RetroSimba

John Cumberland had detour on road to being a Cardinal

May 21, 2022 by retrosimba

John Cumberland was a teenager from Maine who yearned to play professional baseball. A Cardinals scout took him to dinner and launched him on a path to becoming a big-league pitcher and coach.

A left-hander, Cumberland made his debut in the majors with the Yankees. He later joined Juan Marichal and Gaylord Perry as a starter for the division champion Giants, and got his last win in the big leagues as a reliever with the Cardinals.

As a coach, Cumberland mentored 18-year-old Dwight Gooden in the minors, and was the first big-league pitching coach for Zack Greinke with the Royals.

Bargain player

Born and raised in Westbrook, Maine, Cumberland was a high school baseball and football player. Though he wasn’t selected in the amateur baseball draft, Cumberland’s ability to throw hard impressed Cardinals scout Jeff Jones. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jones bought Cumberland a steak dinner and got him to sign with the Cardinals in 1966.

“I got 52 scholarships out of high school, mostly for football, but the opportunity came up for baseball, so I signed for a steak dinner,” Cumberland recalled to the Clearwater (Fla.) Times. “What a dummy. If I’d waited a little longer, I could have gotten $30,000 or $40,000, even back then. I was anxious, though, for the publicity and all.”

Cumberland was assigned to the Eugene (Ore.) Emeralds, a minor-league club stocked with Cardinals and Phillies prospects. According to the Post-Dispatch, his roommate at Eugene was another future big-league pitcher, Reggie Cleveland.

After posting a 4-1 record for Eugene, Cumberland was taken by the Yankees in the November 1966 minor-league draft.

Two years later, he made his big-league debut for the Yankees against the Red Sox. The first batter he faced, Carl Yastrzemski, grounded a comebacker to Cumberland, who threw to first baseman Mickey Mantle for the out. Boxscore

After making two appearances with the 1969 Yankees, Cumberland got a chance to stick with them in 1970. He got his first big-league win, pitching 6.1 innings of relief against the Senators, and also stroked his first big-league hit, a single that scored Thurman Munson, in that game. Boxscore

The performance earned him a spot in the starting rotation. A month later, in a start against the Indians at Cleveland, Cumberland became the first Yankees pitcher to give up five home runs in a game. Ray Fosse and Tony Horton hit two apiece, and Jack Heidemann slugged the other. Boxscore

In his next start, against the White Sox at Yankee Stadium, Cumberland recovered and pitched his first complete game in the majors, a 3-1 victory. Boxscore

In July 1970, the Yankees traded him to the Giants for pitcher Mike McCormick.

Wakeup call

Soon after joining the Giants, Cumberland was demoted to the minors “with instructions to lose 15 pounds and gain a new pitch,” the New York Daily News reported.

“Getting sent down was the big blow,” Cumberland told reporter Phil Pepe. “It shook me up. I was kind of complacent until that happened. It made me think about my future.”

Cumberland worked on improving his curveball. Called up by the Giants in September, he was 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA in five relief appearances that month.

Pleasant surprise

In 1971, Cumberland entered spring training 15 pounds lighter than he was the previous year, and earned an Opening Day roster spot as a reliever.

When Frank Reberger got injured, Giants manager Charlie Fox chose Cumberland to start against the Cubs on June 22. He beat Ferguson Jenkins in a 2-0 duel. Boxscore

Cumberland remained in the rotation, and on July 3 he pitched a four-hitter, beating Steve Carlton and the Cardinals. Boxscore

“Cumberland is perhaps the most unartistic-looking left-handed pitcher since Hal Woodeshick went into retirement,” San Francisco columnist Wells Twombley observed.

The results, though, were effective. Cumberland was 9-6 for the 1971 Giants, who won a division title. He ranked second on the team in ERA (2.92) and third in innings pitched (185).

“He’s been the biggest surprise of the season,” Fox told United Press International. “What I like best about him is the way he battles the batters. He’s a real bulldog.”

Winding down

At spring training in 1972, teammate Juan Marichal worked with Cumberland on developing a screwball. After posting a 1.61 ERA in 28 exhibition game innings _ “My best spring training ever,” he told the Post-Dispatch _ Cumberland seemed poised to succeed in the regular season, but the opposite happened.

Cumberland was 0-4 with an 8.64 ERA for the Giants when they arrived in St. Louis on June 16, 1972, for a series with the Cardinals. Before the game that night, the Giants swapped Cumberland to the Cardinals for minor-league infielder Jeffrey Mason.

