“They were either under the influence of alcohol or they didn’t have watches,” Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog said.[1]

“It was the first time I ever got home and had the paper waiting for me,” added third-base coach Nick Leyva.[2]

The double-header was scheduled to begin at 5:35 p.m. on July 7 after the Cardinals and Dodgers had been rained out two months earlier. However, rain delayed the first pitch of the day until 7:57 p.m.[3]

Once play finally began, the Dodgers struck first. Third baseman Phil Garner hit a solo home run off Ricky Horton with one out in the second, and after Alex Trevino doubled to left field, Dodgers pitcher Tim Leary hit a two-out single that gave Los Angeles a 2-0 lead.

Willie McGee put the Cardinals ahead in the bottom of the third. Horton led off the inning with a double, but Vince Coleman popped up trying to bunt and Ozzie Smith flied out as well. With two outs, Leary walked Tom Herr and Clark, loading the bases. McGee cleared them with a double down the left-field line, putting the Cardinals ahead 3-2.

Horton, who made 61 of his 67 appearances that season in relief, lasted into the sixth inning, but left the game with the bases loaded and one out. Right-handed reliever Ken Dayley struck out Trevino for the second out, but with Steve Sax at the plate, he threw a wild pitch that allowed Pedro Guerrero to score before Mickey Hatcher was thrown out at home.

In the seventh, Dodgers center fielder John Shelby hit an RBI single off Todd Worrell to give the Dodgers a 4-3 lead. That advantage wouldn’t last long.

After retiring the first batter, Leary walked Coleman and Smith, and Dodgers skipper Tommy Lasorda turned to reliever Brian Holton to finish the inning. Holton, however, was undone by his defense. In consecutive at-bats, Hatcher misplayed a ground ball at first base, Ken Landreaux dropped a fly ball in left field, and Hatcher booted another ground ball, allowing the Cardinals to take a 5-4 lead.

Worrell worked around a leadoff triple by Sax in the ninth inning to earn his fourth win of the season. Leary took the loss for the Dodgers, falling to 1-4 on the season. After the game, Lasorda chased his clubhouse attendants away and shouted at his team from behind the locked clubhouse door.[4]

His efforts weren’t enough to inspire the Dodgers to a win in Game 2, though they again took an early lead against the Cardinals. Guerrero started the scoring with a first-inning sacrifice fly off Cardinals starter Lee Tunnell. Hatcher added RBI singles in the second and fourth innings to give Los Angeles a 3-0 lead.

The Cardinals rallied for two runs in the fifth. Dodgers starter Brad Havens, making his only start of the season and his first since 1985, held the Cardinals off the scoreboard through the first four innings, but was replaced by Alejandro Pena after Lake singled to lead off the fifth. Coleman drew a one-out walk before Smith hit an RBI single and Herr drove in another run on a sacrifice fly to left field.

From there, Pena shut the Cardinals’ offense down, and Shelby added an RBI double in the seventh to give the Dodgers a 4-2 lead. Los Angeles maintained that two-run advantage heading into the bottom of the ninth, when Terry Pendleton singled off reliever Matt Young to lead off the frame. After Young struck out Jim Lindeman, Lake launched a game-tying home run over the left-field wall to send the game into extra innings.

“They’ve got Mr. October. Now they’ve got Mr. Midnight,” Lake said.[5]

“He’s the last guy in the world I thought would hit the ball out of the ballpark,” Lasorda said.[6]

With an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 fans remaining in the park, Lake received a curtain call.[7]

“They call you a 3 o’clock hitter, and I guess I am,” he said. “They never said if it was a.m. or p.m.”[8]

In the 10^th, Dawley and Dayley combined to work around an error by Smith at shortstop. Facing Dodgers reliever Ken Howell, Curt Ford led off the 10th inning with a walk. Tom Lawless attempted a sacrifice bunt, but Dodgers first baseman Franklin Stubbs made a nice play to throw out Ford at second.

Undeterred, Lawless stole second to get into scoring position. Clark didn’t waste the opportunity, hitting a ground ball single up the middle to score Lawless and end the game just a minute after 3 a.m.

