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Rick Hummel

Gibson says Verlander should be AL's MVP, too

Last updated Saturday, September 24, 2011 - 4:12pm

No starting pitcher has won the National League Most Valuable Player Award since 1968 and there have been only two from the American League since then. But that might change this year considering the dominance of Detroit Tigers righthander Justin Verlander.

Verlander entered the weekend 19 games over .500, at 24-5, for a team that was 24 games over, having already won the American League Central Division title. Verlander led the league in earned run average, at 2.29, innings pitched (244) and strikeouts (also 244) and lowest opponents' batting average, .190.

Cardinals Hall of Famer Bob Gibson spends his television baseball time mostly watching his old team. But he is familiar enough with Verlander and also familiar with the MVP award and Cy Young Award, both of which he won in 1968 as the last National League starter to do so.

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Had Dick Williams been available, 'Whiteyball' might never have materialized

Rick Hummel St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Last updated Sunday, July 10, 2011 - 4:17pm

ST. LOUIS -- If late Hall of Fame manager Dick Williams had been available a year or so earlier, the course of Cardinals history might have been changed in the 1980s.

When Whitey Herzog, who also became a Hall of Famer, stepped down as Cardinals manager in September 1980 to become general manager to fix a club that had become a mess, he began the search for a manager for 1981 and beyond. The man he probably wanted the most, longtime friend and former teammate Dick Williams, was employed by the Montreal Expos as their manager and wouldn't be fired there until late in the 1981 season.

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History is good to teams atop division on July 4

Rick Hummel St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Last updated Wednesday, July 6, 2011 - 4:03pm

ST. LOUIS -- History doesn't really tell us who first cited the July 4 milepost as the predictor for eventual pennant winners, and later, division champions, in baseball. But whether it was Connie Mack or John McGraw or Red Schoendienst or Bill James, the holiday has been a rather good barometer for determining champions.

Until baseball started playing regular-season games in March, July 4 was about the halfway point of the season. Now, it is a little past that as the Cardinals played their 86th game out of 162 in the twilight Monday against the Cincinnati Reds at Busch Stadium.

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Injuries pile up before 2011 baseball season

Rick Hummel, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Last updated Sunday, April 3, 2011 - 4:16pm

Is spring training too long? One would think 6 1/2 weeks or so is sufficient. But, judging by the staggering amount of injuries suffered by big leaguers even before April dawned, maybe it isn't long enough. Perhaps the boys are rushing it.

In any event, according to St. Louis Post-Dispatch research, fully 99 players opened the season on the disabled list (15-day or 60) and we haven't even come to the new seven-day disabled list for concussion victims. Nor did we count the Cardinals' Matt Holliday and his appendectomy.

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How can a team with MVP, Cy Young and Rookie of the Year candidates not be doing better?

Rick Hummel, The Associated Press

Last updated Sunday, September 5, 2010 - 5:30pm

I don't know if any recent Cardinals team has underachieved more or not. But in my 38 seasons of covering Cardinals baseball, in one form or another, there never has been a more perplexing team.

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(Alex Brandon/The Associated Press)
St. Louis Cardinals' Albert Pujols runs the bases after his 400th home run in the fourth inning of a baseball game with the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park in Washington on Thursday.

Chasing the Triple Crown: History shows it can be won without having a career year

Rick Hummel, The Associated Press

Last updated Sunday, August 29, 2010 - 4:52pm

Now that Albert Pujols has reached 400 home runs in under 10 full seasons, the attention focused on him individually rather than as the leader of a contending team is on the possibility of his winning the Triple Crown in batting.

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Interleague play should showcase, not suppress, differences

Rick Hummel St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Last updated Sunday, May 23, 2010 - 7:50pm

The 14th season of interleague play began this weekend, with the Los Angeles Angels coming to St. Louis for the third time, without the Cardinals ever having gone to Anaheim.

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Home runs decline in both leagues

Rick Hummel St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Last updated Sunday, May 16, 2010 - 8:53pm

The Cardinals' recent home-run drought of nine games that finally ended Friday when Albert Pujols and Ryan Ludwick connected, coming after they had scored more than half their runs on home runs for a month or so, is not indigenous to the Mound City. Home runs are down in baseball, almost to 1993 levels.

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Since Holliday arrived, La Russa has shelved the idea, but doesn't rule out bringing it back

Rick Hummel St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Last updated Monday, April 26, 2010 - 5:35pm

ST. LOUIS -- The concept of the pitcher hitting eighth and a position player ninth for the Cardinals was shelved virtually the day Matt Holliday arrived to bat fourth last year.

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With 8,995 wins, 17 pennants and eight World Series titles, these four managers give NL wealth of experience

Rick Hummel St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Last updated Thursday, April 1, 2010 - 7:29pm

JUPITER, Fla. -- In the history of major-league baseball, there have been only five men who have managed major-league teams in five decades -- Connie Mack, John McGraw, Joe McCarthy, Bucky Harris and Leo Durocher. All are in the Hall of Fame. When the first pitch of this season is thrown in a few more days, three more will join that club in Tony La Russa, Bobby Cox and Joe Torre.

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