RetroSimba

How Tommie Aaron joined brother in stunning Cardinals

July 29, 2022 by retrosimba

Tommie Aaron, who usually played in the shadow of his older brother, Hank Aaron, got to share the spotlight with him in a game against the Cardinals.

On July 12, 1962, Tommie and Hank each hit home runs in the ninth inning, rallying the Braves to victory versus the Cardinals at Milwaukee.

With the Braves trailing by three runs, Tommie’s solo homer ignited the comeback and Hank’s walkoff grand slam completed it.

Oh, brother

Henry Louis Aaron was born in 1934 in Mobile, Ala. Tommie Lee Aaron was born there five years later.

“I remember seeing Henry play in Mobile,” Tommie told the Atlanta Constitution in 1968, “but I was too young to play on the same team with him.”

Hank Aaron made his big-league debut with the Braves in 1954. He got his first hit, a double, on April 15 against the Cardinals’ Vic Raschi. His first home run came eight days later, also versus Raschi, at St. Louis.

Four years later, John Mullen, who had brought Hank Aaron from the Negro League to the Braves’ organization in 1952, signed Tommie Aaron.

Tommie, like his brother did, batted right-handed. He played first base and outfield. Tommie hit 26 home runs for Eau Claire in 1959 and 20 for Cedar Rapids in 1960.

After batting .299 for Austin in 1961, Tommie made the leap from Class AA to the majors with the Braves in 1962, joining his brother on a team for the first time. Hank already had won a National League Most Valuable Player Award, two batting titles and three Gold Glove honors for his outfield play.

Tommie made the team as the backup to first baseman Joe Adcock. Another Braves rookie that season was a catcher, Bob Uecker.

In his major-league debut, against the Giants at San Francisco, Tommie got a single against Juan Marichal. Boxscore

“He has really impressed me as a good hitter,” Hank Aaron said to The Sporting News. “He does not fall away from the plate. He hangs right in there.”

On May 30, 1962, at Milwaukee, Tommie and Hank combined to give the Braves a victory against the Reds. With the score tied at 3-3, Tommie led off with a single against Dave Sisler, moved to second on a bunt and scored on Hank’s single. Boxscore

Two weeks later, on June 12 at Milwaukee, Hank and Tommie hit home runs in the same game for the first time. Hank’s solo homer came in the second inning against Phil Ortega, and Tommie’s two-run homer was in the eighth versus Ed Roebuck. Boxscore

Fantastic finish

Exactly a month later, Tommie and Hank hit their ninth-inning home runs against the Cardinals.

With one out and none on, Tommie, batting for pitcher Claude Raymond, hit the first pitch from starter Larry Jackson into the bleachers in left-center at County Stadium, cutting the Cardinals’ lead to 6-4.

After Roy McMillan singled, Lindy McDaniel relieved Jackson. McDaniel hadn’t allowed an earned run since May 31, but the Braves were unfazed. Mack Jones singled and Eddie Mathews walked, loading the bases for Hank Aaron.

Hobbling because of an ankle ailment, Aaron worked the count to 2-and-1 against McDaniel. “If he had been ahead of Henry, with two strikes, he would have thrown a forkball,” Cardinals pitching coach Howie Pollet told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Instead, McDaniel delivered a fastball, and Hank hit it deep, “almost a duplicate of the kid brother’s towering poke over the left-center fence,” the Post-Dispatch reported. Boxscore

The game-winning home run was Aaron’s third grand slam of the season. He totaled 16 grand slams in his career.

Tommie and Hank Aaron became the first brothers to hit home runs in the same inning of a big-league game since Sept. 15, 1938, when Lloyd and Paul Waner did it for the Pirates in the fifth inning against the Giants’ Cliff Melton at the Polo Grounds in New York. Boxscore

Highs and lows

Tommie Aaron had a terrific August for the 1962 Braves, filling in at first base after Adcock got hurt. For the month, Tommie hit .333 and had a .423 on-base percentage. He had 28 hits and 13 walks in 27 games in August.

On Aug. 4, Tommie hit a walkoff grand slam against Jack Baldschun, giving the Braves a 7-3 victory over the Phillies. Boxscore

Ten days later, Tommie and Hank hit home runs in the same game for the third and last time. Facing the Reds at Cincinnati, Tommie’s solo homer came against Johnny Klippstein in the sixth, and Hank followed with a solo homer versus Ted Wills in the seventh. Boxscore

Tommie completed his rookie season with 20 doubles, eight home runs and a. 231 batting mark. It turned out to be the best of his seven seasons in the majors, all with the Braves.

Asked in 1968 about whether he’d offered advice to Tommie, Hank told the Atlanta Constitution, “I’ve talked to him about hitting, but you can’t tell a fellow how to hit. I tell him what I know about certain pitchers, things like that. I’ve talked to him more about his weight. That’s been his biggest problem. He has to watch his weight.”

Hank and Tommie hold the record for most career home runs (768) in the majors by brothers. Hank hit 755 of those.

“You couldn’t possibly compare Hank and me,” Tommie told Milt Richman of United Press International. “We’re two different style ballplayers. He is the complete ballplayer. He can do just about anything. I had to scuffle to do it.”

