The virtual 1958-68 Giants, Reds, and Cardinals (Part 6: 1962-63)
We’re now five years in, just about the half-way point:
1957-58
1958-59
1959-60
1960-61
1961-62
Neither our Giants nor our Reds have been able to sustain individual superiority, but between them they’re dominating the National League. They tied for first place in ’59, and have traded pennants back and forth in 1960, ’61, and ’62. Our Cardinals, meanwhile, have been in building-and-rebuilding mode and are still stuck in the middle of the pack.
Giants: Actual Reds: Actual Cardinals: Actual
Year W L Pos RS RA W L Pos RS RA W L Pos RS RA
1958 80 74 3 727 698 76 78 4 695 623 72 82 5T 619 704
1959 83 71 3 705 613 74 80 5T 764 738 71 83 7 641 725
1960 79 75 5 671 631 67 87 6 640 692 86 68 3 639 616
1961 85 69 3 773 655 93 61 1 710 653 80 74 5 703 668
1962 103 62 1 878 690 98 64 3 802 685 84 78 6 774 664
Giants: Virtual Reds: Virtual Cardinals: Virtual
Year W L Pos RS RA W L Pos RS RA W L Pos RS RA
1958 83 71 2T 747 692 73 81 5 683 637 77 77 4 640 677
1959 87 67 1T 737 615 87 67 1T 802 662 84 70 4 725 685
1960 93 61 1 709 561 76 78 6 705 666 86 68 4 661 632
1961 88 66 2 787 648 106 48 1 813 629 72 82 6 689 724
1962 103 59 1 800 632 101 61 2T 779 663 84 78 6 809 703
What will we see in ’63?
The 1962-63 offseason: Actual deals we will make
Nov. 24, 1962: The Cincinnati Reds traded first baseman Rogelio Alvarez to the Washington Senators for infielder-catcher Harry Bright.
The versatile Bright has delivered a splendid year for Washington in 1962. It makes sense that the cellar-dwelling Senators would be looking to leverage the veteran in the trade market, and the modest prospect Alvarez is inexpensive payment. Our Reds, as in reality, will eagerly take them up on the offer.
Nov. 26, 1962: The Cincinnati Reds drafted pitcher Al Worthington from the Chicago White Sox in the 1962 Rule 5 draft.
For the second year in a row, the Reds are plucking an unusually useful commodity out of the Rule 5 grab-bag of odds and ends.
April 2, 1963: The St. Louis Cardinals sold outfielder Minnie Miñoso to the Washington Senators.
It just didn’t work out in St. Lous for the ever-smiling Cuban veteran.
April 5, 1963: The Cincinnati Reds purchased infielder-outfielder Deron Johnson from the Kansas City Athletics.
He’s flopped in K.C., but is still months shy of his 25th birthday. Like the actual Reds, our version will be happy to give this powerful prospect a triple-A chance to show what he can do.
The 1962-63 offseason: Actual deals we will not make
Oct. 17, 1962: The St. Louis Cardinals traded pitchers Larry Jackson and Lindy McDaniel and catcher Jimmie Schaffer to the Chicago Cubs for outfielder George Altman, pitcher Don Cardwell, and catcher Moe Thacker.
This one is nothing if not bold. But here’s how we assessed it in the Blockbusters series:
It’s easy to see why the Cardinals were hot for Altman: Big George and his big bat would fill their right field hole perfectly. But good grief, GM Bing Devine surrendered a lot of pitching talent to get him; filling one hole by creating a deeper one someplace else doesn’t generally accomplish much.
Fortunately for our Cardinals, we don’t have a hole in right field, so we aren’t tempted to do something like this.
Nov. 19, 1962: The St. Louis Cardinals traded pitcher Don Cardwell and infielder Julio Gotay to the Pittsburgh Pirates for shortstop Dick Groat and pitcher Diomedes Olivo.
And since we don’t have Cardwell, we can’t do this one either. Even if we could, we don’t think we would, as we don’t see Groat as all that much an upgrade over our bland-but-steady incumbent shortstop Dick Schofield (whom the Pirates would in fact use as their replacement for Groat), and moreover we don’t yet see ourselves as far enough into the success cycle to be trading for a 32-year-old shortstop. (Obviously we don’t anticipate the terrific year Groat will deliver in 1963.)
