McGwire’s was the second of back-to-back home runs as the Cardinals defeated the Phillies 6-1 on August 8, 1997.

The Cardinals acquired McGwire from the A’s in exchange for Eric Ludwick, T.J. Mathews, and Blake Stein at the trade deadline on July 31, and since that time McGwire and the Cards had played in Philadelphia, New York, and Atlanta. The start of the Phillies series marked the beginning of a nine-game homestand and McGwire’s first opportunity to play at Busch Stadium.

McGwire had gone just 2-for-25 in his first seven games for the Cardinals, dropping his batting average from .284 at the time of the trade to .271. Nonetheless, the 38,300 Cardinals fans in attendance greeted McGwire with a standing ovation when he stepped into the batter’s box for his first Busch Stadium at-bat.

“Overwhelming,” McGwire said. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard a crowd so loud in a regular-season game.”^[1]

With runners on first and second, McGwire swung at the first pitch from Phillies starter Mark Leiter and popped up to shallow right field. With McGwire retired, Delino DeShields and Ron Gant pulled off a double steal, and both runners scored when Gary Gaetti smashed a ground ball past rookie third baseman Scott Rolen and into left field. The play was ruled an error on Rolen.

“I know it was scored an error, but that ball was smoked,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said.[2]

Ray Lankford, a late addition to the lineup after suffering a hamstring injury more than a week earlier, hit a solo home run in the third inning before McGwire stepped to the plate for his second at-bat. This time, the big man hit a line-drive home run off the left-field foul pole, ending his streak of 71 at-bats without a home run.

“It had been a while,” McGwire said. “It just felt good to hit a ball squarely.”[3]

“It was beautiful,” Cardinals starting pitcher Donovan Osborne said. “It’s amazing to watch that guy hit. It’s nice to see.”[4]

The crowd continued to cheer until McGwire climbed the dugout steps for a curtain call.

“Believe me, I will never forget this night,” McGwire said. This was a feeling I’ve never experienced.”[5]

“They’re pretty impressive fans,” Phillies manager Terry Francona said. “I’m not talking as someone trying to beat the Cardinals. I’m talking as someone who likes baseball.”[6]

The Phillies scored an unearned run in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Mike Lieberthal. It was Philadelphia’s only run of the game as Osborne allowed just three hits over seven innings. He struck out six without walking any.

Just five days earlier, the Phillies had jumped on Osborne with eight earned runs in three innings.

“The difference between this game and the last one for me was that nothing I threw last time was working and everything I threw this time was,” Osborne said.[7]

Curtis King and John Frascatore each pitched scoreless innings to complement Osborne’s best performance of the season.

In the eighth inning, the Cardinals added a pair of insurance runs off reliever Reggie Harris. David Bell brought a run home with an infield single and rookie center fielder Scarborough Green, another Cardinal making his Busch Stadium debut, added an RBI single into center field. Green was a graduate of Lafayette High School in Wildwood, Mo., the same high school that produced David Freese, Ryan Howard, and Luke Voit.

Gant, Lankford, Mike Difelice, and Bell each had two hits apiece for the Cardinals, who finished with 12 for the day.

Leiter took the loss for Philadelphia, allowing two earned runs over seven innings.

The game sparked McGwire, who hit 24 homers and drove in 42 runs in his 51 games with the Cardinals that season.

On September 16, inspired by the reception he had received in St. Louis, McGwire signed a three-year, $28 million contract with an $11 million option for a fourth year.[8] Just hours after the deal was announced, McGwire hit his 52^nd home run of the season, a 517-foot blast that tied him with Ken Griffey Jr. for the major league lead.

McGwire cemented his place in history with his 70-home run season in 1998, which set a new Major League Baseball single-season home run record. In 2010, prior to being hired as the Cardinals’ hitting coach, McGwire admitted that he used steroids at various points in his career, including during the 1990s and the 1998 season.

