That connection was why Eckersley requested a trade to St. Louis after nine seasons in Oakland. As a 10-year veteran who had spent more than five seasons with the same team, Eckersley had the right to veto any trade.

“To be an effective closer, you have to have a manager who knows how to use you,” he said. “I’ve been with Tony for nine years, and it’s pretty obvious.”[1]

Eckersley was a successful starting pitcher early in his career. After breaking into the majors as a 20-year-old with the Indians, Eckersley reeled off at least a dozen wins in each of his first six seasons. He was named to his first All-Star Game as a 22-year-old in 1977 and placed fourth in the American League Cy Young Award voting when he won 20 games in his first season with the Red Sox.

Ahead of the 1984 season, Eckersley was traded, along with Mike Brumley, to the Cubs for Bill Buckner. Over the next two seasons, he won 21 games combined with a 3.06 ERA. In 1986, however, his ERA ballooned to 4.57 as he went just 6-11. As the 1987 season began, the Cubs traded him to the Athletics, where La Russa and pitching coach Dave Duncan transitioned him to a new role: closer.

In 1988, Eckersley led the league with 45 saves, helping the A’s reach the World Series with a 2.35 ERA. After the season, he placed second in the Cy Young voting and fifth in the MVP voting. In 1989, he saved another 33 games and recorded the final three outs of Oakland’s World Series sweep over the Giants.

Eckersley’s accomplishments continued into the next decade. In 1990, his 48 saves outnumbered the 45 baserunners he allowed, and in 1992, he won both the AL MVP and Cy Young awards.

In nine seasons with the A’s, Eckersley compiled 320 of his 323 career saves and posted a 2.74 ERA.

“What happened with Eckersley wouldn’t have happened with anyone else,” said Goose Gossage, who pitched for La Russa for two seasons. “Tony resurrected his career.”[2]

“Sure, he put me in the bullpen and made me a star, but there’s more to it than that,” Eckersley said. “I respect everything about him. Like his Animal Rescue Foundation. You don’t have to agree with him, but he stands up for what he believes. He’s like an older brother who has been around the world.”[3]

Along the way, Eckersley had opportunities to leave Oakland for more lucrative contract offers. Instead, he chose to stay in Oakland with La Russa.[4]

“A person with a normal salary might think I’m crazy, but what’s the difference between $8 million or $9 million for two years?” Eckersley asked. “So it’s a couple hundred thousand a year, but I know who’s been buttering my bread, and it’s Tony.”[5]

The 41-year-old Eckersley was coming off three consecutive seasons with an ERA over 4.00, including a 4.83 ERA in 50 1/3 innings in 1995.

“I had a bad month,” Eckersley said. “When you have a bad month in relief, it can tear you up. When you’re 40 years old, people are going to say what they want to say, and that’s fine. That’s all part of it.”[6]

“Eck has got plenty left physically,” La Russa said. “Mentally and emotionally, he’s still at the top of his game. He still gets as fired up and as nervous as he did. He wants to succeed so badly, and that’s why he’s so consistent.”[7]

The Cardinals and A’s had worked on the deal for months, as the Cardinals wanted Oakland to pay part of Eckersley’s salary. In the end, the A’s agreed to pay $700,000 of Eckersley’s 1996 salary. The Cardinals would pay $500,000, and Eckersley agreed to defer the remaining $1 million until 1997.[8]

With the trade complete, La Russa said the Cardinals were not only filling their need for a closer after Tom Henke had all but officially retired, but they also obtained a role model for T.J. Mathews and John Frascatore to emulate. Mathews and Frascatore, both 26, were each considered potential future closers.

“Now a lot will depend on their attitude – how much they want to learn,” La Russa said. “If you’re sincere, Eck will talk to you, but Eck doesn’t like bull. Whether you’re a starter, middle reliever, or closer, our pitchers have been better for years just because they watch him.”[9]

In Oakland, the trade was just one more sign that times were changing after the team placed last in the American League West in 1995.

