Sadecki For Cepeda Would Benefit The Current Cardinals

This is a clip from the May 9, 1966 edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the day after the Cardinals traded pitcher Ray Sadecki to the San Francisco Giants for slugger Orlando Cepeda.

The comparison is not ideal, but it’s not a square peg/round hole situation either. Mostly, it’s parallels that are interesting to consider, and a fun excuse to reminisce.

That is, it occurs to me that what this current Cardinals team could use - to make the most of its pitching rotation, advance an otherwise inconsistent offense, enhance postseason chances and rejuvenate a disillusioned fan base — is a trade. 

More specifically, Ray Sadecki for Orlando Cepeda.

Granted, you have to go back more than five minutes to make the connection, back to when pitches were charted and not counted, when sabermetrics was a fencing term, when WAR was good for absolutely nuthin. 

Back to when baseball trades were about players on major league rosters.

Again, this juxtaposition is not exactly apples to apples. But the current situation reminds me of circumstances that inspired that vintage trade, which took place on May 8, 1966. 

To be sure, the ’66 roster had a different character. The 2025 Cardinals team has some promising parts, as demonstrated in its recent play. But it doesn’t scare you by any means.

During a 12-game winning streak, these Cardinals scored 4 runs or fewer five times and then lost the 13th game in the run 2-1. They have had their run-scoring spurts, to be sure. They’re not inept, but the offense is inconsistent.

And low-scoring games are tricky business. You can make it work - if you’re the early ‘60s Los Angeles Dodgers - or the late ‘60s Baltimore Orioles. The ’25 Cardinals are not.

This staff has been surprisingly competitive, but coming into the season, the five hurlers in the rotation were a combined 157-166 over the last six seasons.  

The Cardinals are not running Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale and Johnny Podres out there, or Dave McNally, Mike Cueller and Jim Palmer. 

Looking back, the ’66 Cardinals had a more substantive - if not spectacular - staff. Bob Gibson was nearing the height of his powers and finished 21-12 that summer. Ray Washburn, while not Gibson, was a creditable starter, a winner of 10 or more games four times in a 72-64 career. 

Diminutive southpaw Al Jackson was the quintessential tough-luck pitcher of the time, after staggering through six years of 43-80 with the expansion Mets. But, that record notwithstanding, Jackson was a fine pitcher. As a member of those awful Mets, his 1-0 shutout over Gibson on Oct. 2, 1964 almost cost the Cardinals the pennant, and underlined the point.

With birds on his bat, “Little Al” had 13 wins and a 2.51 ERA in ’66. The club also had Sadecki - a 20-game winner in ’64, Dodgers-killer Larry Jaster, and swingman Nelson Briles.

Briles was talented enough to lose 15 games with a 3.21 ERA in ’66 - consider Warren Spahn had 15 or more losses four times.

Comparing the ’66 and ‘25 lineups also is ambiguous. The ’66 edition had much more credibility. Lou Brock was a premier leadoff man and future Hall of Famer. Curt Flood was a good bat and Gold Glove in center field. Likewise, Julian Javier, Tim McCarver, Mike Shannon were all carryovers from the ’64 champs, all respected regulars.

However, the ’66 lineup was like this ’25 edition in at least one important aspect - it lacked a slugging presence to anchor the ship and embolden the batting order. 

The Cardinals had it earlier in the decade, with third baseman Ken Boyer and first baseman Bill White in the middle. But by ‘66, both were gone. Boyer’s place was occupied by his trade counterpart Charley Smith - not even close. 

And on Oct. 27, 1965, in one of his worst moments, general manager Bob Howsam sent White, Dick Groat and Bob Uecker to Philadelphia for young outfielder Alex Johnson, journeyman pitcher Art Mahaffey and backup catcher Pat Corrales. 

The Cardinals were so enamored with the 23-year old Johnson - built like Adonis and fast as a bullet - they moved Brock to right field to accommodate him. But the enigmatic Johnson, terrible defensively and difficult personally, was a disaster. 

He would later win an American League batting title, but in St. Louis, his most memorable moment was making the final out at the original Busch Stadium on May 8, 1966. Johnson batted .186 and .223 in two seasons here before getting shipped to Cincinnati.

