St. Louis Cardinals
 | For current information on this topic, see 2007 St. Louis Cardinals season. |
| St. Louis Cardinals | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 2024 St. Louis Cardinals season | |||||
| |||||
| |||||
| Major league affiliations | |||||
| |||||
| Current uniform | |||||
| Retired numbers | 1, 2, 6, 9, 14, 17, 20, 42, 42, 45, 85 | ||||
| Name | |||||
| Other nicknames | |||||
| |||||
| Ballpark | |||||
| |||||
| Major league titles | |||||
| World Series titles (10) | 2006 • 1982 • 1967 • 1964 1946 • 1944 • 1942 • 1934 1931 • 1926 | ||||
| NL Pennants (17) | 2006 • 2004 • 1987 • 1985 1982 • 1968 • 1967 • 1964 1946 • 1944 • 1943 • 1942 1934 • 1931 • 1930 • 1928 1926 | ||||
| AA Pennants (4) | 1888 • 1887 • 1886 • 1885 | ||||
| Central Division titles (7) | 2006 • 2005 • 2004 • 2002 2001 • 2000 • 1996 | ||||
| East Division titles (3) [1] | 1987 • 1985 • 1982 | ||||
| Wild card berths (1) [2] | 2001 | ||||
[1] - In 1981, the Cardinals finished with the overall best record in the East Division. However, a players' strike in the middle of the season forced the season to be split into two halves. St. Louis finished second in both halves and was thereby deprived of a post-season appearance. [2] - In 2001, the Cardinals and the Houston Astros finished the season with identical records of 93-69 and finished tied for first place in the Central Division standings. Both teams were awarded a co-championship.[1] According to MLB, this was the "the first shared championship in major-league history".[2] For playoff seeding, the NL Central slot went to Houston and St. Louis was awarded the wild card berth. | |||||
| Front office | |||||
| Principal owner(s) | William DeWitt, Jr. and Fred Hanser | ||||
| General manager | John Mozeliak | ||||
| Manager | Tony La Russa | ||||
The St. Louis Cardinals (also referred to as "the Cards" or "the Redbirds") are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won 10 World Series, the most of any National League team, and second only to the New York Yankees in Major League Baseball, who have 26.
The Cardinals were founded in the American Association in 1882 as the St. Louis Brown Stockings, taking the name from an earlier National League team. They joined the National League in 1892 and have been known as the Cardinals since 1900. The Cardinals began play in the current Busch Stadium in 2006, becoming the first team since 1923 to win the World Series in their first season in a new ballpark. The Cardinals have a strong rivalry with the Chicago Cubs that began in 1885.
Franchise history
Early years: American Association dynasty and move to the NL
The team was formed as part of the American Association in 1882 where they enjoyed great success under flamboyant owner Chris von der Ahe. Initially they were known as the "Brown Stockings", named for a previous professional team in the city, whose name was one of several "Stockings" teams inspired by the success of the Cincinnati Red Stockings. This new team's nickname was quickly shortened to "Browns". The Browns won four American Association pennants in a row, 1885-88, and played in an early version of the World Series four times, twice against the National League's Chicago White Stockings (now the Cubs). The Series of 1885 ended in dispute and with no resolution. St. Louis won the 1886 Series outright, the only Series of that era that was won by the AA against the NL. The vigorous St. Louis-Chicago rivalry continues to this day.
The Browns joined the National League in 1892 following the bankruptcy of the American Association. They were briefly called the Perfectos in 1899 before settling on their present name, a name reportedly inspired by switching their uniform colors from brown to red. There was already a "Reds" team at Cincinnati, so the St. Louis team became "Cardinals" (reportedly because a woman spectator exclaimed that the uniform was "a wonderful shade of Cardinal."[citation needed])
Also in 1899, the Cardinals' owner, dissatisfied with his club's 1898 performance (twelfth place, 39 wins and 111 losses) transferred much of the talent from the other team he owned, the Cleveland Spiders, to the St. Louis franchise. This led to the spectacular demise of the Spiders, who fell to 20-134 (.130), along with significant improvement of the St. Louis club, which jumped from last (twelfth) place to fifth place. In effect, Cleveland and St. Louis switched places in the standings. The St. Louis-Cleveland chicanery also influenced contraction of the National League, which opened the door to the establishment of the American League as a rival to the National.