“From a team standpoint, it’s a sad day,” said Todd Van Poppel, one of the candidates to replace Eckersley as Oakland’s closer. “To me, Dennis Eckersley made the Oakland A’s. You’ll never see another A’s reliever do what he did. On the other hand, he’s going to a competitive team with a lot of his friends. For him it’s probably a good move, but for the Oakland A’s it’s another hole we have to fill – a hole we haven’t had to fill for eight, nine years.”[10]

With the trade, the A’s projected 1996 payroll was $20.5 million, far below the $35 million figure the team spent in 1995.[11]

“If the circumstances had been different, I would have liked to finish (my career) in Oakland,” Eckersley said. “I will always be an A, but I don’t know if there will always be an Oakland A’s.”[12]

In Montgomery, the A’s received a 6-foot-4 right-hander who had tied the Texas League record with 36 saves in 1995.[13]

“This is more to accommodate Dennis than to acquire Steve,” Alderson admitted. “This is what Dennis wanted. Given where we are, it was best for us too.”[14]

Montgomery pitched in 12 games for the A’s over two seasons, posting a 9.45 ERA in 20 innings. In 1998, he enjoyed the best season of his career with the Phillies, posting a 3.34 ERA and saving three games in 64 2/3 innings. After the season, he was traded to the Padres, where he threw just 5 2/3 innings in 2000, ending his major-league career.

Eckersley pitched two seasons in St. Louis, saving 30 games in 1996 and 36 in 1997. He appeared in 120 games across the two years, posting a 3.58 ERA in 113 innings. He played his final major-league season with the Red Sox in 1998 and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2004.

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[1] Rick Hummel, “Cards Get Eckersley To Teach And Pitch,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 14, 1996.

[2] Jerome Holtzman, “Mutual Admiration Society,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 5, 1996.

[3] Jerome Holtzman, “Mutual Admiration Society,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 5, 1996.

[4] Jerome Holtzman, “Mutual Admiration Society,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 5, 1996.

[5] Jerome Holtzman, “Mutual Admiration Society,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 5, 1996.

[6] Rick Hummel, “Cards Get Eckersley To Teach And Pitch,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 14, 1996.

[7] Rick Hummel, “Cards Get Eckersley To Teach And Pitch,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 14, 1996.

[8] Rick Hummel, “Deal For Eckersley Is Near,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 13, 1996.

[9] Rick Hummel, “Cards Get Eckersley To Teach And Pitch,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 14, 1996.

[10] Edvins Beitiks, “Eckersley: Nothing but A’s,” San Francisco Examiner, February 14, 1996.

[11] “Eckersley is traded to Cards,” San Francisco Examiner, February 13, 1996.

[12] Edvins Beitiks, “Eckersley: Nothing but A’s,” San Francisco Examiner, February 14, 1996.

[13] Edvins Beitiks, “Eckersley: Nothing but A’s,” San Francisco Examiner, February 14, 1996.

[14] Edvins Beitiks, “Eckersley: Nothing but A’s,” San Francisco Examiner, February 14, 1996.

The post How the Cardinals traded for Dennis Eckersley first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

In his rookie campaign in 1995, Mabry tied for fourth in the Rookie of the Year voting after batting .307 with five homers and 41 RBIs. That performance included 12 hits in 23 at-bats at Coors Field, but also included just one triple in 418 plate appearances.

On this day, however, he collected the second triple and the seventh home run of his career on his way to hitting for the cycle. Unfortunately, his historic accomplishment came the same night that the Rockies rallied for a five-run ninth inning to beat the Cardinals, 9-8.

“This is a really strange feeling,” Mabry said. “You’ve got to win the game. That’s all I know.”[1]

Mabry’s day began with a single up the middle against Colorado’s Marvin Freeman, a 6-foot-7 veteran right-hander who placed fourth in the Cy Young Award voting in 1994 but was now in the final season of his major-league career.

After Gary Gaetti hit a solo home run to lead off the fourth, Mabry followed with a ground-ball double down the right-field line but was stranded at third base.

Mabry was part of a four-run Cardinals rally in the fifth. After Brian Jordan drew a one-out walk, Ray Lankford homered to left field. Gaetti drew a walk before Mabry tripled over the head of Rockies center fielder Larry Walker, scoring Gaetti. Tom Pagnozzi scored Mabry with an RBI single that gave St. Louis a 5-1 lead.

Walker and Jeff Reed each homered in the sixth to cut the Cardinals’ lead to 5-3, but Mabry answered in the seventh with a two-run homer off left-handed reliever Mike Munoz to become the 212^th player in major league history to hit the cycle. It also made him the 15^th Cardinal to accomplish the feat and the first since Lankford did it in 1991.[2]

After the game, he said he was unaware of the potential cycle until his teammates congratulated him.

