Bakenhaster had every reason to be in good spirits that spring. The previous summer, after a spectacular high-school career in which he had thrown nine no-hitters, the Cardinals had given him an estimated $40,000 signing bonus, outbidding most of the other major-league teams for the rights to what one sportswriter called “the much-sought-after . . . whip-armed . . . pitcher.” 2 Bakenhaster was one of two first year “bonus babies” the Cardinals had that year (the other was infielder Ed Spiezio). The rules at the time required that St. Louis keep at least one of them with the big-league club and gave the team the option to designate the other as a member of the 25-man roster but assign him to a minor-league team. The Cardinals elected to take Bakenhaster north with them when they broke camp.

As it would turn out, that photograph was one of few bright moments in Bakenhaster’s major-league career. Between Opening Day that season and late July, he appeared in only two games for a total of three innings; his line for his meager appearances showed nine hits, six runs (two earned), one walk, and no strikeouts. On July 23, the day after Bakenhaster’s second and last appearance, the Cardinals sent him out, assigning him to Winnipeg in the Class A Northern League. While he persevered in the minor leagues until 1970, he never got back to the major leagues.3

David Lee Bakenhaster was born as the youngest of eight children to Monford and Lara Bakenhaster on March 5, 1945, in Columbus, Ohio.4 The family worked as crop farmers in the Dublin, Ohio, area, just outside Columbus; the land they worked at one point eventually became Don Scott Airfield, now operated by Ohio State University. 5 According to a story published at the time of his signing in 1963, his parents died in 1953, and some time after that his brother Paul became his legal guardian.6 Bakenhaster began dreaming of playing major-league ball as early as 9, and the first scouts started paying attention to him when he was 13.7

Bakenhaster was a talented athlete at Dublin High School (later renamed Dublin Coffman), lettering in basketball and baseball in all four years. He twice earned all-county honors in basketball but it was in baseball that he truly excelled.8 His catcher in high school, Craig Duffey, recalled Bakenhaster as having a superior fastball that had good movement on it. “I can remember catching games in which he was so fast, the opposing batters knees would be shaking,” Duffey said.9 He remembered that Bakenhaster once struck out all 21 batters he faced in a game against Columbus Academy in his junior year, the almost-perfect game marred by a passed ball on a third strike allowing the batter to reach first.10 In four seasons as a pitcher at the school, Bakenhaster accumulated a 41-5 record; among his nine no-hitters were two perfect games.11 During his high-school career, he averaged 15 strikeouts a game.12 In each of his four seasons, he was named to the all-county baseball team; three times he was all-district and twice all-state. 13

If scouts were already paying attention, Bakenhaster’s senior year cemented his reputation as a legitimate professional prospect. That year, when his team reeled off 21 consecutive victories to earn a spot in the Class A state finals, he went 17-0, including a four-hit victory in the regional championship and a no-hitter in the semifinals.14 Although his coach asked him to start the state championship game the day after his semifinal gem, Bakenhaster’s brother/guardian worried that taxing his arm might hurt his professional chances and so Bakenhaster skipped the game; his team lost.15 Five days after his graduation Cardinals scout Mo Mozzali signed him to a contract.16

Bakenhaster split his first professional season between Brunswick (Georgia) of the Georgia-Florida League and Winnipeg (Manitoba) of the Northern League, finishing with a combined 6-6 record, striking out 65 and walking 49 with a 4.44 earned-run average in 77 innings.17

In 1964, though bonus baby Bakenhaster began the season with the Cardinals, most observers expected that he would not do much. A preseason evaluation by Baseball Digest evaluated him this way: “Has good fastball and had a good curve at times, but has a tendency to throw too many curves. Wild at times. May have a chance.”18 And Bakenhaster indeed did little, having to wait more than two months before he saw action in a regular-season game. In that major-league debut, on June 20, 1964, Bakenhaster pitched the last two innings in a home game against the San Francisco Giants. His debut was a portent of the bad luck that followed him for most of his professional career. Entering the game with San Francisco leading 10-1, Bakenhaster allowed a leadoff double to Harvey Kuenn. He retired the next two hitters before Cardinals shortstop Jerry Buchek made an error on a ground ball by Willie Mays. Bakenhaster then allowed three consecutive singles, scoring three unearned runs. In the top of the ninth the Giants scored a fourth unearned run before Bakenhaster closed out the inning.19

More than a month later, on July 22, Bakenhaster appeared in his second and last major-league game, pitching the ninth inning of another blowout loss, this one 13-2 to the Pittsburgh Pirates. He allowed a double by Willie Stargell and a two-run home run by Bill Mazeroski to start the inning before retiring the side.20 The next day the team reassigned him to Winnipeg, recalling Spiezio to the major-league roster to protect both players from the waiver draft.

Back in Class A, Bakenhaster struggled; in his first two weeks after being sent down he had a 0-2 record with a league-worst ERA of 13.75.21 He finished the year 1-5, with a 5.36 ERA, 28 strikeouts, and 25 walks in 42 innings pitched.

Sports columnist Fred Collins of the Winnipeg Free Press called Bakenhaster “a symbol, the innocent victim of baseball’s biggest headache, the bonus system.”22 Collins went on to defend Bakenhaster, despite his poor showing: “The crime of it is that David Lee is not a bad pitcher. No one will ever know now but it’s a good bet that, had he been allowed to develop in the minors, Bakenhaster wouldn’t have the headaches he must be having these nights.”23

After Bakenhaster’s season in Winnipeg ended in September, the Cardinals announced they were recalling him again, but it was only a technicality, since he never actually rejoined the team.24 Instead, he returned home, where he married Kim Ann Hilling on September 16, 1964. 25 (They divorced in 1968.26)

Bakenhaster earned one more bonus from the Cardinals that season: after the team won the World Series in seven games from the New York Yankees, the players voted Bakenhaster a one-fourth share of the player’s pool; it amounted to $2,155.54.27

Bakenhaster spent five more seasons in the minor leagues, all in the Cardinals’ organization, although he lost one year to military service, 1968, serving as a member of the military police in Uijongbu, Korea.28 Any prospects he may have had to advance as a professional were probably hurt that year, as he suffered a rotator cuff injury shortly after his discharge. 29 His best year as a professional was 1966, when he helped lead St. Petersburg to the Florida State League’s best record under future Hall of Fame manager Sparky Anderson; he finished the season 16-6 with a 1.90 ERA and 160 strikeouts. One of the highlights of that year was a marathon, 170-pitch complete-game 16-9 victory over Tampa in May. In that game—during which Bakenhaster reportedly lost 14 pounds over the three hours—he struck out 13, nailing down the team’s 20th consecutive win at that point.30 After he stopped playing following the 1970 season, the Cardinals offered to make him their major-league bullpen coach; he accepted, but a week later changed his mind, citing “personal reasons.” The team replaced Bakenhaster with Lee Thomas, who subsequently became the Cardinals’ director of player development and later the Philadelphia Phillies’ general manager.31

After leaving baseball, Bakenhaster worked for 34 years in a warehouse operated by Exel Logistics, serving the Nabisco Brands Food Company in Columbus, Ohio.32 In 1975 he married the former Carolyn Harr.33 In 2002 he was elected to the inaugural class for the Dublin Coffman High School Athletic Hall of Fame.34

Some years after leaving the game, Bakenhaster told a writer, “I never achieved what I really set out to do. My abilities were not as good as I thought they were. I felt sorry for myself when I first got out. But when I got my head screwed on right, I was okay.”35

This biography is included in the book “Drama and Pride in the Gateway City: The 1964 St. Louis Cardinals” (University of Nebraska Press, 2013), edited by John Harry Stahl and Bill Nowlin. For more information, or to purchase the book from University of Nebraska Press, click here.

Notes

That was Vern Benson in 1968. Fifteen years before, the infielder-outfielder’s modest major-league career (.202 in 104 at-bats over fractions of five seasons spread over 11 years) had ended. Yet he stayed in the game for decades, passing on his knowledge. Although he served just briefly as an acting manager in the majors, he was a skipper for 8½ seasons in the minors and seven more in winter ball. Benson was also a big-league coach during 18 summers, and though he stepped down from that role after the 1980 season, he remained active as a scout until 1996.

Perhaps the greatest testimonial to Benson’s impact as a teacher came from Bob Gibson. As author Tom Van Hyning wrote, “Benson remembers a thank-you note he received from Gibson after the pitcher’s retirement from baseball. ‘I wouldn’t want to take any credit for the success Gibson had after that [their winter together in Puerto Rico in 1961-62], but that tells me something.’”2

Vernon Adair Benson was born on September 19, 1924, in Granite Quarry, North Carolina, of Swedish and Irish descent. His father, William Luther Benson, was a brickmason. His mother, born Ruth Elizabeth Foster, was a homemaker. Vern’s one brother, William Luther Jr., became an accountant.

When he wasn’t on the road with baseball, Benson did not stray far from his native soil, living in either Granite Quarry or neighboring Salisbury until his death. He and his wife, Rachael Lyerly Benson, were married for more than 61 years – from October 23, 1946, until she died in April 2008. The Bensons had two daughters, Bonnie and Robin, and a son named Vernon Randall (“Randy”). In addition to seven grandchildren, he became the great-grandfather of seven.

Growing up, Benson played baseball and basketball at Granite Quarry High School. After high school he entered Catawba College in Salisbury in 1942, where he focused on baseball. Records he set include a streak of 16 games with a run scored. The Catawba Sports Hall of Fame inducted him as part of its second class in 1978.

Few men alive in 2010 could talk about what it was like to play under Connie Mack, and Benson was one of them. After his sophomore year, Benson played for the Salisbury Aggies in the Carolina Victory League, a local semipro circuit that sprang up during World War II. Ira Thomas, who played for the Philadelphia Athletics from 1909 to 1915, scouted the Victory League for the A’s. Owner/manager Mack, in need of reserves amid the war, assessed a group of youngsters up from Catawba.3

Benson was the only one who impressed the Tall Tactician enough to get a contract. He signed on July 29, 1943 (he never did go back and get his degree). Two days later the 18-year-old made his big-league debut at Philadelphia’s Shibe Park. He flied out as a pinch-hitter for pitcher and future big-league manager Lum Harris.

Days later, however, the Army drafted Benson. He missed the rest of 1943 plus all of the 1944 and 1945 seasons in the service. He was stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where he played ball for two years. He also went to France and Germany.

When he returned to professional baseball in 1946, Benson had a new position. A brief AP news report from spring training that March said, “Vernon Benson, a 21-year-old outfielder, is putting smiles on Connie Mack’s face. The Philadelphia Athletics’ manager says Benson – once an infielder – ‘may be the man we’re looking for.’ He has a good arm, is fast and can hit.”4

Although Benson made the roster to start the season, he saw little action. Of his seven appearances, four came as a pinch-runner. He was hitless in five at-bats and went back to the minors in early May – at his own request – to play regularly. He would not resurface in the majors for five years.

After the 1946 season Benson was released by the Athletics and joined the St. Louis Cardinals chain. Future Cardinals general manager Bing Devine, then GM of the Columbus, Georgia, farm team, recommended him. “He saw me at Savannah,” Benson said. He played most of the next five seasons at Triple-A, spending a stretch at Double-A in 1949. The 1951 season was easily his best as a pro: For Columbus he batted .308 with 18 homers and 89 RBIs, and drew 111 walks. All were career highs.

As a result, the Cardinals recalled Benson after the American Association season ended. He got into 13 games, and more than eight years after his major-league debut he finally recorded his first base hit. Nine days later, on September 18, the left-handed hitter stroked his first big-league home run, at Sportsman’s Park off Brooklyn’s Ralph Branca – 15 days before Branca served up Bobby Thomson’s “Shot Heard Round the World.”

During the winter of 1951-52, Vern went to play in Cuba. He was the shortstop for the Havana Reds, who won the league championship thanks to Benson’s bases-loaded triple. As a result, he got to play in the Caribbean Series in Panama. Against Venezuela on February 21, teammate Tommy Fine threw the only no-hitter in the tournament’s history. Benson (at third base) made one of two great defensive plays that preserved it.

Benson started the 1952 season back at Columbus, but he returned to St. Louis in July and spent the rest of the year with the Cardinals as a backup third baseman. He had nine hits in 47 at-bats over 20 games, including his two other homers in the majors. Both homers, hit off the Pirates’ Murry Dickson and Jim Wilson, also came at Sportsman’s Park.

Another moment from that year echoed for much longer, though. On August 25, Benson hit a little sinking liner to Dodgers left fielder Dick Williams, who dived for it and missed, injuring his shoulder badly. Williams credited that injury with starting him on the path to becoming a manager. Like Benson, he became a student and observer of the game.

Benson made the Cardinals roster out of spring training in 1953, but he remained at the end of the bench. From Opening Day through May 30, he got into just 13 games – eight as a pinch-runner and five as a pinch-hitter. In early June, St. Louis signed its first bonus boy, 18-year-old Dick Schofield, and optioned Benson to Houston in the Texas League.5 He never got back to the majors.

Benson returned to winter ball in 1953-54, hitting .346 in 60 games for Pastora in the Venezuelan League, and again played in the Caribbean Series. The following winter, he appeared in 22 games for Santa Marta. A quarter-century later, he would return as a manager.

He made his transition to coaching in 1954 with Rochester, under GM Bing Devine, and two years later he was named manager of Winnipeg in the Northern League in 1956. For his first three years as a skipper, he remained a playing manager, finally playing in his last two games in 1959, with the Tulsa Oilers.

In 1961 Benson began the season managing Portland in the Pacific Coast League. Then, on July 6, St. Louis fired Solly Hemus as manager and replaced him with Johnny Keane. The Cardinals reassigned coach Darrell Johnson and, at Keane’s request, brought Benson up to the big-league staff. Keane had managed Benson for several years in Triple-A, going back to 1949. “I said, ‘I won’t come as a yes-man,’” Benson recalled in 2010. “And I didn’t.”

During the early 1960s Benson coached winter-ball teams in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. In the winter of 1961-62, he managed the Santurce Cangrejeros to the Puerto Rican Winter League championship as well as to victory in the subsequent Inter-American Series tournament. He brought down several young Cardinals for seasoning, including Bob Gibson. “[Benson] was familiar with player turnover, the lack of pitching depth, and other winter challenges.”6 For example, he reached out to the Dominican Republic and got another Cardinal, Julián Javier, to fill in at second base for a while.

Two winters later (1963-64), Benson managed successfully in his only season in the Dominican Republic, at the helm of the Licey Tigres. The Tigres were just 28-30 in the regular season but came together in the playoffs. In the best-of-five first round, they lost the first two games but then came back and won; in the finals, they dropped the first three before running the table. Again young Cardinals were present, such as Phil Gagliano.

When Benson joined Johnny Keane’s staff, he likely served as the first-base coach, given that Harry Walker was the batting coach, Howie Pollet was the pitching coach, and Red Schoendienst was a player-coach. Keane, who had been the third-base coach under Solly Hemus, continued to coach third while managing the club through 1962, although Benson spelled him on occasion that year.7 When Keane moved full-time to the dugout, Benson took over the third-base lines. He also got a chance to manage the Cardinals during a doubleheader on May 12, 1963, when Keane was out with gastritis.

In 1964 the Cardinals won it all. During the World Series against the Yankees, Benson’s insights helped St. Louis come out on top. In the opener, against Whitey Ford, he told Lou Brock to ask for a new ball because he knew that catcher Elston Howard was helping Ford load up. “He would act like he’d lost his balance and screw the ball into the dirt,” Benson said. The crafty Ford would then turn the dirt into mud on the mound.

In Game Four, with Roger Craig in long relief, Benson asked Keane in the fifth inning, “Who are you gonna use to hit for Craig?” Keane replied, “The way he’s pitching, I may just let him go.” But after Keane reconsidered, Carl Warwick’s leadoff single in the sixth inning paved the way for Ken Boyer’s game-winning grand slam.

Despite the Cardinals’ championship, the 1964 season left an unpleasant taste for Benson, following the firing of GM Devine in August. After the Series, Benson followed Keane to the New York Yankees as his right-hand man. When he arrived Whitey Ford greeted him by saying, “You caught me, didn’t you?” As Jim Bouton recalled in Ball Four, Vern also got the nickname Radar because he was not only the first-base coach (Frank Crosetti was at third) but also Keane’s eyes and ears in the clubhouse.

“I didn’t like it in New York,” Benson recalled, “the city or the situation. I said, ‘That ball club’s getting old.’” When the Yankees fired Keane in May 1966, it was not surprising that Benson went too.

He wasn’t out of work long, though. “The Angels offered me a job even before I’d left town. Bing Devine [by then GM of the New York Mets] found a spot for me in rookie ball at Marion, Virginia.” When the Cincinnati Reds made Dave Bristol their manager in July 1966, he hired Benson, whom he had known since 1957 (when Bristol was playing for Wausau, Wisconsin, in the Northern League). “I got paid by three clubs that year – but I don’t recommend doing it that way!” Benson said.

He remained the Reds’ third-base coach until Bristol was fired after the 1969 season. Although Bristol succeeded Joe Schultz as manager of the Seattle Pilots (shortly thereafter to become the Milwaukee Brewers), Benson did not go with him. In late October Devine – who had returned to the Cardinals in December 1967 – brought Benson back into the St. Louis organization. Benson was a general instructor in the minors, in charge of infielders and baserunning. He rejoined the big club in July 1970, and remained on Red Schoendienst’s staff through the 1975 season.

In 1976 Dave Bristol got a new managing job with the Atlanta Braves. He brought Benson aboard as third-base coach. “Atlanta was close to home,” Benson recalled, “and I could get home more often.” He served as acting manager whenever Bristol served suspensions. He said, “When you’re with Dave Bristol you get a lot of chances to manage.”8

Benson’s record-book entry as a big-league manager consists of one game. It came under unusual circumstances. On May 11, 1977, with the Braves mired in a 16-game losing streak, mercurial owner Ted Turner put Bristol on a 10-day “special assignment” and became skipper himself. National League President Chub Feeney forced Turner out of the dugout after one game, in which Benson and another coach, Chris Cannizzaro, actually made the strategic decisions. Benson took over on May 12. The Braves won, ending the losing streak, and Bristol was back the next day.

When the Braves fired Bristol after the 1977 season, Benson went to manage the Syracuse Chiefs, the top farm club of the Toronto Blue Jays, for two seasons. The Chiefs were 50-90 in 1978, but they bounced back to second in the International League in ’79. They lost the Governor’s Cup to Columbus in the ninth inning of Game Seven. The Sporting News named Benson its Minor League Manager of the Year.

“‘I’ve never had more satisfaction from a club,’ Benson remarked at the close of the season. “They worked hard. I couldn’t have gotten any more out of them. They’re why I got Manager of the Year. It’s not that I was smarter than anybody else.’” The article described Benson as “humble, extremely patient . . . firm but fair.”9

One of the Chiefs was his son Randy, whose minor-league career as a pitcher lasted from 1972 to 1980. Both Bensons went down to Venezuela that winter as Vern took a job managing Cardenales de Lara. He led the club through the winter of 1982-83, reaching the finals in three of his four seasons.

Benson had expressed interest in managing the Blue Jays when Roy Hartsfield was dismissed after the 1979 season. The Jays offered him a coaching position instead, which he turned down. He said, “I don’t feel like I lost anything because I never had it, but I’d be less than honest if I said I wasn’t disappointed. If I didn’t merit the job after this season, then I’d reached the end of the road there.”10 In early October Benson joined Dave Bristol once more. He coached third base for the San Francisco Giants in 1980.

Bristol found himself out of a job again in December 1980, and so in February 1981 Benson came back home – literally and figuratively. He became the Cardinals’ scouting supervisor for the Carolinas, which allowed him to work out of Granite Quarry. His reports prompted St. Louis to draft several men who made it to the majors, the most notable being Cris Carpenter, pitcher from 1988-1996. It became a father-and-son operation starting in 1994; Randy also worked as a regional scout (and eventually scouting supervisor) for the Cardinals.

Vern Benson died at the age of 89 on January 20, 2014. He was residing in a Salisbury nursing home called The Laurels. Four years previously, looking back in over his life in baseball, he had said, “I was in the game 56 years and I never missed a payday. I never made much money, but just about every year was enjoyable.”

Author’s note

Grateful acknowledgment to Vern Benson for his memories (via mail and a telephone interview on June 27, 2010).

This biography is included in the book Drama and Pride in the Gateway City: The 1964 St. Louis Cardinals (University of Nebraska Press, 2013), edited by John Harry Stahl and Bill Nowlin. For more information, or to purchase the book from University of Nebraska Press, click here.

Sources:

www.retrosheet.org

www.baseball-reference.com

www.licey.com

www.cardenalesdelara.com

www.gocatawbaindians.com

Bjarkman, Peter C. Diamonds Around the Globe: The Encyclopedia of International Baseball. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2005.

Bjarkman, Peter C. Baseball With a Latin Beat. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co.: 1994.

