Curt Flood was a star player, who spent 12 seasons patrolling center field for the St. Louis Cardinals’ after being traded from the Cincinnati Reds following the 1957 season. During his career he was a three time All Star and won seven Gold Gloves. He was not a power hitter, but did a little bit of everything, and did it all well. Despite his accomplishments on the field, Flood’s most important contribution to baseball is his challenge of the game’s vaunted anti-trust exception, and how he helped usher in a new era of player rights and rising salaries.

The Cardinals won 87 games in 1969 with the 31 year old Flood as their longest tenured player and still producing at a high level. Therefore, it was with great surprise when it was announced on October 7, that Flood had been traded with several other players to the dreadful Philadelphia Phillies for a package highlighted by the mercurial Dick Allen. While the Cardinals got back a star player in Allen, the trade was shocking for the way it jettisoned their senior leader.

Flood didn’t want to go to Philadelphia for several reasons. After spending 12 seasons with the Cardinals, he had established his home, family, and business ventures, and felt he should have a say if asked to relocate. The Phillies were also coming off a 99 loss season and played their home games at the ancient Connie Mack Stadium, which had a rough field that would have not been kind to Flood’s knees. Additionally, Flood, an African American, never forgot brushes with racism he experienced during his career in Philadelphia.

Flood refused to accept the trade, a move which defied 100 years of control professional baseball had over its players. After determining that he would be backed by the player’s union, he officially refused to report to the Phillies and petitioned to become a free agent. He sent a letter to Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, stating pointedly- “After twelve years in the major leagues, I do not feel I am a piece of property to be bought and sold irrespective of my wishes. I believe that any system which produces that result violates my basic rights as a citizen and is inconsistent with the laws of the United States and of the several States.”

To nobody’s surprise, Kuhn denied Flood’s request. He maintained Major League Baseball’s rights to have exclusive contractual control of the players. In his response to Flood, Kuhn wrote, “I certainly agree with you that you, as a human being, are not a piece of property to be bought and sold. That is fundamental in our society and I think obvious. However, I cannot see its applicability to the situation at hand.”

The request of free agency was something that many players had previously wished was an available option, but was something owners had always fought hard against to maintain their control. They were aided by baseball’s reserve clause, which was an exception to the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 that prevented business from creating monopolies. In 1922 the Supreme Court ruled that Major League Baseball was not interstate commerce, making them exempt from the law and allowing them to control their players with an iron fist. Major League Baseball fought for such ruling to prevent rivals like the Federal League from raiding their rosters. It meant that baseball players who wanted to play professionally for a living would play on the major leagues’ terms, or not at all.

Any player who didn’t abide by baseball’s labor rules could expect their career to end quickly. One excellent example of this was pitcher Hal Trosky, Jr., who refused to sign a contract with the Chicago White Sox organization in 1961 because he knew he didn’t figure in the big league team’s plans. He asked to be released or traded so he could seek a better opportunity, and when the White Sox refused his request, he declined to sign his Chicago contract. The White Sox never officially released Trosky until 1972, more than a decade after he had thrown his last pitch; ensuring he never played professional baseball again.

Flood knew his request to Kuhn would be denied, but he was prepared to fight. He filed a $1 million lawsuit against Kuhn and Major League Baseball, alleging they were violating federal antitrust laws. For Flood, it was not a matter of black and white, but of principle. Baseball’s union chief Marvin Miller later said that when Flood was asked if he filed the suit because of perceived racism, the player replied, “I wish it was, but we are dealing with an issue that affects every player. Color has nothing to do it.”

The case immediately placed Flood in the national spotlight. With race being such a hot button issue at the time of the suit, many people did believe his action was a result of black power. Therefore, it’s not surprising that his comparison of baseball to slavery became quite polarizing. His lawyer, Arthur J. Goldberg, told the press, “Flood decided he cannot play under an illegal system- and I agree… He is not willing to be sold into servitude.”

Flood went further, stating, “The problem with the reserve clause is that it ties a man to one owner for the rest of his life. There is no other profession in the history of mankind except slavery in which one mad was tied to another for life… In slavery, men were shipped from one plantation to another and in baseball, players are shipped from one franchise to another.” The notoriety of the suit redefined Flood within the context of baseball. He was no longer the star outfielder, but rather the face of resistance and labor rights.

Although Flood’s suit had the official unanimous support of the player’s union, many players were actually divided on the issue, with a good number even supporting the owners. While former players like Jackie Robinson and Hank Greenberg testified on Flood’s behalf, no current players took the stand or even attended the trial. With such a contentious issue, no player wanted to endanger their own career by sticking up for Flood.

Flood’s case went before Supreme Court, which in 1972 ruled 5-3 in favor of Major League Baseball, in a type of decision known as a “stare discisis,” or leaving things the way they were. It wasn’t a total loss for Flood, because in the meantime the owners had agreed to the “10/5 Rule,” or “Curt Flood Rule,” which gave players with 10 years of major league experience, with the last 5 or more with the same team, the right to veto trades.

Flood sat out the 1970 season because of his case and his refusal to go to the Phillies. Finally, in November, 1970, the Cardinals relented and sent two minor league players to the Phillies to complete the earlier trade. Flood was then traded to the Washington Senators, where he agreed to report while awaiting the adjudication of his case. Flood struggled mightily and experienced reprisals because of his suit. Fans sent vicious and racist hate mail, and before one game at Yankee Stadium, he found a black wreath, the symbol of death, hung in place of his uniform in his locker. Many players avoided him and he was a pariah amongst the owners. His Washington manager, Ted Williams, was reputed to have derided him frequently because of his actions.

All the negativity made Flood withdraw into himself, and after 13 games, where he hit .200 with 2 RBI, he decided to retire. He finished with his career with a .293 batting average, 1,861 hits, 85 home runs, and 636 RBI. Being only 33 when he hung it up, it is likely that the reaction he received because of his lawsuit hastened the end of his career. A very good playing career may have been one that was Hall of Fame caliber if he hadn’t felt the need to retire so early.

It wasn’t until 1975 that Flood’s sacrifices and principles fully paid off for all major league players. That year baseball’s reserve clause was abolished, opening the door for free agency, higher salaries, and more player rights. While he hadn’t won his case, Flood had succeeded in changing the opinion of many fans and players about the importance of player rights. Marvin Miller used momentum from Flood’s case to make such gains, saying of the lawsuit, “Once we had that, it was only a question of a year or two before we were able to get rid of the reserve clause.”

In addition to the prominent role Flood played in changing the labor landscape of baseball, he was also a great player. Like many other agents of great change, his sacrifices paved the way for the comfort and success of others. Curt Flood should be remembered as much for his selflessness and stubbornness as much as his ability as a baseball player. As President Bill Clinton said after Flood’s death in 1997, he was a man, “whose achievements on the field were matched only by the strength of his character.”

The 2011 Baseball Winter Meetings will take place next week in Dallas. Along with all the GM wheeling and dealing, eager young folks looking for a job, and agents trying to get their clients a contract, the Hall of Fame will announce who the Veteran’s Committee elected to the Hall, and the winner of the 2012 Ford C. Frick Award for excellence in broadcasting.

In a year draped with Cardinal Red, two former Cardinals are on the Frick ballot – Tim McCarver and Mike Shannon.

McCarver has been broadcasting games so long it is sometimes easy to forget he played at the Major League level. Tim broke in with the Cardinals in 1959 as a 17-year-old. He became the regular catcher in 1963 and led the league in triples (13) in 1966, the last NL catcher to do so (Carlton Fisk led the AL in 1972). McCarver finished second in the 1967 MVP voting in 1967 to teammate Orlando Cepeda. After that, he was one of the players dealt in the Curt Flood trade on October 7, 1969, that ultimately caused the elimination of the reserve clause in major league baseball. In his later career he was known as the personal caddy for Steve Carlton.

McCarver retired from baseball and the Phillies in 1980 and immediately stepped into the Philadelphia broadcast booth, where he remained through the 1982 season. In 1983 he began a 16 year tenure with the New York Mets. New York, along with Atlanta and Chicago, developed the first ‘superstations’ broadcasting content throughout the country on cable, which brought Mets, Braves, and Cubs baseball into homes nationwide. McCarver first developed his national following through his broadcasting, alongside Ralph Kiner and Steve Zabriskie, on WWOR. McCarver started covering baseball for national affiliates in 1984, and has worked for ABC, CBS, The Baseball Network, and Fox whom he currently broadcasts for. From 2000-2002 he won 3 Emmys for ‘Outstanding Sports Event Analyst’.

Mike Shannon was a teammate of McCarver’s on the El Birdos teams of the 1960s. Shannon, a St Louis native, broke into the majors in 1962 and played his entire career in St Louis. A third baseman, he had some huge hits in the World Series for the 1964 World Champs. He retired after the 1970 season due to nephritis, and joined the Cardinals front office the following season, matriculating to the broadcast booth for the 1972 season. He has been seated there ever since.

Shannon shared the broadcast booth with Jack Buck for 30 years, and has become a local broadcast legend in his own right. From his signature ‘Get Up Baby!’ call anticipating a home run, to numerous ‘Shannonisms’ (which multiple websites list in homage), summer baseball in St Louis just doesn’t sound right without the deep baritone of Mike Shannon.

Both men are deserving of the award, however neither man is likely to win. McCarver’s candidacy is the more robust, but his analysis, while prescient when describing what the catcher is doing, has become dated. He is lampooned frequently, most famously by the now-defunct blog ‘Fire Joe Morgan’. Shannon has never shouldered the national broadcasting workload men like McCarver, Jack Buck, Vin Scully, and others have undertaken, and his years laboring under Buck’s considerable shadow have limited recognition of his work to the local St Louis area.

The 2012 Ford C. Frick winner will be announced on December 7.

Mike Metzger is a contributing writer for I-70 Baseball. He blogs about the San Diego Padres. Follow him on Twitter @metzgermg.

As we prepare for the finale of this exciting series, and its marquee Game 5 matchup of two former Cy Young Award winners, let us take a walk down memory lane, and look at the Cardinal history in Game 7s (and Game 5 for the NLDS).

St Louis is the preeminent franchise in the National League, second only to the Yankees in terms of World Series wins. All that success means the team has had multiple occasions to play a one game, winner-take-all contest. For example, the Cardinals played seven consecutive World Series Game 7s from 1946 to 1987. How did they fare in those opportunities?

The Early Years (1926-1967)

Their first World Series appearance went seven games. The Cardinals won that game, which ended with my personal favorite game-ending play for any World Series, namely Babe Ruth getting thrown out trying to steal second. Can you imagine the amount of ink, hot air, and bandwidth that would be consumed dissecting that decision if it happened in 2006 instead of 1926?

