RetroSimba

Jody Davis survived medical emergency with Cardinals

December 10, 2019 by retrosimba

Jody Davis was with the Cardinals when he experienced a life-threatening health crisis, recovered and got on a fast track to the major leagues.

On Dec. 10, 1979, the Cardinals traded pitcher Ray Searage to the Mets for Davis, a catcher.

Three months later, in March 1980, Davis was in the Cardinals’ spring training clubhouse when he began coughing up blood. Bleeding internally, he was rushed to a hospital, lost large amounts of blood and underwent two surgeries.

By June 1980, Davis was playing for a Cardinals farm club. The next year, he made his big-league debut against the Cardinals.

Peach state product

Davis was born in Gainesville, Ga., and started playing organized baseball when he was 9. He excelled at baseball and basketball in high school. Davis continued playing baseball at Middle Georgia Junior College and was a freshman when the Mets drafted him in 1976.

Davis played four seasons (1976-79) in the Mets’ farm system. In 1979, he hit .296 with 21 home runs and 91 RBI for Jackson of the Class AA Texas League.

The Cardinals, planning to keep their best catching prospect, Terry Kennedy, in the big leagues in 1980, were seeking a catcher for the top level of their farm system. The Mets agreed to trade them Davis for Searage, a left-hander who was 10-4 with a 2.22 ERA for Arkansas of the Texas League in 1979.

Searage eventually played seven seasons in the majors and was Pirates pitching coach for 10 years (2010-19).

Intestinal issues

Davis attended 1980 spring training at St. Petersburg, Fla., with the Cardinals and was glad to be in their organization. “I didn’t think too highly of the Mets,” he told the St. Petersburg Times. “The Cardinals are so much nicer. As far as I’m concerned, it’s the difference between night and day.”

On March 20, 1980, Davis played in a “B” squad game in St. Petersburg and was hit in the shoulder by a foul tip. He went to the hospital for X-rays, was released and went to Al Lang Stadium, the Cardinals’ spring training home.

Inside the clubhouse, Davis, 23, became ill and vomited blood. When paramedics arrived, Cardinals third baseman Ken Reitz helped them lift Davis’ stretcher up the steps.

At the hospital, doctors determined he had a stomach ulcer and decided to operate.

“I guess I must have had one at one time because they found some scar tissue there,” Davis told the Chicago Tribune. “At any rate, they removed one-fourth of my stomach.”

The next morning, in his hospital room, Davis vomited blood again. A second surgery was performed the next day.

“Just beneath my stomach, they found an artery that was leaking, that never had developed properly,” Davis said. “So they cut away about six inches of it, attached the loose ends and sewed me up again.”

Throughout the three-day ordeal, doctors gave him transfusions totaling four gallons of blood, Davis said.

“I guess I’m lucky to be around,” he said.

Almost everyone on the Cardinals’ roster either donated blood or committed to do so to a St. Petersburg blood bank that provided about 30 pints to Davis, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Back in action

Davis spent three weeks in the hospital before returning home to Georgia to continue his recuperation.

On June 22, 1980, Davis played in his first game since his surgeries. Catching and batting fifth for the Cardinals’ Class A St. Petersburg farm club, he had a hit and a RBI against Winter Haven.

“I’ve had to start all over,” Davis said to the St. Petersburg Times. “I lost 40 pounds in the hospital. When I was recovering, I could only walk a short distance.”

Davis played in 45 games for St. Petersburg and hit .277 with six home runs. On Aug. 6, 1980, he advanced to the Cardinals’ Class AAA team in Springfield, Ill., and played in 13 games.

When the Cardinals failed to protect Davis on their 40-man winter roster, the Cubs claimed him for $25,000 in the Rule 5 draft on Dec. 8, 1980.

Rapid rise

The Cubs had to include Davis on their 1981 Opening Day roster or offer the Cardinals the chance to take him back for $12,500. Cubs general manager Bob Kennedy, father of catcher Terry Kennedy, liked what he saw of Davis in spring training and decided to keep him.

