St. Louis Cardinals: The compliment of being a poor man’s Dane lorg

 Every team needs a player on their roster who can play multiple positions and come through in the clutch. For the St. Louis Cardinals in the early 80s that man was Dane Iorg.

Dane Iorg was a first-round draft pick by the Philadelphia Phillies who toiled in the minors for six seasons before getting his first taste of big-league coffee.

Not a power guy, not a speed guy, Dane Iorg was the guy. He hit .300 at every level in the minors and could play the corner infield positions and the corner outfield positions. From 1977 to 1980 the Phillies would win the division three times and Iorg was blocked at the big league level behind Richie Hebner and Mike Schmidt.

More from Call to the Pen

• Philadelphia Phillies, ready for a stretch run, bomb St. Louis Cardinals
• Philadelphia Phillies: The 4 players on the franchise’s Mount Rushmore
• Boston Red Sox fans should be upset over Mookie Betts’ comment
• Analyzing the Boston Red Sox trade for Dave Henderson and Spike Owen
• 2023 MLB postseason likely to have a strange look without Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals

Iorg was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in ’77 and immediately fit in as a jack of all trades. The 1980 season is when Iorg first flashed his brilliance coming off the bench. He would finish the year as a .303 hitter, though his numbers late were most impressive. He hit an even .300 as a pinch hitter and hit .313 in the seventh through ninth innings of ballgames.

Iorg was one of the most trusted pinch hitters for the Cardinals and his defensive versatility made him a necessity on a National League roster. With the small ball style of play, double switches, and hitting for the pitcher, Iorg was the template for what all NL teams looked for in a super-sub.

The following year, Iorg proved to be even better, hitting .327 for the season and having a .438 batting average with two outs and runners in scoring position. The power numbers never came for Iorg, he hit only 14 career home runs. The clutch hits, however, did keep coming and coming.

In the Cardinals World Series year of 1982 Iorg tied for the team lead in hits with 9 and extra-base hits with 5. All this came in just 17 plate appearances, giving him a team best .529 average as well.

Iorg would play a couple more years with the Cards before being sold to the Kansas City Royals, where he would come back to hurt his former team. In the 1985 World Series which pitted the two teams, the Cardinals were two outs away from another title, in Game 6. Iorg had a pinch hit, two RBI single to win the game. The Royals would win Game 7 to give Iorg his second ring.

The game has evolved and teams are less likely to have Dane Iorg-types on their rosters. A travesty, as guys like him, are the framework upon which the game was built.