Soldier’s story: How Eddie Kazak became Cardinals all-star

In late July 1944, Allied troops were on the outskirts of Brest, a strategic seaport town in northwest France that the Germans occupied during World War II and turned into a submarine base. The Allies were determined to drive out the Nazis, and hoped to make the harbor a supply hub.

Among the infantry advancing on Brest was a U.S. Army private, Eddie Kazak, a St. Louis Cardinals infield prospect. In the combat that ensued, Kazak had a bayonet driven through his left arm and had his right elbow crushed during an artillery attack. It took more than a year for him to recover. Discharged in December 1945, doctors warned him against playing baseball again.

Four years later, Kazak was the Cardinals’ rookie third baseman and the starter for the National League in the 1949 All-Star Game.

Dangerous work

A son of Polish immigrants, Edward “Eddie” Tkaczuk was born in Steubenville, Ohio, and raised in Muse, Pa., 20 miles south of Pittsburgh. His father, Joseph Tkaczuk, was a coal miner, working “down deep where the sun and fresh air are withheld by earthen barriers as formidable as prison bars,” Bob Broeg wrote in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

After Eddie graduated from high school, he joined his dad as a coal digger. “To blink his way into the daylight and up to the cashier’s cage above ground for $50 checks every two weeks, he had to load 130 or more tons,” Broeg reported. 

One day, a coal car, swinging around a bend too fast, jumped a rail, overturned and pinned Eddie against a tunnel wall, cracking several ribs.

When he recovered, Eddie, 19, resumed playing amateur baseball, including on Sundays for the coal mine team. He got an offer to turn pro with the Valdosta (Ga.) Trojans, a Class D minor-league club with no big-league affiliation.

Eddie wanted to sign but sought approval from his father because it meant giving up the steadier income he shared with the family from mining. “Papa Tkaczuk was eager for his son to have an opportunity to spend his life above ground at an easier task,” Bob Broeg wrote. “The boy was given parental blessing.”

Purple heart

A second baseman who hit for average, Eddie played for Valdosta in 1940 and impressed Joe Cusick, manager of the Cardinals’ Albany (Ga.) farm team. On Cusick’s recommendation, the Cardinals bought Eddie’s contract for $1,000 and brought him into their system. He batted .378 with 221 hits for Albany in 1941.

While with the Houston Buffaloes in 1942, Eddie met Thelma Bee Gregg and they became a couple. After the season, Eddie, 22, enlisted for military duty and went into the Army. That’s how he ended up in France in the summer of 1944.

The Germans fortified their defenses at Brest and the fighting was intense. In hand-to-hand combat with a German soldier, Eddie was knocked to the ground. He rolled over as the attacker rushed forward and thrust a bayonet through Eddie’s left arm, just missing an artery. “I think I shot him then because suddenly I was free,” Eddie said to Bob Broeg.

The wound required 19 stitches and left a huge scar.

Two weeks later, during an advancement, Eddie came under heavy fire. Shell fragments rained all around, striking Eddie and bringing down a structure he was near. He was buried in bricks and his right elbow, the one he used for throwing a baseball, was shattered.

Eddie spent the next year and a half in military hospitals. Doctors wanted to amputate the arm but he was against it. “For nearly a year of that time, his right arm was shaped like a capital ‘L’ and he couldn’t move the first three fingers of his right hand,” Broeg reported. “Then there was a delicate operation. Pieces of crushed bone were removed and plastic was used to repair the shattered elbow.”

Movement returned to the fingers, but when he was cleared to return to civilian life, Eddie, 25, had to weigh the advice of doctors against his desire to resume his baseball career. “I was warned to give up baseball because throwing might dislocate the synthetic elbow,” he told the Associated Press. “The doctors also said that, if the elbow should lock, there was nothing they could do about it.”

Eddie thought it over and chose baseball.

Lots of changes

In 1946, Eddie married Thelma Bee Gregg and they settled in her hometown of Austin, Texas. He took an off-season job as a postman, delivering mail. “I like the walking, the exercise,” he told Broeg. He also chose a simplified spelling of his last name, changing Tkaczuk to Kazak. As broadcaster Harry Caray might say, Kazak spelled backwards is still Kazak.

Kazak came to 1946 spring training to play second base in the Cardinals’ system but almost quit. He told the Newspaper Enterprise Association, “I couldn’t throw or swing properly. The pain killed me.”

He did daily exercises to strengthen his right arm and gradually made enough progress to perform. He also changed his batting style to compensate for the damaged arm, moving his hands up the handle and using a choked grip. Broeg described him as a good wrist hitter, “meaning Kazak can delay his swing until the last second and then snap into a pitch, buggy-whipping the ball.”

As the Newspaper Enterprise Association noted, “His powerful wrists make him an extraordinary line drive hitter. He gets the bat around so quickly that he gives the impression of jerking the ball out of the catcher’s glove, pulling it into left field.”

Kazak’s hitting kept him in the game. He made 47 errors at second with Columbus (Ga.) in 1946, but batted .326 with 88 RBI in 93 games for Omaha in 1947.

Promoted to Class AAA Rochester in 1948, Kazak was moved to third base by manager Cedric Durst. “I hate to have to pivot and make those snap throws (at second),” Kazak told the Associated Press. As the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette noted, “The throw from third is longer but it is easier for Eddie to make.”

After hitting .309 with 85 RBI for Rochester in 1948, Kazak, 28, got called up to the big leagues in September and made his debut with the Cardinals. He got six hits, including three doubles, in six games.

Opportunity knocks

After Cardinals third baseman Whitey Kurowski had bone chips removed from his right elbow late in the 1948 season, he came to training camp the following spring and was unable to throw, opening the door for Kazak to make the team.

The 1949 Cardinals began the season with rookie Tommy Glaviano as the third baseman and Kazak as backup. When Glaviano struggled to hit, Kazak became the starter in the fifth game of the season. Kazak hit .385 in April and .359 in May.

On May 5, Cardinals second baseman Red Schoendienst was injured and Kazak replaced him, starting five games at second. It didn’t hurt his hitting. On May 9, he slugged his first big-league home run, a grand slam versus the Dodgers’ Joe Hatten at Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field. Boxscore

Two months later, Kazak was back in Ebbets Field as the National League starting third baseman for the All-Star Game. Kazak was selected ahead of the Giants’ Sid Gordon and the Braves’ Bob Elliott in fan balloting. “It’s the greatest thrill I’ve ever had,” Kazak told The Sporting News.