Figueredo, Jorge S., Cuban Baseball: A Statistical History, 1878-1961. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., 2003.

Figueredo, Jorge S., Who’s Who in Cuban Baseball: A Statistical History, 1878-1961. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., 2003.

The Sporting News Baseball Register, 1965.

Rachael Benson obituary, Salisbury Post, April 8, 2008.

Notes

Kenton Lloyd Boyer was born into a baseball-playing family on May 20, 1931, in Liberty, Missouri. He was the third oldest son in Vern and Mabel Boyer’s family of 14 children. Ken grew up in nearby Alba, Missouri, where his father operated a general store and service station.

After he graduated from high school in 1949, Boyer was invited to a special tryout at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis on the recommendation of Cardinals scout Runt Marr. Though Boyer could play both the infield and outfield, the Cardinals were more interested in his strong right arm and signed him as a pitcher who might play an occasional third base. The Cardinals signed him to a contract in 1949 for a $6,000 bonus, $1,000 under the limit that would have required him to be on the major-league roster for his first two seasons.

Boyer was originally assigned to the team’s Triple-A club, the Rochester Red Wings, until a roster spot became available at a lower level. His older brother, Cloyd, was also with the Red Wings. Ken spent his time at Rochester on the bench until he was sent to the Cardinals’ Class D North Atlantic League club, the Lebanon Chix. As a pitcher he compiled a 5-1 record in 12 games with a 3.42 earned-run average in his rookie season. He struck out 32 batters but walked 34. At the plate, however, Boyer batted .455 (15 hits in 33 at-bats), hitting three home runs with nine runs batted in. Despite his prowess at the plate, the Cardinals still wanted to develop Boyer as a pitcher.

Boyer spent his second minor-league season (1950) with the Hamilton Cardinals in the Class D Pennsylvania-Ontario-New York (PONY) League. His pitching record at Hamilton slipped to 6-8 with an ERA of 4.39. During the season, Hamilton needed a third baseman, and manager Vedie Himsl inserted Boyer into the lineup at third base in what was supposed to be a temporary move. The move became more permanent when Boyer displayed both the ability to hit and remarkable defensive skills at third. Boyer still pitched occasionally, but his batting average of .342 in 80 games, with nine homers and 61 runs batted in, helped his team to a third-place finish and a playoff berth.

The Cardinals finally realized that Boyer was a better hitter than a pitcher, and in 1951 they promoted him to the Class A Omaha Cardinals in the Western League, where he would be their regular third baseman for the season. He started the season poorly, but with the help of manager George Kissell, Boyer improved both his offense and defense. He appeared in 151 games at Omaha and hit .306, with 28 doubles, 7 triples, 14 home runs, 90 runs driven in, and a .455 slugging percentage during his first full season as a position player.

At the end of the 1951 season, Boyer was drafted into the Army during the Korean War and served two years overseas. He continued playing ball for the Army in both Germany and Africa. In April 1952 he married Kathleen Oliver.

Out of the service in 1954, Boyer was assigned to the Houston Buffaloes of the Double-A Texas League. Former National League batting champion Dixie Walker was Boyer’s manager there. Walker made great strides with Boyer’s hitting technique, getting him out of an early-season slump and making him productive. Boyer played in 159 games for Houston and ended the season with a .319 batting average, belting 21 home runs and driving in 116 runs. He helped the Buffaloes win the postseason playoffs against the Fort Worth Cats, four games to one.

After the 1954 season the Cardinals asked Boyer to play winter ball. He played for Havana, where his manager was former Cardinals coach Mike González. Boyer’s winter-ball stint ended abruptly when a fastball hit him behind his left ear, resulting in a severe concussion that left him unconscious for three days. He made an unsuccessful attempt to resume play, but was forced to return home instead.

In the offseason the Cardinals were so confident that Boyer would be their starting third baseman in 1955 that they traded Ray Jablonski, their incumbent third sacker, to the Cincinnati Redlegs, along with pitcher Gerry Staley, for relief pitcher Frank Smith.

Recovered from his concussion, Boyer debuted with the Cardinals in 1955, joining, among others, teammates Red Schoendienst and Stan Musial. Boyer had a relatively good rookie year, appearing in 147 games and hitting .264 with 18 home runs and 62 RBIs. The next season he did not suffer the sophomore jinx as many young players do: Boyer’s second year in the majors was far superior to his rookie season. He appeared in 150 games, improving his batting average to .306 and finished the season with 26 homers and 98 RBIs. He was also selected to participate in his first All-Star Game.

In 1957 Boyer volunteered to play center field to allow an exceptional rookie, Eddie Kasko, to play his natural position, third base. The Cardinals lost no defense in the outfield by this move; Boyer led all National League outfielders in fielding percentage that year. But Kasko was injured in 1958 and the Cardinals acquired Curt Flood from Cincinnati to play center field. Boyer returned to third base, where he won the first of five Gold Glove awards.

Boyer hit .307 in 1958 and .309 in 1959. He hit 51 home runs those two years and in 1958 drove in 90 runs. That same year Boyer participated in 41 double plays, which equaled the second highest total in National League history to that point. In 1959 he had a 29-game hitting streak for the Cardinals, four shy of the team’s record held by Rogers Hornsby. Boyer was named to 11 All-Star squads covering seven seasons – 1956, 1959-64.

In 1960 and 1961 Boyer led the Cardinals in batting average (.304 and .329), home runs (32 and 24), and RBIs (97 and 95). His .329 batting average ranked third in the National League in 1961. Boyer also became the team captain during this period.

Although Boyer’s statistics dropped in 1962 and 1963, he still had stellar years. He missed only two games during the 1962 season and three in 1963. His average fell below .300 in both years, but he hit a solid .291 in 1962 and .285 the following year. He hit 24 home runs in each year (in fact, Boyer hit 24 round-trippers in each season from 1961 through 1964). In 1962 and 1963 his runs batted in were among the highest of his career—98 in 1962 and 111 in 1963.

By far Boyer’s greatest season in the major leagues was 1964, when, playing in every one of the Cardinals’ 162 games, he helped lead the team to its first pennant and World Series title in 18 years. That year he topped the National League in RBIs with 119 (the first National League third baseman to accomplish that feat since Heinie Zimmerman in 1917)and batted .295. He also won his only MVP Award.

Boyer’s 1964 season was climaxed by his clutch performance in the World Series against the New York Yankees. In Game Four, he hit a grand slam off Al Downing to give the Cardinals a 4-3 victory. In the decisive Game Seven, Boyer had three hits, including a double and a home run, and scored three runs as the Cardinals won the Series.

Ken’s brother Clete — playing in his fifth consecutive World Series in 1964 with the Yankees — later admitted that he was privately thrilled for his brother because it was Ken’s first World Series. Clete also homered in that seventh game, the only time in World Series history that brothers have homered in the same game. Clete had a 16-year career in the major leagues. He debuted with the Kansas City Athletics on June 5, 1955, and made his final major-league appearance with the Atlanta Braves on May 23, 1971. His career figures were .242, 162 home runs, and 654 RBIs. Ken’s older brother, Cloyd, also played in the major leagues, pitching for the Cardinals from 1949 to 1952, and for the Kansas City Athletics in 1955, the year that brothers Clete and Ken both made their major-league debuts. Over five seasons, Cloyd won 20 games and lost 23 with an ERA of 4.78. Four other Boyer brothers had brief experiences in the minor leagues, but went no further.

In 1965, Ken’s 11th year and final year with the Cardinals, he began to suffer from back problems. His batting average dropped to .260 and his power numbers dipped to 13 home runs and 75 RBIs. After the season the Cardinals traded Boyer to the New York Mets for pitcher Al Jackson and third baseman Charley Smith. Boyer fans criticized the trade, recalling all his accomplishments over the years. Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst defended the trade as necessary, claiming that the Cardinals had received two good players in return for Boyer—a power-hitting third baseman in Smith and an excellent starting pitcher in Jackson.

At the time it was the biggest trade in Mets history. Bing Devine, the Mets’ general manager, thought an older Boyer (he was 35) might bring veteran leadership to his young team and perhaps regain his own MVP form as well. Boyer played in 136 games for the Mets in 1966, including two at first base. He hit .266 with 14 home runs and 61 RBIs. The Mets finished that year in ninth place, ahead of only the cellar-dwelling Chicago Cubs.

Boyer began the 1967 season with the Mets, appearing in 56 games before being traded on July 22 to the pennant-contending Chicago White Sox for Bill Southworth. Each team included a player to be named later in the deal. On August 15 the Mets sent Sandy Alomar to the White Sox; on November 27 the White Sox sent J.C. Martin to officially complete the deal.

Boyer’s stint with the White Sox marked the only time he spent in the American League. His manager in Chicago was Eddie Stanky, who had managed him in his rookie season with the Cardinals. The White Sox were in first place until August 13. They regained the lead about a week later, but eventually fell to fourth place. Boyer played in 57 games for the 1967 White Sox and hit .261 with four home runs and 21 runs batted in.

Boyer began the 1968 season with the White Sox, appearing in 10 games before he was released. On May 10 he signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers with the understanding that he would be a pinch-hitter and bench player, not a regular. Under manager Walt Alston, Boyer split his time between third base and first base and appeared in 83 games. For the Dodgers he hit a respectable .271 with six home runs and 41 runs batted in.

Boyer returned to the Dodgers in 1969 for the final season of his 15-year major-league career. The 38-year-old appeared in only 25 games for the Dodgers in 1969 (all but four as a pinch hitter), and batted .206. The Dodgers asked him to return the following year as a coach, but he informed the team that he wished to pursue a possible managerial career in the minor leagues. On October 8 the Dodgers gave Boyer his unconditional release.

In the offseason the Cardinals hired Boyer as a coach of their Arkansas affiliate in the Texas League. He then coached with the big-league team for two seasons before returning to minor-league managing. The Cardinals replaced manager Red Schoendienst after the 1976 season with Vernon Rapp, a known taskmaster. Many had felt that Boyer would replace Schoendienst. The disappointed Boyer was hired instead by the Baltimore Orioles to manage their Triple-A farm club, the Rochester Red Wings, in the International League.

Rapp managed the Cardinals to a third-place finish in 1977. The following year Cardinals owner August Busch decided to fire Rapp after he had compiled a record of 6-11. According to catcher Ted Simmons, “Rapp was a disciplinarian, and in a major-league clubhouse it’s difficult to be one.” On April 29, 1978, Busch named Boyer the new Cardinals manager. The Cardinals finished the 1978 season in fifth place, but in 1979 he guided the team to 86 victories and a third-place finish. The team began the 1980 season slowly, and on June 8, between games of a doubleheader in Montreal, with the team’s record at 18-33, Cardinals general manager John Claiborne appeared in the clubhouse and informed Boyer that he was fired and that Whitey Herzog was the club’s new skipper. Boyer compiled a record of 166-190 in three seasons (1978-1980).

Boyer remained in the Cardinals’ organization as a scout through 1981. He was slated to manage their Triple-A team at Louisville, but had to decline when he was diagnosed with lung cancer. Boyer died on September 7, 1982; he was just 51 years old. Two sons and two daughters survived him in addition to his brothers and six sisters. In 1984 the Cardinals retired his number 14, which he wore throughout his career with the team. He is the only player whose number has been retired by the Cardinals who is not in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Boyer’s name was on the Baseball Writers Association of America’s Hall of Fame ballot for 15 years, from 1975 through 1994. His highest vote percentage was 25.5 percent in 1988. (Seventy-five percent is the minimum required for membership.) It will require the vote of the Veterans Committee for Boyer’s admission into the Hall of Fame.

Two of Boyer’s former teammates were among his most ardent supporters. Stan Musial said, “The ballplayers know he’s a good one, but nobody else does.” Tim McCarver said, “He was the boss of our field. He was the guy everyone looked up to. He was the guy who really filled that role, if that role needed to be filled.” Musial and McCarver summed up the problems with Ken Boyer—a quiet man who just did his job well without any fanfare.

Last revised: June 6, 2022 (zp)

This biography is included in the book “Drama and Pride in the Gateway City: The 1964 St. Louis Cardinals” (University of Nebraska Press, 2013), edited by John Harry Stahl and Bill Nowlin. For more information, or to purchase the book from University of Nebraska Press, click here.

Sources

Gary Gillette and Pete Palmer. The ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia, Fifth Edition. New York: Sterling Publishing, 2008.

Peter Golenbock. The Spirit of St. Louis: A History of the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns, New York: Avon Books, 2000.

David Halberstam. October 1964, New York: Villard Books, 1994.

Rob Raines. The St. Louis Cardinals, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1992.

New York Times, September 8, 1892.

The Sporting News.

The St. Louis Post Dispatch

John Thorn, Phil Birnbaum, and Bill Deane, eds. Total Baseball, 8th /Edition. New York: Sports Classic Books, 2004.

Baseballlibrary.com

Baseballprofilesnl.info.

Retrosheet.org.

Kenboyer.net

Tripatlas.com.

Baseball-reference.com.

Startsurfing.com.

Biographicon.com.

Thestlcardinals.com.

Web.archive.com.

Thebaseballpage.com.

When the June 15 trading deadline rolled around in 1964, Cardinals general manager Bing Devine knew that his job was on the line. The Cardinals had played mostly flat and uninspiring baseball and had hovered around the .500 mark, clearly a disappointment to the St. Louis faithful and, more importantly, to team owner Gussie Busch.2 Devine had a gaping hole in left field after the retirement of Stan Musial and he was ready to trade a valuable commodity, a starting pitcher, to plug that gap.3 His target was a relative unknown, a man whose career so far could not be called mediocre as much as one of expectations unfulfilled. When he made the trade that day for Lou Brock there was much happiness, not so much in St. Louis but instead in that of the city’s league rival 300 miles north, Chicago. For it was the Chicago Cubs which had moved an obviously talented but raw outfielder in exchange for a pitcher who had won 18 games in 1963; that was something to celebrate. The celebration, as it turned out, was misplaced because when Bing Devine made the trade, he not only got the solution to his left-field problem, he acquired the pennant.

Louis Clark Brock was born on June 18, 1939, in El Dorado, Arkansas, the son of Paralee and Maud Brock. For Paralee this was the second of her three marriages and Louis was one of nine children she bore. Shortly after Louis’s arrival she moved to Collinston, Louisiana, a mixed-race town of 300 population. The area was very poor and the school Lou attended had only one teacher and no running water.4

Brock’s childhood memories do not include his father, who left shortly after his birth but they do include the feeling of insecurity growing up poor and black in the South. It took him several years to overcome the shame of his skin color and having to bus several miles past white schools to the black school. Even at a young age he was very aware of his surroundings, the large number of unemployed and old, run-down homes, and would lie awake at night wondering how he would avoid a similar fate. 5 The answer, it would turn out, was baseball.

The introduction to baseball came in the form of punishment. Sent to the library in the fourth grade for throwing a spitball, and given the assignment of researching the careers of Joe DiMaggio, Stan Musial, Don Newcombe, and Jackie Robinson, young Brock was enlightened not only by the achievements of these great ballplayers but also by the money they earned.6 The numbers that followed the dollar signs on the players’ salaries were so large that Lou had to ask the teacher what they were and this became his motivation to become a big-league ballplayer. Despite this inspiration it was still some time before he actually began to play ball. There was softball in gym class but it wasn’t until the summer before high school that he joined a sandlot team. His lack of experience relegated him to being a backup outfielder, but it was not long before the coach saw the strong left-handed throwing arm of his neophyte outfielder that he was moved to the pitcher’s mound. At first he was limited to throwing batting practice until he became comfortable on the mound, but Brock was soon pitching in real games. 7

Lou made the high-school team the following spring mainly because he could throw the ball farther than anyone else. During his high-school career he did more than just display a strong arm. He batted at least .350 every year, hitting .535 in his senior season and even occasionally turning around to bat from the right side.8 Despite his success on the diamond, there were no athletic scholarships awaiting him upon graduation. He did, however, receive an academic scholarship from all-black Southern University, where he studied math. 9 The transition to college was not easy for Lou, though, and he lost the scholarship as he did not keep his grades at an acceptable level. He did like school, and not wanting to go back home, he tried out for the baseball team with the hope of gaining an athletic scholarship.10 This too proved difficult in the beginning as he attended practice every day for four weeks and did little more than shag fly balls. Frustrated and determined to get noticed, one day he sprinted after every fly ball until he passed out. When he came to, the coaches let him hit five balls. He clouted every one over the right-field fence and secured his place on the team.11

Success was not immediate, as Brock batted just .140 as a freshman. His sophomore season was nothing less than spectacular, though, as he batted a lofty .545 with 80 hits and 13 home runs in only 27 games. Southern became the first black school to win the NAIA championship by defeating Omaha University, 10-2. Brock hit a tiebreaking home run, went 2-for-5 with three RBIs in the championship game, and was named to the all-tournament team. His outstanding season attracted major-league scouts, but he loved school and decided to return for his junior year. He batted .370 and that summer was invited to Chicago for tryouts with both the Cubs and the White Sox. He was offered contracts by both teams but signed with the Cubs because he felt they offered a better path to the big leagues. His contract included a $30,000 bonus. The Cubs sent him to the Instructional League, where he batted .387, but was seen as a raw talent still needing to develop the fundamentals. The Cubs did see enough that they invited him to the major-league spring training camp in 1961, and he did not disappoint, batting .400.

When spring training broke, Brock was sent to the Cubs’ Northern League affiliate in St. Cloud, Minnesota. He made an immediate impression when he homered on the very first pitch that he saw and went on to win the batting title with a .361 average. He also led the league in runs scored with 117, doubles with 33, hits with 181, and putouts with 277. In addition, he stole 38 bases. He earned a September call-up to the Cubs, appearing in four games and managing just one hit in 11 at-bats.

Brock had undeniable ability. He showed power, smashing a 480-foot home run in spring training, and he had speed, running from home to first at 3.4 seconds and 3.1 on a drag bunt. But he was still a raw talent. When he made the big-league club in 1962, he did not know how to use sunglasses both because of inexperience and because he had played almost nothing but night games the previous year at St. Cloud.12 His defense was particularly bad, especially when it came to groundballs. Bob Smith of the Chicago Daily News wrote in April 1963 “…Lou Brock is the worst outfielder in baseball history. He really isn’t but he hasn’t done much to prove it.” 13 Brock’s development at the big-league level was further hampered by his extremely intense attitude; he seemed to press on every play. Teammate Larry Jackson recalled, “He’d break out in a big sweat just putting on his uniform.”14 The Cubs’ rotating system of coaches at the time, rather than a single manager, did not help his development. One coach stressed the importance of hitting the ball to the opposite field, while another told him to bunt more to take advantage of his speed, and yet another said to pull the ball more because he had shown power.15

That power was on full display on June 17, 1962, in the first game of a doubleheader at the Polo Grounds against the expansion New York Mets. With two outs in the first inning, Brock drove a slider from lefty Al Jackson to deep center. As he headed toward first base he could see center fielder Richie Ashburn racing back and was immediately thinking triple. As he neared second base, he saw umpire Stan Landes giving the home-run sign, but he thought he was signaling to Brock that he could make an inside-the-park home run so he continued to sprint around the bases. It was not until after he crossed home plate and was informed by a teammate that the ball had gone out of the park that he was aware of what he had just done. He had become only the third player to hit a ball out of the Polo Grounds to center field in a major-league game (Babe Ruth did it in 1921 before the stadium was remodeled and Joe Adcock repeated the feat in 1953, while Luke Easter had done so in a Negro League game in 1948; the next game after Brock’s homer, Henry Aaron also hit one out to center, becoming the fourth major-leaguer to do so.)

Brock’s 1963 was very similar to 1962. He played in 148 games and hit .258 with nine homers and 37 RBIs. In July 1963, during a 16-11 slugfest, he blasted two home runs and a triple to help the Cubs sweep the Cardinals in a doubleheader before a large Wrigley Field crowd. In 1962 Brock had batted .393 against the Cardinals; it is likely that performances like these put him on Devine’s radar.

Brock began the 1964 season slowly, hitting .251 a third of the way through it and fielding erratically. Then on June 15 came the trade that turned out to be one of the most famously lopsided ones in history. Brock was sent to St. Louis along with pitchers Jack Spring and Paul Toth for pitchers Ernie Broglio and Bobby Shantz and outfielder Doug Clemens. Essentially, the trade was Brock for Broglio. At the time the Cubs were desperate for starting pitching and Broglio, still only 28 years old, had won 21 games in 1960 and 18 in 1963. Broglio was only 3-5 at the time of the trade and was nursing a sore arm, which he assured the Cubs would soon pass. The sore arm did not pass, and he compiled a 7-19 record with a 5.40 ERA during parts of three seasons as a Cub, retiring from professional baseball after spending the 1967 season in the minor leagues. Brock, meanwhile, went on to a Hall of Fame career and batted .334 against the Cubs during the next 16 seasons.