Mentor to many

In June 1973, Tommie Aaron, 33, was named manager of the Braves’ farm club in Savannah, Ga. He became the first black manager of a professional baseball team in the state and the first in the Southeast, according to the Atlanta Constitution.

Tommie managed in the Braves’ system from 1973-78. Dale Murphy played for him as a catcher with Savannah in 1976 and with Richmond in 1977.

In 1979, Tommie returned to the majors as a Braves coach on the staff of manager Bobby Cox. When Joe Torre became Braves manager in 1982, he kept Tommie Aaron on a coaching staff that included Bob Gibson and Dal Maxvill.

In May 1982, results of a routine annual physical exam showed Tommie Aaron had leukemia. He died on Aug. 16, 1984, two weeks after turning 45.

Braves general manager John Mullen, who some 30 years earlier had signed Tommie and his brother, told the Atlanta Constitution, “He was just a tremendous person with an awful lot of influence on a lot of ballplayers’ lives.”

Among those attending the funeral in Mobile were Hank Aaron, Mullen, Torre and Murphy. Pallbearers included former Braves outfielder Ralph Garr, along with former big-leaguers and Mobile natives Tommie Agee and Cleon Jones.

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents | 4 Comments »

Marvelous day for most amazing Met, Marv Throneberry

July 25, 2022 by retrosimba

In a reversal of roles, Marv Throneberry played the hero and the Cardinals performed like the 1962 Mets.

On July 7, 1962, Throneberry hit the first walkoff home run of his big-league career, lifting the Mets to victory against the Cardinals at the Polo Grounds in New York. Throneberry’s winning hit came an inning after Dal Maxvill made a base running blunder that cost the Cardinals a run.

A first baseman whose gaffes on the field came to symbolize the ineptness of the expansion 1962 Mets, losers of 120 games, Throneberry hit like an all-star against the Cardinals that season.

Family affair

Marv and his older brother Faye, who also reached the big leagues, grew up on a family farm in Fisherville, Tenn., about 30 miles east of Memphis.

Faye Throneberry signed with the Red Sox in 1950 and hit .236 during eight years in the majors as an outfielder for the Red Sox, Senators and Angels.

Marv Throneberry signed with the Yankees in 1952. A left-handed batter, he became a prolific slugger for their Denver farm club, hitting 36 home runs in 1955, 42 in 1956 and 40 in 1957.

When Marv made his big-league debut with the Yankees in a game at Boston on Sept. 25, 1955, Faye was in the outfield for the Red Sox. Marv went 2-for-2 with three RBI and a run scored. Boxscore

That would be Marv’s only big-league experience until he stuck with the Yankees as a backup to first baseman Moose Skowron in 1958.

After the 1959 season, Throneberry was traded to the Athletics in a multi-player deal that brought Roger Maris to the Yankees.

“Marv Throneberry swings and misses with outlandish regularity,” Sports Illustrated noted in April 1960, “but manages to connect just often enough to maintain his reputation as a slugger of great promise.”

The Athletics shipped him to the Orioles in June 1961. Throneberry was a teammate of Whitey Herzog in Denver and with the Athletics and the Orioles.

No shortage of shortcomings

The 1962 Mets opened their inaugural season with Gil Hodges, 38, as their first baseman, but a variety of ailments limited his playing time. On May 9, the Mets acquired Throneberry, 28, from the Orioles for a player to be named (former Cardinals catcher Hobie Landrith) and cash.

When Mets general manager George Weiss said Throneberry probably would be the club’s first baseman for the next four years, manager Casey Stengel “almost fell off his seat,” columnist Joe King reported. Weiss and Stengel were with the Yankees when Throneberry was there, and Stengel wasn’t impressed. “I know he can maybe move around at first base, but whether he can hit, I don’t know,” Stengel told The Sporting News.

With his options limited, Stengel played Throneberry against right-handers. Making mistakes in the field and on the base paths, and whiffing a lot at the plate, Throneberry was viewed as “a symbol of the futility of one of the most tragicomic teams in baseball,” the New York Times noted.

On June 17, in the first inning of a game against the Cubs at the Polo Grounds, Throneberry, batting with two on and one out, drilled a deep drive to right. Both runners scored and Throneberry reached third with a triple.

“He was dusting off his uniform at third base, apparently feeling that the tide in his fortunes had turned,” the Associated Press reported, when the Cubs appealed to first-base umpire Dusty Boggess, saying Throneberry had failed to touch the base on the way around.

The umpire agreed, and Throneberry was ruled out. He was credited with two RBI but no hit on the play.

“Stengel charged from the dugout in protest,” columnist Arthur Daley wrote in the New York Times. “The umpire shut him up fast. Throneberry didn’t touch second either.”

When the next batter, Charlie Neal, followed with a home run, Stengel emerged and pointed out each of the four bases to Neal as he made his home run trot, the New York Times reported. Boxscore

Hooray for Marv

The Mets were 22-57 entering the July 7 Saturday doubleheader versus the Cardinals at the Polo Grounds.

With the score tied at 3-3 in the eighth inning of the opener, the Cardinals had two on and two outs when Red Schoendienst hit a smash off Hodges’ glove at first base and into right field for a single.

