Chuckie Carr

[picasso]

Remember him?

I remember attending a game where the Cards were tied in the ninth. Card player gets a walk, Carr comes in as a pinch runner, steals 2nd, steals third, scores on a fly ball. Cards win. Really exciting.

If I was a ML manager I'd want a Chuckie Carr on the team. Someone who is a good defensive OF and can steal bases at will. Even if they couldn't hit. A potentially similar Cardinal a few years back was Essix Snead.

Why don't teams employ non-hitting Vince Colemans' as late inning pinch runners and defensive replacements? I could see stealing 3-4 games a year with this type player. Charles Finley even had a roster spot designated for Herb Washington who was listed as simply "pinch-runner"

Chuckie wasn't a Card for long (I believe he went to Florida in the expansion draft) But the idea of a Chuckie has long stuck with me. I'd rather have that late inning lightning on the bench than carrying a So Taguchi or Skip Schumaker.

I guess I thought of this because I was thinking about this years bench. Maybe I just miss the Whiteyball days.

[taxman]

For all his god-given speed, Chuckie Carr was one of the worst baserunners I have ever seen.

[picasso]

He was 144/196 in SB attempts. A 73% rate. The rate's not great, not bad. Chuckie was not a great team player either, as I recall. He often referred to himself in third person.

I like the idea of a Chuckie Carr.

[jagtrader]

Somewhere, perhaps in prison, Alex Cole's ears are burning.

[Centreville]

Yes, I remember him very well. Kirby Puckett, Jr.

[Fan_In_NY]

Remember him?

I remember attending a game where the Cards were tied in the ninth. Card player gets a walk, Carr comes in as a pinch runner, steals 2nd, steals third, scores on a fly ball. Cards win. Really exciting.

If I was a ML manager I'd want a Chuckie Carr on the team. Someone who is a good defensive OF and can steal bases at will. Even if they couldn't hit. A potentially similar Cardinal a few years back was Essix Snead.

Why don't teams employ non-hitting Vince Colemans' as late inning pinch runners and defensive replacements? I could see stealing 3-4 games a year with this type player. Charles Finley even had a roster spot designated for Herb Washington who was listed as simply "pinch-runner"

Chuckie wasn't a Card for long (I believe he went to Florida in the expansion draft) But the idea of a Chuckie has long stuck with me. I'd rather have that late inning lightning on the bench than carrying a So Taguchi or Skip Schumaker.

I guess I thought of this because I was thinking about this years bench. Maybe I just miss the Whiteyball days.

This is one of the few Cardinal teams that you might be able to implement the permanent pinch runner because of the fielding problems Duncan has. If you have a good glove top notch steals guy he could actually see some time. I think now with all of the specialty relievers and pitchers getting pulled earlier in games (need for bench players that can hit) its just really really tough to devote a roster spot to a speed guy.

Also I looked up in retrosheet to see the game you were talking about, and couldnt find it. So it might not have happened as well as you remember (and honestly I dont blame you for not remembering every detail of a Cards game in 1992.)

[picasso]

Also I looked up in retrosheet to see the game you were talking about, and couldnt find it. So it might not have happened as well as you remember (and honestly I dont blame you for not remembering every detail of a Cards game in 1992.)

Yeah, to prove you wrong, I researched it as well, and I can't find it either. Or even anything remotely close. Yet the game is burned in my memory.

I choose to blissfully hold on to my false memories.

[Leroy]

I remember him well. At the time, the last of the running redbirds were starting to slow down, and I thought he'd be a perfect fit. And then I saw him try to run down a ball in centerfield, and his hammy popped like a overtightned fiddle string.

And then I think we picked him up the next year.

[Rieges]

Refer to himself in the third person? Like when he said "Chuckie doesn't take on 2-0. That's not Chuckie's game. Chuckie hacks 2-0." That would explain Chuckie's .316 career OBP. Chuckie also had 13 career HRs. Good bless Chuckie Carr.

[Jmodene]

A serious question, though, deserves a serious answer.

And the reason we don't see running specialists any more is because of the 12-man pitching staffs. There just isn't room, when you have only five bench players, for one of them to be used strictly as a pinch-runner.

I suspect the last such player would have been Miguel Mejia, who was with the Cards in 1996 as a Rule 5 keeper. He got into 43 games, many of them as a pinch-runner. He went 2-for-23 at the plate, but stole six bases and scored 10 runs.

I remember one of those runs - it was at Dodger Stadium in September (we had just arrived in the States from ten years in Guam), and he scored from second base on a two-out bunt by Mike Gallego to break a late scoreless tie.

Taguchi is almost that type of player - but he bats 200-300 times a season.