“As a catcher, his style reminds me a lot of Sherm Lollar,” Kennedy said, referring to the White Sox all-star of the 1950s and 1960s.

Davis was the Cubs’ third-string catcher behind Barry Foote and Tim Blackwell. Among his Cubs teammates was Ken Reitz, who had helped him while he lay bleeding in the Cardinals’ clubhouse a year earlier.

On April 21, 1981, 13 months after his surgeries, Davis made his major-league debut as the starting catcher for the Cubs against the Cardinals at St. Louis. Boxscore

A week later, the Cubs traded Foote to the Yankees. In June, Davis became the Cubs’ starting catcher.

“Everyone on the club is surprised by this unbridled rookie’s raw talent, potential and aggressiveness,” wrote Chicago Tribune columnist John Husar.

Davis had a powerful throwing arm and was adept at working with pitchers.

“I’m just amazed at his maturity,” said Cubs pitcher Doug Bird. “He seems to know more about the other batters than you expect from a rookie.”

Pitcher Doug Capilla said, “I have confidence in him any time, any situation, any pitch. He’s not afraid to call a breaking pitch with two strikes and the bases loaded. He gives pitchers a personal assurance that what he calls will be good.”

Davis played for the Cubs from 1981-88 and for the Braves from 1988-90. In 1984, when the Cubs won a division title, Davis contributed 19 home runs and 94 RBI.

Davis twice was a National League all-star (1984 and 1986) and he won a Gold Glove Award (1986).

Posted in Hitters, Trades | 4 Comments »

Why Cardinals chose Bobby Bonds to replace Lou Brock

December 7, 2019 by retrosimba

Bobby Bonds, expected to bring power and balance to the lineup, symbolized the dysfunction of the 1980 Cardinals.

On Dec. 7, 1979, the Cardinals acquired Bonds from the Indians for pitcher John Denny and outfielder Jerry Mumphrey.

An outfielder, Bonds figured to join George Hendrick to give the Cardinals two right-handed sluggers to balance a lineup with switch-hitters Ted Simmons and Garry Templeton and batting champion Keith Hernandez, who hit left-handed.

Bonds, who had 25 home runs and 34 stolen bases for the 1979 Indians, was projected to play left field and replace Lou Brock, who retired.

The deal turned out to be a dud. Bonds, 34, injured his right wrist early in the season and couldn’t hit for average or power. The 1980 Cardinals, who fired their manager and general manager during the season, finished 74-88.

All in the family

Bobby Lee Bonds was born in Riverside, Calif. An older brother, Robert Vernon Bonds Jr., a receiver and defensive back at San Jose State, got selected by the St. Louis football Cardinals in the fifth round of the 1965 NFL draft and played in Canada. A sister, Rosie, was a hurdler for the U.S. in the 1964 Olympics.

Bonds excelled in baseball, football and track in high school and became a state long jump champion. He married at 17 and became a father at 18 when his son, future home run champion Barry Bonds, was born in July 1964. A month later, with a wife and child to support, Bonds signed an $8,000 contract with the Giants.

The Giants sent Bonds to their farm club in Lexington, N.C., in 1965. Disheartened by the racism he encountered, Bonds wanted to quit, but Lexington manager Max Lanier, the former Cardinals pitcher, became his trusted mentor and advisor. Bonds stayed and began his rise through the Giants’ system.

On June 25, 1968, Bonds made his major-league debut against the Dodgers at Candlestick Park and hit a grand slam. Boxscore He formed a friendship with the Giants’ shortstop, Hal Lanier, Max’s son.

Mixed reviews

Bonds and Willie Mays were the first players to achieve 300 home runs and 300 stolen bases in their careers. Bonds won three Gold Glove awards and three times was an all-star.

He also struck out a lot and drank a lot. Bonds twice was arrested for drunk driving and had another arrest for an altercation with a police officer. Bob Broeg of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote, “When the poor guy did drink too much, as one sympathetic soul put it, he must have gone looking for a policeman.” After his playing days, Bonds joined Alcoholics Anonymous, according to the Society for American Baseball Research.

