General manager Walt Jocketty was seeking a veteran catcher to complement Marrero, who had hit just .192 the previous season in his first season back from thyroid cancer surgery. When catcher Albert Castillo, who claimed the starting job during the second half of the 1999 season, was included in the trade for starting pitcher Pat Hentgen, the Cardinals found themselves in need of an experienced backstop who might be counted on for significant playing time.

However, Matheny wasn’t Jocketty’s first choice. Instead, the Cardinals sought Joe Girardi, who had won three World Series championships in his four seasons with the Yankees. Though the Cardinals and Giants both offered Girardi more money, the 35-year-old opted to sign with his hometown Cubs.

“It’s the same thing that happened to (Terry) Steinbach,” said Jocketty, recalling another veteran backstop who had turned down a free-agent offer from the Cardinals. “The guy would rather play at home instead of coming to a better situation. It’s tough to compete against that.”[1]

Though Girardi ultimately joined the Cardinals in 2003 to serve as Matheny’s backup, his decision to play in Chicago meant Jocketty had to pivot. This time, the Cardinals pursued Matheny, who had lived in Weldon Springs, Missouri, the past three years. Matheny’s wife Kristin grew up in Chesterfield.

“She must have some powerful prayers because we really didn’t think about the Cardinals being interested in us,” Matheny said.[2]

The Brewers drafted Matheny in the eighth round of the 1991 draft after his junior year at the University of Michigan. He made his major-league debut as a 23-year-old in 1993, and over five seasons with the Brewers he hit .231/278/.334. In 1996, Matheny set career highs with eight homers and 46 RBIs, though he hit just .204 that year.

After the 1998 season, Matheny signed a one-year deal with the Blue Jays. As a backup to Darrin Fletcher, Matheny appeared in 57 games, batting .215.

“I wish I could take a little of the enthusiasm I feel when I’m behind the plate and have it when I get in the batter’s box,” Matheny said. “I just love being behind the plate, all the strategy that goes unseen there. But I’m working on my other perspectives. I am working on revamping my swing and improving in the things that have held my statistics back.”[3]

Though he also received an offer to return to the Brewers and also received interest from the Yankees and Rockies, Matheny signed a one-year, $750,000 contract with the Cardinals.[4]

The deal included a team option for 2001, but when he was asked if his new contract included any incentives, Matheny said, “No, I’ve never been a big fan of incentives. I’ve got a job that should be incentive enough.”[5]

To make room for Matheny, the Cardinals designated outfielder Darren Bragg for assignment.

“We feel that Matheny gives us solid depth behind the plate,” Jocketty said. “He is very good defensively and he knows how to handle a pitching staff well.”[6]

Emphasizing that the Cardinals were prioritizing defense at the position, manager Tony La Russa made it clear that the starting job would be up for grabs at spring training.

“Matheny is going to get a real opportunity,” he said in January. “That pitching staff is going to have to be caught. … The guy who gets back there can contribute to winning more defensively than offensively.”[7]

“My perspective is full of cliches,” Mathey said. “I will just fill whatever role the team needs. I like to think I’m an unselfish player and will be helpful whether I’m playing or not. That doesn’t mean I’m not interested in playing, because I am. I just want to help this team win however I can.”[8]

When Matheny arrived in St. Petersburg for spring training, however, he failed to impress offensively or defensively. Less than two weeks away from the Cardinals’ season opener, Matheny was batting .091, Marrero was batting .100, and Rick Wilkins was batting .217.

“We were surprised … that he wasn’t better defensively than he was,” La Russa said. “He was trying so hard he was suffocating his ability. … He wanted it so bad he was trying too hard.”[9]

Matheny’s spring finally turned with a phone call from his wife Kristin.

“She’s always been really positive,” Matheny said. “I’m sitting here wondering where the rest of my career is going to go, and I can’t do anything right. Last year was a situation I had been in before, where I felt I didn’t rise to the occasion. She told me everything works itself out and to rely on my faith. It’s amazing how strong she is and the faith she has in me. It was real comforting to hear her say that.”[10]

Before the month was over, Matheny had raised his spring average 118 points.

“All of a sudden, the shackles came off and he came to life,” La Russa said. “He was a dark horse coming in. He had to make a first impression, a middle impression, and an ending impression. Every impression he made was good, better, better.”[11]

Matheny started 117 games that season, batting a career-high .261 while throwing out 46 of 90 would-be base stealers. He was rewarded that fall with the first Gold Glove Award of his career.

“My approach to the game is so defensive-minded,” Matheny said. “It’s something that is hard to calibrate how you are doing sometimes. You get feedback from the pitching staff about it, but something like this award, where other managers vote on it, it means a lot to find out how your peers and the other coaches view you. The only thing that could mean more would be to hear that from your teammates and the fans.”[12]

The only disappointment for Matheny came that fall, as an accident with a hunting knife given to him as a birthday gift severed the tendon in his right ring finger, forcing him to miss the postseason. As a result, Matheny could only watch as Rick Ankiel melted down in Game 1 of the NLDS, forever changing the phenom’s career path.

After the season, the Cardinals exercised their $900,000 option on Matheny.

“He did an outstanding job for us,” Jocketty said. “He was a valuable part of our club that we missed in the postseason. His offense was a huge plus. I don’t think we expected him to hit .260.”[13]

After the 2001 season, the Cardinals signed Matheny to a three-year contract that solidified his role on the team. Though Matheny never hit as high as .261 again, his toughness and defense helped the Cardinals rise to the top of the National League.

In 2003, he won the Gold Glove Award again with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage while playing 1,096 innings.

“The first one was very exciting. It’s something that I never dreamed might happen,” Matheny said. “But you do it once, and it could be a lot of things. To do it a second time says it’s not a fluke. It’s very special.”[14]

Between August 2, 2002, and August 4, 2004, Matheny played 252 games without committing an error, setting a new record for MLB catchers. Along the way, he earned the respect of his teammates. In January 2004, Matheny was named the first recipient of the Darryl Kile Award, voted upon by Cardinals players and given to a player who embodied Kile’s spirit, determination, and professionalism.

After the 2004 season, which included the major-league debut of prized catching prospect Yadier Molina, Matheny signed a three-year contract with the Giants. He retired following the 2006 season due the effects of post-concussion syndrome.

In five seasons in St. Louis, Matheny hit .245 with 29 homers and 221 RBIs. He retired with a .994 fielding percentage and four Gold Glove awards.

In November 2011, just 15 days after La Russa announced his retirement, the Cardinals announced that they had hired Matheny to manage the club. In seven seasons as the Cardinals’ manager, he led the team to a 591-474 record with three Central Division championships and one National League pennant.

[1] Rick Hummel, “With Girardi now gone, Cards’ search goes on,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, December 12, 1999.

[2] Mike Eisenbath, “Free agent Matheny joins the Cardinals’ catching corps,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, December 17, 1999.

[3] Mike Eisenbath, “Free agent Matheny joins the Cardinals’ catching corps,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, December 17, 1999.

[4] Mike Eisenbath, “Free agent Matheny joins the Cardinals’ catching corps,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, December 17, 1999.

[5] Mike Eisenbath, “Free agent Matheny joins the Cardinals’ catching corps,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, December 17, 1999.

[6] Joe Ostermeier, “Cards sign catcher Matheny to share duties with Marrero,” Belleville News-Democrat, December 17, 1999.

[7] Rick Hummel, “La Russa now knows better than to make predictions,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 23, 2000.

[8] Mike Eisenbath, “Free agent Matheny joins the Cardinals’ catching corps,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, December 17, 1999.

[9] Rick Hummel, “A year makes a big difference for Gold Glove winner Matheny,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 20, 2001.

[10] Rick Hummel, “A year makes a big difference for Gold Glove winner Matheny,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 20, 2001.

[11] Rick Hummel, “A year makes a big difference for Gold Glove winner Matheny,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 20, 2001.