“I’m sure people will wonder if I could have hit all those home runs had I never taken steroids,” McGwire said. “I had good years when I didn’t take any, and I had bad years when I didn’t take any. I had good years when I took steroids, and I had bad years when I took steroids. But no matter what, I shouldn’t have done it and for that I’m truly sorry.”^[9]

In 4 ½ seasons in St. Louis, McGwire hit 220 home runs, giving him 583 for his career. Over the course of his career, he was named to the All-Star Game 12 times, won three Silver Slugger awards, and won a Gold Glove in 1990.

Give the gift of Cardinals history! The Trades That Made the St. Louis Cardinals is available now on Amazon.

[1] Mike Eisenbath, “Cards Roll In McGwire’s Home(r)coming,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 9, 1997.

[2] Mike Eisenbath, “Cards Roll In McGwire’s Home(r)coming,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 9, 1997.

[3] Jim Salisbury, “McGwire helps muscle St. Louis past the Phillies,” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 9, 1997.

[4] Mike Eisenbath, “Cards Roll In McGwire’s Home(r)coming,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 9, 1997.

[5] Jim Salisbury, “McGwire helps muscle St. Louis past the Phillies,” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 9, 1997.

[6] Jim Salisbury, “McGwire helps muscle St. Louis past the Phillies,” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 9, 1997.

[7] Mike Eisenbath, “Cards Roll In McGwire’s Home(r)coming,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 9, 1997.

[8] Rick Hummel, “‘I’m Proud To Be A Cardinal,’ McGwire Says,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 17, 1997.

[9] “McGwire apologizes to La Russa, Selig,” ESPN.com, www.espn.com/mlb/news/story?id=4816607.

The post Mark McGwire homers in Busch Stadium debut: August 8, 1997 first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

The Cardinals entered the day with a 72-65 record, trailing the National League Central Division-leading Astros by 1 ½ games and the third-place Cubs by three games. Heading into the contest, the biggest news wasn’t in relation to the game itself, but two attendees in the stands – Republican Party presidential candidate Bob Dole and his running mate, Jack Kemp.

Left-hander Donovan Osborne, a 1990 first-round draft pick who entered the game with an 11-8 record and a 3.14 ERA, was starting the game for the Cardinals. Osborne’s 11 wins matched the career high he had set as a rookie in 1992, when he placed fifth in the Rookie of the Year voting. The Astros were countering with Darryl Kile, who entered with a 10-8 record and 4.17 ERA.

Neither pitcher would last deep into the game.

The Astros jumped on Osborne from the start. Brian Hunter led off with a line-drive single to left, and Jeff Bagwell pulled a double into left field to drive him home. With two outs, third baseman Sean Berry doubled down the left-field line to score Bagwell, and James Mouton hit an RBI single to right to make the score 3-0.

Smith and McGee got the Cardinals on the scoreboard in the bottom half of the inning. Smith led off with a double to left field, and McGee hit an RBI single to left that scored Smith and cut the Astros’ lead to 3-1.

One inning later, Osborne hit an RBI double and Smith brought home a run on an RBI groundout to tie the score.

However, Osborne ran into trouble again in the fourth inning. Berry led off the inning with a solo home run to left field, and Ricky Gutierrez added an RBI single. Two batters later, Cardinals manager Tony La Russa brought in Mark Petkovsek, who allowed a two-run single to Bagwell to give the Astros a 7-3 lead.

“You knock Donovan out, and you’re up 7-3 in the fourth, you feel things are going your way,” Bagwell said. “It seemed like we’d get a nice, easy win but it didn’t work out that way.”[1]

The 41-year-old Smith once again answered in the bottom half of the inning, this time with a two-run home run to right field that made the score 7-5.

Rich Batchelor held the Astros scoreless in the fifth and sixth innings. With one out in the bottom of the sixth, McGee hit an RBI single to pull the Cardinals back within a run.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Cardinals tied the score once again on an RBI double by Lankford. Dennis Eckersley worked around a leadoff single by Hunter for a scoreless ninth inning, and after Tony Fossas got the first two outs in the 10^th, La Russa called on Alan Benes to record the final out. The last time Benes had come out of the bullpen, he was pitching at Creighton University.

