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This was especially tough to write this year…
Some like Tim McCarver and Mike Shannon are well known. Others are so obscure they played in just one game, but all 23 are former #stlcards who passed away in 2023. Our 18th annual feature in remembrance. (free) https://t.co/RqoVgHtSJ6 pic.twitter.com/TWEVD3ZKuY
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) December 31, 2023
Very nice article, Brian. Few minor tidbits; George Frazier sure looked a heck of a lot like Dennis Eckersly. Tim McCarver played with Montreal and Boston? I sure don’t recall that. I’m sure our esteemed poster, GameCard, can tell us all about Don Hood. And Leo Burke. Wow does that name rekindle memories. My father, whom lived in Portage, Wisconsin at the time(1963), traveled to St. Louis to take in a few Redbird games in hopes of seeing his favorite player. Bob Gibson? No, Sandy Koufax. Your’s truly was not quite born as of yet. Anyway, my dear father tells the story how he was sitting in the outfield bleachers. Koufax was pitching. Leo Burke batting. Leo gets hold of a Koufax breaking ball and sends it sailing deep…deep….deep…..my father said the ball looked as big as a beach ball coming right off Burke’s bat….and it kept getting larger and larger…heading his way….he wanted that Koufax pitched ball more than life itself….then it landed smack dab into his chin and squirted a few seats away, where some grade school boy gathered it in. My father offered the little rascal and his dad $10, then $20 and finally $50 for the ball, but they weren’t budging. I must have heard that story 10 times and each time you could see and feel the sadness coming from my father….I so wish he would have hung on to that ball. Leo Burke…..I thought I had heard the last of that name.
Once Bob Uecker was asked who is his favorite player. He said Leo Burke, because if it wasn’t for Leo getting traded to the Cubs for Barney Schultz, he wouldn’t have a job. (Ueckers main job with the Cardinals was to catch Schultz’s knucklball).
Man, so I see there are four members of the ‘64 club who left us in 2023 – all prominent players too. Dick Groat was a favorite of mine as a kid and I have a few memorabilia items of him, and a lot of cards. He was a great basketball player and really preferred that sport, saying it came naturally to him whereas baseball was a lot of work.
I still think of Tim McCarver quite a bit and it is hard to grasp that he and Gibby are gone. Mike Shannon as well. McCarver had one of the more memorable clutch hits in Cardinal history that does not get referred to much. He homered in the top of the 10th in game five in the stadium, which held up for a win that put us up 3 games to 2 in that Series. Also he hit over .400 in that Series.
Eddie Bressoud is the answer to a great trivia question – other than Willie Mays, who is the only player to have played for both the New York Giants and New York Mets?
Leo Burke – have a card of him as a Cardinal, and one as a Cub I think. Seems like his ‘63 Topps card is his Cardinal one, but I will have to look. Great story Pugs told about him cranking a drive off Koufax and it almost being a family souvenir.
George Frazier was a surprise to me when he passed away. I met him at a local SABR function during the time he was doing color commentary on the Rockies broadcasts. I liked him as a color analyst, although it seemed fans gave him mixed reviews. He was sort of brash and had an enthusiastic style, which I liked.
Saw a game live as a teenager where Vic Davalillo beat us with a 10th inning single for the Pirates. Think I shared that story recently. Rick Wise pitched great that night, but lost a 2-1 game in the 10th when Davalillo singled in a run. The paper next day quoted Victor Jose when asked what the pitch was as saying, “I heet a foss-ball”.
Hobie Landrith – don’t remember him much but had some of his cards as a kid, and still do.
Remember Bill Campbell pretty well, mostly as a Twin. Don Hood as well – southpaw bullpen guy mostly with the Tribe. I always thought Neil Walker was Luke Walker’s son. Was not familiar with Tom Walker. Glad we are still holding at 3 former Brownies.
Great stories. Even to play one game in the bigs is something rare.
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