[12] Mike Eisenbath, “Edmonds, Matheny win Gold Gloves for fielding prowess,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 8, 2000.

[13] David Wilhelm, “Hentgen cut, Matheny will be back,” Belleville News-Democrat, October 31, 2000.

[14] Dan O’Neill, “Color the Gold Gloves red again,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 6, 2003.

The post How Mike Matheny signed with the Cardinals first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

“It was like an organizational transformational moment,” Wainwright said. “The wake-up call to the team arrived today.”[1]

Matheny’s ouster followed an 8-2 loss to the Reds at Busch Stadium, but it wasn’t the home-field defeat that led to his ouster. It wasn’t even the Cardinals’ disappointing 47-46 record or the fact that they were on their way to missing the playoffs for the third consecutive season, something that hadn’t happened since the 1997-1999 seasons. Instead, it was the sense that the franchise needed to change its trajectory.

“I don’t feel like our trend line was taking us in that (positive) direction anymore,” president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said. “Even if it’s just slowly decaying, you’re going to wake up at some point and find yourself in a bad spot. You could say, ‘You’re already there, chief.’ The point is, we felt we couldn’t wait any longer. Change felt inevitable.”[2]

The Cardinals had seen diminishing returns since at least 2015. In the wake of Tony La Russa’s retirement following the 2011 World Series championship, the Cardinals made the 41-year-old Matheny the youngest manager in the majors. Though he didn’t have any professional coaching or managerial experience when he accepted the job, Matheny led the Cardinals to the NLCS in his debut season.

In 2013, Matheny guided the team to 97 wins, the NL Central Division Championship, and the National League title. The following year, the Cardinals reached the NLCS again, and in 2015, they won 100 games to claim the NL Central title for the third consecutive year before bowing out to the Cubs in the NLDS.

In 2016, the Cardinals missed the playoffs for the first time since 2010, finishing 86-76, second to the Cubs in the NL Central. The next year, the Cardinals finished third with 83 wins, this time trailing both the Cubs and Brewers. At the time of his firing, Matheny’s Cardinals were once again in third place, 7 ½ games behind the division-leading Cubs.

The team’s record, however, only told part of the story. Two weeks earlier, Matheny stirred controversy when he seemed to question the effort of struggling outfielder Dexter Fowler, who was batting just .171 in the second year of a five-year, $82.5 million contract and had begun to lose playing time to young center fielder Harrison Bader.

In an interview with Fox Sports Midwest, Matheny said, “It’s been a frustrating year for everybody involved. Here’s a guy who wants to go out and play well. I think he would tell you it’s hard to do that when you’re not playing on a consistent basis. But I’ve also had a lot of people come up to me and question his effort and his energy level. You know, those are things that I can’t defend. What I can defend is trying to create opportunities for him, but not if it’s at the expense of someone who’s out there hustling and playing hard.”[3]

A couple of days later, The Athletic reported that Fowler and Matheny hadn’t spoken for months.[4] That report was followed by another story in which The Athletic reported that veteran relief pitcher Bud Norris had been “mercilessly riding” rookie reliever Jordan Hicks and would report to Matheny whenever he felt his teammates were “not living up to the standards the team set in spring training.” In some instances, Matheny would fine players based on Norris’s reports.[5]

The story raised questions about Matheny’s skill in managing his players and in the clubhouse culture he had established. When asked if Hicks would grow to appreciate Norris’s tough love, Matheny answered, “Probably not, but Bud’s going to continue to do what he thinks is right as a veteran, so you respect that.”[6]

Matheny’s words raised eyebrows, locally and in the national media.

“A few decades ago, that answer would have been completely unremarkable from a manager—but not so much anymore, not in a game that banned rookie bullying and hazing in its most recent collective bargaining agreement,” Emma Baccellieri wrote on SI.com.[7]

Ironically, Matheny’s reputation as a clubhouse leader played significantly in the Cardinals’ decision to name him manager following La Russa’s retirement. As the Cardinals’ starting catcher from 2000 through 2004, Matheny won three Gold Gloves and was recognized as a calm, steady voice on a team filled with strong personalities.

As a manager, however, Matheny was late in embracing trends in bullpen management and defensive shifts. Baseball Prospectus ranked him last among active managers in its reliever management metric, and Baseball Savant ranked the Cardinals 23^rd in the frequency of their defensive shifts.[8]

“He was one of the last guys to try to keep this game old school,” second baseman Kolten Wong said. “Everything is going to analytics and shifts and all this right now, but Mike was definitely one of those guys who loved the old-school aspect of playing.”[9]

After an 8-2 loss to the Reds in which Hicks allowed four runs in 1/3 of an inning, Matheny conducted his postgame press conference unaware that Mozeliak was informing hitting coach John Mabry and assistant hitting coach Bill Mueller that their services were no longer needed. After his press conference was complete, Matheny, who still had more than two years remaining on his contract, found Mozeliak waiting to break the bad news.[10]

“I realize I have to take the responsibility,” Matheny said. “When we can’t get things going right, that’s my job. I know who shoulders the blame. The blame falls on my shoulder.”[11]

It was the Cardinals’ first midseason firing since Joe Torre in 1995.

“When you see that happen, it’s because us, as players, we’re not doing our job,” said Yadier Molina, Matheny’s successor behind the plate and the only member of the Cardinals’ roster who had played alongside Matheny. “I hate to say it, but that’s what it is. We’re not doing our job. The blame is on us.”[12]

“We all feel bad for Mike, and ultimately it comes down on us,” agreed infielder Jedd Gyorko. “We’re the guys that go out there and play and perform. I feel like we haven’t done that good enough.”[13]

Matheny left the team as one of just four skippers to manage the Cardinals for more than 1,000 games. He compiled a 591-474 record over that span, good for a .555 winning percentage. His 591 wins trail only La Russa (1,408), Red Schoendienst (1,041), Whitey Herzog (822), and Billy Southworth (620) in franchise history.

“I never set that as one of my goals – to be as successful as Whitey or Red or Joe (Torre) or Tony,” Matheny said. “That was never part of my definition of what success looked like. I can’t be what other people want me to be.”[14]

Bench coach Mike Shildt was named interim manager in what Mozeliak termed “an extended interview.”[15] On August 28, the interim tag was removed, and Shildt was officially named manager. The Cardinals finished the season with a 41-28 record under Shildt for an 88-74 overall record, 2 ½ games back of the wild card.

The following year, Shildt led the Cardinals to 91 wins en route to the NL Central Division title and a berth to the NLCS.

Give the gift of Cardinals history! The Trades That Made The St. Louis Cardinals is available now on Amazon.

[1] Derrick Goold, “Mozeliak says firings were inevitable with team faltering,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 26, 2018.

[2] Derrick Goold, “Mozeliak says firings were inevitable with team faltering,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 26, 2018.

[3] Bill Baer, “John Mozeliak calls into question Dexter Fowler’s effort and energy,” NBC Sports, https://mlb.nbcsports.com/2018/07/02/john-mozeliak-calls-into-question-dexter-fowlers-effort-and-energy/.

[4] Mark Saxon, “Are Dexter Fowler and the Cardinals headed for a divorce? Sure seems like it,” The Athletic, https://theathletic.com/422240/2018/07/05/are-dexter-fowler-and-the-cardinals-headed-for-a-divorce-sure-seems-like-it.

[5] Mark Saxon, “Veteran Bud Norris is leading the young Cards bullpen with a divisive old-school approach,” The Athletic, https://theathletic.com/428599/2018/07/11/bud-norris-st-louis-cardinals-bullpen-jordan-hicks-relationship-mike-matheny.

[6] Mark Saxon, “Veteran Bud Norris is leading the young Cards bullpen with a divisive old-school approach,” The Athletic, https://theathletic.com/428599/2018/07/11/bud-norris-st-louis-cardinals-bullpen-jordan-hicks-relationship-mike-matheny.

