Few and Chosen: Defining Cardinal Greatness Across the Eras - Hardcover

McCarver, Tim; Pepe, Phil

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 157243483X ISBN 13: 9781572434837

Verlag: Triumph Books, 2003

Inhaltsangabe

Part historical catalog, part biography, and part baseball primer for beginners and experts alike, this account lists the arguably best five players at each position by one of the best players in St. Louis history&;Tim McCarver. The book is ideal for any baseball fan who wants to learn more about the game and includes immortals such as Cy Young, Stan Musial, Ozzie Smith, Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Curt Flood, Leo Durocher, Steve Carlton, and Mark McGwire.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Tim McCarver is a former Cardinal who was a member of two world championship teams in St. Louis. During his 21-year MLB career on four teams, he played in two All-Star games and three league championships series. He is the lead game analyst for Fox Sports and calls Yankees games on Fox 5 in New York. He won an Emmy Award in 2000 for Outstanding Sports Event Analyst and is the only network baseball analyst to cover the last 11 regular and postseasons. Phil Pepe is the author of more than 40 books on sports, including collaborations with Yankees legends Mickey Mantle, Billy Martin, and Whitey Ford. He is a former Yankees beat writer for the New York Daily News and a former president of the Baseball Writers Association of America. Joe Buck is a play-by-play sportscaster for Fox who has won numerous Sports Emmy Awards.

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Few and Chosen

Defining Cardinal Greatness Across the Eras

By Tim McCarver, Phil Pepe

Triumph Books

Copyright © 2003 Tim McCarver Phil Pepe
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-57243-483-7

Contents

Foreword by Joe Buck, 
Preface, 
Acknowledgments, 
Introduction, 
ONE Catcher, 
TWO First Baseman, 
THREE Second Baseman, 
FOUR Shortstop, 
FIVE Third Baseman, 
SIX Left Fielder, 
SEVEN Center Fielder, 
EIGHT Right Fielder, 
NINE Right-Handed Pitcher, 
TEN Left-Handed Pitcher, 
ELEVEN Relief Pitcher, 
TWELVE Manager, 
Index, 

CHAPTER 1

Catcher

1. TED SIMMONS

2. WALKER COOPER

3. HAL SMITH

4. TOM PAGNOZZI

5. DEL RICE

I think I'm safe in saying I was part of the most important trade in baseball history. I don't say this out of vanity, although getting traded, especially the first time, is a trauma that hits an athlete personally and with a profound impact.

The reason this trade between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Philadelphia Phillies on October 7, 1969, was so historic is that one of the players traded was Curt Flood, who had been a standout center fielder for the Cardinals for 12 seasons. This was the trade that opened the eyes of the baseball world to the primitive nature of baseball's sanctified reserve clause and set in motion the whole concept of free agency.

Flood refused to report to Philadelphia and though he lost his case in the Supreme Court, a year later the Players Association ultimately won in binding arbitration its contention that players should not be confined to one team in perpetuity. And, perhaps because of that courageous stand, 31 years later, Alex Rodriguez was able to sign with the Texas Rangers for more than $250 million for 10 years.

I'll discuss Flood, his extraordinary stand, and his place in baseball history in the chapter dealing with center fielders. For now, back to this trade. I was packaged by the Cardinals with Flood, left-handed reliever Joe Hoerner, and outfielder Byron Browne and dealt to the Phillies in exchange for the great Dick Allen, veteran infielder Cookie Rojas, and a right-handed pitcher, Jerry Johnson.

As I said, the trade hit me hard, since I had signed with the Cardinals, and had played in St. Louis for 10 seasons. The Cardinals were the only organization I knew.

There were several reasons, I believe, for the Cardinals trading me after I had come off a decent year in which I caught 136 games, and more important, had played in three World Series before my 28 birthday.

One reason for the trade, I'm convinced, is that I had begun to get active with the Players' Association. I was the Cardinals' player representative, and I had a few run-ins with the brewery that owned the team (Anheuser-Busch) over things like players getting paid for appearances. I was stirring the waters. The Cardinals are a very close-knit organization and very conservative, and they didn't like having players around who caused turbulence, so I'm sure that's one reason they got rid of me.

