Continuing the new series of articles about Baseball..
When I was growing up I had a neighbor who was a big St. Louis Cardinal fan. He wore the Cardinal red hat and jacket everyday. He used to gently kid me, since he knew I was a die-hard Phillies fan. Only in 1964 did I have reason to hope, but even then his Redbirds beat the crashing Phils for the National league pennant.
St. Loui- not the Dodgers-s has won more world championships-11- than any other baseball team, except for the New York Yankees, who have won 27 titles.
Remarkably, the Cardinals have not finished in last place in the National league since 1918- the longest streak by far in the majors ( They did finish last in the NL East in 1990, but Atlanta had a worst record that year). Their farm system is one of the best in Baseball, as the pipeline of young talent is always flowing, thus St. Louis always seems to be in contention. They did not win a World Series in the 1950s, 1970s or 21990s, however they have always fielded competitive teams.
The Cards are second overall to the New York Yankees in World Championships. The Cards have won the World Series 11 times, and the National league pennant 19 times. The Yanks have won 27 world titles.
The Cardinal organization, like Pittsburgh, also sent me baseball stuff when I was a sick kid. A box full of books, autographed baseballs,s tickers, you name it. They didn't know me, yet they were extremely generous to a sick child, which I can never forget.
St. Louis is known as "Baseball heaven". St. Louis fans eat, drink and sleep baseball. maybe because other than the hockey Blues squad, there is no other professional sports team in St. Louis.
"Fredbird" is their mascot, a Cardinal who walks around home games. nothing special
Even before I was born the Cardinals were great. Players like Dizzy Dean and Enos Slaughter were great players and colorful characters. One of my favorite Cardinal characters was Al "The Mad Hungarian" Hrbosky, a left-handed flame-throwing relief pitcher, who was an excellent closer for St. Louis in the 1970s. He would talk to himself on the mound and psych himself up to a point where he would violently pound the ball in his glove before the next batter stepped to the plate.
The first Busch Stadium was a typical cookie-cutter place, like Three Rivers in Pittsburgh and the Vet in Philly. The arches in its architecture made it different. Seeing those arches always told you that it was St. Louis.
Old-time players have said that the hottest place to play in Baseball during the summer was day games in St. Louis. The bugs were huge in Sportmens Park, probably because the Mississippi River was so close by. The astro turf at old Busch Stadium was so sizzling hot in summer, one could see the steam rise in waves off the broiling turf..
One constant theme about St. Louis and it's stadiums was the Gateway Arch. No matter , the signature arch could be seen towering over one of the outfield fences.
The Redbirds never had much power, but they always had blazing speed ( Lou Brock and Vince Coleman) and pitching ( Bob Gibson). many a Cardinal won batting titles, such as Willie McGee and Joe Torre.
The great Bob Gibson #45,, was my favorite Card, a Hall of Fame pitcher who won 251 games in his career, to me, is a lot like the immortal Roberto Clemnte. Both were tremendous players, but both seemed overshadowed by greatness in that era. Clemente seemed in the shadow of Mays, mantle and Aaron; Gibson in the shadow of Koufax and Drysdale.
1968 was The year of the Pitcher in Baseball, and it was Bib Gibson's year. His ERA that year was an unbelievable 1.12, which is still a record. He struck out over 300 batters, pitched an astounding 13 shutouts and 28 complete games. In fact, other than being replaced by a pinch hitter, Gibson was never removed from the mound even once during the entire 1968 season..
In his career, Gibson pitched a no-hitter, won an Most Valuable Player award, won 2 Cy Young awards, made the All-Star team 9 times, and had over 3,000 strikeouts. He was known as a fierce competitor, and would knock down hitters when they crowded the plate, yet only hit 106 batters during his 17-year career , all with St. Louis.He was also an under-rated hitter at the plate, hitting home runs in both the 1967 and 1968 World Series.
He had a white-hot fastball,which he often challenged hitter with high in the strike zone. Couple that with a nasty slider and a looping curveball, and Gibson was often unhittable. I loved his falling-off-the mound windup. A statue of this pose, Gibson's follow-thru, stands outside of Busch Stadium today.
I remember players like..Tim McCarver...Jack Clark...Ozzie Smith...and of course, Stan "The Man" Musial, one of the greatest hitters of all time. The great Phillie Richie Ashburn, himself a tremendous pure hitter, called Musial the greatest hitter he had ever seen.
Sadly, the Cardinals will always remain in my memory for knocking off the Phillies in the 2011 playoffs, 3 games to 2, including a 1-0 victory in the final game vs. Roy Halliday at Citizens Bank Park. the Phils had won a team-record 102 games that year, and seemed sure to coast into the World Series for the third time in four years. The Cards, who made the wild card spot on the last day of the regular season, got hot, upset the favored Phillies , and ended up winning yet another World Series.
Finally, the Cards had a famous announcer for many years. Jack Buck called St. Louis Cardinal baseball games for 47 years. His son, Joe Buck, is a sportscaster, and works for Fox doing NFL football.
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