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 …
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 …
Why Harry Caray was fired as Cardinals broadcaster Read More »
Busch Stadium II had one heck of an opening night. Even before Lou Brock singled to drive home the game-winning run in a 4-3, 12-inning victory over the Braves, the stadium alone was enough to delight the St. Louis crowd. “This is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen,” declared Mrs. Claudia Hanebrink of …
The biggest moment of Ken Boyer’s career came with his brother Clete just a few feet away, playing third base for the Yankees on the game’s biggest stage. Down two games to one in the 1964 World Series, with the Yankees ahead 3-0 in Game 4, Boyer pulled a grand slam just inside the left-field …
October 11, 1964: Ken Boyer’s grand slam wins Game 4 of the World Series Read More »
Tim McCarver was just an 18-year-old out of Memphis, Tennessee, when the New York Yankees came calling. To recruit the catching prospect, the Yankees called upon no less an authority than Bill Dickey, the Hall of Fame catcher who won 11 World Series titles over a 17-year career. Dickey gave McCarver a brand-new mitt and …
October 12, 1964: Tim McCarver’s extra-inning homer wins World Series Game 5 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 »
The Boston Red Sox and their fans weren’t afraid to give the Cardinals a little extra motivation heading into Game 7 of the 1967 World Series. Knowing that Game 7 would match Cardinals ace Bob Gibson against Red Sox ace Jim Lonborg, Boston first baseman George Scott predicted that Gibson wouldn’t “survive five” innings.[1] Earlier …
On October 7, 1969, the St. Louis Cardinals made the most impactful trade in the history of Major League Baseball when they agreed to send Curt Flood, Tim McCarver, Byron Browne, and Joe Hoerner to the Philadelphia Phillies for Dick Allen, Jerry Johnson, and Cookie Rojas. Flood refused to report to the Phillies. Instead, he …
By 1967, Bob Gibson already had established himself as one of the fiercest competitors in baseball. On July 15, he cemented that reputation when he pitched to three batters with a broken leg before finally snapping the bone entirely. Less than three months later, he won the World Series MVP Award, leading the Cardinals to …
July 15, 1967: Bob Gibson faces three Pirates with a broken leg Read More »