“I didn’t feel real great,” Clark said. “I was starting to feel a little tired, and I was getting a little stiff. It was a little cool, but, you know, when you have a chance to win the game, you just keep going out there.”[9]

Dayley, who appeared in both games of the doubleheader, earned his second win of the season, while Howell took the loss for the Dodgers. Smith, Pendleton, and Lake each had two hits as the Cardinals finished with nine for the game.

“You know what was truly amazing?” Lake asked. “There were maybe 10,000 people here at the end. They were screaming and standing up. I got a curtain call at 3 o’clock in the morning. It was kind of neat.”[10]

The only Cardinal who could recall a later game was veteran right-hander Bob Forsch, who was a rookie when the Cardinals won a 4-3, 25-inning marathon against the Mets on September 11, 1974.

“Bake McBride ended up scoring from first to win it,” Forsch recalled. “They tried to pick him off and threw it away. By the time we got out of there, the only people still at the restaurant were the ladies of the night.”[11]

Incredibly, the Cardinals and Dodgers had another double-header scheduled on July 8 for a total of three games that day. The Cardinals won both of those games for a four-game series sweep over the course of 28 hours. The wins were part of a streak that ultimately reached nine games.

“It’s just a matter of getting out of this damn town,” said Hatcher, who played third base in Game 2 after his errors proved costly in the opener. “I’d never played so late at night, 3 a.m., and I don’t want to do it again.”[12]

“This team (the Cardinals) is playing just the way it did in ’85,” Lasorda said. “They swing down and everything finds a hole. They go from first to third as well as everybody you’ve ever seen. You can’t walk anybody to set up double plays because they don’t hit into double plays.”[13]

After watching the Cardinals-Dodgers series, Los Angeles Times columnist Jim Murray described St. Louis’s ballclub by writing:

Are they all the same guy?

Look at them. They’re all 5-10 or 5-11. They all bat from both sides of the plate. They all run the hundred in 9.2 or the forty in 4.3. They all think a home run is something that rolls to the outfield fence. … I can’t tell one from the other and I don’t think the National League pitchers can either.[14]

It was a style of play that certainly worked throughout the 1987 season, as St. Louis went on to win 95 games and win the National League East. The Cardinals beat the Giants in a seven-game NLCS to claim their third National League championship of the 1980s.

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[1] Tom Wheatley, “Early Birds: Cards Double Their Pleasure At 3 A.M.,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 9, 1987.

[2] Tom Wheatley, “Early Birds: Cards Double Their Pleasure At 3 A.M.,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 9, 1987.

[3] John Sonderegger, “Rain Dashes Attendance,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 8, 1987.

[4] Rick Hummel, “Worrell Gets Out Of Jam,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 8, 1987.

[5] Tom Wheatley, “Early Birds: Cards Double Their Pleasure At 3 A.M.,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 9, 1987.

[6] Tom Wheatley, “Early Birds: Cards Double Their Pleasure At 3 A.M.,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 9, 1987.

[7] Tom Wheatley, “Early Birds: Cards Double Their Pleasure At 3 A.M.,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 9, 1987.

[8] Tom Wheatley, “Early Birds: Cards Double Their Pleasure At 3 A.M.,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 9, 1987.

[9] Tom Wheatley, “Early Birds: Cards Double Their Pleasure At 3 A.M.,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 9, 1987.

[10] Tom Wheatley, “Early Birds: Cards Double Their Pleasure At 3 A.M.,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 9, 1987.

[11] Tom Wheatley, “Early Birds: Cards Double Their Pleasure At 3 A.M.,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 9, 1987.

[12] Sam McManis, “Dodgers Pile Up 4 Losses During 28-Hour Period,” Los Angeles Times, July 9, 1987.

[13] Rick Hummel, “Cards Sweep LA; Streak Hits 7,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 9, 1987.

[14] Jim Murray, “The Cardinals Are All Birds of a Feather,” Los Angeles Times, July 9, 1987.