“It’s just a great feeling being able to be part of a big win like that,” Benes said. “I was told that if we happened to get into a situation where we played a couple of extra innings, or we used a lot of pitchers, it was possible I would have to get in there. I had a couple of days before my next start.”[2]

With Doug Brocail on the mound for the Astros in the bottom half of the 10^th, Alicea led off with a single. Danny Schaeffer tried to bunt Alicea to second base, but Bagwell pounced on the bunt and threw out the lead runner. La Russa then called upon Miguel Mejia to pinch-run. With Smith at the plate, Mejia stole second to get into scoring position with one out. Smith came through with a single into left, but Mouton threw Mejia out at the plate to keep the Astros’ hopes alive.

“He took a hellaciously wide turn (around third base),” La Russa said of Mejia. “I guarantee you that tomorrow afternoon about 4 o’clock, he’ll be working on his turns. He was probably closer to the guys in the third-base dugout than he was to the third-base coach. Mouton made a great play and a great throw, but on a ground-ball single, a guy who runs like the wind should score.”[3]

Smith had advanced to second on the play, so the Cardinals still had a runner in scoring position.

“When we were losing early, Willie and Ozzie kept telling us to keep fighting and keep competing,” right fielder Brian Jordan said. “They said it would boil down to the last inning. … When I saw Ozzie get to second base, I had a feeling someone was going to be a hero.”[4]

That someone would be McGee. With two outs in the inning, Brocail intentionally walked Lankford to face the 37-year-old veteran even though he already had three hits on the day. That proved to be a mistake.

As McGee stepped to the plate, Lankford saw McGee scratch his head. Then he scratched his head again. Lankford smiled.

“Any time Willie scratches his head, he’s locked in,” Lankford explained. “When I saw him scratch his head a second time, I knew he was going to come through.”[5]

McGee lined a single into left that scored Smith and gave the Cardinals the 8-7 victory. It was McGee’s fourth single and third RBI of the day. For Smith, it was the fourth time he had scored that day, including the three times McGee drove him home.

“It was outstanding competition,” La Russa said. “We’ve played this club five times with first place at stake. There hasn’t been a bad game yet.”[6]

At the end of the game, Smith was batting .294 with a .368 on-base percentage (OBP) for the season. McGee was batting .302 with a .342 OBP.

Amidst a feud with La Russa regarding his playing time, Smith had announced earlier in the season that the 1996 season would be his last.

“I’m going out, hopefully, the way I came in,” Smith said. “I’ve always tried to respect this game. I’ve given my all each and every day. Given the opportunity, I could probably still play another two or three years – given the opportunity. All I can ask for is the opportunity. Willie and I are doing what we know we can do and have been asked to do.”[7]

With the win, the Cardinals pulled within half a game of the Astros. They went on to sweep the three-game series as part of an eight-game win streak that catapulted the team into first place.

September proved a month to forget for the Astros, as a nine-game losing streak that ran September 13-24 allowed the Cardinals to open a lead that reached as many as seven games in the final days of the season.

After capturing the National League Central Division crown, the Cardinals swept the National League West champion Padres before falling to the Braves in a seven-game National League Championship Series.

Give the gift of Cardinals history! The Trades That Made The St. Louis Cardinals is available now on Amazon.

[1] Rick Hummel, “Another Benes Plays Both Ends,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 3, 1996: Page C5.

[2] Rick Hummel, “Another Benes Plays Both Ends,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 3, 1996: Page C5.

[3] Rick Hummel, “Another Benes Plays Both Ends,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 3, 1996: Page C5.

[4] Mike Eisenbath, “McGee Can Run (& Hit) But He Can’t Hide,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 3, 1996: Page C5.

[5] Mike Eisenbath, “McGee Can Run (& Hit) But He Can’t Hide,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 3, 1996: Page C5.

[6] Rick Hummel, “Golden Oldies,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 3, 1996: Page C1.

[7] Rick Hummel, “Golden Oldies,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 3, 1996: Page C1.

The post Ozzie Smith, Willie McGee spark Cardinals’ comeback: 9/2/1996 first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.