Former pitcher Barney Schultz died Sunday at the age of 89:
Born George Warren Schultz in 1926, he was a right-handed relief specialist during a major league pitching career that spanned 11 years, 1955-65. Schultz compiled a 20-20 record with 35 career saves, 14 of which came in 1964 when the Cardinals rallied in September to win the National League pennant.
My thoughts go out to his family and friends.
Schultz was a late bloomer, not becoming a major league regular until 1961, when he was 34 years old. He started playing pro ball at age 17 in 1944, but had control issues for most of his career. He solved that somehow in 1962, and with a pretty good K rate for the time, was an effective reliever for the rest of his career. I suspect that anyone who stuck around in the minors for half his life really loved the game.
I’ll never forget that September. The Cardinals were dead and like Lazarus came back to life. My grandfather died early that month just after the Cardinals had swept a Labor Day doubleheader against the Reds, our last two ballgames together.
I’m not going to look this up, but wasn’t it Schultz who grooved one to Mickey Mantle leading off an extra inning at Yankee Stadium in the 1964 World Series? Mantle hit it into Westchester County. That was when the series was played in the afternoon and you had to catch what you could on TV after school.
I believe that homer ended game 3 in the bottom of the ninth. A pitcher could not afford to miss a spot, or throw a knuckleball that didn’t knuckle, while facing Mickey Mantle.