Having started well, the Cardinals kept rolling. They defeated the Philadelphia A’s to win the Fall Classic in 1931, and took out Detroit in Tiger Stadium to win the Series three years later. Enos Slaughter’s mad dash home secured the 1946 title in front of the home town fans, and Bob Gibson wrestled those mighty Yankees into submission 18 years later in front of those same fans. The Boston Globe learned the price of publishing a great headline prematurely (‘Lonborg and Champagne’), as Gibson extended Cardinal dominance and Boston angst with a 1967 Game 7 win at Fenway.

So six Game 7s had come and gone, and the Cardinals had won all six. They were invincible when all the chips were down. No one wanted to play them in those situations, no matter where the game was to be contested.

The Desert of Futility (1968-2001)

Was it Curt Flood’s slip? Was it Lou Brock getting thrown out at the plate two games earlier? Was it the law of averages finally catching up to them? Probably some combination of the three. The Detroit Tigers, led by Denny McLain, beat St Louis at home in that 1968 Game 7. After that, Cardinal dominance in Game 7s ceased. They continued to win the Game 7s played at home, clinching the World Series against Milwaukee, defeating both Los Angeles and San Francisco in the LCS.

But on the road they were hapless. The Cardinals blew a 3-1 series lead in 1985, dropping Game 7 in Kansas City. They blew a 3-2 lead two years later, losing to the Twins in the Homer Dome. Then, when they returned to the post-season 10 years later, even their home mojo disappeared. They blew another 3-1 lead, getting embarrassed by the Atlanta Braves and losing the NLCS for the first time. Finally, to conclude their first best-of-five playoff series that went the distance, they lost a heartbreaker in the Arizona desert.

Return to Normalcy (2002-present)

They needed a great play or seminal moment to change their luck. They got one, and it occurred in a Game 7. The Cardinals played their next winner-take-all game to close out the 2004 NLCS against Houston. The Astros looked poised to take complete control of the game when with two on and one out, Brad Ausmus hit a fliner into the left-center field gap. Jim Edmonds ran it down, making a spectacular diving catch to keep the runners at their respective bases. St Louis went on to win the game and the National League.

They played another Game 7 two years later, and thanks to a Yadier Molina HR in the top of the ninth, St Louis beat the Mets 3-1 at Shea. It marked the first time since the 1967 World Series the Cardinals had won a Game 7 on the road.

Summation

Over 85 years of playoff baseball, the Cardinals have played 15 Game 7s and 1 Game 5. They are 7-1 as a franchise at home in those games, and 4-4 on the road. In comparison, the Philadelphia Phillies have never played a Game 7. They have played 2 Game 5s, winning the first, beating the Astros in extra innings to win the NL in 1980. But, they lost the second, to the Dodgers a year later* in the same situation.

What does it all mean? No Phillie on the current roster has ever played in a Game 5/7 for that franchise. The Cardinals have 4 men left from the 2006 playoff run: Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina, Adam Wainwright, and … Chris Carpenter, tonight’s starter. Additionally, tradition here has to favor St Louis. Plus, the veterans who played in those games of yore – men like Lou Brock, Gibson, Red Schoendienst, Willie McGee, even Stan Musial – keep that tradition alive by being a part of the locker room during spring training, and passing that tradition on to the current generation.

Everyone looks for even the slightest edge in games like this. Only in games like this can intangibles play a role. Experience and tradition favor the Cardinals. That has to count for something. It might be the last straw they need to break the Phillies back.

* Editor’s Note: It should be noted that this game five in Phillies history in 1981 was the first ever division series. This series was mandated by the players strike that year.

The only thing hotter than the temperature in St. Louis was the battle for the 1967 National League pennant. It had suddenly become a three team race, two of which were the St. Louis Cardinals and the visiting Cincinnati Reds. The Reds had led the league for most of the season, but the Cardinals kept pace, never falling more than 4 1/2 games behind. It had been a two team race until the Cubs went on a tear, winning 16 of their last 19 games, including a recent 3 game sweep of the Reds. That knocked the Reds out of first place and put the Cubs into contention for the first time in several years.

At the start of this series, the Cardinals and Cubs were tied for first place and Cincinnati was starting to fade, now 5 games behind. The Cubs would give back nearly all of the ground they gained over the next two weeks, but it was this Independence Day series between the Cardinals and Reds that would set the tone for the remainder of the 1967 season.

The Cardinals seemed to be in good shape entering the series. Orlando Cepeda (.348) and Tim McCarver (.346) were chasing Roberto Clemente for the batting title, and were second and third in the league, respectively. Curt Flood was also in the mix, batting .306 at the time. Lou Brock, Roger Maris and and Julian Javier were also flirting with .300.

Milt Pappas

If that wasn’t enough for the Reds to deal with, the Cardinals starter on the night was Bob Gibson (9-6). But it wasn’t just any Bob Gibson. This was Gibson at his absolute meanest, and that meant trouble for the Reds. Gibson was coming off the worst outing of his career, giving up 9 runs in just 2/3 of an inning against the San Francisco Giants. When he took the mound, it looked like he had something to prove – we just didn’t quite know what it was.

Facing the Cardinals was veteran right hander, Milt Pappas. Pappas had recently come over to the National League after an impressive stint with the Baltimore Orioles. This was his 9th consecutive season with more wins than losses, and 10th if you are willing to include his rookie season where he went 10-10 as a 19 year old. In spite of all of his success, he always seemed to have trouble with the Cardinals.

A quick start

Gibson made quick work out of the Reds in the top of the first, as he would do for most of the game. A strikeout, an infield ground out and another strikeout and it was the Cardinals turn to hit.

And did they hit. And hit. And hit.

Lou Brock would lead off with a double, followed by singles by Curt Flood, Roger Maris and Orlando Cepeda. Before Pappas could even work up a sweat, the Cardinals had a 2-0 lead and were threating for more. Tim McCarver would hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Maris for the 3rd Cardinals run. Infield singles by Mike Shannon and Julian Javier would load the bases and end the day for the Reds starter. Don Nottebart, a former starter turned long reliever, would take over and he would be greeted rudely by light hitting Dal Maxvill who would clear the bases with a loud double in the right field gap. An errant throw allows Maxvill to score and the Cardinals now had a commanding 7-0 lead, with still only one out. Bob Gibson would extend the inning with a single.

What happens next united a team that was lacking a bit of identity, and they would need that over the coming months as they faced enough adversity to demolish a lesser team.

Thrown out

Lou Brock

Lou Brock would make the second out of the first inning with a fielders choice, forcing Gibson at second base. There was no chance of doubling up the speedy Brock. With a 7 run lead, Brock attempts to steal second base and is thrown out, ending the inning. He also angered the Reds in the process. Apparently the Reds did not appreciate Brock running in that situation, and would soon retaliate. Not once, but twice – and that was just one too many.

Gibson would shut down the Reds quickly in the second and third innings, striking out seven of the first nine batters he faced. The Cardinals would go quietly in the second, but started another rally against Nottebart in the third.

Tim McCarver and Mike Shannon would start the inning with singles, putting runners at the corner. Deciding this was the time to make a statement, Nottebart brushes back Julian Javier, inviting the ire of Cardinals fans that remember Javier paying a similar price in 1965. Javier would ground into a fielders choice with McCarver being thrown out at home. The inning would end without a further incident, but tempers were clearly heating up.

In the fourth inning, Gibson would strike out two more Reds, bringing his total to 9. He was also throwing a perfect game, retiring the first 12 Reds rather quietly.

Once too often

Nottebart would again voice his displeasure of Brock’s running in the first inning by hitting the Cardinals left fielder to start the home half of the 4th inning. If he had not dusted Javier in the previous inning, that might have passed without a response. One was fine, but two batters could not be tolerated. Somehow, the Reds forgot who was on the mound for the Cardinals.

A return message was clearly delivered in the top of the fifth inning. Bob Gibson would throw one of his best fastballs behind the head of Tony Perez, one of the leaders of the young Reds team. Just because he didn’t hit Perez didn’t mean he wasn’t sending a loud and unambiguous message: this ends here and now. But it didn’t. Far from it.

Tony Perez would fly out, but while heading back to the dugout he yelled something at Gibson.

There are two things you can’t do to Bob Gibson: cheat on the inside of the plate and bark at him. Tony Perez must not have gotten that memo.

Tony Perez

Perez and Gibson would share several verbal exchanges, both men getting more animated as they went on. The situation escalates when Orlando Cepeda comes over from first base to try to intervene, according to Cepeda’s version of the story. This move is misinterpreted by the Reds reliever, Bob Lee who comes running in from the Cincinnati bullpen.

Lee is a mountain of a man, listed at 6ft 3in and 225 pounds, but he looked much bigger at that particular moment.

Both teams ran out on the field and punches were thrown, hard and repeatedly. The scrum moved quickly into the Reds dugout and players started jumping in just as quickly as others were being thrown back onto the field of play. Even some fans got in on the conflict, helping out the home team. St. Louis police officers were soon dispatched to break up the fight, and they were eventually able to restore order, but not before several players were hurt, as was one of the officers.

The Reds manager had to be treated for lacerations from being spiked. The Reds reliever, Don Nottebart, received several facial cuts, but would stay in the game and pitch the bottom of the inning. Bob Gibson would jam the thumb on his pitching hand and it would bother him later in the game, prompting a call to the bullpen in the 8th inning. The most humorous of the injuries was to Tommy Helms, who broke a tooth – presumably the result of a Gibson punch. Helms would end the night 0-4 causing a sports writer to note that Gibson got more hits on Helms than Helms did on Gibby.

When play resumed, only one player was ejected: Bob Lee. While his actions had led to the escalation, the reason for his ejection was that he had entered the field of play illegally.

Back to the game

Orlando Cepeda

The game would continue, but it was clear that the fight had taken a toll on both teams. The Reds went quietly until the top of the 8th. Gibson was starting to struggle with his control, and the Reds started hitting him hard. After giving up 3 runs, manager Red Schoendeinst would go to his bullpen and Nelson Briles would quickly shut things down. Perhaps this was an omen as Briles would be called on to fill the spot in the rotation when Gibson lost two months to a broken leg.

The Cardinals would end up splitting the 4 game series, winning the first and last games while dropping the middle two. More important than this series, something had awakened in the Cardinals clubhouse. In a few weeks, Orlando Cepeda would stand up on a trunk and proclaim “Viva el Birdos”, and the Cardinals would go on to win the pennant and defeat the Red Sox in the fall classic. Looking back at the season, that bird might have taken flight in the 5th inning of this game. July 3, 1967.

Bob Netherton covers Cardinals history for i70baseball.com and writes at On the Outside Corner. You may follow Bob on Twitter here or on Facebook here.

During the offseason we have been taking a look at the past, giving readers a timeline of St. Louis baseball throughout history. Last time we learned about “Cha-Cha” Cepeda and the El Birdos, Gibson’s incredible pitching which led to consecutive pennants in 1967 and 1968, before Gussie Busch demoralized the team in 1969 and caused them to stumble. Would their volatile owner hold them back?