“He’s only 25 and has good control,” Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst told the Post-Dispatch. “If he can come along with that screwball, he could really help us.”

In his St. Louis debut, a start versus the Expos and former Cardinal Mike Torrez, Cumberland gave up six runs in 3.1 innings. Boxscore

After that, Schoendienst used Cumberland as a reliever.

On Aug. 19, facing the Giants in San Francisco, Cumberland pitched three innings and got the win, his last in the majors. Boxscore

“I can’t think of any club I’d rather beat,” Cumberland told the Oakland Tribune.

In 14 games with the 1972 Cardinals, Cumberland was 1-1 with a 6.65 ERA. After the season, they dealt him and outfielder Larry Hisle to the Twins for reliever Wayne Granger.

Helping hand

Cumberland’s final season in the majors was 1974. Eight years later, the Mets hired him to be a coach in the minors.

At the Lynchburg, Va., farm club in 1983, teen phenom Dwight Gooden got off to a mediocre start and was challenged by Cumberland.

“I just told him I didn’t think he wanted to win, and that he wasn’t much of a competitor,” Cumberland told the Newport News Daily Press.

According to Cumberland, Gooden responded, “You were right. I was too timid. That will never happen again.”

Gooden finished 19-4 with 300 strikeouts in 191 innings for Lynchburg.

At the Florida Instructional League after the season, Cumberland helped Gooden develop a changeup and worked with him to shorten his motion.

Cumberland coached in the Mets system from 1982-90. Others he mentored included Rick Aguilera, Randy Myers and Calvin Schiraldi.

“He was the best pitching coach we had in the minor leagues,” Mets scouting director Joe McIlvaine told the Boston Globe. “He toughened the kids up. He worked better with the mind of the player than with the body of the player. That’s a hard thing to get. When we sent a pitcher to John Cumberland in the minor leagues, he was always better for the experience.”

In addition to stints as a minor-league coach for the Padres and Brewers, Cumberland coached in the big leagues with the Red Sox and Royals.

When he was Red Sox pitching coach in 1995, the staff included Roger Clemens, and future Cardinals pitching coaches Derek Lilliquist and Mike Maddux. Derek Lowe transformed from starter to closer while Cumberland was Red Sox bullpen coach from 1999-2001.

Cumberland was Royals pitching coach for manager Tony Pena from 2002-04. When Zack Greinke, 20, made his big-league debut in 2004, he reminded Cumberland of Gooden at a similar age.

“Dwight was more of a power pitcher,” Cumberland told the Kansas City Star, “but the two have the same type of makeup: ‘Here I am. I’m not intimidated. Stand in the box. I’m going to get you out.’ That’s the way Dwight was at 18, just like this kid.”

Posted in Games, Pitchers, Prospects, Trades | 8 Comments »

How Erich Barnes outfoxed Jackie Smith, Cardinals

May 17, 2022 by retrosimba

(Updated June 12, 2022)

Erich Barnes was a formidable foe of the St. Louis football Cardinals. He was an intimidating, savvy defensive back who played 14 seasons in the NFL. In seven games against the Cardinals, he intercepted six passes.

Two of Barnes’ most significant clashes with the Cardinals occurred in consecutive seasons (1966 and 1967) at St. Louis. The first illustrated his fiery intensity. The second showed his smarts.

An all-pro, Barnes totaled 45 interceptions with the Chicago Bears (1958-60), New York Giants (1961-64) and Cleveland Browns (1965-71).

Rough stuff

Barnes played college football at Purdue and earned a bachelor’s degree. The Bears selected him in the fourth round of the 1958 NFL draft.

In January 1961, the Bears sent Barnes to the Los Angeles Rams for quarterback Bill Wade. The Rams then flipped Barnes to the Giants for defensive back Lindon Crow, who had threatened to retire unless the Giants traded him to a team near his California home.

“We gave up a class A player in Barnes,” Bears head coach George Halas told the Chicago Tribune, “but you must give up a class A player to get one in return.”

“Often matched against the league’s best wide receivers,” the New York Times noted, Barnes helped the Giants reach the NFL title game in three consecutive seasons (1961-63).

Bobby Mitchell of the Washington Redskins said of Barnes, “When a man can hold me down playing man-to-man defense, he’s doing a tremendous job.”

Barnes developed a reputation for making hard hits “with an exuberance that drew penalties or warnings,” the Associated Press reported. In a 1963 game against the Bears, he was assessed a penalty for roughing another tough guy, tight end Mike Ditka.

