With the National League championship wrapped up and a berth to the World Series guaranteed, the St. Louis Cardinals used their regular-season finale to get their first glimpse of 20-year-old Jay Hanna Dean – more commonly known as Dizzy Dean. One year prior, Dean had been pitching while stationed with the U.S. Army at Fort…
All posts in January 2021
March 31, 1998: Mark McGwire grand slam lifts Cardinals to season-opening win
Mark McGwire had a grand time in his first opening day with the St. Louis Cardinals. Eight months earlier, McGwire arrived in St. Louis in a trade that sent Erick Ludwick, T.J. Mathews, and Blake Stein to the Oakland Athletics. In his final 51 games of the 1997 season, McGwire hit 24 home runs for…
June 4-5, 2011: Albert Pujols hits back-to-back walk-off home runs against the Cubs
Heading into the Cardinals’ three-game, early-June series against the Chicago Cubs, Albert Pujols was experiencing a power outage. By the time the Cardinals left Busch Stadium with three victories – including back-to-back walk-off home runs – he had reminded everyone once again why Tony La Russa considered Pujols to be the greatest player he had…
April 3, 1996: Todd Stottlemyre, Dennis Eckersley earn Cardinals firsts in win vs. Mets
On April 3, 1996, the St. Louis Cardinals got their first glimpse of what their offseason additions had bought them. With a new ownership group following Anheuser-Busch’s sale of the team, the Cardinals had retooled following a disappointing 62-81 season in 1995. Joe Torre had been replaced by Tony La Russa; Andy Benes, Ron Gant,…
July 6, 1929: Jim Bottomley and Chick Hafey each hit grand slams in Cardinals’ 28-6 win over the Phillies
When the 1929 St. Louis Cardinals finally broke their longest losing streak of the season, they did so in historic fashion. Excluding a July 1 tie with the Chicago Cubs, the Cardinals had lost 10 consecutive games headed into their July 6 double-header with the Philadelphia Phillies. To make matters worse, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch…
April 23, 1999: Fernando Tatis hits two grand slams in the same inning
Less than seven months after Mark McGwire hit 70 home runs to set a single-season home run record, Fernando Tatis set a home run mark that may never be broken. A third-year player from San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic, Tatis hit two grand slams off Chan Ho Park in the third inning of a…
July 29, 2002: Cardinals trade for all-star third baseman Scott Rolen
When the trade was finally complete, the newest St. Louis Cardinal, Scott Rolen, recalled his father taking him to games at Busch Stadium in the 1980s. Now, following a trade that sent Placido Polanco, Bud Smith, and Mike Timlin to the Phillies for Rolen and minor-league pitcher Doug Nickle, the 27-year-old from Jasper, Indiana, would…