Inductees

His road began in the late 1970s as un-recruited pitcher who tried out on a whim with an Alabama juco called Chattahoochee Valley and, from there, soldiered on – right into his big-league debut in August 1983.

Not that it was an ordinary debut. Instead, Danny Cox was matched opposite the great Steve Carlton of the Philadelphia Phillies. Carlton pitched nine shutout innings. Cox? Try 10 shutout innings.

Which was a sign of things to come, thanks to manager Whitey Herzog (MSHOF Legend 2008).

“Oh, he chewed me out a few times,” Cox said, laughing. “But he always put me in there.”

The burly right-hander certainly won over Herzog and the St. Louis Cardinals, emerging as an all-out workhorse of their mid-1980s starting rotations. And his success is why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame is proud to induct Cox with the Class of 2022.

Overall, he enjoyed an 11-year career in the big leagues, including six in St. Louis. He was an 18-game winner on St. Louis’ 1985 club that won the National League pennant, and earned 12 victories the next season before recording 11 wins in 1987 as the Cardinals captured yet another NL pennant.

In fact, he worked 241, 220 and 199.1 innings, respectively, in the 1985 through 1987 seasons. He earned a victory in the 1985 NL Championship Series against the Dodgers and then yielded only two earned runs over 14 innings (two starts) against the Kansas City Royals in the World Series, including a seven-inning, eight-strikeout effort in Game 6.

Two years later, he churned out 26.2 innings in the postseason. A complete-game eight-hitter in Game 7 of the NLCS beat the Giants punctuated it all, as it sent St. Louis back to the World Series. That night, he pitched on only three days of rest.

“Jose Oquendo hit a home run in the eighth, and I got to watch it from the on-deck circle,” Cox said. “I thought, ‘Hey, I’ve got a chance to win this game.’ It was just a pretty neat time. We had a lot of fun.”

That Cox became a key cog is the stunner of it all.

You see, he moved all over with his military family and not even a bird-dog scout showed interest when Cox pitched for the Air Force base teams.

And so one night while at Warner Robbins Air Force Base, he decided to join a buddy on a trip to an Alabama juco for a tryout. He came back with room, board and a scholarship.

“And then I got home and my mom said, ‘Where have you been all day?’” Cox said. “That was the start.”

His road eventually led to Troy University, a perennial NCAA Division II College World Series qualifier coached by Chase Riddle.

“I went from being a teenager to a young man who had a gift,” Cox said. “He taught me a lot of things. I always had the drive and desire. He just changed things mechanically.”

The Cardinals drafted Cox in the 13^th round in 1981.

“(On draft day), I was working at a Pabst Blue Ribbon summer job for a guy that had played in the Twins organization,’” Cox said. “Sometime that day, I got a call over the speaker to go to the office, and they said, ‘Hey, you got drafted.’ I told them I’d go back to work and finish up and then go home.”

Despite facing cold hard truths at times, he kept pitching. In 1984, Cox was a roster casualty in spring training and dispatched back to Triple-A.

“I still felt great about myself, and I thought of myself as a big-league pitcher,” Cox said.

Fortunately, he returned to St. Louis that season, and covered 156 innings before becoming a staple.

In 1985, starting pitchers John Tudor, Joaquin Andujar and Cox combined for 60 wins.

“The year itself was electrifying,” Cox said. “I remember walking up to the ballpark and there was just a buzz. We didn’t have to get energized. That was already in the atmosphere.”

He certainly was someone worth watching.

Cox later pitched on the Pirates’ 1992 NL East Division winner, and was a long reliever, spot starter, set-up man and closer on the Blue Jays’ 1993 World Series champion.

“I’m humbled by it,” Cox said of his induction. “When you play a game as a kid, you love it and it becomes a way of life. When you get honored for it, it’s special.”