Moral was low, emotions were high, and the Cardinals that were so good two years in a row had been cut down to fourth place in 1969. Red Schoendienst was trying to hold the team together, but then the team lost their voice. After twenty-four years in the Cardinals’ broadcast booth, Harry Caray was fired and bounced to the Oakland A’s, Chicago White Sox, and finally Chicago Cubs, where he stayed until his death in 1998. Fortunately for Cardinal fans, Jack Buck stepped in to become the voice of the franchise, and no one can argue that this was a poor choice in broadcasters!

1970 brought newcomer Dick Allen, who came as part of the infamous Curt Flood trade with the Philadelphia Phillies. Players shifted around the diamond to accommodate the slugging first baseman, with Joe Torre moving from first to catcher and replacing Tim McCarver, who had been sent to Philadelphia in the same trade. He and Torre were really the only players who could be considered sluggers on the team, as they hit 55 of the 113 team home runs on the year.

Thank goodness for Bob Gibson, as he was literally the only pitcher on the staff with a winning percentage over .500, checking in at .767 with a 23-7 record and 3.12 ERA. The team as a whole could not get it together, and sat twelve and a half games back on July 29. August, however, brought an inexplicable hot streak, as the team went 19-11 and suddenly sat just five and a half back on the morning of September 1! Stranger things had happened before…

…but not this time. Dick Allen tore a hamstring sliding into second base, and the slide extended to the team, as they finished September/October at 12-17, which left them 76-86, thirteen games back of the Pittsburgh Pirates for the NL East division crown.

Joe Torre

1971’s high points must include Joe Torre and Steve Carlton at the top of the list. Torre captured the MVP award, hitting a torrid .363/.421/.555 while making another jump in field positioning, this time to third base. Carlton showed another glimpse of what was to come, going 20-9 with a 3.56 ERA, all while picking up his third All-Star selection in his age 27 season.

The Cardinals as a whole were a contender, although the 90-72 record looks almost falsified on paper when looking at the numbers. There were no real sluggers on the team outside of Torre, who slammed 24. They were small ball players who slapped out singles and relied on stringing them together to get players home. Lou Brock swiped 64 bases, but the next highest total on the team was right fielder Jose Cardenal, who nabbed a mere 12. To be perfectly honest, this team does not look like one that should have finished second in the division, but stranger things have happened.

A fun tidbit? 1971 was the year that the team switched from button up uniforms to the t-shirt style tops that they would use until 1992.

Sparks flew in the offseason when contract negotiations with Steve Carlton became ugly. There was a $10,000 gap between Gussie Busch’s offer and Carlton’s demands, and Busch, citing a government-mandate that people try to cost-control wages, informed his star pitcher that he was being “unpatriotic.” Busch turned to general manager Bing Devine to trade Carlton away, and Devine, knowing it was trade the man or collect unemployment himself, sent Carlton to Philadelphia for fellow pitcher Rick Wise. A second casualty to the rotation came when Gussie Busch looked at big lefthander Jerry Reuss and demanded that he cut off his mustache. Reuss refused. See ya later. Reuss was sent off to Houston for pitcher Scipio Spinks. Spinks could have been something, but after hurting himself sliding across the plate his star faded quickly.

Because of that, the Cardinals took a rather large dip in 1972. While Bob Gibson would have perhaps his last great season (a 19-11 record with a 2.46 ERA), the pitcher brought in to replace Carlton – Wise – would go 16-16, and fellow youngster Reggie Cleveland went 14-15. Hard to replace a twenty game winner with guys floating around the .500 mark. But Busch was not about to let a young gun tell him what to do, so he let a Hall of Famer go over $10,000.

The lineup in 1972 was all or nothing. Half of the starting eight were hitting roughly .300 or better, and the other half were kind of floundering, with light hitting shortstop Dal Maxvill hitting an anemic .221/.299/.261. Want to know how to have a lower slugging percentage than on-base percentage? Ask Maxvill – he did it every single year of his fourteen year career. Singles please!

After perhaps overperforming in 1971, the team dipped back down to fourth in the NL East in 1972, rounding out with a 75-81 record.

1973 was a ridiculous roller coaster of a year for the team. After a beyond abysmal 3-15 record in April, the team found themselves already eleven and a half games back by May 15! They then turned on the jets, going 53-33 over the course of the next three months. By August 7, the Cardinals were 5 games up on the Amazin’ Mets. Of course, they then dropped eight straight games and tumbled down to second. The Mets were amazing for a reason. They hung around the .500 mark most of the year, then turned on the jets in the final month of the season, going 20-8 and taking the NL East crown by a mere one and a half games over the Cardinals.

What happened? The team’s pitching staff could go toe-to-toe with anyone in the league and come out victorious, but then their heart and soul – Bob Gibson – went down with torn cartilage in his knee, and the team folded, losing 29 of their last 47 games. An 81-81 record felt like a slap in the face to a team that had battled back from such a terrible start. They lost one run game after one run game, never having the hitter in place to knock in all the baserunners. It was frustrating to say the least.

1974 was a year for some of the younger players on the team to really get their feet wet. 24 year old pitchers Bob Forsch and Al Hrabosky were rising to the surface. Catcher Ted Simmons was only 24, but he was already going into his seventh season (fifth full season) by this time, and had already established himself as perennial .300 hitter with a decent arm behind the plate. Two more players – Bake McBride and Reggie Smith – joined the team to add both pop in the lineup and speed on the bases.

Lou Brock

Speed was one thing this team had plenty of. Lou Brock, at age 35, went absolutely crazy on the basepaths, burning up the bases like they were going to evaporate. His 118 stolen bases stood as a record until 1982, when Rickey Henderson surpassed him. McBride had 30 thefts of his own, but the team finally had a little bit of power too. Smith and Simmons both turned in 20+ home run seasons, and RBI totals were climbing out of the 50’s into a more reasonable range. The pitchers finally felt like they could give up more than one or two runs and still have a chance to win.

The team battled back and forth with the Pittsburgh Pirates all season long for the division crown. Willie Stargell led a team that could beat you eight different ways, and found ways to win late in the game constantly. It went down to the final series of the season, with the Cardinals up in Montreal facing the Expos. A freak pop-up that no one called cost the team a game. Pittsburgh lost their last game of the season, and if the Cardinals won, it would push them into a tie, and send them to Pittsburgh for a one game playoff. Unfortunately, the team was playing in 36 degree weather with sleet coming down. Gibson tried to grit out a win, but an eighth inning pitch to Expo Mike Jorgensen found the bleachers, and the Cardinals in turn found their couches to watch the playoffs on TV.

Mediocrity is maddening, but losing on the last day of the season is a wound that does not heal overnight.

Angela Weinhold covers the Cardinals for i70baseball.com and writes at Cardinal Diamond Diaries. You may follow her on Twitter here or follow Cardinal Diamond Diaries here.

When looking back at a short series, it is often easy to spot the turning point, when one team takes control and becomes the winner. It might be a game, an individual performance, or perhaps even a single play. In 1964, Ken Boyer’s Grand Slam in Game Four of the World Series, with the spectacular relief efforts from Roger Craig and Ron Taylor to make it hold up is one such example. Who can forget the now famous “go crazy folks” call from Jack Buck in the 1985 NLCS ? Mr. Buck recognized it as such long before the baseball had a chance to leave the field of play.

Oh, they can be quite the other thing too. Cardinals fans still lament Don Denkinger’s call near the end of Game Six of the 1985 World Series. After nearly a decade of flawless defense in center field, a Curt Flood miscue in Game Seven of the 1968 World Series gave the title to the Tigers instead of the heavily favored Cardinals. Still fresh in our memories is a fly ball at the end of Game Two of the 2009 National League Divisional Series that if caught would have given the Cardinals a win and some much needed momentum as the series moved to St. Louis. That fly ball was not caught and the Cardinals did not win, and the Redbirds would be soon be swept by the Dodgers.

Trying to apply this to a full 162 game season, the longest in any professional sport, is a nearly p0intless task. There are just two many ebbs and flows as team momentum can switch as quickly as the winds in Oklahoma. Add in injuries that often seem to come in clusters big enough to overflow the trainers office and turning points can be nearly impossible to spot, if they exist at all. When I-70 Baseball founder, Bill Ivie, suggested a few weeks ago in a Blog Talk Radio segment that historians often spend a great deal of [too much] time trying to find these moments that really aren’t there, he’s largely correct. But, and there’s always a but, reading Angela Weinhold’s latest installment in her Cardinals Through Time series brought back memories of three plays that did exactly that for the 1967 Cardinals: they defined the character of a future champion. Not the loss of Bob Gibson or Ray Washburn, it was three plays that ended three games that tell you all you need to know about that special team.

Not so Great Expectations

The April 1967 edition of Baseball Digest previews all twenty teams in both leagues and they don’t give the Cardinals much of a chance in the upcoming season. They criticize the lack of pitching depth, total absence of power and suggest that there will have to be one or two surprises if they are to contend for the National League Pennant. A ninth place (out of ten teams) finish seemed to be the consensus estimate. As we know from Angela’s article, those surprises did in fact happen in the arms of Dick Hughes (they never saw him coming, nor did we), Nelson Briles and Joe Hoerner. They also missed the effervescence and exceptional play of National League MVP, Orlando Cepeda.

May 30 – Imperfection

The schedule makers must has known something as they put together their matchups for the 1967 season. The Cardinals would come into Cincinnati on Memorial Day and play a three game series against the Reds in just two days. Yes, one was a scheduled doubleheader, something that is rarely done today.

In spite of a rather tepid prediction by the staff at Baseball Digest, the Reds were off to a quick start in the season and were currently sitting alone atop the National League. The only team challenging them seriously were the Cardinals. Much would be learned in this short three game, two day series as fans in both cities would be treated to some of the best baseball of first half.

Over 30,000 fans turned out on Memorial Day to see the Cards and Reds split their doubleheader. Bob Gibson won the opener with a heroic 11 inning performance, allowing just 6 hits and striking out 13. Mel Queen, an outfielder turned pitcher, dueled Gibson for the first nine of those innings but the Reds bullpen could not keep the Cardinals from scoring as Tim McCarver and Julian Javier would each double in the top of the 11th inning to give Gibson the 2-1 victory.

The second game would go to the Reds as they got to Cards starter Al Jackson early. The Cardinals would come back, as they would do all throughout the 1967 season, eventually tying it on a 2 run homer by Curt Flood in the seventh inning. In the bottom of the ninth, Cincinnati slugger Tony Perez would lead off with a triple. After walking the bases loaded, future Cardinal Dick Simpson would hit a fly ball to center, allowing pinch runner Chico Ruiz to score the winning run.

