50 Forgotten Cardinals: The Short Story of 50 Lesser Known and Sometimes Forgotten St. Louis Cardinals, by Will Saulsbery
Now normally I wouldn’t review a book like this. It’s self published with many questionable choices as to layout and presentation. But it made me think of Joe Shlabotnik.
Don’t bother looking him up on Baseball-Reference.com. He’s not there. He was Charlie Brown’s hero.
From Peanuts.fandom.com:
Shlabotnik was demoted to the minor leagues after hitting .004 over an entire season; his one hit was a bloop single with his team comfortably ahead. One time he promised to hit a home run in the bottom of the ninth; he popped out instead, but circled the bases anyway. His greatest achievements included making spectacular plays on routine fly balls and throwing out a runner who had fallen down between first and second.
After being sent down to Stumptown of the Green Grass League, Shlabotnik eventually retired as a player and agreed to manage the Waffletown Syrups. Sadly, Shlabotnik is fired after only one game, after calling for a squeeze play—with no one on base.
More than 2,000 players have worn the Cardinals’ colors since their debut in 1882 (as the St. Louis Browns). A few are either Hall-of-Famers or superstars who missed the Cooperstown cut. With so many in the team’s history, how did Saulsbery decide who to include?
As the author writes in “How we made the list…”
Qualifications for this list are what I would define as ‘loose.’ One, you had to play in at least one regular or post-season game with the team. Two, see number one.
So that obviously leaves a lot to choose from.
I am not a Cardinals’ fan so I can be forgiven in forgetting that Andres Galarraga, Gregg Jeffries, and Bobby Bonds were on the team at some point. I do remember Dick Allen and Reggie Smith and Bob Tewksbury. In fact, I would refute a lot of Salbury’s choices, but then I’m old and a baseball buff; I can understand the majority of folks under a certain age might not know Walker Cooper or Harvey Haddix or Harry Brecheen, et al.
Point is, this is not a book for everyone. But it could be if only to remind us that we all have a Joe Shlabotnik in our fandom, someone obscure to others but who have a special place in our hearts and who can bring a smile to our lips that just can’t be explained. I could see a version of this for every franchise. (Aside: Many years ago, the Mets included in their yearbook a fold-out poster of thumbnail head shots of all the players who appeared for them since 1962. It measured less than your standard 2′ x 3′ poster. I can only image how big something like that would be now.)
Note: As of this posting, the book is available as a “Kindle Unlimited,” so if you have one of those devices you can read it for free.
is available on Amazon.com,
