He played for '69 Mets
By John Dell
WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL REPORTER
Don Cardwell, a former major-league pitcher and a Winston-Salem native, has died at the age of 72.
Cardwell died yesterday morning after a battle with Pick’s Disease, a form of dementia, according to his wife, Sylvia.
“It was very quick - that’s just the way the disease works,” said Sylvia, who was married to Don for almost 53 years.
“We need more Don Cardwells in the world,” said friend Junie Michael, who owns Parkway Ford and worked alongside Cardwell for more than 35 years. “I just can’t say enough about what a positive influence he was on our community.”
Cardwell, a right-handed pitcher, played for five major-league teams, including the 1969 World Series champion New York Mets.
Michael said that Cardwell wore his championship ring proudly, but that he wasn’t one to brag about his accomplishments in baseball.
“You had to drag it out of him,” Michael said.
Michael said that Cardwell retired from Parkway Ford, where he was a top salesman, last spring.
“One thing I’ll always remember about Don was the time he had for children when they asked him about baseball,” Michael said. “He loved talking to young kids about the game, and that’s when you could see his eyes light up.”
Sylvia and Don met while in middle school, and both graduated from Gray High School in 1954. Shortly after that, Don was signed by the Philadelphia Phillies at the age of 18.
“I was in his life since I was 14,” Sylvia said. “He was just a great man and a great father.”
Cardwell began his pro baseball career in 1954, and he made his major-league debut in 1957. He was a spot starter for three seasons, going 16-24, before he was traded to the Chicago Cubs in May of 1960.
One of the highlights of Cardwell’s career came two days after he was traded to the Cubs when he pitched a no-hitter against the St. Louis Cardinals at Wrigley Field. He was just 24 when he pitched the no-hitter.
Cardwell’s best season with the Cubs was 1961 when he won 15 games and had a career-best 156 strikeouts. In the winter of 1962, he was traded to the Cardinals, but a month later, without ever pitching for the Cardinals, he was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
He spent 1963 and ’64 with the Pirates before he was traded to the Mets in December of 1966. In 1969, he was 8-10 in a rotation that included Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman and Gary Gentry as the “Miracle Mets” won their first World Series.
After his stint with the Mets, he was traded to the Atlanta Braves, and he retired from baseball in 1970. For his career, Cardwell was 102-138 and had 1,211 strikeouts while pitching more than 2,100 innings.
Cardwell was also an outstanding golfer and played on a celebrity tour for a time in the 1980s, according to Michael.
Ron Morgan and Freddie Einstein of Winston-Salem played golf with Cardwell through the years.
“I know he had his handicap down into the single digits,” Einstein said. “He could hit the ball farther than just about anybody I ever saw.”
Cardwell played most of his golf at Tanglewood Park, and he was also a member at Bermuda Run for several years.
“Don was just a down-to-earth guy,” Morgan said. “You would never even know that he was some sort of celebrity.”
Cardwell is survived by Sylvia and their three children, daughter Sari Cardwell Glass of Highlands Ranch, Colo., and sons Gary of Lewisville and Brent of Lexington, and five grandchildren.
After a private family service at Salem Moravian Graveyard, a memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday at Konnoak Hills Moravian Church. A reception will follow the service.
■ John Dell can be reached at 727-4081 or at jdell@wsjournal.com.
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