Two great games but the standings didn’t change one bit. The Cardinals were still 1 1/2 games behind the Reds.

Dick Hughes (1967)

This brings us to May 30, and the rubber game of the series. Rookie pitcher Dick Hughes (2-1) would face veteran Jim Maloney (3-1) in one of the most exciting games of 1967. Maloney was nearing the end of a fantastic run with the Reds. In the previous four seasons he had gone 23-7, 15-10, 20-9 and 16-8 with an ERA consistently under 3 runs per game. He was still one of the game’s best strikeout men, averaging almost a strikeout per inning. He would be facing a Cardinals pitcher that was two years his senior, but was in his rookie season. Before the end of this game, nobody called Hughes a rookie again – the greatness of Dick Hughes was about to be unleashed on the National League.

Both hurlers got off to a good start, although Maloney had a hard time finding the strike zone early. The Cardinals would get their first run on a solo home run by Bobby Tolan. Tolan was emerging as one of the most exciting young players on the Cardinals roster and would be a big part of both pennant winning seasons. In an odd piece of irony, he would soon be traded to Cincinnati and help the Big Red Machine become one of the most dominant teams in National League history.

On the other side of the diamond, Hughes was a machine, setting down Reds batters as soon as they came up to the plate. This was not your garden variety sixth starter/long reliever, not with a mid to upper 90 mile per hour fastball and a slider that might even be better than Bob Gibson’s. Hughes had retired the first 21 Red hitters, striking out 12 and allowing only 3 balls to reach the outfield. He also endured a rather long rain delay, which makes his performance even more unbelievable.

In the bottom of the eighth, Hughes would lose the perfect game and shutout as he gave up just three hits: yet another lead off triple from the bat of Tony Perez, a double by future Cardinal Vada Pinson and single to Leo Cardinas. This gave the Reds a slim 2-1 lead, with one inning to play.

This brings us to the ninth inning, and first of our three defining plays.

Orlando Cepeda would lead off the Cardinals ninth with a single to center. Tim McCarver would follow that up with a single to right, which allowed Cepeda to move to third. Cincinnati Manager, Dave Bristol, would go to his bullpen and bring in veteran Don Nottebart to face the light hitting Phil Gagliano. Like Dal Maxvill, Gagliano could barely hit his weight, but somehow seemed to come through in situations like these. The Cards’ third baseman hits the ball to Leo Cardinas at shortstop and the Reds concede the tying run to prevent a big inning as they choose to go 6-4-3 for the double play. Cepeda forgot the first rule of baseball, the home team always plays for the tie and not the win. When Tommy Helms pivots to make the throw to first base, it seemed like an eternity passes before Cepeda decides to break for the plate. A quick throw from first baseman Deron Johnson beats Cepeda to the plate and he is tagged out completing the game ending triple play. What moments earlier had looked like a pr0mising rally, perhaps to pull the Cardinals within a half game of the Reds had just turned into a devastating loss. The Cardinals were now 2 1/2 games out, and the Reds were the ones with the much needed momentum.

A lesser team might have folded at this point, but not the 1967 Cardinals. They did struggle for the next few games, falling as far back as 4 1/2 games after an embarrassing 17-1 blowout at the hands of the Houston Astros. As he would do so many times in his career, Bob Gibson played the role of stopper with a pitching performance that put the Redbirds back on the winning path.

Do It Yourself

Mike Cuellar

After the embarrassment against the Astros, the Cardinals would play some inspired baseball. A four game sweep at home against the Dodgers was just what the Cardinals needed as they embarked on a brutal roadtrip that would take them to Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Houston and finally Los Angeles. The Cardinals took 2 of 3 from both the both Pirates and Giants to start the trip. That would bring us to June 19, and the second of our three plays.

The series opener in Houston would feature two teammates, one already firmly established as star, and one working very hard at becoming one. Bob Gibson would take the ball for the Cardinals against former Redbird, Mike Cuellar. Both hurlers brought their A games, so we knew this was going to be a good one.

The Astros struck first in the home half of the third inning when Mike Cuellar practically came out of his shoes, swinging at a Gibson pitch. It would bang around the right field corner long enough for Cuellar to make it all the way to third. Former Cardinal Julio Gotay would drive in the Houston pitcher with a triple of his own, this time in the left field corner. That’s all Gibson would allow, but against Cuellar, that might be enough.

It wasn’t though as the Cardinals would take the lead in the sixth inning. The big blow was a 2 RBI single from Orlando Cepeda, scoring Dal Maxvill and Curt Flood, who had both reached base with singles.

The heart of the Astros order would get those two runs back very quickly. Jimmy “the Toy Cannon” Wynn would lead off the home half of the inning with a double. Rusty “le Grande Orange” Staub would follow that up with a 2 run homer. The Astros were back on top by the score of 3-2.

Cuellar would begin to tire in the eighth inning, and that’s when the Cardinals would retake the lead. Phil Gagliano, victimized in the earlier triple play, would pinch hit for Bob Gibson. He would coax a walk out of Cuellar. Lou Brock would follow that up with a double, easily scoring Gagliano with the tying run. Julian Javier would sacrifice Brock to third, and Curt Flood would drive Brock in with a single. The Cardinals had a 4-3 lead, if the bullpen could just hold it.

They almost did. Joe Hoerner worked a quick eighth inning, but got into trouble in the bottom of the ninth. Bob Aspromonte, who always seemed to kill the Cardinals in these situations, leads off with a double. The light hitting Bob Lillis sacrifices Aspromonte to third. Red goes to his bullpen for the hard throwing right hander, Nelson Briles. Briles strikes out Joe Morgan, but Julio Gotay drives in the tying run with a single.

Off to extra innings we go. Barry Latman was now the pitcher for the Astros. Both he and Briles had starting experience, so they were probably going to be in there for a while.

It didn’t feel like much of a rally, but in the span of about 2 minutes in the 11th inning, the Cardinals took the lead. It was just a single off the bat of Tim McCarver and a double from Roger Maris, but it was just enough to give the Cardinals a chance for a much needed win.

And now we are to the second of our key plays in 1967, and a most unusual one it was.

Jim Landis would lead off the inning with a single. Playing for the tie, Bob Aspromonte lays down a perfect bunt, moving Landis to second base with just one out. Bob Lillis follows that with what first looked like a game tying RBI single to center. There was no way that Curt Flood was going to get to the looping liner, so Landis took off running for the plate. But the ball hung up just long enough for Flood to make a remarkable shoestring catch, and without breaking stride, he ran all the way to second base to complete the game ending unassisted double play.

The Houston crowd was silenced and the Cardinals all ran to congratulate Flood on the most remarkable play. That win put the Cardinals in a first place tie with the Reds, but only for a few hours as the Giants would defeat Cincinnati, leaving the Cardinals alone atop the leader board.

Some Bad Breaks

Then tragedy would strike, first in Los Angeles, just two days later. With Ray Washburn in cruise control against Don Drysdale and the Los Angeles Dodgers, a line drive off the bat of Johnny Roseboro would hit Washburn’s pitching hand, breaking his little finger. It would require surgery to repair and he would miss the next month. Just as Washburn returns from the disabled list, Bob Gibson goes down with a badly broken leg, suffered in a game on July 15 against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Gibson would be out for the next two months.

Any one of these would have derailed a lesser team, but not the plucky 1967 El Birdos. Youngsters stepped up, veterans provided leadership, and an emergency deal bringing Jack Lamabe over from the Mets stabilized a bullpen that might have become a liability. Instead it became one of the Cardinals greatest assets.

A Savage Play

That brings us to the third, and last of “the plays”.

The date is July 25 and this would be the middle of a three game home series against the Cubs. It is not yet August, but the fate of the National League will be settled in this series, and this game would prove to be pivotal. The Cubs had won the opener the day before, and were now tied with the Cardinals for first place. The lead that the Cardinals had taken with the Flood miracle catch in Houston was now gone.

In this game, the Cardinals would get out to a quick lead, scoring 3 runs before Chicago starter Rob Gardner could record the second out. The Cardinals would add another run later, for a 4-0 lead. The Cubs would get two of those back in the sixth inning, but Cards starter Ray Washburn would limit the damage.

Ted Savage

Before describing the final play, some background on one of the player is required. Ted Savage had been in the Cardinals farm system for several years, but had been unable to stay with the big club for any length of time. He was the Joe Mather of his era, lots of tools, but never managed to put them together. He made the team out of spring training, but would be a casualty when rosters were trimmed to their final 25 players in May. Savage refused his reassignment to Tulsa (AAA) and asked that the Cardinals trade him to a team where he might have a chance of playing. The Cubs would buy out his minor league contract and he was soon wearing blue pinstripes on the north side of Chicago.

Now, back to our game, and “the play”. In the top of the ninth, Ernie Banks would lead off with a single. Red Schoendienst would go to his bullpen and bring in the left hander, Hal Woodeshick. Woodeshick hits Ted Savage, not intentionally by any means, but it did put the tying run on base.

Red would again go to his bullpen and call for his go-to right hander, the hard throwing side armer, Ron Willis. Willis would get the first two men as Randy Hundley flied out to left and Adolfo Phillips popped out to short. Al Spangler would step to the plate. On a 3-2 count with two outs, the Cubs start their runners and Al Spangler hits a single to center. Savage was flying around the bases and was being waved home on the play. A perfect throw from Bobby Tolan to the cutoff man, Julian Javier and then a perfect relay to Tim McCarver got the speedy Savage and the Cardinals had a 4-3 win, and a one game lead in National League. One that they would not surrender for the rest of the year. A heads up play by the Reds in May put some doubt in minds of Cardinals fans. A defensive miracle in Houston gave us hope. Now, a spectacular defensive play in July put any remaining concerns aside.

The Cardinals would go on to win the third game and widen their lead en route to a 101-60 finish, 41 games over .500. Many consider this the finest team in franchise history, and I tend to agree. This was a team that did not have adversity in their vocabulary. What they had instead were World Series rings.

But Wait, There’s More

After taking two of three against the Cubs in July, and retaking the lead in the National League, the Cardinals would soon travel to Chicago and take 3 of 4, the only loss being a heart-breaker against Fergie Jenkins on August 1. By the next time the Cubs came into St. Louis, the Cardinals had managed to extend their lead to 8 1/2 games and were firmly in control of the National League. That would be the first of a three game series on August 14. Al Jackson pitched his heart out in three innings of relief, but was trailing 5-3 as the Cardinals came to bat in the ninth inning.

At this point in the season, the Redbirds were playing with so much confidence, a 2 run deficit in their last at bat didn’t seem to be much of a problem. And it wouldn’t be in this game, but not before one more exciting play involving Ted Savage. Bobby Tolan would lead off with a walk. Alex Johnson would ground out, moving Tolan to second. Lou Brock would follow that with single, scoring Tolan to make the score 5-4. One run at a time, no sense of urgency – no mistakes. Curt Flood would follow that with a single, putting the tying run on third with one out.

