Jackie Brandt (1959 Gold Glove - 1961 All-Star)

Relive the magic of baseball’s golden age through the incredible story of Jackie Brandt, a player who shared the field with legends like Stan Musial, Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Brooks Robinson and Eddie Mathews. With a career spanning 12 unforgettable years (1956–1967), Brandt played in some of the most iconic ballparks in history—Polo Grounds, Sportsman’s Park, Ebbets Field and Connie Mack Stadium. In this episode, Jackie, now 90, shares his unique experiences, colorful stories and what it was like to be part of an era that defined America’s pastime. 

Transcript

Mike Koser 0:00

In my research for this month's episode, I had to check this piece of information twice, and you're welcome to triple check it for me. I I just thought it was crazy. There is only one player in baseball history who played on teams with Stan Musial, Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Brooks Robinson, and Eddie Matthews. And that man is Jackie Brandt, who is now 90 years old and is my guest on this month's episode of the Lost Ballparks podcast. Jackie Brandt. Is now a good time?

Jackie Brandt 0:32

Now's a good time.

Mike Koser 0:34

Okay. Let's do it then.

Announcer 0:36

 Podcast Open

Mike Koser 1:19

From 1956 to 1967, Jackie Brandt spent time with the Cardinals, New York Giants, San Francisco Giants, Orioles, Phillies, and Astros, finishing his career with more than a thousand hits and more than a hundred home runs. He was an all-star and a gold glover, and he's our guest on this month's episode of the Lost Ballparks Podcast. Jackie Brandt, how are you?

Jackie Brandt 1:44

Um okay. How are you doing?

Mike Koser 1:47

I'm doing great. Thanks for doing this. I appreciate it, Jackie. Let's go back to the very first game you ever attended. Um, your first Major League Baseball game. Where was that? When was that?

Jackie Brandt 1:57

The first one I ever went to was my first one.

Mike Koser 2:00

Was it really?

MLB debut, 1956, Sportsman's Park, St. Louis

Jackie Brandt 2:01

Yeah.

Mike Koser 2:02

So that means the first time you walk into a ballpark is your Major League debut in 1956 with the Cardinals at uh Sportsman's Park. Walk me through that experience.

Jackie Brandt 2:12

I was lost. I almost didn't find it. Are you sure? Is this me? I don't know. It's it was great. It was unbelievable. Gotta go to Oklahoma, Georgia, and New York before I can get to St. Louis.

Mike Koser 2:27

Sure, yeah, in the minor leagues.

Jackie Brandt 2:29

Yeah. That was amazing because back in the 50s, you had to play in a minor leages six or eight years before you got anywhere. But I just happened to appeal to somebody. Went from Class D and got a C contract. In spring training, I made an A team. And the next year I went to spring training with an A contract and made a AAA team. And the next year I went to spring training with a triple A contract and made the big leagues.

Mike Koser 3:04

And how much was your first major league contract with the Cardinals? How much did they pay you?

Jackie Brandt 3:08

Six thousand dollars a year.

Mike Koser 3:10

Did that feel like a lot of money at the time?

Jackie Brandt 3:12

well, it was it was it went pretty fast. Yeah.

Mike Koser 3:20

So back for a second to your first game. Your major league debut is with the Cardinals April 21st, 1956, against Eddie Matthews, Hank Aaron, and the Milwaukee Braves at Sportsman's Park. So you make the trip to the ballpark and you go into the clubhouse. Obviously, I mean this is your first time in a major league ballpark. First time in a major league clubhouse.

Jackie Brandt 3:38

I was on the cloud. I made the Cardinals in spring training. I was on a triple A contract. So I had a good spring. So they told me the day they broke spring training cap. You're going to St. Louis. I don't know if I landed for three days. What am I doing? What do I got Stan Musual's locker next to me? Oh boy.

Mike Koser 4:06

You walk into the locker room and you discover that you're right next to Stan Musial.

Jackie Brandt 4:10

Who's that sitting next to Jack? I said, Oh, that's Stan. He he he plays for the Cardinals.

Mike Koser 4:20

What did you think of Stan Musial, by the way?

Jackie Brandt 4:22

Oh, he was just uh a leader.

