The Cardinals drafted McEwing almost eight years earlier in the 28^th round of the 1992 draft. The 783^rd player selected, McEwing had a long road to the majors and didn’t make his MLB debut until 1998, when he appeared in 10 games. He had just four hits that season, but one of those hits came on September 28, just before Mark McGwire hit his 70^th home run of the season.

In 1999, McEwing opened the year on the Cardinals’ big-league roster and appeared in each of their first 27 games, playing primarily second base but also appearing at third base, center field, right field, and even first base. In June, he began a 25-game hit streak and was hitting above .300 as late as July 28. He finished the year with a .275 average, nine homers, 44 RBIs, and seven stolen bases.

Even as the Cardinals finished fourth in the NL Central, St. Louis fans embraced McEwing. He garnered the nicknames “Super Joe” and “Little Mac,” and Busch Stadium even had a “Little Mac” section in the lower left-field seats early in the season, similar to the “Big Mac” section above it on the upper deck.

“McEwing represented what baseball players used to be – or at least our romanticized ideal of what we think they should be,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz wrote. “He was honored to wear the uniform. He would have paid the Cardinals to let him play. In this era of cynicism and greed, we embrace a Joe McEwing and his old-school values.”[2]

Heading into the 2000 season, however, McEwing appeared destined to return to the minor leagues. With six bench spots available, outfielders Craig Paquette and Thomas Howard appeared to be locks alongside the backup catcher. With Shawon Dunston, Brian McRae, Eduardo Perez, Placido Polanco, and Larry Sutton also angling for jobs, it looked as though McEwing was headed to Triple-A Memphis.

“We had a meeting this morning with (manager Tony La Russa) and his staff, and it would have been tough for Joe to make the club based on what we’ve seen this spring and the other candidates,” Cardinals general manager Walt Jocketty said.[3]

As the Cardinals eyed a crowded bench, they found themselves short of left-handed relief when Scott Radinsky suffered a setback in his return from elbow surgery. With Radinsky unable to start the season, the Cardinals set their sights on 42-year-old Jesse Orosco.

The Mets first asked for starting pitcher Garrett Stephenson in return, but Jocketty was unwilling to deal the 28-year-old righthander. The Mets countered by asking for McEwing, and said that if he wasn’t available either, they would deal Orosco somewhere else.[4] Jocketty opted to make the deal.

“I told Joe one of the toughest parts of this job was to tell a player he’s been traded, especially someone … who’s so well-liked and been a Cardinal his whole career,” Jocketty said. “But we needed a lefthander. With the uncertainty of Radinsky, we had to act quickly.”[5]

“Part of the – I use the word joy – that you have coming to the ballpark is you know you’re going to watch Joe come into the clubhouse, and interact in here, and do what he does out there,” La Russa said. “And you just lost part of why you enjoy your day. What you have to weigh against it is when we play the game, we don’t enjoy getting beat because we have a need we could address. So that’s what it came down to.”[6]

“It’s one of the hardest (trades) I’ve ever had to deal with,” said Buddy Bates, who had been the team’s equipment manager since 1983 and a batboy before that. “Keith Hernandez, Bob Forsch, those were tough. But this one is right there.”[7]

McEwing was expected to begin the season in the Mets’ minor-league system, then play a utility role when called up.

“I’m going to a good situation,” McEwing said. “We have a very good chance to play in October, and I’ve got to take advantage of it.”[8]

Meanwhile, the Cardinals were obtaining a veteran reliever who debuted in 1979 and was set to pitch in his fourth decade. St. Louis had drafted Orosco in the seventh round of the January 1977 draft out of Santa Barbara City College, but was unable to sign him.

Orosco’s best seasons came in the 1980s during his first stint with the Mets. In 1983, he placed third in the Cy Young Award voting with a 1.47 ERA and 17 saves over 110 innings. He was named an All-Star in 1983 and 1984 and threw the final pitch of the Mets’ 1986 World Series championship. He was also on the mound when Tom Herr hit his game-winning grand slam on Seat Cushion Night in 1987.

With 1,090 appearances, he had pitched in more major-league games than anyone in baseball history and had never been sent to the disabled list.

“I’m very fortunate,” Orosco said.[9]

“Maybe he’s just got elastic bands for rotator cuffs,” said lefthander Paul Spoljaric.[10]

In 1999 with the Orioles, he threw 32 innings, posting a 5.34 ERA. That December, the Orioles traded him to the Mets for Chuck McElroy, but as the spring progressed, there didn’t appear to be space for Orosco in the New York bullpen.

