Instead, the concept was created by a young woman in Ferguson, Missouri, as she prepared for a meeting of the local Men’s Fellowship organization to be held on February 16, 1921, where Cardinals vice president Branch Rickey was scheduled to serve as the guest speaker.[1]

At the time, the team’s Cardinals nickname didn’t refer to the bird, but to the red shade of the interlocking “STL” the team wore on its sleeves and caps. According to legend, sportswriter Willie McHale of the St. Louis Republic overheard a fan praising the “lovely shade of Cardinal” and began referring to the team as the Cardinals. The nickname caught on.

However, in an era when teams were commonly named after colors (the Browns, Reds, Red Sox, White Sox, etc.), no one had tied the Cardinals’ name to the bird until Ms. Allie May Schmidt, a member of the Ferguson Presbyterian Church known for her singing talent, was assigned the task of decorating for the fifth annual Men’s Fellowship meeting.

As the St. Louis Star and Times reported in 1943, Ms. Schmidt was gazing out the window, considering her decorating options, when two red birds alighted on a tree branch outside her window.

“That’s it!” she declared. “Since the Cardinal team will be part of the discussion, why not use red birds for decorations?”[2]

Inspired, she began making cardboard cutouts of red birds and, using sticks and twigs, situated them so they appeared to be sitting on branches. She then placed the birds at each table against a white tablecloth.[3]

Rickey was so impressed by Ms. Schmidt’s design that he commissioned her father, Edward H. Schmidt, the head of Woodward and Tiernan’s Printing Company, to create a similar design for the Cardinals’ uniforms.[4] The resulting apparel created quite a stir when the design was ready to debut for the 1922 campaign.

“As one local fan put it, ‘they are the loudest ever,’” wrote the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.[5]

Ahead of the Cardinals’ season opener against the Pirates, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat described the new uniforms for fans who had yet to see the design:

“The Cardinals will be ‘birds’ this season when they get into their new uniforms, which have been completed by the Leacock Company. Right across the breast of the uniform is a black bat, on which are perched two Cardinal members of the feathered tribe. The bat and birds are embroidered in silk and make a striking combination. Especially on the white-at-home uniform, the Cardinal of the birds stands out in brilliant contrast.

“The design is a unique one and will attract attention all around the circuit. The at-home uniforms are of the usual white material, and besides the bat and birds, further coloring is supplied by a red piping around the collar and the cuff of the sleeves. The road uniforms are of blue-gray, with the decoration in red. Making the uniforms more striking this season will be the solid cardinal stockings, while the same color belts will be worn. The uniforms will be on exhibition beginning today in the window of the Leacock store at 921 Locust Street.”[6]

The Post-Dispatch added that, “Fans who gather at Sportsman’s Park for the spring series game tomorrow will receive an eye-shock when the new Cardinal uniforms dawn on them. … It will be by far the gaudiest bit of baseball heraldry that ever dazzled a fan’s eyes.”[7]

Before the Cardinals opened the season against the Pittsburgh Pirates, L.C. Davis published a poem in the Post-Dispatch celebrating the debut of both the new season and the Cardinals’ new uniforms:

Hip, hip, hurrah, likewise hooray!

The season opens up today

With fancy fielding stunts and batting rallies.

We’ll smith the Pirates hip and flank

And make them toddle down the plank

And drown them in a tidal wave of tallies.

We’re set to have a banner year,

And if the day is warm and clear

Another record crowd will get together.

And so we hope the weather man

Will do the very best he can

To furnish us the proper brand of weather.

The Cardinals’ new uniform

Will take the populace by storm –

For they are sure a classy bunch of dressers.

They’ll set the pace, likewise the style,

And win the pennant by a mile

Unless the local fans are rotten guessers.[8]

Sporting their new duds, the Cardinals topped the Pirates 10-1 as Del Gainer drove in five runs and Rogers Hornsby added a solo homer. The following day, the Pittsburgh Press referred to the Cardinals as “Branch Rickey’s Red Birds, a new name for the Cardinals.”[9]

Since that game, the Cardinals have worn the birds on the bat with just two exceptions – 1927, when they used a single bird on the bat with the words “World Champions” to celebrate the franchise’s first World Series title in 1926, and 1956, when the birds on the bat were removed from the uniform entirely. That change lasted just one season before Allie May Schmidt’s creation returned to the Cardinals’ uniforms for good.

Miss Schmidt was singing in Cairo, Illinois, when she met Clarence L. Keaton and the two were married a few months later. When the Cardinals began conducting their spring training in Cairo in the 1940s, the Keatons found themselves within earshot of the team’s workouts. In recognition of her place in team history, the Cardinals recognized the former Miss Schmidt during a special celebration.[10]

“I was never an enthusiastic baseball fan until I became married, but now I never miss an opportunity to attend a game,” Mrs. Keaton said in 1943. “We’ve witnessed many a Cardinal contest in St. Louis, and we have never missed a World Series game.”[11]

In 2017, the Cardinals returned to the First Presbyterian Church in Ferguson to celebrate the church’s role in creating the birds on the bat.

“So much of a part of our identity traces back to that moment,” Bill DeWitt III said. “So for us to come here, tell the story, get people familiar with it, and kind of celebrate Ferguson and what their contributions are to Cardinals history, I think is important as well.”[12]

Enjoy this post? Then you’ll love The Trades That Made The St. Louis Cardinals, available now on Amazon!

[1] “When the Cardinals Train In Cairo They’ll Meet Creator Of Their Red Bird Emblem,” St. Louis Star and Times, February 12, 1943.

[2] “When the Cardinals Train In Cairo They’ll Meet Creator Of Their Red Bird Emblem,” St. Louis Star and Times, February 12, 1943.

[3] “When the Cardinals Train In Cairo They’ll Meet Creator Of Their Red Bird Emblem,” St. Louis Star and Times, February 12, 1943.

[4] Todd Radom, “The Cardinals’ ‘Birds-On-Bat’ Logo Opened To Mized Reviews In 1922,” ToddRadom.com, https://www.toddradom.com/blog/the-cardinals-birds-on-bat-logo-opened-to-mixed-reviews-in-1922.

[5] “Black Bat and Birds on Cardinal Uniforms,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 28, 1922.

[6] “Cardinals To Change Uniforms This Year,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, March 28, 1922.

[7] “Here’s the Cards’ New Uniform as Heine Mueller Will Appear in It,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 7, 1922.

[8] L.C. Davis, “Sport Salad,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 12, 1922.

[9] “Gibson Lectures Pirates Before Second Game With Cardinals,” Pittsburgh Press, April 13, 1922.

[10] “When the Cardinals Train In Cairo They’ll Meet Creator Of Their Red Bird Emblem,” St. Louis Star and Times, February 12, 1943.

[11] “When the Cardinals Train In Cairo They’ll Meet Creator Of Their Red Bird Emblem,” St. Louis Star and Times, February 12, 1943.

[12] Nate Latsch, “Cards celebrate history of ‘birds on the bat’ logo,” MLB.com, https://www.mlb.com/news/cardinals-celebrate-history-of-uniform-logo-c228937982.

The post How the Cardinals’ ‘birds on the bat’ logo was born first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

Bottomley’s 5-for-5 day helped the Cardinals rally from a 7-1 deficit after the Phillies jumped on starting pitcher Bob McGraw and a Redbirds defense that committed four errors.

Jimmie Wilson got things started for the Phillies with a two-run single in the bottom of the first. They added two more in the third inning when Cy Williams walked and scored on an error and Dick Attreau added an RBI single.

Down 4-0, the Cardinals got on the scoreboard in the fifth inning as Specs Toporcer, the first major league infielder to wear glasses on the field, hit a two-out double to right field to score Heinie Schuble.

The Phillies, however, wasted little time in responding. In the bottom of the fifth, Williams hit an RBI double, Wilson added a sacrifice fly, and Attreau hit an RBI triple that made the score 7-1.

In the top of the sixth, Bottomley started the Cardinals’ comeback. After singling in his first two at-bats, he led off with a double that hit the top of the right-field wall so hard that it ripped off the top board. Billy Southworth drove Bottomley home with a single to left and Schuble added an RBI single that scored Southworth. Wattie Holm hit a two-out RBI double to cut the Phillies lead to 7-5.

In the seventh, Bottomley hit his 10^th home run of the season over the wall and onto the site of a proposed railroad depot. With the lead down to a single run, Phillies manager Stuffy McInnis replaced Alex Ferguson with Claude Willoughby, who retired the next two batters to end the inning.

Willoughby would not be so fortunate in the eighth. Johnny Schulte led off the inning with a game-tying home run. After Schuble doubled to right for his second hit of the game, McInnis went to his bullpen again, this time calling on Jack Scott. Scott got Les Bell to ground out, but Wattie Holm hit a double to center field to score Schuble and give the Cardinals their first lead of the game.