Bonds played for six teams (Giants, Yankees, Angels, White Sox, Rangers and Indians) in six years (1974-79). In July 1979, he told the Indians he wanted to be traded unless they increased his yearly salary from $440,000 to $672,000. Indians fans responded with a barrage of boos. In September 1979, Bonds made an obscene gesture to a fan and was fined.

Asked about Bonds’ controversies after acquiring him, Cardinals general manager John Claiborne told The Sporting News, “I don’t know about his history and I don’t care. He has produced and that’s all I’m concerned about.”

Cardinals manager Ken Boyer said Bonds will “make a big difference in our offense” and “with Bonds’ arm, you’re going to see things defensively you haven’t seen in a while.”

Indians outfielder Rick Manning viewed Bonds differently, saying, “Bobby wouldn’t hit the cutoff man if he were King Kong.”

Bonds predicted, “If I just do what’s average, it should be enough to win the pennant and get in the World Series.” He also cautioned, “If it doesn’t go the way they expect it to go with the Cardinals, I’ll be the first one gone.”

A season unravels

Bonds preferred uniform No. 25, but in St. Louis it belonged to Hendrick, so Bonds became the first Cardinal to wear No. 00.

Boyer began the 1980 season with Bonds batting fifth in the order between Simmons and Hendrick.

On April 17, 1980, in Bonds’ seventh game with the Cardinals, he was hit on the right wrist by a pitch from the Pirates’ Eddie Solomon. Boxscore

Bonds continued to play, but the damaged wrist hampered his swing and he was committing too soon on breaking balls. On May 18, 1980, after striking out three times in a game against the Giants, Bonds asked Boyer to send someone to bat for him when his turn came again in the ninth. Boxscore

“Bonds swung a bat that resembled a fly swatter,” wrote Post-Dispatch columnist Tom Barnidge.

With the Cardinals’ record at 18-33, Boyer was fired in June 1980 and replaced by Whitey Herzog, who benched Bonds against right-handed pitching.

Bonds said he was experiencing “the most frustrating season of my life. I want to contribute and I haven’t been. I have no criticism of Whitey.”

On July 21, 1980, Bonds went on the 15-day disabled list. When he returned, he cut a finger on his right hand trying to get an item off a room service tray.

Claiborne was fired in August 1980 and one reason cited was the trade for Bonds.

Bonds hit no home runs after July 13 and had no hits after Aug. 18. He finished his Cardinals season with a .203 batting average, five home runs and 15 stolen bases. He batted .145 against right-handers.

On Dec. 22, 1980, after failing to trade Bonds, the Cardinals released him.

He played for the Cubs in 1981, his final big-league season, and twice in a span of three days, Sept. 7 Boxscore and Sept. 9 Boxscore, hit two home runs in a game against the Cardinals at St. Louis.

Posted in Games, Hitters, Trades | 9 Comments »

Why Cardinals took a chance on Brad Penny

December 5, 2019 by retrosimba

(Updated Dec. 21, 2024)

A grand start to his Cardinals career culminated with a grand slam for pitcher Brad Penny before an injury described as minor became something major.

On Dec. 7, 2009, the Cardinals signed Penny, a free agent, and projected him to join a 2010 starting rotation with Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright, Kyle Lohse and Jaime Garcia.

The move initially seemed to be a masterstroke by the Cardinals. Penny was 3-0 with an 0.94 ERA after four starts for them.

On May 21, 2010, three days before he turned 32, Penny hit a grand slam against ex-Cardinal Joel Pineiro of the Angels, but couldn’t continue pitching because of pain near his right shoulder. Originally described as a muscle strain, the injury turned out to be a muscle tear and Penny never played in another game for the Cardinals.

Hard thrower

Born and raised in Oklahoma, Penny followed the Cardinals as a boy.

“I grew up a Cardinals fan,” he told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I grew up an Ozzie Smith fan.”