Dal Maxvill, running at second for Stan Musial, rounded third and reached the plate easily with the apparent go-ahead run. The Mets appealed, saying Maxvill didn’t touch third base, and umpire Augie Donatelli agreed, calling him out and nullifying the run. Donatelli said Maxvill missed the bag by almost a foot, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

In the ninth, Curt Flood led off with a home run, putting the Cardinals ahead, 4-3.

Facing left-hander Curt Simmons in the bottom half of the inning, Joe Christopher hit a tapper along the first-base line. Simmons fielded the ball, tried to tag Christopher, but missed, enabling him to reach first with a single.

After right-hander Ernie Broglio relieved and got Hodges to fly out, Stengel countered by sending Throneberry to bat for shortstop Elio Chacon. Rather than have a left-hander pitch to Throneberry, Cardinals manager Johnny Keane stayed with Broglio.

Facing the Cardinals for the first time in a regular-season game, Throneberry worked the count to 1-and-1 before lining a pitch into the lower seats in right for a two-run home run, giving the Mets a 5-4 triumph. Boxscore

“Chances are that if you had 20 guesses as to which Met batsman had a pinch-hit homer in the ninth, you’d probably mention Marv Throneberry last, if at all,” the New York Times concluded. “His derelictions afield and at bat in recent exercises had made him the comic symbol of all that is wrong with the forlorn Mets.”

Throneberry started at first base in Game 2 of the doubleheader and almost was the hero again. In the seventh inning, his home run against Ray Washburn tied the score at 2-2. After Stan Musial put the Cardinals ahead, 3-2, with a home run in the eighth, Throneberry hit a triple against Washburn with two outs in the ninth, but Lindy McDaniel relieved and retired Gene Woodling to end the game. Boxscore

Man of the people

Throneberry hit one more walkoff home run for the Mets. On Aug. 21, 1962, he was coaching first base when Stengel told him to bat for Jim Hickman in the bottom of the ninth. Throneberry hit a three-run home run against Pirates closer Roy Face, eliminating a two-run deficit and giving the Mets a 5-4 victory. Boxscore

For the season, Throneberry led the National League in one category: most errors by a first baseman (17 in 97 games).

He hit 16 home runs for the 1962 Mets and batted .244, with almost as many strikeouts (83) as hits (87).

Against the 1962 Cardinals, though, Throneberry batted .326 (with 15 hits) and had an on-base percentage of .396.

“Marvin Eugene Throneberry became the symbol of the New York Mets,” Arthur Daley wrote in the New York Times. “Even his initials spelled out Met. Like the rest of his team, he was lovably inept but with a flair for heroics. He’d lose games by his bungling, or win them with dramatic home runs.”

According to Daley, “more than half the fan mail that came to the 1962 Mets was directed to Marvelous Marv. Ninety-nine percent of it pledged undying devotion. One percent call him a bum.”

After the season, the Mets acquired Tim Harkness, 25, from the Dodgers and made him their first baseman in 1963. Throneberry got into 14 games, hit .143 and was sent to the minors in May.

In seven years in the majors, he had 295 strikeouts and 281 hits.

He resurfaced in popular TV commercials for Miller Lite beer during the 1970s. Video

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents | 8 Comments »

Many twists, turns for Dick Schofield with Cardinals

July 21, 2022 by retrosimba

For a player labeled a utility man, Dick Schofield left a prominent mark.

He helped the Pirates, Dodgers and Cardinals win National League pennants. He played 19 seasons in the majors. He was the second of four generations in his family to play pro baseball.

An infielder who reached the majors with the Cardinals at 18, Schofield had three stints with them in three different decades.

All in the family

Dick Schofield’s father, John Schofield, played in the minor leagues for 10 seasons and was nicknamed Ducky. At home in Springfield, Ill., John taught baseball to his son. “We’d go out and he’d hit nine million ground balls to me,” Dick told author Danny Peary for the book “We Played the Game.”

When Dick was 8, his father showed him how to bat from both sides of the plate and Dick, a natural right-hander, remained a switch-hitter in the pros.

John Schofield also took Dick on trips to St. Louis to see the Red Sox play the Browns because Ted Williams was Dick’s favorite player. Dick became a Red Sox fan, he told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

During his senior baseball season in high school, Dick Schofield drew the interest of most big-league teams. A shortstop, he hoped to sign with the Red Sox, but the highest offers came from the Cardinals and White Sox.

Big bonus

On June 3, 1953, Schofield signed with the Cardinals, even though, as he told Danny Peary, they were a team “I had always rooted against.”

The $40,000 he received was then the largest bonus paid by the Cardinals. “He’s got a great arm,” Cardinals manager Eddie Stanky told the Post-Dispatch after seeing Schofield work out with the team. “His hands are extremely quick.”

Under the rules then, an amateur player signing for more than $6,000 was required to spend his first two seasons with the big-league team.

Schofield, 18 and looking younger, joined the Cardinals in New York. “I was scared to death,” he recalled to Peary. “The team was playing Brooklyn and I checked into the Commodore Hotel in Manhattan. Then I rode to the ballpark with Stan Musial and Red Schoendienst. They asked me to come along. Imagine that!”