(The National League all-star catcher was the Phillies’ Andy Seminick, who, like Kazak, grew up in Muse, Pa.)

Kazak went 2-for-2 in the game _ a single against Mel Parnell in the second and a RBI-single in the third versus Virgil Trucks.

He also was involved in a fielding controversy in the first. After scooping up a George Kell grounder, Kazak made a low throw to first baseman Johnny Mize, who dropped the ball. According to umpire Cal Hubbard, Kell would have been out if Mize had held onto the ball. Official scorer Roscoe McGowen charged Kazak with the error, but later reversed his ruling, giving Mize the error instead. Boxscore

Painful slide

Two weeks later, the Cardinals (52-36) were in Brooklyn to play the first-place Dodgers (53-34). Facing Joe Hatten again in the second inning, Kazak drove a ball to deep center. It smacked against the wall and caromed directly to center fielder Duke Snider.

Kazak, not expecting the ball to get to Snider so quickly, initially thought he had a stand-up double. “I realized all of a sudden I had to slide,” he recalled to the Austin American-Statesman. “I was too close to the bag for a normal slide and I plowed right on through the cushion, breaking the strap and separating the bag from the iron pin.”

Kazak writhed in pain and was carried on a stretcher to the clubhouse. “I was scared to death because it hurt way up into my hip,” Kazak told the Austin newspaper. Boxscore

He suffered chipped bones in his right ankle, jamming it where it fits the socket, and was unable to play the remainder of July and all of August.

On Labor Day, Sept. 5, 1949, the Pirates led the Cardinals in the seventh inning at St. Louis when Kazak made a surprise appearance, hobbling to the plate to bat for pitcher Ted Wilks. The holiday crowd responded with a thunderous ovation. In a game for the first time since injuring his ankle, Kazak swung at the first pitch from Bill Werle and whacked it into the bleachers in left for a home run.

“As he limped slowly around the bases, the roar of the crowd increased in appreciation,” The Sporting News reported. Boxscore

Kazak made four more pinch-hit appearances that month. For the season, he batted .304 (including .312 versus the Dodgers) and had an on-base percentage of .362. The Cardinals (96-58) finished a game behind the National League champion Dodgers (97-57). “We’d have won it with Kazak in the lineup all season,” Cardinals manager Eddie Dyer said to the Austin American-Statesman.

In October, Kazak had an ankle operation. He was the 1950 Cardinals’ Opening Day third baseman. He started again the next night, made three errors and didn’t start again until June.

After beginning the 1951 season with the Cardinals, Kazak was demoted to the minors in May. A year later, he was dealt to the Reds. He appeared in 13 games for them and spent the rest of his playing days in the minors.

The story of Roman Gabriel versus the Cardinals

When Roman Gabriel was with the Los Angeles Rams, a strong performance versus the St. Louis Cardinals helped him emerge as a No. 1 quarterback. Later, when Gabriel went to the Philadelphia Eagles, he led them to a stirring comeback against the Cardinals for his first win, then never beat them again.

In 12 games, including 10 starts, versus the Cardinals, Gabriel won four, lost eight. Seven of those defeats came when he was with the Eagles.

Gabriel won a NFL Most Valuable Player Award in 1969 but never played for a NFL champion in 16 seasons. He was 83 when he died April 20, 2024.

Potent passer

Roman Gabriel’s father came to the United States from the Philippines and settled in Wilmington, N.C., working in a dining car for a railroad.

As a youth, Gabriel had a severe case of asthma. “I remember having to stop to sit on a curb so I could catch my breath on my way to school,” he told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Gabriel attended New Hanover High School, alma mater of NFL quarterback Sonny Jurgensen, and was one of the best prep basketball centers in the state. He joined the football team his senior year. With a strong arm, size and athleticism, he was a natural. “He can throw the pigskin a country mile,” the Greensboro (N.C.) News and Record observed.

Playing college football at North Carolina State, Gabriel became the first Atlantic Coast Conference quarterback to throw for 1,000 yards in a season. At 6-foot-5 and 220 pounds, the Post-Dispatch noted, “He can peer over the tops of defensive linemen. He can stand resolute in the midst of a ferocious rush. He once demonstrated for onlookers that he could toss a football 85 yards in the air.”

Pro scouts were dazzled. The Oakland Raiders made Gabriel the No. 1 overall pick in the 1962 AFL draft. The Rams, with the second and third choices in the first round of the 1962 NFL draft, chose Gabriel and Utah State defensive tackle Merlin Olsen, and signed both.

Tinsel Town

A football player named Roman Gabriel seemed ideal for a team that played its games at the Coliseum in the City of Angels.

The strapping quarterback also had a look tailored for Hollywood. “This is quite a chunk of manhood,” New Yok Times columnist Arthur Daley wrote. “Gabriel is a bronzed giant with high cheek bones.”

Temptations were abundant. Reflecting on his early years with the Rams, Gabriel said to the New York Times, “I came from a small city in North Carolina, Wilmington, and Los Angeles was a lot for me to swallow. For a few years, I was pretty wild, out every night and waking up in a different place every morning. I finally realized that kind of life wasn’t getting me anywhere.”

Gabriel initially did more playing off the field than he did on it. Zeke Bratkowski was the Rams’ quarterback in 1962 and 1963, with Gabriel being given starts in the back ends of those losing seasons. Injured at the beginning of the 1964 season, Gabriel watched as rookie Bill Munson started at quarterback.

The Rams, though, remained intrigued by Gabriel’s potential.

“Gabriel is a cinch to be the next superstar at quarterback,” Rams head coach Harland Svare told the New York Times in 1964. “He’ll be making headlines long after Y.A. Tittle and Johnny Unitas have departed. No quarterback in the history of the league is as strong as Gabriel. One day, Gino Marchetti, the toughest defensive end in the business, had him apparently pinned against the sidelines. Gabriel merely reached out and pushed Marchetti’s face into the dirt. Then he made the throw.”

Nonetheless, when the 1965 season opened, Gabriel was the backup to Munson. As Los Angeles Times columnist Jim Murray noted, “Gabriel has been a Ram for four years. Most of that time he has been just another spectator.”

