“I hope the sonofagun can pitch as good as I’ve heard,”
Whitey Herzog after acquiring Joaquín Andújar on June 7, 1981.
The White Rat, in his first full season at the helm, had remade the Cardinals roster since taking over as general manager the previous summer. He jettisoned nearly a third of the team’s 40-man roster during the offseason in order to add speed and bolster the pitching corps. The early results of his wheeling and dealing were promising. After a defeat of the Padres on June 6, 1981, his Redbirds were 28-18—good enough for first place in the National League East.
Though the Cards were looking down on the rest of the division, their starting pitching was far from dominant. Behind steady Bob Forsch atop the rotation, Lary Sorsenson was performing adequately and John Martin had showed flashes of excellence in his brief career. However, Silvio Martinez and Bob Shirley were struggling and promising young Andy Rincon was out with a broken arm. If St. Louis was going to compete for the long haul, they needed more pitching.
Of course, there was a hitch in the Cardinals’ playoff hopes. With a strike looming, no one knew whether there would even be a postseason to contend for. Nevertheless, Herzog had to plan for a playoff push. To that end, he found was he was looking for on the Houston Astros’ roster: Joaquín Andújar.
“Talented, Competitive, Temperamental, Eccentric”
Those were the four words Rick Hummel used to describe Andújar the day after the Cardinals’ acquired him from Houston for Tony Scott. Andújar, an enigmatic Dominican hurler, was a two-time All-Star and had posted sub-four ERAs in each of his five big-league seasons. However, his win-loss record entering the ’81 season was a pedestrian 40-45 and had been shuffled in and out of the Astros rotation. Andújar to that point in the ’81 season was 2-3 with a 4.94 ERA and had grown frustrated in a swingman role.
Andújar’s behavior had a reputation for being as erratic as his pitching. A few days before he was traded to the Cardinals, he gave up a walk-off homer to the San Francisco Giants and then was observed dousing his head with a carton of milk while expressing thoughts of self-harm. “Andújar has also been known to shower with his clothes on to avoid prying reporters and has been in fights both on the field and in the clubhouse,” wrote Hummel in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
But if there was one man who knew how to handle Andújar, it was Cardinals pitching coach Hub Kittle. Andújar had played for Kittle in the Dominican Winter League for several years and looked up to him like a father. Kittle recommended Andújar to the Astros when he was employed as their pitching coach. Houston took Kittle’s advice and acquired him from the Reds. Now, Kittle made the same suggestion to Herzog.
The Price: Tony Scott
To obtain the 28-year-old righty, the Cards parted ways with Scott, a 29-year-old center fielder. Both players were set to hit free agency at the end of season. Scott fit Herzog’s preference for speed and defense, but he could not get on base often enough to justify a starting role for a contending club. Entering the ’81 season, his slash line through four seasons in St. Louis was .258/.313/.343 with an OPS+ of 80. Scott was even worse through his first 45 games of the ’81 season: .227/.253/.313.
The Strike-Shortened Season
The players went on strike on June 12. Thus, Andújar did not make his Cardinals debut until the season picked back up in August. He pitched well down the stretch, posting a 6-1 record and 3.74 ERA in 11 games (eight starts). Unfortunately, the split-season format playoff format robbed the Cardinals, owners of the division’s best overall record, of a deserved playoff spot.
Andújar became a free agent after the season. Herzog wanted to bring him back at the right price. Andujar wanted $2 million over three years. The Cards’ initial offer was half that. On December 29, the two sides agreed to a three-year pact worth $1.2 million.
The Rest, As They Say…
Like the deal that brought Lonnie Smith to St. Louis, Herzog’s deal for Joaquín Andújar paid huge dividends in 1982. Andújar contended for the Cy Young Award, compiling 15 wins and a 2.47 ERA. After a subpar ’83, he rebounded with back-to-back 20-win seasons. Besides his stellar pitching, he is remembered as one of the great characters in franchise history.