Schofield was assigned to room on the road with the Cardinals’ backup catcher, Ferrell Anderson, 35. “He was like my dad and took good care of me,” Schofield told Peary. “He made it easier for me.”

Learning curve

Schofield was called Ducky by Cardinals players after they were introduced to his father and learned it had been his nickname.

He didn’t get into a game during his first month with the Cardinals, and spent his days being mentored by Stanky and shortstop Solly Hemus.

Stanky “knew baseball better than anybody I ever met,” Schofield told Peary. “Stanky and Hemus helped me learn to play shortstop in the majors, especially turning the double play.”

On June 25, in a game at St. Louis, Stanky complained that Giants pitcher Jim Hearn wasn’t coming to a stop in his delivery. After losing his argument with umpire Augie Donatelli, Stanky threw a towel from the dugout and got a warning from the ump, the Post-Dispatch reported.

Not wanting to back down, but not wanting to get ejected, Stanky turned to Schofield. Knowing the rookie wouldn’t get into the game, Stanky told him to toss a towel, according to the Society for American Baseball Research. Schofield obeyed, and Donatelli ejected him from a game before he’d ever played in one. Boxscore

Hello and goodbye

When Schofield made his big-league debut, on July 3, 1953, against the Cubs at Chicago, it was as a pinch-runner. Boxscore

His first hit came two weeks later, a single versus Johnny Podres at Brooklyn. Boxscore

Used primarily as a pinch-runner, Schofield hit .179 for the Cardinals in 1953 and .143 in 1954.

With the two mandatory seasons on the big-league club completed, Schofield spent most of the 1955 and 1956 seasons playing for manager Johnny Keane at minor-league Omaha.

(Schofield married his wife Donna in Omaha in 1956. Tyrone Power and Kim Novak, in town to promote their movie, “The Eddy Duchin Story,” sent them a cake, the Post-Dispatch reported, and that’s why the Schofields’ first child, a daughter, was named Kim.)

A backup to Cardinals shortstop Al Dark in 1957, Schofield was a reserve again in 1958 when he was traded to the Pirates in June for infielders Gene Freese and Johnny O’Brien.

“I was totally surprised,” Schofield said to Peary. “I thought the world had come to an end. Nobody wanted to play on the Pirates then. They were a last-place team and Forbes Field was a tough park.”

(According to Schofield, Freese’s reaction to the deal was: “They traded two hamburgers for a hot dog.”)

Key contribution

Schofield, strictly a shortstop with the Cardinals, also was used at second and third by Pirates manager Danny Murtaugh. With Bill Mazeroski at second and Dick Groat at short, Schofield got few starts, but grew to like the Pirates.

On Sept. 6, 1960, with the Pirates contending for a National League pennant, Groat suffered a broken left wrist when hit by a pitch from the Braves’ Lew Burdette. Schofield, hitless since May, was Murtaugh’s choice to replace Groat.

Steady on defense, Schofield surprised with the bat. He hit .375 in September and his on-base percentage for the month was .459.

“He was as fine a utility infielder that ever played this game,” Groat said to Peary. “He could give you two or three weeks of great play at any one of those positions.”

The Pirates won the pennant, but Groat was reinserted at shortstop for the World Series against the Yankees. In Game 2, a Yankees rout, Schofield entered in the sixth and got a single and a walk versus Bob Turley. Boxscore

Helping hand

Groat was traded to the Cardinals after the 1962 season and Schofield, at last, became a starting shortstop. He was the Pirates’ starter in 1963 and 1964. When rookie Gene Alley was deemed ready to take over in 1965, Schofield was dealt to the Giants in May and started for them that season.

Another rookie, Tito Fuentes, became the Giants shortstop in 1966 and Schofield was shipped to the Yankees in May.

On Sept. 10, 1966, the Dodgers acquired Schofield to help them in their pennant drive. He took over for Jim Gilliam and John Kennedy at third base, and stabilized the position, helping the Dodgers win the pennant.

According to The Pittsburgh Press, Dodgers pitcher Don Drysdale said, “He’s been making the big play for us ever since we got him. If it isn’t his glove, it’s his bat. If it isn’t his bat, it’s his base running.”

Because Schofield joined the Dodgers after Sept. 1, he wasn’t eligible to play in the World Series. He watched on TV as the Dodgers got swept by the Orioles.

“The Dodgers couldn’t have won the league flag without him, and they collapsed in the World Series because he wasn’t eligible,” Los Angeles Times columnist Sid Ziff wrote.

Long, winding road

Released by the Dodgers after the 1967 season, Schofield, 33, was signed by the reigning World Series champion Cardinals to be a backup to Dal Maxvill at shortstop and Julian Javier at second base.

Fifteen years after he accompanied Schofield on his ride to the ballpark on the rookie’s first day in the big leagues, Red Schoendienst, manager of the 1968 Cardinals, told the Post-Dispatch, “Schofield is the finest all-round utility infielder we’ve got on the club.”

Schofield made 17 starts at second base and 13 starts at shortstop for the 1968 Cardinals, who repeated as National League champions. On May 4, he contributed four hits and three RBI against the Giants. Boxscore

Schofield got into two games of the 1968 World Series against the Tigers but didn’t have a plate appearance.

