Neither team enjoyed the same success in 1988 that they had before. Entering the conclusion of their four-game series on July 24, the Giants were 49-46, seven games behind the NL West-leading Dodgers. The Cardinals, meanwhile, were just 43-53, 15 games behind the NL East-leading Mets and just two games ahead of the last-place Phillies.

Though the Giants were on the outskirts of the NL West race, veteran pitcher Rick Reuschel was enjoying another strong season, and he entered the game at Busch Stadium with a 12-5 record and 3.13 ERA. The Cardinals countered with Jose DeLeon, who entered the game with a 6-7 record and 4.10 ERA.

The Giants opened the scoring in the second inning when Candy Maldonado tripled, then scored on a groundout. Two innings later, Maldonado singled and scored on a sacrifice fly to give the Giants a 2-0 lead.

Clark put the game away in the fifth with his 22^nd home run of the season, a two-out, three-run blast to right field that gave San Francisco a 5-0 lead.

“DeLeon made a terrible pitch,” Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog said.[1]

Clark was at the center of the action again in the eighth inning when the fisticuffs began. With one out, Clark singled to center field. When Maldonado grounded to the shortstop, Smith fielded the ball cleanly and threw it to Oquendo for the force-out at second. Clark slid hard through the bag, sending himself and Oquendo well past the bag and breaking up the potential double play.

Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch described the scene that followed:

Oquendo kicked Clark and then cuffed Clark’s helmet with his hand.

Clark, his attention having been obtained, jumped to his feet and grabbed Oquendo. Smith, coming to the rescue, landed a punch from behind and then missed a roundhouse punch. Smith got in two more blows as Oquendo and Clark continued grappling, with Clark gaining the upper hand.

Maldonado, flying in from the right side, apparently gave Smith a shot that split Smith’s lip. Tom Pagnozzi, who came from the Cardinals’ bullpen, wrestled Maldonado to the ground.[2]

“When I slid, I hit the bag, and I bounced off to the side, and I was laying against Oquendo’s leg,” Clark said. “He kneed me and said, ‘What are you doing, man?’ or something like that. There’s really no answer to that. I was trying to break up two. When I was getting up, that’s when he hit me in the head. I couldn’t understand what that was all about, then I just went off. I pushed him, and from there, it all happened real quick.”[3]

Ironically, the first player to arrive and support Clark, Maldonado, had been in his own fight with Clark in the clubhouse a week earlier.[4]

“You don’t like to fight, but in a situation like that – they’re holding Will Clark down, swinging at Will Clark – you don’t wait,” Maldonado said. “You go.”[5]

“Tell you one thing,” Giants manager Roger Craig said. “That’s the fastest I’ve seen Maldonado from first to second.”[6]

Giants catcher Bob Brenly was one of the next Giants to arrive, getting a couple of shots in at Smith and appearing to bloody his lip. Earlier in the year, Smith had called Brenly and the Giants “scared loudmouths” in an interview with GQ magazine.

“I don’t know if somebody stepped on him or what,” Brenly said. “Maybe his lip got caught rolling over on my hand.”[7]

Oquendo and Clark were ejected for their roles in the fight. Second base umpire Dutch Rennert said he did not eject Smith because he didn’t see the Cardinals shortstop land any punches.

“I saw Clark swing at (Oquendo) and both were ejected for fighting,” he explained. “I didn’t see Ozzie get hit in that mess, to tell you the truth. He got three punches in? I just saw one punch by Clark. I didn’t know Ozzie hit him. If I had seen Ozzie sucker-punch him, I would have thrown him out.”[8]

Though Smith didn’t leave that evening’s game, he did ask out of the following day’s game against the Pirates after complaining of soreness.[9]

When the umpires finally settled matters and resumed play, it didn’t take long for sparks to fly once more. Cardinals reliever Scott Terry’s second pitch to Mike Aldrete came in high and tight. Umpire Randy Marsh immediately ejected Terry and both benches again emptied. Smith and Giants catcher Bob Brenly exchanged heated words, but this time no punches were thrown.

Nonetheless, police remained on the field for the remainder of the game.[10]

Ultimately, the Cardinals landed more blows against Clark than they did against Reuschel, who earned the complete-game shutout in the 5-0 Giants win.

After the game, Oquendo said, “I was just trying to get out of the way, and I didn’t think that was a right slide. He slid late. I was ticked off.”[11]

Herzog placed the blame on the umpires. Two nights earlier, he complained when Clark slid past the bag to break up a double play in that game.

“The rule states that you can slide on the first-base side of the bag and your momentum can carry you on that side of the bag,” Herzog said. “They didn’t call it, so (Clark) did it again. I told them if they had called it the other night, this stuff wouldn’t have happened.”[12]

“(Clark) didn’t slide out of the baseline,” Rennert responded when Herzog’s comments were repeated to him. “He slid over the bag. Straight and directly. A hard slide. Baseball can be a hard game. He’s got a gripe, but … that’s all you’ve got to do – slide directly over the bag.”[13]

The old-school Clark said he was simply playing hard-nosed baseball.

