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e parent club should purchase his contract what rickey saw was a player who shouldn t be in the outfield as bill kastelz observed in the florida times union his defensive play in right field was enough to make you turn your head away as he committed three errors in two games and failed to get two or three fly balls which were more or less routine losing one because his cap fell down over his face it dawned on the suns that espino might be better playing first base moved there he began to feel at ease and his overall performance improved on sept 8 espino crushed a home run his 49th of the year in a win that clinched the pennant through interpreter and teammate coco laboy espino told wayne minshew of the jacksonville journal i ll take that one over all the rest of my homers in 32 games for jacksonville espino hit 300 with 15 rbi 15 runs scored and three homers deal or no deal according to the jacksonville journal harry walker said espino showed much potential as a hitter the cardinals purchased his contract for 25 000 and invited him to their 1965 big league spring training camp at st petersburg not since bobby avila teamed with lou boudreau in cleveland s pennant winning years have the mexican people had a baseball hero to compare with hector espino mickey mantle s counterpart south of the border the associated press declared plans went awry however as the opening of training camp neared espino s father became ill and the first baseman was given permission to report late but then the cardinals received no communication from him the jacksonville journal reported a few weeks later espino s luggage arrived without him in florida he d taken a flight from monterrey to dallas changed his mind about going to spring training and went back to mexico by then his checked baggage was on its way to florida espino never did report to the cardinals he wanted a share of the purchase price monterrey sultans owner anuar canavati received from the cardinals for him but canavati refused when the spring training invitation came in 1964 i looked forward to going and wanted to continue with the cardinals in 1965 but it was canavati who stopped me espino told the arizona daily star he also said to the los angeles times if they had given me the money i m pretty sure i d have been there with the cardinals a long time asked in 1985 whether he had regrets espino replied to journalist leo w banks i would do the same thing over again the cardinals kept the door open in august 1965 st louis general manager bob howsam told larry lee of the columbus ind republic that espino didn t want to play in the united states but added we re keeping track of him just in case safe at home espino had one more flirtation with a major league franchise in 1967 he agreed to report to angels spring training at holtville a california agricultural town of about 3 000 residents and home to the annual carrot festival holtville was 15 miles from mexicali a bustling mexican city with the cantinas and strip clubs holtville lacked before camp opened angels manager bill rigney issued a stern warning to his players about journeying to mexicali at night i realize we are not at war with mexico but i would prefer my guys stay on this side of the border rigney told ross newhan of the long beach independent espino notified the angels he would remain in mexico he was some hitter but he didn t care about leaving mexico catcher elrod hendricks a former cardinals prospect who played three years 1964 66 in the mexican league before going to the majors said to the associated press testimonials to espino s talents from the archives of the los angeles times and arizona daily star included _ maury wills who managed the hermosillo orange growers to a mexican pacific league title in 1971 with espino at first base espino is about as fine a hitter as i ever saw he should have been in the big leagues five or six years ago _ frank lane ex cardinals general manager he was one of the great hitters in the major leagues he would have been a 320 to 340 hitter with power _ george brunet who played 10 seasons in the mexican league after pitching for the 1971 cardinals if he got a chance in america he would have been just like harmon killebrew _ eddie leon an american league infielder and espino s mexican league teammate i saw hector when he was 36 and even at that age i thought he was as good a hitter as i d ever seen or played against and i played with dick allen on the white sox the year after he won the mvp hector couldn t do as many things as dick allen but he was as good a hitter looking back on his pro career espino said to journalist leo w banks hitting a home run is a great satisfaction but it is momentary the satisfying thing the thing i am most proud of is that i ve played 24 years posted in games hitters prospects 12 comments john sipin went from cardinals prospect to japanese star august 3 2026 by retrosimba john sipin was taken late in the earliest