“Throughout Barnes’ career, his method of operation was simple: You come across the middle, you get busted in your chops,” the Akron Beacon Journal observed.

Barnes displayed an uncanny knack for arriving at the same time a pass reached a receiver, and then whacking the ball from the recipient’s arms with a motion similar to a butcher wielding a cleaver.

“He was very intense on the field,” Barnes’ teammate, Giants offensive lineman Roosevelt Brown, told the Akron newspaper. “Off the field, he was very laid back. That’s when you wanted to meet him. You didn’t want to meet up with him on the football field.”

Barnes had 18 interceptions in four seasons with the Giants.

Like the Bears four years earlier, the Giants were in desperate need of an experienced quarterback in August 1965, and Barnes had trade value. The Giants sent Barnes to the Browns for linebacker Mike Lucci, then swapped Lucci and guard Darrell Dess to the Detroit Lions for quarterback Earl Morrall.

Danger zone

On Dec. 17, 1966, the Browns and Cardinals played at Busch Memorial Stadium. Late in the fourth quarter, with the Browns ahead by 28, backup quarterback Jim Ninowski threw a sideline pass to pint-sized Walter “The Flea” Roberts. The pass was incomplete, but Cardinals rookie defensive back Bobby Williams followed Roberts out of bounds and knocked him toward the Browns’ bench.

Roberts got up and “wanted to fight,” Williams said to the Associated Press. “He jumped on me. Then Barnes came over. Then it seemed like the whole Browns team was around me.”

Barnes told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “I guess I was the first one to reach Williams, and I gave him a shove.”

Barnes then kicked, or attempted to kick, Williams while he was down, witnesses told United Press International.

“I swung my foot, but I’m not even sure I touched him,” Barnes said to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “It was more of a chastising gesture. I had no intention of hurting him.” Video courtesy of Cardinals football historian Bob Underwood

Emotions were raw. Some spectators left their seats, gathered on top of a dugout and shouted at the Browns players on the sidelines.

“Ushers were unable to control the unruly bunch,” the Jacksonville (Ill.) Daily Journal reported, “and policemen with nightsticks were rushed to the scene.”

Bruce Alford, a line judge on the officiating crew, feared the mob would storm the field. “I thought there might not be enough policemen when the trouble started,” Alford told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

During a timeout, a spectator broke loose, approached Barnes from behind and struck him in the back of the head, knocking him to the ground.

“The first thing I know, I’m flat on my back,” Barnes recalled to the Post-Dispatch, “and I see our other players pushing some fan away from me.”

The assailant was handcuffed by police and taken away. Game stats

Two plainclothes police officers were assigned to escort Barnes from the locker room to the team bus, according to the Post-Dispatch.

After reviewing film, NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle fined Barnes $250 for making “a major contribution to an inflammatory sideline incident.”

Experience matters

A year later, when the Browns returned to Busch Memorial Stadium on Dec. 10, 1967, “Barnes was booed vociferously when he was introduced” before the game, the Dayton Daily News reported.

Unfazed, Barnes responded with an outstanding performance. “Can’t play this game to win popularity contests,” Barnes told the Dayton newspaper.

In the third quarter, with the Browns ahead, 10-9, Cardinals tight end Jackie Smith took a handoff from Jim Hart on an end-around play.

“We’d studied films of that play all week,” Barnes told the Post-Dispatch.

When Barnes saw Smith take the ball, it was his responsibility to leave the receiver he was covering, Bobby Joe Conrad, and advance toward Smith, but Barnes’ instincts told him something was amiss.

“I say to myself, ‘Why is Bobby Joe Conrad running by me so hard?’ ” Barnes told the Post-Dispatch. “Most pass receivers don’t really run unless they think they’re going to get the ball.

“I say, ‘Erich, ain’t no pass receiver going to run that hard on a fake.’ That’s how I guessed Jackie Smith might plan to throw on that end-around. So I stay with Conrad.”

Sure enough, Smith stopped, looked downfield and tossed a pass toward Conrad. It was the first pass Smith attempted in a NFL game. Barnes intercepted it and ran 40 yards to the Cardinals’ 21. A few minutes later, Lou Groza kicked a field goal for a 13-9 Browns lead. Video courtesy of Cardinals football historian Bob Underwood

Barnes’ pickoff and return “put the Cardinals in a hole for the entire third quarter,” the Post-Dispatch reported. “The play served to turn the game in Cleveland’s direction.”

Barnes came up big again on the last play of the game.