Brock thrived in St. Louis under manager Johnny Keane. Keane told Brock that he had the speed to steal bases and should do so when the time felt right; in Chicago he could run only when given the sign. Brock stole 33 bases for the Cardinals in 1964, batting .348 with his new team and helping to overtake Philadelphia and Cincinnati to win the National League pennant. St. Louis trailed Philadelphia by six games on September 15 but starting on September 21 the Phils lost ten in a row, the last three against the Cardinals. With Brock getting two hits and scoring twice, the Cardinals defeated the Mets on the final day of the regular season, claiming the right to face the New York Yankees in the World Series.

In his first World Series at-bat, Brock lined a single to right field off Whitey Ford after fouling off five consecutive pitches. The advance scouts had said that the Cardinals should be able to run on Mickey Mantle, who was playing right field to protect his aching knees. When Dick Groat singled to right, Brock raced to third without a throw and moments later he scored on Ken Boyer’s sacrifice fly to Mantle. That first inning showed that the Cardinals were the quicker and more aggressive of the teams and foreshadowed more of the same to come. In the second inning he threw out Ford at the plate and St. Louis went on to win 9-5.

Brock went hitless in the next three games, two of which the Cardinals lost, but in Game Five he got two hits and St. Louis took a 3-2 Series lead, with Tim McCarver hitting a three-run homer off Pete Mikkelsen in the tenth inning to give the Cards a 5-2 victory. Despite three hits by Brock in Game Six, the Yankees evened the series on the strength of back-to-back homers by Roger Maris and Mantle and a grand slam by Joe Pepitone. In Game Seven, with St. Louis leading 3-0, Brock ignited a three-run fifth with a booming home run off Al Downing that cleared the right-field pavilion and landed on Grand Boulevard. The Cardinals went on to win, 7-5. For the Series Brock went 9-for-30 (.300), with two doubles, a home run, and five RBIs. It was quite a year for the young outfielder: He began the season as an underachiever for the Cubs and ended it as the catalyst for the World Series champion.

Besides being an intense competitor, Brock was also very cerebral. When he heard that Maury Wills kept a little black book in which he noted pitcher idiosyncrasies, he asked Wills if he would share some of his notes. Not surprisingly, Wills was not eager to share the information he had painstakingly recorded to a player from an opposing team. So Brock went out and bought an 8-mm camera in late 1964 and began to record the league’s pitchers to study their pickoff moves. Dodgers’ pitcher Don Drysdale asked Brock one day what he was doing with the camera and he replied that he was taking home movies. “I don’t want to be in your goddamn movies, Brock,” Drysdale replied and true to his nature he threw at him the next time up.16

The results were immediate. Brock began to pick up pitchers’ habits and twitches from watching his movies and improved his technique, becoming the premier base stealer in the league. Beginning in 1966 he led the National League in stolen bases for eight of the next nine years. He got off to a hot start in 1965 and was batting .315 in May before his shoulder blade was broken by a Sandy Koufax pitch. He felt that Koufax was not adept at fielding bunts so in his first at-bat he dropped a bunt that he beat out and then stole two bases before scoring. Koufax drilled him in the back the next time up, causing the shoulder-blade injury. Once Brock recovered from the injury he struggled mightily, and his batting average shrank to .261. A large reason for his struggle was that he was jumping away from inside pitches – out of fear, he admitted years later. He overcame this fear by standing up to it. “I made myself do it. I even closed my eyes and stepped into a few. Then you hit a few and you realize you’re over it.”17 He finished the year strong, raising his average to .288. Around midseason, Brock was moved to the leadoff spot, where he remained for most of his career.

Brock had another fine season in 1966. He accumulated 183 hits, including 24 doubles, 12 triples, and 15 home runs, and batted .285. He had 74 stolen bases. This was followed up by an even better 1967 with career highs in hits (206), home runs (21), and RBIs (76). He made his first All-Star team and started in left field. The season concluded for Brock with another outstanding World Series performance and another Cardinals championship. The Cardinals won 101 games that year and won the pennant easily ahead of the San Francisco Giants. Their opponents in the World Series were the Boston Red Sox, the surprise winner of a wild four-team American League pennant race.

St. Louis won the opener at Fenway Park, 2-1, and Brock scored both runs. He led off the top of the third with a single to center field off Boston starter Jose Santiago and advanced to third on a double by Curt Flood and scored on a groundout by Roger Maris. In the seventh inning he led off with another single off Santiago and stole second base. He moved to third on a groundball to first by Flood and scored on a groundball by Maris. He finished the game with four hits, a walk, two stolen bases, and two runs scored.

Brock went hitless in Game Two as Red Sox ace Jim Lonborg fired a one-hitter to even the series. In Game Three, in St. Louis, Brock led off the Cardinals’ first with a triple to left-center and scored moments later on Flood’s single. With St. Louis leading 3-1, he led off the bottom of the sixth by reaching on a bunt single, advanced to third on an errant pickoff throw and scored when Maris singled to right-center. The game ended in a 5-2 Cardinals victory in which Brock contributed two hits and two runs scored.

Brock sparked a four-run first inning in Game Four as he led off the game with an infield single and scored on a double by Maris. He finished the game with two more hits and a stolen base as St. Louis moved to within one victory of another championship behind the masterful pitching of Bob Gibson, winning 6-0. Lonborg again came to the Red Sox rescue as he beat the Cardinals for the second time, a three-hitter as Brock went hitless for the second time against the Boston ace. Back home in a delirious Fenway Park, the Red Sox forced the series to a seventh game as they pounded out 12 hits in an 8-4 win. Brock had another stellar performance with two hits, including a home run, and three RBIs. He tied the game at 1-1 in the third when he singled home Julian Javier, then stole second and scored when Flood singled to left. He came through again in the clutch in the top of the seventh against John Wyatt, belting a two-run home run to right-center that knotted the game at 4-4.

Brock capped his brilliant World Series with two more hits and three stolen bases as the Cardinals won the championship, 7-2, in Game Seven. He broke an 0-for-10 slump against Lonborg when he followed a Gibson home run in the fifth with a single. He stole both second and third and scored on a sacrifice fly by Maris. He added a double in the sixth and a walk and a stolen base in the ninth to finish the series with a .414 average (12 for 29), two doubles, a triple, one homer, three RBIs, seven stolen bases, and eight runs scored. Gibson, who won and completed all three of his starts, was named the Most Valuable Player in the World Series, but radio station KMOX gave Brock a Cadillac in recognition of his outstanding performance.

In 1968 Brock led the National League in stolen bases (62), doubles (46), and triples (14) while again playing a leading role in another Cardinal pennant. Gibson dominated the American League champion Detroit Tigers in Game One, striking out a World Series-record 17 batters en route to a 4-0 victory. Brock contributed a home run off Pat Dobson in the bottom of the seventh that capped off the Cardinal scoring. Mickey Lolich evened the Series the next day with a complete-game, nine-strikeout performance and held Brock to one single. Brock did steal two bases and scored the only St. Louis run.

He was back to his pesky self in Game Three. In the top of the fifth with Detroit leading 2-0, Brock, who already had a single, a walk, and two stolen bases, singled with one out. He stole second and scored the Cardinals’ first run on a Flood double. By the time the inning was over the Cardinals had a 4-2 lead and went on to a 7-3 win. Brock had another big day in Game Four as St. Louis rolled over the Tigers, 10-1, to take a commanding three games to one lead. Brock hit the second pitch of the game into Tiger Stadium’s right-center-field upper deck off 31-game-winner Denny McLain, added a triple in the fourth and a bases-clearing three-run double in the eighth. It now appeared that a third world championship in five seasons was imminent for St. Louis.

Lolich was back on the hill for Game Five and this time he was on the ropes early. Brock led off the game with a double down the left-field line, igniting a three-run rally. Detroit tallied two runs in the bottom of the fourth to slice the lead to 3-2 as St. Louis came to bat in the most pivotal inning of the 1968 World Series. With one out, Brock doubled again. Javier came to the plate, and most thought the Cardinals were about to deliver the knockout blow of the Series. Instead, what followed proved to be the turning point in a great Tigers comeback. Javier singled sharply to left and Brock wheeled around third heading to the plate. Tigers left fielder Willie Horton, not known for a strong throwing arm, fielded the ball on one bounce and gunned the ball home. Brock could see Detroit catcher Bill Freehan blocking his path so he felt he would not be able to get to the plate if he slid, and therefore decided to come in standing up, attempting to catch the plate with his left foot. The ball arrived at the same time and Freehan applied the tag before Brock could touch the plate. Brock said he was safe even though the replay seems to show that he never touched home. No matter, he was called out and the Tigers rallied for three runs in the bottom of the seventh to win the game, 5-3, and send the series back to St. Louis.

In Game Six the Tigers shocked the Cards with a ten-run third inning en route to a 13-1 rout, and for the third time Brock and his teammates were in a Game Seven. This time Lolich, not Gibson, was the World Series hero as he outdueled the Cardinals ace, 4-1, to complete the comeback. Brock’s only hit came leading off the sixth inning in a game that was scoreless at the time, but he was picked off. The Tigers followed that with three runs in the seventh, and Lolich held on to nail down the Series. Despite the pickoff and the nonslide at home in the fifth game, Brock again put up stellar postseason numbers. He banged out 13 hits in 28 at-bats for a .464 average, hit three doubles, a triple, two home runs, drove in five runs, scored six, and stole seven bases. This would be the last World Series Brock would play but his reputation as an outstanding player in the clutch was solidified forever. In 21 games in three World Series, he batted .391 with 34 hits. He had seven doubles, two triples, four home runs, 13 RBIs, 16 runs scored, and 14 stolen bases – among the best postseason numbers in baseball history.

The next season was disappointing for St. Louis as the Cardinals slipped to fourth place in the newly formed National League Eastern Division. Of the many reasons that led to the Cardinals’ fall, one of them was not their left fielder; Brock had another strong year, batting .298 with 33 doubles, 10 triples, 12 home runs, 97 runs scored, and a league-leading 53 stolen bases. His average climbed over .300 in 1970 at .304. His streak of leading the league in stolen bases ended at four as his total of 51 was good only for second behind former teammate Bobby Tolan, now with Cincinnati, who topped the circuit with 57. Brock scored 114 runs and had 202 hits.

He began another run of four consecutive seasons of leading the league in stolen bases in 1971 when he tallied 64. He led the major leagues with a career-high 126 runs scored and batted .313 with 37 doubles and seven triples among his 200 hits. It was more of the same in 1972 as he batted .311, led the league with 63 steals, scored 81 runs, had 26 doubles, and knocked eight triples. There was some talk in 1973 that Brock was losing a step as he got off to a slow start stealing bases. He picked up the pace as the year went on, though, and finished with 70, his highest total since 1966. His average dipped under .300, to .297, and he scored 110 runs.

Brock was 34 years old as the 1974 season got under way, but there were no signs that he was slowing down. He had 56 steals by mid-July and was ahead of Maury Wills’ pace when he set the record of 104 steals in 1962. It seemed as if the baseball world was tuned in to see if Brock could break the record. On September 10, in a game against the Phillies, Brock singled in the first inning and stole second to tie Wills’ record. He singled again in the seventh inning. With the St. Louis crowd wild with anticipation, Brock stole second to break the record. The game was delayed as players from teams offered their congratulations. Besides his record-setting 118 stolen bases, he batted .306 on the strength of 194 hits, scored 105 runs and finished second in the National League MVP voting. When the award went to Steve Garvey of the pennant-winning Dodgers, he could not hide his disappointment. “I’m not bitter,” he said, “I just think I deserved it. I earned it.”

Brock headed into the twilight of his career still a productive and consistent player. He hit .309 in 1975 but his stolen-base total fell to 56, still pretty good for a player who finished the year at 36 years old. He stole another 56 bases in 1976 and batted .301. His average slipped to .272 in 1977 year with 35 stolen bases, his lowest since 1963. However, on August 29, in San Diego, Brock stole his 893rd base, surpassing Ty Cobb as the all time leader. (Rickey Henderson broke Brock’s record in 1991 and finished his career with 1,406 stolen bases.) In 1978 injuries and age limited Brock to 92 games and he batted only .221 with 17 steals.

When the 1979 season got under way Brock was 100 hits shy of 3,000 for his career. On August 13 he was two hits from the historic number. Taking on the Cubs in St. Louis before a crowd of 44,457, he singled to left field off Dennis Lamp in the first inning for hit 2,999. In the fourth, after being low-bridged by a 1-and-2 fastball he smashed a line drive off Lamp’s hand, literally knocking the Cubs hurler out of the game and becoming the 14th major-leaguer to join the 3,000-hit club. He finished the year with a .304 average in 120 games, and retired after the season. On September 9, 1979, the Cardinals honored him with Lou Brock Day at Busch Stadium. A crowd of more than 47,000, including his 80-year-old mother saw Brock receive a 33-foot cabin cruiser from August Busch, Jr., and a new car from KMOX radio among many gifts. In the first inning, Brock reached first on a fielder’s choice and then stole second base. He finished his career with a .293 average, 3,023 hits, 1,610 runs scored and 938 stolen bases.

Brock’s number 20 was retired by the Cardinals in 1979. He was elected to the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 1983, and he was a first-ballot selection for the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1985. He became involved with several successful business ventures, including the Brockabrella hat, for which he owns the patent. He was a Cardinals broadcaster from 1981 to 1984 and in 1995 became a special instructor in spring training for the team. Brock and his wife, Jacqueline, were ordained as ministers at Abundant Life Fellowship Church and became active in several charitable causes in the St. Louis area.

Brock died at the age of 81 on September 6, 2020.

An earlier version of this biography was included in the book “Drama and Pride in the Gateway City: The 1964 St. Louis Cardinals” (University of Nebraska Press, 2013), edited by John Harry Stahl and Bill Nowlin.

Notes

Ernest “Ernie” Gilbert Broglio was born in Berkeley, California, on August 27, 1935, the second child of Anna and Joseph Broglio, and in 1945 moved with his family five miles north to El Cerrito. “I had played a lot of ‘street ball’ while growing up in Berkeley,” he recalled.1 “I never had anybody influential push me. My dad carried two jobs seven days a week. He was a painter (sprayer) for American Standard (bathroom fixtures), and he did gardening work so he did not have much time to see me play.” As a middle-school eighth-grader Broglio played on the varsity high-school teams, mainly baseball and basketball. He also played one season of football.

“When I was 13, I played American Legion baseball,” Broglio said. “Besides pitching, I played first base, shortstop, and the outfield. In high school, my catcher was Elijah ‘Pumpsie’ Green who later played in the majors.”

During the spring of 1953, Broglio recalled, “All 16 major-league teams and three Pacific Coast League teams were interested in me. I signed right out of high school with the Oakland Oaks. He won two games and lost four for the Pacific Coast League team. The next season the Oaks farmed him to Modesto of the California League, where he won nine games in a month and a half before being recalled by the Oaks and going 5-8.

Broglio also enrolled at West Contra Costa Junior College, where he met Barbara Ann Bertellotti of Oakland. They were married on November 20, 1954.

In 1955 Broglio was assigned to Stockton (California League) and won 20 games. He started 29 games with 25 complete games in a 20-10 season. He had 230 strikeouts and 137 walks.

Team locations changed dramatically for Broglio after the 1955 season as his contract was bought by the New York Giants organization. In 1956 he had a 6-12 record in 31 games at Johnstown, Pennsylvania of the Class A Eastern League. Broglio was with the Dallas Eagles (Texas League) in 1957 and was 17-6 in 34 games with a 2.51 ERA. He had 29 starts and 14 complete games in 222 innings. He was voted to the Texas League all-star team, the third time he had earned that distinction. (The others were in 1954 and 1955 in the California League.) Broglio started the 1958 season with the Phoenix Giants (Pacific Coast League) before he was transferred to the Toronto Maple Leafs (International League). He was 8-1 for Phoenix and 9-4 for Toronto in 212 innings.

On October 8, 1958, Broglio was part of a five-player swap between the Giants (by then relocated to San Francisco) and the St. Louis Cardinals. He and pitcher Marv Grissom went to the Cardinals for reliever Billy Muffett, catcher Hobie Landrith, and infielder Benny Valenzuela. Broglio said the Giants told him there had been a “paperwork problem, and they had to trade me or lose me to another organization.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports editor Bob Broeg was not very complimentary with his initial assessment of the trade. Broeg wrote, “The general feeling was that the Giants got the edge.” However, Broeg included an observation from a reporter who watched Ernie pitch in Toronto. “Broglio should be of great help to the Cardinals,” said Neil MacCarl of the Toronto Star. “He’s quite a workhorse with a good curve and fastball which he throws with the same overhand motion. He won five games down the stretch with just two days’ rest, never allowing more than two runs a game. He also broke the Toronto club strikeout record the first night with the team, fanning 15 in 11? innings.”

After the trade, Broglio joined the Cardinals for an exhibition tour of the Orient. “The Japan trip was a lot of fun and good baseball,” he recalled. “It gave me a chance to pitch in front of large crowds, and I was not used to that. We also made stops in Hawaii, the Philippines, and Korea to play all-star teams.”

Broglio made his major-league debut on April 11, 1959, against his former organization, the Giants. He struggled through a four-walk first inning and took the loss, but he stayed in until the sixth. Broglio’s next start, on April 16, in Los Angeles, was eventful. The Cardinals used a then-record 25 players in a 7-6 loss to the Dodgers. Broglio lasted an inning and gave up two homers that just got over the 42-foot screen at the 251-foot mark in left field of the Coliseum. In his St. Louis Post-Dispatch column, Neal Russo dubbed the round-trippers as ‘Chinese’, but also labeled Broglio as “one inning Ernie.”

After four appearances Broglio was 0-2 with an ERA of 9.00 when he got a call from Bing Devine to come talk with him and manager Solly Hemus. He recalled, “I knew I was supposed to start again, but after they contacted me I started packing my stuff because I thought I was being sent to Rochester (International League). When I got to the meeting though, they both said that I was pressing too much and to get more relaxed. That worked because I pitched into the seventh inning with nine strikeouts the next game.”

However, Broglio was 0-5 by the middle of June. His first win came in St. Louis against Philadelphia on June 16. He scattered 10 hits through seven innings and won a 5-2 decision. On June 27 he had his best major-league game so far. At Crosley Field in Cincinati he pitched a complete-game, two-hit shutout, winning 5-0. He had six strikeouts and walked no one. (He had come into the game having walked 33 batters in 54 innings.) Broglio appeared in 35 games and started 25 during the 1959 season and ended with a 7-12 record in 181 innings. His ERA was 4.72 with six complete games and three shutouts (which tied for the team lead). He was second on the team with 133 strikeouts.

Broglio was not projected as a part of the regular rotation in 1960. He came into the second game of season on April 13 in relief and pitched six strong innings against the Giants in San Francisco. His first start came four days later in Los Angeles. He did not get through the fourth inning, walking six and giving up five runs. Broglio’s next start, came on May 30 and he was matched against the Dodgers’ Don Drysdale at the Coliseum. The Cardinals jumped on Drysdale for five runs in less than two innings. Broglio struck out eight, scattering four hits and three walks in his first complete game of the season as the Redbirds romped to a 15-3 victory. He even chipped in with two hits, three runs batted in, and two runs scored. Manager Hemus said he was thinking of putting Broglio into the regular rotation.

After a bad start and loss to the Giants, however, Broglio was back in relief for two games. Two starts and a relief appearance netted him three victories between June 12 and 19. At the halfway mark of the season Broglio was 9-4 with an ERA of 2.86. He was in the starting rotation for 18 of his final 21 appearances as the Cardinals climbed into the pennant race. In Pittsburgh on August 11, facing the league-leading Pirates, who had won seven in a row, Broglio outdueled Bob Friend in an extra-inning thriller. Both pitchers went 12 innings and each struck out nine, with Friend walking one and Broglio none. Broglio retired 20 consecutive Pirates from the fifth inning through the 11th. Stan Musial hit a two-run homer in the 12th to give the Cardinals a 3-1 lead. In the bottom of the inning the Pirates got a run and had the tying run on second when Broglio struck out Dick Stuart for his 14th win. The victory was the 13th out of 15 for the Cardinals and moved them into second place, four games behind Pittsburgh. Broglio recalled, “After the game, I wanted to take Musial out for a brew, but Stan insisted that he would take me out!”

Broglio won seven of his next nine decisions to move his record to 21-7, with an ERA of 2.52. But the Cardinals faded after mid-August to end the season in third place behind Pittsburgh and Milwaukee. Broglio was 4-0 against the Pirates and 5-2 against the Braves, and finished the season with a 21-9 mark. His ERA of 2.74 was second in the league. He tied Warren Spahn for the league lead in wins and led the league in winning percentage (.700). After the season he was offered a $5,000 raise by the Cardinals.