That brings Roger Maris to the plate, and he was exactly the person you would want batting in this situation. Maris delivers, as he did so many times in 1967. Roger smacks a single to right field. Ted Savage, who was called out on that bang-bang play to end the the game on July 25, bobbles the ball and allows Flood to score the winning run all the way from first base. The Cardinals would go on the sweep the series, building their lead to a staggering 10 1/2 games.

Bob Netherton covers Cardinals history for i70baseball.com and writes at On the Outside Corner. You may follow Bob on Twitter here or on Facebook here.

During the offseason we have been taking a look at the past, giving readers a timeline of St. Louis baseball throughout history. Last time we learned about the Cardinals steady climb back to the top of the National League thanks to players like the strong arm of Bob Gibson; the swift feet of Lou Brock; and the big bats of Ken Boyer, Curt Flood, and Bill White. They put it all together and won the World Series in 1964. Would the good times roll for a while?

People often talk about “going out on top,” but rarely do people walk away from a championship team so they escape getting fired. That is exactly what Cardinals’ manager Johnny Keane did at the end of 1964. Gussie Busch had been keeping him wringing his hands constantly over the past few months, so Keane decided that win or lose, he was leaving the Cardinals after the ’64 Series. When he won, what was surprising is that he went on to the Yankees – the same team that the Cardinals had just finished beating not days before!

When Keane left, Busch was dismayed. He had finally realized that Keane was good, and losing him stung the franchise. He made two brilliant moves, installing Stan Musial as the vice president of the team and turning to an old friend to run the team in Red Schoendienst. Red came in and ran things for the next twelve years, plus a few more random appearances as interim manager later on. This makes him the second longest tenured manager in Cardinal history, after current manager Tony LaRussa.

1965 was a black eye for the team that had finally risen back to the top the previous year. Injuries abounded, resentment at general manager Bob Howsam ran rampant, and things just never clicked. Lou Brock had his shoulder broken from a pitch by Sandy Koufax after bunting for a hit, swiping a base and scoring in his previous at bat. Bill White got hurt. Runs batted in for the sluggers fell across the board. Players were irritated at how Howsam was trying to cut salaries the year after winning the Series.

Throw all those issues out on to the field and it is no surprise that the team free-falled in the standings, tumbling all the way down to seventh and turning in a measly 80-81 record. If fans were upset at the team’s play in ’65, they were about turn their resentment from the play on the field to the moves of the front office. In a series of offseason salary dump moves, Howsam sent not only back-up catcher Bob Uecker and aging shortstop Dick Groat away in trades, but also dumped All-Stars and fan-favorites Bill White and Ken Boyer.

To make matters worse, Howsam made the mistake of not speaking kindly about the players being traded away. To White he was especially cruel, stating that he was very obviously old and probably older than his listed age. This cut the highly respected veteran deep, to the point where he acted very out of character and called the GM a liar publicly. The fans were outraged, and rightfully so.

There was a move made in 1966 that had nothing to do with payroll, players, or the product on the field. It did have to do with the field though, as the team moved out of steamy, creaky, and leaky Sportsman’s park into the nice new Busch Memorial Stadium. It was quite a switch for the players and fans. People were farther from the field and felt more disconnected, and players loved the amenities but kind of missed the intimacy with the fans. It was a stadium, while Sportsman’s Park actually felt like a ballpark.

Too bad the team had no way to really put the cavernous new field to good use. The trades of Boyer and White had left the team with no real powerhouses, and it was one low-scoring game loss after another all season long. The pitching was not really the problem. Seven different pitchers put up ERA’s of better than 3.75 with 70+ innings pitched. Nelson Briles went a rather forlorn 4-15, but had a 3.21 ERA over 154 innings. Ray Washburn and Larry Jaster both tossed out 11 wins, but the only big winner on the team was Bob Gibson at 21-12. Gibby had 21 starts where he allowed two runs or less, and needed every single one of them, or the team’s 83-79 record would have been much worse.

Time for some bright spots, and although these were few and far between in 1966, they were there. Howsam did know that he had swapped out his power, but he had a glut of pitchers. He made a move in May, sending pitcher Ray Sadecki to San Francisco Giants in exchange for recovering slugger Orlando Cepeda. “Cha-Cha” had been battling bad knees throughout most of ’65, but the Cardinals took a gamble, and it paid off in a big way. The other main bright spot was the emergence of Steve Carlton for nine starts towards the end of the season. The twenty-one year old lefty logged 52 innings and showed the beginning of what would become a Hall of Fame career.

Gussie was incensed by the fall his briefly mighty club had taken. He kicked Howsam out the door and decided to insert Musial into the GM’s position. People were unsure he had the qualities of a general manager, but the legend showed his moxie early but trading for Roger Maris in December of 1966. Maris was obviously on the decline, and the Yankees had been treating him like crap for years, lying to him about x-rays revealing he had broken his hand so they could keep him on the field, and trading him away when he fully intended to retire.

Maris brought experience, a still strong arm, and a relative amount of speed to a team that had now assembled a rather memorable outfield in Cardinals’ history. Maris was the last piece of the puzzle, joining Flood and Brock. The team had a spark according to pitcher Nelson Briles, attacking teams on the field like junkyard dogs and staying loose in the clubhouse with jokes, singing, and holding clubhouse meetings every night to award that day’s ‘hero of the game.’

Leading the clubhouse charge was fun-loving “Cha-Cha” Cepeda, nicknaming the team ‘El Birdos’ and hitting a monstrous .325/.399/.524, including a team-leading 25 HR and 111 RBI. Curt Flood also had a career year, hitting .338/.378/.414. The real stories of the season had to include the pitching staff. Ray Washburn was lost for a month after taking a line drive off of his pitching hand and severely breaking a finger. Before Washburn even made it back, Bob Gibson took an even worse smash, as his leg was broken by a screaming line drive off the bat of Roberto Clemente. Gibson was so tough he got up and pitched to another batter before crumpling to the ground and being carried from the field!

Losing the two veterans of a pitching staff is never good, but the youngsters took over. Despite an average age of 24.2 years old, the combination of Carlton, Briles, Larry Jaster, Dick Hughes, and Jim Cosman would turn a good team into a great one. All had ERA’s right around 2.50 to 3.10. Briles especially had to work his tail off, since he was the one filling in for Gibby. Briles, Carlton, and Hughes were a combined 19-6 while waiting for the big righty to mend. By the time their ace returned in September, the team was ten games up on the Mets for the lead in the National League. Maybe they did not need him after all.

Jokes, people. Jokes.

The team finished with a resounding 101 wins in 1967, and good ol’ Cha-Cha won the NL MVP unanimously, the first time this had ever happened in the history of the National League. El Birdos danced their way into the Fall Classic, where the “Impossible Dream” Boston Red Sox were waiting with big bats.

Gibson won the first game, giving up one run and scattering six hits, while striking out ten. The Sox struck back in the second, winning 5-0 but starter Jim Lonborg knocked down or plunked three or four Cardinals in the process. When Dick Hughes did not respond, the players turned to game three starter Nelson Briles to send a message. Briles was shaking like a leaf, but he delivered the message, plunking superstar slugger Carl Yastrzemski in the first inning. This enraged Boston fans, who sent Briles hundreds of telegrams and messages warning him not to come back to Boston and threatening his life.

Of course, Bob Gibson probably did not help matters when he blanked the Sox in game four and gave the Cards a 3-1 Series lead.

Boston was not going down without a fight, and tied the Series at three games apiece, despite a solid start by Carlton in game five and the Cardinals managing to scrape out four runs in game six. It all came down to the deciding seventh, and who better to have on the mound than Bob Gibson. The tall righty came in and bore down, pitching a two run complete game, and even contributing to his cause but hitting a home run in the fifth. Gibson was the Series MVP, and the Cardinals were back on top.

An old friend came back in 1968. Gussie Busch finally admitted he had made a mistake, and rehired Bing Devine to be the general manager of the team, after Stan Musial admitted that he did not want the job anymore.

The ’68 team could not score runs to save their lives. The pitchers pleaded with them – score some runs. Multiple runs would be nice. One run… just one! Something! No one on the team had 80 RBI, the leader in HR was Cepeda with 16, and only one player even made it to a .300 BA (Flood), with the next closest checking in at .279 (Brock).

The Cardinals simply could not have survived without their pitchers. Four of their five starters had an ERA under 3.00. They combined to throw 63 complete games and 27 shutouts. The real story here is Gibson. He turned into a freak of nature, compiling the following totals: 28 complete games, 13 shutouts, 304.2 innings pitched, a 22-9 record, a 0.853 WHIP, and a 1.12 ERA. That is not a typo. He really was that good. He was the runaway winner of both the Cy Young and the MVP award.

The strong arms of Gibson and company led the Cardinals to a 97-65 and second consecutive NL crown. They marched on to face the Detroit Tigers in the World Series, and the country was buzzing about the matchup of Gibson and 31 game winner Denny McLain. McLain did not stand a chance in game one, as Gibson not only went the distance, but struck out a Series record 17 Tigers in the process. Gibson had another incredible Series, pitching 27 innings, giving up a mere 2 runs, and yet still finding himself on the losing end of a 1-0 deciding game seven. Frustrating to be sure, but Gibson knew that storyline well. The Cardinals jumped out to a 3-1 Series lead, and looked to be dominating, but the bats just up and died. Detroit won the next three in a row and took the title home. The Cardinals went home with their tails between their legs.

Gussie Busch was not making friends with the players, especially after his team brought home consecutive pennants. They wanted to be paid, and when Busch called a press conference to basically demoralize the players, all the air went out of the room. The team was proud of themselves and their skills on the field, but when their owner called them selfish and questioned their integrity and how he could not believe they had the nerve to hold out, the players were struck dumb. They no longer believed they worked for the best organization in baseball. They knew the truth: they were livestock. They could be replaced. They better watch their backs.

Changes were coming in baseball as a whole. After a ‘year of the pitcher,’ where batting averages and ERA’s hit all-time lows, the mound was lowered to give hitters a better chance. Pitchers everywhere suffered, and many lost their edge. The Cardinals never had an edge. Veterans came out in the papers, saying they were frustrated that the front office had ordered manager Red Schoendienst to play younger players and sit the veterans. The front office shot back that they were just afraid of losing their jobs. You complained, you got traded. That was the way it was.

Curt Flood was the most vocal, and sure enough, he was traded, but those of you that know baseball history already know of the now infamous situation. He refused the trade, declared himself a free agent, and eventually history was changed in baseball. Flood became a pioneer, but the rest of his team was left floundering. The club struggled to a 87-75 record, and started in on what has almost become a lost time in Cardinals’ history.

