The 29-year-old Weaver was a Tigers first-round draft pick in 1998 and made his major-league debut the following season, making 29 starts for a Tigers team that won just 69 games. In more than three seasons in Detroit, Weaver went 39-51 with a 4.33 ERA before the Tigers sent him to the Yankees in a three-team trade that also included the Athletics.

Weaver pitched two seasons with the Yankees before he was traded to the Dodgers in a deal that sent Kevin Brown to New York. After winning 27 games in two seasons with the Dodgers, Weaver signed with the Angels ahead of the 2006 season. However, the California native struggled, going just 3-10 with a 6.29 ERA before the Angels designated him for assignment on June 30 and replaced him in the rotation with his younger brother, Jared Weaver.

“Maybe I was throwing too many strikes,” Jeff Weaver said. “I was getting hurt quite a bit on 0-2 pitches. … When I got into trouble, it was always the three-run home run or something like that. My damage control was pretty poor.”[1]

On July 5, the Angels traded Weaver to the Cardinals for minor-league outfield prospect Terry Evans and cash considerations. To make room for Weaver, the Cardinals designated Sidney Ponson for assignment.

“Thursday’s trade for the decidedly unremarkable Jeff ‘The Wrong’ Weaver … epitomized what might be the fate of the slightly imperfect ’06 Cardinals,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bryan Burwell wrote. “… Weaver is just the latest low-risk, low-budget quick fix for a Cardinals team that’s now clearly in transition.”[2]

Others, however, were more positive about the move.

“Duncan’s overall success rate with fading veterans is superb,” fellow Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz wrote. “That’s why we expect to see Jeff Weaver improve in St. Louis.”[3]

Miklasz’s column also quoted Christina Kahrl from The Baseball Prospectus, who wrote, “Considering that Weaver’s 29 and in relatively good repair, and that he’s coming back to the DH-free league where he enjoyed solid success, it’s easy to see that this could be the move that secures the Cardinals’ bid for the playoffs.”[4]

Weaver went 5-4 with a 5.18 ERA in 15 regular-season starts for the Cardinals. In the postseason, however, Weaver pitched his best, throwing five shutout innings in Game 2 of the NLDS against the Padres and holding the Mets to two runs over six innings in Game 5 of the NLCS. Though he lost his World Series Game 2 start against the Tigers, allowing three runs in five innings, he entered Game 5 with a 2.43 ERA for the postseason.

Meanwhile, Verlander had enjoyed a breakthrough regular season but struggled in the postseason. The Virginia native went 17-9 with a 3.63 ERA in his first full season in the majors, winning Rookie of the Year honors and placing seventh in the Cy Young Award voting. Despite his regular-season success, Verlander entered the contest with a 7.47 ERA through three postseason starts.

With his team on the brink of elimination, Verlander walked three batters in the first inning before escaping the jam with the bases loaded. One inning later, however, the Cardinals scored the game’s first run.

Catcher Yadier Molina opened the second inning with a single up the middle before So Taguchi advanced him to second with a sacrifice bunt. Molina advanced to third when Weaver grounded out to Tigers shortstop Carlos Guillen, then scored on an infield single by David Eckstein.

The Tigers took the lead in the top of the fourth when Sean Casey homered for the second night in a row, a two-run shot that gave Detroit a 2-1 lead.

It didn’t last long. In the Cardinals’ next at-bat, Molina and Taguchi each singled. Weaver grounded the ball back to Verlander, but when Verlander tried to throw out Molina at third, his throw sailed wide, allowing Molina to score. Eckstein drove in his second run of the game – and gave St. Louis a 3-2 lead – when he grounded out to shortstop.

The Cardinals added an insurance run in the seventh when Scott Rolen hit an RBI single to right field that scored Eckstein.

Now holding a two-run lead, Weaver finished strong, striking out Craig Monroe and Guillen in a 1-2-3 eighth inning. With Adam Wainwright waiting to close out the game, Weaver’s night was complete after 99 pitches. Over eight innings, he struck out nine Tigers while holding them to one earned run on four hits and a walk.

“I owe it all to Walt Jocketty for bringing me over here and giving me the opportunity to play on a team that can win,” Weaver said. “I just wanted to make it work and everything fell into place.”[5]

Wainwright, who famously struck out Carlos Beltran to end the NLCS, needed to escape another jam in the ninth. With one out, Casey doubled and was replaced by pinch-runner Ramon Martinez. Wainwright retired Ivan Rodriguez on a ground ball back to the mound for the second out of the inning, but when former Cardinal Placido Polanco drew a six-pitch walk, it placed the tying run on first base and gave Tigers third baseman Brandon Inge the opportunity to put Detroit ahead with one swing of the bat.