“We feel he can be an effective pitcher against a left-handed hitter, and we really don’t have that specialist right now,” pitching coach Dave Duncan said. “I know our left-handed hitters don’t like to hit off him, never have, and that’s a good way to measure a guy.”[11]

Cardinals outfielder Eric Davis had played alongside Orosco with the Orioles in 1998.

“You don’t pitch as long as he’s pitched without being consistent,” Davis said. “He’s a tremendous competitor as well as a teacher. … He’s amazing.”[12]

Several teams had been interested in acquiring Orosco, Jocketty said. In particular, there were rumors that Orosco might go to the Dodgers, whose manager, Davey Johnson, and general manager, Kevin Malone, were with Orosco in Baltimore.[13]

“Jesse is a guy who has great experience, and despite his age, is still very productive,” Jocketty said. “We jumped at the opportunity to get him. Jesse was being sought after by several clubs, and we felt this was a good way to add quality depth to our bullpen.”[14]

Orosco said he had heard that he might be dealt to the Tigers.

“It got narrowed down to certain teams,” he said. “Then I heard Detroit and said, ‘Oh, no, I don’t want to go there.’”[15]

Orosco was, however, excited to pitch in St. Louis.

“When you’re traded from one contending team, you hope to fall into another contending team, and I think this has worked out,” he said. “Any time you have a chance to go to a contender, you have to be happy about that. Hopefully, I’m the piece to that puzzle that they needed in the bullpen.”[16]

Unfortunately, Orosco’s streak of 21 big-league seasons without an appearance on the disabled list came to an end on April 9, when he went down with an elbow sprain. The injury plagued Orosco throughout the season, and he threw just 2 1/3 innings for the Cardinals. He signed with the Dodgers ahead of the 2001 season.

McEwing spent five years with the Mets on his way to a nine-year major-league career. Though he was never penciled in as a starter, he played at least 75 games each season, and in 2001, he hit .283 with eight homers, 30 RBIs, and eight stolen bases in just 283 at-bats.

After brief stints with the Royals and Astros and a season in the Red Sox minor-league system, McEwing retired in 2008 with a .251 career batting average. Later that year, he was hired as a hitting coach for the Charlotte Knights, the White Sox Triple-A team. Eventually, he climbed through the ranks to become the White Sox bench coach. In 2023, he returned to the Cardinals as the bench coach under manager Oliver Marmol. In November 2023, the Cardinals announced that he would serve as a special assistant to John Mozeliak, a role he held through the 2025 season.

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[1] Bernie Miklasz, “Though unpopular, trade of McEwing does make sense,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 20, 2000.

[2] Bernie Miklasz, “Though unpopular, trade of McEwing does make sense,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 20, 2000.

[3] Rick Hummel, “Cardinals’ need for a bullpen lefthander makes McEwing expendable,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 19, 2000.

[4] Rick Hummel, “McEwing is traded to the Mets for veteran lefthander Orosco,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 19, 2000.

[5] Rick Hummel, “McEwing is traded to the Mets for veteran lefthander Orosco,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 19, 2000.

[6] Joe Ostermeier, “Things won’t be the same without ‘original Cardinal’ Little Mac,” Belleville News-Democrat, March 19, 2000.

[7] Joe Ostermeier, “Things won’t be the same without ‘original Cardinal’ Little Mac,” Belleville News-Democrat, March 19, 2000.

[8] Joe Ostermeier, “Cards trade McEwing to Mets,” Belleville News-Democrat, March 19, 2000.

[9] Rick Hummel, “Orosco brings consistency to Cardinals bullpen,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 20, 2000.

[10] Rick Hummel, “Orosco brings consistency to Cardinals bullpen,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 20, 2000.

[11] Joe Ostermeier, “Cards trade McEwing to Mets,” Belleville News-Democrat, March 19, 2000.

[12] Rick Hummel, “Orosco brings consistency to Cardinals bullpen,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 20, 2000.

[13] Rick Hummel, “Orosco brings consistency to Cardinals bullpen,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 20, 2000.

[14] Joe Ostermeier, “Cards trade McEwing to Mets,” Belleville News-Democrat, March 19, 2000.

