Remembering the St. Louis Cardinals of Yesteryear
In the end, it wasn’t backup catcher Steve Lake’s game-tying, two-run home run in the ninth inning that impressed him the most. It wasn’t Jack Clark’s game-winning RBI single. It was the thousands of Cardinals fans still cheering on their Redbirds when the final pitch of a rain-delayed doubleheader was finally thrown at 3:01 a.m.…
On almost any other day, Willie McGee would have been the star of the game. On June 23, 1984, Willie McGee became the first Cardinal since Lou Brock in 1975 to hit for the cycle, driving in six runs and scoring three times. Nonetheless, the game will forever be known as “the Ryne Sandberg game”…
It was fitting that Vince Coleman’s first career home run was of the inside-the-park variety. On May 21, 1985, the rookie outfielder hit his first career homer, Willie McGee stole three bases, and Ricky Horton threw 3 2/3 scoreless innings of relief to lift the Cardinals to a 6-3 win over the Braves. The Cardinals…
After Joaquin Andujar held the Atlanta Braves to one run in a complete-game mound effort and supported his own cause with a grand slam, Cardinals shortstop Ozzie Smith had to admit that he was disappointed. “There’s no way we can get on him now,” Smith said. “We like to give him trouble, but there’s nothing…
Desperate to bolster their relief corps, the Cardinals purchased the rights to future Hall of Famer Jim Kaat from the Yankees on April 30, 1980. The three-time all-star and 16-time Gold Glove Award winner played the final four seasons of his career in St. Louis, including 62 appearances as a valuable bullpen piece for the…
Less than a week before the start of the 1982 season, Whitey Herzog found himself with more pitchers than he had roster spots. To alleviate the roster jam, the Cardinals made a trade to acquire a reliever who specialized in getting out of jams. On April 1, 1982, the Cardinals traded swingman Bob Shirley to…
With no guarantees that they would be able to re-sign all-star shortstop Ozzie Smith before the end of the season, the Cardinals needed a secret weapon. They got exactly that on April 2, 1985, when they traded shortstop Angel Salazar and minor-league pitcher John Young to the Mets for shortstop Jose Oquendo and minor-league reliever…
Heading into the 1987 season, Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog felt that his club needed a top-flight catcher to make a push for the National League pennant. On April 1, he got the backstop he coveted, trading right fielder and corner infielder Andy Van Slyke, catcher Mike LaValliere, and minor-league pitcher Mike Dunne to the Pirates…
For years, Cardinals scouts had believed in Jose DeLeon’s potential. On February 9, 1988, the team gambled on that potential, trading center fielder Lance Johnson, left-handed pitcher Ricky Horton, and an estimated $100,000 to the White Sox to obtain the 27-year-old right-hander. Negotiations for the right-hander had begun back in back in November, but Cardinals…
After 33 years, Red Schoendienst and Stan Musial were roommates once again – this time in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. On February 28, 1989, Hall of Fame president Ed Stack called Schoendienst to share the good news that the 10-time all-star had been elected to the Hall of Fame by the veterans committee.…