Few figures in the history of the St. Louis Cardinals embody the franchise’s identity quite like Mike Shannon. To generations of fans, his voice became synonymous with summer nights on the radio. But long before he became one of baseball’s most recognizable broadcasters, Shannon built a meaningful playing career as a versatile, team-first contributor on […]
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In the long and decorated history of the St. Louis Cardinals, few players combined talent, leadership, and consistency more completely than Ken Boyer. Yet outside St. Louis, his name is too often overlooked. Boyer won a National League Most Valuable Player Award, starred in a World Series, claimed five Gold Gloves, earned 11 All-Star selections,
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The St. Louis Cardinals have been shaped by iconic first basemen, but in the early 1960s, Bill White quietly delivered one of the most productive and defensively dominant stretches at the position in franchise history. With four .300 seasons, a 200-hit campaign, three 100-RBI years, and a championship in 1964, White’s Cardinals tenure stands as
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Outside of the Gateway Arch and Busch Stadium itself, there aren’t many St. Louis monuments as recognizable as the Stan Musial statue. Now a familiar meeting place for Cardinals fans, the statue was dedicated on August 4, 1968, as part of a daylong celebration of Musial’s incredible career. The $35,000 monument was paid for through
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When the Cardinals traded Vinegar Bend Mizell and Dick Gray to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Julian Javier and Ed Bauta, St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports editor Bob Broeg had three questions: Why couldn’t the Cardinals get more for Mizell? Who was going to pitch for the Cardinals now? And who in the world was Javier?[1] As
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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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When August A. Busch Jr. fired general manager Bing Devine in August 1964, it seemed all but certain that Cardinals manager Johnny Keane would soon join his former boss among the unemployed. When Keane and the Cardinals surprised everyone by surging to their first World Series championship in 18 years, Busch decided to keep his
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Exactly one year after Mike Shannon made his major league debut, he launched the first home run of his career in a 4-0 win over the Chicago Cubs. A St. Louis native who played his high school football and baseball at Christian Brothers College (CBC) High School and his college ball at the University of
Mike Shannon hits his first career home run (9/11/1963) Read More »
On April 9, 1964, the Cardinals traded outfielder Gary Kolb and catcher Jim Coker to the Milwaukee Braves to acquire Mr. Baseball himself, Bob Uecker. A backup catcher throughout his two seasons in St. Louis, Uecker was a member of the Cardinals’ 1964 World Series championship club. Though Uecker didn’t appear in the postseason, starting
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Amid a cloud of rumor and innuendo, Anheuser-Busch effectively fired Harry Caray as their St. Louis Cardinals broadcaster on October 9, 1969. Caray, a St. Louis native who attended Webster Groves High School, had been the Cardinals’ play-by-play man even longer than Anheuser-Busch had owned the team, dating back to 1945, when Griesedieck Brothers brewery
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