A pitcher at Broken Arrow High School, Penny was selected by the Diamondbacks in the fifth round of the 1996 amateur draft. He spent four seasons in the Diamondbacks’ farm system before he was traded to the Marlins.

In 2003, Penny was 14-10 for the Marlins and also won both his starts against the Yankees in the World Series.

The Marlins traded Penny to the Dodgers for outfielder Juan Encarnacion and others in July 2004.

A right-handed power pitcher, Penny thrived with the Dodgers and became part of the Hollywood scene. He dated actress Alyssa Milano and bought thoroughbred horses to race at Hollywood Park.

Penny had back-to-back 16-win seasons for the Dodgers in 2006 and 2007, but his right shoulder ached in 2008 and he finished 6-9 with a 6.27 ERA. Dodgers coach Larry Bowa said Penny was out of shape, but Penny said, “I was hurt all year. I didn’t have one game where my shoulder didn’t hurt.”

Granted free agency, Penny rejected surgery, signed with the Red Sox and started a shoulder strengthening program. Penny made 24 starts for the 2009 Red Sox, consistently fell behind in counts and was 7-8 with a 5.61 ERA.

Released by the Red Sox in August 2009, Penny signed with the Giants and experienced a turnaround. He was 4-1 with a 2.59 ERA in six starts for the Giants and entered free agency.

Learning new tricks

With three starting pitchers, Pineiro, Todd Wellemeyer and John Smoltz, becoming free agents, the Cardinals went shopping for a veteran to add to the rotation.

The Giants made a bid to keep Penny, but their one-year offer was tied to incentives. When the Cardinals proposed a one-year contract with a base salary of $7.5 million, plus a hotel suite on all road trips, Penny accepted.

“We’ve liked him ever since he was with Florida,” said Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan.

Penny’s reputation was he threw as hard as he could and built high pitch counts. “There would be games where he would throw 18 or 20 straight fastballs,” Dodgers pitching coach Rick Honeycutt told the Boston Globe. “You just can’t overpower everybody.”

Duncan and catcher Yadier Molina worked to get Penny to throw fewer pitches and use a sinker, or split-fingered pitch, to get groundball outs rather than strikeouts.

When Penny fell behind in the count, Molina urged him to trust the sinker instead of throwing the predictable pitch, a fastball.

(Asked in a 2019 interview with Stan McNeal of Cardinals Yearbook to explain how he helped pitchers, Molina said, “Pitchers want to go 100 percent every game. Sometimes when you’re 80 percent and go in a different direction, you still can win the game … When you can throw hard, it’s better to locate 94 mph and get a groundball than to throw 98 across the plate and see a double in the gap. As a catcher, you have to get them to know that.”)

The results were encouraging. After Penny beat the Giants on April 25, Duncan said, “He won the game without throwing a single pitch as hard as he could. He thought his way through that game. He’s pitching. He threw strikes, but he rarely gave them what they wanted.”

Penny was 3-1 with a 1.56 ERA in April and the Post-Dispatch declared he “may be the most impressive starter thus far.”

Penny said Duncan “gives me things that I’ve never even been talked to about as far as groundball outs to flyball outs, hits to runs.”

Regarding Molina, Penny said, “What makes it real easy on you is having a guy like Yadi behind the plate. He’s a real important part of it.”

Hit or miss

Penny lost his first three decisions in May, but pitched poorly in only one of those games and had a 2.73 ERA entering his start against the Angels at St. Louis.

In the third inning, with the score tied at 4-4, the Cardinals had runners on second and third, two outs, when Pineiro issued an intentional walk to Skip Schumaker, bringing Penny to the plate.

Penny swung at the first pitch and hit it over the wall in left for a grand slam, his first big-league home run in seven years. Video

When Penny went out to toss his warmup pitches in the fourth, Duncan noticed something was wrong and stopped him from continuing. Boxscore

Penny told the Post-Dispatch he wasn’t injured on the home run swing. He said he felt soreness since his previous start versus the Reds and didn’t tell anyone.