Special thanks this week go to i70 historian Bob Netherton, who loaned me information from all over the place. Find more on these topics by heading here, here, here, or here.

Angela Weinhold covers the Cardinals for i70baseball.com and writes at Cardinal Diamond Diaries. You may follow her on Twitter here or follow Cardinal Diamond Diaries here.

During the offseason we have been taking a look at the past, giving readers a timeline of St. Louis baseball throughout history. Last time we learned about Gussie Busch and the beginning of Bing Devine’s work with the Cardinal’s front office. Unfortunately the product on the field was not good at all, and the Cardinals were finding themselves at the bottom of the National League food chain. Things had to go up. Who would become the answer?

The Cardinals’ players just did not like Solly Hemus. Players knew he was not using his best lineup simply because he was not utilizing players like Curt Flood, Bill White, and Bob Gibson – all African American players – the way he should have. In 1960, he pushed All-Star and Gold Glove winning first baseman White out in the outfield, flipping him back and forth between leftfield, centerfield, and first base. Hemus also pushed Stan Musial around the diamond, never leaving him in one place for any length of time and seeing him find time in left, right, and first. Musial had his second “down” year in a row, hitting .275/.354/.486 and seeing the fewest number of at-bats in the season (378) than any other in his twenty-two year career. Of course, it is quite difficult to perform at the top of your game when you are constantly shifting your role and sliding up and down the lineup, but I digress…

Ken Boyer

Third baseman Ken Boyer won his third consecutive Gold Glove in 1960, and led the team in basically every major offensive category. On the pitching rubber Larry Jackson had arguably his best season wearing the birds on the bat, going 18-13 and leading the team with fourteen complete games on the year. Ernie Broglio rounded out a 21-9 record and 2.74 ERA by pitching twenty-eight games in relief to go with twenty-four starts. All of that combined to bring the Cardinals back up to a respectable 86-68 record, good enough for third place in the National League behind the upstart Pittsburgh Pirates, led by Bill Mazeroski, Roberto Clemente, and Dick Groat.

Things changed in 1961. Despite the assumption that Hemus was a “player’s manager,” the fact that he and Stan the Man obviously did not see eye to eye (not to mention any of the African American players) did not go unnoticed by the front office. Bing Devine had to make a change, and by the time he went to Gussie Busch and requested that the change be made Gussie was irritated by the Cardinals’ then 33-41 record. He told Bing that whatever he wanted to do was fine, so Bing made the switch, firing Hemus and bringing in coach Johnny Keane. Keane had been a minor league manager for the Cardinals’ farm system for many years and had worked his way up to an assistant coach for the big league squad when he took over the reins.

Keane knew what it would take to turn around several of the players on the team. He went to Stan Musial and told him that he was still a valued and productive member of the team. The 40-year-old Musial stepped it up and had something of a return to form. Keane went to Curt Flood and installed him as the permanent centerfielder, went to Bill White and made him the full-time first baseman, and went to Bob Gibson and changed his career.

Johnny Keane

Up until 1961 Bob Gibson had been on the outside looking in on the Cardinals’ pitching staff. He pitched, sure, but not particularly well, and was largely unknown by most. He had been bounced in and out of the rotation and bullpen, and was 2-6 on the season before Johnny Keane came in. The new manager was swift in righting Gibson’s career, handing him the ball for the first game in his control and informing the big pitcher that he trusted him to take care of business. That night Gibson threw a complete game and won 9-1 on the road against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The rest of the way he went 11-6 under Keane and finished with a respectable 13-12 record and 3.24 ERA. The Cardinals all dusted themselves off after a rough first half and went 47-33 with their new skipper. They wound up 80-74, good enough for only fifth place in the National League.

By now Gussie had owned the team for nearly a decade and had never even come within smelling distance of a pennant, much less a World Series win. He was impatient, and when Mr. Busch was impatient he was apt to fly by the seat of his pants. 1962 did nothing to improve his mood. The team finished 84-78. This record was only good enough for sixth place in the newly expanded ten team National League. Gibson and Jackson led the pitching staff, but the real story in 1962 was the resurgence of Stan Musial. “The Man” played in 135 games (the most for him since 1958) and hit a much more Musial-like .330/.416/.508.

Gussie’s impatience led to a big change after 1962. At the suggestion of one of his friends he decided Bing Devine was not getting the job done, so he brought in an old friend to be a “senior consultant” for the team. Who was that man? Why, none other than Branch Rickey. Suddenly Devine found himself having to get approval from a man who had left the team in the dust over 15 years prior. If he wanted to make a move, he had to go to Rickey, and if Rickey approved he would go to Busch and inform him what was going to happen under “his acceptance.”

Devine and Rickey, while having a mutual respect for each other, did not necessarily see eye to eye, and had to find creative ways to work around the other. The first real road block came before the 1963 season, when Devine wanted to make a trade with Pittsburgh, swapping shortstop Julio Gotay and pitcher Don Cardwell for Diomenes Olivo and Dick Groat. Rickey did not like the deal, stating that when he made deals, he got the younger players, not the older ones. Gotay was “up and coming” in his mind, while the 31-year-old Groat’s best years could be behind him.

Eventually Devine rounded up a crew of “baseball minds” and went to Rickey again to convince him to make the trade. When Rickey realized he was outnumbered and surrounded by a team that was firmly convinced that he should go through with the trade, he acquiesced. Groat became a Cardinal, and the team was starting to take shape. The infield especially was a fearsome thing to look at for an opposing batter. The entire starting infield of Ken Boyer (1B), Dick Groat (SS), Julian Javier (2B), and Bill White (1B) started in the 1963 All-Star game, the first time this had ever happened in the history of the game.

Tim McCarver

Another new face on the field in 1963 was 21-year-old Tim McCarver. McCarver was a hotshot rookie who had offers from sixteen different teams before finally taking the Cardinals’ $75,000 offer to sign at age seventeen. Behind the plate he was the captain of the team, even at such a young age. He called the game like a seasoned veteran, and had enough spitfire in him to set the clubhouse ablaze. Having him there working with Gibson, Broglio and Curt Simmons pushed the team to the brink of the pennant. A late push probably saved Bing Devine’s job from the ever increasingly antsy Gussie Busch, but when Gibson broke his leg taking batting practice in mid-September, it became too much. They finished 93-69, six games back of the Dodgers.

To begin explaining what happened in 1964, I turned to i70 Baseball’s historian Bob Netherton for help. He made my job easy by dropping some tidbits about this very team in a recent post on his own site. Here is what he said:

Of all the come-from-behind teams, the 1964 Cardinals may have been the best. Not only did they win many of their games in the late innings, it was an unbelievable surge in August and September that propelled them to the World Series. This was not the first time they had rallied late in the season either. Johnny Keane’s Cardinals almost pulled off a similar upset in 1963, falling just a few games short of the Dodgers in the end. If Branch Rickey had not played the role of puppet master in the summer of 1964, there might be more pennants blowing in the wind in St. Louis. ’64 was no fluke, and Johnny Keane is a very underrated (and unappreciated) manager.

The key to the ’64 Cardinals success? Mischief at the top of the batting order and then the big names coming up big. Curt Flood and newcomer Lou Brock terrorized National League pitchers with their hitting and base running. It would not be the only time they did this, but in 1964, the middle of the order was brutally consistent in the second half of the season. Ken Boyer and Bill White challenged each other down the stretch, with Boyer winning the NL MVP in the end. The few runners that this duo left on base were quickly driven in by Dick Groat, Tim McCarver or a new local kid named Shannon. There were some great role players on the team as well. Dal Maxvill, Carl Warwick and Bob Skinner all made big contributions, especially in the World Series, but it was the everyday players that brought the pennant to St. Louis in 1964.

Lou Brock

How about that newcomer in Brock? Devine knew around the trading deadline that something needed to happen – that spark to push the team over the top. He called Chicago. Yes, the Cubs. He had spoken with Cubs’ GM John Holland in the offseason about a kid named Lou Brock. The kid looked like he had talent, but had no clue what to do with it. The two sides agreed – Brock for Ernie Broglio.

The rest of the Cardinals were actually perplexed by the trade. Broglio had been an eighteen game winner in 1963 and Brock was a green knucklehead that tried to pull every ball out of the ballpark and ran the bases like a gazelle. It made no sense. There was no way for them to see what Brock would become. However, under Keane and the rest of the Cardinals’ management, their little speed demon would hit .348 the rest of the year and swipe thirty-three bases.

Gussie Busch was not satisfied with what Devine had been doing. Despite all his friends begging him not to do so (even Branch Rickey – who had realized that Devine actually knew what he was doing), Busch fired his GM and brought in Bob Howsam from Denver. Johnny Keane almost got the ax as well, but Busch had to back down. The season rode out dramatically, as the Phillies had to have one of the most grand collapses in the history of the game in order for the Cardinals to catch up, pass, and then capture the pennant away from them.

The World Series almost felt like an afterthought after the race to the finish of the regular season.

Almost.

The mighty New York Yankees were once again the foes awaiting the Cardinals in the World Series. By now the two teams had faced each other five times in the Fall Classic, but the last time had been 1943, and the Yanks had run away with that one 4-1. By the ninth inning of the third game, the score was 1-1, both in games won and in runs on the scoreboard. Barney Schultz, the knuckleballer that Bing Devine had brought in midway through the year, came in to hold down the score for the Cardinals. The first man he faced was the fearsome Mickey Mantle. Schultz threw his bread and butter knuckler to Mantle, but the pitch did not knuckle, and Mickey had a nice meatball to smash into the third deck of Yankee Stadium, giving the Yankees the win and the Series lead, both by a score of 2-1.

It felt back and forth the whole Series. In the fourth game the Yankees jumped out to a three run lead, but a grand slam blast by Ken Boyer in the sixth inning was all the firepower needed, and reliever Roger Craig helped finish out the win for the Cards. The score was tied again in game five and it led to extra innings. Bob Gibson pitched his heart out and ended up winning in ten innings thanks to a three run blast from battery mate Tim McCarver in the top of the inning. The tide had shifted and now the Cardinals were up 3-2.

The Yankees were not going away quietly, and tied the Series at three apiece with the deciding game seven left. Yanks manager Yogi Berra turned to Mel Stottlemyre, who lasted only three batters into the fifth before being pulled for a string of pitchers that paraded out from the Busch Stadium bullpen. Keane went with his ace, and Bob Gibson went out and pitched a complete game victory. The team staked their big right hander out to a 6-0 lead before Gibby gave up a three run home run to Mantle, but it was too little, too late. The Cardinals eventually won the game 7-5 and the Series 4-3.

Gussie Busch had his World Series ring, and the Cardinals were back on top, thanks to the strong arms of Gibson, Simmons and Ray Sadecki, the fleet feet of Brock, and the mighty bats of Boyer, White, and Flood. It was good to be a Cardinal again.

