardest job in baseball.”

Actually, for the Cardinals, the hardest job was trying to beat Carlton. He entered the game with a career record against the Cardinals of 33-10, including 3-1 in 1982. (Carlton would finish his Hall of Fame career 38-14 versus the Cardinals, including 5-1 in 1982.)

Phillies take first

The Sept. 13 opener was everything the Phillies hoped it would be. Carlton pitched a three-hit shutout, striking out 12 and walking none, and hit a home run in the Phillies’ 2-0 victory.

“That’s the best he’s pitched against us since I’ve been here,” Herzog told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Hal Bodley of The Sporting News noted, “Much of Carlton’s success can be attributed to his conditioning routine and his fearsome slider. Without his uncanny strength, he would not be able to throw the nasty slider. Carlton’s great strength enables him to get a tighter grip on the ball. Because it’s thrown so hard, it breaks and drops sharply.”

Phillies manager Pat Corrales, who caught Carlton as a Cardinals backup catcher in 1966, said, “It’s amazing to watch a man almost 38 throwing like he is 28. That just goes to show what desire, talent and preparing yourself can do.” Boxscore

The win moved the Phillies into first place, a half game ahead, and put them into position “to cripple the Cardinals’ division hopes,” the Post-Dispatch noted.

“Sometimes,” Cardinals first baseman Keith Hernandez said to the Philadelphia Inquirer, “a game like that can make you get swept.”

Dramatic duel

The turning point in the series, and perhaps the Cardinals’ season, occurred the following night, Sept. 14.

Darrell Porter’s two-run home run against Mike Krukow and the pitching of rookie starter John Stuper gave the Cardinals a 2-0 cushion as the Phillies came to bat in the eighth. After retiring the first batter of the inning, Stuper walked Bob Molinaro and gave up a single to Pete Rose. Bruce Sutter relieved and yielded an infield single to Gary Matthews, loading the bases for slugger Mike Schmidt.

(Guarding the line, third baseman Ken Oberkfell made a tumbling stop of Matthews’ grounder. After considering a throw to second for a possible force out, Oberkfell instead fired to first and barely missed retiring Matthews. If Oberkfell had thrown to first without hesitation, Matthews likely would have been out, and Herzog, with first base open, would have ordered an intentional walk to Schmidt.)

Schmidt had faced Sutter twice during the season and doubled both times.

Sutter got ahead with two quick strikes, but then Schmidt worked the count even. Swinging at a sinking split-fingered pitch, Schmidt tapped the ball to Sutter, who started a home-to-first double play, ending the threat.

“That confrontation between Sutter and Schmidt _ that is what baseball is all about,” Stuper said to the Post-Dispatch.

Schmidt said, “He’s at his best when the hitter has a lot of pressure on him.”

Getting Schmidt to bounce into the double play was “the turning point of the race,” Herzog told Cardinals Magazine.

After winning the showdown of future Hall of Famers, Sutter held the Phillies scoreless again in the ninth, securing the Cardinals’ victory and enabling them to reclaim first place. Boxscore

The Cardinals would remain atop the division the rest of the season.

Championship caliber

In the series finale on Sept. 15, Joaquin Andujar pitched a three-hit shutout for the Cardinals, who won, 8-0. The Cardinals scored five runs in the third against former teammate John Denny, who was making his first Phillies start since being acquired three days earlier from the Indians.

After the game, “the mood bordered on the funereal” in the Phillies’ locker room, the Post-Dispatch reported. Boxscore

Having withstood the Phillies’ challenge, the Cardinals went on a roll. In addition to winning the last two games of the Phillies series, they swept a five-game series with the Mets at New York, including doubleheaders on consecutive days, and won the opener of a two-game rematch with the Phillies at St. Louis.

The eight straight wins lifted the Cardinals’ record to 87-63 and put them 5.5 games ahead of the second-place Phillies.

Ozzie Smith was out of the lineup from Sept. 11 through Sept. 23, but in that stretch the Cardinals were 10-4. His replacement, Mike Ramsey, made 14 September starts at shortstop and didn’t commit an error.

The Cardinals clinched the division title on Sept. 27, swept the Braves in the National League Championship Series and prevailed in a seven-game thriller against the Brewers in the World Series.

Posted in Games, Opponents | 5 Comments »

A wonderful weekend of walkoffs for Enos Slaughter

September 4, 2022 by retrosimba

As Cardinals, pitchers Murry Dickson and Howie Pollet were beneficiaries of the productive hitting of Enos Slaughter. As Pirates, they were victims of the same.