Job won

On Nov. 21, 1965, Munson tore up his right knee in a game against the San Francisco 49ers and the Rams’ season record fell to 1-9. Gabriel took over and led them to consecutive victories against the Green Bay Packers (their last loss in a NFL title season), St. Louis Cardinals and Cleveland Browns. 

In the Rams’ 27-3 victory over the Cardinals, Gabriel threw two touchdown passes, completed 55 percent of his throws and wasn’t intercepted. One of the scoring passes, 59 yards to tight end Billy Truax, came on third down-and-17 as the Cardinals blitzed two linebackers and a safety.

“Gabriel, unlike any other quarterback, is as strong as the men who were coming at him,” The Sporting News noted. “He strode around in the heavy traffic as Truax ran his pattern. Then, as the Cardinals hacked at him like small boys with a toy hatchet, the tallest quarterback threw a straight dart for the touchdown.”

The Los Angeles Times concluded, “The Rams again benefited from inspired leadership as Gabriel kept the team on the move at all times.” Game stats

The next week, Gabriel threw five touchdown passes against the reigning NFL champion Browns. Game stats

Those performances got the attention of George Allen, who became Rams head coach in 1966. He named Gabriel the starter. “I was determined not to have this Bill Munson-Roman Gabriel wish-wash,” Allen told the Raleigh (N.C.) News and Observer. “I wanted one quarterback. Gabriel was the man.”

Missing link

Before Allen arrived, the Rams hadn’t had a winning season since 1958. With Gabriel as his quarterback, Allen led the Rams to winning records in each of his five seasons with them. In 1967, the Rams were the NFL’s highest-scoring team. Two years later, Gabriel led the league in touchdown tosses (24). “For sheer arm, he is the Sandy Koufax of the NFL,” Jim Murray wrote.

Rams receiver Jack Snow told the Raleigh News and Observer in 1969, “(Gabriel) is the best in the league. I don’t think anyone else could lead the Los Angeles Rams. He is smart, respected and there never has been any questions about his ability. When he steps in the huddle, he’s the boss. The whole team has complete confidence in his ability.”

The hurdle Gabriel couldn’t overcome was the postseason. He got the Rams into two playoff games and lost both. The biggest letdown was in 1969, when the Rams were 11-0, then lost four in a row, including a playoff game against the Minnesota Vikings. “I was crushed, beyond consolation, and I cried,” Gabriel told the Post-Dispatch. “I’d done some good things, but I hadn’t done enough, so I’d let the team down. I felt an awful emptiness.”

Lights, cameras

During timeouts from football, Gabriel tried acting in TV shows and movies. His TV appearances included episodes of “Perry Mason,” “Gilligan’s Island,” “Ironside” and “Wonder Woman.” He showed up in the role of a prison guard in a 1968 movie comedy, “Skidoo,” directed by Otto Preminger and starring Jackie Gleason and Carol Channing.

Gabriel’s biggest movie role was in the 1969 western, “The Undefeated,” starring John Wayne and Rock Hudson. Gabriel’s Rams teammate, Merlin Olsen, also had a part. Gabriel was cast as Blue Boy, an adopted Cherokee Indian son of Wayne’s character. As critic Roger Ebert noted, “Gabriel looks about as Indian as one of the Beach Boys.”

According to Internet Movie Database (IMDb), Rock Hudson said in a 1980 interview he thought the movie was “crap” but he had fond memories of the filming because he became a close friend of John Wayne and Roman Gabriel. Movie trailer

Gabriel said to the Raleigh News and Observer in 1969, “I like acting, and there’s nothing like starting with a winner like John Wayne. I hope some of his winning style rubbed off on me.”

Bad ending

Injuries hampered Gabriel’s playing days with the Rams in 1971 (knee and elbow surgeries) and 1972 (a collapsed lung and tendinitis in his throwing arm). With Tommy Prothro as head coach, the 1972 Rams had a losing season. Disenchanted, Gabriel lashed out, implying the Rams were a selfish group.

“He made some statements that were detrimental to the team,” Rams center Ken Iman said to The Sporting News.

Receiver Jack Snow told columnist Bob Oates that Gabriel didn’t speak to teammates the last two weeks of the season. “Several members of the team, including myself, tolerated him the last half of the season,” Snow said. “I didn’t look up to him. I didn’t respect him.”

In January 1973, after the Rams acquired quarterback John Hadl from the San Diego Chargers, Gabriel demanded a trade. The Rams obliged, sending him to the Eagles in June 1973 for receiver Harold Jackson, running back Tony Baker and three draft choices.

Eagles win

Winless in his first four games with the Eagles, Gabriel faced the Cardinals at St. Louis on Oct. 14, 1973. The Cardinals led, 24-13, in the fourth quarter, but Gabriel threw two touchdown passes in the final two minutes, giving the Eagles a 27-24 victory. The winning touchdown came on a 24-yard pass to receiver Don Zimmerman as time expired.

In the huddle, Gabriel had asked Zimmerman, a rookie making his first NFL start, “Can you get open?” Zimmerman replied, “I think so.” 

“OK,” said Gabriel. “I’m coming to you.”

Gabriel called the play: 93 double arrow. “The pattern called for both wide receivers (Harold Carmichael and Zimmerman) to run deep posts,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. “As Gabriel dropped back, he looked toward Carmichael, freezing safety Clarence Duren. Zimmerman loped down the left sideline, then cut sharply toward the goal post.”

Zimmerman caught a strike from Gabriel and was hit by both Duren and safety Jim Tolbert. Then cornerback Roger Wehrli hit Zimmerman from behind, but Zimmerman continued into the end zone. Game stats   Video at 7:46

Gabriel went on to have a spectacular first season with the Eagles, leading the NFL in completions (270), passing yards (3,219) and touchdown throws (23).

Stupid gesture

In 1974, NFL players went on strike, refusing to report to training camps. The NFL ordered teams to keep the camps open, planning to operate with rookies and free agents. Gabriel, 34, decided to defy the union and cross the Eagles’ picket line.

As a busload of rookies, free agents and Gabriel arrived at camp, “Gabriel was jeered by the same players who had held him in reverence the previous season,” the Philadelphia Daily News reported. “Impulsively, Gabriel reacted by closing his hand at the bus window and extending his middle finger.”

Among the players outside Gabriel’s window were the entire Eagles offensive line.