The Cardinals placed Penny on the 15-day disabled list and expected him to be ready for the second half of the season.

On July 7, Penny was pitching a simulated game in Denver when he complained of renewed pain in the right shoulder. A week later, Penny revealed tissue was torn from the bone.

Unable to pitch the remainder of the season, he finished his short Cardinals stint at 3-4 with a 3.23 ERA.

After the season, Penny was granted free agency and signed with the Tigers, joining a rotation with Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer. Penny was 11-11 with a 5.30 ERA in 31 starts for the 2011 Tigers.

Posted in Games, Pitchers | 2 Comments »

How Cardinals got Browns record-setter Bob Nieman

December 2, 2019 by retrosimba

Outfielder Bob Nieman, who made an unprecedented debut with the Browns, returned to St. Louis as an accomplished hitter with the Cardinals.

On Dec. 2, 1959, the Cardinals acquired Nieman from the Orioles for outfielder-catcher Gene Green, plus catcher Chuck Staniland.

Eight years earlier, Nieman became the first player to hit home runs in his first two major-league at-bats. Since then, the only other player to do it is the Cardinals’ Keith McDonald.

A right-handed batter, Nieman appealed to the Cardinals because he hit left-handers well and “southpaws have been a constant plague” to them, The Sporting News reported.

Marty Marion, the former Cardinals shortstop who was Nieman’s teammate with the Browns, said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “He’s only a mediocre outfielder and he’s a hypochondriac, but, man, he can whale that ball.”

Overcoming hurdles

Nieman was born in Cincinnati and began going to Reds games when he was 3 with his father, a semipro catcher.

Nieman developed into a baseball catcher and football fullback in high school. After graduation, he joined the Army, was stationed in France and got pneumonia. The drugs used to treat him damaged his kidneys and he developed nephritis. Given a medical discharge, Nieman returned home, recovered, married his high school sweetheart and tried out with the Reds.

After Nieman signed a minor-league contract with the Reds, a tumor was discovered in his right arm and he underwent surgery. When he healed, the Reds converted him from catcher to outfielder. In 1948, his first minor-league season, Nieman hit .367.

During his off-seasons in the minors, Nieman pursued a college education at Kent State. Nieman was studying journalism in the hope of being a sports reporter and his wife, Patricia, was majoring in advertising.

“Next to actual participation, I can think of no life more enjoyable than watching games and being paid to do so,” Nieman said.

In June 1951, the Reds determined they had a surplus of outfielders in the minors and placed Neiman on waivers. He was claimed by Oklahoma City, an unaffiliated team in the Texas League. Nieman led the league in hitting (.324) and his contract was purchased by the Browns.

Boston fireworks

Nieman, 24, joined the Browns in Boston. Manager Zack Taylor didn’t plan to play him, but changed his mind when the Red Sox started a left-hander, Mickey McDermott. Nieman played left field and batted fifth in the Friday afternoon game on Sept. 14, 1951, at Fenway Park.

When he came to bat for the first time as a big-leaguer in the second inning, Nieman hit a solo home run. In his second at-bat in the third, he hit a two-run home run. According to the Post-Dispatch, those were the only pitches he swung at in those at-bats.

“This is really the day of my life,” Nieman said.

He almost got upstaged in the eighth when Satchel Paige, 45, relieved for the Browns and faced Ted Williams. With the count 0-and-2, Williams moved up in the batter’s box, expecting an off-speed pitch. Paige fired a fastball and Williams swung and missed, striking out.

When Williams got to the dugout, he “smashed his bat into pieces,” the Boston Globe reported. “He first whacked it against the railing leading to the dressing room. When that didn’t suffice, Williams flung the bat toward the rack. He still wasn’t satisfied, so he smashed it on the floor of the dugout. That ended the bat’s worth for good.”

Watching from the mound, Paige “was laughing his head off,” the Globe noted.

“I’ve never seen anything like it in the big leagues,” Paige said. “He was sore because I crossed him up.”