The change of name led to the adoption of the "St. Louis Browns" moniker by the American League franchise formerly known as the Milwaukee Brewers (the future Baltimore Orioles) upon their move to St. Louis in 1902.
1920s: The first modern world championship
The mid-1920s brought the Cardinals their first sustained success since the American Association days. Led by second baseman / manager Rogers Hornsby, St. Louis in 1926 won its first pennant in 39 years, and then shocked the baseball world by knocking off the powerful New York Yankees in seven games in the World Series. The storied Game 7 reached its climax in the seventh inning when the previous day's winning pitcher, the aging Grover Cleveland Alexander, was summoned in relief to face slugger Tony Lazzeri with the bases loaded (some fans feared that Alexander might have been a little "loaded" himself after celebrating the previous day's win). After giving up a long foul ball, "Ol' Pete" then struck out Lazzeri swinging on 3 low fastballs. A closely-guarded secret at the time was that both men in that confrontation happened to suffer from epilepsy. In the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7, with the Cardinals clinging to a 3-2 lead, Babe Ruth drew a walk. He chose to steal second, and was thrown out, giving the Cardinals their first World Series championship.
The Cardinals fell just short in 1927, then won the pennant again in 1928, edging out the resurging Chicago Cubs and the perennially contending New York Giants. The Cardinals did not fare so well in the World Series, as the Yankees continued their dominance from 1927 and shot down the Cardinals in four straight.
Regardless, the stage was set for the new order of the National League. Innovative Cardinals General Manager Branch Rickey was establishing a minor league farm system that would produce great players and keep the Cardinals in contention for the next two decades. Between 1926 and 1946, the Cardinals, Cubs and Giants would become fierce rivals, that trio winning 17 of the NL pennants during those 21 seasons.
1930s: Ol' Diz and the "Gang"
Highlights from Cardinals history include the 1930s era Gashouse Gang featuring Dizzy Dean, Joe Medwick, Pepper Martin, and Leo Durocher.
The Cardinals lost the 1930 World Series to the Philadelphia Athletics 4 games to 2, but came back strong the following year (1931), playing an aggressive game of "inside" ball that broke the back of the A's in 7 games.
In 1934, Dean and his younger brother, Paul, combined to win 49 games - still a single season record for brothers. Dizzy, whose real name was Jay Hanna Dean and was called "Jay" by his pals, won 30 of them, with Paul (facetiously nicknamed "Daffy" by the press) contributing 19. Dean's country humor made him a popular favorite, particularly in the rural south and midwest where Cardinals fans were numerous. The outgoing "Diz" and the shy "Daf" (a pair that Diz called "Me an' Paul") sometimes teamed up in doubleheaders. On September 21, 1934, Dizzy won the first game, allowing one hit. Then Paul pitched a no-hitter in the second game. Later, Diz jokingly remarked that he wished Paul had told him he was going to throw a no-hitter, because "Then I'd've pitched one too!"
In 1935 the Cardinals were overcome and defeated by the Chicago Cubs, who reeled off 21 straight wins in September. The Cubs clinched the pennant in St. Louis, although their streak had been snapped by then. In 1937, Dizzy Dean's toe was broken by a line drive in the [All-Star Game], and he injured his arm altering his pitching motion during the recovery process, losing his famous fastball, and signalling a brief decline by the Cardinals.
