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Welcome to The Write Fielder – a weekly newsletter on baseball and the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Cardinals from the Post-Dispatch. Every Friday, lead baseball writer Derrick Goold delivers behind the seams stories straight to your inbox that builds upon the baseball coverage in a city celebrated for its deep roots and deepest fondness for the game.Ìý

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A QUICK MUSIAL STORY FROM TORRE

ATLANTAÌý— In 1993, as part of the All-Star Game festivities in Baltimore’s still new Oriole Park at Camden Yards, three Cardinals greats took the field for an exhibition game featuring some of the biggest names in baseball.

All three were already in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, and Enos Slaughter Ìýamong others was an echo from what was briefly a fixture of the baseball calendar. From 1982 through 1990, an annual “old timersâ€� game was played under the banner Cracker Jack Old Timers Baseball Classic. Old-timer games were an event (and they remain so with teams like the New York Yankees), and this past week in Atlanta, one of the cities where he would qualify as an old-timer, Joe Torre was asked about restarting that Cracker Jack tradition.

Sitting in his Yankees road grays with his retired No. 6 on the back, the former Cardinals manager and MVP as a Cardinal laughed a bit at the suggestion and the knee pops and creaky muscles it would invite for retired players. He said some of them participated but weren’t so thrilled with how it ached to do so.

There was one ballplayer, Torre said, who adored being back on the field.

“Stan Musial,� Torre enthused. “He loved them! He loved playing in them.�

The Cardinals’ all-time great participated in several. (Joe DiMaggio reportedly appeared in all of the Cracker Jack exhibitions.) Musial played in the initial Cracker Jack Classic in July 1982 at RFK Stadium in Washington. The five-inning exhibition also featured Hank Aaron, Harmon Killebrew, Larry Doby, DiMaggio, Willie McCovey, Bob Feller, Brock, Slaughter, Al Kaline, Ernie Banks, on and on, and also Red Schoendienst. He played second for Musial’s NL team. A crowd of 29,196 attended, but many more would claim they did. Musial went 1-for-1 in the game, per the box score. Bill Mazeroski hit a home run.

That game in the bottom of the first inning.

watching the ball sail over his head and into the fans.

That’s similar to what Torre remembers about Musial in old-timer games and why The Man enjoyed them so much. Only, Torre said, it was Musial hitting the homers.

“Oh, (heck) yeah,� Torre said. “Right down that right-field line.�

CENTRAL CASTING

The gathering of players from all corners of the National League Central at the All-Star Game offered a chance to ask them how they saw the division race unfolding in the final months. Four of the five teams have a winning record in the division and are bunched within 7 ½ games of each other as the regular season resumes Friday. He are thoughts on the division race from players on those top four teams.

• Trevor Megill, RHP, Brewers: “It’s a good division, ain’t it? The NL Central got sneaky there. We’ve got four or five teams now that can you on any day. So, I mean it’s tough. Right now, it’s one game between us and the Cubs. ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ and the Reds aren’t too far behind. It’s a good year here.â€�

• Andrew Abbott, LHP, Reds: “I think it’s going to be tougher than people think. The Brewers are playing really well. The Cardinals are playing really well. We’re above .500. We’re still in the fight, and then obviously the Cubs are ahead of us. I think it’s going to be all the way till the end. We play the Brewers the last weekend of the year. Hopefully, it doesn’t come down to it. But I think it’s going to be tough, and it’s going to be a fun one.�

• Matthew Boyd, LHP, Cubs: “I think we have one of the best divisions in baseball. At least the records even say that right now. So it’s going to be a fight. … Between the Cardinals, the Reds, the Brewers and us are all right there, neck and neck. We’re all very good ballclubs. I believe it’s a division race that’s going to go down probably till the end. The Pirates can go out and beat you on any given day. So it’s a tough division. We’re all threats to each other in that regard.�

• Freddy Peralta, RHP, Brewers: “The division has been very good. We started a little slow, and Chicago was ahead of us five or six games. And we’ve been playing really well, and we’re about to catch up.

• Brendan Donovan, UT, Cardinals: “It’s a good division. It really is. There are some really good arms. I think it’s up to us. We’ve got a young core for us that is continuing to gain experience and continuing to learn. … Cincinnati has really good pitching. I feel like they call up another guy every year wo has really good stuff. Everyone always says the Central is up for grabs. But I feel like it’s getting better every year.�

THE PHILOSOPHY OF ABS

While most of the players ranged from skeptical to lukewarm and lukewarm to enthusiastic about the automated ball-strike (ABS) system that is inching into the majors, Dodgers catcher Will Smith got downright existential about it.

