Without the efforts of Bob Kennedy and Lou Brock, Keith Hernandez may never have won the 1979 National League MVP Award – at least, not with the Cardinals. Hernandez was a 17-year-old out of Capuchino High School in San Bruno, California, when the Cardinals drafted him in the 42nd round of the 1971 draft. Due…
All posts in December 2020
February 1, 1985: Cardinals finalize trade for Jack Clark
The trade to obtain Jack Clark may have taken longer than anyone would have liked, but in the end, the St. Louis Cardinals had the middle-of-the-order slugger they needed to capture two National League championships. After finishing third in the National League East in 1984, Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog had made clear that his top…
January 29, 2002: Cardinals sign their first Japanese-born player, So Taguchi
Walt Jocketty wasn’t quite sure what he was purchasing when the Cardinals announced the signing of their first Japanese-born player, 32-year-old outfielder So Taguchi, to a three-year contract in January 2002. After all, Jocketty had never even seen the 10-year veteran of the Japan Pacific League play. Neither had Tony La Russa. Instead, the Cardinals…
January 9, 1996: Cardinals acquire Todd Stottlemyre in trade with Athletics
It turned out that the Cardinals weren’t quite done with their Christmas shopping. Having already obtained Royce Clayton, Ron Gant, Andy Benes, Willie McGee, and Gary Gaetti ahead of the 1996 season, the Cardinals added yet another newcomer when they traded outfielder Allen Battle and pitchers Jay Witasick, Carl Dale, and Bret Wagner to the…
April 18, 1987: Tom Herr’s 10th-inning grand slam lifts Cardinals over the Mets on Seat Cushion Night
For decades afterward, Cardinals fans would simply remember the game as “Seat Cushion Night.” The Cardinals and Mets game on April 18, 1987, appeared on the schedule to be an ordinary April ballgame. It was just the 10th game of the season for both teams, and while the St. Louis and New York ballclubs were…
December 23, 1995: Cardinals sign Ron Gant and Andy Benes
When the ownership group led by Bill DeWitt Jr., Andrew Baur, and Frederick O. Hanser announced just before Christmas 1995 that they had purchased the St. Louis Cardinals for $150 million, they were under no illusions – the Redbirds weren’t very good. The team had just completed a 62-81 strike-shortened season in which Joe Torre…
September 2, 1996: Ozzie Smith and Willie McGee spark Cardinals’ comeback
For the first time since the Whitey Herzog days of the 1980s, the Cardinals were in the thick of a pennant race. So it was fitting that two stars of the 1980s, Ozzie Smith and Willie McGee, led the Cardinals to an extra-inning victory over the Astros on September 2, 1996. The Cardinals entered the…
Chris Carpenter’s Cy Young Award-winning 2005 season (Part 4)
Admittedly, this story about Chris Carpenter’s 2005 Cy Young Award-winning season got quite a bit longer than I originally intended. As a result, this is the fourth in a four-part series of articles. You can find the other parts here: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 On September 8, Chris Carpenter earned win No. 21,…
Chris Carpenter’s Cy Young Award-winning 2005 season (Part 3)
Admittedly, this story about Chris Carpenter’s 2005 Cy Young Award-winning season got quite a bit longer than I originally intended. As a result, this is the third in a four-part series of articles. You can find the other parts here: Part 1 Part 2 Part 4 On July 11, Tony La Russa announced that Chris…
Chris Carpenter’s Cy Young Award-winning 2005 season (Part 2)
Admittedly, this story about Chris Carpenter’s 2005 Cy Young Award-winning season got quite a bit longer than I originally intended. As a result, this is the second in a four-part series of articles. You can find the other parts here: Part 1 Part 3 Part 4 Chris Carpenter’s father, Bob, knew by the time his…