But given what the Cubs and Pirates are seeking to accomplish, we think we can help them while helping ourselves. We’ll explain below.
Dec . 15, 1962: The San Francisco Giants traded pitchers Stu Miller and Mike McCormick and catcher John Orsino to the Baltimore Orioles for pitchers Billy Hoeft and Jack Fisher and catcher Jimmie Coker.
We’ve considered this interesting move before:
Miller and McCormick had been stars for the Giants prior to 1962, but both had delivered disappointing contributions to that pennant-winning campaign. Miller, the best relief ace in the league in 1961, had seen his ERA+ plunge from 144 to 92. McCormick, one of the better starters in the league in 1960 and 1961, came up lame-armed in ’62, and pitched just 99 ineffective innings, few of them in the second half.
So it was sensible for the Giants to be concerned about Miller and McCormick going forward. But the return they netted for them here is the essence of “selling low.” Hoeft was a veteran who’d rebounded from arm trouble to find some success in the bullpen, but not the sustained excellence as a reliever that Miller had shown, and in 1962 Hoeft had been no more effective than Miller. Similarly, Fisher had been a highly regarded young pitcher with the Orioles (part of Paul Richards’ “Kiddie Corps”), but he’d never been nearly as good as McCormick, and had struggled mightily himself in ’62.
Nor even did the throw-in exchange of backup catchers make any sense: Orsino was a young player with questionable defensive skill, but a highly impressive bat, while Coker was two years older and pretty much a proven mediocrity.
So it’s a three-for-three in which in each and every one of the three direct comparisons, the Giants come out on the short end. That’s not something you see every day.
Our Giants will channel their inner Nancy Reagan, and just say, “No.”
Dec. 15, 1962: The St. Louis Cardinals traded first baseman Fred Whitfield to the Cleveland Indians for pitcher Ron Taylor and infielder Jack Kubiszyn.
Our Cardinals already traded Whitfield a year ago. So no Ron Taylor for us.
Feb. 14, 1963: The St. Louis Cardinals traded outfielder-first baseman Bob Burda to the Pittsburgh Pirates for catcher Cal Neeman.
Why exactly Devine felt it necessary to trade at all for a 34-year-old backup catcher, whose batting averages over the past four years had been .162, .179, .226, and .180, is the first question. And the second is why surrender the not-yet-25-year-old Burda, who doesn’t project as a star, but looks to be a serviceable left-handed utility bat?
Not seeing any answers, our Cardinals will decline to take part.
March 25, 1963: St. Louis Cardinals purchased infielder-outfielder Leo Burke from the Los Angeles Angels.
March 25, 1963: The St. Louis Cardinals purchased pitcher Bob Humphreys from the Detroit Tigers.
Our Cards have no room for either this handyman or this reliever.
The 1962-63 offseason: Deals we will invoke
Nov. 19, 1962: In a three-club deal, the St. Louis Cardinals traded infielder Julio Gotay and catcher Jimmie Schaffer to the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs sent pitcher Don Cardwell to the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the Pirates sent pitcher Bill Henry to the Cardinals and pitcher Bob Priddy to the Cubs.
This ties together, at least somewhat, the two actual trades listed above which our Cardinals don’t make with Chicago and Pittsburgh. We’re making two assumptions:
{exp:list_maker}Since in our scenario the Cubs don’t have Andre Rodgers manning shortstop, they’re interested in Gotay.
In our scenario the Pirates have Henry, having acquired him (from the Cubs, as a matter of fact) along with Lee Walls in exchange for Frank Thomas back in 1959—the deal the Cubs actually swung with the Reds, who’d acquired Thomas from Pittsburgh a year earlier. {/exp:list_maker}Our Cardinals will let the Cubs keep George Altman, and the Pirates keep Dick Groat. The Cubs, in exchange for Cardwell, get some help at shortstop, behind the plate, and in the bullpen. The Pirates, in exchange for the 35-year-old Henry (bear in mind that getting younger is the overriding theme in Pittsburgh’s deals this off-season) and the reliever prospect Priddy, will get Cardwell.
It’s sensible and plausible, and it allows our Cards to convert a couple of replaceable bench assets into another southpaw in the bullpen.