The power-pinched ’66 Cardinals started 8-14, scoring three runs or fewer in 10 of the games (1-9). 

Elsewhere, the San Francisco Giants had legitimate thoughts of winning a National League pennant. There were no television appeasing wild cards in those days, no divisions, no playoffs. Just 20 teams, two pennants and one World Series. You had to be better than nine other teams to get there. 

The Giants had a powerhouse lineup, which included Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Cepeda and Jim Ray Hart. But, coming off knee surgery, Cepeda could not run well enough to play anywhere other than first base. Likewise, McCovey was best-suited for that position. 

On April 29, 1966, the visiting Cardinals beat the Giant 5-1, with Sadecki pitching a five-hit, complete game. Impressed, the Giants entertained the idea that Sadecki might be the left-hander to help their rotation - headlined by Juan Marichal and Gaylord Perry - match up with the aforementioned Dodgers. The idea marinated. 

A month later, the teams played a three-game set in St. Louis, and the bomber-less Birds saw how the other half lived. The first-place Giants hit seven home runs and outscored the eighth-place Cardinals 29-9 to sweep the series. Cepeda contributed a grand slam and a two-run double in two of the games. 

Midway through the series finale, Howsam and his San Francisco counterpart Chub Feeney huddled in the press box and made the deal. 

Informed immediately after the game, Cepeda was devastated as he packed his belongings and walked down the hall to the other clubhouse. When he arrived, the jilted “Baby Bull” was warmly greeted by the Cardinals, with vice-president Stan Musial among the first to welcome him.

“Stan Musial came down to see me and to tell me how happy he was to have me with the club,” Cepeda said. “That was a great feeling.” 

Unfortunately for the Giants, Sadecki went just 3-7 with a 5.40 ERA the remainder of the season and they finished two games behind the pennant-winning Dodgers. For the Cardinals, the impact of Cepeda’s 34-inch, 40-ounce bat was discernible. 

He homered in his Cardinals debut - a Gibson-pitched 8-0 win - and finished the season batting .303, with 17 home runs, 24 doubles and 58 RBIs in 123 games. With him, the team went 75-65 and finished sixth. 

The following season, “Cha-Cha” was the unanimous league MVP, hitting .325 with 25 homers, 37 doubles and a league-leading 111 RBIs. By today’s standards, those aren’t overwhelming power numbers, but they didn’t have to be. 

Cepeda - who clouted as many as 46 home runs earlier in his career - was an established threat, a legitimate presence. And with him, nearly everyone else in the lineup enjoyed better seasons. Brock batted .299 with 21 homers and 113 runs. Flood batted .335 and Javier finished at .281 with 14 homers. McCarver batted .295.with career highs in home runs and RBIs. 

“El Birdos” won 101 games, captured a pennant by 10.5 games and beat the Boston Red Sox in a seven game World Series. The fear factor Cepeda represented made all the difference in the world. 

The effect didn’t last. In ’68, Cepeda fell in with bad influences off the field and fell out of favor on it. He angered the club by reporting to spring training late and out of shape. His numbers - .248, 16 HRs. 79 RBIs - slid dramatically. 

Still, by reputation, he was a threat. Meanwhile, Gibson had a historic season - 13 shutouts, 1.12 ERA - and the big four of  Gibson, Washburn, Briles and Steve Carlton combined for 68 wins and 59 complete games. The Cardinals won another pennant before losing the World Series to the Detroit Tigers.

When the season ended, Cepeda was traded to Atlanta for Joe Torre, who made his own MVP mark here. 

So, while comparing the 1966 and 2025 teams is a stretch, the deficiency of the two lineups might benefit from a similar fix, i.e. a big bat.

Problem is, baseball trades like Sadecki for Cepeda don’t happen much in 2025. The Cardinals seem to have space in the outfield and could probably create it at first. But they’d be hard-pressed to find a team like the ’66 Giants, with a gimpy Cepeda and/or a willingness to part with him. At the same time, if the Cardinals had Sadecki, they might be ill-advised to part with him. 

So, it’s not apples to apples. Still, for today’s Cardinals, that ’66 trade would be a good one to make.