“In the old days, they went out there and played aggressive,” he said. “That’s the only way I was born and raised to play baseball. So that’s what I do. Evidently, they took it in the wrong fashion. If I have the opportunity to do it again, I’m going to go in there the same way.”[14]

Twelve years later, the Cardinals would come to appreciate Clark’s hard-charging style of play, obtaining him in a trade for minor-league third baseman Jose Leon. Clark played the final 2 ½ months of his career in St. Louis, playing first base in place of Mark McGwire, who was battling patellar tendinitis in his right knee.

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[1] Rick Hummel, “Giants Belt Cards 5-0,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 25, 1988.

[2] Rick Hummel, “Giants Belt Cards 5-0,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 25, 1988.

[3] Dave Luecking, “Clark Says He’ll Slide Same Way,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 25, 1988.

[4] Edvins Beitiks, “Fighting-trim Giants ready for Dodgers,” San Francisco Examiner, July 25, 1988.

[5] Edvins Beitiks, “Fighting-trim Giants ready for Dodgers,” San Francisco Examiner, July 25, 1988.

[6] Edvins Beitiks, “Fighting-trim Giants ready for Dodgers,” San Francisco Examiner, July 25, 1988.

[7] Edvins Beitiks, “Fighting-trim Giants ready for Dodgers,” San Francisco Examiner, July 25, 1988.

[8] Rick Hummel, “Giants Belt Cards 5-0,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 25, 1988.

[9] Dave Luecking, “‘Fracas’ Leaves Smith Sore,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 26, 1988.

[10] Rick Hummel, “Giants Belt Cards 5-0,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 25, 1988.

[11] Rick Hummel, “Giants Belt Cards 5-0,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 25, 1988.

[12] Rick Hummel, “Giants Belt Cards 5-0,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 25, 1988.

[13] Rick Hummel, “Giants Belt Cards 5-0,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 25, 1988.

[14] Dave Luecking, “Clark Says He’ll Slide Same Way,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 25, 1988.

The post Ozzie Smith, Jose Oquendo fight Will Clark: July 24, 1988 first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

The trade was Dal Maxvill’s first as the Cardinals’ general manager. Hired on Feb. 25 to replace Joe McDonald, Maxvill inherited a standoff between Smith and the Cardinals heading into the final year of Smith’s contract. The same day that the Oquendo trade appeared in papers, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Smith and the Cardinals were as much as $800,000 per year apart in their negotiations. The Cardinals were believed to be offering $1.7 million per year over four years while Smith was asking for at least $2.5 million annually.[1]

“That’s part of it,” manager Whitey Herzog said in explaining the trade. “Not that I hope we don’t sign Ozzie.”[2]

The Cardinals originally intended for Angel Salazar to serve as Smith’s backup. The Cardinals drafted the 23-year-old from the Expos in January as compensation for losing Bruce Sutter to free agency. Salazar had played 80 games for the Expos in 1984 but hit just .155 with 12 RBIs in 184 plate appearances for the Cardinals.

“He’s got a better opportunity with the Mets than he had with us,” Herzog said. “He might end up being the Mets’ shortstop this year.”[3]

Salazar had been the Cardinals’ leading hitter in spring training, batting .421 at the time of the trade.[4]

“Salazar’s not a bad ballplayer,” Herzog said, “but I thought (Oquendo) was the second-best shortstop in the National League when we saw him.”[5]

After Salazar spent one minor-league season for the Mets in 1985, New York traded him to Kansas City, where he played two seasons before playing with the Cubs in 1988. He finished his five-year major-league career with a .212 batting average in 383 games.

Oquendo had made his major-league debut as a 19-year-old in 1983, batting .213/.260/.244 in 353 plate appearances. He opened 1984 as the Mets’ starting shortstop but yielded playing time to Ron Gardenhire and Rafael Santana after batting .222/.284/.249 in 81 games.

“I’m sure you know we didn’t get him for his bat,” Herzog said, but “I haven’t seen him play badly. Salazar’s not a bad ballplayer, but everybody in our organization thought Oquendo was better, and he’s 21, two years younger than Salazar.”[6]

“I read in the paper that they might trade Ozzie Smith,” Oquendo said. “I hope this means I get a chance. I think I can hit. I know I’m a better hitter than the last couple of years. When they put so much pressure on you it makes it hard on you.”[7]

Oquendo was out of options and the Cardinals planned to assign him immediately to the minors, allowing them to bring him up one time without placing him on waivers.[8] Herzog said the Cardinals might experiment with Oquendo as a switch-hitter, something the Mets tried but abandoned.[9]

“I don’t think this deal would have been made if he wasn’t out of options,” Herzog said.[10]

Davis, the other player the Cardinals acquired in the deal, was a 26^th-round pick out of California State University, Sacramento, in the 1984 draft. Playing for Little Falls in the New York-Penn League, he saved 22 games with a 2.54 ERA as a 21-year-old in 1985.