Patrolling the Polo Grounds outfield with Willie Mays

Mike Koser 4:25

I mean, you were there for a cup of coffee a short period of time. Did you enjoy the experience in St. Louis?

Jackie Brandt 4:30

I didn't play much there. Uh I got to watch a bunch of the other players, but then they needed some uh help, I guess, so they sent me to polo grounds. I was only there for a month or two.

Mike Koser 4:47

Yeah, in the first couple months of the 1956 season, you spent a little time with the Cardinals, and then it's off to New York to play at the polo grounds with the New York Giants.

Jackie Brandt 4:55

And I've now I'm living in New York City paying $400 a month's rent, and only make $450 or something a month.

Mike Koser 5:04

Yeah, so you're not you're not making a lot of money, but on the other hand, you're playing at the polo grounds in the outfield, right next to maybe the greatest player of all time, Willie Mays.

Jackie Brandt 5:15

Of course.

Announcer 5:16

Back at the polo grounds in New York, going into the last half of the second inning, Willie Mays will lead off with the Giants.

Mike Koser 5:22

Jackie, for someone who is never able to see a game at the Polo Grounds, can you describe what it was like to play there?

Jackie Brandt 5:29

I really liked it. Boy, that's a crazy looking ballpark.

Announcer 5:34

While we have time, let me tell you something about this polo grounds layout. It's a complete double-decked affair. Our mutual broadcasting booth is in a swell spot here, right back the home plate where we can see those balls breaking over the plate. It's in a great spot to see the ball game.

Jackie Brandt 5:48

Willie was in center, and it was the only thing there was center field. It was 240 down the lines. You just played against the wall and did whatever Willie told you to do. He was unbelievable.

Mike Koser 6:03

Many describe Willie Mays as the greatest all-round player in baseball history. You, Jackie, had a front row seat. You played right next to him. What do you think?

CF clubhouses at the Polo Grounds

Jackie Brandt 6:14

I think he was. I think I I guess I got a good reason because he was. He could run, he could throw, he could hit, he could hit home runs, he could steal bases, he could field with anybody. And what else is there? Uh walking out to start the game or something?

Mike Koser 6:33

Yeah, and speaking of that, the clubhouses at the polo grounds were out in center field. Describe that area at the polo grounds.

Jackie Brandt 6:41

In center field, let's say it's uh 400 to the center field fence, which we didn't have, it was open and it went back probably a hundred feet and uh steps going up, one step going up to the Giants, and one step going up to the visiting clubhouse. It was up second floor. And if you hit the ball in center field over the center field er's head, it'd go 500 feet.

Announcer 7:12

Uh in fact, it's one of the longest drives to the center field fence of any ballpark in the majors. It's something uh from here to the center field wall is something like 483 feet, and that is really a wallop. 483 feet to the center field wall, so you can tell what a poke that is.

Jackie Brandt 7:30

But it was it was weird. It was... you come in from center field and you went home into center field. What is that? 70 years ago?

Mike Koser 7:40

Having a short left field at the polo grounds and a short right field, were hitters tempted to try to pull the ball every time they were up?

Jackie Brandt 7:49

Well, that's that's what they tried to do. I tried to hit the ball to center field because that made me wait longer. And uh the walls were probably oh, 25 or 30 feet high, and then uh the stands were above the walls down both sides. It was every it was similar to the Coliseum, but the Coliseum in LA didn't have no walls. They they had a big net in left field, and the rest was what 700 feet.

Announcer 8:22

One thing that Mel and I get a big kick out of here at the Coliseum is many of the people far off in the distance bring their own binoculars to follow the game.

Mike Koser 8:31

At the polo grounds, after a game, players would make their way to the center field clubhouses with fans hanging over from the bleachers, try to get a high five from you on your way into the clubhouse. On a day where you win the game, I'm sure they're happy and a lot of high fives to go around, and maybe a little less hospitable on days where you lose.

Jackie Brandt 8:54

I didn't see any high fives. That's where we had to go and come. We uh finished in eighth place that year. So we didn't have very many people.

Mike Koser 9:05

Your your first year in the big leagues, Jack. You also played out in Brooklyn.

Vin Scully 9:10

Here at Ebbets Field tonight, and I certainly hope you'll be making your plans to pay us a visit. Come on out to the ballpark.