However, Wainwright stood tall just as he had in the NLCS, striking out Inge on three pitches to end the game. Inge swung and missed at the final strike, an outside breaking ball that gave St. Louis its first World Series championship since 1982.

“I think we shocked the world,” center fielder Jim Edmonds said. “It’s an unbelievable experience.”[6]

The Cardinals’ 83 regular-season wins marked the fewest by a World Series winner.

“We had our ups and downs in the regular season, but we turned it around when we needed to,” first baseman Albert Pujols said.[7]

Molina finished the game 3-for-4 with two runs scored, while Eckstein went 2-for-4 with two RBIs. None of the Cardinals’ eight hits went for extra bases.

“The defense was great,” said manager Tony La Russa, who joined Sparky Anderson as the only managers to win World Series titles with both American and National League clubs. “The pitching was great. Timely hitting. The best bench I’ve had in a long time. They just refused to lose.”[8]

Eckstein, who hit just .195 in the NLDS and NLCS, went 8-for-22 with three RBIs and three runs scored in the World Series to win MVP honors.

“I think the No. 1 thing about Eckstein is that most people don’t really give him credit for the amount of talent he has,” Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. “He never misses a ground ball. They say, well, he doesn’t have a strong arm, but everybody is always out. And I think what happens is because he’s smaller in physical stature, everybody thinks that there’s this cute little kid, he doesn’t have a lot of talent, but a nice kid who plays hard and hustles. Believe me, there’s a lot more to this guy than that.”[9]

With two errors in Game 5, the Tigers finished with eight for the series, the most by one team in a World Series since 1956. The five errors committed by Detroit pitchers set a World Series record for the most by a pitching staff.[10]

“We didn’t play well enough,” Jim Leyland said. “There’s no excuse here. I don’t really know what the reasons were.”[11]

[1] Joe Strauss, “Cardinals dump Ponson to make room for Weaver,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 8, 2006.

[2] Bryan Burwell, “Face it, faltering Cards now are in rebuilding mode,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 7, 2006.

[3] Bernie Miklasz, “Duncan should receive credit, not scorn,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 8, 2006.

[4] Bernie Miklasz, “Duncan should receive credit, not scorn,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 8, 2006.

[5] Bob Dutton, “Cardinal Rule,” Kansas City Star, October 28, 2006.

[6] Ronald Blum (Associated Press), “A perfect 10,” Springfield News-Leader, October 28, 2006.

[7] Bob Dutton, “Cardinal Rule,” Kansas City Star, October 28, 2006.

[8] Ronald Blum (Associated Press), “A perfect 10,” Springfield News-Leader, October 28, 2006.

[9] Drew Sharp, “Series win assures La Russa’s legacy,” Detroit Free Press, October 28, 2006.

[10] Jon Paul Morosi, “Tigers fall apart in the field,” Detroit Free Press, October 28, 2006.

[11] Ronald Blum (Associated Press), “A perfect 10,” Springfield News-Leader, October 28, 2006.

The post Jeff Weaver Shines as Cardinals Clinch 2006 World Series first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

The second-year major-league shortstop was leading off for the Angels on June 18, 2002, the same day the Cardinals hosted a pregame memorial service in honor of broadcaster Jack Buck. Tragically, that game proved to be Darryl Kile’s final start, as the Cardinals right-hander passed away four days later.

“Just seeing that, seeing all those fans so close to the team, so supportive, and being right there to feel it all – it stays with you,” Eckstein said. “It’s an unbelievable feeling. St. Louis has such a rich history … and here’s an opportunity to go there and play for them. It’s just a great, great fit.”^[1]

One week after Edgar Renteria signed a four-year, $40-million contract with the Red Sox, the Cardinals signed Eckstein to a three-year, $10.25-million deal to become their new shortstop and leadoff hitter. Eckstein became available after the Angels signed free agent shortstop Orlando Cabrera.

“David was the player we focused on right away after Cabrera signed,” said John Mozeliak, the Cardinals’ assistant general manager. “Given the current free-agent market at shortstop, it pushed salaries higher, but we still felt this was a value signing for us.”[2]

Cardinals general manager Walt Jocketty, who was in Hawaii on vacation, initiated contract negotiations. He called Eckstein’s agent, Ryan Gleichowski, who was on a holiday cruise and had to be on land for his cell phone to work. Once Gleichowski was docked in Cozumel, Mexico, he and associate Marc Pollack finalized the work on a three-year contract that included a $250,000 signing bonus and annual salaries of $2.25 million, $3.25 million, and $4.5 million.[3]

“They were very aggressive,” Eckstein said. “They were pretty much the first team to call, and (Thursday) it really took off. … It was clear that this was a good fit. The best fit.”[4]

Eckstein, a former University of Florida walk-on, had been drafted by the Red Sox in the 19^th round of the 1997 draft and was selected by the Angels off waivers in August 2000. By 2001, Eckstein was in the majors, batting .285/.355/.357 and placing fourth in the American League Rookie of the Year voting.