When Bottomley stepped to the plate to lead off the top of the ninth, he was 4-for-4 with two singles, a double, and a home run. At first it looked as though he might miss the cycle as he hit a pop up behind the plate. As the Philadelphia Inquirer described it, catcher “Jimmy (Wilson) went after it, but the wind picked it up, gave the Reach a Charleston wiggle, and Jim misjudged it. On the next pitch he (Bottomley) parked the onion over Fred Leach’s new haircut for three bases.”[1]

In other words, Bottomley hit the ball over the head of Phillies center fielder Freddy Leach and reached third base safely to complete the cycle. After Dutch Ulrich retired Southworth on a pop fly, Taylor Douthit grounded to Phillies shortstop Jimmy Cooney, who threw home too late to catch Bottomley sliding into home.

With a two-run lead to hold, Bill Sherdel worked around a leadoff single to earn his first save of the season.

Bottomley was the clear star of the game as he raised his batting average 12 points to .330.

“The blows were all ‘legits,’ real base hits that whistled around the field and made Sam Payne’s orchard look like a sieve,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reported in a story beneath a headline declaring Bottomley a “terror with the ash.”[2]

Holm finished with three hits while Schulte and Schuble each finished with two. Vic Keen, who threw two innings of scoreless relief, earned his first win of the year. McGraw received no decision after allowing seven runs (four earned) in 4 2/3 innings.

Wilson led the Phillies with two hits and three RBIs. Attreau added two hits – including a triple – and two RBIs. Willoughby took the loss after allowing two runs in 2/3 of an inning.

The two teams continued on a similar trajectory the remainder of the season, as the Cardinals went 92-61 to finish second in the National League pennant race, 1 ½ games behind the Pirates. Philadelphia went just 51-103 to finish last in the eight-team league.

In franchise history, Bottomley’s cycle matched those of Tip O’Neill (who hit for the cycle twice in 1887) and Tommy Dowd (1895) during the team’s days as the St. Louis Browns. Cliff Heathcote, who hit for the cycle in a 19-inning game in 1918, was the first Cardinal to hit for the cycle (the Cardinals franchise officially begins with the collapse of the American Association and St. Louis’s return to the National League in 1892, making Bottomley’s the second in the team’s official records).

Bottomley finished the 1927 season with a .303 batting average to go with 19 homers and 124 RBIs. He finished 13^th in that year’s National League MVP voting. The following year, Bottomley won the MVP Award as he hit .325 and led the league in triples (20), home runs (31), and RBIs (136).

Bottomley played 11 of his 16 major league seasons with the Cardinals before he was traded to the Reds ahead of the 1933 season. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame posthumously in 1974.

Enjoy this post? Find similar stories listed by decade or by player.

[1] Stan Baumgartner, “Bottomley Terror With Ash As Late Flurries Top Phils,” Philadelphia Inquirer, July 16, 1927.

[2] Stan Baumgartner, “Bottomley Terror With Ash As Late Flurries Top Phils,” Philadelphia Inquirer, July 16, 1927.

The post July 15, 1927: Jim Bottomley gets five hits, becomes second Cardinal to hit for the cycle in a 9-7 comeback win first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

One day earlier, the Cardinals forced Game 7 with a 10-2 victory in New York. Now the Yankees were counting on Waite Hoyt, the 26-year-old right-hander from Brooklyn, to capture their second World Series championship.

Hoyte had won Game 4 despite allowing 14 hits, bolstered by Ruth’s three home runs. Game 7 marked Hoyte’s eighth career World Series appearance, and he carried a 3-2 record in his seven previous Fall Classic appearances.

The Cardinals countered with 32-year-old knuckleballer Jesse Haines, making his third appearance of the series. Haines threw a scoreless inning of relief in St. Louis’s Game 1 loss before throwing a five-hit shutout in Game 3.

Hoyt looked sharp in the first two innings, working around a two-out single by Rogers Hornsby in the first inning, then retiring the side in order in the second.

Meanwhile, Haines worked in and out of trouble. In the first inning, he walked Ruth and allowed a two-out single to Bob Meusel, but got Lou Gehrig to ground out to end the inning. Joe Dugan singled in the second inning, but Cardinals catcher Bob O’Farrell threw him out attempting to steal second base. Hank Severeid singled, but Hoyt grounded out to leave him stranded.

Ruth broke the scoreless tie in the third inning with a solo home run into the right-field bleachers, but the Yankees’ lead was short-lived, as the Cardinals rallied for three runs in the fourth.

After Jim Bottomley reached on a one-out single, Les Bell hit a ground ball that appeared tailor-made for a double play, but Yankees shortstop Mark Koenig misplayed it. Chick Hafey followed with a bloop single to load the bases.

O’Farrell followed with a lazy fly ball into the left field gap. Meusel called for the ball and settled under it, but to the astonishment of the Yankees’ faithful, it popped out of his glove, allowing Bottomley to tie the score.

“When that ball popped out of his hands, the silence in that big ballpark was really stunning,” Bell said years later. “It was a hometown crowd (for the Yankees), of course, and they couldn’t believe what they had seen. Nobody could.”[1]

With the bases still loaded, Hoyt now faced the Cardinals’ eighth hitter, Tommy Thevenow. In his first full season in the majors, the 5-foot-10, 155-pound Thevenow hit .256 with 63 RBIs. The 23-year-old had been the Cardinals’ leading hitter in the World Series, going 3-for-4 with a home run in Game 2 and tallying two hits apiece in Games 4 and 6. Once again, Thevenow came through, this time with a single to right field that scored Bell and Havey.

“I want to tell everybody that Tommy Thevenow is the best shortstop in baseball,” Hornsby declared after the game. “There are no ifs or buts on this. Thevenow has them all beat. He won the ballgame.”[2]

Now holding a 3-1 lead, Haines continued to dance in and out of trouble. In the fourth, he worked around a leadoff walk to Lou Gehrig, thanks in part to Thevenow’s leaping catch of Severeid’s line drive. In the fifth, Earle Combs singled and Ruth was issued a free pass, but both were left stranded.

The Yankees finally got to Haines in the sixth, when Severeid hit an RBI double that cut the Cardinals’ lead to 3-2. With Hoyt’s place in the lineup next, Yankees manager Miller Huggins called on Ben Paschal to pinch hit and Spencer Adams to run in place of Severeid. The moves didn’t pay off, however, as Paschal bounced the ball back to Haines for the final out.

The Yankees continued to threaten Haines in the seventh. Combs led off with a single and Koenig bunted him to second. With first base now free, Haines intentionally walked Ruth. Meusel grounded into a forceout at second base. With runners on second and third, Haines looked distinctly uncomfortable as he walked Gehrig on four pitches.

When player-manager Rogers Hornsby arrived on the mound, he realized what was causing Haines’ distress. Haines’ knuckleballs had torn the skin on his fingers and left him bleeding. It was time for Hornsby to call upon his secret weapon – Alexander.

Several at the game noticed that the 39-year old, who had just thrown all nine innings the day earlier, took his time reaching the mound.

“I don’t think I’ll ever forget that day,” Alexander recalled. “The biggest moment I ever had. You know, they say I stopped to pick daisies on my way from the bullpen that day. I didn’t, but hell, what did they want me to do, run for the mound? I’d a been all out of breath.

“But you know when I started out, and you know how far that bullpen is, I could see Lazzeri already at the plate. He was knocking the dirt from his spikes and hopping around, and I just thought to myself, ‘Well, I’ll give you plenty of time to get more dirt in those spikes.’ So I did stop to look at the center fielder’s glove, and I paused to take a squint at the shortstop’s glove, but eventually I got there.”[3]

When Alexander did arrive, Hornsby greeted him by saying, “The bases are packed, Alex.”

“Well, if they’re full I’ll have to get rid of Lazerri some way, as I have no place to put him,” Old Pete Alexander replied, according to the next day’s St. Louis Globe-Democrat.[4]

Author Charles C. Alexander provided a slightly different account, in which Alexander told Hornsby that he felt fine before adding, “Three on, eh? Well, there’s no place to put Lazzeri, is there? I’ll just have to give him nothin’ but a lot of hell, won’t I?”[5]

After just three warm-up pitches, he did exactly that, but not before Lazzeri turned on an inside fastball and pulled it into the left-field bleachers, just a few feet foul. Having narrowly escaped giving up a game-altering grand slam, Alexander struck out the Yankees rookie on a curveball that dropped out of the strike zone.

“I said to myself, ‘Grover Cleveland Alexander, you’ve been in this game longer than he has. He’s up there for the first time, and he’s got to hit it. You just pitch him another wide curve and he’ll swing at it,’” Alexander recalled. “And I pitched it and he swung and he missed it.”[6]

The score remained 3-2 headed in the final innings. Alexander easily retired the Yankees in order in the eighth, and Herb Pennock did the same in the top of the ninth. Just three outs away from the championship, Alexander wasted no time, getting both Combs and Koenig to ground out to Bell at third base.

After getting ahead of Ruth with a 1-2 count, Alexander pitched carefully around the slugger, missing with his next three pitches. That brought Meusel to the plate with the tying run on first base. As Alexander released his first pitch to the Yankees left fielder, Ruth broke for second. Meusel took the pitch for a called strike and O’Farrell fired to Hornsby at second base. Hornsby tagged Ruth as he slid into the bag.