1940s: The war years and a young "Man"
In the early 1940s, the Cardinals dominated the National League. The 1942 "St. Louis Swifties" won 106 games, the most in franchise history, and are widely regarded as among the greatest baseball teams of all time, beating the Yankees in five games. Outfielder Stan Musial played his first full season with the 1942 Cardinals. Known to loyal fans as "The Man", Musial spent 22 years in a Cardinals uniform, 1941-1944, 1946-1963. He won seven batting titles and three MVP awards, and his 3,630 hits remain the 4th highest in baseball history. In August 1968, a statue of Musial was dedicated outside Busch Memorial Stadium. In 1943 and again in 1944 they posted the second-best records in team history at 105-49. The Yankees got revenge in the 1943 World Series, beating the Cardinals in five games. The 1944 World Series was particularly memorable as they met their crosstown rivals, the St. Louis Browns, in the "Streetcar Series". The Cardinals won four games to two. All six games were played in Sportsman's Park, which the two teams shared. Billy Southworth, the manager for all three of those seasons, remains the only Cardinal manager to guide his team to three straight pennants.
After finishing 3 games behind the Cubs in 1945 without "The Man" who was in the U.S. Navy, St. Louis came back to tie for the pennant in 1946, and ousted the Brooklyn Dodgers in a playoff series to get to the World Series. They faced a powerful Boston Red Sox team and defeated them in 7 games, the eventual winning run in Game 7 coming in the eighth inning on Enos Slaughter's famous "mad dash" around the bases on a hit to shallow left-center field.
In 1947, the Cardinals (who were effectively the South's only major league team until 1966) gained notoriety by allegedly (the accusation is disputed[3]) attempting to boycott games against the Brooklyn Dodgers to protest the Dodgers' signing of a black player, Jackie Robinson. The alleged ringleader of the boycott was Enos Slaughter. National League president Ford Frick threatened to ban any players who boycotted any games, and the boycott never happened. The Cardinals did not sign a black player until 1954 with part-timer Tom Alston and did not sign a black regular until Curt Flood in 1958. The Cardinals' resistance to the trend of hiring minority talent contributed to a team slump that ran from the late 1940s until the early 1960s. However, the organization was also the first Major League team to integrate spring training housing a decade later.
Anheuser-Busch takes over
Rickey had a falling-out with longtime owner Sam Breadon, and left the team to become general manager and part-owner of the Dodgers in 1942. With Breadon as effectively a one-man band, the Cardinals faded into the pack after their 1946 Series victory. After finding out he had terminal cancer, Breadon sold the team to former United States Postmaster General Robert Hannegan and businessman Fred Saigh for $3 million. Hannegan died in 1949, leaving Saigh as sole owner. Although the Cardinals remained competitive, they were on shaky financial ground. Meanwhile, the Browns, under new owner Bill Veeck, began a concerted effort to drive the Cardinals out of town. Ironically, the Cardinals had been the Browns' tenants since 1920 at Sportsman's Park, even though the Cardinals had long since passed the Browns as the city's dominant team.
In 1953, however, Saigh was convicted of tax evasion. Facing almost certain banishment from baseball, Saigh turned down higher offers from other cities in favor of a bid from the Anheuser-Busch brewery. August "Gussie" Busch took over as team president. Soon afterward, Veeck was forced to sell Sportsman's Park to the Cardinals under threat of having the facility condemned. Busch heavily renovated the 44-year-old park, renaming it Busch Stadium. Within a year, the Browns were forced to move to Baltimore as the Orioles.
1960s
The Cardinals front office continued to improve their minority hiring record, and built the Cardinals into another of their periodic dynasties. In 1963, they made a late-season run against the Dodgers which came close to putting Stan Musial into a World Series in his announced final season. The Dodgers held them off on that occasion, but for the last six years before divisional play went into effect in 1969 and changed the nature of the pennant races, there were only two colors on National League pennants: Dodger Blue and Cardinal Red.
1964 saw one of the wildest pennant races in baseball history. The Philadelphia Phillies seemed to have a commanding lead from 6 1/2 games ahead with only 12 games to play, but fell apart in the last two weeks of the season, as the Cardinals and other teams pounced on the opportunity. The Cardinals, thanks in part to the mid-season acquisition of Lou Brock from the Cubs, swept a 3-game series from Philadelphia to take over first, then clinched on the last day of the season, finishing a game ahead of the Phillies and the Cincinnati Reds, with the San Francisco Giants and the Milwaukee Braves close behind.