“I thought they were just congratulating me for the home run,” he said.[3]

Lankford said, “If it had been brought to his attention, it probably would have messed him up, but he was able to go up there relaxed in the seventh and he was just trying to make contact. Fortunately, he hit it out of the ballpark.”[4]

When Mabry came to the plate with Lankford on third base in the top of the ninth, Rockies pitcher John Habyan intentionally walked him. Lankford later scored on a wild pitch, giving the Cardinals an 8-4 lead.

The Rockies, however, erased that deficit in the bottom of the ninth, as Ellis Burks hit a two-run homer and John Vander Wal hit a walk-off, three-run homer off Dennis Eckersley to win the game, 9-8.

“I didn’t have anything tonight,” Eckersley said. “I couldn’t make a pitch, and you’ve got no time to find it. It was unbelievable.”[5]

One day later, Eckersley returned to St. Louis to have an MRI exam on his right elbow.[6]

“How can we not be in here celebrating John Mabry’s cycle?” asked Tony La Russa. “But nobody feels worse than Eckersley.”[7]

The loss dropped the Cardinals to a 17-25 record and the bottom of the National League East Division. Two days later, however, the Cardinals began a five-game win streak that marked the beginning of their resurrection. Led by Jordan, Lankford, and Ron Gant, the Cardinals battled back. An eight-game win streak between August 30 and September 7 catapulted the club into the NL East lead, and by season’s end, the Cardinals led the division by six games with an 88-74 record.

Mabry hit .297 in 1996 with a career-high 13 homers and 74 RBIs. He played with the Cardinals through the 1998 season, then signed with Seattle. In 2001, he briefly returned to St. Louis, appearing in five games before the Cardinals traded him to the Marlins. In 2004, Mabry again signed with the Cardinals and played two more seasons in St. Louis. His 14-year career included eight years in St. Louis. He hit .281 with 53 homers and 272 RBIs while wearing the birds on the bat.

After his playing career ended, Mabry spent one season as an analyst on Cardinals’ pre- and post-game shows for Fox Sports Midwest. In 2012, Mabry was named the Cardinals’ assistant hitting coach under Mark McGwire, then was promoted to hitting coach after McGwire took the same position with the Dodgers. Mabry served as the Cardinals’ hitting coach until July 2018.

Since then, he has coached for the Royals, Marlins, Orioles, and Angels.

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[1] Rick Hummel, “Mabry Goes For A Ride On The Cycle,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 19, 1996.

[2] “Eck, Cards lose again to Rockies,” Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, May 19, 1996.

[3] Rick Hummel, “Mabry Goes For A Ride On The Cycle,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 19, 1996.

[4] Rick Hummel, “Mabry Goes For A Ride On The Cycle,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 19, 1996.

[5] Rick Hummel, “Stunned Cardinals Are Victims In Another Rockies’ Horror Show,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 19, 1996.

[6] Rick Hummel, “Turns Out, Eckersley’s Sore Because Of Elbow, Not Ump,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 20, 1996.

[7] Rick Hummel, “Stunned Cardinals Are Victims In Another Rockies’ Horror Show,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 19, 1996.

The post John Mabry hits for the cycle: May 18, 1996 first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

With a new ownership group following Anheuser-Busch’s sale of the team, the Cardinals had retooled following a disappointing 62-81 season in 1995. Joe Torre had been replaced by Tony La Russa, Andy Benes and Ron Gant signed with the Cardinals as free agents, and Walt Jocketty made trades to obtain Royce Clayton, Todd Stottlemyre, and Dennis Eckersley.

In the second game of the season, the Cardinals’ saw their new additions pay off as Stottlemyre earned his first win as a Cardinal, Eckersley captured his first save, and La Russa earned his first win as Cardinals manager.

After seven seasons with the Blue Jays, Stottlemyre was coming off a 14-7 campaign with the Athletics, where he posted a 4.55 ERA and ranked second in the American League with 205 strikeouts. Recognizing that Stottlemyre was due for a raise in arbitration after earning $1.8 million in 1995, the Athletics dealt him to the Cardinals for outfielder Allen Battle and pitchers Jay Witasick, Carl Dale, and Bret Wagner.

Facing off against Jason Isringhausen and the Mets, Stottlemyre looked sharp in his Cardinals debut. He retired the first 10 batters he faced and struck out the side in the third inning.

Gant gave the Cardinals a 2-0 lead with a third-inning home run to left field. Ray Lankford led off the inning with a single, then distracted Isringhausen by breaking for second base.