“I believe Roman Gabriel lost the team when he crossed the picket line,” Eagles running back Po James told the Philadelphia Daily News.

In a 13-3 loss to the 1974 Cardinals, Gabriel was sacked nine times. Game stats

“No one ever suggested that the offensive linemen quit on Gabriel in 1974, but the gung-ho streak that used to sustain their blocking against physically superior defenses was no longer in evidence,” Jack McKinney noted in the Philadelphia Daily News.

Two years later, when Dick Vermeil became head coach of the 1976 Eagles, Mike Boryla replaced Gabriel as the starter. Gabriel spent his final season, 1977, as a backup to Ron Jaworski.

After his playing career, Gabriel worked in several jobs, including three years as head football coach at Cal Poly Pomona (8-24 record), a 1980s stint as president of the Charlotte Knights minor-league baseball team, and a stretch as radio broadcaster for the NFL Carolina Panthers (1995-2001).

Gabriel remains the Rams franchise leader in career touchdown passes (154) and most games played at quarterback (130).

Hometown boy Ken Holtzman: A Cardinal at heart

While growing up in the St. Louis suburb of University City, Ken Holtzman rooted for the Cardinals and dreamed of pitching in the big leagues. Holtzman got to the majors, but not with the Cardinals. He went instead to their rivals, the Cubs.

A left-hander, Holtzman was a starter for the Athletics when they won three consecutive World Series titles. He also pitched two no-hitters in the National League and, as a rookie, beat his boyhood baseball idol, giving Sandy Koufax his last regular-season career loss.

When he pitched the last game of his 15-year stint in the majors, it occurred, fittingly, in his hometown against the Cardinals. Afterward, Holtzman told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “Even though I signed to play with the Cubs, my heart has always been with the Cardinals.”

Holtzman achieved 174 regular-season wins and four more in the World Series. He was 78 when he died on April 14, 2024.

Natural talent

Holtzman got his interest in baseball from his father, Henry, a machine tool dealer.

“I remember reading Jimmy Piersall’s book and how his father pushed him,” Holtzman recalled to The Sporting News. “It was nothing like that with my dad. He didn’t push me, but he used to encourage me.

“He would try to keep my mind preoccupied with sports, and especially improving myself as far as baseball was concerned. When other kids would be thinking about girls and cars after school hours, I used to go home and my father would be waiting. He would take time out from his own business. We’d go over to a park a few blocks away. He’d hit me fly balls and I’d pitch to him. He recognized I had a natural talent for baseball, but we actually worked on all sports. Pretty soon I developed my own desire to improve myself.”

Holtzman was 8 when his dad took him to his first big-league game at the former Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis. “When we walked into the old park, I thought it was the greatest thing in the world,” Holtzman told the Post-Dispatch.

As a pitcher for University City High School, Holtzman was coached during his sophomore and junior years by Ed Mickelson, a former first baseman for the Cardinals, Browns and Cubs. Mickelson’s replacement, Henry Buffa, coached University City to a state title in Holtzman’s senior year of 1963. Holtzman pitched a no-hitter and struck out 14 in the state semifinal against Springfield Hillcrest.

After his sophomore season at the University of Illinois, the Cubs chose Holtzman in the fourth round of the June 1965 amateur draft. Pitching for farm clubs, Holtzman, 19, struck out 114 in 86 innings that summer, earning a promotion to the Cubs in September. The first pitch he threw for them was walloped by the Giants’ Jim Ray Hart for a home run. Boxscore

Special games

Holtzman arranged to take classes at the University of Illinois branch campus in Chicago while pitching for the Cubs.

The first time he faced the Cardinals was on May 25, 1966, in the sixth game played at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Several Holtzman family members were there to cheer him. “I was a little nervous at first,” Holtzman said to the Post-Dispatch. “My grandmother was seeing her first major-league game.”

Holtzman pitched well, allowing two runs in six innings, but was the losing pitcher. Boxscore

Afterward, Holtzman took a 12:19 a.m. flight to Chicago because he had an 8 a.m. French class to attend, the Post-Dispatch reported.

The next time Holtzman pitched in St. Louis, on July 17, 1966, he got the win, yielding two runs in seven innings. Two future Hall of Famers supported him. Ferguson Jenkins got the save and Billy Williams hit for the cycle. Boxscore

Some saw Holtzman, 20, as the Cubs’ version of Sandy Koufax.

“Sportswriters made the first comparison between Sandy and me, primarily, I guess, because both of us are left-handers and Jewish,” Holtzman told The Sporting News. “As far as I’m concerned, there is no comparison. He was my boyhood idol and I still regard him as the greatest I’ve ever seen. We’re miles and miles apart.”

The only time Holtzman and Koufax started against one another was on Sept. 25, 1966, at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Holtzman won, holding the Dodgers hitless until Dick Schofield led off the ninth with a single.

The pitching lines:

_ Koufax: 8 innings, 4 hits, 2 runs (one earned), 2 walks, 5 strikeouts.

_ Holtzman: 9 innings, 2 hits, 1 run, 2 walks, 8 strikeouts.

“It isn’t often Koufax loses when he holds a team to one earned run and four hits,” the Los Angeles Times noted, “but this time he was outpitched by Holtzman.”

Koufax told the newspaper, “When a guy holds you hitless for eight innings, you know he pitched a great game. I was satisfied with my performance, but Ken was too good for us today.” Boxscore

On the rise

Limited to 12 starts for the Cubs in 1967 because of military duty, Holtzman was 9-0, including a win against the Cardinals, who were on their way to becoming World Series champions. Boxscore

Holtzman also earned his degree in business administration from Illinois in 1967. He worked several winters for I.M. Simon and Company, a St. Louis securities brokerage firm, and earned accreditation from the New York Stock Exchange as a registered representative.

On Aug. 2, 1968, Holtzman pitched his third consecutive shutout, a two-hitter against the Cardinals. Using a changeup and a fastball, he limited St. Louis to singles by Julian Javier and Tim McCarver. “I feel it was the best game I ever pitched,” Holtzman said to the Post-Dispatch. “I may have had better stuff in some other game, but I think that as far as smartness and strategy, this was my best. I felt in command all the way.” Boxscore

Holtzman pitched no-hitters against the Braves (in 1969) and the Reds (in 1971), but the Cardinals gave him trouble. He was 9-14 against them. Lou Brock beat him with a walkoff home run in 1969. Boxscore Joe Torre, in 74 plate appearances versus Holtzman, had a .554 on-base percentage and .508 batting average.