The 1964 World Series matched the upstart "Redbirds", led by third baseman and captain Ken Boyer, with the veteran Yankees, who featured his younger brother Clete, also an All-Star third baseman. Ken Boyer's stunning grand slam home run in Game 4 at Yankee Stadium, along with the overpowering pitching of their young hurler Bob Gibson, resulted in a 4 games to 3 win by the Cardinals. Ken was named National League Most Valuable Player at the conclusion of the season. This was the last Series appearance by the "Old" Yankees dynasty, which had appeared in 14 of the 16 series played from 1949 to 1964. Prior to 2001, the Cardinals remained the only team to hold an overall World Series edge against the Yankees, 3 Series to 2.
In a slightly bizarre post-season twist, manager Johnny Keane, who had been targeted for firing before the Cardinals' made their late-season comeback, left the team and took the job managing the Yankees. The Cardinals then promoted coach Red Schoendienst, who would take the managerial helm for the next 12 seasons. (According to The Baseball Hall of Shame by Nash and Zullo, the owners of the Cardinals and of the New York Yankees had decided, during the season, to replace their managers, Keane and Yogi Berra, after the season, regardless of the season's outcome. When these two teams happened to meet in the World Series, this plan received a great deal of attention.
In 1967, the Cardinals ("El Birdos") romped through the National League by 10 1/2 games with a superb 101-60 (.627) record, and then defeated the Boston Red Sox in the World Series, bursting "The Impossible Dream" bubble of the latter team, which had won their first pennant in 21 years, on the last day of the season. The 1967 team featured future Hall of Famers Lou Brock, Orlando Cepeda, Steve Carlton, and Bob Gibson, who won 3 games in the Series who was again named Series MVP, as he was in 1964. KMOX radio also awarded Lou Brock a car for his superb play (12-29 .414 with a record-tying 7 stolen bases) in the Series.
In 1968, "The Year of the Pitcher," Gibson finished with an astonishingly low ERA of 1.12 winning 22 games and the Cy Young Award, and the Cardinals again won the pennant (97-65 .599), with a comfortable 9-game margin. Although essentially the same team as the previous year, they faced a tougher opponent in the Detroit Tigers, who had also won their pennant easily, behind the 31-win season of Denny McLain. Even though pitchers Gibson and McLain both were rare league MVPs that season, another Tigers starter, Mickey Lolich, stole the show, becoming the last pitcher to date to win three complete games in a single Series. The Tigers won the closely contested 7-game affair. It was the last Series appearance for this great Cardinals team, and the last Series before baseball adopted its divisional format.
1969 saw a number of changes as the major leagues expanded into 24 teams and 4 divisions. The resurgent Chicago Cubs led the newly-formed NL East Division for much of the summer before falling apart in the last month. The Cardinals put on a mid-season surge, as their famous announcer Harry Caray (in what would prove to be his final season of 25 doing Cardinals broadcasts) began singing, "The Cardinals are coming, tra-la-la-la". Ultimately the "Miracle" New York Mets would win the division, the league championship and the World Series.
1970s
In 1970, Curt Flood, along with Tim McCarver, Byron Browne, and Joe Hoerner, were to be traded to the Philadelphia Phillies for Dick Allen, Cookie Rojas, and Dick Donovan. However, Flood would challenge the reserve clause since he did not want to play for one of the worst teams in the National League. As a result, Willie Montanez and another player would compensate for Flood as he would set the tone for free agency. Also in 1970, Bob Gibson would continue his dominance as he won another Cy Young Award, winning 23 games. He would be the last Cardinal to win it until Chris Carpenter won it in 2005.
Another deal with the Phillies proved to be even more disastrous. Prior to the 1972 season, owner Gussie Busch refused to renegotiate the contract of left-handed pitcher Steve Carlton, who was coming off of his first 20-win season and an appearance in the All-Star Game. Instead of paying the money, Busch traded Carlton to Philadelphia for right-hander Rick Wise. Carlton immediately turned the deal into a steal for the Phillies by winning 27 games and the Cy Young Award for a club that finished the 1972 season at 59-97, setting a record for highest percentage of team wins (45.8%). Wise would be gone from St. Louis by 1974; Carlton would go on to the Hall of Fame.
