Barney Schultz obit

Former major leaguer Barney Schultz dies

 

He was not on the list.

Barney Schultz, a Beverly native who helped the St. Louis Cardinals win the 1964 World Series, died Sunday. He was 89.

Born George Warren Schultz in 1926, he was a right-handed relief specialist during a major league pitching career that spanned 11 years, 1955-65. Schultz compiled a 20-20 record with 35 career saves, 14 of which came in 1964 when the Cardinals rallied in September to win the National League pennant.

Schultz finished his career with the Cardinals after spending time with the Detroit Tigers and Chicago Cubs. He began his professional career as a member of the Phillies minor league system, after his graduation from Burlington High School in 1944.

"Every year, we'd go down to St. Petersburg (Florida) for spring training," daughter Barbara Schultz said Thursday. "When he became an instructor in the minor league system, we would go to Sarasota in the spring."

According to information provided by Page Funeral Home, Barney Schultz also served the parent club as a pitching coach. In the early 1980s he spent two years as the pitching coach of the Nankai Hawks in the Japan League. He was inducted into the South Jersey Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988.

Barbara recalled her father also serving as a scout for the Cardinals. She remembered him receiving a World Series ring after the Cardinals won the title in 1967. As they did against the New York Yankees in 1964, the Cards needed seven games to defeat the Boston Red Sox.

"In the mid-1970s, he went back to the major leagues as a coach," Barbara said. "I remember a time when I was in Nicaragua as an exchange student and there was a major league game on TV. I saw him visit the mound to talk to the pitcher."

Barney Schultz and his family lived in Edgewater Park for several years before moving to Mount Laurel in 2010. His nickname was given to him by an uncle.

His interests after baseball included golf, Atlantic City casinos, playing cards, watching the Phillies on TV and spending time with his family. One of the teams the Cardinals edged for the National League pennant in 1964 was the Phillies. They finished one game ahead of the Phillies and Cincinnati Reds by winning their season finale over the New York Mets.

According to the box score posted on www.baseball-reference.com, Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Gibson got the win and Schultz retired Ed Kranepool on a foul out to catcher Tim McCarver to finish the game.

"Later in life, my father and mother (Frances) both loved watching the Phillies," said Barbara, a Westampton resident. "He loved the casinos and he loved golf. He played until he suffered a shoulder injury and couldn't swing a club anymore."

No services are planned at this time. But as the current Cardinals pursue an NL Central Division title, longtime fans are mourning two pitchers who helped the Cards win World Series in different eras. Earlier this week, the team announced the death of Joaquin Andujar from the 1982 championship club.

He was a knuckleball-throwing pitcher in the Major Leagues for all or parts of seven seasons between 1955 and 1965 for the St. Louis Cardinals, Detroit Tigers and Chicago Cubs. In October 1966 he was briefly reactivated by the Cardinals so that he could receive a Major League pension. Born in Beverly, New Jersey, he threw and batted right-handed, stood 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m) tall and weighed 200 pounds (91 kg).

Schultz was signed by the Philadelphia Phillies in 1944 after playing at Burlington City High School.

Schultz was strictly a relief pitcher, appearing in 227 games without any starts. He was an early specialist in the knuckleball. He had two good years with the Cubs, then was traded to the Cardinals where he had his best season, 1964, with 14 saves (a significant quantity in those days) and a 1.64 earned run average. Probably his most visible moment was in Game 3 of the 1964 World Series, in which he gave up a game-winning home run to Mickey Mantle in the nationally televised Saturday game. However, he had been credited with a save in Game 1, and the Cardinals ultimately won the Series in seven games.

Cardinals' utility catcher Bob Uecker was sometimes called upon to catch when Schultz was brought in to pitch. It was from that experience that Uecker drew some of his material when joking about the difficulties of catching the knuckleball.

In between, Schultz played winter ball in Venezuela for the Gavilanes de Maracaibo club of the Western Professional Baseball League, where he won seven consecutive strikeout titles from 1954 through 1960.

Schultz was a resident of Edgewater Park, New Jersey, where his home was filled with memorabilia of his baseball career.[4

Teams

As player

St. Louis Cardinals (1955)

Detroit Tigers (1959)

Chicago Cubs (1961–1963)

St. Louis Cardinals (1963–1965)

As coach

 

St. Louis Cardinals (1971–1975)

Chicago Cubs (1977)

Nankai Hawks (1981–1982)