Joaquin Andujar always felt like a ticking time bomb. Even when he won 15 regular-season games and two World Series contests to help the Cardinals win their first world championship in 15 years in 1982. Especially when he won a combined 41 games in 1984 and 1985, placing fourth in the Cy Young Award voting …
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When the Cardinals signed all-star outfielder Dexter Fowler on December 9, 2016, it marked the largest contract the Cardinals had ever awarded a player who wasn’t already wearing the birds on the bat. In wooing Fowler from the rival Cubs with a five-year, $82.5 million contract, the Cardinals exceeded the five-year, $80 million contract they …
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With his mad dash from first base, Enos Slaughter raced home with the winning run of the 1946 World Series and into baseball history. “Enos Slaughter’s great gallop from first to score on a blow to left center will rate with Paul Revere’s ride in the history of our country, and the picture of …
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Just two days after Ozzie Smith inspired St. Louis to “go crazy” with a game-winning home run in Game 5 of the NLCS, Jack Clark finished off the Dodgers with a ninth-inning blast that sent the Cardinals to the 1985 World Series. With two outs in the ninth and the Cardinals trailing by a run, …
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Is Stan Musial the greatest general manager in St. Louis Cardinals history? The question may be tongue in cheek, but no one can argue with Musial’s record: in his lone season as the Cardinals’ general manager in 1967, the Cardinals won the World Series. Musial was named to the position on January 23, 1967, just …
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With one swing of the bat against Astros closer Brad Lidge, Albert Pujols won the game and extended the Cardinals’ season (and the life of Busch Stadium III) by a game. He may even have broken Lidge in the process. On October 17, 2005, Pujols’ ninth-inning home run off the Astros’ dominant closer gave the …
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After placing second in 2002 and 2003 and finishing third in the balloting in 2004, Albert Pujols finally won the first MVP Award of his career on November 15, 2005. Though in previous years Pujols had dismissed the importance of individual recognition in a team game, he admitted that on the eve of the Baseball …
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On November 3, 1970, the Baseball Writers Association of America named Bob Gibson the National League Cy Young Award winner for the second time in three years. With the recognition, Gibson became just the third pitcher to win multiple Cy Young Awards, joining Sandy Koufax and Denny McLain. Gibson previously had won the award in …
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Bobby Bonilla may have twice finished in the top three of the National League MVP voting, but to many Cardinals fans, his greatest legacy may lie in the six games he missed at the beginning of the 2001 season. On January 5, 2001, Cardinals general manager Walt Jocketty signed Bonilla Bonilla to a one-year, $900,000 …
When star pitcher Mort Cooper walked into the office of Cardinals president Sam Breadon on May 23, 1945, he believed he was there to negotiate a new contract. Instead, Breadon informed the 1942 National League MVP that he had been traded to the Boston Braves. Cooper had reached double-digit victories in each of the previous …