Asked about Nieman’s performance, Paige said the burly rookie “is just a lot of boy. Leans into that ball pretty good and hits the pitch where it is.” Boxscore

Designated hitter

Nieman hit .372 in 12 games for the 1951 Browns. The next year, he led the 1952 Browns in batting average (.289), home runs (18) and RBI (74), but they traded him to the Tigers after the season. Nieman played for the Tigers (1953-54), White Sox (1955-56) and Orioles (1956-59). He batted .322 for the Orioles in 1956 and .325 in 1958.

In 1959, when Nieman hit .292 with 21 home runs for the Orioles, The Sporting News described him as “a terror at the bat but sometimes frightful in the field.” Bob Broeg of the Post-Dispatch suggested Nieman “thought defense was the time to rest.”

The Cardinals got Nieman for his hitting, not his fielding. He batted .287 in 81 games in 1960 and had an on-base percentage of .372.

Among his highlights:

_ A home run against Sandy Koufax in a 2-0 triumph over the Dodgers on Aug. 21. Boxscore

_ A double, triple and home run for four RBI against Dick Ellsworth in a 4-3 victory versus the Cubs on Sept. 4. Boxscore

_ A ninth-inning home run against Johnny Podres to force extra innings against the Dodgers on Sept. 21. Boxscore

In 1961, Nieman, 34, was hitting .471 (8-for-17) when the Cardinals traded him to the Indians on May 10. The Cardinals made the deal because they wanted to give more playing time to Charlie James, 23, who they were grooming to replace Stan Musial in left.

“At least Nieman has the consolation of being one of the few .471 hitters ever traded,” the Post-Dispatch concluded.

Nieman said, “I certainly hate to leave this club. I mean it when I say this is the finest outfit I’ve ever been associated with.”

As he departed, Nieman wrote a message on the blackboard in the Cardinals’ clubhouse: “Good luck, boys, see you in the World Series.”

The Cardinals didn’t reach the World Series in 1961, but Nieman did a year later. After hitting .354 in 39 games for the Indians in 1961, they traded him to the Giants the next year and Nieman appeared in the 1962 World Series.

Posted in Games, Hitters, Records, Trades | 3 Comments »

How Jim Leyland became talent evaluator for Cardinals

November 30, 2019 by retrosimba

(Updated March 14, 2024)

Jim Leyland needed a break from managing, but he wasn’t done with baseball.

On Nov. 30, 1999, the Cardinals hired Leyland to be a special assignment scout.

The move came two years after Leyland managed the 1997 Marlins to a World Series championship and two months after he managed the Rockies to a last-place finish.

In leaving the Rockies with two years remaining on his contract, Leyland said he wanted more time with family and was done managing.

Who you know

Leyland began managing in the Tigers’ farm system in 1972 when he was 27. In 1979, Leyland was managing Evansville of the American Association when he and rival manager Tony La Russa of the White Sox’s Iowa farm team developed a mutual respect.

“He was impressive to manage against,” La Russa said in a 2024 article for Memories and Dreams magazine. “He was very creative on offense, his team played hard and he really had a feel for pitching. He looked like he was going to be an outstanding coach and manager in the major leagues if given the opportunity.”

In August 1979, La Russa became White Sox manager. Leyland was stuck in Evansville because the Tigers were content with their manager, Sparky Anderson. After the 1981 season, Leyland became a coach on La Russa’s White Sox staff. They bonded with a young White Sox executive, Dave Dombrowski.

“With his expertise in all phases of the game, Jim was immediately embraced by the players as somebody who would contribute to the chemistry you need on a winning team,” La Russa said in Memories and Dreams magazine.

The Pirates hired Leyland in 1986. He managed them for 11 seasons and won three division titles before Dombrowski, who’d become general manager of the Marlins, lured him to Miami. In 1997, Leyland’s first season as their manager, the Marlins won the World Series championship, a stunning feat for a franchise which entered the National League just four years earlier. The joy quickly faded when Marlins owner Wayne Huizenga ordered player payroll slashed. With the roster depleted, the Marlins were 54-108 in 1998 and Leyland wanted out.

