Remembering the St. Louis Cardinals of Yesteryear
Two months after signing his first major-league contract with the St. Louis Cardinals, Paul Dean’s burgeoning career was at a crossroads. His big brother, Dizzy Dean, had taken it upon himself to serve as Paul’s spokesperson, telling anyone who would listen that his little brother was an even better pitcher than he was, and predicting…
Heading into the 1992 season, Ozzie Smith was on the cusp of history. With 499 career stolen bases, was set to become just the 16th player in Major League Baseball history to steal 500 bases. However, heading into the Cardinals’ April 26 game against the Expos, The Wizard had yet to steal a base and…
In many ways, the 1934 season marked the passing of a torch. Babe Ruth, the premier slugger of his era, played his final season with the New York Yankees. As Ruth’s career was winding down, young Dizzy Dean vaulted to the national spotlight. As the Oklahoma farmboy led the Gashouse Gang to the World Series…
Just three weeks into the season, the 1940 St. Louis Cardinals already were in dire straits. Heading into their May 7 contest against the first-place Brooklyn Dodgers, the Cardinals had won just five of their first 15 ballgames. They opened the season by losing six of their first eight, and had already lost their first…
On May 5, 1933, Pepper Martin, “the wild horse of the Osage” himself, ran wild on Frank Pearce and the Philadelphia Phillies. Batting leadoff, Martin singled, doubled, tripled, and homered while scoring four times in a 5-3 St. Louis win. Martin’s assault on Phillies pitching even surpassed the swings of two female fans who struck…
Despite his prior success at Coors Field, John Mabry was an unlikely candidate to hit for the cycle heading into the Cardinals’ May 19, 1996, game against the Rockies. In his rookie campaign in 1995, Mabry tied for fourth in the Rookie of the Year voting after batting .307 with five homers and 41 RBIs.…
For more than a month, the Cardinals and Red Sox had discussed a trade that would send St. Louis’s top home run hitter, Tom Brunansky, to the Boston for closer Lee Smith. Cardinals general manager Dal Maxvill declined the trade proposal in early April, hopeful that his club could re-sign Brunansky and keep in him…
As the son of a professional drag racer, Lane Thomas knows the value of a fast start. So perhaps it was no surprise that he homered in his first major-league at-bat. Lane’s father, Mike, was a professional drag racer in the National Hot Rod Association, and Lane spent his early summers traveling around the country,…
Tom Herr knew that the Cardinals needed to shake things up after winning just four of their first 15 games in 1988. Still, he was just as shocked as Cardinals fans when he entered the clubhouse following a 4-0 loss to the Mets and was informed that he had been traded to Minnesota for power-hitting…
On the same day that third baseman Terry Pendleton pulled his hamstring attempting to stretch a single into a double, the Cardinals added much-needed infield depth, trading relief pitcher John Costello to the Montreal Expos for utility man Rex Hudler. Hudler’s acquisition immediately gave Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog more lineup flexibility. In two seasons in…