With the Browns ahead, 20-16, Hart connected with Smith on a pass to the Cleveland 18. Six seconds remained when Smith caught the ball. Barnes blocked Smith’s path to the sideline so that he couldn’t get out of bounds and stop the clock. Forced to run down the field, Smith was tackled by middle linebacker Dale Lindsey as time expired. Game stats

Posted in Football, Games, Opponents | 12 Comments »

Fit to be tied: How Cardinals got a goofy win vs. Reds

May 14, 2022 by retrosimba

The Reds thought they beat the Cardinals on a home run that didn’t count. The Cardinals thought they won on a home run that did count. The unsatisfying result was that neither team won. A tie score was declared and a makeup game was scheduled.

The adventure began on a Saturday afternoon, May 14, 1938, when the Reds and Cardinals played at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis.

In the sixth inning, the Reds led, 3-1, and had runners on first (Billy Myers) and third (Lonny Frey), two outs, when Dusty Cooke hit a deep drive to right-center against Cardinals rookie starter Max Macon.

“The ball soared on and on,” The Sporting News reported, and still was rising as it carried over the outfield wall and the bleacher seats. It struck an iron girder just below the roof “at a point where the pavilion is not protected by screen,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch observed, and caromed back into the playing field.

Lee Ballanfant, the umpire with the closest view, ruled the ball was in play. Center fielder Enos Slaughter retrieved it and threw to third baseman Joe Stripp. Cooke, sliding, arrived just ahead of the ball.

Cooke was credited with a two-run triple, extending the Reds’ lead to 5-1, but the Reds argued that he hit a three-run home run, making it a 6-1 score.

According to the Associated Press, Sportsman’s Park had no ground rule for a ball striking a beam underneath the pavilion roof and falling back into the playing field.

Ballanfant, backed by the other two umpires, Bill Klem and Ziggy Sears, determined it was a judgment call.

Reds manager Bill McKechnie disagreed and filed a protest, saying the umpires deprived Cooke of a home run. The Reds contended it was a home run because the ball cleared the outfield wall and would have landed on the pavilion roof or in the seats if it hadn’t struck the girder.

Diamond drama

Trailing 5-1, the Cardinals rallied for four runs in the bottom of the ninth. If Cooke had been allowed a home run instead of a triple, the Reds would have held on for a 6-5 victory. Instead, the score was 5-5 and the game went to an extra inning.

In the 10th, Frank McCormick’s two-out single scored Lonny Frey from second, giving the Reds a 6-5 lead.

Joe Stripp led off the bottom of the inning with a single against Ray Benge. Gene Schott relieved and fell behind in the count, 3-and-1, to Enos Slaughter.

Given the sign to swing away, Slaughter crushed a home run above the pavilion roof in right, turning “an impending defeat into a glorious Cardinals victory,” the Post-Dispatch reported. Cardinals rushed onto the field and “mauled and hauled Slaughter from the plate to the dugout” in celebration of the 7-6 comeback triumph. Boxscore

According to the Sporting News, McKechnie called National League president Ford Frick at his New York office and was assured a hearing would be held.

“Even officials of the St. Louis team anticipate Frick will allow the protest,” The Cincinnati Post reported.

Play it again

Frick decided to visit Sportsman’s Park and see for himself the spot where Cooke’s drive struck the beam near the pavilion roof.

On June 3, two days after he made his inspection, Frick ruled Cooke’s hit was a home run, but instead of awarding the Reds a 6-5 victory, Frick declared the outcome a 7-7 tie. He ruled that all statistics from the game counted in the record book, but the outcome did not. He ordered the game replayed in its entirety.

The Reds had hoped Frick either would award them a win, or rule for play to resume in the sixth, with the Reds batting, two outs, and a 6-1 lead.

“If that was a home run, the Reds won the game, and it must be difficult for manager McKechnie to understand Frick’s ruling to replay,” J. Roy Stockton wrote in the Post-Dispatch.

McKechnie, a former Cardinals manager who led them to the 1928 National League pennant, told The Cincinnati Post, “Frick’s decision that we must replay the entire game is unjust.”

“Frick showed a distinct lack of courage,” McKechnie said to the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Frick told the Associated Press that awarding the Reds a win, or resuming the game in the sixth inning, would penalize the Cardinals “for an error which was in no part its own and concerning which they had no responsibility.”

The Cardinals, though, were unhappy, too. They thought Frick should have upheld the decision of the umpires and validated the 7-6 victory.

Just peachy

The makeup was scheduled as the second game of a Saturday doubleheader on Aug. 20 at Sportsman’s Park.

