In Montreal, where the predominant language is French, he’s “Un Dominicain Coriace.” In his homeland, where Spanish is spoken, it’s “Un Dominicano Duro.”
Regardless of the locale, Joaquin Andjuar, the self-proclaimed “One Tough Dominican” pitcher, could back up his image with astonishing results.
One such instance occurred 40 years ago, on April 27, 1984, for the Cardinals against the Expos at Montreal. Brushed back by a pitch, Andujar retaliated by belting the next delivery for a home run that put the Cardinals ahead for good.
Head games
For the Friday afternoon game at Olympic Stadium, the Expos produced a lineup that included Pete Rose in left, three future Hall of Famers _ Gary Carter at catcher, Andre Dawson in right, Tim Raines in center _ and a probable future Hall of Fame manager at first, Terry Francona.
The player who drew Andujar’s attention (and ire), though, was the Expos’ spunky second baseman, Bryan Little. Batting with one out and none on in the first inning, Little bunted for a single. He advanced to third on a hit by Raines and scored on Dawson’s sacrifice fly.
Andujar didn’t think much of a batter who used a puny bunt to get on base against him. When Little came up again in the third, he was sent spinning to the ground by a fastball. “He was throwing at me,” Little told the Montreal Gazette.
Andujar expected the Expos to seek retribution because when he batted in the fifth he wore a helmet with a protective ear flap, an unusual choice for him, when he dug in from the right side of the plate. “I didn’t want to get hit in the ear,” Andujar told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Sure enough, Steve Rogers’ first pitch to him was a fastball near the head. Umpire Bruce Froemming warned Rogers he’d be ejected if he threw another like that.
My way
Andujar had his own system for determining which side of the plate to take as a batter. Though a right-hander, he sometimes batted from the left side, as he did in his first plate appearance of the game against Rogers.
According to the Post-Dispatch, Andujar said he batted from the left side versus right-handers when there were runners in scoring position because, “I make better contact left-handed.” He generally went to the right side when he was bunting or trying to slug a home run.
Usually, Andujar was trying for the long ball.
Cutting loose with savage cuts, he struck out 315 times in 607 career at-bats in the majors. As Rick Hummel of the Post-Dispatch noted, “If one watched Andujar swing his 40-ounce bat as if he were trying to beat a rug, one wondered what would happen if bat ever met ball.”
After throwing the brushback pitch to him, Rogers found out.
On with the show
Andujar powered the next pitch to deep left for a home run, breaking a 2-2 tie.
“He was pumped up and I threw a bad pitch right in his wheelhouse,” Rogers told the Post-Dispatch. “I was trying to throw a slider away and I threw a spinning nothing ball, middle in.”
Milking the moment, “Andujar majestically flipped his bat aside and watched his homer sail over the wall,” Rick Hummel wrote. “Then he literally walked the last 90 feet in his home run trot, pausing to step dramatically on home plate before continuing to the dugout.”
Cardinals infielder Ken Oberkfell told the Montreal Gazette, “We were all stunned … Now we’re going to have to listen to him talk about his power for a week.”
Andujar finished with a complete-game win. (His first 10 decisions versus the Expos all were wins and he ended his career with a 15-6 record against them.) Boxscore
Power supply
A career .127 hitter in his 13 major-league seasons, Andujar had five home runs, including two versus Rogers. With the Astros in 1979, Andujar homered against Rogers at Montreal. Boxscore
In addition to the two home runs off Rogers, Andujar hit another against the Expos _ in 1979, an inside-the-park poke versus Bill Lee at the Astrodome in Houston. Boxscore
Andujar’s first four home runs were right-handed. His last, a grand slam at St. Louis against the Braves’ Jeff Dedmon, was from the left side. Like Babe Ruth, Andujar called that shot.