[7] Emma Baccellieri, “Poor On-Field Decisions, Clubhouse Issues Led Cardinals to Change Course From Mike Matheny,” SI.com, www.si.com/mlb/2018/07/15/cardinals-fire-mike-matheny-tactical-errors-clubhouse.

[8] Emma Baccellieri, “Poor On-Field Decisions, Clubhouse Issues Led Cardinals to Change Course From Mike Matheny,” SI.com, www.si.com/mlb/2018/07/15/cardinals-fire-mike-matheny-tactical-errors-clubhouse.

[9] Peter Baugh, “Cardinals players reflect on Matheny,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 16, 2018.

[10] Derrick Goold, “Cards Fire Matheny,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 15, 2018.

[11] Rick Hummel, “‘I’ve Got Nothing But Gratitude,’” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 16, 2018.

[12] Derrick Goold, “Mozeliak says firings were inevitable with team faltering,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 26, 2018.

[13] Steve Overbey (Associated Press), “Players take blame after Matheny is shown the door,” Belleville News-Democrat, July 16, 2018.

[14] Rick Hummel, “‘I’ve Got Nothing But Gratitude,’” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 16, 2018.

[15] Ben Frederickson, “It’s an audition for Shildt on the Cards’ stage,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 16, 2018.

The post Why Mike Matheny was fired as Cardinals manager first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

More than a year earlier, St. Louis general manager John Mozeliak compared Taveras to Albert Pujols, prompting Sports Illustrated to write prior to the 2013 season that Taveras, then just 20 years old, “is the X-factor on a deep and talented St. Louis team that is loaded for another run in October.”[1]

Even an ankle injury that limited Taveras to just 47 minor league games in 2013 and postponed his promotion to St. Louis did little to dim evaluators’ excitement. Baseball Prospectus ranked Taveras the No. 2 prospect in the game prior to 2013 and No. 3 entering the 2014 season.[2] MLB.com ranked him No. 3 headed into both seasons.[3] In December 2013, Keith Law of ESPN ranked Taveras the fifth-best prospect in the game while comparing him to Vladimir Guerrero at the plate and in the field, where he gave Taveras’s glove the edge while preferring Guerrero’s legendary arm.[4]

A native of Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, Taveras was an unheralded, $145,000 signing for the Cardinals in 2008.[5] Two years later, in his first season in the United States, the 18-year-old hit .322 with eight home runs and 43 RBIs in 211 Appalachian League at-bats. In 2011, he placed himself on the national radar when he led the Class A Midwest League with a .386 batting average. That performance was enough to catch the attention of Cardinals manager Mike Matheny.

“You play a full season, and you hit .380, I don’t care if it’s tee ball, you’ve done something pretty special,” Matheny said during the 2012 spring training. “To see a 19-year-old that is doing the things that he’s been able to do … it’s legitimate.”[6]

Taveras successfully made the jump to the Class AA Texas League in 2012, batting .321 with 23 homers and 94 RBIs, and he was batting .306 in 2013 before ankle surgery cut short his 2013 campaign.

By the time the 2014 Cardinals entered May with a 15-14 record – already placing them 5 1/2 games behind the Brewers in the National League Central – fans and sportswriters were calling for Taveras to assist an ailing lineup.

“The Cardinals are willing to try anything except promote outfielder Oscar Taveras, their best hitting prospect since Albert Pujols,” wrote veteran St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz. “Any day now, I expect to hear that the Cardinals have placed Taveras into a witness protection program.”[7]

Thirty days later, Taveras finally arrived in St. Louis, claiming the roster spot of injured first baseman Matt Adams, who was headed to the disabled list with a calf injury.[8] For his debut game against the San Francisco Giants, Matheny inserted Taveras into the sixth spot in the Cardinals’ lineup behind Yadier Molina.

The game quickly turned into a pitcher’s duel between the Cardinals’ 22-year-old hurler Michael Wacha and San Francisco’s Yusmeiro Petit. Petit retired the first five Cardinals he faced before Taveras came to the plate with two outs in the second inning. With storm clouds gathering, the St. Louis fans gave Tavares a standing ovation as he stepped into his first major league batter’s box.

“How good must that feel?” Fox Sports Midwest broadcaster and former Cardinals pitcher Ricky Horton asked on the air. “You don’t have a hit yet, no home runs, no runs scored, and you get a standing ovation.”[9]

Petit was less generous toward the rookie, greeting Tavares with an 84-mph breaking ball on the outside corner. Tavares fouled the next pitch down the third-base line before lifting the ball to left field and into the glove of San Francisco’s Tyler Colvin.

Wacha and Petit continued to trade scoreless innings until Taveras came to bat in the bottom of the fifth. To that point, the game’s only hits had been a double by Michael Morse to lead off the top of the second inning and a single by Matt Carpenter in the bottom of the fourth.

Taveras had just taken the first pitch of the at-bat low and inside when it began to rain. Petit’s next pitch was a curveball that started on the outer half before coming in over the middle of the plate. Using the smooth, left-handed swing that had scouts raving, Taveras deposited the 1-0 pitch over the right-field wall, becoming the 12th player in Cardinals history to homer in his major league debut.[10]

“How about that for a debut?” Horton shouted into the microphone.[11]

“He’s got a good swing, you know?” Petit said afterward in a tone far less enthusiastic than Horton’s. “He swings hard, and he pulls everything, so I tried to stay away, and I missed with one pitch.”[12]

After accepting congratulations from his teammates, Taveras climbed the clubhouse steps once more and doffed his helmet for the home fans, who were still standing and cheering.

“Everybody knew it’s gone,” Taveras said after the game. “That’s a good swing right there. I’m so happy right there. Everything is happy.”[13]

As Taveras saluted the fans, the rain’s intensity increased, sending the grounds crew racing onto the field for a 47-minute rain delay. In the top of the seventh, rain delayed the action again, marking the end of the day for both Wacha and Petit. Wacha finished with seven strikeouts and three hits allowed over six innings. Petit exited with five strikeouts and just two hits allowed.

When play resumed, Cardinals left-hander Sam Freeman retired Hector Sanchez on a lineout and struck out Colvin and Brandon Hicks in a scoreless seventh. In the bottom half of the inning, the Giants turned to right-hander George Kontos, who allowed a leadoff single to Allen Craig before striking out Molina and Taveras.

As Taveras swung through an outside fastball for the third strike, Craig took off for second, sliding safely into the bag when the throw by Giants catcher Hector Sanchez skipped past shortstop Ehire Adrianza. Jhonny Peralta, who struck out in his first two at-bats, drove Craig home with a double into the left-field gap that made the score 2-0.

From there, the St. Louis bullpen maintained firm control of the game. Pat Neshek retired the side in order in the eighth inning. In the ninth, Trevor Rosenthal struck out Hunter Pence, Pablo Sandoval, and Morse in consecutive at-bats to earn the save.

Though the Cardinals’ four pitchers had combined for a three-hit, 13-strikeout shutout, the headlines all belonged to Taveras. In the next day’s paper, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch ran an infographic comparing Taveras’s first game to that of Pujols (both players went 1-for-3 in their debut, though Pujols’s hit was a mere single). Miklasz wrote a column declaring that Taveras’s bat was “packed with danger and fully charged with hope. It was the bat that the Cardinals and their fans had been waiting for.”[14]

With Adams on the disabled list and a seven-game swing through two American League cities coming up, the Cardinals couldn’t help but express optimism that June would mark the beginning of a long, successful career for Tavares.