Mike Koser 9:17

Tell me about Ebbet's Field.

Playing at Seals Stadium, 1958

Jackie Brandt 9:19

Well, it was uh it was one of the tops! Yeah, short right field, uh average left field and center field, and it had a lot of people in it.

Mike Koser 9:31

The Giants played their final year at the polo grounds in 1957. You missed that season because of service in the U.S. Army. You came back to the Giants in 1958. That was their first season at San Francisco when they were playing at SEALs Stadium. What do you remember about SEALs Stadium in San Francisco?

Jackie Brandt 9:48

Well, it was a good one to hit in. It was uh right in the middle of town, and it held it only held like 18 or 20,000 people. There was no second tier or it was just it was like a college baseball stadium wasn't big I don't know, but we packed it because we were in first place till uh week left in the season.

Mike Koser 10:17

I'm sure there were some players on the Giants who were not crazy about the move from New York to San Francisco, but what did you think? Did you like it?

Jackie Brandt 10:25

How do you not like California? I lived there, I bought a house there and almost lived in a year, and then I got traded. Yeah.

Traded to the Orioles in 1960

Mike Koser 10:35

Yeah. You go from sunny California to to Baltimore, uh, traded to the Orioles before the 1960 season, and you get there and you um get to play with another all-time great Brooks Robinson. Um, what did you think of Brooks when you first met him?

Jackie Brandt 10:51

He was um better than average fielder.

Mike Koser 10:56

Yeah, you think?

Jackie Brandt 10:57

And he uh he hit pretty good. He had a little trouble with a fastball, but he was unbelievable. I was there six years, and he was amazing hitting and fielding. and he couldn't throw, and he was he'd he'd get you by half a step at first every time. Couldn't run and couldn't throw, and he's an all-timer.

Memories of Memorial Stadium

Mike Koser 11:20

And what do you remember about Memorial Stadium in Baltimore?

Jackie Brandt 11:24

It was beautiful. My house was two blocks over the left field fence, and I walked to the ballpark, that was nice. And then I had to walk through the people at the end and sign about 500 autographs a day. But I don't know why they wanted me because I they didn't know who I was.

Mike Koser 11:48

How did they pick you out of the crowd? You would have had your street clothes on. Did they they just recognized you?

Jackie Brandt 11:53

Well, they're they're right outside the gate to get in the ballpark. You have to go through them to leave. Hundreds of people right outside the door, and you gotta go out the door. They got uh uh cards or pictures, or they know who's who, but the the few fans we had, then they knew everybody.

Mike Koser 12:16

Were they bring you birthday presents?

Jackie Brandt 12:18

They used to come up to the house because I lived like two blocks from the ballpark. Geez whiz! You live right by the ballpark. Oh uh I had a fan club. A bunch of teenagers or grade school kids used to come up and it was quite good.

Mike Koser 12:36

Would they want you to play catch with them?

Jackie Brandt 12:38

I didn't have room. I had a little bitty house and uh as a row house, if you know what row house is.

Mike Koser 12:44

Oh, sure, yeah.

1st All-Star Game, 1961

Jackie Brandt 12:46

Just a little bitty row house and uh just enough yard for uh steps going down to the street, and you just pack the sidewalk and uh curb.

Mike Koser 12:57

In 1961, Jackie, at a big moment in your career, you're elected to your first all-star game. There were two all-star games to be played that year, um, one at Candlestick and the other at Fenway.

Jackie Brandt 13:08

Jimmy Dudley with Jerry Doggett from Candlestick Park in San Francisco, the scene of today's all-star game, the first of 1961, the second to be played at Boston.

Mike Koser 13:18

Your teammates were Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Al Kaline, Harmon Killebrew, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Brooks Robinson. What do you remember about those All-Star games in 61?

Jackie Brandt 13:28

Well, uh, it was great in uh San Francisco because I just left there and I knew everybody, and uh, they let me go to the ballpark. I just sat.. I did pinch it.

Announcer 13:41

Here's Jackie Brant coming up now as a pinch hitter for pitcher Jim Bunning.

Mike Koser 13:46

You took it to a full count, but ended up striking out.

Jackie Brandt 13:49

McCormick delivers 3-2. A swing and a miss strike three.

