On the day of Whitey Herzog’s first game as manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, he found himself, somewhat baffled, in Marietta, Georgia, trying to get to the team hotel in nearby Atlanta. His misadventures began when he was given the wrong departure time for his flight. Then, after catching a later plane to Atlanta, …
June 9, 1980: Whitey Herzog manages his first game for the Cardinals Read More »
Ahead of the 1982 season, shortstops Ozzie Smith and Garry Templeton both needed a change of scenery. In a deal that took more than two months to complete, the St. Louis Cardinals sent Templeton, outfielder Sixto Lezcano, and pitcher Luis DeLeon to the San Diego Padres to obtain Smith, who became a Hall of Fame …
February 11, 1982: Cardinals, Padres finalize the Ozzie Smith-Garry Templeton trade Read More »
Nine months after the Cardinals ended the Giants’ 1987 world championship hopes in a hard-fought, seven-game NLCS, the two teams came to blows in a midsummer brawl involving Will Clark, Ozzie Smith, and Jose Oquendo. Neither team enjoyed the same success in 1988 that they had before. Entering the final game of their four-game series …
July 24, 1988: Ozzie Smith and Jose Oquendo fight Giants slugger Will Smith Read More »
In one of his final trades as general manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, Bob Howsam traded journeyman third baseman Charley Smith to the New York Yankees for baseball’s single-season home run king, Roger Maris. Little did Howsam know that Maris had informed the Yankees that he planned to retire in advance of the 1967 …
December 8, 1966: Yankees trade Roger Maris to the Cardinals Read More »
As he started preparing for the 1997 season, Cardinals general manager Walt Jocketty was looking for a second baseman who could hit for power or inherit the top spot in the St. Louis lineup. On November 20, 1996, he opted for the latter, signing Delino DeShields to a one-year contract with a team option for …
November 20, 1996: Cardinals sign Delino DeShields Read More »
Just two days after naming Tony La Russa the Cardinals’ new manager and one day after they began removing the AstroTurf from Busch Stadium to install natural grass, Anheuser-Busch shocked St. Louis on October 25, 1995, with the announcement that it was selling the team. “As a publicly held company, we had to ask ourselves …
October 25, 1995: Anheuser-Busch announces plans to sell the Cardinals Read More »
Eighteen years after Tony La Russa ended his playing career with the St. Louis Cardinals’ Double-A affiliate, he was named the 48th manager in franchise history. On October 23, 1995, general manager Walt Jocketty signed La Russa to a two-year contract to manage the Cardinals, ending a 10-year run with the Oakland Athletics in which …
October 23, 1995: Cardinals name Tony La Russa manager Read More »
The pitching matchup between Cardinals starter Jeff Weaver and Tigers right-hander Justin Verlander certainly appeared lopsided on paper. But in Game 5 of the 2006 World Series, Weaver outpitched that season’s American League Rookie of the Year, needing just 99 pitches to get through eight innings in a 4-2 win that clinched the 10th world …
In the right-field bleachers, Cardinals fans hung a bedsheet declaring that evening’s starting pitcher, Joaquin Andujar, “one tough Dominican” in honor of the right-hander’s favorite self-description. On October 21, 1982, Andujar proved to be exactly that, pitching seven innings to lead the Cardinals to a 6-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 7 of …
Willie McGee thought he had made a name for himself during the regular season when he burst onto the scene with a .296 average, 56 RBIs, and 24 stolen bases in 123 games on his way to a third-place finish in the National League Rookie of the Year balloting. After he hit two home runs …
October 15, 1982: Willie McGee homers twice as Cardinals win Game 3 of the World Series Read More »