In four seasons with the Angels, Eckstein hit .278/.347/.353. In 2002, the 5-foot-6, 170-pound shortstop hit three grand slams during the regular season and helped the Angels win the World Series, going 9-for-29 (.310) with six runs scored and three RBIs against the Giants.

In 2004, Eckstein hit .276/.339/.332 with two homers, 35 RBIs, and 16 stolen bases. He was the hardest player in the American League to whiff, striking out just 49 times in 566 at-bats, a rate of one ever 13 at-bats.

Though Eckstein didn’t have a strong arm at shortstop, he committed just six errors in 138 games in 2004 to lead major-league shortstops with a .988 fielding percentage.

“When people see me, I don’t really look like your typical pro athlete, but it means I always have to prove myself,” Eckstein said. “No matter what the situation, you have to prove yourself. I don’t want to lose that edge.”[5]

The Cardinals were counting on that edge to make Eckstein a new fan favorite.

“We felt this was the guy, the perfect fit for our club for a lot of reasons,” Jocketty said. “For his personality, for the way he goes about playing the game. He’s a gamer through and through. He’s the kind of player St. Louis will embrace, and I think he will become a cult hero with our fans. He’s a hustler.”[6]

Former Cardinals infielder Rex Hudler, who had become an Angels broadcaster after his playing days ended, was familiar with the kind of hard-nosed player Cardinals fans adored, having been one himself.

“Put it this way, I named my son after him,” Hudler said. “David Scott Hudler. And now ‘Eck’ is headed to St. Louis. It’s a perfect fit. It will be a beautiful relationship. He’s going to be revered as the new Huckleberry Finn of St. Louis and Missouri.”[7]

Eckstein enjoyed the best seasons of his career in St. Louis. Taking over as the Cardinals’ new leadoff hitter, Eckstein hit .294/.363/.395 in 2005. His eight home runs matched his career high, while his 61 RBIs was just two shy of his best season. He also scored 90 runs, stole 11 bases, and was selected to the All-Star Game for the first time in his career.

That postseason, Eckstein hit .385 (5 for 13) in the NLDS against the Padres with a home run and four RBIs. Facing the Astros in a six-game NLCS, Eckstein went just 4 for 20, but scored five runs and drove in two more.

Eckstein earned all-star honors again in 2006 on his way to a .292/.350/.344 batting line. Though he struggled in the NLDS and NLCS, batting just 8 for 41 (.191), he came alive in the World Series. After collecting just one hit in his first 11 World Series at-bats, he went 7 for his next 11 to finish the series with a .364 average. In Game 4, he went 4-for-5 with three doubles to spark the Cardinals’ 5-4 win. Eckstein added two more hits and drove in a pair of runs in the decisive Game 5 victory.

Eckstein played one more season in St. Louis before signing as a free agent with the Blue Jays. In three seasons with the Cardinals, he hit .297/.357/.375 with 216 runs scored, 13 homers, and 115 RBIs.

The remainder of Eckstein’s career took him from Toronto to Arizona and San Diego. After Eckstein sat out the 2011 season, the Cardinals invited him to throw out the first pitch ahead of World Series Game 6. He officially retired in January 2012 with a career .280 batting average, 701 runs scored, and 123 stolen bases.

“My passion is baseball,” Eckstein said. “I’ll be around it, always, in some sort. At the end of the day, I know this: whatever I decide to do is going to be what’s best for me and my family. I can’t tell right now what that is. Life always throws you curveballs.”[8]

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[1] Derrick Goold, “Cards sign SS Eckstein,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, December 24, 2004.

[2] “Cardinals pencil in Eckstein to play shortstop,” Belleville News-Democrat, December 24, 2004.

[3] Derrick Goold, “Cards sign SS Eckstein,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, December 24, 2004.

[4] Derrick Goold, “Cards sign SS Eckstein,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, December 24, 2004.

[5] Derrick Goold, “Cards sign SS Eckstein,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, December 24, 2004.

[6] Derrick Goold, “Cards sign SS Eckstein,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, December 24, 2004.

[7] Bernie Miklasz, “In Eckstein, Cards get a big return in small package,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, December 25, 2004.

[8] Derrick Goold, “Most Valuable Person,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 28, 2011.

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The post Why the Cardinals signed David Eckstein in December 2004 first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.