After consecutive 17-win seasons in 1969 and 1970, Holtzman was 9-15 in 1971, had differences with Cubs manager Leo Durocher and sought to be traded. On Nov. 29, 1971, the Cubs dealt Holtzman to the Athletics for Rick Monday. “I wouldn’t have cared if the Cubs had traded me for two dozen eggs,” Holtzman told the Chicago Tribune.

American Leaguer

The four years Holtzman spent with the Athletics were the glory days of his career. The club won three consecutive World Series titles. Holtzman’s regular-season win totals were 19 in 1972, 21 in 1973, 19 again in 1974 and 18 in 1975.

On the eve of the 1972 World Series, Athletics manager Dick Williams said to the Oakland Tribune, “Ken has pitched superbly for us all year. You might say he saved us. Without those 19 wins, the only way the A’s would have made the World Series is by paying to get in.”

Holtzman was 4-1 in World Series games for the Athletics and hit .333, with a home run and three doubles. Video

On April 2, 1976, Holtzman and Reggie Jackson were traded to the Orioles for Don Baylor, Paul Mitchell and Mike Torrez. Two months later, Holtzman was flipped to the Yankees. He was 9-7 for them but fell into disfavor with manager Billy Martin, who didn’t use him in the playoffs or World Series that year.

Though Holtzman was healthy, Martin rarely pitched him in 1977. He worked 71.2 innings, a pittance for a pitcher who exceeded 200 innings nine times. The New York Times dubbed him the “designated sitter” and noted, “It is very likely that Holtzman sits simply because the manager doesn’t have confidence in him.”

Ignored again in 1978, Holtzman asked out and was sent to the Cubs in June.

Headed for home 

The rust took a toll on Holtzman. His ERA with the 1978 Cubs was 6.11. He was better in 1979, shutting out the Astros twice, but as the season wound down he knew it would be his last.

His final big-league appearance on Sept. 19, 1979, was a start at St. Louis. Holtzman held the Cardinals scoreless. In the seventh, with two outs, a runner on base and Ted Simmons batting, Cubs manager Herman Franks wanted to lift Holtzman, but he didn’t want to leave. “I told Herman I wanted to pitch to one more man,” Holtzman said to the Post-Dispatch.

Franks relented and Holtzman retired Simmons, ending the inning. “Simmons is the best,” Holtzman told the Post-Dispatch. “At least I went out beating the best.”

After Bill Buckner batted for Holtzman in the eighth, Bruce Sutter took a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth but blew the save chance, costing Holtzman a win. Boxscore

Holtzman settled in Chicago, earned a master’s degree in education at DePaul and taught in public schools.

To be close to his elderly parents, he moved to St. Louis in 1998 and became supervisor of health and physical education at the Jewish Community Center in Chesterfield, Mo. In addition to overseeing facilities and youth sports programs, Holtzman was head coach of the 9- and 10-year-old baseball teams. His assistant was his former prep coach, Ed Mickelson.

Holtzman had batting cages installed in the basement of the Jewish Community Center and during the winter Cardinals players such as Albert Pujols, J.D. Drew, Mike Matheny and John Mabry practiced their hitting there. Pitcher Gene Stechschulte came, too, to get in his throwing.

“They’re terrific with the little kids,” Holtzman told the Post-Dispatch in 2002. “Nobody bothers them as far as autographs, because people know they’re here to work. When they’re done, Pujols or Stechschulte will get in a pickup basketball game or floor hockey game with the little kids.”

Game within the game: Jerry Grote versus Lou Brock

Lou Brock had the legs; Jerry Grote had the arm. What sometimes made the difference in their showdowns was their heads.

During Brock’s prime years with the Cardinals, when he led the National League in stolen bases eight times, one of the most difficult catchers to steal against was Grote, who played for the Mets.

“Grote has been hailed as the best defensive catcher in the game, equal to Johnny Bench and Carlton Fisk in mechanics but better at setting up hitters,” the New York Daily News noted in 1976.

According to the New York Times, Bench remarked, “If the Cincinnati Reds had Grote, I’d be playing third base.”

In 1966, when he led the NL in steals for the first time, Brock told Newsday that Grote “may be the toughest catcher in the league to steal against.”

To counter Grote’s quick release and strong throws, Brock used mind games in a bid to gain the upper hand.

A two-time all-star who played in four World Series (two each with the Mets and Dodgers), Grote was 81 when he died on April 7, 2024.

Texas roots

After a year at Trinity University in his hometown of San Antonio, Grote, 20, played his first season of professional baseball in 1963 with the San Antonio Bullets, a Houston Colt .45s farm club. There, he was tutored by player-coach Clint “Scrap Iron” Courtney, the former St. Louis Browns catcher.

Called up to Houston in September 1963, Grote stuck with the big-league club in 1964, but “I caught knuckleballs from Ken Johnson and (Hal) Skinny Brown and I was fortunate to just hang on,” he told Newsday.

Prone to taking big swings, the rookie also struggled at the plate, batting .181 in 1964 and totaling more strikeouts (75) than hits (54). In a game at St. Louis, he struck out four times. Boxscore

After the season, the Mets offered outfielder Joe Christopher and others to Houston for catcher John Bateman. Houston instead proposed sending them Grote, but the Mets said no, according to Dick Young of the New York Daily News.

Grote spent the 1965 season in the minors. Afterward, when the Mets again asked for Bateman, Houston still offered Grote, but this time the Mets said yes. On Oct. 19, 1965, Grote was traded to the Mets for pitcher Tom Parsons and cash.

Transformer man

Though he didn’t hit much, Grote impressed with his catching skills and became the Mets’ starter. “He’s a catcher a team can win with,” Mets coach Whitey Herzog told Newsday in 1966.

A year later, in September 1967, when asked to rate the catcher who was the toughest to steal bases against, Lou Brock replied to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “For quickness in getting rid of the ball and accuracy, I have to pick Grote.”