“I’m supposed to downplay it, right?” Matheny said. “We’re supposed to downplay it because we believe that it will probably give him the best chance of doing what he can do. But I’d be lying to say to you that I wasn’t excited for him. Hopefully, this is an atmosphere that can launch him to the next level.”[15]

Taveras never got that opportunity. After batting .239 with three homers and 22 RBIs in 234 regular-season at-bats, Taveras played a reserve role during the playoffs. In Game 2 of the National League Championship Series, he hit a pinch-hit home run off Giants reliever Jean Machi to help lift St. Louis to a 5-4 victory. It was the final hit of his career.

On October 26, 2014, Taveras and his girlfriend, Edilia Arvelo, were killed in a single-car accident on the Sosúa-Cabarete freeway in Taveras’s hometown of Puerto Plata. In November, the Dominican Republic attorney general’s office disclosed that Taveras’s toxicology report showed a blood-alcohol content of 0.287 percent and that he was driving too fast for rainy conditions when he lost control of his vehicle and crashed into a tree.[16] He was 22 years old.

“He was someone who became an identity for our organization to some degree,” Mozeliak said. “Think about how much was written about him … how much was said about him. He never really got to show it at the major league level.”[17]

Indeed, the world never got to see whether the comparisons to Pujols and Guerrero were justified. But for one Saturday afternoon in May, Taveras’s infectious smile – and his incredible potential – were enough to cut through the rain and bring more than 44,000 baseball fans to their feet.

Give the gift of Cardinals history! The Trades That Made The St. Louis Cardinals is available now on Amazon.

[1] Albert Chen, “Well-stocked Cardinals ready to make another run,” Sports Illustrated, March 27, 2013, https://www.si.com/mlb/2013/03/27/st-louis-cardinals-season-preview.

[2] Jason Parks and Staff, “Prospects Will Break Your Heart: Top 101 Prospects,” Baseball Prospectus, January 27, 2014, https://www.baseballprospectus.com/prospects/article/22670/prospects-will-break-your-heart-top-101-prospects/.

[3] Jennifer Langosch, “Taveras ranks third among top 100 prospects,” MLB.com, January 23, 2014, https://www.mlb.com/news/oscar-taveras-of-st-louis-cardinals-third-in-top-100-prospect-rankings/c-66987862.

[4] Keith Law, “Top 100 prospects (1-50),” ESPN.com, December 19, 2013, http://insider.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/10166140/byron-buxton-tops-2014-ranking-top-100-prospects-mlb.

[5] Derrick Goold, “He’s the guy who sells,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 18, 2012: C12.

[6] Goold.

[7] Bernie Miklasz, “Birds fight back,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 1, 2014: C4.

[8] Derrick Goold, “Taveras on the way: Grichuk already here as Cards tap minors,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 31, 2014: B5.

[9] Fox Sports Midwest game broadcast, May 31, 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZX1UyDUGB0.

[10] Derrick Goold, “Taveras makes it rain with home run in debut,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 1, 2014: C1.

[11] Fox Sports Midwest game broadcast, May 31, 2014.

[12] Alex Pavlovic, “Cards prospect homers in debut,” Sacramento Bee, June 1, 2014: C6.

[13] Goold, “Taveras makes it rain with home run in debut.”

[14] Bernie Miklasz, “Rookie gets right into the swing of things,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 1, 2014: C1.

[15] Goold, “Taveras makes it rain with home run in debut.”

[16] Derrick Goold, “Taveras had high blood alcohol,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 13, 2014: A1.

[17] Joe Strauss, “Cards look for solace amid a lack of answers,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 28, 2014: B1.

The post Oscar Taveras homers in his debut: May 31, 2014 first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

As the defending National League champions prepared to play the final game of a three-game series against the Padres, they sat in third place in the Central Division, 2 ½ games behind the Brewers and half a game behind the second-place Pirates. A day earlier, Mozeliak took his first step toward bolstering a rotation that was missing both Michael Wacha and Jaime Garcia with shoulder injuries when he traded outfield prospect James Ramsey for righthander Justin Masterson.

That proved to be a precursor to an even bigger deadline deal that sent outfielder Allen Craig and pitcher Joe Kelly to the Red Sox for starting pitcher John Lackey, pitching prospect Corey Littrell, and $1.75 million. [1]

“What was the genesis of this deal? Trying to address a top-flight starter and add to the rotation for next year,” Mozeliak said. “We were going to have to do something in the outfield because what was happening now was not sustainable.”[2]

The deal came as a shock to a Cardinals clubhouse that was fond of both Craig and Kelly. Craig had emerged as a key part of the Redbirds’ postseason run to the 2011 World Series championship and both players were part of the 2013 team that won the National League championship before falling to the Red Sox in the World Series. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch quoted unnamed veterans who called the trade “shocking,” a “surprise,” and “a punch to the gut.”[3]

“It’s a tough morning for us, no question,” manager Mike Matheny said. “We ask these guys from day one to buy into the fact that we’re in this thing together. To buy into the culture and everything the organization stands for. To see a few guys who have bought into that packing their stuff up – yeah, there’s a business here, but we’re asking for more than just business. It caught everybody off guard.”[4]

The news was even more surprising to the team due to the manner in which it arrived. Craig was in a room just outside the Petco Park visitors’ clubhouse when a television report about the trade came on. Kelly learned about the deal on Twitter. Other players learned about the trade from reporters or online.

“I don’t think the Cardinals organization had any ill will with that,” Craig said. “Ideally as a player, you don’t want to find out that way but in today’s age, I don’t see how you can keep anything under wraps. That’s not even a big deal in my mind. Information travels.”[5]

With question marks in both the lineup and rotation, Mozeliak chose to pursue a top-of-the-rotation starter. That included talks with Boston about lefthander Jon Lester, but Mozeliak said Boston asked for too steep a price for the pending free agent.[6] The Red Sox traded Lester and Jonny Gomes to the Athletics for Yoenis Cespedes and a competitive balance pick.

The Cardinals also spoke to the Rays about David Price. Again, while the Cardinals had the pieces Tampa Bay was seeking, the Cardinals were unwilling to meet their trade demands. Price went to the Tigers instead as part of a three-team trade that sent Willy Adames, Drew Smyly, and Nick Franklin to Tampa Bay.

“We clearly could have matched up, but we didn’t want to go down that path,” Mozeliak said.[7]

Once the Cardinals made the trade for Masterson, a veteran right-hander who won a career-high 14 games in 2013, Kelly suddenly became an expendable piece to deal for Lackey.

In three years with the Cardinals, Kelly had posted a 17-14 record with a 3.25 ERA. In seven starts in 2014, he was 2-2 with a 4.37 ERA.

“I didn’t know any team wanted me at this point,” Kelly joked.[8]

“In Kelly, we feel like we have a guy who is … a developing, advancing major-league starting pitcher,” Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington said. “Certainly not a finished product, but really talented and someone our scouts have liked for a long time. Highly athletic, really good stuff, and someone we feel can quickly develop into a core part of our rotation. He was an important addition as we go into the offseason. We wouldn’t have done the Lackey deal without getting someone like that back.”[9]

St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Joe Strauss wrote that dealing Kelly made sense for a team that needed a No. 2 or No. 3 starter.

“As a No. 5 or even a No. 4 starter, Kelly clicks,” he wrote. “As the No. 3 within a rotation that won’t know about Wacha’s return until mid-September, Kelly didn’t promise enough, especially four starts into his return from a serious hamstring injury. Rather than hope for the best, Mozeliak acted … clinically.”[10]

Less than 17 months earlier, Craig and the Cardinals had agreed to a five-year, $31 million contract extension after Craig hit .307 with 22 homers and 92 RBIs in 2012. The following season, he played in a career-high 134 games, batting .315 with 13 homers and 97 RBIs. That September, however, he suffered Lisfranc injury to his foot that caused him to miss the last 23 games of the regular season as well as the NLDS and NLCS. When he returned for the World Series, he went 6-for-16 (.375) with a double.

Craig’s 2014 season never got off the ground. After batting .220 with March and April, he appeared to recover in May, batting .291 for the month with 19 RBIs. In June, however, he hit .255 with a .311 slugging percentage, and his offense cratered in July, batting just .122 in 54 plate appearances.