“I caught the blur of Ruth starting for second as I pitched, and then came the whistle of the ball as O’Farrell rifled it to second,” Alexander said. “I wheeled around and there was one of the grandest sights in my life. Hornsby, his foot anchored on the bag and his gloved hand outstretched, was waiting for Ruth to come in.”[7]

“I wondered why Babe tried to steal second then,” O’Farrell said. “A year or so later, I went on a barnstorming trip with the Babe, and I asked him. Ruth said he thought Alex had forgotten he was there. Also, that the way Alex was pitching, they’d never get two hits in a row off him, so he better get in position to score if they got one. Well, maybe that was good thinking and maybe not. In any case, I had him out a mile at second.”[8]

Regardless of the reason for Ruth’s ill-fated attempt, the result was clear: for the first time in franchise history, the Cardinals were World Series champions.

“Have a heart,” Alexander told teammates who pounded his back in congratulations. “I’ve got to pitch again. I haven’t retired.”[9]

Hornsby, whose mother passed away shortly before the World Series began, caught a train to St. Louis and then to Austin for her burial. Before leaving town, however, the National League’s top star was gracious in victory.

“Our victory means all the more to us because we know that we defeated a great ball club,” he said.[10]

The game proved the last World Series defeat for the Yankees’ Huggins. A former Cardinal who played for the Redbirds from 1910 to 1917, Huggins led the Yankees to World Series sweeps over the Pirates in 1927 and the Cardinals in 1928.

“There is nothing to say except that the Cardinals played wonderful defensive ball today – better than we did – and on the basis of their play, they deserved to win,” Huggins said. “We were beaten by a great ball club, and I told Rogers Hornsby so when I congratulated him as soon as the game was over.

“Of course, we did not need today’s performance to know that Alexander is a great pitcher. I have said so twice before in this series, and I say so again.”[11]

Legendary New York Giants manager John McGraw agreed.

“There you see the man who gave us the greatest pitching feat baseball has furnished since Christy Mathewson shut out the Athletics three times in a row,” McGraw said, pointing to Alexander in the Cardinals’ clubhouse.[12]

In St. Louis, fans celebrated into the early hours of the morning. As the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported, “it was as if dynamite had been planted in a hundred scattered spots and all touched off at the same instant. The downtown exploded in noise. Two minutes after victory, the din was deafening. Automobile horns and sirens, back-firing of motors, tin horns, bells that had been muffled in silence for the one moment all turned loose.”[13] Similar celebrations took place in towns in Southern Illinois, Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma, and Southeast Kansas.[14]

In the aftermath of the championship, tales began to spread that Alexander had been drunk during his Game 7 performance. Following his service in World War II, Alexander suffered from epilepsy and alcoholism; in fact, his troubles with alcohol had contributed to the Cubs’ decision to release him that summer, allowing the Cardinals to purchase him for $4,000.

In The Cardinals and The Yankees, 1926: A Classic Season and St. Louis in Seven, author Paul E. Doutrich suggests that Alexander’s epilepsy may have been caused when he was struck in the head by a pitch and exasperated by his service as an artillery sergeant during World War I.[15] To minimize the seizures, Alexander self-medicated with whiskey.

According to fellow pitcher Flint Rhem, Alexander had celebrated his Game 6 victory the night before and was dozing in the bullpen with a pint of whiskey when Hornsby called for him. Upon being summoned to the mound, Alexander “staggered a little, handed me the pint, hitched up his britches, and walked straight as he could to the mound.”[16]

Doutrich, however, argues that Hornsby had informed Alexander the night before that he planned to use him in relief of Haines if necessary. Alexander’s wife, Amy, disputed the charge, as did Bottomley, Thevenow, Bell, and Hornsby in the years to come.

Alexander himself said little on the topic. A few days after Game 7, as he prepared to leave St. Louis after a week spent at the Ambassador Theater, where adoring crowds had heartily congratulated him, Alexander was philosophical about the experience.

“You know, being an actor and shaking hands and having everybody pat you on the back can almost ruin a guy,” he said. “When baseball fans are strong for you, they’re strong for you, but – come to think of it – what if Lazzeri had hit a home run with the bases full instead of striking out?”

He already knew the answer.

“If that had happened, Lazzeri would be the hero instead of me,” Alexander continued. “I wouldn’t have been a hero. I’d have been a bum.”[17]

Shortly before hopping on a train to Chicago, Alexander offered one more bit of advice: “Don’t ever be a hero,” he said. “If you’ve got to be one, be one, but avoid it as long as you can. It’s been a long, hard week.” He paused. “But I sure appreciated it.”[18]

Enjoy this post? Then you’ll love The Trades That Made The St. Louis Cardinals, available now on Amazon!

[1] Peter Golenbock (2011), The Spirit of St. Louis: A History of the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns, HarperCollins Ebooks, Pages 112-113.

[2] Brian Bell, “Weakness of Yankees in Field Gave Title to Cardinals,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, October 11, 1926: Page 8.

[3] Peter Golenbock (2011), The Spirit of St. Louis: A History of the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns, HarperCollins Ebooks, Page 114.

[4] “No Place to Put Lazzeri So Alec Struck Him Out,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, October 11, 1926: Page 8.

[5] Charles C. Alexander, Rogers Hornsby (Kindle Android version retrieved from Amazon.com), Page 119.

[6] “‘What If Lazzeri Hit?’ Old Alex Asks, Quitting Town After Week As Hero,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 16, 1926: Page 3.

[7] Peter Golenbock (2011), The Spirit of St. Louis: A History of the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns, HarperCollins Ebooks, Pages 117.

[8] Peter Golenbock (2011), The Spirit of St. Louis: A History of the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns, HarperCollins Ebooks, Pages 117.

[9] Brian Bell, “Weakness of Yankees in Field Gave Title to Cardinals,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, October 11, 1926: Page 8.

[10] Brian Bell, “Weakness of Yankees in Field Gave Title to Cardinals,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, October 11, 1926: Page 8.

[11] Brian Bell, “Weakness of Yankees in Field Gave Title to Cardinals,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, October 11, 1926: Page 8.

[12] James R. Dawson, “Alex’s Feat Rates Him with the Immortal ‘Matty,’ Says McGraw,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, October 11, 1926: Page 12.

[13] “Fans in 9-Hour Rampage Give Vent to Noisy Joy Over Cardinals’ Victory,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 11, 1926: Page 3.

[14] “Cardinals Victory Observed in Suburbs,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 11, 1926: Page 3.

[15] Paul E. Doutrich, The Cardinals and the Yankees, 1926: A Classic Season and St. Louis in Seven (2021), Kindle Android version retrieved from Amazon.com, Location 1076.

[16] Charles C. Alexander, Rogers Hornsby (Kindle Android version retrieved from Amazon.com), Page 119.

[17] “‘What If Lazzeri Hit?’ Old Alex Asks, Quitting Town After Week As Hero,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 16, 1926: Page 3.

[18] “‘What If Lazzeri Hit?’ Old Alex Asks, Quitting Town After Week As Hero,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 16, 1926: Page 3.

The post 1926 World Series Game 7: Cardinals win their first World Series first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

Down three games to two against Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig’s squad, the Cardinals were further disadvantaged by the absence of two-thirds of their starting outfield. Left fielder Ray Blades had been out of the lineup since August, when he caught his spike in the chicken-wire fence that had been strung along the outfield wall at Sportsman’s Park. The injury required season-ending surgery, and though Blades’ career would continue, he carried a slight limp for the remainder of his life.[1] In his place, future Hall of Famer Chick Hafey started in left field.

In the Cardinals’ Game 4 loss in St. Louis, Hickey and center fielder Taylor Douthit collided in the outfield. Douthit suffered strained ribs on the play and would not return in the series; in his place, manager Rogers Hornsby called upon Wattie Holm, who batted .285 in 55 games during the regular season. Holm went 0-for-4 with a walk in his Game 5 start.

With the season on the line, Hornsby called upon Pete Alexander, who had outdueled Urban Shocker in the Cardinals’ 6-2 Game 2 victory. In that complete-game performance, Alexander allowed just four hits while striking out 10.

To counter him, the Yankees’ Miller Huggins turned to Bob Shawkey, a 35-year-old veteran who started just 10 of his 29 regular-season appearances. He had gone 8-7 with a 3.62 ERA during the 1926 campaign, but more importantly, he had retired all 10 Cardinals he had faced in two previous appearances during the World Series.

It didn’t take long for Yankees fans to begin questioning Huggins’ decision after Jim Bottomley hit an RBI double down the left-field line and Les Bell followed with a two-run single to give the Cardinals a quick 3-0 first-inning lead.

Alexander worked around a leadoff double by Bob Meusel in the second inning, then escaped a third-inning jam when Hank Severeid led off with a single and Tommy Thevenow committed an error.