Two months later, the Cardinals traded Schofield to the team he rooted for as a boy, the Red Sox. Schofield spent two seasons with the Red Sox and was dealt back to the Cardinals in October 1970.

In July 1971, the Cardinals traded Schofield, 36, for the third and last time, packaging him with Jose Cardenal and Bob Reynolds to the Brewers for Ted Kubiak and a prospect.

A son, also Dick Schofield, played 14 seasons as an infielder in the majors, and a grandson, Jayson Werth (Kim’s son), was a big-league outfielder for 15 seasons.

Posted in Hitters, Prospects, Trades | 20 Comments »

Work ethic helped Ed Bauta get from Cuba to Cardinals

July 18, 2022 by retrosimba

Ed Bauta overcame a difficult beginning to his big-league career with the Cardinals and gained the confidence of his manager.

A right-handed sinkerball specialist, Bauta was a Pirates prospect when the Cardinals acquired him and second baseman Julian Javier in 1960.

The Cardinals wanted Bauta, even though they knew his right knee was injured.

Frustrated by the slow healing process, Bauta nearly quit before pitching a game for the Cardinals. When he finally made his debut with them, it went badly.

Bolstered by the support of trainer Bob Bauman, Bauta persevered and went on to pitch in 80 games over four seasons with the Cardinals.

Pitching prospect

Eduardo Bauta was raised on a family farm in central Cuba. Doing farm chores and cutting sugar cane as a youth enabled him to develop a strong work ethic, according to his obituary.

Bauta was a catcher as an amateur until a ball struck him in the throat. “I could take only liquids for 15 days,” he told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Attending a Pirates tryout camp, he got a chance to pitch and impressed scout Howie Haak, who signed him. Bauta was 21 when he played his first season in the Pirates’ system at Clinton, Iowa.

In 1960, Bauta had an 0.95 ERA in 12 relief appearances for the Pirates’ Columbus (Ohio) affiliate. Eddie Stanky, special assistant to Cardinals general manager Bing Devine, scouted Bauta and recommended him.

Soon after, Bauta made a wager with a Columbus teammate that he could get a base hit during batting practice. Swinging mightily at a pitch and missing, Bauta fell and tore ligaments in his right knee, the Post-Dispatch reported.

The Cardinals had agreed to send pitcher Vinegar Bend Mizell and infielder Dick Gray to the Pirates for Julian Javier and a pitching prospect. Bauta was one of four pitchers the Pirates offered. Aware of his knee injury, the Cardinals chose him on the strength of Stanky’s scouting report.

Welcome to The Show

Bauta joined the Cardinals on June 12, 1960, and reported to trainer Bob Bauman for treatment of the damaged knee. Frustrated with being sidelined, Bauta said Bauman helped restore his confidence as well as strengthen his knee.

“Doc talked me out of quitting,” Bauta told the Post-Dispatch. “Doc spent a lot of time with me every day. He said, ‘Eddie, you’re not going to quit as long as I’m around here.’ “

On July 6, 1960, the Cubs were routing the Cardinals at Wrigley Field in Chicago when Bauta was called into the game to make his major-league debut. He hadn’t pitched in a game since injuring his knee in May.

Bauta gave up a three-run home run to George Altman in the seventh, and then another three-run home run to Altman in the eighth. Boxscore

“I got Altman out most of the time in the (Caribbean) winter league,” Bauta said to the Post-Dispatch, “but I couldn’t put the ball where I wanted it today.”

True grit

A month later, on Aug. 10, after three consecutive scoreless outings, Bauta was brought in to protect a one-run lead against the Phillies in the bottom of the 10th at Philadelphia.

He retired two batters, but gave up a single and walked two, loading the bases and prompting manager Solly Hemus to visit the mound.

“I had Ronnie Kline warmed up and I was thinking of making a move,” Hemus told the Post-Dispatch.

Hemus asked Bauta, “How do you feel?’ The rookie replied, “I can get them, Skip.”

“Go get them,” Hemus said before returning to the dugout.

Clay Dalrymple swung at Bauta’s first pitch and lofted a fly to center for the final out. Bauta had his first save in the majors. “He showed me something,” Hemus said to the Post-Dispatch. “Anyone who can do that can pitch for me.” Boxscore

Back and forth

Assigned to minor-league Portland (Ore.) in 1961, Bauta was 9-1 with a 1.95 ERA when he got called up to the Cardinals in July. He got his first big-league win on Aug. 23 against the Dodgers. Boxscore

In 13 relief appearances for the 1961 Cardinals, Bauta was 2-0 with five saves and a 1.40 ERA.

Based on that performance, Bauta was in the Cardinals’ plans for 1962. The season began promisingly for him. On April 25, he pitched eight scoreless innings of relief against the Houston Colt .45s. Boxscore

(The game ended in a tie after 17 innings because of a local curfew in Houston that forbid starting an inning after 12:50 a.m. The game was replayed on another date but all the statistics counted.)

After 11 relief appearances in 1962, Bauta had an 0.93 ERA, but then he had a terrible June. After he gave up two home runs to Smoky Burgess of the Pirates on June 30, the Cardinals demoted Bauta to their Atlanta farm club. Boxscore

On the road again

Bauta was back with the Cardinals in 1963. He was 3-4 with three saves when the Cardinals dealt him to the Mets on Aug. 5 for reliever Ken MacKenzie.