Mike Koser 13:54

But you get your all-star game at bat, and then hoping for more, the second game was to be played at Boston's Fenway Park, but unfortunately, not exactly what you expected.

Jackie Brandt 14:05

Rained out. The game was rained out. Everybody was there, but we didn't play.

Mike Koser 14:10

Did you guys hang out that night?

Jackie Brandt 14:12

I didn't hang out.

Mike Koser 14:14

No?

Toughest pitcher he ever faced

Jackie Brandt 14:14

I was not a hangouter. Well, I didn't I didn't drink or... I did smoke, but I didn't uh do what everybody else did. I'd I get up, I was you know, I come out of the army getting up at three or four in the morning every day. Well, I get up at four or five in the morning and I couldn't keep a roommate. Boy, you ain't roomin with that guy. He gets up at five or six in the morning and he goes out, walks around and well, they weren't in the army. I d I didn't mind room alone, but later on, and I got a little lazier, then uh I got a couple roomies.

Mike Koser 14:58

You faced a lot of incredible pitchers. Who was the toughest you ever faced?

Jackie Brandt 15:03

Sam Jones.

Mike Koser 15:04

Sam Jones, really. Sam Jones, kind of uh uh a journeyman pitcher. Let's see, pitched for I think Cleveland, Chicago, uh, I want to say San Francisco, had a great nickname, Toothpick, Sam Toothpick Jones. What made what made Sam so tough to face?

Jackie Brandt 15:21

100 miles an hour, the best curveball you ever seen, and wild. One pitch behind you, and you, oh my god, what are you doing? Next pitch you go behind you, but it would break four feet over for a strike. You didn't know where to stand. I didn't know where I just I'm in the box, but I don't know, is the ball gonna hit me or what I had no trouble with him.

Mike Koser 15:45

In 1966, when you played for the Phillies, you faced Sandy Koufax. Actually, you were the last regular season hitter to face Sandy Koufax, right? Do I have that right?

Jackie Brandt 15:56

I think uh I was. I read that I was in a bunch of books. And uh ninth inning, pinch hitting, his last his last inning.

Mike Koser 16:07

He struck you out.

Jackie Brandt 16:08

Yeah, I said that's why he retired.

Vin Scully 16:10

Koufax takes a peak at first. Now left hand's a fastball in there that's got him swinging, and that thing was moving.

Memories of the Astrodome

Jackie Brandt 16:15

Finally struck me out. He gave up, he quit. That's a bucket list. Anyway, I got quite a few hits off of him, but it's a little harder to pinch hit in the ninth inning after sittin the whole game against Koufax. He was awful good, he's had awful good record, he's a nice guy. That's uh Sandy Koufax. I don't know if he's the best pitcher ever, but I probably think there's a bunch of other ones you could put with him.

Mike Koser 16:48

After more than a decade of the big leagues, you finished your career with both the Phillies and the Astros spending time uh with the Phillies at Connie Mack Stadium and the Astros at the Astrodome.

Announcer 16:59

Most happy to have all of you with us tonight. The Houston Astros are proud to have NBC and all of you fans of the Astrodome, the fabulous Astrodome, the eighth wonderful world, played in air-conditioned comfort. Under a dome high enough to place a 12-story building.

Jackie Brandt 17:14

Well, let's see. That was great, and I didn't play much, so ooh, I didn't sweat, it was nice and comfortable. But then you had to go home in 110.

Mike Koser 17:33

Okay, so Philadelphia, then uh Philadelphia's Connie Mack Stadium. This city is rich in many ways. Connie Mack Stadium, name for a man whose name will never be forgotten in Philadelphia or the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Jackie Brandt 17:49

I better not say nothing about Philadelphia. My grandson lives there. It was a one of the toughest parks to play for a opposing team. And even for it was they'd boo the players and then they'd get a hit and then they'd cheer them, then they strike out, and then they'd boo them. Their own players. I gotta have an instance there that was quite quite funny. Let's see, I'm trying to think who we're playing. We're playing somebody. A left-handed pitcher pitching.

Mike Koser 18:24

Yeah.