amateur baseball draft a 55th round pick of the cardinals in 1965 from that humble beginning the slender slugging infielder had some notable experiences during his baseball career including _ being groomed by sparky anderson sipin was on two cardinals farm teams anderson managed and reached the majors with a padres club anderson coached _ sharing a national league record with willie mccovey sipin and mccovey are the only national league players to hit two triples in their big league debuts _ forming a potent power duo with sadaharu oh sipin played nine seasons in japan in 1979 oh with 33 and sipin with 27 were the top two home run hitters for the yomiuri giants down on the farm john sipin was from watsonville a california agricultural center in the pajaro valley near monterey bay watsonville a sanctuary city is the company headquarters of monterey mushrooms driscoll s a prominent producer of berries and martinelli s a leading maker of sparkling apple cider and apple juice a wave of filipino migrant farmworkers came to the area in the 1920s and 1930s sipin s father johnny imperial sipin immigrated from the philippines married ethel white whose family moved to california from arkansas and got a job managing farmworker camps johnny stood 5 foot 4 his son grew to 6 foot 2 and became a standout in baseball basketball and golf after graduating from watsonville high school in 1964 john sipin attended cabrillo college on the recommendation of scout bill sayles the cardinals chose the strong armed shortstop in the first amateur baseball draft in june 1965 and he reported to their minor league spring training camp in 1966 assigned to st petersburg managed by sparky anderson sipin became the shortstop and helped the club win 19 in a row a key hitter during the streak was john sipin the sporting news noted anderson told the santa cruz sentinel i never saw an infielder with a better arm after 31 games at st petersburg sipin was promoted to cedar rapids iowa and continued to impress cardinals minor league hitting instructor joe medwick told the cedar rapids gazette that sipin showed signs of being a power hitter and had one of the quickest bats he d seen among prospects though lanky sipin had strong wrists that enabled him to generate bat speed the cardinals liked his bat 14 home runs 63 rbi and arm and put him on their 40 man big league winter roster after the 1966 season position change sipin was the shortstop for sparky anderson again in 1967 with modesto though he clouted 19 home runs he made 51 errors in 123 games when sipin reported to arkansas in 1968 manager vern rapp shifted him to second base i feel more suited to second base sipin said to the sporting news sipin led texas league second basemen in putouts assists and double plays and was named an all star with the national league adding franchises in montreal and san diego for 1969 sipin hoped to be taken in the october 1968 expansion draft preferably by the padres and given the chance to play in the majors for a team in his home state i thought they were going to take me he said to the sporting news instead the padres passed on sipin and took another cardinals infield prospect jerry davanon who played high school and college baseball in san diego dazzling debut while sipin began the 1969 season as the second baseman for warren spahn s tulsa farm team the padres opened their inaugural season with roberto pena a former cubs and phillies shortstop as their second baseman padres manager preston gomez and coach sparky anderson a former phillies second baseman determined the expansion club needed an upgrade at second anderson advocated for sipin on may 22 1969 the padres dealt jerry davanon and bill davis to st louis for sipin 22 and sonny ruberto sipin comes highly recommended gomez told the sporting news he can make the double play and that s what we need the kid has a great arm we re working with him to improve his range two days later in a game against the cubs at san diego sipin debuted as the padres second baseman batting second he faced ken holtzman in the first inning and tripled his next time up in the fourth sipin tripled again versus holtzman boxscore sipin joined willie mccovey as the only national league players to triple twice in their big league debuts mccovey did it for the giants against robin roberts of the phillies on july 30 1959 at san francisco boxscore two american league players also tripled twice in their first games in the majors bill irwin of the 1912 tigers and roy weatherly of cleveland in 1936 boxscore and boxscore sipin was one of the first players of filipino descent to reach the majors the first was bobby balcena born in california to filipino parents he had two at bats for the 1956 reds the only philippines native to play in the majors was bobby chouinard born in manila he pitched for four big league clubs from 1996 2001 sipin followed his two triple game with a three hit performance against the cubs boxscore on may 30 sipin s first home run in the 