(MacKenzie was a Yale graduate. One time, when MacKenzie was brought in at a critical point in a game, Mets manager Casey Stengel said to him, “Make like those guys are the Harvards.”)

In four seasons (1960-63) with the Cardinals, Bauta was 6-4 with 10 saves.

When Bauta faced the Cardinals for the first time after the trade, he pitched 2.1 scoreless innings and struck out Stan Musial. Boxscore

With the Mets, Bauta pitched in the last game played at the Polo Grounds Boxscore and the first game played at Shea Stadium. Boxscore

The 1964 season was Bauta’s last in the majors, but he continued to play until 1974, primarily in the Mexican League. In 1973, Bauta, 38, was a starting pitcher for Petroleros de Poza Rica and was 23-5 with a 2.25 ERA.

Posted in Games, Pitchers, Trades | 7 Comments »

How Edward Mujica came to the rescue of Cardinals

July 15, 2022 by retrosimba

A journeyman reliever developed into an integral contributor to two contending Cardinals clubs.

On July 31, 2012, the Cardinals acquired pitcher Edward Mujica from the Marlins for minor-league third baseman Zack Cox.

A right-hander with command of the strike zone, Mujica stabilized the Cardinals’ bullpen in 2012 and helped them reach the National League Championship Series. The next year, he filled a void in becoming their closer and helped position them to win a National League pennant.

Great Caesar’s Ghost…

Born and raised in Venezuela, Mujica was the son of a factory worker and a homemaker in the town of Yagua in the northwest part of the country.

He signed with the Cleveland Indians in October 2001 when he was 17, reached the majors with them in June 2006 and was traded to the Padres in April 2009.

Using a split-fingered pitch and a change-up, he developed a reputation for throwing strikes. In 59 games for the 2010 Padres, Mujica had 72 strikeouts and six walks, a ratio of 12 strikeouts for every walk issued.

In November 2010, the Padres traded him to the Marlins.

The Marlins changed managers in June 2011, replacing Edwin Rodriguez with an 80-year-old, Jack McKeon, who took a 1930s approach to player relations. It was McKeon who gave Mujica the nickname “The Chief.”

“He said to me one day, ‘I can’t say your name. Are you American Indian?’ ” Mujica recalled to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I said, ‘No, I’m from Venezuela.’ He said, ‘It’s better for me to call you The Chief. You’re the last of the Mohicans.’ “

(When Mujica got traded to the Cardinals, he said he was surprised when their general manager, John Mozeliak, called him and said, “Chief, how are you doing?” Mujica told the Post-Dispatch, “I said, ‘What? How did you know that?'”)

Swashbuckler

In 67 relief appearances for the 2011 Marlins, Mujica was 9-6 with a 2.96 ERA and earned a reputation as a clubhouse comedian. “He’s the class clown,” teammate Heath Bell told the Miami Herald. “He loves to have fun.”

Another teammate, Steve Cishek, told the Palm Beach Post, “In the bullpen, he’s a swordsman. I’ll look over and all of a sudden he has a stake that he pulled out of the ground and he’s fighting an imaginary person. It’s hilarious.”

Cishek, who took fencing classes in college, rewarded Mujica with a fencing foil and mask. Mujica kept those above his locker.

“I’m a funny guy,” Mujica told the Miami Herald. “I just try to enjoy my time because this job only lasts 10 or 15 years, and you have to enjoy the moment.”

Mujica also was known to take naps in the bullpen during early innings of games. After a TV camera showed him napping at Wrigley Field, he came to the ballpark the next day with a hand-written sign: “Cameraman, Please Do Not Disturb.”

Helping hand

Happy to play for fellow Venezuelan Ozzie Guillen, who took over as Marlins manager in 2012, Mujica told the South Florida Sun Sentinel “it was a big surprise” to be traded to the Cardinals.

The Marlins made the deal to get Zack Cox “with the thought he could be our third baseman in the near future,” president of baseball operations Larry Beinfest told the Miami Herald. “We really like the bat.”

Cox was chosen by the Cardinals in the first round of the June 2010 amateur draft. Other 2010 first-round picks included Bryce Harper (Nationals), Manny Machado (Orioles), Christian Yelich (Marlins) and Nick Castellanos (Tigers).

(Cox never reached the majors.)

Noting that Mujica, 28, had an above-average split-fingered pitch, Cardinals pro scouts Mike Juhl and Mike Jorgensen recommended the club trade for him.

On the day of the deal, the Cardinals (55-48) were in third place, seven games behind the division-leading Reds, and their bullpen was in disarray. Relievers were making a mess of the seventh inning and that was creating chaos in the eighth and ninth, too.

Manager Mike Matheny designated Mujica to pitch the seventh. Pitching coach Derek Lilliquist and catcher Yadier Molina urged Mujica to feature his spit-fingered pitch instead of the slider, the Post-Dispatch reported.

The results were immediate and impressive. Mujica didn’t allow a run in his first 18 games pitched for the Cardinals. With Mujica locking down the seventh inning, Matheny was able to stick with Mitchell Boggs as a setup reliever in the eighth and Jason Motte as closer in the ninth.