Angela Weinhold covers the Cardinals for i70baseball.com and writes at Cardinal Diamond Diaries. You may follow her on Twitter here or follow Cardinal Diamond Diaries here.

The Early Years

In the 1950′s, the Cincinnati Redlegs drafted three of the most exciting outfielders of their era, and they all came from the same high school. The first was Frank Robinson, in 1953. He would break into the majors in 1956 and win the Rookie of the Year in the first of his 21 outstanding seasons. That same year, Reds scouts would return to the high school where they recruited Robinson and find two more prospects: Vada Pinson and Curt Flood. Pinson would become a major league force of his own, but would play behind Robinson for most of his career. It’s a shame that more people don’t know the name Vada Pinson. Of the three, Curt Flood was the diamond in the rough.

With Robinson firmly established as the Reds every day left fielder, it was just a matter of time before he would be joined by Flood or Pinson. Flood was the better defender but Pinson hit for average and power and would eventually be the one to play with alongside Robinson. In 1957, the color barrier had been broken, but was not totally eliminated from the game. It has been suggested that the Reds didn’t want to have an all-African-American starting outfield, so it was Flood that had to go. I would like to believe this was not true, but looking at the deal that the Cardinals made in December 1957 suggests otherwise. Cincinnati’s bad judgement soon became the Cardinals gain.

Bing’s Devine Plan

While this drama was being played out in Cincinnati, Cardinals General Manager Bing Devine had been challenged by new owner, August Busch, Jr. to build a dynasty in the gateway city. Devine started looking around for some young players to be the core of this new organization, and Flood became the first of them. Flood was not the first African-American to play for the Cardinals, but he would be the first regular player when he took over for a struggling Bobby Smith two weeks into the 1958 season. The 20 year old rookie would finish the year with a modest .261 batting average. He would also display a bit of power that he would sacrifice later for a higher batting average. He also demonstrated a good eye at the plate with a relatively low strikeout rate – one that he would improve throughout his career. He didn’t know it at the time, but that would become significant in a few years when he found himself hitting behind Lou Brock.

Flood would struggle a little over the next two seasons as pitchers started finding holes in his swing. In 1959, he would platoon in the outfield while new manager Solly Hemus experimented with playing Stan Musial at first base. Even though he struggled at the plate, base runners soon took notice of Flood’s arm. They tested him repeatedly during the season, 18 times quite unsuccessfully. They would not challenge him again until an injury in 1967 affected his throwing, but even then the wily veteran still took down a number of would-be base runners.

As Flood was developing his talent in the St. Louis outfield, Bing Devine continued to find additional pieces for a future championship team. In 1959, Flood would be joined by Bill White, a young catcher named Tim McCarver and a wild hard throwing right hander named Bob Gibson. In 1960 the Cardinals would add Curt Simmons, Julian Javier and Ray Sadecki. The pieces were almost in place.

Flood’s breakout year would be 1961. After struggling at the plate early in the year, a successful run of late inning defensive substitutions gave Flood a chance to show off his bat to new manager, Johnny Keane. One of the first things that Keane did after taking over in mid-summer was to put Flood back as the every day center fielder and he did not disappoint. Flood raised his batting average to .322 with an on-base percentage nearing the magical .400 level. He also managed to cut his strikeout rate in half. All questions about who would be the future center fielder for the Cardinals had been answered.

Flood’s offensive production continued to improve in 1962. He narrowly missed hitting .300, finishing with a .296 average. He drove in an astonishing 70 runs from the top of the batting order. The one-two punch of Flood and Javier was starting to get noticed around the league. What they left on the bases was soon being driven in by Ken Boyer and Bill White. With the pitching rotation coming together nicely, backed by an All-Star infield and Flood directing the outfield, Busch’s dream of a championship team was almost a reality.

1963 would be a very good year for Flood. He would collect over 200 hits, tying Bill White for the team lead. His defensive abilities would finally be recognized when the post-season awards were given out. Flood would earn the first of his seven consecutive Gold Glove awards. Only 13 outfielders would collect more in the history of the award. While Flood was dazzling fans with his glove, two more pieces to the Devine puzzle were put in place: shortstop Dick Groat and future right fielder Mike Shannon.

Flood would follow up his 200 hit 1963 season by leading the league with 211 hits in 1964. Perhaps the most amazing thing about his ’64 season was his consistency. By mid-May, he had his batting average up to .300 and it would not fluctuate much for the rest of the year. His .400 on-base percentage in the last month of the season ahead of a red hot Lou Brock was a big part of the Cardinals success in overtaking the Philadelphia Phillies in one of the most exciting pennant races in the history of the National League. Flood would also receive the first of his three All Star Game invitations. In the era of Willie Mays, Henry Aaron, Billy Williams, Roberto Clemente and Frank Robinson, outfield invitations become something of a rare thing, and Flood would receive just three in his career.

Under new manager, Red Schoendienst, several Cardinals struggled in 1965 and 1966 and the team fell from World Champions to middle of the pack finishes in both seasons. In one of his best managerial decisions, Schoendienst would swap Brock and Flood at the top of the order, preferring Brock’s power and aggressive base running ahead of Flood’s consistent bat. This combination would terrorize pitchers for the remainder of the decade, but some retooling of the team would need to happen before the Cardinals would return to post-season. While all of this was going on, Flood remained steady as a rock, nearly matching his 1964 performance the next season as well as the first half of 1966.

Much more important was something that happened on September 2, 1965. In the seventh inning of a game in Chicago, Curt Flood would commit an error on a ball hit by Harvey Kuenn (who would later manage the Milwaukee Brewers in the 1982 World Series). Flood would not commit another error until the Cardinals played the Cubs again – on June 4, 1967. Almost a year and a half later. That’s a total of 226 games (a National League record) and 586 chances (a Major League Record). Yes, Curt Flood was that good. With all due respect to Jim Edmonds (who won one more Gold Glove) and Willie McGee, nobody played center field for the Cardinals better than Curt Flood.

While Flood was flashing the leather, he also turned in his best offensive season in 1967. An injury would take him out of the lineup for three weeks in July, but when he returned, his .373 finish to the season jump-started an offensive that was struggling. He and teammate Orlando Cepeda would battle Roberto Clemente of the Pirates for the batting title all season long, with Clemente hanging on to win. Flood would finish fifth with a .335 average and Cepeda sixth at .325. Even in 1968, when batting averages were dropping all over the league, Flood was the only Cardinal to keep his above .300, finishing with a .301 average.

Not only was Curt Flood a defensive star, he had become a dependable hitter. He is characterized as a singles hitter with little pop, but that does him a great disservice. Yes, he hit mostly singles, but he also hit near .300 for most of the decade, something no other Cardinals player did.

The Miscue

Cardinals fans will remember Flood for all of his defensive marvels, especially the record error-less streak. Casual fans may remember him slightly differently, and that’s unfortunate. In Game 7 of the 1968 World Series, Flood would be involved in a play that would determine the outcome of the game, and the series.

With the series tied at three games a piece, Bob Gibson would face Mickey Lolich of the Tigers in the decisive game. Both pitchers brought their A game and it would remain scoreless until the top of the seventh inning. After retiring 20 of the first 21 batters he faced, Gibson gives up consecutive singles to Norm Cash and Willie Horton. Jim Northrup follows that with a hard hit ball to center field that we thought would end the inning. Unfortunately, Curt Flood turned the wrong way on the line drive and was unable to catch up to it after the miscue. The ball would roll all the way to the wall, scoring both Horton and Cash. Northrup would be credited with a triple on the play, thanks to a friendly official scorer. Rattled, Gibs0n gives up a double to Bill Freehan, scoring Northrup and giving the Tigers a 3-0 lead. That was all that Lolich needed as he cruised to a complete game victory, making the Tigers the new World Champions of baseball.

For those that only read the headlines, this is what they will remember from the playing career of Curt Flood. Not the consecutive errorless streak, not the year after year of patiently hitting .300 behind Lou Brock – one miscue that may have cost the Cardinals their third World Series title in the decade.

Challenging the Reserve Clause

Some historical analysis of the end of Flood’s career will point to the miscue in the 1968 World Series as the event that lead to his being traded after the 1969 season. While that is a convenient excuse, the real reason was a contract dispute prior to the 1969 season. Flood wanted $90,000 and the Cardinals offered something less, in the $78,000 range. Flood stood firm and held out, as many players did in that era. Eventually, the Cardinals gave in and signed Flood for his asking price, but as Steve Carlton would soon learn, that was not a good way to remain on the Cardinals. Gussie Busch did not like holdouts, and it was a sure way to get shipped out of St. Louis.

Perhaps it was due to the stress of the holdout, or maybe some lingering memories of the end of the 1968 World Series, Flood saw his offensive production drop in 1969. His average would fall to .285, which is still respectable for Gold Glove center fielder, but well short of where had had been. Only newcomer Joe Torre and veteran Lou Brock posted higher batting average and on-base percentages. As a result, Flood became somewhat of a scapegoat for a team that finished far below expectations, thanks to a horrifically slow start to the season.

At season’s end, the Cardinals got an opportunity to acquire one of baseball’s elite power hitters, Richie Allen, and the front office jumped on it. There were other players in the final deal, including Tim McCarver, but the principal part of the trade was Curt Flood for Richie Allen. This is the moment when baseball is changed forever – Curt Flood did not accept the trade and refused to report to Philadelphia. It would be impossible for us today to appreciate what some of the players went through in the 60′s, and if you were an African-American player, Philadelphia would have been one of the last places you would want to play. There is a reason that Richie Allen wanted out, and that was not lost on Flood. He had been a part of St. Louis for the last twelve years, and had given a lot to the fans. In return, the fans had been good to Flood and he was one of the most beloved of the Cardinals of the time. All of that was turned upside town in just a moment.

In refusing to report, Flood had to walk away from the game he loved. He would have to sit out and wait for his contract to expire before re-entering the game as a free agent, much like a player that had been released and was no longer wanted. The difference here was that Flood was still in the peak of his career. At age 31, he still had some games left in his body, until the stress of his battle with baseball took it all away. Marvin Miller, head of the player’s union, helped Flood challenge the reserve clause in the collective bargaining agreement. Due to a series of unfortunate events, Flood lost his grievance against baseball and would lose a year of playing time – essentially ending his career. Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally would again challenge the reserve clause in 1975 and win their arbitration case, creating the free agency era that the players enjoy today. Messersmith and McNally got the benefit, but it was Flood that challenged the system and sacrificed the latter part of his career in doing so.

How much did that cost Flood ? Perhaps a place in Cooperstown.