[15] Rick Hummel, “Orosco brings consistency to Cardinals bullpen,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 20, 2000.

[16] Rick Hummel, “Orosco brings consistency to Cardinals bullpen,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 20, 2000.

The post Why the Cardinals traded Super Joe McEwing in 2000 first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

Just two weeks after the Cardinals traded Kent Bottenfield and Adam Kennedy to acquire the two-time Gold Glove winner, Edmonds launched his first home run as a Cardinal in a 10-4 victory over the Cubs.

One day earlier, the Cardinals opened their season with a 7-1 win over Chicago at Busch Stadium. Batting fifth in the lineup behind Fernando Vina, Edgar Renteria, Ray Lankford, and Fernando Tatis, Edmonds drew a pair of walks and scored a run, though he went 0-for-3 in his Cardinals debut.

“I was disappointed,” he said. “I’m never satisfied with two walks and going 0-for-3. I’m a little happier tonight. … It felt good to contribute.”[1]

In the second game of the series, Edmonds and the Cardinals squared off against Jon Lieber, a 30-year-old left-hander who had gone 10-11 with a 4.07 ERA the previous season.

Cubs first baseman Mark Grace staked Lieber to an early lead with an RBI double off Pat Hentgen in the first inning, but the Cardinals roared back in the bottom of the inning. After Renteria doubled and Lankford singled, Tatis put the Cardinals on the board with a double that scored Renteria. Though Lankford was thrown out at home for the second out of the inning, Edmonds made his presence felt in the next at-bat. With his first hit of the young season, Edmonds sent a two-run homer over the left-field wall to give the Cardinals a three-run lead.

“I was just excited that I got a hit,” he said. “Getting a hit was important. It didn’t have to be a home run. After you get the first hit, you can relax a little bit and move on.”[2]

The Cubs scored in the second to pull within 3-2, but Edmonds struck once again in the third. This time, after Tatis reached on an error, Edmonds pulled a double into the right-field gap, scoring Tatis to make it 4-2.

Lankford hit his first home run of the season to lead off the bottom of the fifth. The blast moved him into fourth place on the Cardinals’ all-time home run list with 182, trailing only Stan Musial (475), Ken Boyer (255), and Rogers Hornsby (193).

“Wow, I didn’t know that,” Lankford said when he was informed by reporters.[3]

The Cardinals broke the game open in the seventh. After Cubs reliever Brian Williams allowed a single to Renteria and walked Tatis, the Cubs called upon left-hander Felix Heredia to create a match-up issue for the left-handed Edmonds.

It didn’t work.

Edmonds walked on five pitches and Heredia was replaced with Matt Karchner. Craig Paquette, in the lineup for an injured Mark McGwire, drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. Eric Davis hit a two-run double, and Mike Matheny added an RBI single. Rick Ankiel made it 10-3 with an RBI triple that scored Matheny.

“This is the way we expect it to be,” Edmonds said. “I don’t think we expect to score 10 runs every night, but I think we expect to be explosive and have a good offensive lineup.”[4]

In the ninth inning, the Cubs scored on a ground-ball double play to produce the final 10-4 score.

Hentgen, making his first Cardinals start, allowed three earned runs in 5 2/3 innings. Ankiel threw two scoreless innings of relief.

“By the third inning, (Hentgen) settled in and made a bunch of good pitches,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. “He was understandably excited, but you know when you send him out there that he’s a warrior.”[5]

“I had some adrenaline going, pitching for the first time with this organization,” Hentgen said. “What a big thrill. I feel honored to pitch on this team and this staff.”[6]

Lieber took the loss for the Cubs, allowing four earned runs on seven hits and two walks. He pitched five innings before Chicago used five relievers to pitch the final three frames.

“I just didn’t make the pitches to put guys away,” Lieber said. “It ended up burning me.”[7]

Edmonds finished the day 2-for-3 with two walks, two runs scored, and three RBIs. In 10 plate appearances as a Cardinal, he had reached base six times.

“I’m having a good time,” he said. “This is what I was expected to do.”[8]

The 2000 season proved Edmonds’ best to date, as he hit .295/.411/.583 with a career-high 42 homers, 108 RBIs, 129 runs scored, and 10 stolen bases. In addition to leading the team in home runs, RBIs, runs scored, and walks (103), Edmonds ranked second in hits (155), doubles (25), and OPS (.994). In addition to winning the third Gold Glove of his career, he was named a National League All-Star and placed fourth in the NL MVP voting.