Nov. 28, 1962: The Cincinnati Reds traded third baseman Don Hoak to the Philadelphia Phillies for outfielder Ted Savage and first baseman Pancho Herrera.
Actually, on this date it was Pittsburgh making this deal with Philadelphia (the Pirates getting younger, again). It’s a generous offer for the declining Hoak, and our Reds will readily take it.
Dec. 15, 1962: The Cincinnati Reds traded catcher Gene Oliver to the Baltimore Orioles for pitcher Billy Hoeft and catcher Jimmie Coker.
Unable to get the action they were looking for from our Giants, the Orioles turn to our Reds. Baltimore gets one element of the deal they wanted from San Francisco, a power-hitting catcher. Our Reds are able to part with Oliver because we have Don Pavletich coming along, who brings a comparable skillset while being four years younger.
Hoeft can address the bullpen concerns we have in Cincinnati, while Coker can be stashed in triple-A as injury insurance.
Dec. 15, 1962: The San Francisco Giants traded outfielder Willie Kirkland to the Cleveland Indians for outfielder Walt Bond and cash.
The enigmatic Kirkland’s batting average took a serious dive in 1962. Perhaps our Giants can be accused of overreacting to that, but we’ve kind of run out of patience with him, and like the idea of turning his job over to someone younger.
Bond is four years younger, and while he’s yet to become established in the majors, he’s certainly shown flashes of being something special. Even though he’s enormous (6-foot-7, 230), Bond runs fairly well, and he impresses us enough to decide that if Cleveland isn’t ready to find out what he can do, we are.
March, 1963: The Cincinnati Reds traded infielder Cookie Rojas to the Philadelphia Phillies for pitcher Jim Owens and cash.
March, 1963: The Cincinnati Reds traded infielder Don Zimmer to the Los Angeles Dodgers for pitcher Scott Breeden.
Actually, the Reds made both of these deals over the winter, but our Reds wanted to allow the rookie Rojas and the veteran Zimmer the chance to make the roster in spring training. It isn’t happening, so we’ll stock up the triple-A staff instead.
March, 1963: The Cincinnati Reds sold second baseman Johnny Temple to the Houston Colt .45s.
Nor will we have room for this longtime standout, so we’ll let him get some playing time down in Houston.
April 4, 1963: The St. Louis Cardinals traded outfielder Manny Mota to the Pittsburgh Pirates for outfielder Howie Goss and cash.
Speaking of Houston, in reality, it was on this date that the Colt .45s made this trade with Pittsburgh. Mota didn’t hit well in the utility role in which we deployed him in as a rookie in 1962, and we see the defensive specialist Goss as a better fit for our bench in ’63.
The 1963 season: Actual deals we will make
April 21, 1963: The Cincinnati Reds sold infielder-catcher Harry Bright to the New York Yankees.
Much as we like this scrub, we won’t be able to fit him on the regular season roster.
Aug. 8, 1963: The San Francisco Giants purchased first baseman Norm Larker from the Milwaukee Braves.
No matter which universe you’re in, Larker is useful for the stretch run.
The 1963 season: Actual deals we will not make
May 15, 1963: The Cincinnati Reds signed infielder Daryl Spencer as a free agent.
Our Reds don’t have a spot for this veteran, cut loose by the Dodgers the previous day.
May 23, 1963: The Cincinnati Reds traded outfielder Jerry Lynch to the Pittsburgh Pirates for outfielder Bob Skinner.
A curious challenge trade, a simple swap of early-30s lefty-swinging left fielders. Skinner had always been a better fielder and baserunner than Lynch, and had thus become a full-time starter for several years, a status that had always eluded Lynch. Though Skinner was a fine hitter, his bat was never the equal of Lynch’s wicked instrument.
If a team was in need of a regular left fielder for an extended stretch, Skinner (a year younger than Lynch, for what that’s worth) would be preferable. But the real Reds didn’t have such a need. Nor do ours, and if the need is instead for a backup player being called upon to pinch hit quite a bit, then it has to be Lynch all the way.
June 15, 1963: The St. Louis Cardinals traded catcher Gene Oliver and pitcher Bob Sadowski to the Milwaukee Braves for pitcher Lew Burdette.
Our Cards have already dealt away both Oliver and Sadowski (you know, this Bob Sadowski), so we can’t make this trade. Not that we would be interested anyway, as that’s quite a price to pay for a 36-year-old, already-well-into-his-decline-phase Burdette.