Grote also had a reputation for constantly complaining to umpires about their calls. When Gil Hodges became Mets manager in 1968, he ordered Grote to stop bickering. According to Dick Young in the New York Daily News, Hodges said to Grote, “There is a time to argue. If you think he has blown one, tell him. Then get it over with. You have to be more concerned with the course of a game. You have to think about situations. There’s more to catching than putting down one finger, and here comes the fastball.”

Hodges also worked with Grote to improve his hitting _ and the results were immediate. After batting .195 in 1967, Grote hit .282 in Hodges’ first season as Mets manager in 1968. As Dick Young noted, “He cut down on his swing, and went to the opposite field with the pitch away from him.”

As a result, Grote was the National League starting catcher _ ahead of Johnny Bench, Tim McCarver and Joe Torre _ in the 1968 All-Star Game.

Psychological edge

With Grote catching pitchers such as Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan and Jerry Koosman, the Mets became World Series champions in 1969. Grote threw out 56 percent (40 of 71) of the runners attempting to steal against him that season, but Brock figured out a way to foil him.

In 1968, when the Cardinals won their second consecutive National League pennant, Brock was successful on 84 percent of his steal attempts but was safe on just three of six tries against the Mets. A year later, Brock was perfect in seven steal tries versus the Mets.

“I used to have trouble stealing when Grote was catching,” Brock told Newsday. “I think he had caught me about six of 10 times. Then one day I passed him after a game and I hollered, ‘Grote!’ He didn’t appear to hear me. So I hollered louder, ‘Grote!’ He still didn’t answer me and I yelled his name a third time louder than the first two. His neck turned three shades of pink and I realized then that he didn’t like to be yelled at. So the next time I got on first in a game against the Mets, I hollered his name and he hollered back at me. Ever since then, I’ve had about 80 percent success stealing when Grote is catching.”

Once Brock saw he could light Grote’s short fuse, he never let up.

“One of the delights of a visit of the Cardinals to Shea Stadium when the Mets were an attraction was Brock’s confrontation with Jerry Grote, who had a gun for a catcher’s arm and a disposition to match,” Newsday’s Steve Jacobson noted. “Brock would take his lead off first base and scream his taunt: ‘Yaaah, Grote! I’m going, Grote!’ The challenge was thrown.”

In 1970, when asked again to rank the toughest catchers to steal against, Brock put Manny Sanguillen and Johnny Bench ahead of Grote. Brock claimed Grote was inching toward the plate to shorten his throws and compensate for diminishing arm strength. “Grote keeps moving in all the time.” Brock told the Post-Dispatch. “The way Grote’s always moving toward the pitcher, I’m surprised he hasn’t been hurt by a backswing.”

The Mets won their second National League pennant in 1973 and contended with the defending champion Athletics before losing in Game 7 of the World Series.

In a testament to how valuable he was to the team, Grote caught every inning of the Mets’ National League Championship Series and World Series games in 1969 and 1973. “He’s the best catcher a pitcher could want to throw to,” Tom Seaver told the New York Times.

Mellow my mind

Grote had a reputation for snapping at reporters and official scorers and for being gruff with teammates. George Vecsey of the New York Times described him as “the resident grump” of the Mets clubhouse. Milton Richman of United Press International wrote, “He was one of those sullen, unsociable citizens who preferred his own private company and wouldn’t hesitate to let you know it.”

Mets first baseman Ed Kranepool told the wire service, “He and I have always gotten along fine, but I know a lot of people sort of felt he was cold and distant.”

Pitcher Jon Matlack said to the New York Times, “I was scared to death that I’d bounce a curveball into the dirt and get him mad. You worried about him more than the hitter. One day I told him: ‘Look, I’ll pitch my game and you catch the ball. OK?’ After that, we got to be friends and roommates, and I began to see the many sides of Jerry Grote.”

In the mid 1970s, Grote joined teammate Del Unser in the daily practice of Transcendental Meditation. “I found it really relaxes me, gets me ready for the game and conserves energy,” Grote said to the New York Daily News.

Matlack told the New York Times, “On the field, he was all aggression. Off the field, he was many men: tender to his family, generous to his friends.”

Though not considered a slugger, Grote twice hit home runs to beat the Cardinals. A two-run shot against Bob Gibson provided the winning runs in a 1974 game. (For his career, Grote batted .139 versus Gibson and struck out 20 times.) Boxscore

In 1976, Grote’s ninth-inning homer against Pete Falcone gave Seaver and the Mets a 5-4 win. Boxscore

After Grote beat former teammate Tug McGraw with a ninth-inning home run at Philadelphia, the reliever told the New York Times, “Grote’s been catching me for 10 years and now he knows my mind better than I do.” Boxscore

The pitcher Grote hit best was Steve Carlton. In 85 plate appearances against the future Hall of Famer, Grote had a .405 on-base percentage.

Traded to the Dodgers, Grote appeared in the World Series with them in 1977 and 1978 as a backup to Steve Yeager. (Yeager told the Dayton Journal Herald, “There are only three real good, all-around catchers in the National League _ Johnny Bench, Jerry Grote and me.”

In 1981, when Grote, 38, played his final big-league season, he produced seven RBI for the Royals in a game against the Mariners. “The older the violin, the sweeter the music,” he told the Associated Press. Boxscore

The year Lon Warneke started out nearly unhittable

Early in the 1934 season, if any pitcher looked like a candidate to get 30 wins, it was Lon Warneke, not Dizzy Dean.

A Chicago Cubs right-hander, Warneke pitched a one-hitter on Opening Day versus the Reds and followed that with another one-hitter in his next start against Dean and the Cardinals.

Warneke is the only big-league pitcher to follow a one-hitter on Opening Day with another one-hitter in his second start.

Humming along

A native of Mount Ida, Arkansas, called the quartz crystal capital of the world, Warneke was 19 when he became a professional pitcher in 1928. His debut with the Cubs came in relief against the Cardinals at St. Louis in April 1930. Boxscore

Two years later, Warneke, 23, had a breakout season, leading the National League in wins (22) and ERA (2.37) for the 1932 pennant winners.

J. Roy Stockton of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch nicknamed him “The Arkansas Hummingbird” because of a darting fastball. Stockton’s colleague, Bob Broeg, described Warneke as “a scarecrow with a chaw of tobacco stuck in a straw cheek” and with “shoulders as wide, and as thin, as a coat-hanger.”

“I kept calm with my chew of tobacco,” Warneke told the newspaper. “I always had a chew of tobacco in my mouth. Being without the chew was like being without my glove.”