Burned out

Leyland became Rockies manager but it wasn’t a good fit. The 1999 Rockies finished 72-90 and Leyland grew disinterested. He missed his wife and two children, who were home in suburban Pittsburgh, and after 14 consecutive seasons as a big-league manager he’d had enough. Leyland told the Rockies he was retiring from managing and would forfeit the $4 million left on his contract.

Years later, he told the Associated Press he walked out because “it would’ve been more of a disaster and morally wrong to go back and take their money for two more years.”

Leyland said he did “a lousy job” with the Rockies. “I stunk because I was burned out,” he said. “When I left there, I sincerely believed I would not manage again.”

In Memories and Dreams magazine, La Russa said, “He left Colorado when he didn’t think he was making a difference. He walked away from money. That’s integrity.”

Leyland signed with the Cardinals two weeks before he turned 55. The arrangement called for him to scout National League teams in Pittsburgh and American League clubs in Cleveland. Leyland also would attend Cardinals spring training and evaluate players.

Though Leyland reported directly to general manager Walt Jocketty, he also had the support of La Russa, who said he was comfortable having his friend in the organization. “I’m not going to be the manager of the Cardinals,” Leyland said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “He knows that. I know that.”

Baseball whisperer

When Leyland attended his first Cardinals spring training in 2000, the club wanted to issue him a uniform with No. 10, the same number worn by La Russa and the number Leyland wore when he managed. La Russa said he was OK with it, but Leyland declined, the Post-Dispatch reported.

“I thought it would have made a joke out of it,” said Leyland. “It would have called too much attention and it wasn’t necessary to draw that kind of attention.”

Leyland requested and got a uniform with no name or number.

In September 2000, when the Cardinals were nearing a return to the postseason for the first time in four years, La Russa was asked how much Leyland had helped. “He set the tempo in spring training (with) evaluations and suggestions about strategy,” La Russa replied.

Leyland spent six seasons (2000-2005) as Cardinals special assignment scout and they got to the postseason in five of those. During spring trainings, La Russa and Leyland sat together at games. Leyland also managed or coached intra-squad and “B” games on the back fields at the Jupiter, Fla., complex.

“Jim Leyland is the best baseball man I’ve ever been around in my life,” La Russa said in April 2005. “He’s got this special feel for the game and that includes his giving you his honest evaluation.”

In Memories and Dreams magazine, La Russa said Leyland became “re-energized” working for the Cardinals. “He really helped us, and evidently we helped him,” said La Russa.

In October 2005, Dombrowski, who’d become Tigers general manager, fired manager Alan Trammell and hired Leyland to replace him. Getting the chance to return to the organization where he started was one reason Leyland accepted the job. Another is he felt haunted by the way he left the Rockies. “I did not want my managerial career to end like that,” Leyland said.

In a storybook twist, Leyland, 61, led the Tigers to the American League pennant in 2006 and a World Series matchup with La Russa’s Cardinals.

“It’s actually the greatest situation you could imagine _ to be in a situation against somebody you respect so much,” La Russa said.

Years later, in Memories and Dreams magazine, La Russa had a different perspective. He said, “When you manage against a friend, it’s a very difficult thing because, at the end of the day, one of us will be happy and the other will be upset. You don’t want to see your friend upset. The best example of that was in the 2006 World Series when Jim was with Detroit. That wasn’t fun.”

The Cardinals won four of five against the Tigers and became World Series champions for the first time in 24 years.

Leyland managed the Tigers for nine seasons and won another pennant in 2012. He came close to having a World Series rematch with La Russa and the Cardinals in 2011, but the Tigers were ousted by the Rangers in the American League Championship Series.

Posted in Managers | 3 Comments »

Why the Cardinals paid big to acquire Bryn Smith

November 28, 2019 by retrosimba

The franchise of Dizzy Dean and Bob Gibson gave Bryn Smith the most lucrative contract of any Cardinals pitcher.