“At some point what was happening in the outfield was going to have to be dealt with,” Mozeliak said. “When you look at the depth we’ve been building at the outfield position, trying to create opportunity in the short term is important.”[11]

That depth included highly touted prospect Oscar Taveras. Craig’s move to Boston essentially opened right field for Taveras.

“He’s going to get an opportunity,” Matheny said.[12]

Most importantly, the trade gave the Cardinals a dependable starting pitcher who had collected double-digit wins in every season since his rookie year, when he won nine as a 23-year-old. In eight years with the Angels, Lackey was 102-71 with a 3.81 ERA, including an all-star-season in 2007 in which he went 19-9 and led the American League with a 3.01 ERA.

In four seasons with the Red Sox, Lackey had gone 47-43 with a 4.46 ERA, and he was 11-7 with a 3.60 ERA at the time of the trade.

“He brings a presence, first of all,” said Cardinals catcher A.J. Pierzynski, who played alongside Lackey in Boston. “Second off, he brings competitiveness. He wants the ball. He doesn’t want to ever give up the ball. He’s won big games wherever he’s been. He’s got two rings and I know … that he’s looking for a third.”[13]

In 2012, Lackey suffered an elbow injury that kept him out the entire season, triggering a team option in his contract for 2015 that would pay him just over $500,000. Before finalizing the trade, the Cardinals confirmed with Lackey’s agent that the pitcher intended to play the 2015 campaign.[14]

“That’s a guy who’s been around a lot and helped two teams with a World Series and was the deciding game-winner in both of those World Series, and something like that doesn’t come around that often,” Red Sox pitcher Clay Buchholz said.[15]

Lackey made 10 starts down the stretch for the Cardinals, going 3-3 with a 4.30 ERA. In Game 3 of the NLDS, he held the Dodgers to one run over seven innings, striking out eight batters en route to a 3-1 win. He took the loss in Game 3 of the NLCS against the Giants, allowing four runs in six innings.

In 2015, Lackey enjoyed arguably his best season since 2007, going 13-10 with a 2.77 ERA. He placed ninth in the NL Cy Young Award voting, then won Game 1 of the NLDS against the Cubs, holding Chicago scoreless over 7 1/3 innings.

In Game 4, however, he allowed four earned runs over three innings and took the loss as the Cubs clinched the series. It proved to be Lackey’s final start with the Cardinals, as he signed a free-agent deal with the Cubs after the season.

Meanwhile, Craig never regained his swing in Boston. He hit just .128 the rest of the 2014 season and was batting.135 in 2015 before he was demoted to Triple-A. After making a brief return to the majors as a September call-up, Craig spent the rest of his career in the minors.

The Red Sox released him on June 30, 2017, and the following winter he signed with the Padres on a minor-league deal. Craig showed a glimpse of his previous form with Triple-A El Paso in 2018, batting .293 with 13 homers and 59 RBIs in 363 plate appearances, but the Padres released him the following March. That April, he accepted a job with the Padres as an advisor to baseball operations.

In six major-league seasons, Craig hit .291/.343/.460 with 57 homers and 291 RBIs.

In 2014 and 2015, Kelly started 35 games for the Red Sox, going 14-8. In 2016, Boston moved Kelly to the bullpen, where he found his niche and posted a 2.79 ERA in 2017. In five seasons with the Red Sox, he went 26-11 with a 4.33 ERA and won the 2018 World Series title.

He signed with the Dodgers ahead of the 2019 season and was part of their 2020 World Series championship team, compiling a 3.59 ERA over three seasons. He signed with the White Sox for the 2022 season.

In 58 1/3 career postseason innings, Kelly is 4-3 with a 3.55 ERA, including a 2.03 ERA in the World Series.

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[1] Anthony Gulizia, “Buchholz, others understand deals are part of the game,” Boston Globe, August 1, 2014.

[2] Joe Strauss, “Mozeliak moves to fix two problems,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 1, 2014.

[3] Derrick Goold, “Major Shakeup,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 1, 2014.

[4] Derrick Goold, “Major Shakeup,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 1, 2014.

[5] Anthony Gulizia, “Craig familiar with new home,” Boston Globe, August 2, 2014.

[6] Derrick Goold, “Major Shakeup,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 1, 2014.

[7] Derrick Goold, “Major Shakeup,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 1, 2014.

[8] Derrick Goold, “Major Shakeup,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 1, 2014.

[9] Peter Abraham, “Bogaerts back at short; Middlebrooks returns,” Boston Globe, August 1, 2014.

[10] Joe Strauss, “Mozeliak moves to fix two problems,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 1, 2014.

[11] Joe Strauss, “Mozeliak moves to fix two problems,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 1, 2014.

[12] Derrick Goold, “Major Shakeup,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 1, 2014.

[13] Derrick Goold, “Major Shakeup,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 1, 2014.

[14] Derrick Goold, “Major Shakeup,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 1, 2014.

[15] Anthony Gulizia, “Buchholz, others understand deals are part of the game,” Boston Globe, August 1, 2014.

The post July 31, 2014: Cardinals trade Craig and Kelly for Lackey first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

The hire represented a stark shift for the Cardinals less than a month after they won their 11^th World Series championship. La Russa had retired with 2,728 career wins, just 35 behind John McGraw for the second most in modern-day baseball history. That total included 1,408 wins with the Cardinals, more than any other manager in St. Louis history.

In Matheny, the Cardinals were hiring a man who had no professional coaching or managerial experience. So what did team chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. and general manager John Mozeliak see in the former Cardinals catcher?

“A lot of people have been asking that question,” Mozeliak said. “He is a student of the game. He knows what’s going on. Now, when he steps in that dugout the first time, there’s no doubt things are going to be moving a little quicker than even he anticipated, but with a supporting cast that we’re going to put around him, with how smart he is, how intelligent he is in his ability to adapt and adjust, he can handle that.”[1]

DeWitt said that in choosing La Russa’s replacement, the Cardinals were seeking attributes over experience.

“All great managers started somewhere,” he said. “I think the lack of experience is there. Any time you do something new, it’s an unknown. What we were looking for are characteristics that would make a manager successful, and he’s got those.”[2]

Matheny had been a four-time Gold Glove Award winner during his 13-year major league career. Three of those Gold Gloves came during his five seasons with the Cardinals from 2000 until 2004. Over that span, Matheny played 622 games for the Cardinals, developing a reputation as a man whose toughness and leadership could lead to a future as a big-league manager.

“I kept hearing that throughout my career,” Matheny said. “It was pretty consistent that people saw things that would lead me to this position, and pretty soon I began to embrace it.” [3]

Under managers like La Russa in St. Louis and Felipe Alou in San Francisco, Matheny made a conscious effort to question them to understand the countless choices they made over the course of each game.

“I told them, ‘I don’t want to second-guess you, but let’s talk about that decision,’” he said. “I told them, ‘I want to learn.’”[4]

Matheny retired in 2006 at age 35 after concussions limited him to 47 games that season. In 2009, Mozeliak convinced him to return to the Cardinals as a roving instructor and consultant. The role allowed Matheny to familiarize himself with the Cardinals’ minor league talent, and led to additional work as a special assistant to player development and even work as a TV analyst. [5]

In announcing Matheny’s hire, Mozeliak said that Matheny established himself as the leading candidate with his interview on November 4. [6]

“He understands our philosophies, he understands our (minor-league) talent level, and he also has a great understanding of our talent at the major-league level so there’s no learning curve there,” Mozeliak said. “The key thing for him will be the adaptation level in the dugout. But all those other things? You can make the check marks. We chose someone we respect, admire, and want to hear from. This was not an easy job to fill, but in the end, he was the right person at the right time.”[7]

La Russa had informed Mozeliak of his retirement in August, though he didn’t tell his players until after the team’s World Series parade. Upon learning of La Russa’s plans, Mozeliak said he began to develop a list that included as many as 35 names. In addition to Matheny, the Cardinals interviewed Terry Francona, who led the Red Sox to World Series titles in 2004 and 2007; Cardinals third base coach Jose Oquendo; Phillies minor league manager and former Cubs star Ryne Sandberg; Memphis Redbirds manager Chris Maloney; and White Sox coach and former Cardinal Joe McEwing. [8]

“I think a lot of people would have said the simpler choice would have been to go with someone with experience,” Mozeliak said. “We looked at this as someone who could have short-term success with this current club but also someone we believe in for long-term success. When we tried to balance that we really felt comfortable with Mike taking over.”[9]

The decision was a popular one in the Cardinals clubhouse.