After Flood’s year long holdout in Philadelphia, he was traded to the Washington Senators in 1971. Flood would try to resurrect his career, but it didn’t take long to see that the battle with baseball had taken its toll, and Flood was nowhere near the player he had been. He would finish his career with 7 consecutive Gold Gloves, 1,861 hits, a lifetime .293 batting average and a career on-base percentage of .342. Had he not battled baseball, and stayed healthy, 2,500 hits would not have been out of Flood’s reach. Add another Gold Glove or two and he would be approaching Roberto Clemente territory. As a player, Flood was on a path that should have put him in the Hall of Fame. Given the recent interest in Marvin Miller’s controversial consideration for induction into the Hall of Fame, perhaps the Alumni Committee should instead take another look at the player that sacrificed more than Miller to change baseball and forever change the economic balance of the game.

To Learn More

There are quite a few biographies that try to tackle the career of Curt Flood. Most either portray him as a martyr or a fool and don’t give much more insight than you would get by spending a couple of hours pouring through baseball-reference.com. There are two that stand out above all the others, and I would recommend both if you are interested in learning more about Flood’s career and fight with the game.

The first is Curt Flo0d’s autobiography, The Way it Is. It was written shortly after Flood left baseball, and there is a big sense of bitterness in his writing – but that is important if you want to understand what he went through at the time. Apply a little bit of a filter and you will find a wonderful historical text about one of the most exciting periods in baseball, and one of the players that made it that way.

The other book is Brad Snyder’s A Well-Paid Slave: Curt Flood’s Fight for Free Agency in Professional Sports. This looks more at the legal process that led up to the arbitration hearing and all that went wrong with it. It’s more about the legal system and contracts than baseball, but you will learn a lot by reading it. It is exceptionally well written and helps put a complicated part of baseball history in perspective.

Bob Netherton covers Cardinals history for i70baseball.com and writes at Throatwarbler’s Blog. You may follow Bob on Twitter here or on Facebook here.

Over the last two weeks, the writers at I-70 Baseball have shared their perspectives on the 1985 World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and Kansas City Royals. It was an amazing time for both organizations, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the I-70 Baseball series, especially from the perspective of the Kansas City writers and those too young to have experienced it firsthand. No coverage of that great Series would be complete with a discussion of Don Denkinger’s call in Game Six. If you have not already done so, please read Aaron Stilley’s outstanding article, 22%: Quantifying the Denkinger Call. Whether or not you can put the call behind you, as Bill Ivie suggests, one area where we can all find agreement is that there have been other controversial calls in baseball’s history. What you may not know is that one such call by a future Hall of Fame umpire had a similar impact on the outcome of the 1968 World Series. Here is story of October 7, 1968.

Game One

For fans of pitching, Game One of the 1968 World Series was one of the best in the history of the game. It featured two of the most dominating pitchers of their era, Bob Gibson and his 1.12 ERA versus the 31 game winner in Denny McLain. The two did not disappoint. Gibson pitched one of the best games in his career, striking out a record 17 batters on the day, including seven Tigers the first time through the order. Gibson had all of his pitches working – fastball, slider, change-up (yes, a wicked change-up) and a completely devastating curveball that Gibson won’t even acknowledge to this day. While Gibson breezed through the Tigers batting order, McLain struggled early. He fought Tom Gorman, the home plate umpire from the National League, all afternoon. Gorman refused to give McLain the high strike he had been getting in the regular season, and the big right hander was slow to adapt to the smaller strike zone. The Cardinals started exploiting McLain’s troubles in the third inning, finally breaking through in the fourth with three runs on a pair of walks and two RBI singles. McLain would exit the game early, turning the ball over to Pat Dobson and Don McMahon, who both pitched well. The only blemish was a solo home run to Lou Brock off Dobson. The Cardinals would win the game 4-0 behind the record setting performance of Bob Gibson. What the box scores don’t tell you is that even though McLain struggled, he nearly matched Gibson for the first half of the game.

Games Two, Three and Four

After a brilliant pitching duel in Game One, the respective offenses were on display for Games Two, Three and Four – or perhaps it was the vulnerabilities of the two bullpens. Because of Nelson Briles inability to keep the ball in the park, the Tigers were able to get into the Cardinals bullpen in Game Two, and bad things happened rather quickly. After surrendering his third home run of the game, all solo shots, an infield single by Willie Horton ended the day for the young right hander. Manager Red Schoendienst would go to his bullpen for the big left hander, Steve Carlton. Lefty would get hammered, giving up two more runs to the bottom of the Tigers batting order. Side armer Ron Willis was not any more effective the next inning and the Tigers had opened a huge lead. It is all Mickey Lolich would need as he shut the door on the Cardinals with a nifty complete game.

Fortunes would change for the Cardinals as the series moved to Detroit. Veterans Ray Washburn and Earl Wilson would do battle in Game Three. The Tigers jumped out to a 2-0 lead when Al Kaline took Washburn deep in the third inning. There is no shame in giving up a long ball to the Detroit slugger, and Washburn limited the damage to just two runs. The Cardinals would get to Wilson and reliever Pat Dobson, taking a 4-2 lead in the fifth. Washburn would give one of those runs back when Dick McAuliffe hit a solo homer. Schoendienst would again go to his bullpen, calling on Joe Hoerner who had been victimized badly late in the previous game. This time, Hoerner was solid as a rock, earning a save in 3 2/3 innings of nearly perfect relief. Meanwhile the Cardinals would again get to the Tigers bullpen on their way to a 7-3 victory.

The Tigers bullpen would again be torched in Game Four. While Bob Gibson was cruising to another dominating victory, the Cardinals bats lit up starter Denny McLain and relievers Joe Sparma and John Hiller. When the dust, or maybe more accurately, the mud settled, the Cardinals won in a 10-1 laugher. More importantly, they had taken a 3 games to 1 lead in the World Series while making the Tigers bullpen throw a lot of innings.

This brings us to Game Five, the pivotal game of the 1968 World Series.

Game Five

This last game in Detroit featured the starters from Game Two, Mickey Lolich for the Tigers and Nelson Briles for the Cardinals. This time it was Lolich that had trouble with the long ball, and early. The Cardinals would jump out to a quick 3-0 lead in the first inning on a lead-off double by Lou Brock, a single and stolen base from Curt Flood and a two run homer off the bat of Orlando Cepeda – a bat that had been far too quiet for most of the 1968 season. Lolich would bear down and limit the damage, pitching effectively against the bottom of the Cardinals batting order.

On the other side of the diamond, Briles was cruising along, as he had done throughout most of the 1968 season. A couple of hard hit balls in the home half of the fourth inning caused a bit of trouble for Briles as Mickey Stanley and Willie Horton both tripled and scored in the inning. At least the ball was staying the field of play this time around. Like Lolich in the first, Briles settled down and limited the damage by retiring Bill Freehan to end the inning.

With the Cardinals holding on to a slim 3-2 lead and just 15 outs from their second consecutive World Series Title, we now proceed to the fifth inning, and the “other” blown call of the World Series.

The play

After Nelson Briles leads off the inning by striking out, Lou Brock nearly hits the ball out to left field. A great play by Willie Horton holds Brock to just a double. This defensive gem would become significant when Julian Javier singles to left field on the next play. Willie Horton comes up firing and throws a strike to Bill Freehan, who was blocking the plate. Brock actually beats the the throw to the plate, and unbelievably, Hall of Fame umpire Doug Harvey calls Brock out. A huge argument breaks out, involving the on deck batter, Curt Flood, Lou Brock, coach Joe Schultz and manager Schoendienst. Through all of this, Harvey remained resolute on his call, and the inning would eventually come to an end with Cardinals still nursing a slim one run lead.

After the game, Brock would defend his decision not to slide into home plate, as everybody expected. With Freehan blocking the plate, the only way for Brock to score would be to run through the Tigers catcher, which he did. What Harvey missed was Brock’s foot clearly on home plate before Freehan was able to turn and tag the speedy Brock. In his post game interview, Harvey even admitted to turning his attention away from the tag, calling it inevitable.

The best comment came from Bill Freehan, prior to Game Six in St. Louis. The Tigers catcher said, “After the game the other day, the writers came up to me and everybody wanted to know if Lou Brock had touched the plate or not. I told them I had to be the worst person in America to know because I was trying to catch the ball and couldn’t see a thing.” The grin on his face suggested otherwise.

The Implication

Had Harvey called Brock safe, the Cardinals would have had a two run lead at 4-2, instead of 3-2. They would also have had a speedy runner at second in Julian Javier. With only one out and the heart of the order coming up, the fifth inning in Game Five might have been a huge inning for the Cardinals. St. Louis had trouble with Lolich in Game Two, but he had not been particularly sharp thus far in Game Five. The momentum shift of a Brock run might have been all it took to rattle the Tigers lefty. The actual call had the opposite effect – Lolich toughened and the Cardinals would never really challenge him again.

The second domino to topple would happen in the bottom of the fifth inning. Trailing by two runs, with Briles crusing, Tigers manager Mayo Smith might have lifted Lolich for a pinch hitter. That would have put the game back in the hands of the Tigers bullpen, who had just been torched in the last two games. Down only a single run, Smith gambled, leaving Lolich in the game and that turned out to be the right decision as Lolich would be the one who cruised to the complete game victory, not Briles.

And we’re not done with the implications quite yet. With a two run lead, Red Schoendienst might have stayed with young Briles a bit longer when he got into trouble again in the bottom of the seventh inning. Down to just 8 outs for another championship, Schoendienst went to his bullpen, again calling on lefty Joe Hoerner. The Tigers ripped Hoerner just as they had at the end of Game Two, taking a 5-3 lead before the Cardinals reliever could record a single out. Ron Willis would finish the game, but the Tigers would go on to win this pivotal game.

The Outcome

The record books tell us how this story would end. In Game Six, the World Series would return to a soggy St. Louis. Denny McLain would shake off his early World Series troubles and pitch a dominating complete game. Cardinals starter Ray Washburn would not be so lucky, giving up five runs before leaving without getting a single out in the third inning. Larry Jaster, Ron Willis and Dick Hughes would follow Washburn in the third inning, and would also be hit hard. The game was not even an hour old and the Tigers had an insurmountable 12-0 lead. They would go on to win Game Six in a laugher, setting up a decisive Game Seven.

Not even Bob Gibson could salvage this series. He pitched well, but a late defensive miscue by the always dependable Curt Flood led to three tigers runs in the top of the seventh inning. That proved to be the difference in the game, and ultimately the series as Lolich continued his domination of Cardinals hitters, winning his third game and earning the 1968 World Series MVP award.

When looking back at the 1968 World Series, many historians will point at the Jim Northrup fly ball that Curt Flood played into a triple in Game Seven as the turning point. If you are willing to take a closer look, the controversial call by Doug Harvey in Game Five was just as devastating as Don Denkinger’s now infamous call in Game Six of the 1985 World Series. The difference is that Harvey’s call happened in the middle of the game, in the middle of the series.