The Cardinals continued to be perennial contenders throughout the 1970s, placing second in the National League Eastern Division and finishing above .500 six times during the decade. In 1974, Lou Brock led the team in a pennant race against the Pirates by breaking Maury Wills single-season stolen base record (104) set in 1962. Brock set a new record of 118 in '74 but the Cardinals finished a game-and-a-half behind Pittsburgh. Popular manager Red Schoendienst, was replaced in 1977 after 12 seasons guiding the Cardinals, as many players arrived and departed the Gateway City. Joe Torre won the 1971 National League MVP award hitting .363 with 24 HRs, but was later traded to the Mets. Jose Cruz, Dick Allen, and Ted Sizemore were all dealt away to other teams in the league. Ted Simmons led the team in On-Base-Percentage six times during the decade, but more changes would come as the Cardinals began to retool the roster to become champions again.
In 1979, Keith Hernandez was the co-NL MVP while Pete Vuckovich and Silvio Martinez each won 15 games. Garry Templeton became the first switch-hitter to collect 100 hits from each side of the plate and led the league in triples for a third consecutive season. Hall-of-Famer Lou Brock collected his 3,000th hit in his last Major League season.
1980s: Whiteyball, Ozzie and the "Runnin' Redbirds"
After a less-than-successful 1970s, new Cardinal manager Whitey Herzog, affectionately known to fans as the White Rat, revived the winning tradition at Busch Stadium. Herzog's brand of baseball, known in St. Louis as "Whiteyball", catered to the hard Astroturf of Busch Stadium and featured speed on the base paths, sparkling defense, and unconventional roster moves. Herzog was known to put the pitcher in right field, bring in a reliever for one batter, and then put the original pitcher back on the mound. In his 11 years as Cardinal manager, Herzog won three National League pennants, and a 1982 World Series title. The 1980s era Cardinals included stars Darrell Porter (1982 NLCS and World Series MVP), Ozzie Smith, Willie McGee (1985 NL MVP who won two batting titles in a Cardinals uniform), John Tudor, Tom Herr, Jack Clark, Bruce Sutter, Keith Hernandez, Terry Pendleton, and Joaquín Andujar.
The 1985 World Series, christened the "I-70 Series" because it featured the in-state rival Kansas City Royals, is perhaps the most controversial in Cardinals history. The Series started ominously for the Cardinals as their rookie lead-off hitter and catalyst, Vince Coleman, who stole 110 bases that year, was run into by the mechanical tarpaulin at Busch Stadium during the NLCS. Scribes joked about a "killer tarp", but the remark proved metaphorical, as Coleman was unable to play in the Fall Classic. Game 6 of that Series featured "The Call." In the bottom of the 9th inning, umpire Don Denkinger called Royals batter Jorge Orta safe at first base — a call refuted by broadcast television's instant replay. The Cardinals, leading 1-0 at the time of the play and needing that victory to clinch the title, went on to lose Game 6 a few batters later by the score of 2-1. The "Runnin' Redbirds" then were blown out of Game 7 the following night, by the score of 11-0, as both of their pitching aces failed to come through on this occasion — John Tudor, who, upon being removed from the game, punched a mechanical fan and severely cut his pitching hand, and Joaquín Andújar, who was ejected by home plate umpire Denkinger for arguing balls and strikes.
The Cardinals again won the National League pennant in 1987, but lost to the Minnesota Twins 4 games to 3 in the World Series. This time, St. Louis was without clean-up hitter Jack Clark, the team's #1 offensive threat, who caught a cleat in the abominable turf at Montreal's Olympic Stadium in the closing days of the regular season. The Series was the first in which the home team won each of the seven games. The Cardinals held their own at Busch Stadium, but the electronically-enhanced crowd noise and the "Homer Hankies" in the Metrodome seemed to spook the Redbirds. The booming bats of the Twins, which seemed to come alive only in the "Homerdome," were too much for the Cardinals "inside baseball" style of offense to overcome. Games 1, 2, and 6 were pretty much blowouts, and in Game 7 the Twins' pitching shut down the Cardinals.