In 1961 Broglio was the Opening Day starter but he pitched with a sore right shoulder most of the season and received close to 20 cortisone shots. He ended 1961 with a 9-12 mark. He had 26 starts, seven complete games, and two shutouts. He hoped the offseason would give his shoulder time to heal.

In 1962 Broglio finished with a 12-9 record and 3.00 ERA. He boasted a career-high 11 complete games in 30 starts. His four shutouts were part of a staff that led the NL (17).

Broglio was the Cardinals’ Opening Day starter on April 9, 1963, against the Mets in the Polo Grounds, and pitched a two-hit shutout and struck out eight. He two-hit the Mets in New York again on June 8, this time striking out 10.

From August 30 through September 15, the Cardinals won 19 of 20 games and pulled to within a game of the league-leading Dodgers. Broglio had four quality starts during this streak with two victories, improving his season mark to16-8. Then on September 16 he started the first game of a big three-game series in St. Louis and went eight strong innings. A stiff right elbow, however, led him to be removed for a pinch-hitter with the game tied. The Dodgers scored twice in the ninth against two Cardinal relievers to win, 3-1. Broglio won two more games to finish with an 18-8 record. In a career-high 35 starts, he had 11 complete games to go with five shutouts and an ERA of 2.99. He had four two-hit shutouts.

On April 14, 1964, Broglio was again the Opening Day starter, at Los Angeles, and lost to Sandy Koufax. On April 18 he defeated the Giants in San Francisco; on the 28th he shut out the Mets. But Broglio lost three straight starts from May 14 through May 24 to drop to 2-4, and manager Johnny Keane’s confidence in him started to fade. Keane kept juggling the rotation and now had six starters. On May 30 in St. Louis Broglio beat the Reds, 7-1, in a complete-game effort. But from then through June 14 the Cardinals lost 11 of 15 games and dropped to eighth place. The bats of several Cardinals went silent and the outfield platoon to replace the retired Musial was not working. It was alarm time within the front office with rumors that something would happen before the trade deadline.

Broglio started on June 12 in Los Angeles, but Koufax blanked the Cardinals again. Broglio’s record was now 3-5. In 11 starts his strikeouts were noticeably down to three per game. On June 14, after the Dodgers swept the series, the Cardinals boarded their plane for Houston.

General manager Bing Devine had been busy on the phone right up to departure and later he sat by Keane during the flight. Devine said, “I can make the deal with Chicago.” Keane’s response was either “Make it!” or “What are we waiting for?” depending on what account the St. Louis fans read. As soon as they landed in Houston, Devine called Cubs general manager John Holland. Three other trades in the major leagues were announced on June 15, but none proved larger than the one between the Cardinals and the Cubs.

Broglio, pitcher Bobby Shantz, and outfielder Doug Clemens were sent to Chicago for outfielder Lou Brock, pitcher Jack Spring, and pitcher Paul Toth. Keane summoned Ernie to his hotel room to tell him about the trade, and Broglio was shocked. Several veteran Cardinals were very negative about the deal and declared that the Cubs got the better of the trade. Keane called a team meeting before their game to tell the players to cease their grumbling. Meanwhile, Chicago Daily News columnist Bob Smith was jubilant as he wrote about acquiring Ernie, “Thank you, thank you, oh, you lovely St. Louis Cardinals. Nice doing business with you. Please call again anytime.”

Broglio reflected, “I do not know what caused the disagreement I had with Johnny Keane. I had just won 18 games and thought I was pretty stable with the ballclub. The trade was a big surprise and I guess I never really got over it. I was hoping to finish my career with the Cardinals.”

Broglio joined a Cubs team that included eight of his former St. Louis teammates. Most notable was Larry Jackson, who was on his way to a 24-win season. The Cubs got the better of that deal before the 1963 season, so they figured they would try again. Chicago had no field manager as they were in the third season of the College of Coaches instituted by owner Philip K. Wrigley. Broglio commented, “Bob Kennedy was the best one, but playing for several head coaches was a joke. One problem was that each coach had a different set of signs that you had to learn.”

Broglio added, “When I was traded, my right arm was not in fine tune. My elbow was really bothering me, and pitching in so many day games was not my piece of cake. In my opinion, the hitters see the pitches better than they do at night.” For the Cubs, Broglio started 0-4 with an 8.22 ERA before he won against the Mets on July 16. He started against the Cardinals and Bob Gibson on July 28 in Chicago. He held his own for three innings before being touched for six earned runs and was lifted in the seventh ending with a no-decision. Broglio rebounded to win his next three starts, improving his combined record to 7-9 and lowering his ERA to 4.42.

On August 23 Ernie woke up in his New York hotel room with a problem. His right elbow had swelled to the size of a cantaloupe and was in a locked position. Broglio was to start one of the games of a doubleheader that day at Shea Stadium. He knew that was not going to happen, so he called Bob Kennedy to tell him about the issue. Kennedy had Broglio return to Chicago to get treatment.

After two more losses, Broglio took the mound on September 6 to start the series finale against the Cardinals in St. Louis. While the Cubs had dropped to eighth, the Cardinals were now in third place. Broglio allowed six hits, but St. Louis could not break through against him. In the bottom of the seventh he held a 3-1 lead and was lifted in favor of Lindy McDaniel. Chicago was still leading 4-2 in the bottom of the ninth. A run scored when Brock grounded out as Flood took second. One more out and Broglio would have a satisfying victory over his former team. But Bill White singled to tie the game, and in the 11th Brock’s bad-hop single drove in the winning run.

Broglio started again against St. Louis on September 11 at Wrigley Field before a small afternoon crowd, and lost, 5-0. He was now a combined 7-12 and was shut down for the rest of the season due to his elbow problem. His record with the Cubs ended at 4-7.

“It hurt when the Cardinals won the World Series,” Broglio said. “A lot of the players called me from their party at Stan Musial’s restaurant after the last game. They passed the phone around and I really appreciated it. I popped open my own bottle of champagne and drank along with them. I looked at it like they won the pennant by one game and I won three games for the Cardinals before I was traded, so I thought I had helped them win it.” 2 Broglio received neither a championship ring nor a share of the postseason money as the eligibility was different then. “It would have been nice to have a ring,” Broglio said, “but I didn’t get one, so I didn’t worry about it.” 3

In November Broglio had surgery on his right elbow to remove bone chips and a damaged ulnar nerve. He recalled, “I was back for spring training in February, which gave me a total of three months rest. Nowadays, for the same operation, they give you a year or more. That (decision by the Cubs) made my career shorter than I wanted it to be.”

Broglio made his first 1965 appearance on April 27 at Cincinnati, a one-third inning relief stint. He appeared in 26 games and had six starts during the season. On June 27 in St Louis, he lasted 1? innings and left trailing 4-0. It was apparent that he had not been given the time needed to recuperate. His season record ended at 1-6 with a 6.93 ERA, with his last appearance on September 19.

Leo Durocher was named the Cubs’ manager for 1966. Broglio had several outstanding spring-training performances at Long Beach, California. Durocher noted that Ernie had become a pitcher again by mixing a slider and a fast curve, before using his fastball. Broglio was put into the rotation, but things did not go well. He started the second game of the season, on April 13 at San Francisco. He was wild but went seven innings. He gave up four runs and took the loss as the Cubs were shut out. Broglio made his last start for the Cubs on June 22 in Chicago in the second game of a doubleheader with the Giants. It was dismal as he allowed seven runs and was booed by the Wrigley Field fans. After two relief appearances, on July 5 he was sent to Tacoma of the Pacific Coast League. Broglio started 13 games for Tacoma and had a 5-4 record with a 2.86 ERA.

Broglio gave pitching one more shot in 1967 with the Buffalo Bisons, the Triple-A affiliate of Cincinnati. He was 12-13 in 28 starts with a 3.69 ERA, but no call came from the Reds. During this season, one of his catchers was 19-year-old Johnny Bench, who was 5 years old in 1953 when Broglio started playing baseball for a living.

Broglio was 32, and he went home to San Jose, California, and took a full-time position with the liquor warehouse where he worked in the offseasons.

Ernie and Barbara Broglio raised four children, Stephen, Nancy, Donna, and Vince, and had three grandchildren and one great-grandchild. (Their son Stephen died in October 2007 at the age of 52.) As of 2011 the Broglios still lived in the San Jose home they bought in 1959. Broglio invested in an award-winning winery run by his son-in-law, Jack Salerno, in Healdsburg, California. In April 2009 Broglio was inducted into the El Cerrito High School Athletics Hall of Fame.

Broglio kept active with his family and still took time for sports, especially golf, about which he said, “I’m not all that good, but it gives me exercise.” He said he was also busy providing instruction as a high-school pitching coach, and gave private lessons too. “I enjoy working with the kids to prevent arm trouble,” Broglio said. “I work on pitching mechanics for all ages. But for the older ones, I try to get into their heads about what pitches to throw at what time of the game.”

Broglio’s eight-year major-league career showed a 77-74 mark in 259 games. In 184 starts, he had 52 complete games, 18 shutouts, and an ERA of 3.74. Broglio chuckled about a 1990s appearance with Lou Brock at an old timers game at Wrigley Field: “They introduced me next-to-last, and Lou was last. The Cub fans sure didn’t forget Brock for Broglio. As I came out, everybody stood up and gave me a great ovation of boos. I started laughing, removed my cap, and took a bow. Then they introduced Lou, and my God, I thought Wrigley Field was going to collapse the way they cheered him.” 4

Broglio said that in his house he proudly displayed an autographed picture of Brock. He told a sportswriter he often advised Brock not to die first, “As long as people remember him, I know they also are going to remember me!” 5

He died at the age of 83 on July 16, 2019.

An earlier version of this biography is included in SABR’s “Drama and Pride in the Gateway City: The 1964 St. Louis Cardinals” (University of Nebraska Press, 2013), edited by John Harry Stahl and Bill Nowlin. For more information, or to purchase the book from University of Nebraska Press, click here.

Sources

Birnbaum, Phil, Bill Deane, and John Thorn, eds. Total Baseball – 8th edition. Toronto: Sports Media Publishing, Inc, 2004.

Braun, Kevin. Baseball Savvy: Diamond Notes & Commentary. March 5, 2009. www.baseballsavvy.com/w_broglio.htm (accessed October 31, 2010).

Broeg, Bob. Memories of a Hall of Fame Sportswriter. Champaign, Illinois: Sagamore Publishing, 1995.

—. Redbirds, A Century of Cardinals’ Baseball. St. Louis: River City Publishers Limited, 1981.

—. “On Cards’ Trade.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 8, 1958.

Castle, George, and Jim Rygelski. The I-55 Series, Cubs vs. Cardinals. Champaign, Illinois: Sports Publishing Inc, 1999.

Cohen, Richard and David Neft, eds. The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball, 14th edition. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1994.

Halberstam, David. October 1964. New York: Villard Books, 1994.

Rains, Rob. Cardinals, Where Have You Gone? Champaign, Illinois: Sports Publishing LLC, 2005.

—. The St. Louis Cardinals, 1892-1992. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1992.

Tiemann, Robert L. Cardinal Classics. St. Louis: Baseball Histories, Inc, 1982.

St. Louis Cardinals Yearbooks. 1960-1964.

www.retrosheet.org.

www.baseball-reference.com.

Notes

Born on May 9, 1942, Buchek (pronounced BOO-check) grew up in a middle-class St. Louis neighborhood, playing baseball daily against older, bigger kids until he started to grow in his teen years. Buchek idolized his father, an electrician, who played third base for the local team in the semipro Central Illinois League. John Buchek led the league in home runs in 1936, and his son aspired to a future with similar power skills.

Jerry was good enough to make his McKinley High School varsity team as a freshman and became a starter as a sophomore, playing third base until his senior year, when he moved to shortstop.

In the summer between his junior and senior years, playing for the Aubuchon Dennison Post 186 American Legion team, he was the Player of the Year and began to attract the attention of major-league scouts.

In 1959 the Cardinals offered Buchek, then 18, a $65,000 signing bonus, which he accepted, passing up scholarship offers to play football or basketball at the University of Missouri and Bradley University, in Peoria, Illinois.

That fall Buchek played in the Florida Instructional League. He earned an all-star selection and a ticket to start his pro career as a shortstop at Double-A Tulsa. After 36 games, in which he hit .333, he was sent up to Triple-A Rochester to replace an injured player. There, he struggled to hit breaking pitches and hit just .226 for the Red Wings.

The next year the 5-foot-11, 185-pound Buchek hit .277 for Triple-A Portland and earned a brief recall to the major leagues, where he was overmatched, hitting a dismal .133, with 12 hits in 90 at-bats. He set what was then a major-league record for most strikeouts (28) in a season by a position player without drawing a walk. The mark has been broken twice since and as of 2011 stood at 33 (Jerry Gil, 2004 Diamondbacks). “That shows you how anxious I was,” Buchek said. “When I came up, I really wanted to do well. They never threw it around the plate. They’d be wasting pitches and I would commit myself.”

“I needed more seasoning and I think the Cardinals knew that,” Buchek said. “I got a little nervous playing in my hometown. I’d have to leave tickets for a bunch of guys. My buddies would get on me for my bad games. That made it a little stressful. I didn’t have that same kind of pressure when I played on the road.”1

Buchek spent all of 1962 and almost all of 1963 in the minor leagues, as the Cardinals were set in the middle infield spots with Julio Gotay, Julian Javier, Dal Maxvill, and Dick Groat among those in front of him. Buchek had a poor season in 1962, hitting just .183 at Double-A Tulsa and Triple-A Atlanta. He blamed a lack of confidence. Team consultant Branch Rickey suggested that he switch to pitching because of his strong arm, but the Cardinals decided against it. “At one point, I called my father and said I didn’t know if I could play anymore,” Buchek said. “He told me that I couldn’t give up.”

Buchek worked with Atlanta Crackers manager Harry Walker, tweaking the uppercut in his swing, which helped his hitting greatly. In 1963 he batted .287 with a team-high 92 runs batted in and worked his way back to the major leagues. He earned a spot as a backup infielder for the 1964 Cardinals. He filled in at shortstop, second base and third base, playing in 35 games.

In 35 games he went 6-for-30 (.200) with one RBI – but he considers his contribution to the team significant. In his four starts that season, the Cardinals won three. His most noteworthy contribution was a triple off Art Mahaffey in a 4-1 St. Louis win over the Philadelphia Phillies in the second game of a doubleheader sweep. The Cardinals were in sixth place at the time, seven games out of first place

“We won (the pennant) by one game, and I helped us win a game,” Buchek said. “So I helped (win the pennant).”

Buchek played in four of the seven World Series games, as a defensive replacement at second base. He got a hit in his only at-bat, a single off Jim Bouton in the ninth inning of an 8-3 loss to the New York Yankees in Game Six. As of 2011 he is one of 38 players who have a World Series batting average of 1.000.

Buchek was in the bullpen when Bob Gibson got the final out of Game Seven and ran onto the field with teammates Bob Uecker and Roger Craig to celebrate. He took his winner’s share and put a down payment on a two-family home. Years later, he said he still had his World Series ring and a ticket stub from one of the games as mementos. “When I see Tim McCarver, I kid with him that I was the leading hitter in the World Series, and he wasn’t,” Buchek said with a laugh.

Over the next two seasons, Buchek remained in a utility role, starting 80 games in 1966. His primary claim to fame was being the last baserunner at Sportsman’s Park in its final season, 1965, and scoring the first run at Busch Stadium in the first game there, in 1966.

Before Sportsman’s Park closed, he hit a home run against the New York Mets, playing in the park where he’d watched many games as a fan. “My dad was at the game,” Buchek said. “After the game, my dad told me what I had said about hitting a home run into the bleachers (as a kid). My dad said to me that you only had to wait 15 years do it. We laughed.”

Just before the 1967 season, Buchek was traded to the Mets in a five-player deal orchestrated by Mets general manager Bing Devine, who had formerly worked in the same role for the Cardinals. The deal gave Buchek the chance to become an everyday player. A month into the season, on

May 14, he hit a go-ahead home run off Gibson in a 3-1 Mets win. That snapped Gibson’s nine-game winning streak against the Mets, “I didn’t know how I was going to hit Gibson, but he hung a slider,” Buchek said. “I can still remember Tim McCarver saying, ‘Oh (bleep).’”

Buchek had a few other highlights in his Mets career, the first coming on July 9, 1967, when he hit a game-tying home run with two outs in the ninth inning against the Braves, pinch-hitting for Bud Harrelson, who was 4-for-4 in the game to that point. The Mets won the game later in the inning on a bases-loaded walk to Ron Swoboda.

Buchek’s best game in the major leagues came against the Astros on September 22, 1967. With the Mets down two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, he hit a three-run home run to give New York the lead. The Astros tied the game in the ninth on a base hit off Buchek’s glove, but in the 11th inning, he redeemed himself with a walk-off home run. “The thing I remember about that game is that I didn’t particularly feel good (at the plate) that day,” Buchek said.

Buchek’s six RBIs in that game tied a team record for RBIs in a game by a shortstop that still stood as of 2011. He primarily played second base that season and his 14 home runs were the most by a Mets second baseman until surpassed by Jeff Kent’s 21 in 1993.

The Hall of Famer Buchek hit best was former San Francisco Giant Juan Marichal. Buchek hit .364 with eight hits (all singles) against him. “Juan once said to me ‘How can a .230 hitter hit me like you do?’ I said, ‘You give me good balls to hit and I don’t foul them off. I hit them.’”

Buchek wasn’t as fortunate against Los Angeles Dodgers stars Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale. He went 2-for-11 with seven strikeouts against Koufax and 0-for-17 with eight strikeouts against Drysdale. “One of my teammates, Carl Warwick, said I wasn’t going to be able to hit Koufax,” Buchek said. “I went 1-for-3 against him. The next time I went 1-for-4. I told Carl I was starting to get some confidence, but the next time around, Koufax struck me out all four times.” Buchek hit only one ball to the outfield off Drysdale. “I couldn’t pick up his ball,” he said. “I remember one night Ken Boyer and I went to a lounge and Drysdale was there. I told him how nasty he was against me. A few weeks later, I hit a shot to right center, and their right fielder goes three feet off the ground to make a great catch. Drysdale was laughing so hard, probably thinking ‘You’ll never get a hit off me.’ He was right.”

In December 1968 Buchek was traded back to the Cardinals, but was sent to the minor leagues. He did not reach the big leagues again in his career. The Cardinals traded him to the Phillies before Opening Day 1969, and he wound up with the Eugene (Oregon) Emeralds of the Pacific Coast League, where he teamed with future Phillies shortstop Larry Bowa on the club that won the PCL championship. He did get to meet up with his former Mets teammates in Chicago, when they invited him to a team party after the Mets clinched the National League East championship.

After the season Buchek asked to be released so he could sign with the Atlanta Braves organization. The Phillies refused to release him, and he had no interest in spending another season in the minor leagues, so he walked away from the game on his terms. He finished his major-league career with a .220 batting average in 421 games.

After baseball Buchek went to work as a meatcutter, a job he held for 25 years. After that, he was a car salesman for 10 years until he retired in 2004. As of early 2011, he lived with his second wife, Jan, on a lake in Branson, Missouri, about 250 miles from his native St. Louis, where he enjoyed bass fishing.

One of Buchek’s four sons, David, signed with the Cardinals, but was released. He worked for two years as a strength and conditioning coach in the minor leagues, and then turned to hitting instruction at baseball camps.

Buchek said he still watched baseball avidly as a fan of the Cardinals and took part in their winter fan festivals. He said he appreciated that he got to live out a childhood dream.

“I want to be remembered as someone who tried hard and did his best,” Buchek said. “The game was hard for me and I struggled with it. I was in and out of the lineup and could never really get into a routine. I admire the guys who are geared for that now.”

This biography is included in the book “Drama and Pride in the Gateway City: The 1964 St. Louis Cardinals” (University of Nebraska Press, 2013), edited by John Harry Stahl and Bill Nowlin. For more information, or to purchase the book from University of Nebraska Press, click here.

Sources

The author relied on Baseball-Reference.com and the Ultimate Mets Database at http://ultimatemets.com, as well as the 1968 Mets TV Radio Press Guide and the New York Times.

Notes

Five hundred firefighters and policemen from the St. Louis area stood on the white lines of the diamond. A huge American flag was unfurled, but all eyes were on the 77-year old-white-haired man, Jack Buck, the St. Louis Cardinals’ longtime, beloved play-by-play radio announcer. In recent years Buck had been assailed by numerous medical ailments, including Parkinson’s disease. That accounted for the shaking and the wobbly walk to the mike. When Buck started to speak, however, his voice was strong and determined. He ended his poem, entitled “For America,” with these words:

“Everyone is saying the same thing and praying
That we end these senseless moments we are living
As our fathers did before, we shall win this unwanted war
And our children will enjoy the future we’ll be giving.”

Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig said that Buck’s poem and his steadiness that night were what brought baseball back. ESPN rated the moment number 98 on its list of the hundred most memorable moments in sports of the past 25 years.