In September 1952, Slaughter delivered walkoff wins for the Cardinals in consecutive games versus the Pirates.

One of those game-winning hits came against Dickson. The other occurred an inning after Slaughter tied the score versus Pollet.

Six years earlier, Dickson (15 wins) and Pollet (21 wins) were two of the top starters for the 1946 World Series champion Cardinals. Slaughter led the National League in RBI (130) that season and made a daring dash from first to home to score the winning run in Game 7 of the World Series.

A lot had changed by 1952. The Cardinals no longer were a consistent contender, and Dickson and Pollet were pitching for one of the all-time worst teams.

Getting it done

At 36, Slaughter still had a prominent role with the 1952 Cardinals as their right fielder, cleanup hitter and team captain. Though not a classic power hitter, Slaughter was a challenge for any pitcher. He led the 1952 Cardinals in RBI (101) and triples (12), and hit .300.

Slaughter was in his usual lineup spot for the Cardinals against the Pirates on Saturday night, Sept. 6, 1952, at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis. With 20 games left to play, the Cardinals were 77-57, but nine behind the first-place Dodgers.

Starting for the Pirates was Murry Dickson. The year before, he had 20 wins for the Pirates. In 1952, he would suffer 21 losses. The Pirates entered the game with a 39-98 record on their way to a 42-112 finish. The Pirates’ catcher was another former member of the 1946 Cardinals, Joe Garagiola.

Dickson and the Pirates took a 4-3 lead into the bottom of the eighth. Red Schoendienst led off for the Cardinals and singled. Stan Musial followed with a sharp grounder to first baseman Tony Bartirome, who threw to shortstop Dick Groat, covering second, for the force out of Schoendienst. Groat’s relay throw to Bartirome nearly completed a double play, but umpire Babe Pinelli ruled Musial safe at first.

(Pinelli’s call peeved the Pirates. As the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette noted, “Joe Garagiola sounded off quite freely with Pinelli after the game on the trip to the clubhouse. Both exercised the freedom of speech article in the Constitution.”)

Instead of batting with the bases empty, Slaughter came up with Musial on first and laced a double off the screen in right field. Musial raced home, tying the score at 4-4.

Dickson still was pitching in the 10th when Solly Hemus led off with a double. After Schoendienst popped out, Musial was walked intentionally, bringing up Slaughter. (Musial in his career batted .419 with 52 hits versus Dickson. Slaughter batted .267 with 27 hits against him.)

Slaughter hit Dickson’s first pitch onto the right field roof for a three-run walkoff home run and a 7-4 Cardinals victory. Boxscore

The home run was Slaughter’s 1,900th career hit. He would finish with 2,383.

(Slaughter hit four walkoff home runs in the majors, three for the Cardinals and one for the Athletics.)

Encore performance

The next day, before what the St. Louis Post-Dispatch described as a “slender Sunday crowd” of 9,298, Howie Pollet started against his former team.

Pollet shut out the Cardinals for seven innings, limiting them to two hits, but in the eighth, with the Pirates ahead, 3-0, the Cardinals loaded the bases with none out. Musial struck out, but Slaughter followed with a triple high off the screen in right-center, tying the score.

“Came the ninth and now defeat was inevitable,” The Pittsburgh Press noted. “It always is with the Pirates.”

Pirates manager Billy Meyer sent Jim Waugh, an 18-year-old rookie, to pitch the bottom of the ninth against the Cardinals. After retiring the first batter, he walked the next three.

Another rookie, Cal Hogue, relieved, facing Slaughter with the bases loaded. Hogue’s best pitch was “a jagged overhanded curve,” according to Bob Broeg of the Post-Dispatch.

Working the count to 3-and-1, Slaughter sent a fly into medium right-center. Dick Hall, the Pirates’ 6-foot-6 rookie center fielder, loped over to the ball, then turned away and shielded his eyes from the sun.

The ball fell a few feet in front of him for a single as Solly Hemus streaked home from third with the winning run.

Unlike his game-winning home run the night before, Slaughter’s walkoff single wasn’t crushed but the result was the same. Martin J. Haley, covering the game for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, described it as a “sun-kissed single.”

(St. Louis native Dick Hall eventually was converted from an outfielder to a pitcher. He became a successful reliever, pitching in three World Series for the Orioles and earning 93 wins and 71 saves in the majors.)