Reds rooters

In 1933, Warneke was 18-13 overall but 0-5 against the Reds. Nonetheless, he got the starting assignment in the Cubs’ 1934 season opener at Cincinnati.

Facing a lineup with ex-Cardinals Jim Bottomley, Chick Hafey and Bob O’Farrell, Warneke “had everything _ fast ones, curves, some change of pace and control,” the Dayton Daily News noted. “He made the ball behave just as he wanted it to _ and that means he made the batters behave in the same way.”

After holding the Reds hitless through six innings, the Crosley Field spectators “adopted Warneke as their hero for the afternoon” and rooted for the pitcher to complete a no-hitter, the Chicago Tribune reported.

When Adam Comorosky broke the spell with a one-out single to center in the ninth, the fans booed.

Warneke retired the last two batters, completing the one-hit shutout and securing the 6-0 win. He struck out 13, the only time in his 15 years in the majors that he fanned more than nine in a game. His teammates hoisted him to their shoulders and carried him off the field, bringing cheers from the crowd.

“No team in baseball could have beaten Lon this afternoon,” Reds player-manager Bob O’Farrell told The Cincinnati Post. “He kept that curveball on the outside corner. His control was remarkable. He could have thrown the ball through a knothole, so true was he aiming.” Boxscore

Si Burick of the Dayton Daily News predicted, “You will have to go a long way in this budding season to see a game as nearly flawlessly pitched as Warneke’s.”

Five days later, though, Warneke pitched another one-hitter.

One and done

On April 22, 1934, a Sunday afternoon at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis, Warneke was matched against Cardinals ace Dizzy Dean. On Opening Day, Dean beat the Pirates, holding them to a run in nine innings, but the Cardinals hadn’t won since.

It turned out to be no contest. The Cubs scored four in the first, two in the second and Dean was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the third.

Though Warneke walked six, he allowed just one hit _ a Rip Collins double in the fifth. Warneke, who lashed two singles, had twice as many hits as he allowed the Cardinals. The Cubs won, 15-2. Boxscore

Warneke’s back-to-back one-hitters occurred four years before the Reds’ Johnny Vander Meer became the only big-league pitcher to toss consecutive no-hitters.

“The big thing with me was get the wins and not worry about how many hits I gave up,” Warneke said to the Post-Dispatch.

One-hitter wonders

Others who have pitched and won Opening Day one-hitters include Herb Pennock of the 1915 Athletics, Jesse Petty of the 1926 Dodgers and Bob Lemon of the 1953 Indians. In 2015, Sonny Gray (eight innings) and Evan Scribner (one inning) combined on an Opening Day one-hitter for the Athletics. None of those pitchers followed with a one-hitter in his second start.

Bob Feller of the 1940 Indians pitched the only Opening Day no-hitter but he was shelled for six runs in three innings in his second start.

Like Warneke, others have pitched one-hitters in consecutive starts, though none did so in his first two appearances of a season. Those who joined Warneke in pitching back-to-back one-hitters are Rube Marquard (1911 Giants), Mort Cooper (1943 Cardinals), Whitey Ford (1955 Yankees), Sam McDowell (1966 Indians), Dave Stieb (1988 Blue Jays) and R.A. Dickey (2012 Mets).

In 1923, Howard Ehmke of the Red Sox pitched a no-hitter on Sept. 7 and followed with a one-hitter four days later. In consecutive September starts in 1925, Dazzy Vance of the Dodgers had a one-hitter and a no-hitter.

Grover Cleveland Alexander had four one-hitters for the 1915 Phillies but never pitched a no-hitter in 20 years in the majors.

The pitchers with the most career one-hitters are Bob Feller and Nolan Ryan. Each had 12.

Pitcher to arbiter

Warneke was 22-10 for the 1934 Cubs. Dizzy Dean, 1-2 with a 7.17 ERA after his first four starts, finished 30-7 for the league champion Cardinals and got two more wins in the 1934 World Series.

The next year, when the Cubs claimed the pennant, Warneke won 20, plus two more in the 1935 World Series.

He was traded to the Cardinals in October 1936 (Rip Collins was one of the players the Cubs got in return) and pitched a no-hitter against the reigning World Series champion Reds in 1941.

Warneke was 83-49 for the Cardinals and 192-121 overall in the majors.

He was a National League umpire from 1949-55 and then became a county judge in Arkansas.

Inside baseball: Jim Ray Hart got drilled by Cardinals

As a rookie with the reigning National League champion Giants in 1963, Jim Ray Hart learned the hard way that facing the Cardinals could be a pain.

On his first day playing in the majors, Hart suffered a fractured left collarbone when struck by a Bob Gibson pitch.

A month later, when he returned to the lineup, Hart was hit in the head by a pitch from the Cardinals’ Curt Simmons, ending his season.

Early times

Hart hailed from Hookerton, a town of about 500 residents, 40 miles from the nearest interstate, in eastern North Carolina. At 15, he began drinking corn whiskey, and his hankering for the homemade hooch led to heavier drinking later on, Hart told the Santa Rosa (Calif.) Press Democrat.

When he was 18, Hart signed with the Giants and entered their farm system. In 1961, he played shortstop but made 42 errors in 77 games. He did less damage at third base and in the outfield, and settled into those spots.

Hart’s hitting was what made him special. A right-handed slugger, he had a .421 on-base percentage and 123 RBI for Fresno in 1961, and a .403 on-base percentage and 107 RBI for Springfield (Massachusetts) in 1962.

After producing 99 hits in 83 games for Tacoma in 1963, Hart, 21, was called up to the Giants in July.

Hard lessons

Hart made his Giants debut in the first game of a July 7 doubleheader against the Cardinals at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park. His first big-league hits in that game were singles against Bobby Shantz and Lew Burdette. Hart also walked twice, scored a run and drove in one, helping the Giants to a 4-3 victory in 15 innings. Boxscore

Between games, Willie Mays reminded Hart that Bob Gibson was starting Game 2. In the book “Stranger to the Game,” Hart recalled, “I only half-listened to what he was saying, figuring it didn’t make much difference.”

Hart faced Gibson for the first time in the second inning. Gibson’s velocity that Sunday afternoon was exceptional. Cardinals catcher Tim McCarver told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “Gibson was so fast, I didn’t think my hands would hold out.”

