Aug. 16, 1963 - The baseball Cardinals could not have celebrated the opening of the football Cardinals’ exhibition schedule more fittingly than they did today — with a pigskin-size 13-0 victory. Former football stars such as Bill White, Ken Boyer, and Tim McCarver had a big hand in the lopsided victory over the Giants at Busch Stadium. The triumph kept the Redbirds five games behind league-leading Los Angeles and lifted them within one game of the Giants. “You need more than two or three men going well at bat at the same time,” said Cardinal manager Johnny Keane, pleased that five Cardinals each drove in two or more runs so that Curt Simmons (pictured) finally enjoyed a rocking-chair victory while pitching all nine innings. Cardinal hurlers have gone all the way in three of their last four starts. But Keane is not greedy. “We just want somebody to stay in there until the sixth or seventh inning,” the Cards’ skipper said. “That way, the starter keeps you in the ballgame. Simmons has done that consistently.” For San Francisco, the defeat was not the only thing that went wrong. With two out in the ninth, Jim Ray Hart, a promising rookie, was struck on the left temple by a pitch from Simmons. Hart collapsed and was carried on a stretcher to the visitors’ clubhouse. Dr. I.C. Middleman, the Cardinals’ doctor, said Hart suffered a concussion and sent him to Jewish Hospital for X-rays, which were negative. He will be kept in the hospital overnight. The rookie third baseman had returned to the lineup a few days ago. His left shoulder blade was broken by a pitch from Bob Gibson on July 7 in Hart’s second major league game. “I threw the ball inside to Hart,” Simmons said today. “He went into the ball and froze. I wasn’t throwing very hard that late in the game. It was just one of those things.” Simmons chipped in with two hits and two RBIs tonight, but he laughed off his big night at bat before 30,680 fans — the largest single-game crowd at Busch Stadium this year. “I just worry about getting up to bat four times,” said Curt. “If I can get up four times, I know I’m getting ‘em out.”