For those who were at Busch Stadium that night, it was an experience that would never be forgotten. Sadly, but perhaps fittingly for such a patriot, it turned out to be Jack Buck’s last major moment in the spotlight. Shortly after the Cardinals’ 2001 season ended with a loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game Five of the National League Division Series, Buck entered Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis for lung cancer surgery. He left the hospital for a period, but re-entered it during the winter for treatment of various conditions. He remained there until his death on June 18, 2002.

John Francis Buck was born on August 21, 1924, in Holyoke, Massachusetts, the third of seven children born to Earle and Kathleen Buck. Earle was an accountant for the Erie Railroad and he commuted to his job in Hoboken, New Jersey, each week. The elder Buck was a good enough baseball player that he had a tryout with the New York Giants, but a dispute with manager John McGraw kept Earle from becoming a professional player. (In his autobiography, That’s a Winner!, Buck said that his father never told his family what the dispute was about. “He never told us exactly what happened, but he and manager John McGraw had some sort of disagreement and that was the end of his professional dream,” Buck said.)

Holyoke was 90 miles from the Red Sox in Boston and from Jack’s favorite player, Jimmie Foxx. Jack said that he learned about baseball from hanging out in the drugstore across the street from his home. Three men there assisted young Jack with writing a letter to the Red Sox manager, Joe Cronin, in which he suggested a lineup for the team. Cronin answered his letter and a few days after that used Buck’s lineup and the Red Sox won the game.

Like most boys during the 1930s, Buck and his friends lived baseball during the warmer months of the year. They listened to games on the radio, talked about it, and played it whenever and wherever they could. “We all played baseball every spring and summer day,” wrote Jack in That’s a Winner! “I bet I’ve played more baseball games than half the people I’m watching now in the major leagues. We settled everything among ourselves, and we did it through sports. That’s the essence of sports. You learn who you are, what you can do and where you belong.”

Also, like many boys during the Depression of the 1930s, Jack tried to help out his family financially in any way that he could. He hawked newspapers on street corners and said that that experience helped him develop the voice that would sustain him through his broadcasting career. (He also cited his time as a drill instructor in the Army and 40 years of smoking Camel cigarettes.)

Jack’s baseball loyalty switched to the Cleveland Indians when the family moved to the Cleveland area in 1939 for his father’s job. They bought their first house and relished being together. But Earle suffered from high blood pressure, and he died at the age of 49 not long after the move to Ohio. Jack was just 15.

Kathleen Buck went to work in a sewing-machine factory to support her seven children and each of them helped as they could. In addition to selling newspapers, Jack also become a soda jerk at the Franklin Ice Cream Shop, where he met his first major leaguer, Oscar Grimes, a utility player with the Indians.

The young Buck enjoyed listening to the Indians’ announcer, Jack Graney, who late in life would live in Bowling Green, Missouri, and listen to Buck’s broadcasts. Other favorites included Red Barber and Mel Allen in New York, Bob Elson in Chicago, and late-night Spanish broadcasts from Cuba. Jack had unthinkingly been calling games since his days in Holyoke, when he’d give play-by-play during games with his friends. He did the same when he and his brother, Earle Jr., attended Indians games. His brother would eventually tell Jack to “shut up” or Earle would move elsewhere in the stadium.

Buck graduated from Lakewood High School in January 1942. The month before, he had been working at the ice cream shop one Sunday afternoon when word came over the radio about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Jack knew that meant his future was uncertain. After graduation he and a friend went to work on ore boats on the Great Lakes. He spent the next two years working on the boats as a porter, night cook, painter, and deckhand.

Buck was drafted into the Army in July 1943. He trained in anti-aircraft at Fort Eustis, Virginia. He stayed there as an instructor and was promoted to corporal. Buck said that this happened “because of my voice, and I was really good at close-order drill. You could hear me all over the area.”

Buck was transferred to Camp Stewart in Georgia, where he continued as an instructor. Then he shipped out for Europe on the liner-turned-troopship Mauretania in February 1945. The ship landed in Liverpool, England, and Buck was sent on to France and eventually Belgium. On March 7, 1945, he crossed the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen, one of the few bridges remaining across the Rhine, and the site of a fierce battle a few weeks before.

Buck was wounded on March 15 when Germans started shelling his position. Shrapnel pierced his left arm and leg, but missed hitting the hand grenade hanging from his belt. A medic bandaged him. Years later he and the medic met again at a banquet in St. Louis. The medic was Frank Borghi, goaltender for the 1950 US World Cup team that defeated England 1-0 in Brazil in one of the greatest upsets in World Cup history.

When Buck was released from the hospital, after receiving the Purple Heart, he was given a two-day pass to Paris. That’s where he was on May 8, 1945, when the war in Europe ended. He remained in Europe until April 1946, spending much of his time either playing in or coordinating various sporting events for the soldiers.

The GI Bill allowed Buck to enter Ohio State University in Columbus in the fall of 1946. He planned to major in radio speech with a minor in Spanish. He did his first broadcast in 1948 on the campus radio station, WOSU. While still in college, he went to work for a commercial station, WCOL. With absolutely no experience, Buck did play-by-play of Ohio State’s basketball games.

“I didn’t know how to do these things, I just did them,” wrote Buck. “It was the ultimate example of learning by experience and I’m glad there were no tape recorders around to immortalize how bad some of those first shows and broadcasts must have been.”

After Buck did his first basketball game, his class was assigned to listen to him and critique his performance. The most devastating criticism came from his professor, who told him, “You’d better find something else to do for a living.” Buck ran into the professor in 1970 en route to New Orleans to broadcast the Super Bowl. Point made!

In 1948 Buck eloped to Kentucky with fellow student Alyce Larson. They would have six children – Beverly, Jack Jr., Christine, Bonnie, Betsy, and Danny – before divorcing in 1969. With his second wife, Carole Lintzenich, he had two more children – Joe and Julie.

Buck graduated from Ohio State in December 1949. He remained with WCOL, which started broadcasting the games of the Columbus Red Birds Triple-A farm team of the Cardinals. Buck had to audition for the Columbus general manager, Al Banister, to be allowed to do the games. His audition consisted of re-creating an entire baseball game from a play-by-play account in The Sporting News. He got the job and for the first time of many headed to Florida for spring training.

As Buck prepared to broadcast his first baseball game, he wondered how he should approach the job. He asked Rollie Hemsley, the Columbus manager and a former major-league catcher, for advice. Hemsley’s words stuck with Jack: “If somebody doesn’t catch the ball, and you couldn’t have caught it either, keep your mouth shut. If they didn’t catch it and you could have caught it, give ’em hell.”

Buck did manage a coup that spring back in Columbus when the Red Sox came through to play an exhibition game on their way home to Boston. He snagged a media-resistant Ted Williams for a 30-minute interview, which Buck termed more of a speech. He was glad to have it, however, as it pleased his bosses.

WCOL was sold in 1952 and the new owner wasn’t interested in sports. Buck was out of a job, but within three days was on television at WBNS. As a father with three young children, Buck was glad to have another job so quickly. However, he quickly realized “even in those early days of TV, I knew I was going to be the sort of broadcaster who would be better off on radio.”

Buck missed doing sports, but baseball re-entered his life in 1953 when he got the job of broadcasting the games of the Rochester Red Wings, the Cardinals’ International League farm team. Then the Anheuser-Busch Brewery bought the Cardinals, including its farm teams. “The timing was exquisite,” said Buck. D’Arcy, the advertising agency for Anheuser-Busch, hired the baseball announcers. Buck auditioned for the chance to join Harry Caray in the Cardinals booth by having him broadcast a game between St. Louis and the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds. He waited for weeks to hear if the job was his, and finally the word came. In 1954 he would be broadcasting in the big leagues.

Buck felt that he might be doomed from the start when he received a tape of Caray’s work from the Cardinals and was told, “This is the way we want you to broadcast.” Any good broadcaster knows that he has to develop his own style and Buck’s and Caray’s were not at all alike. Their personalities didn’t blend real well either, especially since Caray had wanted someone else for the job.

The third man in the booth that first year was Milo Hamilton. He and Jack split road and home duties and did as many innings on the Cardinals broadcasts as Caray would allow. Almost 60 years later, Hamilton, still in the business with the Houston Astros, referred to Jack as “probably my best friend in the industry.”

The Cardinals broadcasts were on KMOX, the CBS affiliate in St. Louis. At the time, St. Louis was the westernmost city with a major-league baseball team and the Cardinals’ fan base extended well beyond that of most teams.

All three men in the KMOX booth in 1954 would go on to receive the Ford Frick Award giving them a plaque in the Baseball Hall of Fame – Buck in 1987, Caray in 1989, and Hamilton in 1992. But 1954 was the only year all three worked together. Joe Garagiola, a St. Louis product who caught for the Cardinals, Pirates, Cubs, and Giants, replaced Hamilton in 1955 and become Caray’s protégé.

While Buck was excited to be doing major-league games, his situation was also frustrating as Caray pretty much controlled the booth and decided who did what. Harry didn’t like to have anyone else be on the mike when something exciting happened, and since that was impossible to predict, he did most of the innings.

With Garagiola traveling on all the road trips with Caray in 1955, Buck was left behind in the St. Louis studio to do commercials and update incoming baseball scores. However, the time allowed him to expand into other sports. He did bowling, soccer, and wrestling on the radio.

As the 1950s rolled along, the Cardinals were not winning any pennants and Buck was still the odd man out in the broadcast booth. After the 1959 season, when former Cardinals player Buddy Blattner was added to the team, Buck was out totally. He got the word that he was fired just before Christmas.

“We had just built a six-bedroom house with a swimming pool and had bought all new furniture, on credit of course,” wrote Buck in That’s a Winner! “I had to find a job quickly, or I’d have to sell the kids.” Enter Bob Hyland.

In St. Louis the name Bob Hyland is legendary for his masterful management of KMOX Radio, which was the king of the St. Louis airwaves and often the top-ranked station in the country. Hyland persuaded Buck not to go after a baseball job in another city, feeling certain that he would eventually get his job back with the Cardinals. In the meantime, he had plenty of ways to use the announcer’s talents.

Buck did a nightly show from Stan Musial and Biggie’s Restaurant, playing records and doing interviews. He did other sporting events and he did an interview show called “At Your Service” which became key in radio history. Hyland decided to do away with musical programming and go all-talk. KMOX was the first station to do this, creating a brand-new format that remains popular today.

Jack also started doing public appearances and became the most sought-after emcee in St. Louis for banquets and other events. Many of the events were for charity, such as the Cystic Fibrosis Association, one of Buck’s top priorities. One year he appeared at 385 events.

To satisfy his sports interest, Buck did baseball games for ABC-TV, as well as the Big Ten Basketball Game of the Week. He was one of the first announcers to do American Football League games and created the Pro Bowlers Tour with Chris Schenkel. He did minor-league hockey for the St. Louis Braves and then announced the first games for the National Hockey League St. Louis Blues in 1967.

Where Buck really wanted to be, of course, was back in the Cardinals’ broadcasting booth. Blattner had moved on to the expansion Los Angeles Angels, and Caray and Garagiola had had a falling-out. Joe moved on to NBC and Harry again needed a partner. While Caray was still the dominant figure, he and Buck got along better this time.

Buck wrote, “When Harry and I were doing the games together, we were as good a team as there ever was. His style and mine were so different, that it made for a balanced broadcast. The way we approached the job, with the interest and love both of us had for the game, made our work kind of special.”

It was an exciting time in St. Louis. Gussie Busch, owner of the brewery and the Cardinals, built a new stadium in downtown St. Louis that opened in 1966. The 1960s were also great years for the team. St. Louis played in three World Series during the decade, beating the Yankees in 1964 and the Red Sox in 1967, but losing in 1968 to the Tigers.

After the many years of being Caray’s unappreciated sidekick, however, Buck was ready to move on as the ’60s came to a close. His salary had been stuck at $20,000 a year and he felt stuck as well. Then Caray failed to follow an instruction from Busch and was fired. Buck was offered Caray’s contract. Finally, after 16 difficult years, the booth would be his.

Buck needed a partner for the 1970 season and his first choice was the retired Red Barber. Barber, the longtime Dodgers announcer, had been fired by the Yankees four years before and was interested in getting back in the game, “but my wife would kill me.” The job eventually went to Jim Woods, an uneasy fit, and Woods left after two years. In the spring of 1972 former Cardinals outfielder Mike Shannon, a novice at broadcasting, became Buck’s partner and would remain that for the rest of Buck’s baseball career. Shannon, a St. Louis native, had been a popular player but was forced to retire early because of a kidney ailment.

Talking about those early days, Shannon said, “I had absolutely no experience and I knew that I was going to walk into a situation where I needed to learn. But because of Jack, I knew I had a person that was the best in the business.”

Buck continued to do pro football for a number of years, including broadcasting the memorable Ice Bowl game in Green Bay in 1967. Although he did some TV work, most of his football coverage was also on radio. He and former coach Hank Stram did radio coverage of the Monday Night Football games for CBS for almost two decades.

As to why he fit better on radio than TV, Buck once said, “In television all they want you to do is shut up. I’m not very good at shutting up.” He also felt that television coverage of baseball and other sports was more centered on the analyst, not the play-by-play man.

Probably the greatest example of Buck’s discomfort with TV came in 1975, when he became host of a new studio sports show on NBC called Grandstand. It meant giving up his job with the Cardinals, at least in 1976. Grandstand was a failure pretty much from the beginning. It was badly produced, which made it difficult for Buck ever to get comfortable with the format. He was eventually fired and went back to broadcasting baseball.

The 1970s had been another bad time for the St. Louis Cardinals. The team had gotten sloppy and Buck was often embarrassed by how the players dressed for flights and by how they acted. Manager Red Schoendienst was fired after the 1976 season, but things didn’t improve – until Whitey Herzog came to town.

Buck wrote, “I was immediately impressed with Whitey and the way he went about his business. He is the smartest person I’ve ever met in baseball.” Herzog guided the Cardinals to three more World Series in the 1980s. They beat the Milwaukee Brewers (then in the American League) in 1982, but lost to the Kansas City Royals in 1985 and the Minnesota Twins in 1987.

One of Buck’s most famous calls came in 1985, when the Cardinals were playing the Dodgers in Game Five of the National League Championship Series in St. Louis. Cardinals shortstop Ozzie Smith, not exactly a power hitter, hit his first home run left-handed to win the game for the Cards. Buck’s call went like this: “Smith corks one into deep right field, down the line. It may go … Go crazy, folks! Go crazy! It’s a home run, and the Cardinals have won the game, 3-2, on a home run by the Wizard! Go crazy!”

Equally memorable was his call on CBS Radio during the 1988 World Series when Kirk Gibson, though hobbled by injuries, smashed a pinch-hit home run to win Game One. “Unbelievable! The Dodgers have won the game on a home run by Kirk Gibson! I don’t believe what I just saw!” Even though that was a radio call, it is often played when Gibson’s trot around the bases is shown on TV.

Buck made one more foray into television, in 1990 when CBS hired him to do the number-two game on its new Saturday baseball broadcast. Before the season even started, however, he was moved up to the number-one game when Brent Musburger was fired. Jack was teamed with Tim McCarver, whom he knew well from McCarver’s playing days with the Cardinals. As had happened before, Buck was relegated to second place and the duo never quite clicked. He was fired in 1992.

One of the greatest joys of Jack Buck’s life was the arrival in the broadcast booth of his youngest son, Joe. As a boy, Joe had spent a great deal of time with Jack in the booth, going on road trips, and he took it all in as a very proud son. On Joe’s 18th birthday, Jack and Mike Shannon felt the young man was “ready for prime time” and left him alone in the broadcast booth to do an inning of a Cardinals game. He didn’t let them down. As Jack’s health deteriorated in the 1990s, Joe became a regular part of the KMOX team on the Cardinals’ broadcasts. Starting in 1995, Jack cut back on the travel and Joe was Shannon’s partner on road games.

When Mark McGwire was vying for the home run record in 1998, it was Jack Buck who was at the microphone to call number 61, which tied McGwire with Roger Maris. As Busch Stadium went crazy on that Labor Day afternoon, September 7, Buck said, “Pardon me while I stand up and applaud. What a Cardinal moment this is. What a baseball moment this is.” It was Joe who delivered the national television call for number 62 one night later.

When the millennium came, Jack Buck had been a baseball broadcaster for 50 years, all but a few of those with the Cardinals. He had been dealing with Parkinson’s disease for several years. He was also diabetic, and had a Pacemaker, cataracts, and other ailments. Sports Illustrated’s Rick Reilly wrote, “Herking and jerking in his seat, his face contorting this way and that, he still sends out the most wonderful descriptions of games you’ve ever heard.”

Joe said, “I have no idea how, but his voice has been stronger lately. It’s like he’s putting every ounce of energy God can give him into those three hours of the broadcast.” And Cardinals fans did not want to let him go. Buck had the knack for making the game real, “like talking baseball with the guy across the backyard fence,” wrote Reilly.

On the evening of June 18, 2002, the Anaheim Angels played in St. Louis, the first time the two teams had ever played each other. Darryl Kile was on the mound for the Cardinals in what would turn out to be his last game before his sudden death from a heart attack four days later in Chicago. With Joe Buck broadcasting, the Cardinals won the game, 7-2, a win that put St. Louis into first place in the National League Central.

Joe rushed from the broadcast booth to the hospital to tell his dad. Apparently, that was the news Jack had been waiting for. After months in the hospital, after several surgeries, after losing the ability to speak (Joe compared the last indignity to being like “a great pianist with broken hands”), Jack Buck died just an hour after the game ended. His Cardinals were in first place and he’d let the Angels take him home.

Joe called KMOX with the news and a makeshift memorial quickly started to grow around Jack Buck’s monument outside Busch Stadium II. The radio station that had invented the call-in talk show format put it to good use over the next few days. Tributes poured in from around the country and from all kinds of people. No matter how famous or ordinary the person, they all loved Jack Buck because he loved them.

A month after Buck’s death, Mike Shannon talked about his longtime broadcast partner: “Jack was so good to so many people, you’ll never know. He thought about people and their situations and their walks of life. He would go out of his way to talk to the guy who parked his car, the bellhop, the guy serving the dinner – and he learned a lot (from them).”

Tony La Russa, who had come to St. Louis in 1996 to manage the Cardinals, became friends with Jack and said, “Most fans knew him for his broadcasting, and he was a super talent as a broadcaster. But that was the smallest part of why he was so special. He was a great man in so many ways.”

A ceremony to honor Jack Buck was held at Busch Stadium two days after his death, with his coffin resting at home plate. A Budweiser Clydesdale stood guard nearby. The funeral was held the next day. Many baseball and other sports figures attended.

The title of Jack Buck’s memoir, That’s a Winner!, was the phrase he developed to announce a Cardinals win to his radio audience. It also summed up the way he felt about his life. Jack ended his book with these lines: “Carole once asked me what I would say if I met the Lord and my answer then is the same as it is now. I want to ask Him why He was so good to me.”

In 2009 Joe Buck was recording a public service announcement about Parkinson’s disease with actor Michael J. Fox, who was hit with the disease at a relatively young age. Fox turned to Joe and said, speaking for countless baseball fans: “I miss your dad’s voice. It was so iconic.”

This biography is included in the book “Drama and Pride in the Gateway City: The 1964 St. Louis Cardinals” (University of Nebraska Press, 2013), edited by John Harry Stahl and Bill Nowlin. For more information, or to purchase the book from University of Nebraska Press, click here.

Sources

Carole Buck, Joe Buck, and Julie Buck. Jack Buck: Forever a Winner. (Champaign, Illinois: Sports Publishing, 2003)

Jack Buck, with Rob Rains and Bob Broeg, That’s a Winner! (Champaign, Illinois: Sagamore Publishing, 1999)

Dan Caesar. “Buck Didn’t Shine in TV Spotlight Like He Did on Radio,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 19, 2002

R. B. Fallstrom. “Final Respects Paid to Jack Buck.” BaseballWeekly.com, June 21, 2002

Kristen Lokemoen. “So long, for just a while.” Show-Me Missouri Magazine, Fall 2002, 12-14. Content used with permission from the publisher.