June 24, 1963: The St. Louis Cardinals traded infielder-outfielder Leo Burke to the Chicago Cubs for pitcher Barney Schultz.
Nor, since we don’t have Burke, will we acquire this journeyman knuckleballer.
The 1963 season: Deals we will invoke
May 5, 1963: The St. Louis Cardinals traded pitcher Jim Brosnan to the Chicago White Sox for pitcher Dom Zanni.
The Reds actually made this deal with the White Sox. We’ll decide as well that the wire-rimmed-glasses-wearin’ book-readin’-and-writin’ Professor Brosnan is looking a bit long in the tooth, and give a shot to the hard-throwing journeyman Zanni.
May, 1963: The San Francisco Giants sold pitcher Frank Funk to the Milwaukee Braves.
May, 1963: The San Francisco Giants sold pitcher Jim Duffalo to the Baltimore Orioles.
May, 1963: The San Francisco Giants traded pitcher Julio Navarro and first baseman Charlie Dees to the Los Angeles Angels for outfielder Jacke Davis and cash.
It’s cut-down time, and our Giants don’t have room in the inventory for these spare parts. Davis will be parked in the minors.
May, 1963: The San Francisco Giants signed first baseman Vic Wertz as a free agent.
But we will make space for this 38-year-old longballer, just released by Detroit. His reunion with Willie Mays should be amusing.
May, 1963: The Cincinnati Reds sold pitcher Moe Drabowsky to the Kansas City Athletics.
Last August, our Reds weren’t ready to let go of the best native Polish pitcher in baseball history, but at this point we’re forced by the roster squeeze to let Charlie Finley have him.
June 25, 1963: The Cincinnati Reds sold pitcher Billy Hoeft off waivers to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Hoeft has turned up lame-armed, and spent all spring on the DL. Now that he’s ready to go to work, we’ve come up with better alternatives, and so we’ll waive him.
July 1, 1963: The St. Louis Cardinals traded catcher Jesse Gonder to the New York Mets for infielder Charlie Neal and catcher Sammy Taylor.
The Reds actually made this deal with the Mets. Our Cards will make it for the same reasons: we love Gonder’s bat, but he’s a pinch-hitting specialist at this point, and we think that the 32-year-old Neal probably has enough left in the tank to make contribute in the infield. (We’ll be just as wrong.)
July 6, 1963: The San Francisco Giants sold outfielder Bob Perry to the Los Angeles Angels.
To make room for a powerful young hitter named Jim Ray Hart, whom we’re ready to call up and put to use in right field.
Aug. 8, 1963: The San Francisco Giants released first baseman Vic Wertz.
Wertz doesn’t hit, so we’ll let him go to make room for Larker.
1963 season results
Giants
Our modifications to the pennant-winning roster of 1962 are minor indeed: Bond replacing Kirkland in right field is the only one of significance.
1963 San Francisco Giants Won 97 Lost 65 Finished 3rd
Pos Player Age G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+
1B W. McCovey* 25 152 564 102 158 19 5 44 103 50 119 .280 .349 .566 .915 161
2B C. Hiller* 28 94 288 33 65 7 2 4 25 14 14 .226 .253 .306 .559 61
SS A. Rodgers 28 150 516 56 115 17 4 5 36 64 89 .223 .313 .300 .614 79
3B K. Boyer 32 159 638 94 174 27 2 23 69 72 93 .273 .346 .429 .776 124
RF W. Bond* 25 121 421 42 101 14 1 17 62 25 43 .240 .290 .399 .689 98
CF W. Mays 32 157 596 114 187 32 7 38 104 66 83 .314 .380 .582 .962 175
LF O. Cepeda 25 156 579 99 183 33 4 34 98 37 70 .316 .366 .563 .929 165
C T. Haller* 26 98 298 31 76 8 1 14 44 34 45 .255 .329 .430 .759 118