The Cardinals scored four in the first, knocking out Reds starter Peaches Davis.

In the seventh, with the Cardinals ahead, 5-1, Johnny Mize hit a ball that struck near the edge of the pavilion roof atop the screened section in right. Mize stopped at second base, but umpire Dolly Stark incorrectly ruled it a home run. The Reds argued, and plate umpire George Barr overruled Stark, declaring the hit a double.

The Reds scored three in the eighth, but the Cardinals held on for a 5-4 victory. Boxscore

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents | 8 Comments »

Ken Boyer, Julian Javier had knack for clinching clouts

May 10, 2022 by retrosimba

Julian Javier hit only four home runs for the 1968 Cardinals, but two of those resulted in 1-0 victories.

Three times in his career, Javier hit a home run in a 1-0 Cardinals victory. The only other player to hit a home run in three 1-0 Cardinals triumphs is Ken Boyer, according to researcher Tom Orf.

Just as noteworthy is the list of Cardinals who never hit a home run in a 1-0 win. Stan Musial never did it, according to Orf. Neither did Lou Brock, Jim Edmonds, Mark McGwire, Johnny Mize, Ted Simmons or Enos Slaughter as Cardinals.

Boyer blasts

Boyer ranks third in most career home runs (255) for the Cardinals.

The first time he hit a home run in a 1-0 Cardinals victory was Sept. 7, 1956, against the Reds’ Joe Nuxhall at St. Louis.

Swinging at a Nuxhall curve with one out in the seventh, Boyer hit “a tremendous shot that cut through a strong headwind to land well up in the left field bleachers” at the original Busch Stadium, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.

The home run was Boyer’s first since July 26 and helped snap Nuxhall’s six-game winning streak. Boyer hit .330 with five home runs versus Nuxhall in his career. Boxscore

Two years later, on July 19, 1958, the Reds again were the opponent when Boyer hit a home run in a 1-0 Cardinals win at Cincinnati.

Leading off the 10th, Boyer hit an Alex Kellner curve over the Crosley Field wall in left for his fifth home run against the Reds that season, helping end a seven-game Cardinals losing skid. Boxscore

The final time Boyer hit a home run in a 1-0 Cardinals win was June 25, 1960, at Philadelphia. Leading off the ninth, he lined the first pitch from Jim Owens just over a railing into the first row of seats in left at Connie Mack Stadium.

“It was a good pitch, high and inside,” Boyer told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I hit it good.”

Curt Simmons, facing the Phillies for the first time since they released him in May, earned his first Cardinals win. Boxscore

Good timing

While Julian Javier was visiting children at a Pittsburgh hospital, a 6-year-old boy asked him to hit a home run that night against the Pirates. Javier delivered, connecting against Steve Blass for a 1-0 Cardinals victory at Forbes Field on May 15, 1968. Boxscore

Four months later, as the Cardinals were closing in on clinching a second consecutive National League pennant, Javier hit another improbable home run to give the Cardinals a 1-0 victory.

On Sept. 2, 1968, at Cincinnati, Javier led off the 10th against the Reds’ Ted Abernathy, who had a 2.07 ERA and hadn’t allowed a home run since July. Abernathy threw low strikes with an underhanded submarine delivery. Javier, who batted .174 versus Abernathy, called him Abernasty, the Post-Dispatch reported, “because he doesn’t give you many good pitches to hit.”

To Javier’s surprise, he got a hanging curve from Abernathy and drove the pitch into the left field screen at Crosley Field for a home run.

“I do not see many high pitches from Abernathy, so I am glad I got a good cut at the one he gave me,” Javier said to the Dayton Journal Herald.

The home run gave the Cardinals a 1-0 victory and earned the 20th win of the season for Bob Gibson, who was on his way to winning the National League Most Valuable Player and Cy Young awards. The shutout was the 12th of Gibson’s 13 that season. Boxscore

Javier, who had 76 regular-season home runs for the Cardinals, got the last of his 1-0 game-winners on Aug. 26, 1969, against the Astros at St. Louis. His home run beat Larry Dierker, who allowed two hits in seven innings. Boxscore

Posted in Games, Hitters | 4 Comments »

No mistake: Garland Boyette earned chance with Cardinals

May 7, 2022 by retrosimba

Undrafted, Garland Boyette overcame the odds, earning a roster spot at a position he’d never played and becoming a starting linebacker for the NFL St. Louis Cardinals in 1962.