With Edmonds leading the way, the 2000 Cardinals won the National League Central with a 95-67 record, then swept the Braves in a three-game NLDS.

Edmonds went on to play eight seasons with the Cardinals, establishing himself as part of the “MV3” alongside Albert Pujols and Scott Rolen and winning the 2006 World Series. During his tenure in St. Louis, he hit .285/.393/.555 with 241 home runs and 713 RBIs. He was inducted into the Cardinals Hall of Fame in 2014.

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[1] Mike Eisenbath, “First big day puts smile on Edmonds’ face,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 6, 2000.

[2] Joe Ostermeier, “Cardinals defeat Cubs again, 10-4,” Belleville News-Democrat, April 6, 2000.

[3] Rick Hummel, “Newcomers stand out as Cards rout Cubs,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 6, 2000.

[4] Joe Ostermeier, “Cardinals defeat Cubs again, 10-4,” Belleville News-Democrat, April 6, 2000.

[5] Rick Hummel, “Newcomers stand out as Cards rout Cubs,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 6, 2000.

[6] Rick Hummel, “Newcomers stand out as Cards rout Cubs,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 6, 2000.

[7] Teddy Greenstein, “Cards take full advantage of sluggish Cubs,” Chicago Tribune, April 6, 2000.

[8] Mike Eisenbath, “First big day puts smile on Edmonds’ face,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 6, 2000.

The post Jim Edmonds hits his first Cardinals home run: April 5, 2000 first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

The 36-year-old Clark had come to St. Louis at the trade deadline just three months earlier in exchange for minor-league third baseman Jose Leon. As part of the trade, the Orioles also assumed about half of Clark’s remaining salary for the season.^[1]

Clark filled in for Mark McGwire, who was battling patellar tendinitis in his right knee even as the Cardinals were battling for the National League Central Division championship. At the time of the trade, it was unclear whether McGwire would be able to return.

“We’re protecting ourselves in the event that that happens,” Cardinals general manager Walt Jocketty said. “There was a great deal of interest from Clark’s side to try to come here. He wanted to play on a winner.”^[2]

Even if the 36-year-old McGwire did return, the addition of the left-handed hitting Clark gave the Cardinals the opportunity to mix and match against opponents.

“Even when Mac comes back, maybe he comes back like spring training, where he plays one day and sits one day,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. “Maybe he and Clark could alternate. You could play Mac early and then put Will in.”^[3]

Ultimately, it proved to be a non-issue, as McGwire did not return. Instead, Clark, who had been selected by the Giants one pick ahead of McGwire in the 1984 draft, became the Cardinals’ everyday first baseman.

At the time of the trade, it had been more than seven years since Clark had appeared in an All-Star Game. After homering off Nolan Ryan in his first major-league at-bat and placing fifth in the Rookie of the Year balloting in 1986, Clark became a mainstay of the Giants teams in the late ’80s and early ’90s. In 1987, he placed fifth in the MVP voting with a .305 batting average, 35 homers, and 95 RBIs, then hit .360 against the Cardinals in the NLCS.

Two years later, Clark again led the Giants to the postseason. This time, after batting .333 with 23 homers, 111 RBIs, and a league-leading 104 runs scored during the regular season, Clark hit .650 against the Cubs in the NLCS. His two-run single in the eighth inning of NLCS Game 5 sent the Giants to the World Series, where they fell to La Russa’s Athletics in four games.

After the 1993 season, Clark signed as a free agent with the Rangers, where injuries took their toll on his career. In each of his first four seasons in Texas, he failed to exceed 123 games. Though he bounced back to hit .305 and drive in 102 runs in 1998, the Rangers allowed him to sign with Baltimore after the season.

In his debut season in Baltimore in 1999, Clark played in just 77 games, batting .303 with 10 homers and 29 RBIs. He was able to stay on the field in 2000, and at the time of the trade, he was hitting .301 with 28 RBIs in 256 at-bats.

In St. Louis, he was even better, batting .345 with 12 homers and 42 RBIs in just 197 plate appearances. With Clark providing a spark, the Cardinals won 95 games and beat the Reds by 10 games in the NL Central race.

In Game 2 of the NLDS, Clark hit a three-run, first-inning homer off Tom Glavine to help lead the Cardinals to a 10-4 win over the Braves. He added a solo home run off Bobby Jones in Game 4 of the NLCS against the Mets.