In the book “Sixty Feet, Six Inches,” Gibson said the word on Hart was to pitch him inside because “he was a guy who’d kill you if you got the ball away from him. I was making sure he wasn’t going to kill me.”

In the batter’s box, “I started digging a little hole with my back foot to get a firm stance as I usually did,” Hart said in “Stranger to the Game.” “No sooner did I start digging that hole than I hear Willie (Mays) screaming from the dugout, ‘Nooooo!’ I should have listened to Willie.”

Gibson’s first pitch to Hart was tight. “He had a closed stance, with his left foot nearly on home plate, and was unable to move quickly enough to avoid an inside pitch, which I was obligated to throw as long as he cheated toward the outside corner,” Gibson said in “Stranger to the Game.”

Hart dug in again for the next pitch, a fastball up and in, and it struck him with such force that “there was a loud crack,” he said in “Stranger to the Game.”

Hart collapsed in agony. Taken to a hospital, he was found to have “a clavicle fracture about the size and roundness of a baseball,” the San Francisco Examiner reported. (Sixteen years later, in 1979, Hart told the Oakland Tribune, “I still can feel a small pain in my shoulder sometimes from that.”)

Gibson said his pitch was intended to move Hart away from the plate, not hit him. When informed Hart had a fractured bone, Gibson replied to the Examiner, “I’m sorry, but I don’t know what I can do about it. I know I wasn’t throwing at him.”

Hart told the newspaper, “I don’t think he was trying to throw at me, but I don’t know. He says he was pitching me tight … I wasn’t fooled on the pitch. It was just that it was in back of me … I just didn’t have a chance to avoid that pitch.”

The Giants were irate _ “It’s a terrible thing to have happen to him on his first day,” manager Al Dark told the Examiner. “It’s a disgrace” _ and retaliated. 

When Gibson batted in the third, Juan Marichal “threw a fastball at Gibson’s head that dumped him into the dirt and almost uncoupled him,” the Examiner reported.

Plate umpire Al Barlick rushed toward the mound, shook a finger at Marichal and warned him not to do that again.

“I think Marichal was throwing at me,” Gibson said to the Oakland Tribune. “If I had been throwing at the kid (Hart), it would have been justified. I wasn’t.”

In “Stranger to the Game,” Gibson said, “There was a big difference between throwing at a guy and brushing him back. The brushback pitch is a lot like the spitball in the sense that its effectiveness lies largely in the awareness it places in the batter’s mind.”

Stan Musial, 42, broke up the scoreless duel in the seventh with a two-run home run against Marichal. In the ninth, Gibson laced a two-run single versus reliever Jim Duffalo. Gibson pitched a six-hit shutout and the Cardinals won, 5-0. Boxscore

Down and out

Hart returned to the lineup on Aug. 12. Four nights later, with the Cardinals ahead, 13-0, in the ninth inning at St. Louis, he faced Curt Simmons and was struck on the left temple by an 0-and-2 fastball. “The ball hit the lower part of the helmet and Hart’s head,” the Examiner reported.

Simmons told the newspaper, “He never backed away. He seemed to freeze and stand right there.”

Hart slumped to the ground and was carried on a stretcher to the clubhouse. Cardinals manager Johnny Keane, who as a minor-leaguer suffered a fractured skull when clunked in the head by a pitch, went to the Giants’ clubhouse and stayed until an ambulance came, according to the Oakland Tribune.

Hart was diagnosed with a concussion. At the hospital, he “was speaking coherently” and was given permission to eat and smoke, Cardinals physician Dr. I.C. Middleman told the Examiner. Boxscore

Back in San Francisco, Hart complained of dizziness, headaches and blurred vision. He was examined by a neurosurgeon and shut down for the season.

Take that!

A year later, Hart tagged Gibson and Simmons with home runs.

On Aug. 10, 1964, Hart hit “a majestic home run over the scoreboard in left” at St. Louis against Gibson, the Oakland Tribune reported. “It was estimated the ball traveled around 500 feet. It cleared the scoreboard, which is 60 feet high at that particular spot, 408 feet from the plate.”

The ball landed on Sullivan Avenue. Boxscore

Two weeks later, at Candlestick Park, Hart hammered a two-run homer versus Simmons. Boxscore

Hart finished the 1964 season with 31 home runs. In 1965, he led the Giants in hits (177) and doubles (30) and batted .329 against the Cardinals. Hart made the National League all-star team in 1966, belting 33 homers and leading the Giants in hits (165) again.

The 1967 season may have been Hart’s best. He was the Giants leader in runs scored (98), hits (167), doubles (26), triples (seven), RBI (99), walks (77) and total bases (294). On June 29, 1967, Hart had four RBI on a single and a home run in the opening inning against Gibson.

Troubled times

Too many injuries, too much weight gain and too much drinking contributed to Hart’s decline.

He tore muscles in his right shoulder while making a throw from the outfield and was hit in the head again by a pitch from the Reds’ Wayne Simpson. Struck by pitches 28 times in the majors, Hart was called “Mr. Dent” by his teammates, United Press International reported.

On Oct. 30, 1968, a car driven by Hart struck and killed a woman in Daly City, Calif. Dorothy Selmi, 62, wife of former Daly City mayor Paul Selmi, was hit as she was crossing Mission Street at Como Avenue, the Examiner reported. Hart was questioned by police and released.

In April 1969, Hart crashed against the fence at Candlestick Park while chasing a Pete Rose drive and bashed his right shoulder. He was limited to 236 at-bats that season. “When I hit the ball, the pain goes from a nerve in my back, high on the shoulder, and winds up in my elbow,” Hart told the Examiner.

Hart batted .304 as a pinch-hitter in 1969. A highlight came on July 26 when he slugged a two-run homer in the ninth inning against Joe Hoerner to beat the Cardinals. Boxscore

During his playing days, Hart drank a lot. His preference was I.W. Harper whiskey. “A quart a day,” he said to Bob Padecky of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. Hart told Padecky that Giants manager Herman Franks offered him money to stop drinking, but he couldn’t.

“I think I could have played longer in the big leagues if I hadn’t done as much drinking,” Hart said to Pat Frizzell of the Oakland Tribune.

In April 1973, the Giants sent Hart to the Yankees and he finished his playing days with them in 1974, totaling 1,052 career hits.