Two years later, the Cardinals cut him, but that wasn’t the only insult he endured. Philadelphia Chewing Gum Corporation produced a football card of Boyette that year, but fumbled the assignment. The name on the card was Garland Boyette, but the photo was of Don Gillis, a former Cardinals center who no longer was in the league. Boyette was black and Gillis was white.

Boyette went to Canada, revived his career and returned to the United States, launching a successful stint as a two-time Pro Bowl selection at linebacker with the Houston Oilers.

Awesome athlete

Boyette played college football at Grambling and primarily was a defensive lineman. His teammates included other future NFL players such as Buck Buchanan, Willie Brown, Ernie Ladd and Roosevelt Taylor. Ladd, 6 feet 9 and about 320 pounds, was Boyette’s nephew. Ladd’s mother was Boyette’s sister.

Boyette, 6 feet 1 and about 220 pounds, also was a standout track and field athlete who excelled in the decathlon.

After his senior football season at Grambling in 1961, Boyette wasn’t selected in either the AFL or NFL draft. The Cardinals signed him in February 1962 and invited him to training camp.

Ernie Ladd, who made his pro football debut with the San Diego Chargers in 1961, and a friend, Len Burnett, a defensive back for the 1961 Pittsburgh Steelers, worked out with Boyette and offered him advice before he joined the Cardinals.

“They suggested that with my speed and agility I ought to be able to play cornerback in pro football, or with more weight, maybe linebacker,” Boyette told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “Ernie told me to get on the weights and get my weight up, so I did.”

Boyette firmed up to about 235 pounds, and, though he never had played linebacker in college, he “landed in an outside linebacker spot, playing behind the Cardinals’ ace outside linebacker, Bill Koman,” the Post-Dispatch reported.

On-the-job training

With the Cardinals loaded with veteran linebackers, Boyette, 22, didn’t play much early in the 1962 season. “I found it discouraging,” Boyette told the Post-Dispatch. “I’d always played first string in college, but it gave me time to learn.”

When several linebackers, including Ted Bates, Ed Henke, Dale Meinert and Marion Rushing _ “All of whom figured to give the Cardinals a tremendous ground defense and a big rush,” The Pittsburgh Press noted _ got sidelined because of injuries, Boyette got his chance.

Against the San Francisco 49ers on Nov. 25, Boyette played at left linebacker, with Koman moving to the right side, and “did a commendable job,” Cardinals head coach Wally Lemm told the St. Louis Globe-Democrat.

Boyette started at left side linebacker in the Dec. 7 game against the Steelers and played well, sacking Ed Brown for a 15-yard loss.

“I told Bill Koman I’d learned more in that one game at Pittsburgh than I’d learned in five years of football earlier,” Boyette said to the Post-Dispatch. “I’m learning more by getting to play. I’ve found nobody ever relaxes in this game.”

After the Cardinals completed the 1962 season, the Globe-Democrat declared, “Boyette came along so well.”

On the move

The Cardinals went into their 1963 exhibition game opener with Boyette, Koman and Meinert as the starting linebackers, but, a couple of weeks later, rookie Larry Stallings was named a starter, replacing Boyette, according to the Post-Dispatch.

In October, Boyette tore ligaments in a knee. He came back in late November and made a key play in a game against the New York Giants, setting up the winning touchdown by recovering Eddie Dove’s fumble on the New York 20-yard line.

As for that football card snafu, Don Gillis wore No. 50 when he played for the Cardinals from 1958-61, and Boyette wore the same uniform number for the Cardinals in 1962 and 1963.

“The card companies would ask the team who wears what numbers,” Boyette told the Monroe (La.) News-Star, “but how the hell do you get that screwed up?”

With Koman, Meinert and Stallings returning in 1964, and Dave Meggyesy pushing for playing time as well, the Cardinals deemed Boyette expendable and placed him on waivers on Sept. 2, according to the Post-Dispatch.

A few days later, Boyette was signed by the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League. Montreal’s head coach was Jim Trimble. Cardinals defensive coordinator Chuck Drulis had been an assistant on Trimble’s staff when Trimble was head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles in 1954 and 1955.

Boyette played two seasons (1964-65) with the Alouettes and made a favorable impression. “He is the best athlete on my team,” Trimble told the Montreal Star. “Garland is one of the finest athletes I’ve ever known.”

After Trimble departed, Boyette signed with the AFL’s Houston Oilers, who’d hired Wally Lemm to be their head coach in 1966.