Jackie Brandt 18:25

I think it was Atlanta. Yeah, it was Atlanta. Anyway, a left-handed pitcher pitching. So Johnny Callison, who is a very good right fielder, he didn't want to play. Oh, I I don't know about playing against that guy, you know. So they took him out and put me in right field. And the game started, and everybody runs out to the position, and boy did I get booed. It was thunderous. Oh, so I tip my hat. I tipped my hat. Sorry, here I am. What am I gonna do? So the first the first time up, I hit uh let's see, I think I hit a triple up the center field fence and going out to right field after the inning, silence, just complete silence, no boos, no nothing. The second time up, I hit a home run to left field and a thunderous applause when I ran out to the so I went from boos to silence to applause in four innings. That was so funny. And I, what the hell, I'm goofy anyway. Take my hat off. Sorry folks. I'm out of here. Not nothing I can do. That was well, I guess I guess somewhere in your summation of what we're talking about is the word flaky.

Mike Koser 19:58

Oh yeah, oh yeah, your your nickname.

Jackie Brandt 20:00

Yeah. It was not flaky, it was just very unorthodox.

Mike Koser 20:06

You marched to the beat of your own drum.

Jackie Brandt 20:08

I'd say I'd say things that nobody else would ever say, but they'd be funny. And I I do have a sense of humor, and I'm glad I did, or else I'd be crying.

Mike Koser 20:19

September 28th, 1960, you're in right field at Fenway Park, and Ted Williams comes to the plate in his final at-bat of his major league career.

Curt Gowdy 20:29

One and one to Williams. Everybody quiet now here at Fenway Park after they gave him a standing ovation of two minutes, knowing that this is probably his last time at bat. One out, nobody on, last of the eighth inning. Jack Fisher into his wind-up. Here's the pitch. Williams swings, and there's a long drive to deep right...

Mike Koser 20:56

And it sailed over your head.

Jackie Brandt 20:58

Well, I never seen him hit a home run. That was the Mr. Williams. It was Mr. Williams. Yeah, well, it it didn't, it was just to my left a little bit. And I went to the wall and watched it go in the stands. And then I turned around and watched him touch first, second, third home and go to Florida. He quit.

Mike Koser 21:23

Yeah, that's right. That was the last game he ever was in. His whole career was greatness. Yeah.

Jackie Brandt 21:31

You don't have to be in the American League to know... I was in the National League for about 56, 7, 8, 9, 6, 7, 8, and four years. He hit .400 in the fifties and the greatest hitter going. And of course you hear about him.

Mike Koser 21:52

Right.

Jackie Brandt 21:53

It's amazing, but here I am playing against him. And I'm playing against Jackie Robinson and Don Newcombe and Duke Snider. Wow. I played with it against all of them, Eddie Matthews, Warren Spahn. Hank Aaron. It was unbelievable. It was great.

Mike Koser 22:14

And probably Jack, a hard thing to do, but what uh what is your favorite memory from your career?

Saved Memorabilia and 4 HOF pitchers, 4 hits!

Jackie Brandt 22:19

It was all so good that I'd hate to pick one time. I I don't know, maybe it's a time uh my wife had the first child. That's quite a a ways from the ballpark though, but a fondness with just being there.

Mike Koser 22:35

Any keepsakes from your career, uh memorabilia that that uh you've held on to all these years?

Jackie Brandt 22:41

Well, let's see. I got a gold glove. Giant pillows, I have Oriole pillows. I didn't bring my Philly my Philly...I didn't like Philly very well but in Houston, I wasn't there very long. And I do have a memory of Houston. Uh you ready?

Mike Koser 23:04

Yeah.

Jackie Brandt 23:04

The last four I didn't play very much there. When somebody got sick or something, I play first or third or I was on a pitching list. I was I just did anything. I pitched batting practice every day, anything to to do something except watch. So uh I was a pinch hit mostly. The last four pinch hits was Nolan Ryan, Tom Seaver, Phil Neikro, and Steve Carlton. And I got a hit off each one against four Hall of Famers in different weeks or months or whatever. I mean wow, I was good.

Mike Koser 23:54

Wait, that's incredible. Uh you're talking about four of the greatest pitchers of uh in baseball history.

Jackie Brandt 23:59

Yeah, I think so. I got a hit against each one of them.

Mike Koser 24:03

Do you still have your baseball glove?

Jackie Brandt 24:05

Glove? Yeah. It's somewhere. I I got so much crap. I got a catcher's glove because I had at warm-up pitchers at Philadelphia. You ever hear of Jim Bunning?