Rudy Martzke. “Joe Buck Reflects on Fallen Father.” USA Today.com, June 19, 2002

Rick Reilly. “The Spirit of St. Louis.” In Rob Fleder, editor. Great Baseball Writing (New York: Sports Illustrated Books, 2007), 231-233

Richard Sandomir. “Actor Remembers Announcer Who Shared Struggle.” New York Times, April 20, 2009

Rick Weinberg. “98: Jack Buck’s Tribute to America.” ESPN.com

Interview with Mike Shannon, July 16, 2002

Interview with Ernie Hays, July 16, 2002

Interview with Tony LaRussa, July 17, 2002

Interview with Ron Jacober, November 22, 2011

Interview with Milo Hamilton, November 29, 2011

Typically in collaboration with Spahn, Burdette was a notorious prankster who did everything from slipping snakes into umpires’ pockets to intentionally posing as a lefty for his 1959 Topps baseball card. On the mound his nervous mannerisms such as fixing his jersey and hat, wiping his forehead, touching his lips, and talking to himself could, in the words of one of his managers, Fred Haney, “make coffee nervous.”1 Burdette’s behavior undoubtedly helped to distract batters, but it also led to frequent accusations that he threw a spitball. While the pitcher, supported by his teammates and umpires, always denied that he threw the spitter, he saw the benefit of cultivating the reputation that he did, as he famously stated, “My best pitch is one I do not throw.” He relied on a sinking fastball, slider, and changeup to reach the 200-win mark on the way to helping to lead his team to two World Series appearances. Above all, though, Burdette is best remembered for turning in one of the most dominant performances in postseason history when his three complete-game victories over the New York Yankees helped lead the Milwaukee Braves to the 1957 World Series title.

Selva Lewis Burdette, Jr. was born on November 22, 1926, in Nitro, West Virginia, to Agnes Burnett and Selva Lewis Burdette, Sr., a plant foreman at an American Viscose Rayon plant in Nitro. Generally known by his middle name, throughout his life he spelled it “Lou.” While he played a lot of sandlot baseball as a child, his first athletic success came with the Nitro High School football team, because the school didn’t have a baseball team. He failed to make the local American Legion team, but after graduating from high school in 1944 he used his father’s connections to get a job at the Viscose plant (his sister and younger brother also worked there) as a message boy on the condition that he pitch for the company’s baseball team. At 17 years old, playing in the Industrial League of the Viscose Athletic Association, Burdette went 12-2 against teams from companies including DuPont, Monsanto, and Carbide.

Burdette’s fledgling baseball career was put on hold when he entered the Air Corps Reserve in April 1945. Because the ranks were full, he was never given the opportunity to fly and instead was placed with a welding outfit. Released from active duty after six months, he enrolled at the University of Richmond and joined the baseball team. Burdette quickly drew the attention of scouts from a number of major-league teams, including one from the Boston Braves who told him, “I don’t like the way you pitch. You may as well forget about baseball.”2 Signed by the Yankees in 1947 for $200 a month, Burdette was assigned to Norfolk, Virginia, in the Class B Piedmont League to begin his professional career.

Burdette pitched in only six games in Norfolk, then was sent to Amsterdam, New York, of the Class C Canadian-American League. In 150 innings he showed a great deal of promise, posting nine wins against ten losses and a stellar 2.82 earned-run average. He continued to improve the following season with Quincy, Illinois, in the Class B Three-I League, finishing the season at 16-11, with an ERA of 2.02 and a league-record 187 strikeouts. He moved up the organizational ladder once again, spending 1948 and 1949 with the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate in Kansas City, where he roomed with Whitey Ford. Facing tougher competition, for the first time, Burdette struggled, and was relegated to the bullpen.

During his time in the Yankees system, Burdette occasionally worked with roving pitching coach Burleigh Grimes. Though known as one of the great spitball pitchers, Grimes refused to teach Burdette how to throw the spitter out of a concern that if caught Burdette would be banned from professional baseball. However, Grimes suggested that because of his behavior on the mound and the movement on his breaking pitches, particularly his sinking slider, Burdette could use the spitball as a psychological weapon, so that even though he didn’t throw it, batters would convince themselves that he was and come to the plate looking for it.

While with Kansas City, Lew married his fiancée, Mary Ann Shelton. They had met in a bowling alley in Charleston, West Virginia, in October 1948, and decided to get engaged as Lew was leaving for spring training the following March. Upon hearing that the wedding was scheduled for the fall of 1949, the Kansas City front office, wanted to stage the wedding at home plate. Mary nixed the idea and the couple married quietly in Charleston in June 1949. Their first son, Lewis Kent, was born in July 1951.

Despite his pitching struggles in Triple-A, Burdette was called up to the Yankees when the rosters expanded in September 1950. He made his major-league debut for the defending World Series champions on September 26 against the Washington Senators, getting Gil Coan to ground out to end the fifth inning. The next spring he was invited to spring training, then was optioned to San Francisco in the Pacific Coast League. Playing for manager Lefty O’Doul, Burdette started 26 games and did his best to show that he belonged back in the majors, striking out 118 while walking 78 in 210 innings. And although his record stood at 14-12, half of the losses were by one run. Then, on August 29, 1951, Burdette’s career radically changed when he was traded to the Boston Braves as a throw-in when the Yankees sent $50,000 for pitcher Johnny Sain to help them with their push for the postseason.

Burdette spent the final month of the season with the Braves, making three short relief appearances. In 1952 he worked mostly out of the bullpen and demonstrated that he could ably shoulder a heavy workload, leading the team with 45 appearances, foreshadowing the durability that highlighted his career. (During his career Burdette was consistently among the league leaders in innings pitched, games started, and complete games.)

Before the 1953 season, frustrated by his team’s second-tier status in Boston, owner Lou Perini moved the club to Milwaukee. The Braves were immediately embraced by the fans as the players were showered with everything from cars to free dry cleaning. While the Braves had drawn only 281,278 fans in their final year in Boston, they surpassed the mark after only 13 home games in Milwaukee. That first year, they set a National League attendance record, as 1,826,397 saw the Braves play at the new County Stadium.

The Braves’ popularity coincided with their emergence as one of the dominant teams in the National League. Adding Hank Aaron and a number of other key players to the roster, the Braves became perennial pennant contenders, finishing no lower than third in the standings from 1953 to 1960. Beginning the 1953 season in the bullpen, Burdette moved into the starting rotation when Johnny Antonelli and Vern Bickford were injured. Despite making only 13 starts, Burdette finished the season with six complete games, a record of 15-5 and a 3.24 ERA; he was clearly ready to move into the team’s rotation as soon as a spot opened up.

The Brooklyn Dodgers became the Braves’ biggest rivals during this period, finishing one spot ahead of the Braves in the final standings in each of the Braves’ first four years in Milwaukee in races that often went down to the final week. Twice Burdette found himself at the center of run-ins with one of the Dodgers’ African-American stars, and was accused of being racially prejudiced – charges that he and his teammates vehemently denied. In August 1953, the Dodgers’ Roy Campanella charged Burdette on the mound with his bat in hand after he struck out and the two men exchanged angry words. Both benches emptied, but no punches were thrown and play quickly resumed. After the game Jackie Robinson told the press that Campanella only charged the mound after Burdette had addressed him with a racial slur. A similar incident occurred three years later when during pregame warm-ups Jackie Robinson threw a baseball at Burdette’s head (he missed) in response to being called a “watermelon.” Burdette emphatically denied that his comment was racially motivated, claiming that he was joking about Robinson’s “spare tire, not his race.” The two spoke after the game, and Robinson was placated by Burdette’s apology and explanation, and put the matter behind him.

Based on Burdette’s stellar 1953 season as both a starter and reliever, expectations were high for Burdette and the team coming into 1954. Burdette moved into the starting rotation when Antonelli and Bickford were traded. Throughout the season the Braves were plagued by injuries to position players and inconsistent pitching – at the All-Star break, the Braves’ trio of Spahn, Burdette, and Bob Buhl were a combined 15-26 and the Braves sat 15 games out of first place. Burdette had a strong second half, however, going 8-5 to end with a 15-14 record, with an impressive 2.76 ERA, second best in the National League. Despite Burdette’s performance, the Braves were never able to seriously contend for the pennant. In 1955 Burdette finished with a 13-8 record and a 4.03 ERA. But once again, the team was never in contention as the Dodgers simply ran away from the rest of the National League en route to their first World Series title.

During his time in the minor leagues and his first few years in the majors, Burdette returned to Nitro each offseason. Lew and Mary’s second child, Madge Rhea, was born on Christmas Day, 1954. Her birth was particularly newsworthy because Lew helped deliver the baby in a police ambulance on the way to the hospital. Then the growing Burdette family began to split their time between Milwaukee and Sarasota, Florida, where Lew spent his offseasons as a vice president in a local real-estate firm. The couple’s third child, Mary Lou, was born only days before Burdette’s masterful performance in the 1957 World Series. A third daughter, Elaina, was born in May 1960.

As his career was taking off, accusations that Burdette threw a spitball became increasingly common from opposing managers and players. Cincinnati manager Birdie Tebbetts (who became Burdette’s manager on the Braves in 1961 and 1962) and National League President Warren Giles even went as far as separately commissioning motion pictures of Burdette pitching – though the films never showed that he was using the illegal pitch. Braves manager Fred Haney countered that his pitcher was not doing anything wrong, saying, “He’s just a fidgety guy on the mound.” Every time the charges arose, Burdette, along with his teammates and even the umpires, would deny them and emphasize the psychological advantage his nervous actions on the mound provided.

Burdette started on Opening Day in 1956 and cruised to a 6-0 win over the Chicago Cubs, allowing only five hits and one walk. The Braves battled Brooklyn and Cincinnati for the pennant until the final game of the season. With the Braves one game behind the Dodgers on the last day, Haney started Burdette against the St. Louis Cardinals needing a win plus a Pittsburgh win over Brooklyn to take the pennant. While Burdette led his team to a 4-2 victory, the Dodgers also won, and the Braves finished one game back. Although the season ended disappointingly, it was another successful season for Burdette. He led the league in ERA at 2.70 (Spahn finished second at 2.78) and in shutouts with six. His 19 wins, against 10 losses, were the fourth highest in the league, and he received a handful of votes for the Most Valuable Player award.

Expectations were extremely high for the Braves going into the 1957 season. Burdette performed to his now-usual standards, and was named to his first All-Star team. The Braves finally won the pennant, in large part by relying on their top three starters; Spahn, Burdette, and Buhl combined to finish with a record of 56-27. Burdette was 17-9 with a 3.72 ERA.

Spahn lost the World Series opener at Yankee Stadium to Whitey Ford, then Burdette pitched a complete game to defeat Bobby Shantz, 4-2. Taking the mound four days later with the Series knotted at two games apiece, Burdette shut out the powerful Yankees to lead the Braves to a 1-0 victory over his former Kansas City roommate Whitey Ford. When the Yankees won Game Six, it was assumed that Spahn would take the hill for the Braves in the finale. However, with Spahn unable to recover from a bout of Asian flu, Burdette, with only two days of rest, started against Don Larsen. Burdette pitched another complete-game shutout, holding the Yankees to seven hits and allowing only one walk, as the Braves won, 5-0. Posting an ERA of 0.67, Burdette matched the greatest World Series pitching performances by the being the first pitcher since Stan Coveleski in 1920 with three complete-game victories, and the first since Christy Mathewson in 1905 to have two shutouts. As the World Series MVP, Burdette was showered with awards and honors. He gave talks on the lecture circuit, made numerous appearances on television (including “The Steve Allen Show” and Camel cigarette ads), and even cut a novelty record, “Three Strikes and You’re Out.”

Burdette turned in another great season in 1958 as the Braves repeated as National League champions. At 20-10 he reached the 20-win mark for the first time, and tied with Spahn for the best winning percentage in the National League. His batting even improved significantly, as he finished the season with a .242 batting average and 15 runs batted in. On July 10 against the Los Angeles Dodgers at their temporary home in Memorial Coliseum, Burdette smashed two home runs, one a grand slam off Johnny Podres. This was the second time in two seasons that Burdette had hit two home runs in a game – he had done so against Joe Nuxhall in Cincinnati on August 13, 1957.

Facing the Yankees once again in the World Series, after a Spahn victory in the opener, Burdette cruised to a 13-5 victory in Game Two in which he hit a three-run home run in the first inning. But although Milwaukee jumped to a 3-1 Series lead, Burdette lost Games Five and Seven, giving up a combined 10 earned runs and allowing the Yankees to battle back and win the title.

Vying for their third consecutive pennant in 1959, the Braves relied heavily on their core veterans. Eddie Mathews and Hank Aaron responded with stellar offensive seasons and were among four Braves, along with Burdette and Del Crandall, to finish in the top 12 of the MVP voting that season. Although Burdette had a career-high 21 wins, tying him with Spahn for the league lead, and appeared in both 1959 All-Star Games, he lost 15 games and the heavy workload took its toll as he gave up career highs in home runs (38) and hits allowed (312) – both the highest in the league.

Burdette was a central player in one of the most memorable games in history when he took the mound against Harvey Haddix and the Pirates on May 26, 1959, in Milwaukee. Haddix pitched 12 perfect innings, retiring 36 Braves in order, only to lose in the 13th inning when Joe Adcock drove in Felix Mantilla (who had reached on an error). While not as perfect as Haddix had been, Burdette turned in an excellent performance, giving up 12 hits and no runs. After the game a sympathetic Burdette phoned Haddix to tell him, “You deserved to win, but I scattered all my hits, and you bunched your one.” Not sharing Burdette’s sense of humor (or at least his timing), the taciturn Haddix hung up on him.

Tied with the Dodgers at the end of the season, the Braves and Dodgers had a best-of-three playoff for the pennant. Down one game after Carl Willey lost the playoff opener, Burdette took a 5-2 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning of Game Two and seemed well on his way to tying the series. However, after giving up three straight singles to Wally Moon, Duke Snider, and Gil Hodges with no outs, Burdette was pulled and could only watch helplessly as the Dodgers drove in all three to send the game to extra innings. In the 12th inning, facing reliever Bob Rush, the Dodgers’ Carl Furillo drove in Gil Hodges to end the Braves’ season.

After four seasons in which Milwaukee either reached the World Series or came up just short, it was becoming increasingly evident that the Braves dynasty was coming to an end, in large part due to the advancing age of many key players. Burdette performed as consistently as ever, though, going 19-13 with a 3.36 ERA in 275? innings. On August 18, 1960 facing Philadelphia and former teammate Gene Conley, he pitched a no-hitter, defeating the Phillies, 1-0. Allowing no walks, Burdette faced the minimum 27 batters. The only thing that kept him from a perfect game was hitting the Phillies’ Tony Gonzalez with a pitch in the fifth inning. Gonzalez was subsequently erased by a double play.

After dropping to fourth place in 1961 (Burdette was 18-11), the Braves made a concerted effort to bring in younger players in 1962. Birdie Tebbetts, Burdette’s former nemesis from Cincinnati, replaced Chuck Dressen as manager late in the 1961 season. Inconsistent all season long in 1962, Burdette was one of the victims of the youth movement, and started only 19 games, about half his usual number. Then his 13 years with the Braves came ended on June 15, 1963, when he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for minor-league pitcher Bob Sadowski and utilityman Gene Oliver.

Although Burdette preferred to start, the Cardinals traded for him because they thought he could be used as both a starter and reliever. His first game with the Cardinals, a complete-game victory over the New York Mets on June 18, seemed to suggest a return to form as a front-line starter. Burdette faced his former roommate Spahn when he faced off against the Braves on July 25. Once again going the distance, Burdette won, 3-1. But he struggled most of the season, posted only a 3-8 mark with the Cardinals, and against his wishes, was increasingly relegated to long relief appearances.

Despite again being on a contending team, Burdette was unhappy with his role on the Cardinals and pushed for a trade. He was traded early the next season to the Cubs for pitcher Glen Hobbie, missing out on the Cardinals’ 1964 World Series title. Reunited with Bob Buhl, Burdette was again given the chance to start. His struggles continued though and he finished the 1964 season with a 10-9 record and an ERA near 5.00. On May 30, 1965, Burdette was sold to the Phillies. Two starts he made in September represented his continuing struggles and inability to pitch for extended stretches. Against Cincinnati on September 5, he gave up six earned runs in 1? innings, and in his next start, the Braves scored five earned runs off him in two innings.

Released by the Phillies at the end of the season, Burdette spent his final two seasons in the majors with the California Angels. Adding a knuckleball, Burdette had an excellent season in 1966 when he made 54 appearances out of the bullpen as a key middle reliever. He won his 200th game on July 22 when he entered a game against the Yankees with the score tied 4-4 and the the Angels scored two runs to win, 6-4. But the resurgence was short-lived and Burdette pitched in only 19 games in 1967. His final major-league pitching appearance came on July 16, when he threw a scoreless eighth inning in a loss to the Minnesota Twins. In August the Angels sent him to their Pacific Coast League affiliate in Seattle, his first trip to the minors since 1951. Burdette appeared in 13 games in Seattle before being recalled in September; however, now 40 years old and recognizing that he was not going to be used in any significant capacity, he retired.

After retiring, Burdette took a job scouting pitchers for the Central Scouting System. In 1969 and 1970 he split time between coaching pitchers in the Gulf Coast League and his hometown of Sarasota, where he tried his hand at various businesses, including a gas station and a night club. In 1972 he became the Atlanta Braves pitching coach, and was reunited with longtime teammate Eddie Mathews when Mathews was named manager halfway through the season. Burdette was excited about rejoining the Braves’ organization, saying, “They’ve always been my club. Everything good happened when I was with the Braves. They’ve been my life.”3 But he left the Braves after the 1973 season, and worked in public relations for a Milwaukee brewery and then in cable television in Florida for 20 years until he retired.

Embracing his connections to the Braves, Burdette was a regular at old-timers games and baseball functions over the years. He appeared on the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot for the first time in 1973, the year that Spahn was elected. Burdette received votes in each of the 15 years he was eligible, peaking in 1984 at 24.1 percent. In 1998 he was inducted to the Florida Sports Hall of Fame and in 2001 was elected to the Braves Hall of Fame.

Burdette died on February 6, 2007, in Winter Garden, Florida, after battling lung cancer. One of the most fitting tributes came from a longtime teammate, shortstop Johnny Logan, who summed up Burdette’s career and personality by remarking, “I don’t know if he threw a spitter or not. His ball would really sink. He was a hell of a battler. Whatever Spahnie did, Lew wanted to do better. They had that competition between them. Lew was a big star but he always gave Spahnie the credit.”4

This biography is included in the book “Drama and Pride in the Gateway City: The 1964 St. Louis Cardinals” (University of Nebraska Press, 2013), edited by John Harry Stahl and Bill Nowlin. It is also included in “Thar’s Joy in Braveland! The 1957 Milwaukee Braves” (SABR, 2014), edited by Gregory H. Wolf.

Sources

Allen, Phil. “Biggest Froggy, Biggest Pond: The Lew Burdette Story.” Baseball Digest, December 1957: 29-33

Buege, Bob. The Milwaukee Braves: A Baseball Eulogy. Milwaukee: Douglas American Sports Publications, 1988.

Chen, Albert. “The Greatest Game Ever Pitched.” Sports Illustrated, June 1, 2009: 63-67.

Driver, David. “The Pride of Nitro: Baseball Star Lew Burdette.” Goldenseal, Fall 1998: 56-62.

Mumau, Thad. An Indian Summer: The 1957 Milwaukee Braves, Champions of Baseball. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2007.

Schoor, Gene. Lew Burdette of the Braves. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1960.

Sutter, L.M. Ball, Bat, and Bitumen: A History of Coalfield Baseball in the Appalachian South. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2009.

Vincent, Fay. We Would Have Played for Nothing: Baseball Stars of the 1950s and 1960s Talk About the Game They Loved. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2008.

www.baseball-reference.com

Lew Burdette Clipping File at National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York.

Notes

In 1953, he convinced his brewery, Anheuser-Busch, to buy the financially struggling St. Louis Cardinals.1 After 11 years of frustration, Busch won his first World Championship with the 1964 Cardinals. Starting in 1964, Gussie subsequently left a baseball legacy of six National League Champions and three World Series winners.

Born in St. Louis on March 28, 1899, August  Anheuser Busch Jr. was the second son of August A. Busch Sr. and the former Alice Ziesemann Already immensely wealthy, Gussie’s family also included five sisters. His grandfather Adolphus Busch Sr. co-founded the Anheuser-Busch brewery and became a legendary figure in St. Louis.

Gussie idolized his highly successful grandfather. Adolphus set the standard for the legendary Busch family work ethic. He once described the secret of his success as a willingness “to work double the time I was paid for.”2

In 1903, Gussie’s father acquired the 245-acre Grant’s Farm in South St. Louis County, and later built a hunting lodge and a French chateau on the property, and moved his family to the country. The chateau had 26 rooms and 14 baths. The farm subsequently grew to 281-acres and was opened to the public in 1955 featuring a menagerie of exotic animals, including the famous Clydesdales. Gussie transformed this tract into a very popular tourist attraction to craft the image of his brewery.

Young Gussie spent his youth learning to ride, shoot, and enjoy the life of wealth provided by his doting parents. He also drove horse coaches competitively and enjoyed both horse riding and boxing. He traveled extensively, accompanying his grandfather on several trips to Germany. For a brief time, he tried rodeo-riding in Wyoming where he met Will Rodgers. As later reported in Time magazine, Busch remembered, “a kid just couldn’t have had more.”3

Although he subsequently gave millions to various educational institutions and received honorary degrees from several universities, Gussie initially shunned formal education. He attended the public Tremont School in St. Louis and the private Smith Academy but never graduated from high school. “Without a doubt,” Busch later remembered, “I was the world’s lousiest student. I never graduated from anything.” 4

During World War I, Busch served for 14 months as a “stable sergeant” For the Home Guard. In 1918, he married the beautiful 22-year-old Marie Christy Church. She bore Gussie two daughters before dying of pneumonia in 1930.