In the fourth, the Yankees got on the board as Meusel tripled and Gehrig brought him home with a ground ball to first base. The Cardinals answered in the top of the fifth. Thevenow singled and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Alexander. Holm, who led off the game with a single, collected his second hit of the day with an RBI single into center field.

The Cardinals held a 4-1 lead until they broke the game open in the seventh. Thevenow singled and Alexander reached on an error to lead off the frame. Billy Southworth hit a fly ball to left field, but Meusel lost it in the sun and Southworth was credited with an RBI double into left field.

Trailing 5-1, Huggins turned to Urban Shocker. Hornsby greeted him with a two-run single into center that made the score 7-1, and with two outs Bell hit a two-run homer to make the score 9-1.

Yankees center fielder Earle Combs hit an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh, but the Cardinals added another run in the ninth for the final 10-2 score. St. Louis finished the day with 13 hits, including three by Bell and two apiece by Holm, Southworth, and Bottomley.

“We hit the ball today when we had to, and we will hit again tomorrow when hits will mean even more than they did today,” Hornsby said.[2]

Alexander, meanwhile, had his second complete-game victory of the World Series, allowing two earned runs on eight hits and two walks.

“It was so cold that you couldn’t work up a sweat,” Alexander said. “I was afraid in one of those long innings of being kept too long on the bench where it was colder than (on the field). That was my only worry. I knew I had enough to stop them but I was afraid that the cold weather might affect me.”[3]

While Combs, Meusel, and Joe Dugan each had two hits, Alexander held Ruth to a walk in four plate appearances. Ruth had already made his impact in the series, hitting a World Series-record three home runs in Game 4.

“We didn’t hit,” Huggins said. “The boys are playing some in-and-out baseball in this series, but it will be all right when we win tomorrow. Alexander had a better game left in his system than we thought, and he was better than our pitchers today.”[4]

While Huggins didn’t immediately announce his starting pitcher for Game 7, Hornsby declared that Jesse Haines, who shut out the Yankees in Game 3, would take the mound for the Cardinals.

“I was absolutely confident that Alex would beat the Yankees today and I am just as confident that Jess Haines will beat them again tomorrow and give us the championship,” Hornsby said. “Jess may not shut them out again, but we don’t figure he will have to, to win.”[5]

Enjoy this post? Find similar stories listed by decade or by player.

[1] Russell Wolinsky, “Ray Blades,” Society for American Baseball Research Biography Project, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/ray-blades/.

[2] Brian Bell, “Clubhouse Chatter After Game,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 10, 1926: Page 2S.

[3] Paul E. Doutrich, The Cardinals and the Yankees, 1926: A Classic Season and St. Louis in Seven (2021), Kindle Android version retrieved from Amazon.com, Location 2621-2624.

[4] Brian Bell, “Clubhouse Chatter After Game,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 10, 1926: Page 2S.

[5] Brian Bell, “Clubhouse Chatter After Game,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 10, 1926: Page 2S.

The post 1926 World Series Game 6: Cardinals clobber Yankees 10-2 first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

Haines’ major league career started in 1915 with the Detroit Tigers, where he spent two months but never appeared in a game. While Haines was frustrated by his lack of playing time, he did get a vote of confidence from Ty Cobb.

“Say, kid, you’ve got something on that fastball,” Cobb reportedly told him one day. “It’s hard to follow and someday they’re going to be reading about you.”[1]

They would indeed, but not because of Haines’ fastball. In 1919, Branch Rickey borrowed $10,000 to purchase Haines. The 26-year-old rookie threw 301 2/3 innings for the Cardinals the following year, going 13-20 while relying on his fastball and curve. Realizing he needed something else, he learned the knuckleball from Philadelphia A’s pitcher Eddie Rommel.[2]

Unlike Rommel, Haines threw a hard knuckleball that dove down in the zone instead of fluttering to the plate. However, just like any other knuckleballer, Haines needed a feel for the pitch to be effective. Though Haines threw the first no-hitter in Cardinals history on July 17, 1924, he limped to an 8-19 record that season. In 1925, he went just 13-14 with a career-high 4.57 ERA.

Haines turned things around in 1926 when he added a change-up to his repertoire. That, combined with the rediscovery of his knuckleball, helped him to a 13-4 record and a 3.25 ERA during the regular season.

Manager Rogers Hornsby rewarded Haines with the start in Game 3 of the World Series, following on the heels of Pete Alexander’s four-hitter two days earlier. Haines, who pitched an inning of relief in the Game 1 loss, was matched up against Dutch Ruether, a 32-year-old left-hander the Yankees had acquired from the Washington Senators in August.

Just a couple hours after Game 2, both teams had boarded trains and raced back to St. Louis. The Yankees, who had taken the 1,150-mile trek through the “Big Four” – the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago, and St. Louis Railways – beat the Cardinals back to St. Louis, making the trek in 23 ½ hours.[3] When the two teams arrived, the New York Daily News reported, they received vastly different greetings.

“When the Cardinals arrived here yesterday, they gave the team an ovation that defies comparison,” Mark Hellinger reported. “There were parades and cowbells and horns and bombs and bums and whatnots. Instead of a welcome for a ball team you’d think it was a reception for Al Smith or Julius Caesar or Ganna Walska, or somebody.

“And what did the Yankees get? You’d never be able to guess. When their train pulled in one lone porter was in the station to greet them. He eyed the team suspiciously and suddenly walked off. ‘Hey,’ cried Mr. Babe Ruth, who is seldom at a loss for words, “where are you going?’ The porter kept on walking. ‘I know you fellows,’ he shot over his shoulder. ‘You’re the Yankees and you’ll have to carry your own baggage. I ain’t gonna take no chances o’ losin’ my job.’”[4]

Haines and Reuther both pitched well in the early going. In the second, Cardinals left fielder Chick Hafey doubled down the left-field line but was stranded when Tommy Thevenow lined out to Yankees center fielder Earle Combs.

The Yankees threatened in the third when Joe Dugan singled and Combs drew a two-out walk, but Mark Koenig grounded out to end the inning.

The Cardinals got runners to second and third in the bottom of the third when Haines singled, Taylor Douthit walked, and Billy Southworth bunted them over. However, Ruether once again escaped trouble, getting Hornsby to pop out and Jim Bottomley to line out to center field.

St. Louis finally broke through in the fourth after a 32-minute rain delay during the Yankee’s half of the inning. After Les Bell singled and Bob O’Farrell drew a walk, Thevenow hit a ground ball to second base. Tony Lazzeri fielded the ball cleanly and threw to Koenig at shortstop for the second out of the inning, but Koenig’s throw bounced past Lou Gehrig at first base, allowing Bell to score. The hometown crowd had scarcely settled down when Haines launched a pitch into the right-field pavilion to give the Cardinals a 3-0 lead.

In the fifth, Southworth and Hornsby each singled before Bottomley scored Southworth with a ground ball to second base. With the St. Louis lead now 4-0, the Yankees turned to Bob Shawkey, who retired the next eight Cardinals batters in order.

Despite Shawkey’s success, Haines wasn’t done with his heroics, working around a leadoff single by Gehrig in the seventh and a leadoff walk to pinch hitter Ben Paschal in the eighth. In the ninth, Gehrig hit a one-out single to right field, but Haines got Lazzeri to ground into a 6-4-3 double play to end the game.

“The big right-hander had as much stuff as I have ever seen him possess during all his years in the National League,” Alexander wrote about Haines’ performance for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.[5]

In another column for the Post-Dispatch, Hornsby wrote that Haines “was as good in the ninth inning as at the start. I believe he could have shut out the Yankees for nine more innings the way he was going.”[6]

With the win, the Cardinals had a 2-1 series lead and left the Yankees frustrated.

“I can’t see the Cardinals as a ball club, no matter if they did lick us today,” said Babe Ruth, who had gone 2-for-10 with two walks in the first two games. “There are at least two better clubs in the National League – Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. The Cardinals have been lucky, that’s all, by getting a lot of flukey hits. We are not licked yet. Tomorrow is another day. When we start hitting it will be a different story.”[7]

Yankees manager Miller Huggins was more diplomatic in crediting the Cardinals pitching staff for holding his team to 15 hits over the first three games of the series.

“We have faced three of the best pitchers on the St. Louis staff,” he said. “We are bound to hit better from now on. The Cardinals’ staff cannot hold up the standard of pitching set by Alexander, (Bill) Sherdel, and Haines.”

Meanwhile, Hornsby and the Cardinals were more confident than ever.

“It looks like we’ll win the series now for sure,” Hornsby said. “If we lose tomorrow we will fight all the harder, but I don’t think we will lose. … If we can keep them from hitting, that’s all that will be necessary to make us champions, for I’m confident there is nothing that can stop the batting of the Cardinals.”[8]

In the New York Daily News, Hellinger’s article reflected the frustration brewing in New York: “Great place, St. Louis,” he wrote. “When I arrived here last night, it was raining. It rained this morning. It will rain next week. It will probably rain here forever. I hope it does. It will serve all these St. Louisans right. There’s a lot of good cheer in this town – but it’s all for the Cardinals.”[9]

Enjoy this post? Find similar stories listed by decade or by player.

