How Mike Torrez Nearly Had No-Hitter For Cardinals

Mike Torrez, a big guy with big talent, capped a hot personal stretch for the Cardinals with his most dominant pitching performance.

RetroSimba

How George Culver Made Cardinals A Mod Squad

George Culver, a dapper dresser who threw a sharp slider, seemed suited for a spot in the starting rotation of the Cardinals until his season unraveled like a spool of cheap threads.

RetroSimba

Mudcat Grant Was Music Man Of Cardinals Bullpen

Mudcat Grant began the 1969 season as the top starting pitcher for the Expos and ended it as the top right-handed relief pitcher for the Cardinals.

RetroSimba

Chuck Taylor Used Slider To Earn Spot With Cardinals

Chuck Taylor patiently persevered in the minor leagues for most of a decade before getting a chance to pitch for the Cardinals. Joining Cardinals staffs featuring Bob Gibson and Steve Carlton, Taylor emerged as a versatile contributor.

RetroSimba

Moose Stubing Missed With Cardinals, Flourished As Coach

A candidate to replace Bill White as Cardinals first baseman, Moose Stubing had his path blocked by Orlando Cepeda for the second time in his career.

RetroSimba

Whitey Herzog Outwitted Cardinals On Jim Bibby Deal

The 1970s was a decade when the Cardinals dealt a significant number of quality starting pitchers, most notably Steve Carlton, Jerry Reuss, Mike Torrez and Jim Bibby.

RetroSimba

Ray Hathaway Was Member Of Classic Cardinals Faculty

As a minor-league manager and pitching instructor for the Cardinals, Ray Hathaway worked closely with fellow teacher and Branch Rickey protégé George Kissell in helping prospects learn the fundamentals.

RetroSimba

Michael Wacha In Ace Company With Near-Miss No-Hitter

With his dazzling performance Tuesday night in which he commanded 26 outs before permitting a hit – the fourth ninth-inning no-hitter broken up this season – Michael Wacha turned in a mirror opposite of Shelby Miller‘s gem from May 10. Miller, as you may recall, gave up a hit in the first at-bat of the game, then registered 27 outs in shutting out the Rockies. (He even bookended the performance by ending the game by striking out Eric Young, the man who claimed the only hit leading off the game.)

Fungoes

Ken Boyer Aided Willie Davis Hitting Streak

Ken Boyer’s unselfishness played an important role in the 31-game hitting streak of Dodgers outfielder Willie Davis in 1969.

Retro Simba

Kyle Lohse Joins Select Cardinals Few With April Gem

St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Kyle Lohse pitched a masterpiece at Busch Stadium on Thursday afternoon, tossing a two-hit shutout at the Washington Nationals. Both hits were singles. The 32-year-old walked two and struck out six. He threw 72 strikes among his 111 pitches. St. Louis ended the day on top by a 5-0 score.

The Cardinal Nation Blog

Mike Torrez Named Newark GM

Former Major League pitcher Mike Torrez has been named the general manager of the Newark Bears.

Philly Burbs

Warren Spahn & His Cardinal Connection

Hall of Fame left-hander Warren Spahn never pitched for the Cardinals, but his final games as a professional pitcher were as a member of the St. Louis organization.

Retro Simba

The Virtual 1971-80 Cardinals Part Two

Last time, we highlighted the series of remarkably questionable trades executed between 1970 and 1975 by the St. Louis Cardinals under owner Gussie Busch and General Manager Bing Devine. Now we're ready to examine just how differently the St. Louis teams might have performed across the decade with those deals nullified.

The Hardball Times

The Most Unlikely Pitchers To Clinch A World Series

Anyone who reads Sully Baseball knows that I have a strange fascination with the pitcher who closes out the World Series.

Sully Baseball

Matt Holliday's Legacy

Matt Holliday is obviously a terrific player.

He was an MVP runner up in 2007 and was the catalyst for the brilliant post season run for Colorado.

Sully Baseball

You Could Look It Up: The Naked Draft

There are eight million stories in the naked draft. Here are a few of them. Reader beware—this edition is rife with benefit-of-hindsight second-guessing.

Baseball Prospectus

Pitchers Who Out-Hit Their Opponents

Former Cardinal pitcher Dan Haren pulled off a remarkable feat last Tuesday: He had more hits as a batter — three — than he allowed as a pitcher — two. It seemed like a rare enough accomplishment, so we wondered if any pitchers had turned the trick while they were still Cardinals. As it turns out, at least seven have (since 1954):

Fungoes

Prospectus Hit & Run: Throwing (Jim) Rice

In evaluating the Hall of Fame candidacies of Rickey Henderson and Tim Raines recently, I made a point of avoiding any discussion of Jim Rice for a simple reason: his candidacy doesn't merit being mentioned in the same breath. That's not to say that Rice wasn't an excellent ballplayer, but his relatively short career and the context surrounding it simply leave his case wanting. The BBWAA clearly feels otherwise, as Rice polled 72.2 percent of the vote last year, the ninth straight year he's received above 50 percent. Still, he fell 16 votes shy in his second-to-last year on the ballot. With his candidacy in its final year and surrounded by such controversy, we'll take a closer look at his case.

Baseball Prospectus

Kansas Sports Hall Of Fame: Mike Torrez

Mike Torrez pitched complete games for a pair of 1977 World Series wins.

The Wichita Eagle