Busch started his working life in a family-owned bank and then moved on to a railroad company where the family owned a significant share of the stock. At age 24, he started working in the brewery. He began at the very bottom, initially scrubbing beer vats and performing menial tasks throughout all of the brewery’s operations. His dad subsequently appointed him the general superintendent of brewing operations.5

As would be expected, the advent of prohibition devastated the legal brewing industry. The Busch family faced a decision. They could go out of business and sell their $30,000,000 brewery for scrap. At ten cents on the dollar, the family could retire from the brewing business and still walk away with a sizable amount of money.

Instead, they doggedly kept turning out other products such as baker’s yeast, malt syrup, and grape-flavored pop to try to keep the operation open. They achieved only limited success. As a last resort, his dad sent Gussie to meet with gangster Al Capone. They reached a deal where Busch would legally supply Capone with the raw ingredients for his illegal brewing operations.

Gussie later recalled, “We ended up as the biggest bootlegging supply house in the United States. Every goddamn thing you could think of. Oh, the malt syrup cookies! You could no more eat the malt syrup cookies… They were so bitter ….It damn near broke Daddy’s heart.”6

When Prohibition ended at midnight on April 6, 1933, the brewery gates swung open and the big brewery trucks rolled though the St. Louis streets delivering the beer to a thirsty public. The Saturday Evening Post subsequently reported Gussie’s reaction: “It was the greatest moment in my life,” he said. “The greatest, I guess that I will ever know.”7

In September 1933, Gussie married his second wife Elizabeth Overton Dozier. The two apparently had an affair before the death of his first wife and the marriage occurred only two weeks after Elizabeth’s divorce from her husband. She subsequently bore Gussie both a daughter and a son.

Less than a year later, the Busch family suffered a significant setback as August A. Busch Sr. died in February 1934. Mr. Busch, who was 68 years old, suffered intense pain for over six weeks from a complication of heart disease, gout, and dropsy. During his painful ordeal, Gussie reportedly tried to cheer him up by riding a horse into the house and up a staircase to his father’s second-floor bedroom. 8

His recovery efforts did not result in any significant improvements. Using a revolver he kept by his bedside, he killed himself with one shot under his heart. Busch left an unsigned note on a night table beside his bed. On a plain sheet of paper it read, “Good-bye, precious mommy and adorable children.” In the tradition of the Busch family, the presidency of the brewery passed on to the eldest son, Adolphus.9

The 43–year-old Gussie volunteered for service in the Army in June 1942 and received the rank of lieutenant colonel with an assignment to the Pentagon. He oversaw ammunition production, won promotion to colonel in 1944, and received the Legion of Merit for his service.10 Throughout his time in the Army, he continued to add to his reputation as someone who liked to party and flirt with the girls. Remembering his military experience, Gussie later confided, “Jack Pickens (an old friend) was in the service with me. We used to smell powder together—that is women’s face powder.” When Adolphus died on August 29, 1946, Gussie became president of the company.11

Returning home after his service, Busch also found that all was not well between him and his second wife. A lady of queenly disposition, Elizabeth did not share his love of hops, horses, hunting, and singing German party songs. Busch quickly moved out of the family’s town house back to Grant’s Farm. Instead of living in the main mansion (his mother still used the residence), he moved into a nearby 18-room apartment. Gussie dealt with his loneliness by hosting spectacular parties.12

On a subsequent trip to Switzerland in 1949, Busch met the beautiful 22-year-old Gertrude (Trudy) Buholzer. After a nasty $1,000,000 divorce settlement with Elizabeth, he married Trudy in 1952 at the Busch family cottage in Little Rock, Arkansas. Trudy bore him seven children between 1954 and 1966.13

In February1953, Fred Saigh, the Cardinals owner, faced a prison sentence for tax evasion. Rumors flew that out-of-towners would buy the team and move it to Milwaukee. Busch and his brewery stepped in, bought the struggling team for $3.75 million, and pledged never to move the team out of St. Louis. At the time of the sale’s announcement, Busch vowed, “Come hell or high water, I will bring a baseball World Championship to St. Louis before I die.”14

The local press lauded him as the savior of the team. However, the primary reason for buying the team was to sell more beer. The Cardinals and Anheuser-Busch quickly became enmeshed. From a personal viewpoint, after saving the Cardinals, the flamboyant Busch family also finally gained full access to the upper echelon of St. Louis society.15

Gussie soon discovered he was now a national personality. On a trip to New York, shortly after buying the club, Busch decided to meet baseball reporters at a luxurious restaurant. Anticipating a small group would attend, a stunned Busch ended up meeting over 300 baseball journalists. He never forgot the incident. The volume of his incoming mail also skyrocketed. Busch marveled, “Not many people wrote to me when I was just a brewery president, but as owner of the Cardinals…I began to receive thousands of letters.”16

Busch quickly found he had several formidable obstacles to overcome before the brewery would reap the enormous potential of his acquisition. Including the team’s initial selling price, the brewery poured an estimated $6 to 7 million dollars into the Cardinals franchise. It bought and completely refurbished the dilapidated stadium where the ball club played (Sportsman’s Park).

Initially, Busch also attempted to rename the ballpark Budweiser Stadium. However, Commissioner Ford Frick would not approve the name due to the commercialization of a product. In memory of his grandfather, father, and brother, Gussie adjusted it to Busch Stadium. Then, he ordered his brewery to create a new line of beer with Busch on the label. He also began to restore the Cardinals’ withering farm system.

Busch wanted to quickly make the team competitive. Not surprisingly, his initial baseball personnel decisions tried to both improve the Cardinals and sell more beer. Essentially, he tried to buy a pennant by throwing money at the other owners to obtain stars like Willie Mays, Ernie Banks, and Gil Hodges. The other owners successfully rebuffed his efforts, forcing Busch to make a number of embarrassing efforts to purchase overrated players.17

In early 1953, Busch went to his first Cardinals spring training camp in St. Petersburg, Florida. He arrived at the wheel of his specially outfitted bus. Costing $75,000, the bus had an Anheuser-Busch emblem on the back. Inside, it had six berths, a galley, a bar, a bathroom, and a lounge. 18 He mingled with his new team even donning his own Cardinals uniform. Although his trip generated nationwide publicity for the brewery, the 1953 Cardinals finished third.

The brassy Busch approach of simultaneously promoting beer and professional baseball angered some in Congress. Sen. Edward Johnson from Colorado sponsored a bill that made baseball clubs owned by beer or liquor subject to antitrust laws. In addition, he called Busch “a personable and able huckster” who regarded baseball as “a cold-blooded, beer-peddling business.” Gussie subsequently testified successfully before the Senate Judiciary committee against Johnson’s bill. The bill went nowhere.19

In 1954, Busch, with his characteristic flourish, updated his transportation to Cardinal road games. The Wabash Railroad delivered a $300,000 custom built “rail business car” to Gussie. Busch named the 88-foot streamlined car the Adolphus. The exterior of the stainless steel car featured a St. Louis Cardinal emblem on one end and an Anheuser-Busch emblem on the other. Inside accommodations included four bedrooms which could be converted into meeting rooms, a dining room, two bathrooms with showers, two service personnel quarters, and an observation lounge fully stocked with Anheuser-Busch beer20.

Sometimes, Busch attached the luxurious Adolphus to the train that carried the Cardinals on their road trips. As the Cardinals reached their destinations, Busch could and did use the car to hold meetings with his beer wholesalers and retailers in the area. When Gussie traveled with the team, his parties featured gin playing (Busch’s favorite card game) and heavy drinking. In 1955, he spent nearly the entire year traveling the country on the Adolphus meeting with the brewery’s 900 wholesalers.21 Impatient for success, Busch employed five managers between 1953 and 1959—Eddie Stanky, Harry Walker, Fred Hutchinson, Stan Hack, and Solly Hemus. During the same period he employed three general managers: Dick Meyer (a brewery executive), Frank Lane, and Bing Devine. The changes made no difference. After the 1953 third-place finish, the team finished in the second division four times through 1959. In January 1958, Musial agreed to a salary of $91,000; but Busch increased the pact to make Stan the first $100,000 per year NL player.

In the early 1960s, GM Devine began accumulating a group of young, talented black players who would form the strong nucleus for several future winning teams. For many years, the Cardinals held their spring training in St. Petersburg, Florida. Reflecting the local social norms of the times, St. Petersburg discouraged racial interaction. Black players stayed in different quarters than the whites. Those whites who did not agree with the practice rented private houses.

Cardinals first baseman Bill White publicly criticized the situation and both the Cardinals and the brewery issued statements denouncing the practice. Busch bluntly told local officials to fix it or the team would train at some other site.

Local officials quickly found a way to lodge the entire team together. Several of the white players had traditionally stayed with their families in beachfront cottages during spring training, but when Musial and Boyer gave up their private accommodations to move in with the rest of the team—blacks included—the Cardinals successfully broke down the local custom. The Cardinals motel became a tourist attraction. People would drive by to see the white and black families swimming together or one of the famous team barbecues, with Howie Pollet making the salad and Boyer, Larry Jackson, and Harry Walker grilling up the steaks and hamburgers. As Bob Gibson later remembered, “The camaraderie on the Cardinals was practically revolutionary in the way it cut across racist lines.” Busch’s strong show of support for equality within the entire team created the environment necessary for future Cardinals successes.22

During the 1963 season, Cardinals icon Stan Musial announced he would retire at the end of the season. In addition, under Devine’s and Johnny Keane’s leadership, the Cardinals were now serious contenders. Busch wanted an NL pennant for both himself and Stan, the man who remained steadfastly loyal to him throughout his ownership. The 1963 Cardinals won 93 games but Sandy Koufax and the Los Angeles Dodgers won the pennant. After the season, The Sporting News recognized Devine’s efforts by naming him their NL Executive of the Year.

After the profoundly discouraging near-miss finish in 1963, a volatile Busch demanded a pennant in 1964. He publicly threatened to tear down the current Cardinal management structure and start over again. Branch Rickey, who Busch hired as a special consultant in October 1962, encouraged him. Engaged in a behind-the-scenes power struggle with Devine, Branch wanted to bring in his own GM.

Throughout his career, Busch would never accept dishonesty or disloyalty from any of his employees. During the 1964 pennant race, he sincerely believed Devine both lied and betrayed him by not telling him about a disagreement within the team. When he felt Devine subsequently covered up the incident, he impulsively fired both Devine and their long time business manager, Art Routzong. Privately, he also made plans to fire manager Johnny Keane. At Rickey’s recommendation, Bob Howsam became the new Cardinals GM.23

Amidst all the management upheavals, the 1964 Cardinals unexpectedly rallied in September. The pennant race came down to the last game of the season. When St. Louis fell behind early, Busch left his seat and went up to his private box called the Redbird Roost. Angry and frustrated the team might again come close and lose again, Busch kicked a hole in the wall of the Roost. 24 The team rallied, beat the Mets, and won the 1964 NL pennant by one game over Philadelphia and Cincinnati. After the game, a beaming Busch could hardly contain himself as he walked around the clubhouse hugging the ballplayers. The Cardinals went on to beat the Yankees in the 1964 World Series. In a final irony, The Sporting News again named the fired Devine their NL Executive of the Year.25 Then, at an October 16 press conference to publicly offer a new contract to Keane, Johnny presented Gussie with his resignation letter dated September 28. The Cardinals quickly selected Red Schoendienst as their new manager.

In addition to bringing a world championship to St. Louis, Busch led a drive to replace his refurbished old stadium with a privately-funded new one. On May 12, 1966, the new Busch Memorial Stadium opened in downtown St. Louis. The stadium led to a revitalization of the entire area. The new stadium became the last major sports complex to be built solely with private funds.

By the end of 1966, with Howsam’s help, a strong restructured Cardinals team emerged. Howsam then left St. Louis for an offer from Cincinnati. In January 1967, the loyal Busch again reached out to his long-time friend, Stan Musial, and persuaded him to become the new Cardinals GM. This action brought Schoendienst and Musial together again.

The 1967 Cardinals won both the NL pennant and the subsequent World Series against the Red Sox. Orlando Cepeda, a May 1966 Howsam acquisition, won the NL Most Valuable Player Award. The Cardinals also went over two million in home attendance for the first time.

Off the field, Busch continued to party hard during the 1967 World Series. He, his wife, and a group of close friends thoroughly enjoyed themselves when they traveled to root for the Cardinals in Boston. At one Boston hotel, their food fights and chandelier-swinging mayhem caused an estimated $50,000 worth of party-related damages. When presented with the bills, Busch reportedly told his employees to put the expenses in the advertising account.26

In November 1967, Stan Musial, who was never really comfortable behind a desk, told Busch he no longer wanted to be the Cardinals GM. Surprisingly, Busch rehired Bing Devine. He publicly admitted he had made a mistake in letting Devine go in 1964. He attributed his mistake to “impatience and misunderstanding.”27

The Cardinals easily won the 1968 NL pennant as Bob Gibson was the NL Most Valuable Player and Cy Young award winner. After leading three games to one, the team faltered in the World Series losing to the Detroit Tigers.

The 1960s teams won three championships and Busch rewarded them handsomely. By 1970, Busch became the first team owner in history to have a payroll in excess of one million dollars.28

However, Busch and his Cardinals fell on hard times starting in 1969. Much to his chagrin, Gussie found his paternalistic approach toward player relations now publicly portrayed as one-sided and akin to slavery. Curt Flood’s vocal support of these positions and his public salary squabble with the club irked Busch. Right or wrong, Busch sincerely believed he saved Flood from baseball oblivion earlier in his career. He now felt Flood had betrayed his loyalty. The Cardinals’ subsequent trade of Flood to Philadelphia prompted Curt to declare himself a free agent. 29

Near the end of 1974, Busch and Trudy tragically lost their youngest daughter, Christina Martina Busch. Described as a “beautiful blue-eyed blonde child,” and nicknamed “Honey Bee” by Busch, Christina died on December 17 from injuries she suffered in a December 6 traffic accident while returning from school. The crash, on a busy St. Louis expressway, killed their chauffeur instantly. The other passenger in the Volkswagen bus, her brother Andrew, survived. The loss deeply affected both Gussie and Trudy.

In 1975, his son Augustus Busch III successfully convinced the Anheuser-Busch Board of Directors to force his 76-year-old father’s retirement as the head of the company. He relinquished day-to-day brewery control, becoming an honorary Chairman of the Board of Directors. As a part of the deal, he retained control of the Cardinals.30

In 1978, frustrated by nearly ten years without a pennant-winning ball club and going through a messy divorce with Trudy, Busch fired Bing Devine a second time. He also employed three field managers that season: Vern Rapp, Jack Krol, and 1964 (NL) MVP Ken Boyer.

In 1980, after an unsuccessful decade, Busch made another outstanding baseball decision by hiring Whitey Herzog as both his GM and on-the-field manager. Busch and Herzog clicked immediately. Both Whitey and Gussie shared German ancestry and loved beer. Whitey enjoyed a direct line of communication with Busch. For his part, Busch later said, “He’s (Whitey) not only a great manager but a helluva guy. He and I talk the same language.” In his 11 years with the team, the Whitey-led Cardinals won one World Championship and three NL championships.31 In 1987, the Cardinals went over the three million mark in home attendance for the first time. Busch also started a new St. Louis postseason tradition before each NLCS and World Series home games during the 1980s when he would ride into Busch Stadium on the Budweiser Clydesdales wagon waving a red cowboy hat. The Cardinal fans went wild and Gussie loved the attention.

In 1981, Gussie married Margaret Snyder, his onetime personal secretary. Six years before, she became the first woman to serve on the board of directors of Anheuser-Busch. In the same year, the St. Louis Cardinals also named her to its board. In August 1988, she suffered a pulmonary embolism and died at the age of 72 in a St. Louis hospital.

In 1982, Busch reportedly played a key role in the dismissal of then Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn. At various times during Kuhn’s tenure, Busch publicly clashed with him over a variety of baseball and business issues. Ultimately, Busch sided with just enough other owners to deny Kuhn’s continuation as the commissioner.32

In 1984, the Cardinals retired the number 85 in honor of Busch’s 85th birthday.

In 1989, after a hospitalization for pneumonia, the 90-year-old August A. Busch Jr. died at his St. Louis home. A sister, one former wife, nine children, 27 grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren survived him.

When asked if he ever regretted his baseball ownership experience, Busch replied, “Hell, I’d do it all over again.”33

This biography is included in the book “Drama and Pride in the Gateway City: The 1964 St. Louis Cardinals” (University of Nebraska Press, 2013), edited by John Harry Stahl and Bill Nowlin. For more information, or to purchase the book from University of Nebraska Press, click here.

Last revised: September 10, 2023 (zp)

Notes

Caray kept his early life shrouded in mystery. Even his birthdate was not clear. Various sources differ on his year of birth, putting it at anywhere from 1915 to 1920. When asked about it, Caray would generally shrug off the question of his age. After his death in 1998, it was reported that according to St. Louis city health records, Harry Christopher Carabina was born on March 1, 1914, on Olive Street in St. Louis. His father, Christopher Carabina, left around the time of Harry’s birth. Harry never met his father and never knew anything about him. According to his autobiography, Harry’s mother, the former Daisy Argint, remarried when Harry was about 5 or 6 years old and died when he was about 7 or 8. (A search of Missouri marriage records shows a marriage between Daisy Argint and Sam Capuran in September, 1926, when Harry would have been 12. Missouri records also show that Daisy Capuran died in April 1928 of lobar pneumonia at the age of 37.) After his mother’s death, he was raised primarily by an aunt, Doxie Argint.

Coming from a poor family, Harry went to work selling newspapers at the age of 8. One of the brightest parts of his childhood was being able to watch the games of the St. Louis Cardinals. Whenever he was able to afford it, young Harry attended games at Sportsman’s Park. At Webster High School in Webster Groves, a St. Louis suburb, Harry played second base and shortstop and played well enough that he was offered a baseball scholarship by the University of Alabama. Unable to pay for the expenses for room and board or books, he did not accept the scholarship.

Working odd jobs after completing high school, Harry picked up additional money by playing semipro baseball on the weekends. Playing for such teams as the Smith Undertakers and the Webster Groves Birds, he attracted the attention of some scouts and was invited to participate in a tryout camp for the Cardinals in Decatur, Illinois. Harry didn’t have the physical skills to make the tryout, but through a friend on the Webster Groves baseball team, he landed a steady job as an assistant sales manager with a company that manufactured lockers, gymnastic equipment, and other products.

Harry continued to attend Cardinals games as often as possible. However, he noticed that the games he saw in person were invariably more exciting than the play-by-play descriptions he heard when he listened to the games at home on the radio. Convinced that he could do a better job broadcasting Cardinals games himself, he brashly sent a personal letter to the home address of Merle Jones, general manager of radio station KMOX asking for the job. Impressed with Harry’s drive and enthusiasm, Jones arranged for him to audition for the station. Jones thought Harry had a great voice but needed some experience. He helped Harry to land a job as a sports announcer at a Joliet, Illinois, radio station, WCLS.

By the spring of 1940, Harry was working on WCLS covering sporting events like high-school and junior-college basketball games, summer softball-league games and bowling-league events. At the suggestion of WCLS station manager Bob Holt, Harry changed his last name from Carabina to Caray.

After a year and a half of working at WCLS, Caray was hired as sports director of WKZO in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where he worked with the young newscaster Paul Harvey. The station carried Harry Heilmann’s broadcasts of Detroit Tigers games and Caray hosted locally produced pregame and postgame shows. He also provided play by play of Western Michigan University basketball and football. During his stint at WKZO, Caray also got his first experience with baseball play-by-play, broadcasting a semipro tournament in Battle Creek, Michigan.

Caray later claimed that it was during the broadcast of this semipro tournament that he first uttered two phrases he would employ throughout his career. When a player hit a home run, Caray exclaimed, “It might be … it could be … it IS … a home run!” Another expression he claimed to have first used during this early broadcast was “Holy Cow!” Caray later explained, “I knew the profanity that had been used up and down my street wouldn’t go on the air. So I just trained myself every time I was excited to say ‘Holy Cow’ instead of some profanity.”4 The expression itself was not unique to Caray’s broadcasts; it had been used over the air by Minnesota sportscaster Halsey Hall as early as the 1930s and was later picked up by New York Yankees announcer Phil Rizzuto. Harry later said, “Not that it’s so unique — everybody uses ‘Holy Cow.’ The unique part was that I finally did it on a major-league broadcast, in 1945, with a lot of radio stations across the country listening to it.”5

Rejected for military service because of bad eyesight, Caray moved back to St. Louis, where he was working at radio station KXOK by early 1944. Working first as a staff announcer, Caray soon had a 15-minute nightly sports show. Unlike other radio sports show hosts of the day, he not only provided sports news, he also editorialized and criticized. His controversial approach won a lot of attention in a year when both St. Louis teams met in the World Series. In the fall of that year, Caray was hired to do play-by-play of the minor-league St. Louis Flyers hockey team, college basketball, and other sports events sponsored by the Griesedieck Brothers Brewery over station WIL.