2B-SS J. Pagan 28 125 321 31 79 10 1 4 28 17 44 .246 .285 .321 .606 75
C J. Orsino 25 102 284 34 77 14 1 13 47 25 38 .271 .342 .465 .806 131
OF M. Alou* 24 88 208 16 48 5 1 3 15 13 24 .231 .280 .308 .588 70
OF B. Perry 28 34 83 8 22 3 0 2 7 4 14 .265 .300 .373 .673 94
UT C. Peterson 20 27 66 8 17 2 0 1 3 3 15 .258 .286 .333 .619 79
SS-2B G. Garrido 22 31 64 7 14 1 0 0 2 3 8 .219 .250 .234 .484 41
1B V. Wertz* 38 35 44 3 6 0 0 3 7 5 6 .136 .224 .341 .565 61
C J. Pignatano 33 29 40 5 8 2 0 0 3 5 9 .200 .283 .250 .533 56
2B-SS E. Bowman 27 27 42 3 8 1 0 0 1 0 5 .190 .182 .214 .396 14
RF J. Hart 21 7 20 1 4 1 0 0 2 3 6 .200 .360 .250 .610 80
1B N. Larker* 32 19 14 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 2 .071 .188 .071 .259 -22
Others 36 5 9 2 0 0 7 2 6 .250 .308 .306 .613 79
Pitchers 438 34 71 10 2 2 18 24 140 .163 .194 .210 .404 17
Total 5560 726 1423 208 31 207 681 468 873 .256 .315 .416 .732 110
* Bats left
Pitcher Age G GS CG W L SV IP H R ER HR BB SO ERA ERA+
J. Marichal 25 41 40 18 25 8 0 321 259 102 86 27 61 248 2.41 133
J. Sanford 34 38 38 10 15 11 0 255 244 110 99 19 68 143 3.49 92
E. Broglio 27 39 35 11 18 9 0 250 190 86 74 22 90 145 2.66 120
B. O'Dell* 30 39 16 5 11 6 1 148 142 57 49 8 47 80 2.98 108
M. McCormick* 24 21 10 1 5 4 0 77 73 37 34 8 33 44 3.97 81
S. Miller 35 71 0 0 8 7 22 112 93 34 27 4 48 117 2.17 148
B. Bolin 24 38 10 1 8 5 2 110 101 57 39 10 46 108 3.19 101
B. Pierce* 36 34 9 2 3 9 5 75 81 36 34 9 14 39 4.08 79
G. Perry 24 28 4 0 2 5 1 68 76 37 31 9 26 47 4.10 78
A. Stanek* 19 11 0 0 0 0 0 13 10 7 7 1 12 5 4.85 66
Others 0 0 2 1 2 40 32 15 12 1 17 25 2.70 119
Total 162 48 97 65 33 1469 1301 578 492 118 462 1001 3.01 106
* Throws left
All of the big boys we’re counting on deliver big time. Every one of them, as Mays, Orlando Cepeda, Willie McCovey, Ken Boyer, and Ernie Broglio are all in peak form. Twenty-five-year-old Juan Marichal does them one better, vaulting from star into superstar status with a spectacular campaign, bagging the most wins by any Giants’ pitcher since Carl Hubbell nearly 30 years earlier.
The good news continues as ace reliever Miller rebounds from his mediocre 1962 to deliver another terrific year, and our young catching duo of Orsino and Tom Haller prove that their bodacious platoon performance of ’62 was no fluke.
But we do have small issues. Bond isn’t bad, but he isn’t good either, and our attempt to bypass him with the mid-season call-up of Hart goes awry, as the 21-year-old rookie is sidelined, not once, but twice when hit by pitches. None among our crew of middle infielders hits as well as expected, and in general neither our bench nor the back end of our pitching staff makes much of a contribution.
Still, our strengths carry us a long way. Our hitting, surpassing the 200-homer mark for a record third straight year, is the best there is, and our pitching is close to it. It adds up to a 97-win season, good enough to win in most leagues.
But not this one. We’re very close, but this time it’s our Giants being nosed out at the wire.
Reds
At third base, in place of the departed Hoak, we’ll go with speedy youngster Tommy Harper, whom we called up down the stretch in 1962. At first base, we’ll keep a close eye on Wally Moon, who slumped in ’62, and be ready to supplement him with the rookie Pavletich, and also with longtime catcher Ed Bailey, who’ll give up some backstop innings to better-fielding sophomore Johnny Edwards and rookie Joe Azcue.