The post July 7, 1987: Steve Lake and Jack Clark lead Cardinals to late-night doubleheader sweep first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

Cardinals director of player development Lee Thomas was in the stands watching Worrell pitch for Triple-A Louisville against the Iowa Cubs. The 6-foot-5 right-hander was “something of a mystery to baseball men,” as the Cardinals’ 1985 media guide put it. In his second season of pro baseball, he jumped from Class A to Triple-A. By midseason, however, he had been demoted to Double-A. After his record fell to 3-10 in 1984, he was demoted again, this time to Class A.[1]

Worrell had leapt back to Triple-A by July 1985, when Thomas came to see the former first-round pick who was just 5-6 with a 4.35 ERA.[2] Despite Worrell’s struggles, teams around the league had expressed interest in him. The Giants had inquired about including Worrell in the trade that brought Jack Clark to St. Louis, and the Indians expressed interest in Worrell as part of a package that would have sent Bert Blyleven to St. Louis.^[3]

“We sure wanted to try him as a short man before he did anything,” Thomas said. “That would have been a pretty hard thing to live down if we had let Todd Worrell go.”^[4]

With scout Hal Smith monitoring the radar gun that July evening, Worrell’s fastball hit 94 mph in the first inning.

“In the second inning, he was throwing 92 and 93,” Thomas recalled. “In the third inning, it was 91. By the fifth inning, he was down to 85.”[5]

That dip in velocity was going to make it tough for the Cardinals’ 1982 first-round draft pick to reach the majors as a starter. After conferring with Louisville manager Jim Fregosi, Cardinals general manager Dal Maxvill, and Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog, the decision was clear: Worrell was headed to the bullpen. ^[6]

“When he went from a starter to a reliever, he got the attitude of going right at them,” Thomas said. “He became an offensive pitcher instead of a defensive pitcher. All of a sudden, he took the tiger by the tail. I’m not saying he wouldn’t have made it as a starter, but he wouldn’t be what he is. We all felt if he was ever going to make it in the big leagues, it would have to be as a short reliever.”^[7]

“It’s been a real relief – not to have a pun on words,” Worrell said. “I think it’s really relaxed me a lot. I found something that’s really working for me.”[8]

In 17 minor-league appearances out of the bullpen, Worrell went 3-0 with 11 saves, including a string of 16 scoreless innings in which he struck out 22 batters and allowed just seven hits.

“As soon as I got out there, it was almost like a little light went on in my head,” Worrell said. “By the time I got through the first month, there was no doubt in my mind or Jim Fregosi’s mind or the Cardinals’ minds that that was what would get me to the big leagues.”^[9]

Just two months later, the Cardinals promoted Worrell to St. Louis. In 21 2/3 innings, he went 3-0 with a 2.91 ERA and five saves. In Game 6 of the NLCS, he earned the win when Jack Clark hit a game-winning, three-run home run off Tom Niedenfuer.

Worrell continued to play a key role in the postseason. In Game 1 of the World Series, he threw 2 1/3 scoreless innings to earn the save, and in Game 5 he struck out six batters over two innings. He also was on the mound in Game 6, when Don Denkinger’s erroneous call played a key role in a 2-1 Royals victory.

In 1986, Worrell began his first full season as a relief pitcher, and injuries to Ken Dayley and Jeff Lahti gave him the opportunity to grab the closer’s role.

“I didn’t know how it was going to work out, a full year as a short reliever,” he said. “I was curious to see how my arm would hold up. I was very pleased to do that for a full year. I think I had some of my best stuff in September.”^[10]

Heading into June, Worrell had a 1.34 ERA, but had collected just six saves and was just 3-3 on the season. That month, however, he saved seven games and was off to the races. One year after he had been converted to a reliever, Worrell was named the National League Pitcher of the Month for July 1986 after saving eight games with a 1.17 ERA.^[11]

Among his team-record 74 appearances, Worrell saved eight wins of Forsch’s 14 wins, seven of John Tudor’s 13, seven of Greg Mathews’ 11 wins, and five of Danny Cox’s 12 wins.^[12]

On November 24, 1986, Worrell was named the National League Rookie of the Year after leading the majors with 36 saves. Along the way, he broke the rookie saves record by 14 and became the first rookie to win NL Fireman of the Year Award.^[13] He was just the third relief pitcher to win the Rookie of the Year Award, joining Butch Metzger and Steve Howe.