According to the Globe-Democrat, even if Hall had caught the ball, Hemus “undoubtedly would have scored” from third on the sacrifice fly.

“The sad sack Buccos walked off the field as though trailing a funeral procession,” The Pittsburgh Press reported. Boxscore

Jubilant Cardinals manager Eddie Stanky told Broeg that “all the adjectives in the world can’t describe” Slaughter.

“I didn’t expect him to do nearly what he’s done this season,” Stanky said. “I didn’t think he’d come close to driving in 100 runs.”

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents | 13 Comments »

St. Louis showdown: Andy Benes vs. Alan Benes

August 31, 2022 by retrosimba

Tasked with putting team ahead of family, Andy Benes didn’t like the assignment but he performed like a pro and did his job exceptionally well.

On Sept. 6, 2002, brothers Andy Benes of the Cardinals and Alan Benes of the Cubs were the starting pitchers in a game at St. Louis. It was the first time a Cardinals starting pitcher was matched against a sibling, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Andy was the winner, pitching a complete game and producing two hits _ one to ignite an uprising and another to drive in a run _ against his younger brother in an 11-2 Cardinals victory.

The win was the 155th and last of Andy’s career in the majors.

Baseball brotherhood

Picked by the Padres as the first overall choice in the 1988 amateur baseball draft, Andy was a free agent when he signed with the Cardinals in December 1995.

Alan was chosen by the Cardinals in the first round of the 1993 draft immediately after the Blue Jays selected pitcher Chris Carpenter.

Andy and Alan were Cardinals teammates in 1996 and 1997. They were the Cardinals’ first brother pitching tandem since Lindy McDaniel and Von McDaniel in 1957-58.

The Benes brothers combined for 31 wins (Andy, 18; Alan, 13) in 1996 and 19 wins in 1997 (Andy, 10; Alan, 9). Alan came within an out of pitching a no-hitter against the Braves.

A contract snafu made Andy a free agent after the 1997 season and he went to the Diamondbacks. Alan injured his right shoulder and required two operations _ one in September 1997 and the other in September 1998.

Granted free agency after the 1999 season, Andy returned to the Cardinals, and he and Alan were teammates again in 2000 and 2001.

Alan’s shoulder surgeries took a toll, though, and he no longer was a promising starter. He was a reliever with the 2000 Cardinals and spent most of 2001 in the minors before becoming a free agent. The Cubs signed him to a minor-league contract for 2002.

Alan opened the 2002 season in the Cubs farm system. Andy made three April starts for the 2002 Cardinals before being sidelined because of an arthritic knee.

Family matter

On July 3, 2002, Andy was with the Cardinals’ Memphis affiliate, working himself back into form after his stint on the disabled list, when he and Alan, pitching for Iowa, opposed one another as starters for the first time. Alan got a hit, but Andy got the win in an 8-5 Memphis triumph.

Two weeks later, Andy rejoined the Cardinals. In late August, the Cubs called up Alan.

That set up their September showdown in St. Louis.

Because of their competitiveness, “I know he would throw some balls in on me if he needs to, and I would throw some balls in on him if I need to,” Alan told the Chicago Tribune.

The matchup of Andy, 35, and Alan, 30, was the first time pitching brothers started against one another in the majors since Ramon Martinez of the Dodgers faced Pedro Martinez of the Expos on Aug. 29, 1996. Ramon got the win in a 2-1 Dodgers triumph at Montreal. Boxscore

(Brothers Bob Forsch of the Cardinals and Ken Forsch of the Astros never faced one another as starting pitchers, but they did pitch as opponents in the same game four times.)

Oh, brother

Attending the 2002 Cubs versus Cardinals game at St. Louis were Benes family members, including Charles Benes, the father of Andy and Alan. Seated 20 rows behind home plate, Charles wore a Cardinals cap while Andy pitched and switched to a Cubs cap when Alan was on the mound.

“We were hoping for a 1-0 game,” Andy told the Associated Press.

The game was scoreless when Alan led off the top of the third inning and hit a soft liner to his brother. Andy caught it for an out, but then let the ball slip out of his glove in order to make Alan think he should run to first base. Alan took a few steps up the line before veering back to the dugout.

“I was just being playful,” Andy said to the Associated Press.

The kid stuff ended in the bottom half of the inning. Andy led off for the Cardinals and drove a high fastball to left for a single.

The hit triggered a merciless assault on poor Alan.