The consistent combination of Mujica, Boggs and Motte stabilized the bullpen. In 29 games pitched for the 2012 Cardinals, Mujica had a 1.03 ERA, allowing three earned runs in 26.1 innings. He struck out 21 and walked three.

The Cardinals finished 88-74, second in their division and fifth overall in the National League, but in the watered-down system approved by team owners and the players’ union, fifth is good enough to qualify for the playoffs.

After dispatching the Braves and Nationals, the Cardinals were in the National League Championship Series against the Giants. Mujica was the winning pitcher in Game 1, striking out the side in a scoreless seventh. Boxscore

Mujica pitched four scoreless innings in the series, but the Giants prevailed, winning four of seven games to clinch the pennant.

Fun while it lasted

Near the end of spring training in 2013, Motte suffered an elbow injury. Matheny began the season with Boggs as the closer, but he faltered.

Mujica took over as closer and converted his first 21 consecutive save chances, earning a spot on the National League all-star team.

By August, fatigue set in. Mujica pitched three consecutive days six times in 2013. He pitched in six games in seven days from July 4-10.

Mujica strained his shoulder, causing numbness in his neck. He also had a groin injury. Unable to push off the mound the right way, his arm slowed down and so did his pitch speed, the Post-Dispatch reported.

In mid-September, with Mujica struggling, Trevor Rosenthal replaced him as closer. Mujica finished the season with 37 saves. He struck out 46 and walked five. The only Cardinals pitchers with more saves in a season are Rosenthal, Jason Isringhausen, Lee Smith, Bruce Sutter, Motte and Ryan Franklin.

The 2013 Cardinals, who posted the best record in the National League at 97-65, won the pennant, eliminating the Pirates and Dodgers in the playoffs, before falling to the Red Sox in the World Series.

Granted free agency after the World Series, Mujica signed with the Red. Sox. By 2016, he was back in the minors.

The Cardinals signed Mujica to a minor-league contract in 2018. At spring training, he earned a save with a scoreless inning against the Braves. “How about that? Blast from the past,” Matheny said to the Post-Dispatch.

Sent to Memphis, Mujica, 34, led the team in saves (13) and games pitched (48). He struck out 35 and walked six in 51.1 innings, but wasn’t called up to St. Louis.

Posted in Games, Pitchers, Trades | 7 Comments »

How Scott Rolen became available to Cardinals

July 11, 2022 by retrosimba

Scott Rolen worried about the Phillies’ commitment to winning. He didn’t have the same concerns about the Cardinals.

On July 29, 2002, the Cardinals traded for Rolen, acquiring the third baseman, along with pitcher Doug Nickle, from the Phillies for infielder Placido Polanco and pitchers Bud Smith and Mike Timlin.

Having struck out in their efforts to get Rolen to sign a contract extension before he could become eligible to enter free agency after the 2002 season, the Phillies sought to trade him.

The Cardinals were the beneficiaries, adding Rolen to an imposing lineup with Jim Edmonds, Albert Pujols and Edgar Renteria.

The Phillies had losing records in six of Rolen’s seven seasons (1996-2002) with them and never qualified for the playoffs. With the Cardinals, Rolen played in two World Series, helping them to a championship in 2006.

Hoosier hot shot

Rolen was born in Evansville, Ind., and raised in Jasper, Ind. When he was a youth in the 1980s, his parents would make the 200-mile drive with him from Jasper to St. Louis to attend Cardinals games at Busch Memorial Stadium. “It’s the place I always dreamed of playing,” Rolen told ESPN.com years later.

At Jasper High School, Rolen won the state’s Mr. Baseball honor given to the best prep player. He also received basketball scholarship offers from schools such as Georgia and Oklahoma State. Georgia recruiters promised he’d start in the backcourt as a freshman, according to the Philadelphia Daily News.

Rolen was 18 when the Phillies picked him in the second round of the June 1993 amateur draft. After he signed with them that summer, Phillies scouting director Mike Arbuckle brought Rolen to St. Louis and had him take grounders at third base during infield practice before a game against the Cardinals.

“Dave Hollins, then the Phillies’ third baseman, took one look at the eager Indiana schoolboy standing at his position and said, ‘Get lost,’ ” according to Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Jim Salisbury.

Described by the Inquirer as “a spectacular fielder with gap power,” Rolen, 21, made his big-league debut for the Phillies against the Cardinals at Philadelphia on Aug. 1, 1996. To open a spot for him at third base, the Phillies shifted the positions of a pair of former Cardinals, moving Todd Zeile from third to first and Gregg Jefferies from first to left.

With his parents and high school coach in attendance, Rolen got his first hit, a double against Donovan Osborne. Boxscore

Hurt feelings

In 1997, his first full season in the majors, Rolen earned the National League Rookie of the Year Award. The next season, he had 31 home runs, 110 RBI and won a Gold Glove Award, the first of eight he would receive in his career. Video

During the 2001 season, Rolen’s relationship with Phillies management soured. In June, after Rolen went hitless with three strikeouts in the Phillies’ one-run loss to the Red Sox, manager Larry Bowa told the Philadelphia Daily News that Rolen was “killing us” in the middle of the lineup.