"In 1973, I swear Simmons hit 400 balls right on the screws. It seemed everything he hit was a line drive, even his outs."

Another reason was that they had a young catcher coming through their system who they thought was going to be a star, and they wanted to make room for him. The catcher's name was Ted Simmons. He was a "can't miss" prospect, a switch-hitter and, man, could he hit.

The first time I can remember seeing Simmons was when he came up to the Cardinals at the end of the 1969 season. He got into five games, had 14 at bats, and three hits, including a game-winning hit. The Cardinals were convinced he was ready to take over the catching job, so while my union activities might have been a reason for the Cardinals trading me, Simmons was the main reason for the trade.

Teddy took over as the Cards' regular catcher in 1970 and almost immediately began showing the promise the Cardinals saw in him by batting over .300 in 1971 and 1972. When I returned to St. Louis in 1973 I saw firsthand what a terrific hitter he was.

Defensively, he wasn't a great technician, but he was very intelligent and a good handler of pitchers. It was his bat that set him apart. In 1973, I swear Simmons hit 400 balls right on the screws. It seemed everything he hit was a line drive, even his outs. He had 619 at-bats and 192 hits, and he batted .310, but I believe with luck, he could have had 300 hits that year. That's how hard he hit the ball all year.

At the end of the 1969 season, one of the writers traveling with the Cardinals wrote an article criticizing my dress and hairstyle. Maybe he was talked into writing the article by Cardinals management to justify getting rid of me. The article wondered whatever happened to that crew cut kid who came up to the Cardinals at the age of 17. Well, times and styles were changing in the sixties. The Vietnam War had changed a nation. We were wearing Nehru jackets and wearing our hair longer. On a dare from Dal Maxvill I had grown long sideburns promoting the style of the day. The article pointed out all of this as an indication that I had changed and was becoming somewhat rebellious.

When Simmons reported to spring training in 1970, he had his hair in a ponytail. It was so long, he needed a rubber band to bind it. I couldn't resist seeking out the writer who had written the article about me, Neal Russo of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and telling him, "If you can hit, you can wear your hair down to the ground. And you should know that!"

No knock on Teddy's mane — we called him "Simba," which means "lion" in Swahili — for whom I have the greatest respect. He was a very bright guy. Still is. The Pirates made him their general manager. He played at 5'11", 193 pounds, but he was one of the physically toughest human beings I've ever known. But he never flaunted his strength.

Simmons played 21 seasons in the major leagues, 13 with the Cardinals, five with the Brewers, and three with the Braves. He finished with 2,472 hits, 248 home runs, 1,389 RBIs, and a lifetime average of .285. He caught more games than any catcher in Cardinals history and is in their top ten in at-bats, hits, total bases, doubles, home runs, RBIs, and walks. That's why he's number one on my list of Cardinals catchers and, in my view, the catcher on the all-time switch-hitters team.

I met Walker Cooper (my old teammate Don Blasingame married his daughter), but I never saw him play. I have heard enough about him, though, and I am impressed enough by his record to make him number two on my list of all-time Cardinals catchers. Walker was a big bear of a man out of Atherton, Missouri, 6'3", 210 pounds, and a strong hitter in the Ernie Lombardi mold, meaning he couldn't run, but he always hit the ball hard.

He was the catcher on those great Cardinals teams of the forties that won three National League pennants and two World Series in three years, 1942–43–44, and might have won more if World War II hadn't come along. Walker and his brother, Mort, formed what may be the greatest brother battery in baseball history, although there aren't many of them. I can think of Rick and Wes Ferrell, Larry and Norm Sherry, Bobby and Wilmer Shantz.

Big Coop, as he was called, batted .318 with the Cardinals in 1943 and .317 in 1944. He had his biggest year with the Giants in 1947, when he teamed with another ex-Cardinal, Johnny Mize, and helped the Giants set the then National League record for home runs...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Triumph Books
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2003
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 157243483X
• ISBN 13: 9781572434837
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 186
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
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