“His stats tell the story,” starting pitcher Bob Forsch said. “Todd was the most important piece of our pitching staff and the most dominant rookie in the league.”^[14]

“A rookie winning Fireman of the Year may never happen again,” catcher Mike LaValliere said.^[15]

Worrell received 23 of 24 votes for Rookie of the Year. Bus Saidt of the Trenton Times was the only holdout, voting instead for the New York Mets’ Kevin Mitchell.^[16] Giants second baseman Robby Thompson received 14 second-place votes to finish with 46 points, while Mitchell placed third with 22 points.

“I felt my performance was strong enough this year that I felt comfortable I would win,” Worrell said, “but I had no idea I would sweep all the votes but one. That’s kind of nice.”^[17]

With the award, Worrell earned a $10,000 bonus on top of his $70,000 salary and $20,000 in incentives.^[18]

“I don’t want this to be a one-chance thing,” he said. “I want to be consistent and show I can do the short relief job year in and year out. I had a year not a lot of guys are going to experience, but my main concern is not to let it stop here. I want people to know I’m going to be able to do the job like Lee Smith. There have been too many athletes who come in and have one year and you never hear about them again.”^[19]

Worrell didn’t have to worry about that. Over the next three years, he saved 85 more games for the Cardinals, earning an all-star nod in 1988.

In September 1989, Worrell was seeking his 127^th career save, a milestone that would have tied him with Bruce Sutter for the most in Cardinals history, when he tore his ulnar collateral ligament. He didn’t pitch again until 1992.

When he finally returned, Worrell picked up three more saves to claim the Cardinals save record. After the season, he signed a free-agent deal with the Dodgers, placing him closer to his hometown of Arcadia, California. Though he battled injuries early in his Dodgers career, he led the league with 44 saves in 1996 and placed fifth in the Cy Young Award voting.

He retired after the 1997 season with 256 career saves and a 3.09 ERA.

“I probably could have got to the big leagues as a starter, but I don’t think I would have been at my best,” Worrell said. “I definitely think that, being a reliever, people see me at my best. That’s the way I want to have people see me.”[20]

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[1] Tom Wheatley, “Mystery Solved,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 26, 1985.

[2] Tom Wheatley, “Mystery Solved,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 26, 1985.

[3] Rick Hummel, “No. 1,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 25, 1986.

[4] Rick Hummel, “No. 1,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 25, 1986.

[5] Tom Wheatley, “Mystery Solved,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 26, 1985.

[6] Rick Hummel, “No. 1,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 25, 1986.

[7] Rick Hummel, “No. 1,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 25, 1986.

[8] Tom Wheatley, “Mystery Solved,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 26, 1985.

[9] Rick Hummel, “No. 1,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 25, 1986.

[10] Rick Hummel, “No. 1,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 25, 1986.

[11] Rick Hummel, “No. 1,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 25, 1986.

[12] Rick Hummel, “No. 1,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 25, 1986.

[13] Rick Hummel, “No. 1,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 25, 1986.

[14] Rick Hummel, “No. 1,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 25, 1986.

[15] Rick Hummel, “No. 1,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 25, 1986.

[16] Rick Hummel, “No. 1,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 25, 1986.

[17] Rick Hummel, “No. 1,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 25, 1986.

[18] Rick Hummel, “No. 1,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 25, 1986.

[19] Rick Hummel, “No. 1,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 25, 1986.

[20] Rick Hummel, “No. 1,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 25, 1986.

The post How Todd Worrell won the 1986 Rookie of the Year Award first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

Upon joining the Cardinals’ farm system, the 26^th-round 1968 draft pick played third base and outfield, but failed to rise above Class A. In 1970, the Cardinals converted him to a pitcher, and in 1974 he made his major-league debut.

Heading into the match-up against the last-place Pirates, Forsch already had 11 wins with a 2.62 ERA. Forsch and the Cardinals matched up against Pittsburgh right-hander Mike Bielecki, a former first-round draft pick out of Valencia Community College in Orlando, Florida. In two previous games against the Cardinals that season, Bielecki held the Cardinals to just two earned runs over 14 innings, though he received no decision in either start.