1990s: A new era and Big Mac
After August Busch, Jr. died in 1989, the Cardinals would finish in last place in 1990 with Whitey Herzog resigning. He was replaced by Schoendienst and eventually Joe Torre. During Torre's tenure in St. Louis, the Cardinals' highest finish was 87 wins (3rd place in 1993).
In 1995, Anheuser-Busch, Inc. sold the Cardinals team and Busch Stadium to a new ownership group headed by Southwest Bank's Drew Baur, Fred Hanser and William DeWitt, Jr., for a price substantially undervalued in order to keep the team in St. Louis. Additionally, Civic Center Redevelopment, earlier acquired by A-B, sold the parking garages and other surrounding property owned by this quasi-civic organization to the new ownership group.
The new ownership group almost immediately sold off the parking garages next to the stadium to an investment group. With the proceeds of sale from the garages, the cost basis in the team was in the $100 million range, a real steal considering that Forbes Magazine values the Cardinals franchise on the high side of $300 million.
The year before the sale of the team, Anheuser-Busch had hired baseball executive Walt Jocketty as their new general manager. With a new ownership group in place and their commitment to return a winning team to St. Louis, Jocketty's expertise in locating baseball talent soon was tested in one of baseball's most successful franchises.
The Cardinals reached the playoffs in 1996 (the first season for long-time Oakland Athletics manager Tony La Russa), but the Atlanta Braves defeated them for the National League pennant. The Cardinals blew a 3-1 series lead to the Braves in the 1996 NLCS.
In 1997, the team finished fourth in the NL Central Division with a record of 73-89. Mark McGwire arrived and hit 24 home runs in only 51 games. Delino DeShields led the league with 14 triples.
In 1998, Cardinals' first baseman Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs battled to set the record for most home runs in one season. McGwire broke Roger Maris's 37 year-old record of 61 on September 8 with a low line drive over Busch Stadium's left field fence. Somewhat ironically, it was the shortest home run McGwire hit that season. McGwire went on to finish with 70 home runs and had a section of Interstate 70 running through downtown St. Louis re-named "the Mark McGwire Highway". His record stood until Barry Bonds hit 73 in 2001.
2000s and beyond
In 2000, the Cardinals went 95-67, posting their best record since the '87 team that lost the World Series to the Twins. However, the Cardinals, their starting rotation in disarray after the injury to Garrett Stephenson and the meltdown of Rick Ankiel, lost to the New York Mets in the National League Championship Series.
In 2001, the Cardinals finished the season with a 93-69 record. The Houston Astros, also in the National League Central, finished with an identical record. Both teams were awarded a co-championship.[4]Since Houston won the season series against the Cardinals, 9 games to 7 games, Houston received the NL Central playoff seeding and St. Louis received the wild card berth. Major League Baseball refers to the 2001 Cardinals as "co-division champions" along with the Astros and notes that this was the first shared championship in major league history. Helping the Cardinals accomplish this was 21 year old rookie third baseman Albert Pujols, who hit 37 home runs and won the National League Rookie of the Year award. [5] On September 3, Bud Smith became the ninth Cardinal and 18th rookie since 1900 to throw a no-hitter. St. Louis lost in the first round of the playoffs to the eventual world champion Arizona Diamondbacks. After the season Mark McGwire retired due to a chronic knee injury.
In 2002, the Cardinals won the Central Division and this time defeated the Diamondbacks 3 games to none to reach the NLCS, but lost 4 games to 1 to the San Francisco Giants. The year was also marred with tragedy for the Cardinal family. On June 18, beloved Hall of Fame broadcaster Jack Buck died at the age of 77. Just ten months earlier, Buck (despite ailing from lung cancer and Parkinson's disease) stirred emotions when he addressed the crowd at Busch Stadium when Major League Baseball resumed after the September 11 terrorist attacks. The biggest shock came just four days after Buck's passing when pitcher Darryl Kile died suddenly at the age of 33 of heart failure while in Chicago for a series against the Cubs.