Mike Koser 24:17

Oh yeah, of course. Jim Bunning won over 200 games in his career, something like a nine-time All-Star, Hall of Famer.

Jackie Brandt 24:24

He uh and I were bridge party. We played bridge, you're getting bridge clubs and stuff in spring training and on uh play on the planes and the first year we took trains everywhere. We didn't have no airplanes. We were only two that uh played. We had to hunt for people, but so we had to go to bridge clubs and play for two hours. And anyway, I guess I'd be called a reserve that with Philadelphia and play once in a while and do this, but when he pitched, I was his catcher to warm him up. He didn't want nobody else to catch him when he's warming up to start the game. So I did that, and then I went to a bullpen, uh once in a while I pinch ran, but I wouldn't I haven't run for so long. I I wasn't very fast.

Mike Koser 25:16

Yeah, but actually at uh at the beginning of your career, you were one of the fastest players in the major leagues.

Jackie Brandt 25:21

In 1956, I was the second player in the national league, the fastest uh player in the national league from home to first and second. I was the second fastest. I think uh Vada Pinson or some left-hand hitter that swings while they're while they're running. I was second in the league. I'd go there in three under four seconds. Uh and that year in polo grounds, I was the ninth leading average in the National League.

Mike Koser 25:58

Yeah, you hit .298.

Jackie Brandt 26:00

Ah, rookie year, ninth in the National League. Ooh, man. Look out.

Mike Koser 26:08

And by the way, I wanted to mention that you're also tied to some Washington baseball history, some Washington ballpark baseball history.

Jackie Brandt 26:17

I got the last hit in uh Griffith Stadium in Washington, and they tore it down. Yeah, the home run of Pedro Ramos in the ninth inning in the last game of the season.

Announcer 26:30

A stadium was laid to rest yesterday, wrote Shirley Povich in the Washington Post. Not many showed up for the services, and the deceased was not much of a draw. Abandoned since, Griffith Stadium has sat passively awaiting the final stroke, the smash of the Wreckers iron ball to make way for the new facilities at Howard University.

Jackie Brandt 26:47

Well, I'd I'd tear that one down, and and then uh when I was in AAA at Rochester and playing the Giants in Minneapolis.

Mike Koser 26:57

At Nicolette Park.

Jackie Brandt 26:59

Yeah. I made the last out, I made the last out in the last game, and they tore that stadium down. They weren't gonna let me go in stadiums anymore. Minneapolis. It was right downtown, yeah. Yeah. Nicolette and they tore it down.

Mike Koser 27:16

Well, as we mentioned before, you you got to play with some of uh baseball's immortals, Willie Mays, Brooks Robinson, Stan Musial, Eddie Matthews, and uh quite a career. Over a thousand hits, a hundred home runs. You're a gold glover, uh, an all-star, and uh really enjoyed spending some time talking with you, Jackie. Thanks so much. Hope you have a great night.

Jackie Brandt 27:39

Well, why didn't you say uh have a nice ten years or something?

Mike Koser 27:44

Yeah, yeah. How many do you want?

Jackie Brandt 27:46

Uh I'd say two.

Mike Koser 27:48

Sounds great. Jackie, thanks so much. Thanks so much. I appreciate it.

Jackie Brandt 27:53

Well, I hope you got what you wanted.

Mike Koser 27:55

I sure did, and let's uh let's make a plan to talk in ten years for your hundredth birthday.

Jackie Brandt 28:00

Well, I hope so. Yep. Thank you, sir.

Mike Koser 28:05

Jackie Brandt, one of the most colorful characters in baseball history. And there were a lot of stories that we just didn't even have time to get to, like the time that he was at a team party with the Baltimore Orioles, and according to the Baltimore Sun, he walked into a pool with uh wearing his alligator shoes, and then turned right around and walked out and acted like nothing happened the rest of the night. Or the time in spring training that he got caught in a rundown, and uh to avoid the tag, he did this acrobatic backflip. And then of course there were his words. I mean, Jackie Brandt had just had a way with words. They were quirky, profound, and always original. He said things like, It's hard to tell how you're playing when you can't see yourself. He also said, This year I'm going to play with harder nonchalance