(Rolen hit .350 with runners in scoring position for the 2001 Phillies. Overall, for the season, he had 25 home runs and 107 RBI.)

“Rolen believes that his manager should be like a family member, there to protect, encourage and nurture,” Jim Salisbury noted in the Philadelphia Inquirer. “He felt betrayed by Bowa, felt like the man who should have been building his confidence was tearing it down.”

Two months later, Phillies adviser Dallas Green, who had managed the club to a World Series title in 1980, said in a radio interview that Rolen “can be greater but his personality won’t let him.”

“Scotty is satisfied with being a so-so-player” Green said.

Stung by the criticism, Rolen told the Philadelphia Inquirer, “I don’t feel as welcome here in this organization as I have in the past.”

Phillies general manager Ed Wade wanted to sign Rolen to a long-term contract extension and keep him from opting for free agency after the 2002 season. In November 2001, Wade told the Philadelphia Daily News he offered Rolen $90 million guaranteed over seven years, plus three option years that could bring the total contract value to $140 million, but Rolen rejected it because he questioned whether the team was committed to winning.

Almost an Oriole

With Rolen showing no intention of signing a contract extension, the Phillies tried to trade him at the December 2001 baseball winter meetings. The Cardinals were interested until the Phillies asked for Rookie of the Year Award winner Albert Pujols to be included in a package of players, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

The Phillies and Orioles “came agonizingly close” to a nine-player deal involving Rolen, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. According to the Baltimore Sun, the Orioles agreed to send pitchers Sidney Ponson, Buddy Groom, Erik Bedard and Sean Douglass plus utility player Jeff Conine to the Phillies for Rolen, pitcher Chris Brock, infielder Kevin Jordan and a prospect.

When Orioles general manager Syd Thrift called club owner Peter Angelos to tell him about the trade, Angelos asked what it would take to sign Rolen to a contract extension. “Thrift suggested at least a 10-year, $150 million bid,” the Baltimore Sun reported.

Angelos nixed the trade.

Done deal

When the 2002 season began, Rolen still was with the Phillies. He played well, but the Phillies didn’t, and they shopped him.

The Cardinals made a proposal on July 25, but it nearly fell apart on July 28, according to the Philadelphia Daily News.

The Cardinals initially insisted Rolen had to agree on terms of a contract extension with them before a trade could be made, the Post-Dispatch reported. They also wanted the Phillies to pay the remaining portion of Rolen’s 2002 salary.

On July 29, the Phillies came close to trading Rolen to the Reds, according to the Philadelphia Daily News. Reds general manager Jim Bowden told WLW radio he had a trade in place for Rolen but couldn’t make it work financially, The Cincinnati Post reported.

The Phillies went back to the Cardinals, who relented on their demands after the Phillies agreed to take Mike Timlin along with Placido Polanco and Bud Smith in the trade. Unloading Timlin opened room on the payroll for the Cardinals to pay the remainder of Rolen’s 2002 salary.

Happy days

Rolen, 27, went from a last-place team to a first-place team. “I feel as if I’ve died and gone to heaven,” he told ESPN.com.

According to the Philadelphia Daily News, Bowa said he called Rolen after the trade and left a message. “I told him, ‘It’s been a pleasure managing you. If everybody played the game like you do, there would be no problems. Careers are short. Try to be happy wherever you end up.’ “

In his Cardinals debut, on July 30, 2002, at Miami, Rolen was 2-for-4 with a run and a RBI. Boxscore

“I’ve been given an opportunity right now and I’m going to run through a wall to try to take advantage of it,” Rolen said to the Philadelphia Daily News.

On Aug. 16, 2002, Rolen played in Philadelphia for the first time since being traded. Enduring what the Philadelphia Inquirer described as “an evening of boos and insults,” Rolen had two hits against Randy Wolf. Boxscore

A month later, Rolen agreed to a $90 million eight-year contract extension with the Cardinals. “It wasn’t a chase for the last dollar,” Rolen told the Post-Dispatch. “It was a chase for happiness.”

Bad vibes return

In 2004, the Cardinals won the National League championship and Rolen had his best season: .314 batting average, .409 on-base percentage, 34 home runs, 124 RBI and 109 runs scored.

The happiness began to fade the next year when an injury to his left shoulder limited Rolen to 56 games. Rolen believed the Cardinals misled him about the severity of the injury, the Post-Dispatch reported, and it caused a strain in his relationship with manager Tony La Russa.

In 2006, La Russa benched a slumping Rolen during the National League Division Series. In the World Series, Rolen hit .421 and helped the Cardinals prevail against the Tigers.

After the 2007 season, La Russa sent Rolen a letter, expressing his opinions of the player, and Rolen didn’t like it. When La Russa signed in October 2007 to remain Cardinals manager, Rolen requested a trade. He was dealt to the Blue Jays for Troy Glaus in January 2008.

In six seasons with St. Louis, Rolen had a .286 batting average and .370 on-base percentage. In 17 years in the majors with the Phillies, Cardinals, Blue Jays and Reds, he produced 2,077 hits, 316 home runs and 1,287 RBI.

Posted in Games, Hitters, Trades | 6 Comments »

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