[1] Charles F. Faber (2014), The 1934 St. Louis Cardinals (Kindle Android version retrieved from Amazon.com), Location 5247.

[2] Charles F. Faber (2014), The 1934 St. Louis Cardinals (Kindle Android version retrieved from Amazon.com), Location 5466.

[3] Paul E. Doutrich, The Cardinals and the Yankees, 1926: A Classic Season and St. Louis in Seven (2021), Kindle Android version retrieved from Amazon.com, Location 2419.

[4] Mark Hellinger, “Cards Make Haines While Sun Shines; Beat Rain as Well as Yanks!” New York Daily News, October 6, 1926: Page 44.

[5] Grover Cleveland Alexander, “Haines Unbeatable and That’s the Whole Story of the Third Game, Says Alexander,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 6, 1926: Page 24.

[6] Rogers Hornsby, “Hornsby Says Hains Could Have Shut Out Yanks For 18 Innings,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 6, 1926: Page 24.

[7] Charles W. Dunkley, “Stinging Defeat Galls Yanks; Ruth Whines Like a Babe,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, October 6, 1926: Page 1.

[8] Charles W. Dunkley, “Stinging Defeat Galls Yanks; Ruth Whines Like a Babe,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, October 6, 1926: Page 24.

[9] Mark Hellinger, “Cards Make Haines While Sun Shines; Beat Rain as Well as Yanks!” New York Daily News, October 6, 1926: Page 44.

The post October 5, 1926: Jesse Haines leads Cardinals to Game 3 World Series win first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

After falling to the New York Yankees in Game 1 of the 1926 World Series behind a complete-game, three-hit performance by Herb Pennock and two RBIs from Lou Gehrig, the Cardinals turned to 39-year-old veteran Grover Cleveland Alexander, commonly called Old Pete Alexander. Now in his 16^th major-league season, Alexander had already cemented his place in baseball history leading the league in wins six times – including 33 wins as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies in 1916 – and leading the league in innings pitched seven times.

By 1926, however, Alexander was epileptic and an alcoholic. In The Cardinals and The Yankees, 1926: A Classic Season and St. Louis in Seven, author Paul E. Doutrich suggests that Alexander’s epilepsy may have been caused when he was struck in the head by a pitch and exasperated by his service as an artillery sergeant during World War I.[1] To minimize the seizures, Alexander self-medicated with whiskey.

Alexander was 3-3 with a 3.46 ERA for the Chicago Cubs in June 1926 when he was suspended indefinitely for violating team rules. When the Cubs waived him a few days later, Branch Rickey was out of town.[2] Instead, team owner Sam Breadon, with manager and star second baseman Rogers Hornsby’s blessing, signed Alexander for $4,000.[3] Down the stretch, Alexander went 9-7 with a 2.91 ERA, helping the Cardinals capture the National League pennant by two games over the Cincinnati Reds.

The Yankees countered with Urban Shocker, a veteran spitballer who led the league with 27 wins for the St. Louis Browns five years earlier. Shocker had gone 19-11 for the Yankees during the 1926 regular season, posting a 3.38 ERA over 258 1/3 innings.

Both pitchers threw scoreless first innings. After Shocker worked around singles from Bob O’Farrell and Tommy Thevenow in the second inning, Alexander was not as fortunate. Bob Meusel led off the inning with a single and was driven in by Tony Lazzeri. Cardinals left fielder Chick Hafey made a strong throw on the play and may have thrown Meusel out at home, but in all the noise Alexander thought O’Farrell was shouting at him to cut the ball off and prevent Lazerri from advancing to second.

After Joe Dugan singled to right and Alexander struck out Hank Severeid, the Yankees attempted a double steal and the Cardinals caught Lazerri between third and home. Alexander, however, committed a throwing error that allowed Lazerri to score the second run of the game.

“I had not pitched in 12 days and in the first two innings I had some trouble in getting started,” Alexander said. “Finally, I got the range and my arm got warmed up. After that I found I had as good control as I ever had and I just worked along smoothly.”[4]

Down 2-0, the Cardinals got on the scoreboard in the top of the third. Taylor Douthit and Billy Southworth each singled to lead off the inning, and after Hornsby laid down a sacrifice bunt, Jim Bottomley singled into right to tie the game.

With the score once again even, Alexander hit his stride. After allowing a single to Earle Combs to lead off the third, Alexander retired the next 21 batters he faced. In the fourth inning, he struck out Gehrig, Lazzeri, and Dugan in order on his way to 10 strikeouts in the game.

“Alexander had more speed than usual and his curve was breaking more sharply than usual,” Hornsby wrote in a column in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “O’Farrell tells me he had more speed than he had shown all season. He also worked his change of pace very effectively.”[5]

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, Shocker was finding his groove as well. After Bottomley tied the score, Shocker retired the next 11 batters he faced.

“Shocker pitched a good game until the seventh inning but we were in a hitting mood and we were sure to find him before long,” Hornsby wrote.[6]

In the seventh, O’Farrell doubled into the left-field gap to lead off the inning and Thevenow followed with a single. Alexander popped out and Douthit flied out to shallow left field, bringing Southworth to the plate.

Southworth was another midseason acquisition for the Cardinals, who obtained him from the New York Giants in exchange for Heinie Mueller. Since arriving in St. Louis, the 12-year veteran had batted .317 with 11 homers and 69 RBIs.

“I traded Southworth for Mueller because of my friendship for Rogers Hornsby,” Giants manager John McGraw said in 1928. “Hornsby, I knew, could win a pennant if he had an old head, a steadying influence in the outfield. The Giants, I knew, did not have a chance to win, so I gave Hornsby the break and traded Southworth for Mueller.”[7]

While this was likely a convenient rewriting of history on McGraw’s part, Southworth indeed played a crucial part of the Cardinals’ success. With two on and two out, Shocker delivered a pitch that the Post-Dispatch’s J. Roy Stockton said was, “not a fast ball inside, but a half speed ball inside. Or perhaps it was a spit ball. At any rate it was inside and Southworth swung.”[8] The ball landed in the right-field seats to give the Cardinals a 5-2 lead.

Two innings later, Thevenow hit an inside-the-park home run off Sad Sam Jones to produce the final 6-2 score. With the Cardinals’ first World Series victory in franchise history on the line, Alexander retired Mark Koenig, Babe Ruth, and Meusel in order in the ninth.

“You will have to give the credit to Alexander,” Hornsby said. “He pitched a wonderful game and there wasn’t a time that every man on the team did not feel confident that Alex would be able to win. Even after the Yankees got off to their two-run lead the men were very confident and expected it in every word and action.”[9]

Yankees manager Miller Huggins agreed that Alexander, who allowed just three hits and walked one, proved the difference.

“We couldn’t hit Alexander. That’s all there is to it,” he said. “Alexander pitched an almost perfect game. He had everything on the ball and we just couldn’t connect. Against some other pitcher we probably would have done much heavier hitting.”[10]

Enjoy this post? Find similar stories listed by decade or by player.

[1] Paul E. Doutrich, The Cardinals and the Yankees, 1926: A Classic Season and St. Louis in Seven (2021), Kindle Android version retrieved from Amazon.com, Location 1076.

[2] John Heidenry, The Gashouse Gang (2007), PublicAffairs, Page 38.

[3] Charles C. Alexander, Rogers Hornsby (2013), Kindle Android version retrieved from Amazon.com, Location 1850.

[4] Vernon Van Ness, “Alexander Deserves Credit for Victory, Both Pilots Say,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, October 4, 1926: Page 11.

[5] Rogers Hornsby, “‘We Will Be a Better Ball Club Every Way, Harder Than Ever to Beat,’ Hornsby Says,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 4, 1926: Page 19.

[6] Rogers Hornsby, “‘We Will Be a Better Ball Club Every Way, Harder Than Ever to Beat,’ Hornsby Says,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 4, 1926: Page 19.

[7] Paul E. Doutrich, The Cardinals and the Yankees, 1926: A Classic Season and St. Louis in Seven (2021), Kindle Android version retrieved from Amazon.com, Location 1041.

[8] J. Roy Stockton, “‘Old Pete’ Retires 21 Consecutive Batters And Fans 10 Yankees,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 4, 1926: Page 19.

[9] Vernon Van Ness, “Alexander Deserves Credit for Victory, Both Pilots Say,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, October 4, 1926: Page 1.

[10] Vernon Van Ness, “Alexander Deserves Credit for Victory, Both Pilots Say,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, October 4, 1926: Page 11.