“I consider him a friend, and a lot of guys feel that way,” pitcher Kyle McClellan said. “He has so much respect already that guys reach out to him for advice, trust his opinion, and I think that’s why it’s going to work. He’s told me things I didn’t want to hear before. That’s part of it. … A lot of us have wanted to mold ourselves after him, and now he’s our manager. He’s the leader of our team. How could it be better?”[10]

Adam Wainwright, who made his major-league debut in 2005, Matheny’s first season in San Francisco, said, “Here’s this great guy, fun to be around, as we all know, but he can be intense when he needs to be. He’s one of those friends who has authority. If he needs to get in your face, we’ve all seen him do that too.”[11]

“I thought this might happen someday,” Matt Holliday said. “The presence that Mike brings is obvious. The way they talked about him. He brings qualities that are more important than managing experience. He’s a guy who people will follow. … I don’t think he’s going to be overwhelmed. He’s been looking at the game like a manager does his entire career. Mike has been preparing himself for this day, just in a different way.”[12]

La Russa also approved of the hire.

“They made a terrific choice,” he said. “I’m at such peace with turning the page. You needed a fresh look there. It’s time for the organization to have a different appeal to it. I’m wishing it well. They’ve got a real good club with real good leadership.”[13]

In Matheny’s first season at the helm, he guided the Cardinals to 88 wins and a second-place finish in the National League Central. In the playoffs, the Cardinals beat the Braves in the new one-game wild card, then topped the Nationals in a five-game NLDS before falling to the Giants in Game 7 of the NLCS.

The following season was even better as the Cardinals won 97 games and advanced to the World Series, where they fell to the Red Sox in six games. After a 90-win 2014 campaign in which the Cardinals reached the NLCS again, the Cardinals won 100 games in 2015, though they lost to the Cubs in the NLDS.

In 2016, the Cardinals slipped to 86-76, and the day after the Cubs won the World Series, the team announced that it had awarded Matheny a three-year contract extension. He never got the opportunity to complete that contract.

In 2017, the Cardinals fell to third place in the NL Central with an 83-79 mark. After the team got off to a 47-46 start in 2018 and weathered a series of clubhouse controversies, the Cardinals fired Matheny one game before the all-star break and named Mike Shildt the interim manager.

“I don’t feel like our trend line was taking us in that (positive) direction anymore,” Mozeliak said. “Even if it’s just slowly decaying, you’re going to wake up at some point and find yourself in a bad spot. You could say, ‘You’re already there, chief.’ The point is, we felt we couldn’t wait any longer.”[14]

SI.com’s Emma Baccellieri described the move as unsurprising.

The last few weeks have brought several reports that can be read most charitably as unflattering to the manager and most critically as signs that he’s losing the clubhouse. First, there was the news of Matheny’s breakdown in communication with outfielder Dexter Fowler. Then, The Athletic published a report on veteran Bud Norris “mercilessly riding” rookie Jordan Hicks.

When asked if he thought that the youngster might eventually appreciate the harsh treatment from his teammate, Matheny replied, “Probably not. But Bud’s going to continue to do what he thinks is right as a veteran, so you respect that.”

A few decades ago, that answer would have been completely unremarkable from a manager—but not so much anymore, not in a game that banned rookie bullying and hazing in its most recent collective bargaining agreement.[15]

Matheny’s tenure as Cardinals manager resulted in four playoff appearances and one National League pennant in six full seasons. In each season, the Cardinals posted a winning record, and even had a winning mark at the time of his firing. His 591-474 record gave him a .555 winning percentage and placed him behind only La Russa (1,408), Red Schoendienst (1,041), Whitey Herzog (822), and Billy Southworth (620) in Cardinals managerial wins.

Nonetheless, despite 6 ½ seasons as manager, Matheny’s bullpen management and reluctance to embrace defensive shifts left questions regarding his on-field strategies. As Baccellieri wrote:

It doesn’t seem ridiculous to wonder how much of his winning record has come despite his on-field decisions, rather than because of them. … There is, of course, far more to managing than on-field tactics. But the recent reports don’t seem to indicate that he’s done much to establish a stellar clubhouse environment lately, either. Combine that with Matheny’s lack of tactical genius, and the team’s decision to cut him loose looks clear.[16]

Following the 2019 season, the Royals named Matheny their manager. In the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign, he led the team to a 26-34 record, and followed that up with a 74-88 record in 2021.

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[1] Bryan Burwell, “Matheny’s moves all look good on his opening day,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 15, 2011.

[2] Joe Strauss, “Matheny’s hiring shows the Cardinals’ priorities,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 15, 2011.

[3] Bryan Burwell, “Matheny’s moves all look good on his opening day,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 15, 2011.

[4] Bryan Burwell, “Matheny’s moves all look good on his opening day,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 15, 2011.

[5] Joe Strauss, “Matheny’s hiring shows the Cardinals’ priorities,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 15, 2011.

[6] Joe Strauss, “Matheny’s hiring shows the Cardinals’ priorities,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 15, 2011.

[7] Bryan Burwell, “Matheny’s moves all look good on his opening day,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 15, 2011.

[8] Joe Strauss, “Matheny’s hiring shows the Cardinals’ priorities,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 15, 2011.

[9] Joe Strauss, “Matheny’s hiring shows the Cardinals’ priorities,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 15, 2011.

[10] Derrick Goold, “New manager is close to many of the players,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 15, 2011.

[11] Derrick Goold, “New manager is close to many of the players,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 15, 2011.

[12] Derrick Goold, “New manager is close to many of the players,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 15, 2011.

[13] Joe Strauss, “Matheny steps into spotlight in Cards’ camp,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 17, 2012.

[14] Derrick Goold, “Mozeliak says firings were inevitable with team faltering,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 16, 2018.

[15] Emma Baccellieri, “Poor On-Field Decisions, Clubhouse Issues Led Cardinals to Change Course From Mike Matheny,” SI.com, https://www.si.com/mlb/2018/07/15/cardinals-fire-mike-matheny-tactical-errors-clubhouse.

[16] Emma Baccellieri, “Poor On-Field Decisions, Clubhouse Issues Led Cardinals to Change Course From Mike Matheny,” SI.com, https://www.si.com/mlb/2018/07/15/cardinals-fire-mike-matheny-tactical-errors-clubhouse.

The post Cardinals name Mike Matheny manager: November 14, 2011 first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

On June 2, 2004, Matheny was removed in the fourth inning of the Cardinals’ 5-3 win over the Pirates due to a muscle strain in his right side. The veteran catcher had been battling the strain for approximately a week, but aggravated the injury while swinging in his first at-bat of the game.

Matheny said the injury made it difficult for him to throw the ball back to the pitcher and even to breathe, a detail that manager Tony La Russa said “is not a good sign.”[1]

“Any time Mike Matheny mentions anything to me and has to come out of a ballgame, you treat it as a significant problem,” Cardinals trainer Barry Weinberg said.[2]

With the potential for Matheny to be out for an extended period, the Cardinals needed either Molina or fellow farmhand Matt Pagnozzi to complement 30-year-old Cody McKay, a career minor leaguer who entered the season with just two major league appearances. The Cardinals opted for Molina, who was batting .310 with one homer and 14 RBIs in 36 games with Triple-A Memphis.