10th inning against dan mcginn gave the padres a 3 2 win at montreal he hit another homer versus the dodgers don sutton on july 30 sipin had a double and a single against bob gibson at st louis boxscore boxscore boxscore sipin remained the padres second baseman until august when a back ailment required hospital treatment and he was shut down for the season sipin made 54 starts for the 1969 padres committed just seven errors in 477 innings but batted 223 and had no triples after his first game lion maru sipin had stellar minor league seasons in 1970 and 1971 but the padres never brought him back to the majors learning to handle breaking pitches and hit to the opposite field sipin batted 301 for salt lake city in 1970 and led manager don zimmer s club in total bases 237 slugging 510 runs 74 doubles 31 homers 20 and rbi 80 after spring training in 1971 sipin was with the padres on opening day but when he got to the ballpark management informed him he was being sent to hawaii sipin batted 318 for hawaii and was the team leader in total bases 262 hits 174 and doubles 26 sipin found his comfort zone at his next stop japan he signed with the taiyo whales of the japan central league in 1972 and became one of the country s most popular players like ted simmons who was nicknamed simba with the cardinals sipin let his hair grow long and was called lion maru because he resembled a japanese tv action hero who was able to transform from a ninja swordsman into a lion headed warrior his play on the field helped earn him fan support too as taiyo s second baseman in 1972 sipin 25 became the first foreign player to win a japanese gold glove award he also slugged three grand slams grateful to be playing where he was appreciated sipin learned to speak fluent japanese i m content to stay over there he told the santa cruz sentinel after six successful seasons 1972 77 as taiyo s second baseman sipin was traded to the yomiuri giants cut his hair and became sadaharu oh s teammate oh and sipin often batted back to back in 1979 the associated press called sipin the most consistent american to play in japan he retired after the 1980 season in 1 036 career games in japan sipin produced 1 124 hits including 218 home runs and batted 297 he three times clouted 30 or more homers in a season sipin went on to have a second career in real estate in japan and california posted in games hitters prospects records trades 14 comments a first for st louis two teams together in top spots july 27 2026 by retrosimba on a typical sweltering july afternoon in st louis baseball fans soothed themselves with refreshing thoughts of a possible october world series between the browns and the cardinals on july 22 1922 st louis teams simultaneously were atop the standings of the american league and national league for the first time the browns 53 37 had a 589 winning percentage in the american league and the cardinals 57 35 had a 620 winning percentage in the national league their closest pursuers were new york clubs _ yankees 559 in the american giants 612 in the national though the title hopes evaporated and new york teams prevailed st louis experienced a baseball euphoria in 1922 as the st louis post dispatch noted with two teams in first place we feel safe in saying there are more baseball followers in st louis than there are democrats in georgia tale of two teams the 1922 browns and cardinals were dissimilar teams the browns were managed by lee fohl a former catcher with a fourth grade education the cardinals manager was branch rickey a former catcher with a law degree from the university of michigan the browns had good pitching a league leading 3 38 era and the cardinals didn t a 4 44 era that was the second highest in the league browns fielders ranked in the top half of their league in fewest errors committed 199 the cardinals made the most errors in their league 240 their commonality was hitting the browns led their league in runs 868 hits 1 684 triples 94 rbi 785 batting average 310 and slugging 453 the cardinals were league leaders in doubles 280 rbi 787 and slugging 444 each had a 400 hitter _ browns george sisler cardinals rogers hornsby as peter golenbock noted in his book the spirit of st louis arguments arose in bars all over st louis as to who was the better hitter sisler or hornsby hornsby and sisler respected one another in his book my war with baseball hornsby selected sisler on his all time team and said he is the greatest fielding first baseman i ever saw he could hit hard to all fields and was an exceptionally good base runner in 1928 sisler was the boston braves first baseman when hornsby was their player manager according to the post dispatch hornsby said he was one of sisler s strongest admirers sisler in 1922 led the american league in runs 134 hits 246 triples 18 stolen bases 51 batting average 420 and produced a 41 game hitting streak hornsby achieved the triple crown in 1922 leading the national league in batting 401 home runs 42 and rbi 152 he also ...