The post 1926 World Series Game 2: The Cardinals’ first World Series win first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

Hornsby entered the game with 1,998 hits in a career that began in 1915. As a 135-pound, 19-year-old, he had made the leap from Class D baseball to the majors. After that rookie campaign, which consisted of just 18 games and 61 plate appearances, Cardinals manager Miller Huggins told Hornsby, “Kid, you’re a little light, but you got the makings. I think I’ll farm you out for a year.”[1]

The story goes that Hornsby misunderstood and thought Huggins was telling him to spend the offseason working at a farm. As a result, Huggins spent that fall and winter at his uncle’s farm in Lockhart, Texas, doing chores, hunting birds, and consuming a diet of steak, fried chicken, and milk.[2]

When Hornsby reported for the 1916 season, he had added about 30 pounds to his physique.[3] In his first full season in St. Louis, he hit .313 with 17 doubles, 15 triples, and six home runs. From 1920 until 1925, he led the league in hitting six consecutive years, including a remarkable 1922 campaign in which he hit 42 homers and drove in 152 runs. In 1924, he batted .424, setting the 20th-century major league record and earning the National League MVP Award.

Despite Hornsby’s success, the Cardinals were largely also-rans in the National League, which was largely dominated by John McGraw’s New York Giants. In 1925, team owner Sam Breadon inserted Hornsby as the team’s new player-manager, allowing Branch Rickey to focus solely on his front-office responsibilities. In 1926, Hornsby’s first full season at the helm, the move began to pay off.

Heading into their June 21-23 series against the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Cardinals were 35-26 and tied with the Pirates for second place, one-half game behind the league-leading Cincinnati Reds. Through the first two games of the series, however, the Pirates proved unwilling to welcome the Cardinals to the league’s elite.

In the opener, Pittsburgh’s Paul Waner and George Grantham each drove in three runs, and Cardinals starter Flint Rehm allowed six runs in the first two innings of a 13-11 loss. The following day, Pirates right-hander Lee Meadows improved to 8-0 on the season, holding St. Louis to just one run on six hits. As a result, the Cardinals entered the series finale 2 ½ games behind Cincinnati and two games behind Pittsburgh.

To avoid a sweep, Hornsby called on Jesse Haines, a knuckleballer who had won 49 games for the Cardinals between 1921 and 1923 but gone just 21-33 in the two years since. In 1926, however, Haines was regaining feel for his knuckleball and benefiting from the development of a change-up.

Haines retired all three batters he faced in the first. After Grantham hit an RBI double to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead in the second, the Cardinals responded two innings later. Hornsby wasted no time in collecting his 2,000^th career hit, leading off with an infield single to Pirates third baseman Eddie Moore. At age 30, Hornsby had become the first Cardinals player to reach the 2,000-hit milestone.

With two outs, Cardinals shortstop Tommy Threvenow singled into left, scoring Hornsby and Billy Southworth to give St. Louis a 2-1 lead.

In the seventh, Haines started another Cardinals rally with a one-out single to center field. Pirates pitcher Don Songer allowed back-to-back passes to Ray Blades and Taylor Douthit to load the bases for Hornsby. As St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter J. Roy Stockton described it in the next day’s newspaper, “Stupid. Asinine. Fatal.”[4] Hornsby blasted a grand slam to left field that made the score 6-1.

The Pirates added one more run in the top of the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Eddie Moore.

Despite walking six, Haines held the Pirates to five hits in the complete-game win, improving to 4-1 on the season and lowering his season ERA to 1.92.

“Hornsby has instilled confidence in his young machine, and let me tell you that is more than half the battle,” said Bill McKechnie, the former Cardinals manager now running the Pirates. “The Cardinals swept through the east with 11 victories and one defeat and we thought we had them on the run with our two victories, but the way they fought back yesterday and beat us proves to me that is the club that must be feared.”[5]

The June 23 win didn’t prove an immediate turning point for St. Louis. After winning two games against the Cubs, the Cardinals lost eight of their next 10. By July 6, St. Louis was six games back of the league lead.

In August, however, the team made its push, eventually capturing the National League pennant over the Reds by two games. The Cardinals went on to beat the Yankees in the 1926 World Series, four games to three.

Despite the World Series victory, Hornsby had clashed with team owner Sam Breadon over the late-season exhibitions mixed into the regular-season schedule. After negotiations between Breadon and Hornsby over his 1927 salary failed, Hornsby was traded to the Giants for Frankie Frisch. Hornsby lasted just one season in New York before going on to play for the Boston Braves, Cubs, and St. Louis Browns. At age 37, he briefly returned to the Cardinals, though by that time he was primarily a pinch hitter. He finished his career with 2,930 hits.

Give the gift of Cardinals history! The Trades That Made The St. Louis Cardinals is available now on Amazon.

[1] Charles C. Alexander (2013), Rogers Hornsby, Holt Paperbacks, New York City: Page 26 (Kindle Edition).

[2] Charles C. Alexander (2013), Rogers Hornsby, Holt Paperbacks, New York City: Page 27 (Kindle Edition).

[3] Charles C. Alexander (2013), Rogers Hornsby, Holt Paperbacks, New York City: Page 29 (Kindle Edition).

[4] J. Roy Stockton, “Thevenow, Haines and Hornsby heroes as Cards start big push,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 24, 1926: Page 31.

[5] “Cardinals rated flag possibility by M’Kechnie,” Pittsburgh Press, June 24, 1926: Page 30.

The post Rogers Hornsby tallies his 2,000th hit: June 23, 1926 first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

Toporcer was born in the Yorkville section of New York City on February 9, 1899, where he and actor James Cagney played sandlot ball as boys. As Toporcer described it, “The kids in that area weren’t born with silver spoons in their mouths, and you had to be able to take it as well as dish it out. Street fights and gang wars were common occurrences, (and) playgrounds and recreational facilities few and far between.”[1]

As a 13-year-old, Toporcer worked in the back room of a saloon, posting major league scores on a huge blackboard. During the World Series, he read the action out to a small crowd directly from the ticker tape. For these duties, he was paid 50 cents per week and all the liverwurst and crackers he could eat.[2]

Toporcer’s father had invented a spring arch support but had failed to make it a successful business. When his father passed away, one of Toporcer’s brothers inherited the company, and Toporcer went to work for him, putting away his dream of becoming the first in his family to attend high school. Admittedly, Toporcer’s primary attraction to high school was playing sports, particularly baseball.[3]

Fortunately, Toporcer’s brother was an easygoing boss, granting him time off to attend New York Giants games and to practice baseball. Toporcer organized a local team, and his mother collected enough soap wrappers to get him his own glove from the soap company.[4] Toporcer played well enough to be invited to join the East New York semi-pro club in Brooklyn, where he led the club with a .421 batting average.[5]

Toporcer and East New York couldn’t agree on a salary for the following season (they offered $400 and he asked for $650), so he instead played for another Brooklyn team, St. Agatha, while also playing for the meatpacking company Wilson & Co. That June, Ernie Landgraf, owner of the Syracuse team in the International League, invited Toporcer to try out. However, when Toporcer arrived, he was informed that St. Agatha had heard about it and would cause trouble if Toporcer left to play for Syracuse.

As Toporcer described it in 1952, “what seemed a bad break turned out to be a blessing in disguise.” Unbeknownst to Toporcer, his mother had fallen seriously ill. Instead of playing baseball that summer, he stayed by her side until she passed away a month later. “It has always been a source of great satisfaction to me that I did not leave, but was with her when the end came,” he later wrote.[6]

In 1920, Toporcer decided not to return to St. Agatha. Instead, he played for the Orange A.A. team of Orange, N.J. At an exhibition game in Newark, Landgraf again approached Toporcer and soon signed him. Shortly thereafter, Landgraf signed an agreement between his Syracuse club and the Cardinals, and Toporcer, still fresh from the New Jersey sandlots, was invited to the Cardinals’ training camp.

On his first day in camp, Toporcer met Cardinals star Rogers Hornsby, who had already established himself as the National League’s premier hitter. Though Hornsby had a reputation for keeping to himself, Toporcer said that Hornsby took him under his wing.

“To have this great star single me out was a great thrill, and I was always grateful for this gesture on his part,” Toporcer wrote.[7]

Third baseman Milton Stock held out during spring training, allowing Hornsby to move to third base during the Cardinals’ preseason schedule, but Stock returned for the Cardinals’ opener. To keep Toporcer in the lineup, Hornsby moved to left field, and Toporcer started at second.

On April 13, 1921, Toporcer appeared in the Cardinals’ season opener against the Chicago Cubs, making him one of the few to jump directly from the sandlots to major league baseball without first playing college or minor-league ball. Though the Cardinals lost, 5-2, Toporcer went 1-for-3, becoming the first major league infielder to play with glasses.

Toporcer’s appearance with the Cardinals shattered a longstanding baseball norm. As author John J. Ward wrote in the October 1924 issue of Baseball Magazine, “To be sure, eyeglasses had long been recognized as a useful invention. They had their place in the home, in the office, in various occupations. But on the ball field they were impossible.”

In the same article, Toporcer explained, “Eyeglasses have to be cleaned fairly often, particularly on a hot day. But handkerchiefs are cheap and easily obtained. Really, I can see no excuse for the prejudice against eyeglassed ball players and wouldn’t be in the least surprised to see many players wearing glasses in the next few years.”[8]

The experiment to move Hornsby into the outfield lasted just a few games. By the end of July, Toporcer was batting .264 in just 53 at-bats and was optioned to Syracuse. His stay there lasted just 21 games, during which time he batted .338. When he returned to the Cardinals to end the season, he assumed the utility role he would fill for the bulk of his career.