On Nov. 28, 1989, Smith, a free agent, signed a three-year $6 million contract with the Cardinals.

“It’s more money than I ever dreamed of,” Smith told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Smith’s contract was the second-highest in Cardinals history, behind only shortstop Ozzie Smith, the Post-Dispatch reported.

Looking for a proven winner to join Joe Magrane (18-9 in 1989) and Jose DeLeon (16-12) in their starting rotation, the Cardinals chose Smith, 34, who had six consecutive seasons of double-digit wins with the Expos but who also lost eight of his last nine decisions in 1989 and finished with a losing record (10-11).

Show time

Smith grew up in Santa Maria, Calif. His mother and father were introduced to one another by actress Jane Russell while working at RKO Pictures in Hollywood. Smith’s mother dated actor Cary Grant before she married.

Smith’s unusual first name was derived from the initials of his maternal grandfather, Baxter Robert Young Nisbet.

When Smith was 15, his mother took him to a Dodgers game and he decided he wanted to play baseball. He tried out for the high school team and discovered he could play.

Smith, 17, was selected by the Cardinals in the 49th round of the 1973 amateur draft but chose to enroll in junior college. A year later, he signed with the Orioles.

“I got $1,000 to sign and I spent half of it on an engagement ring and I went out and blew the rest,” Smith said.

He spent three seasons in the Orioles’ farm system, got traded to the Expos and made his major-league debut with them in 1981. His best season was in 1985 when he was 18-5 with a 2.91 ERA.

A fan of the rock group Rush, Smith joined them on tour for a week and credited the lead singer with teaching him how to deal with crowds.

A right-hander, Smith pitched to contact, issued few walks and relied on changing speeds. The palmball was a favorite pitch. “I’m not a power pitcher,” he said. “I have to be a control pitcher and make use of the park.”

Money ball

After finishing seven games behind the first-place Cubs in the National League East in 1989, the Cardinals decided to find a starting pitcher in the free agent market and focused on two Expos defectors, Smith and left-hander Mark Langston.

The Giants and Braves also were interested in Smith and the Angels wanted Langston. When the Yankees signed another Expos defector, free-agent pitcher Pascual Perez, to a three-year, $5.7 million contract in November 1989, it established the market value and prompted the Cardinals to make their offer to Smith.

“It was an offer I couldn’t refuse,” said Smith.

Soon after, Langston signed with the Angels for five years and $16 million.

Stung by the departures of Perez, Smith and Langston from their starting rotation, Expos owner Charles Bronfman told the Associated Press, “People are being financially irresponsible. I mean, you can have bidding for players, but you don’t have to be a damned fool about it. Right now, some people are.”

Noting Smith’s career record of 81-71, Expos president Claude Brochu said, “Bryn is a good, average pitcher. That’s what he is _ a .500 pitcher. If you triple his salary, it’s not suddenly going to make him a 20-game winner.”

Unfazed, Cardinals general manager Dal Maxvill said Smith “probably has the best control of any pitcher in the National League. Whitey (Herzog) and I both think that with Bryn pitching in Busch Stadium, with an outstanding defense behind him, he can be a big winner.”

Injury issues

Smith made his Cardinals debut on April 10, 1990, against the Expos at St. Louis, got the win and drove in a run. Boxscore

A shoulder ailment prevented Smith from pitching from late July to early September and he finished the 1990 season at 9-8 with a 4.27 ERA.

In 1991, Smith got the start on Opening Day, earned a win against the Cubs in Chicago and went on to finish 12-9 with a 3.85 ERA. He led the 1991 Cardinals in wins (12), starts (31) and innings pitched (198.2).

The 1992 season was a bust for Smith. He made one start in April, had elbow surgery and was used as a reliever when he returned in September. Smith was 4-2 with a 4.64 ERA for the 1992 Cardinals, became a free agent after the season and signed with the Rockies.

In three seasons with St. Louis, Smith was 25-19 with a 4.06 ERA.

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