A few days after the Yankees defeated the Mets in the World Series, Clark announced the end of his 15-year major-league career. Two years earlier, Will and his wife Lisa’s 4-year-old son, Trey, was diagnosed with pervasive development disorder, a form of autism. In fact, two years earlier he had signed with Baltimore in part because it would place him close to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he could get Trey the best treatment in the nation.[4]

“I could have played a few more years, but I realized where I was needed most, and that was at home,” Clark said in 2015.[5]

In announcing his retirement, Clark said, “I just want to say thank you to the Cardinals organization for allowing me to have a lot, a lot of fun the last two months of the 2000 season. This is something that has taken a lot of thought process on my part, but I’ve decided to move on to the second part of my life. The first part, I was a baseball player. The second part, I’m going to be a daddy, a husband. I’m actually looking forward to it.”^[6]

Although McGwire was expected to return as the Cardinals’ first baseman in 2001, St. Louis had expressed an interest in bringing Clark back. Other teams were also interested. However, in addition to his family concerns, Clark had already had 36 bone chips removed from his left elbow over the course of three operations in the previous five years. Continuing his playing career would have required another elbow surgery.^[7] Instead, he chose to hang up his cleats and go out on top.

“Will, Michael Jordan, John Elway – there are only a few names you can think of who went out when they still had a lot left,” La Russa said. “That’s how rare it is. When it happens, most of the time it’s a combination of being real good and things breaking right.”

Clark had been a perfect for the clubhouse culture La Russa had built in St. Louis: ultra-competitive with just a bit of an edge to him.

“The first time I ever spoke to him, Clark started the conversation by saying, ‘That was a horsebleep column you wrote today,’” St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz said, recounting that he told Clark to get used to it and got a laugh out of the first baseman.^[8]

After being a rival in the late ’80s and even getting into an on-field scrap with Ozzie Smith in 1988, Clark was embraced during his 10 weeks as a Cardinal.

“After having been part of this organization, seeing the great fans and how great the organization is, I’m committed to the Cardinals,” Clark said. “I’m pretty much a loyalist. They’ve been loyal to me, so I will be loyal to them.”[9]

“That’s pretty dramatic, for Will to be here two months and two weeks and make a statement like that,” La Russa said.[10]

Ray Ratto, a columnist with the San Francisco Examiner, wrote that Clark’s final weeks with the Cardinals proved the perfect endcap to his career:

His decision to retire after only 2 ½ months as a St. Louis Cardinal made perfect sense, at least to those who knew his inner drives and torments. He needed to go out a .300 hitter, and he needed to go out as an impact player, the way he began 14 years ago. He needed to be on a good team, so that people wouldn’t forget that he once was just that important.

“It would have been tougher to retire (if he’d still been an Oriole), because of all the questions,” Clark said. “You know, ‘Can he still play?’ I think the last 2 ½ months answered those questions. I can still hit. I can still play. I can still field my position.”[11]

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[1] Joe Strauss, “Surhoff, Clark join exodus,” Baltimore Sun, August 1, 2000.

[2] Rick Hummel, “Cards stack deck, nab Clark on deadline,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 1, 2000.

[3] Rick Hummel, “Cards stack deck, nab Clark on deadline,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 1, 2000.

[4] Lloyd Courtney, “Where are they now: Will Clark focuses on family,” Shreveport Times, May 17, 2015.

[5] Lloyd Courtney, “Where are they now: Will Clark focuses on family,” Shreveport Times, May 17, 2015.

[6] Mike Eisenbath, “Clark goes out a Cardinal,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 3, 2000.

[7] Mike Eisenbath, “Clark goes out a Cardinal,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 3, 2000.

[8] Bernie Miklasz, “Congrats to Jocketty; now let’s make a deal,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 4, 2000.

[9] Mike Eisenbath, “Clark goes out a Cardinal,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 3, 2000.

[10] Mike Eisenbath, “Clark goes out a Cardinal,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 3, 2000.

[11] Ray Ratto, “Clark spotted his exit in the Cards,” San Francisco Examiner, November 3, 2000.