In 1922, Toporcer played in a career-high 116 games, including 91 at shortstop. In 392 plate appearances, he hit a career-high .324 with 25 doubles, six triples, three homers, and 36 RBIs. Though his average dropped to .254 in 1923, Toporcer eclipsed .300 again in 1924, batting .313 in 216 plate appearances in 1924.

In 1926, with Tommy Thevenow installed at shortstop, Toporcer appeared in 64 games as a utility infielder and pinch hitter. Though Toporcer’s total batting average dipped to .250, he led the National League with a .409 average as a pinch hitter.

In the Cardinals’ pennant-clinching win over the New York Giants on September 24, Toporcer pinch-hit for pitcher Flint Rhem in the top of the second. With runners on second and third, Toporcer hit a line drive double that tied the score, 3-3, then scored on a two-out home run by Billy Southworth that gave the Cardinals the lead for good.

Despite a relatively down year for Hornsby, who needed a badly infected carbuncle removed from his thigh in late June, the Cardinals won the franchise’s first world championship, defeating Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and the New York Yankees in a seven-game World Series. Toporcer’s only appearance came in Game 4, when he entered as a pinch hitter for Rhem in the fourth inning. Thevenow had just hit an RBI double to cut the Yankees’ lead to 3-2. With Thevenow on second and Bob O’Farrell on third, Toporcer hit a sacrifice fly to center field to tie the game. The Yankees went on to win the game 10-5, powered by three Ruth home runs.

After the 1926 season, the Cardinals traded Hornsby to the Giants for Frankie Frisch, another future Hall of Fame second baseman. As a result, Toporcer remained a utility player and one of the league’s top pinch hitters throughout his Cardinals career.

“I have always felt that my major league playing career would have been much longer had I been fortunate enough to be with a club with which I could have had a chance to play second regularly,” Toporcer wrote, pointing to his two seasons with batting averages above .300. “I grew sulky at times, though always giving my best. My feeling of disappointment was heightened by the knowledge that several other clubs in the league, notably Brooklyn, Boston, and Philadelphia, were interested in acquiring me.”[9]

In June 1928, Toporcer was with the team in Boston when he received a telegram from Branch Rickey informing him that he had been optioned to the Rochester Red Wings of the International League. Toporcer returned to his hotel room and spent an hour alone, absorbing the news. With the realization that he would get regular playing time after years of part-time play had eroded his batting skills, Toporcer emerged “almost cheerful.”[10]

After 546 games, Toporcer’s major league career ended with a .279 career batting average and .347 on-base percentage. Never much of a power hitter, he totaled nine home runs, 151 RBIs, and 22 stolen bases over eight seasons. In 1975, St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports editor Bob Broeg asked Toporcer what he would do differently if he had to do it all over again.

“I’d ask only for a stronger arm so I could have played shortstop better, because then I think I might have had a long major league career,” he said. “But I didn’t have a shortstop’s arm, and I lost out at second base to two great ones, Hornsby and Frisch.”[11]

Toporcer’s minor league career was longer than his time with the Cardinals. Under Southworth’s leadership as player-manager, and with Toporcer teaming with shortstop prospect Charlie Gelbert at the keystone, the Red Wings won the 1928 Independent League pennant, the first of four consecutive titles. In 1929, Toporcer teamed with first baseman Rip Collins, shortstop Heinie Sand, and third baseman Joe Brown to set a record with 223 double plays. Toporcer was named the league MVP in 1929 and 1930, and in 1931 became a player-manager for Jersey City. Due to financial problems, however, the team sold his contract back to Rochester in mid-season.

In 1932, with Southworth headed to manage the Cardinals’ Columbus affiliate, Toporcer was named Rochester’s manager. Toporcer managed the club through 1934, serving as manager to future Hall of Famer Johnny Mize in 1933. In 1935, he left the Cardinals organization and continued his playing and managing career with the Red Sox affiliates in Syracuse; Rocky Mount, North Carolina; and Hazleton, Pennsylvania; and the Pirates’ affiliate in Albany, New York, where he served as Ralph Kiner’s first manager.

Toporcer served as the Red Sox farm director for five years, beginning in 1943, and then spent two years as the White Sox’s field director. In 1945, Toporcer suffered the deepest tragedy of his life when his son Bob, who was himself an outstanding athlete at Rochester Prep, passed away from cancer at age 16.[12]

Two years later, Toporcer began to experience blurry vision in his left eye. He was diagnosed with a detached retina, and after two unsuccessful surgeries, he lost vision in the eye in 1948.

In 1951, Toporcer felt the itch to manage again and took a job with Buffalo of the Independent League. The 1952 season proved to be his last in professional baseball, as his right eye began to experience the same symptoms he experienced in his left four years earlier. Despite three operations to attempt to address the issue, Toporcer was left completely blind.

With the assistance of his wife Mabel, Toporcer became an ambassador for the sport, accepting public speaking opportunities across the country and publishing From Backlots to Big Leagues, a book that blended autobiographical details and baseball instruction. In the years to come, Toporcer was inducted into the International League and Rochester Sports Halls of Fame and was named Bluebook Magazine’s first Man of the Year Award winner in 1953.

Gabe Paul, general manager of the Cincinnati Reds, said that Toporcer deserved to be one of baseball’s most celebrated stars, noting that he “overcame more handicaps – poor eyesight, a frail body, and other things – than any other major league player in baseball history.

“The others were endowed with that tremendous natural ability and didn’t have to work like Toporcer did. Yet, he became a major league star and today, speaking strictly on his record, he must be rated as the greatest second baseman in International League history.”[13]

At the Boston Writers’ Dinner in 1952, Toporcer expressed appreciation for the opportunities baseball had given him.

“I feel I’ve been pretty fortunate because I made good in a modest way,” he said. “I was a skinny kid with glasses and made the major leagues.”[14]

On May 17, 1989, Toporcer passed away at age 90 after falling down a basement staircase at his home in Huntington Station, New York. His wife, Madeline; brother, William; and five grandchildren survived him.[15]

Enjoy this post? Then you’ll love The Trades That Made The St. Louis Cardinals, available now on Amazon!

[1] George (Specs) Toporcer, “Toporcer, Blind, Tells of Struggles,” The Sporting News, February 27, 1952: Page 3.

[2] George (Specs) Toporcer, “Toporcer, Blind, Tells of Struggles,” The Sporting News, February 27, 1952: Page 3.

[3] George (Specs) Toporcer, “Toporcer, Blind, Tells of Struggles,” The Sporting News, February 27, 1952: Page 3.

[4] George (Specs) Toporcer, “Toporcer, Blind, Tells of Struggles,” The Sporting News, February 27, 1952: Page 3.

[5] George (Specs) Toporcer, “Toporcer, Blind, Tells of Struggles,” The Sporting News, February 27, 1952: Page 3.

[6] George (Specs) Toporcer, “Toporcer, Blind, Tells of Struggles,” The Sporting News, February 27, 1952: Page 4.

[7] George (Specs) Toporcer, “Sandlotter Specs’ Leap to Majors,” The Sporting News, March 5, 1952: Page 11.

[8] John J. Ward, “Why Shouldn’t Ball Players Wear Glasses,” Baseball Magazine, October 1952.

[9] George (Specs) Toporcer, “Sandlotter Specs’ Leap to Majors,” The Sporting News, March 5, 1952: Page 12.

[10] George (Specs) Toporcer, “From Star to Pilot … Lights Out,” The Sporting News, March 12, 1952: Page 15.

[11] Bob Broeg, “Toporcer Is a Sharp Observer,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 29, 1975.

[12] Hap Glaudi, “He Lost His Son, His Sight; But He Lost Not His God,” New Orleans Item, February 14, 1952, Page 22.

[13] “Specs must be ranked with baseball’s greats, Cincy boss says here,” Buffalo Evening News, June 24, 1952.

[14] Bob Ajemian, “Toporcer Gets Big Hand at Boston Writers’ Dinner,” The Sporting News, February 13, 1952: Page 17.

[15] “Ex-Card ‘Specs’ Toporcer Dies,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 19 May 1989: Page C5.

The post Specs Toporcer: A backup to two future Hall of Famers first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

The feat came on July 6, 1929, at a time when the St. Louis Cardinals needed relief from the heat and from a season-long losing streak.

Excluding a July 1 tie with the Chicago Cubs, the Cardinals had dropped 10 consecutive games heading into their doubleheader against the Phillies. The streak would grow worse before it finally ended. In the opener, St. Louis fell 10-6 despite two home runs from first baseman Jim Bottomley.

Bottomley drove in four runs, shortstop Charlie Gelbert added three hits and two RBIs, and third baseman Andy High collected four hits. But Cardinals starter Bill Sherdel could not hold down Philadelphia’s lineup. The Phillies pounded out 13 hits, including seven for extra bases, with third baseman Pinky Whitney and right fielder Chuck Klein each homering.

