Batting first, St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Skip Schumaker has been getting on base regularly.
On Saturday, St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Skip Schumaker came up in the seventh inning in what would be his final plate appearance of the day. He already had two hits and a fly out, with a chance for his second consecutive three-hit game.
Instead, the recently-restored leadoff man gave up his at-bat for the team, sacrificing Brendan Ryan to third base. Rather than scoring on a sacrifice fly, Ryan came home on a Matt Holliday home run. The final pair of runs turned out to be extremely important in the Cardinals’ 4-3 win over Oakland.
Friday night’s three-hit performance was Schumaker’s 24th as the first batter in the Cardinals’ order in his career. That moved him into a tie for eighth in three-hit games by a Cardinals leadoff hitter in the last 40 years with another second baseman from years past, Julian Javier. As one might expect, Lou Brock leads in all categories by a substantial margin, with Vince Coleman and Curt Flood making up the top three.
Since 1960, Schumaker is also eighth in three on-base games with 58 and sixth in four on-base games at 18.
St. Louis Cardinals, leadoff hitters, 1960-current
| 3-Hit Games | 3 Times On-Base | 4 Times On-Base | ||||||||
| Rk | Player | G | Rk | Player | G | Rk | Player | G | ||
| 1 | Lou Brock | 164 | 1 | Lou Brock | 365 | 1 | Lou Brock | 81 | ||
| 2 | Vince Coleman | 64 | 2 | Vince Coleman | 147 | 2 | Curt Flood | 34 | ||
| 3 | Curt Flood | 61 | 3 | Curt Flood | 103 | 3 | Vince Coleman | 33 | ||
| 4 | Garry Templeton | 47 | 4 | Fernando Vina | 102 | 4 | Fernando Vina | 27 | ||
| 5 | Fernando Vina | 40 | 5 | David Eckstein | 84 | 5 | Garry Templeton | 19 | ||
| 6 | David Eckstein | 35 | 6 | Garry Templeton | 64 | 6 | Skip Schumaker | 18 | ||
| 7 | Bernard Gilkey | 26 | 7 | Bernard Gilkey | 60 | 7 | Lonnie Smith | 17 | ||
| 8 | Skip Schumaker | 24 | 8 | Skip Schumaker | 58 | 8 | Julian Javier | 14 | ||
| 8 | Julian Javier | 24 | 9 | Lonnie Smith | 53 | 8 | David Eckstein | 14 | ||
| 10 | Lonnie Smith | 18 | 10 | Julian Javier | 52 | 10 | Ray Lankford | 12 | ||
| 11 | Tom Herr | 17 | 11 | Ray Lankford | 46 | 10 | Bernard Gilkey | 12 | ||
| 12 | Ray Lankford | 16 | 12 | Tom Herr | 41 | 12 | Tom Herr | 11 | ||
| 12 | Delino DeShields | 16 | 13 | Delino DeShields | 30 | 13 | Delino DeShields | 10 | ||
| 14 | Tony Womack | 15 | 14 | Tony Womack | 28 | 14 | Royce Clayton | 7 | ||
| 15 | Bake McBride | 10 | 14 | Royce Clayton | 28 | 15 | Tony Womack | 6 | ||
| 15 | Royce Clayton | 10 | 16 | Ozzie Smith | 24 | 16 | Geronimo Pena | 5 | ||
| 17 | Willie McGee | 9 | 17 | Willie McGee | 23 | 16 | Joe Cunningham | 5 | ||
| 18 | Ozzie Smith | 8 | 18 | Geronimo Pena | 21 | 18 | Ozzie Smith | 4 | ||
| 18 | Bo Hart | 8 | 19 | Jerry Mumphrey | 20 | 18 | Ken Oberkfell | 4 | ||
| 20 | Geronimo Pena | 6 | 19 | Bake McBride | 20 | 18 | Jerry Mumphrey | 4 | ||
| 21 | Edgar Renteria | 5 | 21 | Edgar Renteria | 10 | 18 | Willie McGee | 4 | ||
| 21 | Jerry Mumphrey | 5 | 21 | Bo Hart | 10 | 18 | Bake McBride | 4 | ||
| 23 | So Taguchi | 4 | 23 | Ken Oberkfell | 9 | 18 | Bo Hart | 4 | ||
| 23 | Placido Polanco | 4 | 24 | Joe Cunningham | 8 | 18 | Darren Bragg | 4 | ||
| 23 | Ken Oberkfell | 4 | 25 | Milt Thompson | 7 | 25 | Placido Polanco | 3 | ||
| 23 | Shawon Dunston | 4 | 25 | So Taguchi | 7 | 25 | Matty Alou | 3 | ||
| 23 | Matty Alou | 4 | 25 | Brendan Ryan | 7 | 27 | So Taguchi | 2 | ||
| 28 | Brendan Ryan | 3 | 25 | Darren Bragg | 7 | 27 | Brendan Ryan | 2 | ||
| 28 | Joe Cunningham | 3 | 25 | Matty Alou | 7 | 27 | Edgar Renteria | 2 | ||
| 28 | Darren Bragg | 3 | 30 | Placido Polanco | 6 | 27 | Julio Lugo | 2 | ||
| 30 | Aaron Miles | 6 | 27 | J.D. Drew | 2 | |||||
| 30 | Felipe Lopez | 6 | 27 | Bobby Bonds | 2 | |||||
| 30 | Phil Gagliano | 6 | ||||||||
| 30 | J.D. Drew | 6 |
Thanks to researcher Tom Orf for the above tables.
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Lou’s position is safe for now. No way I could have told you Bobby Bonds ever lead off for the Cards.
I recall being quite excited when Bonds was acquired.
I remember being happy to get rid of John Denny for some reason. That was a pivotal year for the Cards in my mind, at least from my own perspective. Kind of like the end of the line for the team I knew and loved growing up, albeit it was time, and in with something newfangled and unknown. I had just graduated college that May, a lot of old familiar faces were things of the past. I had no idea what a Whitey Herzog was. Didn’t want to think about the Cards without Boyer, Simmons, Reitz. Figured Red’s stint was a last hurrah. At least that was unfounded.
Oh, yes! It was during his short stint with St. Louis, that I remember the black Bobby Bonds on an airplane wearing a cowboy hat! As I recall, he was only a Mendoza-line hitter for us, but the 3-time All Star and 3-time Gold Glove winner had star power and was a great guy!
Thank you, Brian, for causing us to step back and look at Schumaker’s entire career (as opposed to the struggle he is enduring this season). Hopefully, he will get back on track to being in the same stratum as Fernando Vina and David Eckstein. I’d rather not EVER remember the self-absorbed ingrate that Templeton turned-out to be.
In all fairness 57, you are only remembering Templeton’s years as a youngster with the Cards. The gesture, the “if I ain’t startin I ain’t departin” certainly fits your description. But once he grew up he became a steady veteran presense and good clubhouse guy in San Diego, and was liked by the fans even as his skills declined.
He’s been active as a coach and manager in minor leagues and such. A couple years ago he was coaching a team in Arizona winter league when I had the chance to see some games out there. I had a nice talk with him one morning, a nice man and baseball lover. As I understand it, he’s a little embarrased about that early stuff and doesn’t like to talk about it.
Thank you for the update, blingboy! Yes, my memory of him is how he was as a Cardinal. What he doesn’t like to talk about is precisely what I wish would disappear from my memory (not only the infamous, “if I ain’t startin’, I ain’t departin’”, but also the hand gesture). Your pleasant experience with him in later life will certainly serve to overturn the unpleasant image I’ve maintained of him.