We’ll try several new arms in our bullpen, including Rule 5 pickup Worthington, retread Joe Nuxhall, who did remarkably well last year after we picked him off the scrap heap, and veteran minor leaguer John Tsitouris, whom, interestingly enough, we acquired in exchange for Nuxhall a couple of years ago.
But the most interesting addition will be a 22-year-old rookie second baseman named Pete Rose, who blows away our development timetable to make the club in spring training.
1963 Cincinnati Reds Won 100 Lost 62 Finished 1st
Pos Player Age G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+
1B W. Moon* 33 122 343 42 93 14 2 10 48 45 43 .271 .349 .411 .760 116
2B P. Rose# 22 129 415 62 112 17 6 4 27 36 49 .270 .327 .369 .696 98
SS L. Cardenas 24 150 509 39 120 20 4 6 42 21 91 .236 .268 .326 .594 68
3B T. Harper 22 129 449 75 119 14 3 11 41 49 78 .265 .334 .383 .717 104
RF F. Robinson 27 140 482 81 125 19 3 21 91 81 69 .259 .379 .442 .821 133
CF V. Pinson* 24 162 652 98 204 37 14 22 106 36 80 .313 .347 .514 .861 142
LF-RF T. Gonzalez* 26 139 444 63 140 29 7 4 51 44 54 .315 .379 .439 .818 133
C J. Edwards* 25 99 249 24 63 9 2 6 30 21 49 .253 .312 .378 .689 95
O-2-3 C. Flood 25 130 397 59 116 21 5 3 38 26 33 .292 .333 .393 .726 106
C-1B E. Bailey* 32 105 308 39 82 8 0 22 65 51 63 .266 .370 .506 .877 147
OF-1B M. Keough* 29 95 172 22 39 8 2 6 21 25 37 .227 .332 .401 .733 108
1B-C D. Pavletich 24 71 183 19 38 11 0 5 18 17 12 .208 .270 .350 .619 75
C J. Azcue 23 64 162 13 44 8 0 6 22 6 24 .272 .294 .432 .726 104
LF J. Lynch* 32 88 151 18 39 6 1 8 25 11 19 .258 .313 .470 .783 120
IF C. Ruiz# 24 72 123 14 30 3 1 1 7 3 17 .244 .260 .309 .568 61
Others 22 3 5 0 0 1 1 1 5 .227 .261 .364 .625 76
Pitchers 433 33 68 7 0 3 28 16 153 .157 .176 .195 .372 6
Total 5494 704 1437 231 50 139 661 489 876 .262 .321 .398 .719 104
* Bats left
# Bats both
Pitcher Age G GS CG W L SV IP H R ER HR BB SO ERA ERA+
J. Maloney 23 33 33 13 24 6 0 250 183 84 77 17 88 265 2.77 121
J. O'Toole* 26 33 32 12 18 13 0 234 208 85 75 13 57 146 2.88 116
J. Pizarro* 26 32 28 10 17 7 1 215 180 66 57 12 57 167 2.39 141
C. Osteen* 23 36 21 5 11 6 3 166 172 70 56 14 41 88 3.04 111
J. Jay 27 30 19 4 7 13 2 153 154 80 72 17 66 106 4.24 79
B. Purkey 33 21 18 4 6 6 0 123 128 52 48 11 30 51 3.51 96
J. Nuxhall* 34 47 3 1 5 2 13 72 55 19 17 3 13 61 2.13 158
H. Haddix* 37 44 1 0 3 2 12 63 57 24 23 9 18 64 3.29 102
A. Worthington 34 40 0 0 3 3 10 65 59 26 21 5 25 45 2.91 116
J. Tsitouris 27 30 6 2 5 3 3 76 62 26 24 7 16 48 2.84 118
Others 1 0 1 1 0 21 18 8 6 2 9 17 2.57 131
Total 162 51 100 62 44 1438 1276 540 476 110 420 1058 2.98 113
* Throws left
When our Reds enjoyed their spectacular runaway pennant in 1961, it was one of those magical seasons in which every significant thing goes right. This time, our Reds have a season in which some big things don’t go right at all—and yet they still go 100-62 and win the pennant. In its way, that’s an achievement even more impressive than the 106-48 cakewalk of ’61.