The Cardinals used their speed to get on the scoreboard in the first inning. Bielecki walked Vince Coleman to lead off the inning. Coleman – who stole four bases on the day – swiped second, then advanced to third when Curt Ford grounded out to second base. Tom Herr’s sacrifice fly to center field scored Coleman and gave the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.

Forsch held the lead through five innings, allowing just a third-inning walk to Bielecki.

“That’s as good as I’ve seen him,” Cardinals catcher Mike LaValliere said. “He had great location on his fastball and he was getting his sinker down and away to the lefthanders. He was outstanding.”[1]

In the bottom of the fifth, Bielecki walked Clint Hurdle and allowed singles to LaValliere and Jose Oquendo. With the bases loaded, Forsch hit the ball into the left-field bleachers, becoming the seventh pitcher in Cardinals history to hit a grand slam.

“Bielecki lost the whole concept of what pitching is about in that inning,” Pirates manager Jim Leyland said. “He had been throwing strike, strike, strike. Then he walks Hurdle … You’d think he was pitching to Babe Ruth.”[2]

With the grand slam, Forsch joined Mike O’Neill (1902), Curt Davis (1938), Bob Gibson (1965 and 1973), Rick Wise (1973), and Joaquin Andujar (1984). It was the ninth home run of Forsch’s career, tops among active National League pitchers and trailing only Boston’s Tom Seaver among major-league hurlers. Seaver had 12 career home runs.[3]

After Forsch returned to the dugout, the crowd of 36,286 continued to cheer until their hero climbed back up the dugout steps for a curtain call.

“I understand what the fans wanted me to do, but I didn’t want it to look like I was showing up the pitcher,” Forsch said. “I’ve seen hitters do that kind of thing, but I’m a pitcher first and I’ve thrown some long balls.”[4]

The Pirates ended Forsch’s no-hit bid in the top of the sixth as Joe Orsulak entered the game as a pinch hitter for Bielecki and doubled to left field. The next batter, U L Washington, singled up the middle to cut the Cardinals’ lead to 5-1.

Forsch retired the side in order in the seventh, but ran into trouble in the eighth as Junior Ortiz and Johnny Ray each singled. Benny Destefano scored Ortiz on a sacrifice fly, and after Forsch walked Washington, Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog turned to left-hander Ricky Horton to face rookie outfielder Bobby Bonilla. Bonilla doubled to left field, scoring Ray and Washington. Suddenly, the Cardinals led just 5-4. Forsch was credited with all four runs.

“I don’t know what happened,” he said. “All of a sudden I just started missing on my pitches, and the Pirates are tough. They keep coming at you.”[5]

With no room for error, Herzog inserted rookie closer Todd Worrell. After a passed ball allowed Bonilla to advance to third, Worrell retired the next two batters to end the inning.

Worrell worked around a one-out double by Jim Morrison to throw a scoreless ninth inning and record his 24^th save of the season, a new rookie record.

“I had to work for it but I’m getting these saves because of the defense this team plays,” said Worrell, who had a bottle of champagne sitting next to his locker when reporters arrived. “Tommy Herr made a great play up the middle today and that really saved the game.”[6]

The win was Forsch’s 12^th of the season and marked the first time in his career he had won six consecutive starts. He finished the year with 14 wins and a 3.25 ERA. The following year, Forsch earned the Silver Slugger Award as the National League’s top-hitting pitcher. He retired after the 1989 season with 168 wins over his 16-year career.

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[1] John Sonderegger, “Forsch-ful,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 11, 1986.

[2] Charley Feeney, “St. Louis pitchers batter Pirates, 5-4,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 11, 1986.

[3] John Sonderegger, “Forsch-ful,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 11, 1986.

[4] Charley Feeney, “St. Louis pitchers batter Pirates, 5-4,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 11, 1986.

[5] John Sonderegger, “Forsch-ful,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 11, 1986.

[6] John Sonderegger, “Forsch-ful,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 11, 1986.