The loss extended the Cardinals’ skid to 11 games, their longest of the season.

Then came one of the most explosive offensive performances in major league history.

If the first game had been lively, the second game turned into a rout almost immediately. Phillies starter Claude Willoughby opened the game by walking Taylor Douthit and Carey Selph, then gave up three consecutive RBI singles to High, Bottomley, and Chick Hafey. When Willoughby walked Wattie Holm to load the bases, Phillies manager Burt Shotton had seen enough.

He called on Elmer Miller.

Miller fared no better.

He walked Jimmie Wilson to force in a run, then walked Gelbert to make it 5-0. Shotton, showing an even quicker hook this time, replaced Miller with Luther Roy.

The Cardinals were just getting started.

Pitcher Fred Frankhouse, batting ninth, greeted Roy with a two-run single to left. Douthit followed with an RBI single, stretching the lead to 8-0. Selph then laid down a sacrifice bunt, moving the runners to second and third, and High hit into a fielder’s choice for the second out.

Roy was one out from escaping the inning.

Bottomley made sure he did not.

With two outs, the Cardinals’ slugging first baseman singled to center, scoring Frankhouse and High and giving St. Louis a 10-0 lead before the Phillies had even come to bat.

For Frankhouse, the double-digit cushion was especially welcome. He was pitching with a sore thumb that limited his curveball, and with the Cardinals already far ahead, he adjusted accordingly. The Post-Dispatch reported that Frankhouse “merely lobbed the ball over the plate.”

Philadelphia took advantage in the bottom of the first. After a single by Denny Sothern and two walks, Fresco Thompson delivered a two-run single to make it 10-2.

But this was not going to be a day when the Cardinals worried much about allowing runs.

St. Louis added another in the second when Whitney’s throwing error at third allowed Holm to reach third base and Wilson singled him home. Sothern homered in the bottom half of the inning, cutting the lead to 11-3, but the Cardinals’ offense was nowhere near finished.

Douthit drove in a run with a single in the fourth, and Selph followed with a triple to bring him home. In the fifth, Holm added a sacrifice fly, Wilson delivered his second RBI single of the game, and Frankhouse continued his big day at the plate with a run-scoring single off new Phillies pitcher June Greene.

Douthit singled and Eddie Delker walked to load the bases. Greene then hit High with a pitch, forcing in another run and pushing the Cardinals’ lead to 18-4.

That brought Bottomley to the plate with the bases loaded.

He cleared them.

Bottomley launched a grand slam to right field, his 19th home run of the season, and suddenly the Cardinals led 22-4. For a team that had spent nearly two weeks searching for a win, the breakthrough had turned into an avalanche.

The bats quieted for a few innings, but only temporarily. In the eighth, High drove in another run with a single, Bottomley walked to load the bases, and Hafey delivered the Cardinals’ second grand slam of the game.

It was Hafey’s 21st home run of the season and the final blow in a 28-6 St. Louis victory.

The Cardinals’ 28 runs set a modern major league record, surpassing the 27 scored by the Cleveland Indians against Boston on July 7, 1923. The performance also stood for decades as the only game in Cardinals history in which the team hit two grand slams, until Tatis famously hit two in the same inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1999.

The numbers from the second game were staggering. St. Louis finished with 28 hits and nine walks. Hafey collected five hits, including two doubles and his grand slam, and drove in five runs. Douthit also had five hits and reached base seven times, adding two walks. Bottomley finished with four hits, two walks, and seven RBIs.

Even Frankhouse, whose sore thumb made for an uneven day on the mound, was part of the offensive barrage. He allowed six earned runs on 17 hits and three walks, but as the Cardinals’ No. 9 hitter, he went 4-for-6 with four RBIs and two runs scored.

It was a strange way to end a losing streak: ugly on the mound, brilliant at the plate, uncomfortable in the weather, and painful on the injury report.

The Cardinals did not escape the day unscathed. Walter Roettger injured his ankle and left the first game early. Clarence Jonnard was spiked in the leg. Earl Smith pulled a leg muscle. Selph sprained an ankle sliding into third base. Frankie Frisch, already favoring one leg because of a charley horse, pulled a muscle in the other.

Still, after 11 straight losses, the Cardinals had finally won.

On a miserable Philadelphia afternoon filled with heat, injuries, and frustration, the Cardinals produced one of the wildest offensive explosions baseball had ever seen.

Give the gift of Cardinals history! The Trades That Made The St. Louis Cardinals is now available on Amazon.

The post Cardinals hit two grand slams in the same game: 7/6/1929 first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

The 6-foot, 190-pounder from Clayton, Ohio, recorded just one out in his season debut, and while he righted the ship with three wins in May, Haines appeared to be wilting in the summer heat. Heading into his July 17 start against the Boston Braves, the future Hall of Famer was just 4-12 on the season and had lost his last three decisions.

On July 17, 1924, however, Haines dominated a Braves lineup that ranked third in the National League, earning his place in history as the first pitcher in franchise history to throw a no-hitter.

“Haines had greater speed than I have ever found him using before,” Cardinals catcher Miguel Gonzales said. “His fast one had a bit of a jump, and he had pretty good control.”[1]

Haines’ masterpiece took place before a packed house at Sportsman’s Park, though the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Dent McSkimming wrote that the crowd was unusually apathetic to the events of the day, as many were there for festivities benefiting the St. Louis Tuberculosis Society.

“It so happened that a great majority of the 15,000 persons who attended yesterday’s game were not fans and probably a majority did not realize and certainly did not appreciate the fact that they were being treated to a unique sight,” McSkimming wrote. “The annual Tuberculosis day festivity had attracted a very colorful and happy gathering to Sportsman’s Park, and the ladies did give passing attention to the ball game. But as the hour grew late, they grew restless and seemed more interested in the band and to the mass of variegated color in the stand than in the game.”[2]

McSkimming did note, however, that by the seventh inning, even newcomers to the sport were caught up in the excitement.

Haines opened the game by retiring Gus Felix on a fly ball, then striking out Bill Cunningham and Casey Stengel. In the bottom half of the first, Rogers Hornsby gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead with an RBI single up the middle.

Haines retired the side in order in the second, then struck out Bob Smith and Mickey O’Neil in the third before walking opposing pitcher Tim McNamara. He ended the inning by retiring Gus Felix on a line drive to Hornsby at second base. Felix’s drive proved to be the Braves’ hardest hit of the game.

In the bottom of the third, Haines led off with a single to left field. Jack Smith laid down a bunt single down the first-base line to put runners on first and second, but Holm lined out to left field and Hornsby flied out to Braves third baseman Cotton Tierney in foul territory. With two outs, Jim Bottomley hit a fly ball to center field, but Felix misplayed the ball, allowing Haines to score and make it 2-0.

In the bottom of the fifth, Hornsby and Bottomley each singled and Specs Toporcer was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Gonzales. Gonzales scored Hornsby on a fielder’s choice, and Jimmy Cooney hit a two-run single to left to score Bottomley and Toporcer.

With a 5-0 lead, Haines retired his eighth consecutive batter in the top of the sixth before he again walked McNamara. With two outs, he walked Bill Cunningham before getting Stengel to hit a ground ball back to him for the final out of the inning.

Cunningham proved to be the Braves’ final baserunner, as Haines retired the next 10 batters he faced. Facing the top of the Boston lineup in the ninth, Haines retired Felix and Cunningham on fly balls, then got Stengel to ground out to Hornsby at second base for the final out of the game.

“Much as I need my base hits to earn my ham and eggs, I’m glad I didn’t do it,” Stengel admitted after the game. “That fellow had great stuff on the ball. Wonderful speed and pretty fair control. He deserves a lot of credit, and it doesn’t make any difference that he was pitching against Boston. We’re not the hardest-hitting team in the league, but we’re not the weakest either. Haines pitched a great game in my opinion.”[3]

Haines’ no-hitter is credited as the first no-hitter in Cardinals franchise history, though it was preceded in St. Louis baseball history. George Washington Bradley, pitching for the St. Louis Brown Stockings, held the Hartford Dark Blues hitless in an 1876 game for the first no-hitter in the history of the National League. In 1891, Ted Breitenstein of the American Association St. Louis Browns threw a no-hitter in his first professional start. After the collapse of the American Association at the end of the season, the Browns joined the National League, became the Perfectos in 1899, and ultimately became the St. Louis Cardinals in 1900.

Give the gift of Cardinals history! The Trades That Made The St. Louis Cardinals is available now on Amazon.

[1] Dent McSkimming, “Jess Haines Hurls No-Hit, No-Run Game Against Boston,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 18, 1924, Page 19.

[2] Dent McSkimming, “Jess Haines Hurls No-Hit, No-Run Game Against Boston,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 18, 1924, Page 19.

[3] Dent McSkimming, “Jess Haines Hurls No-Hit, No-Run Game Against Boston,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 18, 1924, Page 19.

The post Jesse Haines throws Cardinals’ first no-hitter: 7/17/1924 first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.