The All-Star echoed concerns from other catchers – and teammates eager to defend catchers – for what ABS could mean for the art of framing pitches. (Former Cardinals manager and Gold Glove-winner Mike Matheny would often caution against any move that took framing out of the game and eliminated the sleight-of-hand benefit of stealing strikes for a pitcher.)

With a few of us baseball writers there, Smith reframed the ABS discussion.

“As a player, you want to get every call right,� Smith said. “(But) baseball has always been like the game of life. You get good breaks and bad breaks that happen. A call is missed. Or you get lucky. That is the art of the beauty of our game.�

MANFRED: ROOKIE PICK NOT NEW 'NORM'

The commissioner’s late addition of Milwaukee rookie Jacob Misiorowski after just five starts prompted some questions about the motivation of the All-Star Game. Major League Baseball has increased its attempt to promote players – especially young, rising talents from highlighting them at the Draft Combine and MLB Draft to Paul Skenes’ ubiquitous presence in promotions. While Misiorowski is a comet blazing into the majors, his selection as an All-Star seemed to prioritize buzz over substance, and it did so at the cost of some veterans who may never get another All-Star look. Not to mention the bonuses at stake for being picked.

The Philadelphia Phillies were critical of the choice ahead of their two deserving pitchers, Ranger Suarez and Cristopher Sanchez. Cardinals veteran reliever Phil Maton arguably had the best first half of his career and he has more innings, more strikeouts, and a lower ERA than Misiorowski.

What he doesn’t have is a 103-mph fastball.

Rob Manfred explained his call to members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America during an annual All-Star meeting on Tuesday.

“I thought the appropriate balance on this one was the excitement that would be generated – the fans are interested in seeing this guy – and I actually thought the competition in the game cut the same direction,� the commissioner said. “He’s a very, very good pitcher on a very, very good run right now. So I saw that one going that direction. Do I understand five starts is short? Yeah, I do. Do I want to make that a norm? No, I don’t. I think it was the right decision given where we were.�

FROM THE ‘PEN

Newly signed to a club record bonus, lefty Liam Doyle has already debuted as a top-50 prospect in all the minors, according to Baseball Prospectus. BP updated its top 50 prospects for the midseason and included draft picks – debuting Doyle at No. 41. “,â€� BP’s Jeffrey Paternostro and Jarrett Seidler write. “(Doyle) ran literal 100th percentile whiff rates both overall and in-zone for NCAA D1 this year.â€� The Cardinals’ top prospect, infielder JJ Wetherholt, moved up to No. 11. BP writes how Wetherholt “cycles between A and B swings with aplomb and can rack up hits with both. … (S)hould strafe doubles and compete for batting titles.â€� … There will be teams who call the Cardinals in the coming week – if they haven’t already – about Nolan Gorman to gauge his availability at the trade deadline in part because at least one team, according to someone familiar with its thinking, is looking at Brendan Donovan’s performance and Wetherholt’s rise and wondering where Gorman fits for Cardinals. … On the call for the Cardinals-Diamondbacks game Saturday for FOX’s Baseball Night in America will be Jason Benetti and Eric Karros. … Here are the two teams with winning records who rank in the bottom 11 for strikeout-per-nine rate: Cardinals (7.37) and Cubs (7.55). … Count the Philadelphia Phillies as a team shopping for relief additions at the deadline. That will likely mean casting an eye on the Cardinals’ bullpen and what they decide to do with the three relievers on expiring contracts – Ryan Helsley, Phil Maton, and Steven Matz. All-Star Game MVP Kyle Schwarber talked Tuesday in the NL clubhouse with a few of us about the benefit of adding a surefire reliever to the Phillies bullpen. “If you add someone like that and you’re able to push a couple of guys into an eighth or seventh inning, you feel like your bullpen is in a really good spot,â€� he said. “That’s the biggest thing. It just makes it that much more length to get a win.â€� … Something to watch as the regular season resumes after the break: Innings. Sonny Gray leads the Cardinals with 108 innings, but right behind him are two pitchers, Andre Pallante (100 1/3 innings) and Matthew Liberatore (100 1/3 innings), who have never had that kind of workload as a starter in the majors. Pallante’s career high is 121 1/3 innings total, set this past season. Liberatore has already surpassed his career high in the majors. In 2022, he pitched a total of 149 2/3 innings, including the minors. … An incentive for players to wear a microphone during the All-Star Game? They get a check for $15,000. That payout was negotiated by the union, and it’s up as of 2024 from $10,000 in previous years. The union is required to encourage the wearing of the microphone and provide a minimum of three players the AL and three from the NL who will participate for a half inning each. … On the Cardinals’ most recent road trip, following his three-run pinch-hit homer against the Cubs for the Cardinals’ lone win at Wrigley Field, teammates marveled at Yohel Pozo’s swing – which has gone after a variety of pitches. “Including ones that bounce,â€� said a teammate. Teammates praised Pozo for the levelness of his swing while being a bad-ball hitter. That prompted lefty Liberatore to consider how to pitch to him: “It can be a little bit of a mindbender in the sense that you know you’re not trying to throw strikes and then sometimes you throw non-competitive pitches because you’re trying so hard to be out of the zone. So, I think that’s really where it goes back to – not trying to do too much and realizing it's just executing a single pitch and then one more after that.â€� … Hall of Fame manager and former MLB executiveÌýJoe Torre expressed support for the ABS challenge system: “This is the best way to do it because it’s quick. Our game has a certain tempo to it.â€� … Brewers closer Trevor Megill was asked by a reporter at the All-Star Game about what it would be like if Milwaukee sold at the deadline. His reply: “I don’t think we’re going to see that at all.â€�

PAPERCLIPS

• Think you know Brendan Donovan? Let me tell you a few stories you haven't heard about the Cardinals' All-Star and a recurring theme will become obvious about how a willingness to play anywhere is what got him everywhere.

• Steve Zesch, one of the driving forces behind Cardinals Publications and written-word preservation of Cardinals history, retired this past week, and . The story also touches on one of my favorite traditions at the ballparkÌý— Mike Right's illustrations of superhero/retro Cardinals for the annual scorecards.

• Baseball writer Daniel Guerrero checks in at the midseason on the Post-Dispatch Dozen, the top 12 prospects in the Cardinals system who started the year without major-league experience.

• The story of 'a forgotten Cardinal,' from columnist Benjamin Hochman.

• Why Ivan Herrera and Pedro Pages are still a tandem, writes columnist Lynn Worthy.

• A lockout looms and a standoff over a salary cap is brewing, but also in the comments from MLBPA and MLB leaders are comments on big-league players in the 2028 Olympics, gambling policies, ABS, and immigration policy concerns.

• In a brand new Best Podcast in Baseball, Jeff Gordon discusses his midterm grades for the Cardinals.Ìý

• The All-Star Game ending was bananas.

• The Savannah Bananas are coming to ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½Ìýand Busch will be packed.

ON THE ROAD

If you’ll permit me to totally age myself – fittingly for this coming week – as a kid I made the trip to Tattered Cover near Denver whenever possible to wander the three stories of books but also see the Sunday newspapers from around the country and baseball coverage from Peter Gammons in the Boston Globe and the baseball writing in the Sunday Chicago Tribune and New York Times. Those articles are now available on my phone and Tattered Cover has moved a few times and downsized, but it remains one of the great bookstores, and it always will be.

When in the Denver metro area, go to Beau Jo’s for pizza. If you’re fortunate enough to be in Boulder, hit The Sink by campus for a burger. You’re welcome.

ON DECK: SONNY’S QUEST

With the announcement of their pitching rotation for the upcoming series, the Cardinals assured Sonny Gray won’t get the chance to collect two career firsts on the same road trip.

Gray has only two teams of the 30 that he’s yet to get a win against.

He’ll pitch against one, the Arizona Diamondbacks, on Saturday. But that assignment means he’ll miss a chance to get a win on this road trip against the other only club he's missing a win against — the Colorado Rockies. Gray is 0-1 with a 3.65 ERA in two starts against the Diamondbacks, and he’s 0-1 with a 3.09 ERA against the Rockies. This Saturday will be Gray’s last chance this season to snag a win against the D-Backs. He may have a crack at the Rockies when visit ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ in August.

The Cardinals visit Phoenix for a three-game series this weekend and baseball writer Daniel Guerrero will be at the keyboard with coverage. Then it’s on to Coors Field for a three-game series next week. It’s a wonderful coincidence for me to be in Colorado, not too far from where I grew up, for my birthday. Thanks MLB for the gift.

Write back to you next week.

— Derrick Goold, Post-Dispatch lead baseball writer

Replies to this email will not reach me. If you would like to offer feedback or suggestions for The Write Fielder, please contact me at dgoold@post-dispatch.com.

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