“The only reason he was cut by the Cardinals was he made too many mistakes,” Lemm told The Sporting News. “We are hoping now that he is older, and with two years of Canadian ball behind him, he will have matured.”

In 1967, Boyette became the Oilers’ middle linebacker. That same season, rookie Willie Lanier started at middle linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs. According to the Houston Chronicle, Boyette and Lanier were the first black starting middle linebackers in pro football in the U.S.

A year later, Sports Illustrated described Boyette as “an exceptional athlete who can be one of the great middle linebackers.”

Boyette was named to the Pro Bowl in 1968 and 1969, and played with the Oilers until 1972.

Posted in Football, Games | 2 Comments »

Bobby Shantz was mighty mite on mound for Cardinals

May 3, 2022 by retrosimba

When the Cardinals had Bobby Shantz in their lineup, it was like having two players instead of one _ a reliable reliever and a fifth infielder.

On May 7, 1962, the Cardinals traded pitcher John Anderson and outfielder Carl Warwick to the Houston Colt .45s for Shantz.

A month earlier, Shantz, 36, was the starting pitcher for the Colt .45s in the franchise’s first regular-season game. The Cardinals got him for the bullpen.

A left-hander who baffled batters with precision pitches and fielded with graceful glovework, Shantz gave the Cardinals what they hoped. In three seasons with them (1962-64), Shantz was 12-10 with 15 saves and a 2.51 ERA, and became the first Cardinals pitcher to earn a Gold Glove Award for fielding excellence.

Big talent

Born and raised in Pottstown, Pa., Shantz moved with his parents to the Frankford neighborhood of Philadelphia after he graduated from high school. He was 19 when he joined the Army in December 1944, and was discharged two years later.

Shantz was playing sandlot baseball in Philadelphia when he was signed by the hometown Athletics in November 1947 on the recommendation of Tony Parisse, a butcher and former big-league catcher.

Though no more than 5 feet 6 and 140 pounds, Shantz showed a big-league assortment of pitches. Assigned to Lincoln, Neb., in 1948, Shantz was 18-7 in his lone season in the minors.

Shantz, 23, opened the 1949 season with the Athletics, managed by 86-year-old Connie Mack. After debuting in relief against the Senators on May 1, Shantz was told he was being sent to the minors, but the Athletics changed their minds when another pitcher developed a sore arm.

Bravo, Bobby

On May 6, Shantz appeared in his second big-league game and gave a performance that, as the Philadelphia Inquirer described, “bordered on the incredible.”

Relieving Carl Scheib with none out in the fourth and the A’s trailing, 3-1, Shantz pitched nine hitless innings against the Tigers. He allowed no hits from the fourth through the 12th.

After the Athletics went ahead, 5-3, with two runs in the 13th, Shantz gave up two hits and a run in the bottom half of the inning, but held on for a 5-4 win.

The game showcased Shantz’s fielding as well as his pitching.

In the eighth, “Bob Swift cracked Shantz’s shins with a line drive, and Johnny Lipon bowled him over with a screamer to the throat in the 10th,” the Inquirer reported. “Both times Bobby picked himself up, grabbed the ball and threw his man out. After that, local rooters were with the kid.”

In the bottom of the 13th, George Kell led off with a double and scored on Vic Wertz’s single. Attempting to move Wertz into scoring position, Hoot Evers bunted. The ball was popped up near the first-base line. Catcher Buddy Rosar lunged for it and missed, but Shantz vaulted over the fallen catcher, caught the ball and whipped a throw to first base to nab Wertz for a rally-killing double play. Shantz struck out the next batter, Swift, to secure his first big-league win. Boxscore

Doing it all

Following an 18-10 season for the 1951 Athletics, Shantz was 24-7 for them in 1952 and received the American League Most Valuable Player Award.

“He does everything you could ask any player to do,” Browns manager Rogers Hornsby told The Sporting News. “He pitches well, he fields superbly and he can hit the ball.”

(A right-handed batter, Shantz had 107 hits and 46 RBI in 16 years in the majors. His lone home run was a liner to left against Allie Reynolds at Yankee Stadium in 1950. Boxscore)

Yankees manager Casey Stengel called Shantz the greatest fielding pitcher. “The best I ever saw,” Stengel told the New York Journal-American. “He’s all over the infield.”

Shantz was with the Yankees the first time a Gold Glove Award was given in 1957. He won the award in eight consecutive seasons (1957-1964).

In four years with the Yankees (1957-60), Shantz was 30-18 with 19 saves and a 2.73 ERA. He pitched in six World Series games for them.