The post Will Clark retires as a Cardinal: November 2, 2000 first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

“I was not hurt. I was not afraid. I was not sick or distracted or particularly anxious,” he wrote 17 years later. “In game one of the National League Division Series, on a warm and sunny afternoon with a slight cross breeze, in front of exactly 52,378 people, including my mom, I stood on the mound at Busch Stadium, convinced I would be great. That it was my destiny.”[1]

Although Ankiel was preparing to face an Atlanta Braves lineup that won 95 games during the regular season and had future Hall of Famer Greg Maddux taking the mound opposite him, it was no surprise that Ankiel was confident. After all, the native of Port St. Lucie, Florida, had known nothing but success in his young career.

Just three years earlier, USA Today had named him its High School Player of the Year after he struck out 162 batters in 74 innings his senior season. He followed that success with Minor League Player of the Year awards from USA Today and Baseball America in 1999.[2] Ankiel entered the 2000 season as Baseball America’s No. 1-rated prospect and had lived up to expectations, going 11-7 with a 3.50 ERA as a rookie. In 175 innings, he had struck out 194 batters.

Now he was headed to the postseason. During the final weeks of the regular season, the Cardinals’ pitching staff was wearing down. Garrett Stephenson was battling soreness in his arm. Andy Benes battled the same in his knee. Pat Hentgen was tiring. That left Ankiel and staff ace Darryl Kile to carry the bulk of the postseason pitching load.

As Cardinals manager Tony La Russa and pitching Dave Duncan examined the postseason schedule, they came to a decision that haunted La Russa more than any other in his managerial career.[3] By starting Ankiel in Game 1, the Cardinals could pitch the rookie again in Game 4 on four days’ rest. Kile could then pitch Game 2 and, if necessary, Game 5 on just three days’ rest, a challenge the Cardinals felt the veteran was better equipped to manage.[4] The Braves were using a similar strategy, lining up Maddux to pitch Games 1 and 4 opposite Ankiel and Tom Glavine to pitch Games 2 and 5 against Kile.

The downside of the plan was that Ankiel, who at age 21 was the second-youngest pitcher to start Game 1 of a playoff series,[5] would face the added pressure of pitching against Maddux, who had won 19 games during the regular season and was starting his 24^th playoff game. The Cardinals had done everything they could to protect Ankiel from the pressure of the Game 1 start, even going so far as to send Kile to meet with the media the previous day, giving the impression that the veteran would start the opener.[6] La Russa called Braves manager Bobby Cox that evening to tell him that Ankiel, not Kile, was slated to start Game 1 for the Cardinals.[7]

Making Ankiel’s task even harder was the absence of veteran catcher Mike Matheny, who 11 days earlier cut his hand on a Bowie knife his brother sent him as a birthday gift. Instead, Carlos Hernandez, who was battling back tightness that led to surgery after the season,[8] was behind the plate.

Ankiel appeared to have routine playoff-debut jitters in the first inning. Fellow rookie Rafael Furcal led off the game with a single that just eluded a diving Jim Edmonds in the right-field gap. Ankiel struck out Andruw Jones on three pitches and Furcal was caught stealing for the second out, but Ankiel walked Chipper Jones and Andres Galarraga before finally getting Brian Jordan to hit a pop fly to first baseman Will Clark in foul territory.

The Cardinals’ lineup tried to provide Ankiel comfort in the bottom half of the inning. St. Louis’s first four hitters singled, Ray Lankford reached on an error, Edgar Renteria laid down a sacrifice bunt, and Hernandez received an intentional walk. With the bases loaded and one out, Placido Polanco singled through the middle, scoring Lankford and Renteria, and Hernandez scored on a throwing error after Braves catcher Paul Bako tried to throw Polanco out at second base. By the time Ankiel took the mound for the second inning, he had a 6-0 lead to work with.

Ankiel struck out Reggie Sanders on a high fastball to start the second inning, then benefitted from good fortune after Walt Weiss’s ground-rule double bounced over the right-field wall. Javier Lopez entered the game in place of Bako and lined a shot that appeared destined for left field, but Renteria dove to snag the ball and doubled up Weiss at second base.

Ankiel received no such luck in the third inning.

He walked Maddux to lead off the inning and jammed Furcal on an inside fastball to produce an infield pop fly. But on his 44^th pitch of the afternoon, Ankiel threw a curveball that dove into the dirt, skipping past Hernandez and back to the screen.