The post Bob Forsch hits a grand slam: August 10, 1986 first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

The Cardinals and Mets game on April 18, 1987, appeared to be an ordinary April ballgame on the schedule. It was just the 10^th game of the season for both teams, and while the St. Louis and New York ballclubs were considered the leading contenders for the National League East championship, it was too early in the season for the game to have a significant impact on the pennant race.

Then things got weird.

Danny Cox, the 6-foot-4 right-hander from Northampton, United Kingdom, had pitched well in his first two starts of the season and entered with a 2-0 record and 2.84 ERA. However, after working around two hits in the first inning, the Mets took the lead in the second with an RBI single by Lenny Dykstra.

In the third, Cox gave up a double to Darryl Strawberry and walked Kevin McReynolds. Howard Johnson followed with a three-run homer to right field.

“I don’t even feel like I pitched,” said Cox after allowing four runs in three innings. “The game was a lot better after I got out. It couldn’t have got any worse. They hit my good pitches and they hit my bad pitches.”[1]

With Pat Perry pitching in the fourth, Keith Hernandez added a sacrifice fly that gave the Mets a 5-0 lead.

Mets starting pitcher Ron Darling allowed just one hit through the first three innings, but the Cardinals’ offense awoke in a crazy fourth inning. Tom Herr and Jack Clark led off with singles, and Willie McGee was credited with a single after he hit a hard ground ball up the middle. Mets second baseman Wally Backman got to the ball, but dropped it as Herr scored.

Jim Lindeman followed with a two-run double in the right-field gap that scored Clark and McGee. After Terry Pendleton grounded out, the Cardinals attempted a suicide squeeze. Steve Lake bunted it foul, and Hernandez, the former Cardinals All-Star, kicked the ball into the Cardinals’ dugout. Annoyed, Pendleton threw the ball back in Hernandez’s direction.

“It was two competitors,” Hernandez said. “It was the heat of battle. We had words in the middle innings, but when he got that hit in the last inning, we made up. Terry’s a good kid. I shouldn’t have kicked the ball in the dugout. I was wrong.”[2]

With the squeeze called off, Lake hit a ground ball up the middle that Backman fielded and threw home. Lindeman scored easily, and Lake was credited with a single.

Darling struck out Perry for the second out of the inning before Vince Coleman singled and Ozzie Smith drew a four-pitch walk that loaded the bases. Darling then walked Herr on four pitches, tying the score 5-5. Mets manager Davey Johnson replaced Darling with David Cone, who struck out Clark to end the inning.

“We gave them five outs,” Davey Johnson said.[3]

Two innings later, the Cardinals took their first lead of the evening. Cone retired the first two batters he faced, but walked Smith. Herr followed with a double to right field that scored Smith from first base, giving the Cardinals a 6-5 lead and inspiring hundreds of the more than 48,000 St. Louis fans to throw that night’s promotional seat cushions onto the field. The game was delayed for six minutes while stadium personnel removed the cushions.[4]

Perry’s pitching had given the Cardinals a chance to erase the Mets’ early lead, but after he allowed a single to Strawberry to open the eighth, Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog brought Todd Worrell into the game. Prior to the game, Worrell was recognized as the 1986 National League Rookie of the Year and Fireman of the Year Award winner. Once the game started, however, Worrell was unable to find the strike zone. After Strawberry was caught stealing, Worrell walked three batters before finally retiring Dykstra on a fly ball to shallow left field.

The Cardinals carried their one-run lead into the ninth, but Worrell’s wildness continued. After he walked Backman and Hernandez, giving him five walks in an inning of work, Herzog called on Bill Dawley, a 6-foot-5, 235-pound right-hander whom the Cardinals had acquired the previous offseason from the White Sox.

Dawley retired Carter and Strawberry on fly balls (Vince Coleman made a leaping catch of Strawberry’s fly to rob him of extra bases), but McReynolds singled into left field to score Backman. Howard Johnson followed with an RBI single, giving the Mets a 7-6 lead, but Tito Landrum, who had replaced Lindeman in right field, threw McReynolds out at the plate to end the inning. That proved to be a crucial play.