After the Senators claimed him in the American League expansion draft in December 1960, the Cardinals tried to acquire him, offering Bob Gibson, but the Senators dealt Shantz to the Pirates. After posting a 6-3 record, including a complete-game win against the Cardinals, for the 1961 Pirates, Shantz was selected by the Colt .45s in the National League expansion draft. Boxscore

Houston calling

Though The Sporting News described his fastball as “mostly a figure of speech,” Shantz, 36, dazzled with his all-around skills at spring training with the Colt .45s.

“That little fellow is a remarkable athlete,” manager Harry Craft said. “Have you ever noticed the way he moves toward every ball hit on the ground? He could play anywhere. I wouldn’t be afraid to let him catch. He’d be a darned fine catcher. Before the season is over, you may see him at third base.”

Shantz was the Opening Day starting pitcher against the Cubs at Houston. The first batter he faced was Lou Brock, who struck out. Shantz pitched a five-hitter in a 11-2 win. Brock was 0-for-3 with a sacrifice fly. Boxscore

(Two years later, Shantz was among the players the Cardinals dealt to the Cubs for Brock.)

In his next start, Shantz pitched 5.2 scoreless innings against the Mets before his shoulder tightened. Ten days later, he started against the Braves, allowed one earned run in six innings, but continued to experience tightness in his shoulder.

Short man

Because of the shoulder ailment, Shantz didn’t think he could pitch deep into games as a starter, but could be effective in short relief. The Cardinals determined he was worth the risk and traded for him.

“The only thing Shantz can’t do any more is pitch long or often,” Cardinals general manager Bing Devine told the Philadelphia Daily News.

In his Cardinals debut, Shantz pitched two scoreless innings against the Giants. Boxscore

(Shantz faced the Giants three times in 1962 and in each game Willie McCovey was lifted for a pinch-hitter against him. McCovey was 0-for-8 versus Shantz in his career.)

Special save

Shantz got his first Cardinals save with 1.2 scoreless innings against the Phillies on May 21.

With the Cardinals ahead, 4-1, in the eighth, the Phillies had Ted Savage on third and Johnny Callison on second, one out, when Shantz relieved Ray Washburn. Cleanup hitter Tony Gonzalez scorched a line drive toward the right of the mound. Shantz lunged, snared the ball backhanded, whirled and fired a strike to Ken Boyer at third, “doubling up a startled and stranded Savage, who had been on his way home, sure the ball would get through,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Boxscore

The Philadelphia Inquirer described it as “a play that had to be seen to be believed.”

Shantz “makes improbable plays look easy, and impossible plays just a trifle harder,” Stan Hochman wrote in the Philadelphia Daily News.

Bobby vs. Goliath

Shantz got his first Cardinals win on June 10 with three scoreless innings against the Giants. Boxscore

On Aug. 10, he had two infield hits and a RBI, and pitched four innings for the win against the Phillies. Boxscore

Shantz got a save in his final appearance of 1962. Trailing 7-4, the Giants had runners on first and third, two outs, in the bottom of the ninth when Shantz struck out Willie Mays. Boxscore

“Shantz caught Mays off-balance with a changeup for the third strike,” Curley Grieve of the San Francisco Examiner reported. “Catcher Gene Oliver called it a Stu Miller pitch _ all motion and nothing on the ball. The swing Willie took was just a gesture. He knew he was hooked.”

Shantz was 5-3 with four saves and a 2.18 ERA for the 1962 Cardinals.

The next year, he appeared in 55 games for St. Louis and was 6-4 with 11 saves and a 2.61 ERA.

One of his highlights with the 1963 Cardinals occurred on July 16 when he struck out eight of 11 batters faced in a win against the Reds. Vada Pinson, 0-for-13 against Shantz in his career, struck out twice. Shantz also fanned Frank Robinson and Pete Rose. Boxscore

“He’s unbelievable,” Cardinals catcher Tim McCarver told the Post-Dispatch. “His control, his change of speed. I’ve never caught anybody who could change speeds like that.”

Shantz said, “I had about as good a curveball as I’ve had all year, but it still took a lot of luck. If they don’t swing at a lot of those balls, I’m in trouble because some of them were bad pitches.”

Shantz had a 1-3 record when he was sent to the Cubs in the Brock deal in June 1964. Two months later, his contract was sold to the Phillies, who were in first place. In 14 appearances with the Phillies, Shantz was 1-1 with a 2.25 ERA, but the Cardinals clinched the pennant on the last day of the season.

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