After missing the playoffs in 2003, St. Louis bounced back to post the best record in the Major Leagues in 2004, tallying their most wins (105) since the 1940s. Facing off against division rival Houston in the NLCS, the Cardinals took a 2-0 lead, then lost three straight in Houston. Coming home for Game 6, the Cardinals took a 4-3 lead into the 9th inning, but Houston tied it up. Jim Edmonds hit a walk-off homer in the bottom of the 12th to win the game. The next night, Scott Rolen's two-run homer off Roger Clemens won the series and gave the Cardinals their first NL pennant in seventeen years. Albert Pujols was named the series MVP.
The Cardinals played the Boston Red Sox in the 2004 World Series. This was the third time the two teams have faced each other in the Fall Classic, with the Cardinals winning the previous two in 1946 and 1967, but this Series would be very different. The Cardinals were swept by the Red Sox in four games, with Boston winning their first World Series championship in 86 years. The best demonstration of St. Louis' troubles in the Series: Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen, and Jim Edmonds, the normally fearsome 3-4-5 hitters for the Cardinals, were a dismal 6-for-45 with 1 RBI.
The 2005 Cardinals had another excellent season, winning 100 games and clinching their fourth NL Central championship (and fifth playoff berth) in the last six years. However, they again fell short, losing the NLCS to Houston despite Albert Pujols' memorable ninth inning three-run homer to win Game 5.
That offseason, Chris Carpenter won the Cy Young award and Albert Pujols won the NL MVP award. This made the Cardinals the first NL team since the 1991 Braves to have two players from the same team win both of these awards the same year.
2007
The Cardinals began the 2007 season defending their 2006 World Series championship. On April 29, 2007, relief pitcher Josh Hancock was killed in a motor vehicle accident due to a combination of alcohol intoxication, high speed, talking on his cell phone, and later was found to have trace amounts of the pain killer Oxycodone. He hit a tow truck that was parked in the road. The Cardinals' scheduled game with the Chicago Cubs later that day was postponed due to his death. Hancock was the second Cardinals' pitcher to die in the past five years during a Cubs series, following Darryl Kile's death in a Chicago hotel room on June 22, 2002. The death of Josh Hancock set the tone for a season marred by numerous injuries to the starting lineup, with a total of 15 players having spent time on the disabled list.
On August 6, the Cardinals tied a Major League record with ten consecutive hits (including 1 walk) without an out in the bottom of the 5th inning against the San Diego Padres. [6] This is the third time the Cardinals have had 10 consecutive hits, also doing it on September 17, 1920 vs. the Boston Braves in the 4th inning, and a second time on June 12, 1922 vs. the Philadelphia Phillies, 6th inning.
On September 23rd, Busch Stadium hosted its final game of the 2007 season as the Houston Astros came to town. Cardinals' broadcaster Mike Shannon was honored before the game for his fiftieth anniversary of working with the organization. Astros' second baseman Craig Biggio received a standing ovation during his at bat in the 8th inning, his final at bat in St. Louis before his impending retirement. He flew out to right fielder Skip Schumaker on a 1-0 pitch from Brian Falkenborg.
The Cardinals won their final home game in dramatic fashion as they entered the bottom of the ninth with a 3-1 deficit. After a single from Miguel Cairo and a pinch-hit walk to Ryan Ludwick, Albert Pujols stepped up to pinch hit against Houston closer Brad Lidge. Pujols hit an RBI single, falling a foot or two shy of a walk-off home run, to pull the Cardinals within one. Rick Ankiel followed with a 2-run triple to send the fans home with one final home victory in the 2007 season.
Shortly after the season ended, Bruce Manno (Sr. Director, Pro Scouting/Special Asst. to the General Manager) was told his contract was not being renewed.
On October 3rd, General Manager Walt Jocketty was relieved of his duties with the Cardinals after 13 seasons on the job.
On October 22nd, Tony La Russa and owner William DeWitt, Jr. announced La Russa's signing of a new 2-year contract to manage through 2009 which would extend La Russa's reign as Cardinals' manager to a record 14 years.