“I held on to the ball too long. Tried not to hang the curveball. Didn’t exactly trust it. Rushed it,” Ankiel wrote in his 2017 autobiography. “Instead of flicking the outer inches of the strike zone, I launched the pitch too far right. It came out of my hand, off my fingers, all wrong. Hernandez lunged to his left. The ball bounced near Jones’s feet and past Hernandez’s shoulder, and Maddux loped to second base. The ball hit the backstop. Hernandez chased it. And I stood near the front of the mound and watched all of it happen, sort of curious.”[9]

On the next pitch, Ankiel and Hernandez got crossed up, forcing Hernandez to awkwardly catch a curveball. The pitch after that hit the backstop on the fly.

“Boy, all of a sudden things have come unraveled here for Rick Ankiel,” ESPN broadcaster Buck Martinez said.[10]

Andruw Jones walked one pitch later. He advanced to second when Ankiel’s fifth pitch to Chipper Jones sailed over Hernandez, who had leaped into the air in a desperate attempt to corral the pitch. Ankiel struck Chipper Jones out on a nasty inside curveball, but one pitch later Hernandez needed to leap out of his crouch to prevent another fastball from reaching the backstop.

With Galarraga at the plate, Ankiel uncorked another heater well over Hernandez’s head, plating Maddux with his fourth wild pitch of the day. After Galarraga walked, Jordan singled to left field on the first pitch he saw. Sixteen years later at a Cardinals fantasy camp, Ankiel embraced Jordan and told him that the hug was his way of thanking him for swinging at that initial offering.[11]

During the game, however, the rookie found no such humor. Ankiel threw his fifth wild pitch of the inning before walking Jordan to load the bases. After Weiss singled to left field to score Galarraga and Jones, making the score 6-4, La Russa mercifully emerged from the dugout to rescue him.

Within the span of 20 pitches, five had reached the backstop, making Ankiel the first pitcher to throw five wild pitches in an inning since Bert Cunningham for the Buffalo Bisons of the Players League on September 15, 1890.[12]

“I guess at least I set a record,” Ankiel said after the game.[13]

Mike James retired Lopez for the final out of the inning, then threw two more scoreless innings to earn the win. Edmonds led off the Cardinals’ half of the fourth inning with a home run over the right-field wall, and from there the game was placed in the hands of the bullpen. Mike Timlin threw one scoreless inning, Britt Reames threw two, and Dave Veres worked around an unearned run to earn the save.

The Cardinals went on to sweep the best-of-five series, scoring 24 runs across three games, but their prized left-hander was never the same. In Game 2 of the National League Championship Series against the New York Mets, Ankiel threw just 2/3 of an inning, walking three and throwing two wild pitches.

In Game 5, with the Cardinals already trailing 6-0, La Russa tried Ankiel again. He again recorded just two outs, walking two batters and throwing two more wild pitches.

In the years to come, the Cardinals attempted a variety of solutions to get Ankiel back on track, even sending him down to rookie ball. None of it worked. Finally, in 2004, Ankiel told the Cardinals he was retiring. A few hours later, after a conversation between St. Louis general manager Walt Jocketty and Ankiel’s agent, Scott Boras, the Cardinals assigned Ankiel to the minors – as an outfielder.

Incredibly, Ankiel returned to St. Louis as an outfielder in 2007. In 190 plate appearances, he hit 11 home runs, then added 25 more in 2008. He played seven major-league seasons as an outfielder, where he played 536 of his 587 career games.

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[1] Rick Ankiel and Tim Brown, The Phenomenon: Pressure, the Yips, and the Pitch that Changed My Life (New York: Public Affairs Books, 2017), 6.

[2] “Rick Ankiel Awards,” Baseball-Almanac.com, https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/awards.php?p=ankieri01.

[3] Buzz Bissinger, 3 Nights in August (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005), Location 1313 (Kindle Edition).

[4] Bissinger, Location 1319 (Kindle Edition).

[5] Michael Lee, “Ankiel’s wild ride in third historic,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, October 4, 2000: G4.

[6] Bissinger, Location 1324 (Kindle Edition).

[7] Ankiel and Brown, 99.

[8] Ankiel and Brown, 140.

[9] Ankiel and Brown, 24.

[10] ESPN game broadcast, October 3, 2000, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVN_OCQJjRw.

[11] Ankiel and Brown, 28.

[12] “Did you know?” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 4, 2000: D6.

[13] Mike Eisenbath, “Cards first-game starter tries to shake off forgettable mark,” St. Louis Post Dispatch, October 4, 2000: D6.

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