The biggest thing that doesn’t go right for our ’63 Reds is that resident superstar Frank Robinson spends this year dinged up with nagging injuries, not severe enough to send him to the DL, but severe enough to drag his hitting, both for average and power, well below his normal rate. Now, he’s Frank Robinson, and so poor hitting for him would be good hitting for most anyone else, but still, his drop in production means a drop in our team production. His off-year hurts.
We also see off-years from two starting pitchers, Bob Purkey and Joey Jay, both big winners in previous years, but straggling in at 6-6 and 7-13 this year, and from shortstop Leo Cardenas, who sees his batting average plunge nearly 60 points. Pavletich, expected to fill Gene Oliver’s shoes, also struggles with the bat.
But the depth of talent on this ball club is amazing. Vada Pinson delivers his best year. Robust hitting is delivered by Bailey and by Tony Gonzalez, and Moon does fine. Both of the infield rookies, Harper and Rose, perform splendidly; Rose in fact does so well that over the course of the season he claims the second base job for himself, driving incumbent Curt Flood into an infield-outfield supersub role in which he thrives, heading up an outstanding bench.
But our key strength is our pitching, which despite the problems encountered by Purkey and Jay, is the league’s best. Young right-hander Jim Maloney bursts into stardom, heading up a rotation that includes not one, not two, but three excellent young left-handers. And our revamped bullpen emerges as a shining jewel.
The fight is extremely tough, once again pitting our Reds the Giants and the extremely formidable Los Angeles Dodgers and their amazing Sandy Koufax. But in exquisitely close fashion, our Reds prevail.
Cardinals
We’ve made only a few changes for this year. The most important is that, after patiently developing him in the minors for several years, we’re promoting sweet-swinging young Tim McCarver to take over as our primary catcher.
1963 St. Louis Cardinals Won 80 Lost 82 Finished 6th
Pos Player Age G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+
1B B. White* 29 162 636 89 194 25 8 26 92 57 97 .305 .358 .492 .850 133
2B J. Javier 26 161 579 68 152 26 9 9 54 23 82 .263 .291 .385 .676 86
SS-3B D. Schofield# 28 138 541 74 139 21 2 3 35 69 81 .257 .341 .320 .661 85
3B J. Davenport 29 147 460 42 122 21 3 5 38 32 87 .265 .303 .357 .659 82
RF L. Thomas* 27 121 401 49 93 12 6 8 44 33 60 .232 .296 .352 .648 79
CF-RF F. Alou 28 157 565 83 166 33 10 22 82 27 87 .294 .328 .504 .832 127
LF S. Musial* 42 124 337 32 86 10 2 12 55 35 43 .255 .325 .404 .728 101
C T. McCarver* 21 127 405 41 117 12 7 4 48 27 43 .289 .330 .383 .712 97
OF C. James 25 104 281 28 76 12 2 8 36 8 52 .270 .291 .413 .703 93
OF B. Burda* 24 77 184 27 41 5 0 7 27 24 30 .223 .313 .364 .677 87
IF E. Kasko 31 73 159 20 40 8 0 3 9 19 27 .252 .324 .358 .683 89
C G. Green 30 60 164 16 37 6 0 4 17 6 46 .226 .269 .335 .604 67
OF H. Goss 28 89 149 23 32 7 1 5 18 10 47 .215 .259 .376 .635 74
3B C. Neal 32 34 64 2 11 1 0 0 3 5 15 .172 .229 .188 .416 17
SS D. Maxvill 24 35 34 8 8 1 0 0 2 4 7 .235 .316 .265 .580 63
C J. Gonder* 27 31 32 5 10 2 0 3 5 1 12 .313 .333 .656 .990 167
C S. Taylor* 30 12 30 2 7 1 0 0 3 1 6 .233 .258 .267 .525 46
Others 132 17 33 1 3 3 12 14 34 .250 .322 .371 .693 92
Pitchers 415 38 75 13 2 4 40 18 132 .181 .199 .251 .449 24
Total 5568 664 1439 217 55 126 620 413 988 .258 .307 .385 .692 91
* Bats left
# Bats both
Pitcher Age G GS CG W L SV IP H R ER HR BB SO ERA ERA+
L. Jackson 32 37 37 13 14 16 0 275 260 102 80 11 54 156 2.62 138