Griesedieck Brothers were planning on sponsoring broadcasts of Cardinals and Browns home games in 1945 and were looking for a famous sportscaster to handle the play-by-play duties. Caray went directly to brewery president Edward J. Griesedieck to lobby for the job. Griesedieck initially turned him down, explaining that he preferred to hire an announcer in the style of veteran St. Louis broadcaster France Laux. Laux, Griesedieck explained, described the action in a way that allowed a person to listen and yet read the newspaper undisturbed. At this, Caray exploded. “You’re spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to sponsor baseball, and when your commercial comes on, when your handpicked announcer is selling your product, you’re busy reading the paper!” Caray continued, “You need someone who’s going to keep the fan interested in the game. Because if they’re paying attention to the game, they’ll pay attention to the commercial!”6 Convinced by Caray’s argument, and certain that Caray could keep the fans interested, Griesedieck hired him immediately.

Starting in the spring of 1945, Harry was teamed with former catcher and manager Gabby Street to broadcast the home games of the Cardinals and the Browns over WIL. In St. Louis at the time, there were no exclusive broadcast rights. Several local St. Louis radio stations aired the baseball games in direct competition with one another through the 1930s and into the mid-1940s. Caray and Street were competing with such established St. Louis announcers as France Laux and Johnny O’Hara as well as colorful former pitcher Dizzy Dean. Between the enthusiasm of Caray and the analysis and expertise of Street, the duo built a following in the St. Louis area. As the Cardinals won the National League pennant in 1946, Caray and Street gained increasing recognition and popularity from St. Louis fans. Caray’s only regret about the 1946 season was that he did not get the opportunity to broadcast the World Series, which the Cardinals won in seven games.

In 1947 Cardinals president Sam Breadon granted exclusive broadcast rights to Griesedieck Brothers. This meant that Caray and Street would be the only broadcasters for all of the Cardinals’ home and road games. The Cardinals radio network was baseball’s largest network, with 54 affiliate stations in 1948. The network included 91 stations by 1954, introducing listeners in states like Oklahoma and Mississippi to Caray’s play-by-play descriptions. By 1954 Caray had survived changes in Cardinals ownership (August A. Busch, Jr. bought the team in 1953) and a change in broadcast sponsors (from Griesedieck to the Anheuser-Busch Brewery.) Caray and Street worked together until the former catcher died in 1951. Caray’s later broadcast partners in St. Louis included Joe Garagiola and Jack Buck.

Caray’s style was viewed by many as controversial. He said in 1977, “You can’t be controversial by design because it comes off as phony. It has to be spontaneous. I’m like a fan. If I see something on the field I don’t like, I react the way a fan does. If I think a player isn’t hustling I’ll say so. If I think a manager is making mistakes platooning I’ll say so. When I was with the Cardinals I was always in the hot box with managers like Eddie Stanky and Eddie Dyer. I’ve always said the managers and owners don’t like me, but the people love me.”7 Stan Musial said of Caray years later, “He said it like it was. I guess some of the ballplayers were perturbed, but he was a fan. … He didn’t mean anything by it. A little later he’d be rooting for you. He wanted the ballplayers to do well.”8

One of the highlights of Caray’s broadcasting career came on October 3, 1951, in a game that did not involve the Cardinals. Harry shared a booth with Russ Hodges (separated by a curtain) for a special broadcast back to St. Louis of the National League playoff game between the New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers. Caray was one of many announcers at the microphone as Bobby Thomson hit his famous home run to win the pennant for the Giants. Another exciting moment came in May 1958 as Harry broadcast the play-by-play when Stan Musial got his 3,000th hit. A rather memorable moment occurred on April 17, 1964, as Caray excitedly announced a surprise second-inning double by pitcher Roger Craig by saying, “I can’t believe it! Roger Craig just hit the left-center field fence! The Cardinals are going to win this pennant!”9 Caray made this statement during the fourth game of the season. His enthusiastic call turned out to be prophetic as the Cardinals (who were never in first place until the final week of that season) would clinch their first pennant in 18 years. Harry broadcast the World Series over NBC radio and TV as the Cardinals beat the Yankees in seven games. Caray also had NBC network announcing duties as the Cardinals went to the World Series in 1967 and 1968, and he also broadcast the All-Star Game in 1957 (on NBC radio).

When not broadcasting, Caray enjoyed partying and mingling with fans at local taverns. He said in 1996, “Everywhere I’d go, if I didn’t know anybody at the bar I’d make a friend out of the bartender in two minutes. If there were two people at the bar, I’d say, ‘Give the house a drink, and be sure to lock the front door so nobody else gets in.’ ”10 Spending so much time on the road with the Cardinals and celebrating with fans afterwards took a toll on Caray’s personal life. In 1949 Dorothy Caray, his wife of 12 years, divorced him. Their 10-year-old son, Skip, remembered being devastated as he learned of the divorce when he saw it headlined on the front page of a newspaper as he walked to school. After the divorce Skip, his brother, Christopher, and his sister Patricia would see even less of their father as he kept up the grueling travel schedule of a professional sportscaster.

Caray’s career and his life nearly came to an end on November 3, 1968. “I was walking across the street leaving a St. Louis hotel at 1:15 in the morning when I was hit by a car,” he said in 1970. “The driver was a 21-year-old veteran just back that morning from Vietnam. He had no driver’s license … no insurance. The car knocked me 35 feet in the air. I suffered two broken legs, a broken shoulder and a broken nose. They said I would be in the hospital for seven months. But I wound up walking out after 3½ months. I never missed a game.”11

Caray recovered and returned for his 25th season with the Cardinals in 1969. It turned out to be his last in St. Louis as he was fired at the end of the season. Rumors circulated that Caray was involved in an affair with Susan Busch, wife of August Busch III. Caray himself would never deny the rumors, commenting that it was good for his ego for people to believe such a thing to be true. He wasn’t unemployed long. In 1970 he was hired to broadcast the games of the Oakland Athletics.

“I’ve criticized the Cards and got into hot situations with the management, and I’ll tell the truth about the club here, too,” Harry said as he introduced himself to Oakland in 1970. “The biggest thing I must have as an announcer is believability.”12 Harry didn’t change anything about his broadcasting style in Oakland. (Athletics owner Charlie Finley tried to persuade Caray to change his trademark expression from “Holy cow” to “Holy mule” in honor of the team mascot but Harry rejected the suggestion.)13 By now married to his second wife, Marian, Harry claimed to enjoy his time in Oakland but refused to move there. “St. Louis is still my home,” he said in June of that year. “I have a nice home in Ladue, a suburb, and I didn’t want to give it up. And Marian and I didn’t want to take our daughters, Michelle and Elizabeth, out of school.”14 Missing the Midwest, after one year Harry left Oakland for Chicago.

Replacing legendary broadcaster Bob Elson, Caray became the voice of the White Sox in 1971. The White Sox under owner John Allyn were experiencing difficult financial times. Unable to offer Caray a salary as high as the one he earned in Oakland, the White Sox offered an attendance clause in Harry’s salary. Knowing that Caray had a reputation for promoting the game and drawing fans, the White Sox offered Caray a $10,000 bonus for every 100,000 spectators the Sox drew over 600,000. (More than 800,000 fans came to see the White Sox play that year.) Beginning in 1973, Caray added television to his duties, providing play-by-play on WSNS-TV for the first and last three innings and switching to radio play-by-play for the middle three. By the mid-1970s, all of the White Sox home games and most of the road games were televised and Harry was becoming one of the most popular figures in Chicago.

Caray loved Chicago and as he had in other cities, he tried to provide fun for the fans. He would occasionally take a cooler of beer to the outfield bleachers at White Sox Park (passing bottles of beer to the fans) and broadcast the game from there. He continued to mingle with the fans in area taverns celebrating into the early-morning hours after the games. He soon became known as “the Mayor of Rush Street.” As much as he cheered on the White Sox when they did well, he remained unafraid to criticize them when he felt it was warranted. His criticisms often put him at odds with players like third baseman Bill Melton and manager Chuck Tanner. By the end of the 1975 season, owner John Allyn had heard enough of Caray’s criticisms and was going to fire him. However, in December 1975 a group of investors led by Bill Veeck bought the team. Veeck, knowing the popularity Caray had with the fans, kept him on.

It was because of Veeck that another one of Caray’s trademarks began. One night Veeck noticed Caray singing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” in the booth during the seventh-inning stretch. Inspired, the next night, Veeck secretly installed a public-address microphone in the booth and turned it on when Caray began singing the song. Caray was surprised to hear his voice singing over the public-address system. He recalled in 1996, “When the game was over I walked up to Veeck and said, ‘What the hell was that all about?’ He said, ‘Harry, I’ve been looking for 45 years for the right man to do this, sing this song.’ I began to puff up with flattery. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘everybody, no matter where they were sitting, as soon as they heard you, they knew they could sing better than you, so they’d join in.’ ”15 Thus began the tradition of Caray leading the fans in an off-key rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”.

After working with a series of partners in Chicago, Caray was teamed primarily with former center fielder Jimmy Piersall beginning in 1977. Piersall was even more outspoken in his commentary than Caray. Caray loved working with Piersall. Though they often said things on the air that angered players or management, the White Sox broadcasts became more popular than ever with the public. By 1981 the team was sold to a group led by Jerry Reinsdorf and Eddie Einhorn.

By late 1981 Reinsdorf and Einhorn were planning on putting the White Sox telecasts on a subscription-only pay TV channel. Caray felt strongly that asking the White Sox fans to pay a subscription to watch the televised games would not work. Caray, who already had reservations about working for Reinsdorf and Einhorn, contacted the Chicago Cubs and asked if they would be interested in hiring him to replace retiring TV announcer Jack Brickhouse. They were. In November 1981 it was announced that Harry Caray would be the new voice of the Cubs.

With Caray working the first and last three innings on television (and the middle three on radio), the games were telecast on superstation WGN, which was seen in 30 million homes by the late 1980s. Caray became even more of a celebrity than he had been when broadcasting on a large radio network with the Cardinals. Caray made the jump from the South Side to the North Side of Chicago seamlessly. At the time of his crosstown move, Caray quipped, “Moving to the Cubs and day baseball shouldn’t be too hard. I hear the bars on Rush Street are going to start closing at 2 A.M. soon anyway. It’s those 4 A.M. and 5 A.M. nights that give you a headache.”16 At Wrigley Field, he continued the tradition of occasionally broadcasting games from the outfield bleachers and he led the fans in singing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”

On February 17, 1987, Caray suffered a stroke while playing cards with friends in Palm Springs, California. It was uncertain whether he would work again. Well-wishes were sent by fans all over the United States. “I couldn’t move my leg, I couldn’t move my arm, I couldn’t control my speech,” Caray said. “And then I got boxes of mail, expressions of love in letters and flowers from people I didn’t know, and it breathed a little more hope into me.”17 He worked with a therapist to improve his speech so that he could return to the broadcasts. Caray wasn’t able to be back with the team by Opening Day, so the Cubs used a series of guest broadcasters in his place, including sportscaster Brent Musburger, columnist George Will, and comedian Bill Murray. On May 19, 1987, Caray made his return to Wrigley Field. During the game he received an on-air phone call from President Ronald Reagan welcoming him back to the booth. (It wouldn’t be the last time Caray received greetings from the White House. Reagan visited him in the Wrigley Field booth on September 30, 1988, and broadcast part of the game. In 1994 First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton joined Harry in leading the singing during the seventh-inning stretch.)

Caray broadcast for some exciting teams in Chicago, as the Cubs won the National League East title in 1984 and 1989. However exciting the game might be on the field, though, Caray made sure to have fun in his broadcasts as well. Partner Steve Stone recalled how when Caray thought the game was moving too slowly, he would pronounce players’ names backwards. He would also mispronounce the names of players, sometimes on purpose. On Caray’s broadcasts, Rafael Palmeiro became “Palermo.” Delino DeShields became “Delino DeSanders.”18 Five years after the stroke Harry admitted, “I’m not as sharp as I used to be. I mispronounce a lot of names, I know. I’ll never be able to say the name of the Cubs’ catcher (Hector Villanueva). I say Valenzuela. I say Villanova. But people should understand that I’ve never been able to pronounce names correctly—even when I was younger.”19

Toward the end of his life, Harry reflected, “If I had to do it over again, I wouldn’t have missed my kids’ growing up. I missed a lot, and I have regrets. But I think I’ve made up for that now and I have a wonderful family.”20 By the early 1990s, that family included three generations of Carays broadcasting baseball. His son Skip worked to establish his own name in the business and became the voice of the Atlanta Braves in 1976. Skip’s son Chip Caray would begin broadcasting the games of the NBA Orlando Magic in 1989 and would join his father in the Braves booth two years later. On May 13, 1991, Harry, Skip, and Chip Caray were together at the microphone as the Braves and Cubs played at Wrigley Field. Both Skip and Chip were present during another proud moment in 1989 as Harry received the Ford Frick Award from the Baseball Hall of Fame. Another of Harry’s grandsons, Josh Caray, has worked as a minor-league baseball broadcaster.

During a road trip in Miami in June 1994, Harry collapsed and was hospitalized. Doctors discovered that he had an irregular heartbeat. He returned to broadcasting the games a month later, but cut back greatly on his travel schedule. Doctors ordered Harry to restrict his alcohol consumption as well. “I’m reduced to drinking O’Doul’s,” Caray said. “Can you imagine Harry Caray unable to drink a martini? Without a cold Budweiser? It’s not me.”21 By now twice divorced, Harry had found a lasting partnership with his third wife, Dutchie. After his stroke, Harry insisted that Dutchie accompany him on road trips. As the years went on, Dutchie’s presence on the road became more important to him. “I don’t want to die alone in a hotel room like my friend Don Drysdale did,” Harry said.22

Shortly before the 1998 season, Harry’s grandson Chip was hired to announce the Cubs games with him. Harry was excited at the prospect of working with his grandson. Sadly, it was not to be. On Valentine’s Day 1998, Harry collapsed while having dinner with Dutchie at a Rancho Mirage, California, restaurant. He never regained consciousness and died four days later of cardiac arrest with resultant brain damage. Harry’s Funeral Mass was held at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago. He was buried at All Saints Cemetery in suburban Chicago.

On Opening Day 1998, Dutchie Caray led the Wrigley faithful in singing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” It’s a tradition that still continues on the North Side of Chicago with “guest conductors” filling Harry’s place as leader of the seventh-inning stretch. After Harry’s death, a statue of him was dedicated outside the entrance of Wrigley Field. In 2010 the statue was moved to the outfield bleacher entrance. Cubs owner Tom Ricketts explained the move saying, “As a real fan, he was always comfortable in the bleachers. He liked the atmosphere in the bleachers.”23 Harry probably would have agreed. He himself said in 1975, “I don’t mind being known as a fan. Listen, baseball is part of Americana and no one is going to supplant it. And no other sport can match it. … I’m a fan, a fan’s announcer.”24

This biography is included in the book “Drama and Pride in the Gateway City: The 1964 St. Louis Cardinals” (University of Nebraska Press, 2013), edited by John Harry Stahl and Bill Nowlin. For more information, or to purchase the book from University of Nebraska Press, click here.

Sources

Publications

Harry Caray and Bob Verdi. Holy Cow (New York: Berkley Books, 1989)

Russ Hodges and Al Hirshberg. My Giants (Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1963)

Pat Hughes and Bruce Miles. Harry Caray: Voice of the Fans (Naperville, Illinois: Sourcebooks, Inc., 2008)

Ray Poindexter. Golden Throats and Silver Tongues: The Radio Announcers (Conway, Arkansas: River Road Press, 1978)

Tony Silvia. Fathers and Sons in Baseball Broadcasting; The Carays, Brennamans, Bucks and Kalases (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company Inc., 2009)

Curt Smith. Voices of Summer (New York: Carroll & Graf, 2005)

Steve Stone and Barry Rozner. Where’s Harry? Steve Stone Remembers His Years with Harry Caray. (Dallas: Taylor Publishing, 1999)

Stew Thornley. Holy Cow! The Life and Times of Halsey Hall (Minneapolis: Nodin Press, 1991)

Articles

“Air Lanes.” The Sporting News, October 6, 1954.

Mark Alesia. “‘He was the life of baseball’; Friends remember Caray’s colorful life on, off microphone.” Daily Herald, Arlington Heights, Illinois, February 19, 1998.

Associated Press. “Caray ignores critics; plays to his doting fans.” Daily Herald, Arlington Heights, Illinois, July 17, 1979.

Associated Press. “Harry back in booth; Cubs win.” Rockford (Illinois) Register-Star, July 23, 1994.

Associated Press. “Cards Snub Dean, Browns in New Broadcast Policy.” Waterloo (Iowa) Daily Courier, January 12, 1947.

Associated Press. “Harry Caray suffers stroke.” Rockford (Illinois) Register-Star, February 20, 1987.

Associated Press. “Sportscaster Must Pay $575 Monthly Alimony.” Rockford (Illinois) Register-Republic, November 11, 1949.

“Back Home at KXOK.” The Sporting News, January 13, 1944.

Ira Berkow. “All is right at Wrigley again.” New York Times, May 20, 1987.

Edgar G. Brands. “Two Stations To Air St. Louis Tilts; Gabby Street to Return, Dean Out as Play Gabber.” The Sporting News, March 22, 1945.

“Caray Makes Ticker Talk Sound Like Park Aircast.” The Sporting News, July 30, 1947.

“City health records divulge the secret of Harry Caray’s age.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 19, 1998.

Jack Craig. “SporTView.” The Sporting News, May 15, 1971.

Pat Cunningham. “ ‘Classless bunch deserves to lose.’ ” Rockford (Illinois) Register-Star, September 18, 1981.

Bob Dolgan. Column. Cleveland Plain Dealer, May 7, 1977.

Nancy Gay. “Holy Cow! A conversation with legendary broadcaster Harry Caray.” San Francisco Chronicle, April 27, 1996.

Glennon, Ed. “First Lady returns to Friendly Confines.” Rockford (Illinois) Register-Star, April 5, 1994.

Todd Jones. “Despite limelight Caray remains a mystery; Baseball voice an institution among fans in Chicago.” Globe and Mail, Toronto, April 29, 1994.

Dick Kaegel. “‘Holy Cow!’ the Voice of Caray Has a Tight Grip on Cards Fans.” The Sporting News, July 2, 1966.

Jerry Langdon. “ ‘Fan’ Carey (sic) is radio’s Cosell.” Rockford (Illinois) Register-Republic, July 29, 1975.

Ed Levitt. “Harry Caray Nets New Job as Voice of Athletics.” The Sporting News, February 7, 1970.

Bob Logan. “Caray’s epitaph: ‘You can’t beat fun at the old ballpark.’ ” Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, Illinois), February 19, 1998.

Dave Luecking. “Harry Caray: 1914-1998.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 19, 1998.

Bruce Miles. “Caray statue moved to bleacher entrance.” Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, Illinois), September 2, 2010.

Edgar Munzel. “White Sox Sign Caray As New Radio Voice.” The Sporting News, January 23, 1971.

Jeff Nordlund. “Caray moves into house that Jack built.” Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, Illinois), November 17, 1981.

Jim O’Donnell. “Addition of Brock greases skids for Piersall.” Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, Illinois), June 21, 1981.

Jim O’Donnell. “Caray’s doctor maintains positive approach.” Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, Illinois), February 26, 1987.

“People…in sports.” Rockford (Illinois) Register-Star, November 23, 1972.

Rocky Mountain News Wire Service. “Services to be held for Caray in Calif., Chicago.” Rocky Mountain News, Denver, February 20, 1998.

Barry Rozner. “Caray talks freely about his age, his life.” Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, Illinois), February 16, 1998.

Jim Scott. “Oakland Is A-Okay, Claims a Contented Caray.” The Sporting News, June 27, 1970.

J.G. Taylor Spink. “Broadcasting Awards Won by Allen and Caray.” The Sporting News, October 6, 1948.

Tim Tucker. “ ‘… this is something I was born to do.’ –Josh Caray, Rome Braves announcer.” Atlanta Journal-Constitution. May 5, 2007.

Marty York. “Baseball can be fun when you’re Carayed away.” Globe and Mail, Toronto, April 28, 1992.

Online

http://www.ancestry.com (marriage record of Daisy Argint and Sam Capuran).

http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/deathcertificates/ (death record of Daisy Capuran).

Notes