After Fernando Vina singled, Alan unleashed a wild pitch, enabling Andy and Vina to each move up a base. Eli Marrero singled, scoring Andy for a 1-0 lead. After Jim Edmonds walked, Albert Pujols singled, scoring Vina and Marrero. The Cardinals led 3-0.

Scott Rolen struck out, but Tino Martinez lofted a fly ball to deep right. Sammy Sosa leaped for the ball, missed it completely and it fell for a double, driving in Edmonds and Pujols and making the score 5-0.

During the barrage, Andy left the dugout and went into the tunnel that led to the clubhouse. “It just kind of killed me watching it,” Andy explained to the Belleville (Ill.) News-Democrat. “I had to kind of regroup. He’s my younger brother and I’m his second-biggest fan behind his wife. It’s gut-wrenching. It’s like you can beat up your younger brother, but nobody else can.”

After Edgar Renteria was walked intentionally, Mike Matheny made the second out, bringing Andy to the plate for the second time in the inning.

Andy delivered the knockout blow, a single to center that scored Martinez and made it 6-0.

Alan was relieved by Jesus Sanchez, who allowed both runners he inherited, Renteria and Andy, to score. Those runs were charged to Alan. The Cardinals scored 11 runs in the inning. Alan was responsible for eight of those. Boxscore

“I couldn’t make the big pitch to slow them down,” Alan told the Post-Dispatch.

Andy concluded, “I knew it was going to be tough today. It was going to be very emotional for everybody, regardless of results.”

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers | 6 Comments »

Dan Bankhead got thrust into role as pitching pioneer

August 27, 2022 by retrosimba

In the same year Jackie Robinson integrated the big leagues, Dan Bankhead became the first black pitcher in the majors.

In August 1947, Bankhead debuted for the Dodgers against the Pirates. His second appearance came against the Cardinals.

Unlike Robinson, Bankhead didn’t have a Hall of Fame career. He pitched in three seasons for the Dodgers and had a 9-5 record. Versus the Cardinals, he was 2-0, including his lone shutout.

Talent search

During the 1947 season, while the front-running Dodgers tried to fend off the Cardinals in the National League pennant race, Dodgers executive Branch Rickey launched a nationwide search for pitching help. Two of his scouts, Hall of Famer George Sisler and Wid Matthews, recommended Bankhead, a right-hander with the Memphis Red Sox of the Negro American League.

Bankhead was 20 when he began his pro baseball career in 1940 with the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro American League. According to the New York Times, he served three years (1942-45) in the Marine Corps at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

After his discharge, Bankhead joined the Memphis Red Sox and his baseball career soared. B.B. Martin, a dentist who owned the Memphis club and had been involved in Negro League baseball for many years, called Bankhead “one of the great pitchers I have ever seen,” the Associated Press reported.

On July 27, 1947, Bankhead was the winning pitcher in the Negro League All-Star Game before 48,112 spectators, including Dodgers scouts, at Comiskey Park in Chicago. About the same time, Rickey began his search to bolster a Dodgers pitching staff led by 21-year-old ace Ralph Branca and closer Hugh Casey.

“I’ve flown all over the country trying to find the best possible solution to a problem that I consider desperate,” Rickey told the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

Rickey eventually focused his attention on Bankhead. In August, he saw him pitch a five-hitter and strike out 11 in a win against Birmingham. Rickey was as impressed with Bankhead’s poise and confidence as he was with his fastball. For the season, Bankhead was 11-5 with more strikeouts than innings pitched.

Rickey, who told the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, “In the last three weeks, I’ve looked at more pitchers than any man in North America,” became convinced Bankhead, 27, could help the Dodgers immediately.

Dan or Diz?

On Aug. 24, 1947, the Dodgers purchased Bankhead’s contract from Memphis for $15,000. He became the second black player in the National League, joining Dodgers teammate Jackie Robinson, who integrated baseball four months earlier.

As the first black pitcher in the big leagues, Bankhead’s arrival in Brooklyn received much attention. Rickey upped the ante when he told the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, “If he were a couple of inches taller and if he had better command of that change of pace, his style would strongly suggest that of Dizzy Dean.”

Rickey added, “He wouldn’t be here if we didn’t think he had extraordinary ability, but, at the same time, I regret the necessity of rushing him right into the National League.”

On Aug. 26, two days after he signed with the Dodgers, Bankhead made his debut at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. About one-third of the crowd of 24,069 were blacks, according to the Associated Press. As the game began, Bankhead walked to the bullpen “to the tune of welcoming applause,” the New York Times reported.

