Nothing beats a bunch of career years

When it comes to evaluating talent, some of it has to do with luck. But in baseball, I'm beginning to believe that certain organizations are better at judging young players than others. The Cardinals in the 1950s and 1960s were one of those organizations. As the pennant year of 1964 approached, with '67 and '68 not far off, the Cards had three outstanding young pitchers in their system--Bob Gibson, Nelson Briles and Steve Carlton--who they did not let get away. They also seemed to see something in Lou Brock that the Cubs talent scouts didn't see. They saw a role for Mike Shannon that others might not have seen. They groomed Dal Maxvill for short and told him not to worry about the hitting, the big guys would handle it. And this knack for picking the right young prospects made all the difference to the Cards in the 1960s.

Signed out of Creighton College, Gibson joined the big squad at age 23. He hung around for a few years. In Koufax-like tradition, he didn't start to hit his stride till he was 26 (1962). The Cardinals were patient with him. And oh did it pay off.

I said something about the 1964 flag being a bit of a fluke, compared to the next two pennants. That's because the Cards' lineup and rotation was lousy with guys having career years. Brock, obtained early in the season from the Cubs for Ernie Broglio, had something to prove. (Poor Ernie just had a sore arm. did the Cards know? No one's talking.) He hit .348. Boyer, in one last attempt to recapture his youth, led the league in RBIs. White hit .303. Flood hit .311. McCarver hit .288. Simmons, Sadecki, and aging reliever Barney Schultz had career years, and Gibson went 19-12, k-ing 245 in 287 innings.

It was an extremely close race, with the top five teams separated by just five games. This was the year of the Phillies infamous collapse, the 10 losses in a row that would haunt Gene Mauch to the end of his days. As the Phils self-destructed, the Cards were hitting on all cylinders, Schultz and bullpen buddy Ron Taylor slamming the door in the late innings. Meanwhile, the off seasons by a few rival stars (Ed Mathews, Felipe Alou, Frank Howard, Junior Gilliam, McCovey, Joey Jay,most of the Giants pitching staff) gave the Cards just enough room to sneak in and take the flag. In a wild and closely matched World Series, Gibson brought the world championship home to St. L with his second series win in the 7th game.

Yet the team was not yet at its peak. Boyer was aging quickly. Groat, who had a fine season, was nearing the end of the line too. The pitching staff was just a bit too old. Meantime, the entire franchise, which should have been celebrating its first championship in nearly 20 years, was in disarray. The brilliant Bing Devine didn't even make it to the end of the season, with manager Johnny Keane hanging on by a thread. But of this we will speak no more until tomorrow.