“He’s the right guy,” general manager Walt Jocketty said. “It’s a great opportunity for him and a great opportunity for us to see what he can do.”[3]

Memphis manager Danny Sheaffer, himself a former catcher, woke Molina at 11:30 the night before his debut to give him the good news. In turn, Molina called his brothers Bengie and Jose, both of whom were playing for the Angels.

“They just told me to keep working hard and … just keep working hard like in the minor leagues,” Molina said.[4]

For his part, Matheny said he had enjoyed working with Molina that spring and had been looking forward to seeing what he could do in the big leagues.

“I wasn’t necessarily excited about seeing it this year,” he joked, “but I’m going to do everything I can to help him.”[5]

With Yadier’s promotion, the Molinas became the first family in Major League Baseball history to have three brothers catching in the league at the same time. There were just four previous sets of brothers catching in the majors at the same time – Bill and George Dickey, Mike and Bob Garbark, Ray and Red Hayworth, and Gus and Frank Mancuso.[6]

“We knew he was going to make it, but we never thought it would be this quick,” Jose Molina said. “I know my mom and dad are real happy. I’m really happy for our family. There’s not another word to describe it. We’re just happy.”[7]

La Russa wasted no time in getting Molina into the starting lineup, pairing him with Woody Williams, a 37-year-old, 12-year major league veteran who had posted a career-high 18 wins for the Cardinals in 2003. Williams’ 2004 campaign, however, had gotten off to a rough start. The right-hander from Houston had lost his first three decisions of the season and didn’t pick up his first win until May 11. Williams had earned his second win of the season in his previous outing, a 10-3 Cardinals win over the Astros, and entered the month of June with a 5.19 ERA.

Williams and Molina enjoyed a quiet first inning, as Williams worked around Pirates catcher Jason Kendall’s leadoff single by striking out Daryle Ward and Craig Wilson.

In the top of the second, Scott Rolen doubled down the right-field line and advanced to third on a sacrifice fly by Hector Luna. With two outs, that brought Molina to the plate against Oliver Perez for his first career at-bat. On a 1-1 count, Molina hit a pop fly into short right field that landed in the glove of Pirates second baseman Abraham Nunez for the final out of the inning.

Nunez almost scored the first run of the game in the bottom half of the second. With two outs, Nunez singled to right and advanced to second on a walk to Tike Redman. Oliver Perez looked to continue the inning with a single to right field, but Reggie Sanders’ throw home beat Nunez, and Molina dove to apply the tag and end the inning. A photo of Molina’s bare-handed tag of Nunez by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Matt Freed accompanied Rick Hummel’s recap in the next day’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

“He’s got so much composure,” La Russa said of Molina. “He plays like he’s got 10 years of experience.”[8]

In the top of the fifth, Molina tagged Perez for the first hit of his career, a line drive into the left-field gap. One batter later, So Taguchi hit into an inning-ending double play that maintained the scoreless tie.

The Cardinals didn’t get on the board until the top of the sixth. After Williams flied out and Tony Womack struck out looking, Edgar Renteria doubled over the head of Redman in center field. Albert Pujols was hit by a pitch, and Scott Rolen, returning from a fastball to the head that had held him out of the previous game, followed with a two-run double to right.

With the Cardinals ahead 2-0, Molina led off the top of the seventh with a double down the left-field line. Taguchi laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance Molina to third, and Williams hit a sacrifice fly to center to bring Molina home.

“That was fun, huh?” Molina said. “I was just trying to get one hit, but I got two, and we got a win.”[9]

The Cardinals used three pitchers to get through the bottom of the seventh. After Bobby Hill and Nunez each singled, La Russa replaced Williams with Steve Kline. The lefty retired Jason Bay on a pop fly, then gave way to Julian Tavarez. Tavarez got Randall Simon to fly out to Molina, then retired Kendall on a ground ball to get out of the inning.

An RBI double from Sanders in the top of the eighth made the score 4-0 before the Pirates threatened again in the bottom of the inning. Jack Wilson led off with an infield single, but attempted to steal on a 1-2 pitch and became the first base runner to become victim to Molina’s arm.

Ward walked and Craig Wilson doubled to left field, prompting the Cardinals to replace Tavarez with Ray King. With runners on second and third, Rob Mackowiak hit a sacrifice fly to deep center to score Ward. Jason Isringhausen entered the game in relief of King, and the first batter he faced, Bobby Hill, reached on an error that allowed Wilson to score.

However, Isringhausen would strike out Nunez to end the inning, then worked around a ninth-inning single by Chris Stynes to earn the save.

Most of the ninth-inning fireworks actually came in the top of the inning after Pittsburgh reliever Mike Gonzalez brushed back Tony Womack with two outs in the inning. La Russa, who already was irked by a fastball that came up and in on Rolen, shouted at Kendall. Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon, angry at La Russa for yelling at one of his players, raced out of the dugout, and both benches and bullpens emptied.

“Lloyd was saying, ‘Don’t yell at our players.’ I said, ‘Would you rather we hit somebody in the head or yell?’ I’d rather yell than hurt somebody,” La Russa said. “Yell at your pitchers to get the ball down.”[10]

La Russa and McClendon both were ejected from the game.

With six scoreless innings, Williams moved to 3-5 on the season and dropped his ERA almost half a run. After the game, he had nothing but compliments for his rookie catcher.

“He did a good job,” Williams said. “He pays attention. I’m sure he was just floating. It’s a special day for him, and I’m sure it’s something he never forgets.”[11]

Molina went on to play 19 years in the big leagues, winning two World Series, nine Gold Gloves, and being selected to 10 All-Star Games.

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[1] Rick Hummel, “Cardinals might call up Molina,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 3, 2004: Page D5.

[2] Rick Hummel, “Cardinals might call up Molina,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 3, 2004: Page D5.

[3] Rick Hummel, “Molina excels in major league debut,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 4, 2004: Page D7.

[4] Rick Hummel, “Molina excels in major league debut,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 4, 2004: Page D7.

[5] Rick Hummel, “Molina excels in major league debut,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 4, 2004: Page D7.

[6] Rick Hummel, “Oh, brother! The Molinas are making history,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 6, 2004: Page D12.

[7] Rick Hummel, “Oh, brother! The Molinas are making history,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 6, 2004: Page D12.

[8] Rick Hummel, “Molina excels in major league debut,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 4, 2004: Page D7.

[9] Rick Hummel, “Molina excels in major league debut,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 4, 2004: Page D7.

[10] Rick Hummel, “Sweeping developments,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 4, 2004: Page D7.

[11] Rick Hummel, “Molina excels in major league debut,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 4, 2004: Page D7.

The post Yadier Molina makes his MLB debut: June 3, 2004 first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

“I was not hurt. I was not afraid. I was not sick or distracted or particularly anxious,” he wrote 17 years later. “In game one of the National League Division Series, on a warm and sunny afternoon with a slight cross breeze, in front of exactly 52,378 people, including my mom, I stood on the mound at Busch Stadium, convinced I would be great. That it was my destiny.”[1]

Although Ankiel was preparing to face an Atlanta Braves lineup that won 95 games during the regular season and had future Hall of Famer Greg Maddux taking the mound opposite him, it was no surprise that Ankiel was confident. After all, the native of Port St. Lucie, Florida, had known nothing but success in his young career.

Just three years earlier, USA Today had named him its High School Player of the Year after he struck out 162 batters in 74 innings his senior season. He followed that success with Minor League Player of the Year awards from USA Today and Baseball America in 1999.[2] Ankiel entered the 2000 season as Baseball America’s No. 1-rated prospect and had lived up to expectations, going 11-7 with a 3.50 ERA as a rookie. In 175 innings, he had struck out 194 batters.