Pitching in relief of starter Hal Gregg, Bankhead gave up eight runs in 3.1 innings. His highlight came in his first plate appearance in the big leagues: a two-run home run into the left field seats against the Pirates’ 39-year-old Fritz Ostermueller. Boxscore

Dodgers manager Burt Shotton suggested Bankhead was tipping his pitches, inadvertently letting the Pirates know what was coming.

“I admit the boy didn’t look good,” Shotton said to the Associated Press, “but he certainly showed me he knows how to pitch. He has speed, a good curve and control. His delivery could be improved. The boys were calling all his pitches before they were made. His motion is too slow with men on bases.”

Noting that at Memphis he made three starts a week and often relieved on other days, Bankhead told the Associated Press, “I’m quite a bit overworked,” but added, “This is no alibi … They (the Pirates) smoked back every pitch faster than I threw it.”

Another test

Bankhead didn’t pitch again until two weeks later, Sept. 12, at St. Louis.

The Cardinals were an especially difficult test. Before facing Jackie Robinson for the first time in May, some of the Cardinals’ players reportedly threatened to boycott the game in protest of having a black player on the field. Three months later, Cardinals baserunner Enos Slaughter spiked Robinson on the foot. Some thought it was intentional.

Naturally, the first Cardinals batter to face a black pitcher was Slaughter.

Entering in relief of Casey with two outs and a runner on third in the seventh, Bankhead got Slaughter to ground out. Boxscore

(It would take seven more years, 1954, before the Cardinals had a black pitcher, Bill Greason, play for them.)

Bankhead pitched in four games, earning one save, for the 1947 Dodgers, who won the pennant. His roommate on the road, Jackie Robinson, won the Rookie of the Year Award.

In the book “We Played the Game,” another black pitcher, Don Newcombe, who was with the Dodgers’ farm team in Nashua, N.H., in 1947, said Bankhead “was a pretty good pitcher who struck out a lot of batters, but I think he was brought in mostly as a companion for Jackie.”

Sign of the times

Bankhead spent the next two years in the minors, achieving 20 wins in each season.

With nothing more to prove in the minors, Bankhead seemed ready for a return to the Dodgers in 1950, but there was a catch. According to the New York Daily News, Branch Rickey Jr., the Dodgers’ farm director and son of Branch Rickey Sr., candidly called it the “saturation point.” The 1950 Dodgers already had three blacks _ Roy Campanella, Don Newcombe and Jackie Robinson _ and the ignorant consensus of the time was that a ballclub wasn’t ready for more.

Branch Rickey Sr. “worked hard” to sell Bankhead’s contract to the White Sox, but was unsuccessful, The Sporting News reported. The Braves wanted Bankhead but the cost was deemed too steep.

“Rickey made it clear his price for Bankhead ran in the six figures,” The Sporting News reported.

Right stuff

Unable to trade Bankhead, the Dodgers opened the season with him and he won his first four decisions.

On June 18 at Brooklyn, Bankhead shut out a Cardinals lineup that included Stan Musial, Red Schoendienst and Enos Slaughter.

“Bankhead smothered each scoring chance as he poured across his fastball and snapped off his curve,” the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported.

Bankhead also had three hits and scored a run. Boxscore

The New York Daily News described him as “the tremendous triple threat man who is the pleasant surprise of the season. Dan can pitch, he can hit and he can run.”

Moved to the bullpen, Bankhead was 3-0 with two saves for the Dodgers in September. He finished the 1950 season at 9-4 and was hailed by The Sporting News as “a competitor of high quality. He has the stuff and the brass.”

Border crossings

In 1951, Dan’s brother, Sam Bankhead, became the first black manager “in organized baseball” when he signed to lead the Farnham club of the Class C Provincial League in Canada, United Press reported. As player-manager of the Homestead Grays of the Negro National League, Sam had led them to pennants in 1949 and 1950.

The 1951 season didn’t go so well for Dan Bankhead. He began the year with the Dodgers, went 0-1 in seven games and never again pitched in the majors.

“Dan and I were roommates for a while,” Don Newcombe told author Danny Peary. “He was a good pitcher, but didn’t have that much desire to play in the majors. Dan preferred playing in the wintertime because he had fallen in love with a woman in Mexico.”

Bankhead pitched in the Mexican League until 1966 when he was 42. He also became a manager there.

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