“When I saw him take off, I flinched,” Isringhausen said. “Once you take your eyes off the plate, you’re in trouble. I see Gant has hit a few home runs. He’ll probably hit a few more.”[1]

In the sixth, Lankford led off the inning with a triple into the right-field corner and Gant scored him on a sacrifice fly to center.

Bernard Gilkey, who had been traded to the Mets during the offseason following the Cardinals’ signing of Gant, tied the game in the bottom half of the sixth with a three-run homer to left-center to make it a 3-3 ballgame. It was Gilkey’s second home run in as many days and his fifth RBI.

In the top of the seventh, the Cardinals mustered a two-out rally to re-take the lead. Stottlemyre started the rally with a single.

“I never hit a ball out of the infield all spring,” said Stottlemyre, who was playing in his first National League game. “I was just as surprised as anybody else when the ball hit the outfield grass.”[2]

Jose Vizcaino misplayed a ground ball off the bat of Willie McGee to keep the inning alive, and Clayton followed with an RBI single that scored Stottlemyre.

“After I scored, I was gassed,” Stottlemyre said.[3]

With two outs in the eighth, catcher Danny Schaeffer added an RBI single off Jerry Dipoto to give the Cardinals a 5-3 lead.

“That’s what we talk about, staying ahead of hitters,” Mets manager Dallas Green said. “You want to bury guys, especially a guy like Schaeffer. We had a chance to stay in the game right there, but we didn’t get it done.”[4]

From there, it was up to Stottlemyre and Eckersley to hold the lead. With four outs remaining in the game, La Russa called upon Eckersley to close out the game. Butch Huskey greeted the 41-year-old by blasting a fastball that appeared headed for the outfield seats, but Lankford leaped to rob him of the home run.

“After my heart started back up, I think I was more excited than (Lankford) was,” Gant said. “It’s awesome to get a front-row seat on a play like that.”[5]

Gilkey said he knew Lankford would make the play, even as Eckersley, expecting an easy out, began to walk toward the dugout.

“I’ve been playing with Ray a long time and I know the ability he has in center field,” Gilkey said. “I was just hoping the ball was a little higher. I’ve seen this so many times, but this was the only time I was a little disappointed he made the catch.”[6]

The home run would have been Huskey’s first after he hit nine for the Mets during spring training.

“I thought it had a chance to go,” he said. “It would have if (Lankford) wouldn’t have stuck his glove up.

“I went in (the clubhouse) and lifted some weights so he won’t have a chance next time.”[7]

Eckersley worked around two singles in the ninth to earn his first save as a Cardinal. He struck out Edgardo Alfonzo to close the game.

“No matter how much experience you have, you’re a little uptight when you come into the game,” Eckersley said. “I felt very uncomfortable, like I’d never been in a game before.”[8]

Stottlemyre’s day ended with his first win as a Cardinal after allowing three runs in 7 2/3 innings. Lankford, Gant, and Stottlemyre each finished with two hits.

Isringhausen, who grew up in Brighton, Illinois, took the loss. He had gone 9-2 as a rookie in 1995 and was making his first appearance of the season.

“I had more butterflies because I was pitching against the Cardinals for the first time,” he said.[9]

With their new-look roster, the Cardinals won 88 games to win the National League Central in 1996, sweeping the Padres in the Division Series to advance to the NLCS.

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[1] Rick Hummel, “Stottlemyre And Gant Look Like A Million,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 4, 1996: Page D1.

[2] Rick Hummel, “Stottlemyre And Gant Look Like A Million,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 4, 1996: Page D5.

[3] Rick Hummel, “Stottlemyre And Gant Look Like A Million,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 4, 1996: Page D5.

[4] Thomas Hill, “Mets, Huskey fall short,” New York Daily News, April 4, 1996: Page 98.

[5] Rick Hummel, “Stottlemyre And Gant Look Like A Million,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 4, 1996: Page D1.

[6] Rick Hummel, “Gilkey Greets Ex-Team With 5 RBIs in 2 Games,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 4, 1996: Page D5.

[7] Thomas Hill, “Mets, Huskey fall short,” New York Daily News, April 4, 1996: Page 98.

[8] Rick Hummel, “Stottlemyre And Gant Look Like A Million,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 4, 1996: Page D5.

[9] Rick Hummel, “Gilkey Greets Ex-Team With 5 RBIs in 2 Games,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 4, 1996: Page D5

The post Todd Stottlemyre, Dennis Eckersley earn Cardinals firsts in win vs. Mets: April 3, 1996 first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.