To save the game, Davey Johnson turned to Jesse Orosco, a left-hander from Santa Barbara, California, who was drafted by the Cardinals in the seventh round of the 1977 draft but didn’t sign. Smith, reaching base for the third time in the game, drew a leadoff walk, and Herr sacrificed him to second base. With Clark at the plate, Smith stole third base and scored when Carter’s throw to third base got away.

With the score tied once again, the game went into extra innings.

The Mets regained the lead in the top of the 10^th. Al Pedrique, who entered the game at shortstop after Rafael Santana was lifted for a pinch-hitter, drew a walk to lead off the inning and advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Dave Magadan. With Dave LaPoint in the game in place of Dawley, Dykstra advanced Pedrique to third base with a ground ball to first base, and Pedrique scored when LaPoint uncorked a wild pitch.

For the third time in the game, the Cardinals rallied back. Orosco retired Landrum to open the inning, but Pendleton and Lake both singled. Herzog inserted rookie catcher Tom Pagnozzi in the game to bat for Curt Flood and replaced Lake on the base paths with Tom Lawless.

Pagnozzi proved up to the task, lashing his first big-league hit to right field to tie the score. Coleman grounded to first base for the second out of the inning, but advanced Lawless to third and Pagnozzi to second. The Mets chose to walk Smith to load the bases and pitch to Herr, who already had reached base four times in the game and had driven in the winning run in three of the Cardinals’ five previous victories that season.

It proved to be a poor decision.

“As a hitter, that’s a perfect situation to be in because there was nowhere to put me,” Herr said in 2020. “(Orosco) had to get ahead, and he had no command of his breaking ball that night. That’s what made him great – he was a slider pitcher – but he got in trouble with his slider, so he couldn’t throw that. I was just sitting on a fastball, hopefully something up in the zone that I could hit a sacrifice fly. That was all we needed. That fly ball just happened to go out of the ballpark.”[5]

Orosco threw a first-pitch fastball and Herr turned on it, depositing the ball over the left-field wall for a 12-8 victory. Orosco knew it was headed over the wall as soon as it was hit.

“I was hoping it would hit a bird or something,” he said.^[6]

As Herr circled the bases, promotional seat cushions from all corners of Busch Stadium were tossed onto the field, so many that when the Cardinals and Mets arrived at the stadium the following day, the grounds crew was still picking them up.[7]

“I knew it was out when I hit it,” Herr said. “It was a great feeling seeing everybody waiting at home plate and going a little crazy.”[8]

After the game, an usher brought Herr the game-winning home run ball.

“Is it dented on the side?” Herr asked.[9]

Herr finished the game 3-for-3 with two walks, two runs scored, and six RBIs. McGee, Pendleton, and Lake finished with two hits apiece. LaPoint was credited with the win, while Orosco took the loss for the Mets.

“Our guys showed a lot of guts,” Cox said. “Down 5-0 in the fourth inning and we come back and win … that shows what this club is made of.”[10]

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[1] Rick Hummel, “Cox Marvels At Cards’ Saturday Night Special,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 20, 1987: Page 6C.

[2] Rick Hummel, “Herr’s Slam Stuns Mets 12-8,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 19, 1987: Page F1.

[3] Rick Hummel, “Herr’s Slam Stuns Mets 12-8,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 19, 1987: Page F1.

[4] Rick Hummel, “Herr’s Slam Stuns Mets 12-8,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 19, 1987: Page F1.

[5] KSDK Interview, “Tommy Herr talks about the famous ‘seat cushion night’ at Busch Stadium in 1987,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C49qoyikhyo, May 27, 2020.

[6] Rick Hummel, “Herr’s Slam Stuns Mets 12-8,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 19, 1987: Page F1.

[7] Rick Hummel, “What a wild ride the Cards took in ’87,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 13, 2007: Page B5.

[8] Rick Hummel, “Herr’s Slam Stuns Mets 12-8,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 19, 1987: Page F1.

[9] Rick Hummel, “Cox Marvels At Cards’ Saturday Night Special,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 20, 1987: Page 6C.

[10] Rick Hummel, “Cox Marvels At Cards’ Saturday Night Special,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 20, 1987: Page 6C.

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