B. Gibson 27 36 33 14 14 12 0 255 224 110 96 19 96 204 3.39 107
A. Jackson* 27 37 34 9 13 11 1 216 227 113 94 23 80 139 3.92 92
R. Sadecki* 22 36 28 4 8 12 1 193 198 100 88 25 78 136 4.10 88
E. Fisher 26 35 12 2 7 9 0 115 114 57 53 14 24 67 4.15 87
H. Fanok 23 18 6 1 2 5 1 68 62 35 32 7 45 66 4.24 85
R. Washburn 25 11 11 4 4 3 0 64 50 25 22 5 14 47 3.09 117
L. McDaniel 27 57 0 0 11 5 17 88 84 33 29 9 27 77 2.97 122
B. Shantz* 37 55 0 0 5 4 4 79 55 28 23 6 17 70 2.62 138
B. Henry* 35 47 0 0 1 3 4 52 58 32 26 4 11 46 4.50 80
D. Zanni 31 31 1 0 1 1 1 43 41 23 21 2 21 41 4.40 82
Others 0 0 0 1 0 15 25 10 10 3 6 11 6.00 60
Total 162 47 80 82 29 1463 1398 668 574 128 473 1060 3.53 102
* Throws left
We anticipated this might be the season in which we step forward into contention, but it doesn’t happen. Stan Musial, at 42, cools off from his stirring 1962 performance (and retires at the end of the year), but that isn’t surprising. What is surprising are the slumps that hit Lee Thomas and Jim Davenport.
Strong years from Bill White and Felipe Alou, as well as solid performances from McCarver, Schofield, and Julian Javier aren’t enough to lead our offense to improvement. We have, once again, basically a league-average attack.
And our pitching, while still a strength, isn’t as exceptional as it was in ’62. Ray Washburn misses much of the season with an arm injury, and the back end of our rotation gets knocked around a little bit.
It’s a one-step-forward, one-step-back kind of a year for our Cardinals. We’d given ourselves a three-to-five-year window to become a contender when we traded away Ken Boyer back in 1960. Next year will be year four in that window. It’s getting near put-up-or-shut-up time.
Next time
Will it again be the Giants’ “turn” to take the flag? Will the Cardinals finally have something to say about it?
Giants: Actual Reds: Actual Cardinals: Actual
Year W L Pos RS RA W L Pos RS RA W L Pos RS RA
1958 80 74 3 727 698 76 78 4 695 623 72 82 5T 619 704
1959 83 71 3 705 613 74 80 5T 764 738 71 83 7 641 725
1960 79 75 5 671 631 67 87 6 640 692 86 68 3 639 616
1961 85 69 3 773 655 93 61 1 710 653 80 74 5 703 668
1962 103 62 1 878 690 98 64 3 802 685 84 78 6 774 664
1963 88 74 3 725 641 86 76 5 648 594 93 69 2 747 628
Giants: Virtual Reds: Virtual Cardinals: Virtual
Year W L Pos RS RA W L Pos RS RA W L Pos RS RA
1958 83 71 2T 747 692 73 81 5 683 637 77 77 4 640 677
1959 87 67 1T 737 615 87 67 1T 802 662 84 70 4 725 685
1960 93 61 1 709 561 76 78 6 705 666 86 68 4 661 632
1961 88 66 2 787 648 106 48 1 813 629 72 82 6 689 724
1962 103 59 1 800 632 101 61 2T 779 663 84 78 6 809 703
1963 97 65 3 726 578 100 62 1 704 540 80 82 6 664 668
something that has always escaped me; why was jim davenport regarded as good?
mediocre fielding numbers, and not a good hitter, for a short stop.
and couldn’t some one have said, “that cepada, he’ll cost us forty runs a year at 3b, but the guy in left (anyone) will put 60 more on the board than the gang at third?”
Davenport, correctly or not, was very highly regarded as a defensive third baseman. He was awarded the NL Gold Glove at that position in 1962. (Having watched him play, I can attest that he was an extraordinarily smooth-looking fielder.)
He wasn’t a good hitter for a third baseman, but he was a pretty good hitter for a shortstop. Thus the way the Giants deployed him from 1964 onward, as a 3B/SS/2B supersub rather than a regular third baseman, made good sense. (It also better fit with Davenport’s injury-prone nature. He was one of those guys who just couldn’t stay healthy for 162 games, he was always dealing with a sore this or a strained that.)