Davis played one season in the Cardinals’ minor-league system, posting a 3.98 ERA and 10 saves in 83 2/3 innings in 1985, before concluding his baseball career.

Four days after acquiring Oquendo, the Cardinals made another trade for a shortstop, sending left-handed pitcher Dave Rucker to the Phillies for shortstop Ivan DeJesus and veteran pitcher Bill Campbell.

“DeJesus is capable of playing every day right now,” Maxvill said. “He provides us a great backup to Ozzie and protection in case the negotiations do not prove fruitful. The fact that we picked up two shortstops in four days means something, but in Oquendo’s case, it’s downstream somewhere.”[11]

DeJesus’s arrival and Smith’s signing of a new four-year, $8.7 million contract less than two weeks later relegated Oquendo to the minors for the entire 1985 season. Though he hit just .211/.264/.245 for Triple-A Louisville, Oquendo returned to switch-hitting and hit .360 in the final month of the season.

“We had to make him pinch-hit,” Herzog said. “It was his only chance. He wasn’t going to make it in the big leagues as a .200 right-handed hitter. Switch-hitting would enable him to take advantage of his speed and give him another dimension. And he was young enough to still do it.”[12]

Oquendo continued to hit well in spring training and opened the 1986 season in the majors.

“He’s always had that good glove, and with Ozzie having shoulder problems, we wanted Oquendo around just in case,” Herzog said. “I always felt that with the Mets, he was second only to Ozzie as a fielding shortstop.”[13]

Though the Cardinals slumped in 1986, Oquendo enjoyed an offensive breakout, hitting .297/.359/.341 in 158 plate appearances. In addition to playing at both second base and shortstop, Oquendo became a valuable pinch-hitter off the bench.

“Who thought you’d ever see him sent up to pinch-hit in the biggies?” Herzog asked.

Oquendo appeared in 116 games in 1987, batting .286 with a .409 on-base percentage. After primarily playing the middle infield throughout his career, Oquendo made 46 appearances in the outfield, prompting Herzog to begin calling him the “secret weapon.” In addition to playing first base, second base, third base, shortstop, and left, center, and right fields, Oquendo even pitched an inning for the Cardinals. Over the course of his career, he played all nine positions.

In Game 7 of the NLCS, with the Cardinals leading 1-0 in the second, Oquendo hit the third home run of his career, a three-run shot off Atlee Hammaker that helped Cardinals win 6-0 and advance to the World Series.

With the trade of Tom Herr to the Twins early in the 1988 season, Oquendo became a regular in the Cardinals’ infield, particularly at second base, through the 1991 season. In the first game of the 1992 season, Oquendo suffered a hamstring injury that limited him to just 13 more games that season. He played a reserve role the remainder of his career.

After failing to make the club out of spring training in 1996, Oquendo retired, ending a 12-year major-league career that included 10 seasons in St. Louis. During his tenure with the Cardinals, he hit .264 with a .359 on-base percentage.

Despite his retirement, Oquendo didn’t stay out of baseball for long. In 1997, the Cardinals made him the manager of the New Jersey Cardinals in the New York-Penn League, beginning a coaching career that has spanned parts of four decades. He was inducted into the Cardinals Hall of Fame in 2023.

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[1] Rick Hummel, “Ozzie, Cards At Odds On A New Contract,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 3, 1985.

[2] Rick Hummel, “Cards Get Oquendo From N.Y.,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 3, 1985.

[3] Rick Hummel, “Cards Get Oquendo From N.Y.,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 3, 1985.

[4] Rick Hummel, “Cards Get Oquendo From N.Y.,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 3, 1985.

[5] Rick Hummel, “Cards Get Oquendo From N.Y.,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 3, 1985.

[6] Rick Hummel, “Cards Get Oquendo From N.Y.,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 3, 1985.

[7] Rick Hummel, “Cards Get Oquendo From N.Y.,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 3, 1985.

[8] Rick Hummel, “Cards Get Oquendo From N.Y.,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 3, 1985.

[9] Rick Hummel, “Cards Get Oquendo From N.Y.,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 3, 1985.

[10] Rick Hummel, “Cards Get Oquendo From N.Y.,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 3, 1985.

[11] Rick Hummel, “Cards Get DeJesus For Rucker,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 7, 1985.

[12] Bernie Miklasz, “In A Pinch,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 8, 1986.

[13] Bernie Miklasz, “In A Pinch,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 8, 1986.

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