Now he was headed to the postseason. During the final weeks of the regular season, the Cardinals’ pitching staff was wearing down. Garrett Stephenson was battling soreness in his arm. Andy Benes battled the same in his knee. Pat Hentgen was tiring. That left Ankiel and staff ace Darryl Kile to carry the bulk of the postseason pitching load.

As Cardinals manager Tony La Russa and pitching Dave Duncan examined the postseason schedule, they came to a decision that haunted La Russa more than any other in his managerial career.[3] By starting Ankiel in Game 1, the Cardinals could pitch the rookie again in Game 4 on four days’ rest. Kile could then pitch Game 2 and, if necessary, Game 5 on just three days’ rest, a challenge the Cardinals felt the veteran was better equipped to manage.[4] The Braves were using a similar strategy, lining up Maddux to pitch Games 1 and 4 opposite Ankiel and Tom Glavine to pitch Games 2 and 5 against Kile.

The downside of the plan was that Ankiel, who at age 21 was the second-youngest pitcher to start Game 1 of a playoff series,[5] would face the added pressure of pitching against Maddux, who had won 19 games during the regular season and was starting his 24^th playoff game. The Cardinals had done everything they could to protect Ankiel from the pressure of the Game 1 start, even going so far as to send Kile to meet with the media the previous day, giving the impression that the veteran would start the opener.[6] La Russa called Braves manager Bobby Cox that evening to tell him that Ankiel, not Kile, was slated to start Game 1 for the Cardinals.[7]

Making Ankiel’s task even harder was the absence of veteran catcher Mike Matheny, who 11 days earlier cut his hand on a Bowie knife his brother sent him as a birthday gift. Instead, Carlos Hernandez, who was battling back tightness that led to surgery after the season,[8] was behind the plate.

Ankiel appeared to have routine playoff-debut jitters in the first inning. Fellow rookie Rafael Furcal led off the game with a single that just eluded a diving Jim Edmonds in the right-field gap. Ankiel struck out Andruw Jones on three pitches and Furcal was caught stealing for the second out, but Ankiel walked Chipper Jones and Andres Galarraga before finally getting Brian Jordan to hit a pop fly to first baseman Will Clark in foul territory.

The Cardinals’ lineup tried to provide Ankiel comfort in the bottom half of the inning. St. Louis’s first four hitters singled, Ray Lankford reached on an error, Edgar Renteria laid down a sacrifice bunt, and Hernandez received an intentional walk. With the bases loaded and one out, Placido Polanco singled through the middle, scoring Lankford and Renteria, and Hernandez scored on a throwing error after Braves catcher Paul Bako tried to throw Polanco out at second base. By the time Ankiel took the mound for the second inning, he had a 6-0 lead to work with.

Ankiel struck out Reggie Sanders on a high fastball to start the second inning, then benefitted from good fortune after Walt Weiss’s ground-rule double bounced over the right-field wall. Javier Lopez entered the game in place of Bako and lined a shot that appeared destined for left field, but Renteria dove to snag the ball and doubled up Weiss at second base.

Ankiel received no such luck in the third inning.

He walked Maddux to lead off the inning and jammed Furcal on an inside fastball to produce an infield pop fly. But on his 44^th pitch of the afternoon, Ankiel threw a curveball that dove into the dirt, skipping past Hernandez and back to the screen.

“I held on to the ball too long. Tried not to hang the curveball. Didn’t exactly trust it. Rushed it,” Ankiel wrote in his 2017 autobiography. “Instead of flicking the outer inches of the strike zone, I launched the pitch too far right. It came out of my hand, off my fingers, all wrong. Hernandez lunged to his left. The ball bounced near Jones’s feet and past Hernandez’s shoulder, and Maddux loped to second base. The ball hit the backstop. Hernandez chased it. And I stood near the front of the mound and watched all of it happen, sort of curious.”[9]

On the next pitch, Ankiel and Hernandez got crossed up, forcing Hernandez to awkwardly catch a curveball. The pitch after that hit the backstop on the fly.

“Boy, all of a sudden things have come unraveled here for Rick Ankiel,” ESPN broadcaster Buck Martinez said.[10]

Andruw Jones walked one pitch later. He advanced to second when Ankiel’s fifth pitch to Chipper Jones sailed over Hernandez, who had leaped into the air in a desperate attempt to corral the pitch. Ankiel struck Chipper Jones out on a nasty inside curveball, but one pitch later Hernandez needed to leap out of his crouch to prevent another fastball from reaching the backstop.

With Galarraga at the plate, Ankiel uncorked another heater well over Hernandez’s head, plating Maddux with his fourth wild pitch of the day. After Galarraga walked, Jordan singled to left field on the first pitch he saw. Sixteen years later at a Cardinals fantasy camp, Ankiel embraced Jordan and told him that the hug was his way of thanking him for swinging at that initial offering.[11]

During the game, however, the rookie found no such humor. Ankiel threw his fifth wild pitch of the inning before walking Jordan to load the bases. After Weiss singled to left field to score Galarraga and Jones, making the score 6-4, La Russa mercifully emerged from the dugout to rescue him.

Within the span of 20 pitches, five had reached the backstop, making Ankiel the first pitcher to throw five wild pitches in an inning since Bert Cunningham for the Buffalo Bisons of the Players League on September 15, 1890.[12]

“I guess at least I set a record,” Ankiel said after the game.[13]

Mike James retired Lopez for the final out of the inning, then threw two more scoreless innings to earn the win. Edmonds led off the Cardinals’ half of the fourth inning with a home run over the right-field wall, and from there the game was placed in the hands of the bullpen. Mike Timlin threw one scoreless inning, Britt Reames threw two, and Dave Veres worked around an unearned run to earn the save.

The Cardinals went on to sweep the best-of-five series, scoring 24 runs across three games, but their prized left-hander was never the same. In Game 2 of the National League Championship Series against the New York Mets, Ankiel threw just 2/3 of an inning, walking three and throwing two wild pitches.

In Game 5, with the Cardinals already trailing 6-0, La Russa tried Ankiel again. He again recorded just two outs, walking two batters and throwing two more wild pitches.

In the years to come, the Cardinals attempted a variety of solutions to get Ankiel back on track, even sending him down to rookie ball. None of it worked. Finally, in 2004, Ankiel told the Cardinals he was retiring. A few hours later, after a conversation between St. Louis general manager Walt Jocketty and Ankiel’s agent, Scott Boras, the Cardinals assigned Ankiel to the minors – as an outfielder.

Incredibly, Ankiel returned to St. Louis as an outfielder in 2007. In 190 plate appearances, he hit 11 home runs, then added 25 more in 2008. He played seven major-league seasons as an outfielder, where he played 536 of his 587 career games.

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[1] Rick Ankiel and Tim Brown, The Phenomenon: Pressure, the Yips, and the Pitch that Changed My Life (New York: Public Affairs Books, 2017), 6.

[2] “Rick Ankiel Awards,” Baseball-Almanac.com, https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/awards.php?p=ankieri01.

[3] Buzz Bissinger, 3 Nights in August (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005), Location 1313 (Kindle Edition).

[4] Bissinger, Location 1319 (Kindle Edition).

[5] Michael Lee, “Ankiel’s wild ride in third historic,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, October 4, 2000: G4.

[6] Bissinger, Location 1324 (Kindle Edition).

[7] Ankiel and Brown, 99.

[8] Ankiel and Brown, 140.

[9] Ankiel and Brown, 24.

[10] ESPN game broadcast, October 3, 2000, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVN_OCQJjRw.

[11] Ankiel and Brown, 28.

[12] “Did you know?” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 4, 2000: D6.

[13] Mike Eisenbath, “Cards first-game starter tries to shake off forgettable mark,” St. Louis Post Dispatch, October 4, 2000: D6.

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