Other historical notes
- For much of the last half of the 20th century, the Cardinals' radio flagship was St. Louis powerhouse 1120 KMOX-AM. Over the years such announcers as Harry Caray and Jack Buck (Baseball Hall of Fame honorees), the latter's son Joe Buck, and former Cardinal player Mike Shannon broadcast games over KMOX and its affiliate network. In late 2005, after the Cardinals organization purchased a controlling interest in rival station 550 KTRS-AM, it was announced that KTRS would become the team's new flagship station beginning with the 2006 season. Missouri native and longtime Chicago White Sox announcer John Rooney joined Shannon in the broadcast booth in the inaugural season with the new station.
- Between 1960 and 1987, St. Louis was home to two big-league Cardinals teams, baseball and football. Sports fans and local news coverage got into the habit of saying "the Baseball Cardinals" or "the Football Cardinals" to distinguish the two. Locals also got into the habit of using "Redbirds" to refer specifically to the baseball team. This nickname had been commonly used decades before the football team came to town. As a result, the Football Cardinals became known as the "Gridbirds" or the "Big Red".
- Over the years, Cardinal fans have gained the reputation as being the best and most knowledgeable in the game, according to Peter Gammons and other experts,[citation needed] and St. Louis has been deemed "Baseball City, USA".[citation needed] Players have been known to tell other players that they have not played baseball until they have played baseball in St. Louis.[citation needed] The atmosphere is so addictive that several players have accepted a "home team discount" (lower salary) to remain on the Cardinals (which play in a relatively small market compared to other franchises), most notably Scott Rolen, Mark McGwire, Jim Edmonds, and Albert Pujols.
- The Houston Astros and Cardinals have won ten of the thirteen division titles (through 2007) since the Central Division was created in 1994, including splitting the title in 2001. They also met in consecutive closely contested National League Championships Series in 2004 and 2005.
- The Cardinals are one of six teams (through the 2006 season) that do not use a third jersey, along with the Detroit Tigers, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the New York Yankees, the Philadelphia Phillies and the San Francisco Giants.
- They are also one of five teams whose road uniforms do not display the name of their city or region, instead displaying the team nickname. The other four are the Baltimore Orioles, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the Milwaukee Brewers and the Philadelphia Phillies.
- Cardinal pitchers have thrown ten no-hitters: Ted Breitenstein (1891), Jesse Haines (1924), Paul Dean (1934), Lon Warneke (1941), Ray Washburn (1968), Bob Gibson (1971), Bob Forsch (two, in 1978 and 1983), Jose Jimenez (1999), and Bud Smith (2001).
- On July 15, 2007, the Cardinals gave the Philadelphia Phillies their 10,000th loss. [7]
- The Cardinals have drawn 3,000,000 or more fans in a season 11 times in their history: 1987, 1989, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007.
- On September 22, 2007, hosting the Houston Astros, the Cardinals set a one-day attendance record in their new Busch Stadium with 46,237.
- After their last home game on September 23rd, 2007, the Cardinals drew an all-time attendance record for any year with 3,552,180 in their 81 home games (breaking their previous record set in 2005), an average of 43,854 per game.
Current roster
| For current information on this topic, see 2007 St. Louis Cardinals season. |
| St. Louis Cardinals | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 St. Louis Cardinals season | |||||
| |||||
| |||||
| Major league affiliations | |||||
| |||||
| Current uniform | |||||
| Retired numbers | 1, 2, 6, 9, 14, 17, 20, 42, 42, 45, 85 | ||||
| Name | |||||
| Other nicknames | |||||
| |||||
| Ballpark | |||||
| |||||
| Major league titles | |||||
| World Series titles (10) | 2006 • 1982 • 1967 • 1964 1946 • 1944 • 1942 • 1934 1931 • 1926 | ||||
| NL Pennants (17) | 2006 • 2004 • 1987 • 1985 1982 • 1968 • 1967 • 1964 1946 • 1944 • 1943 • 1942 1934 • 1931 • 1930 • 1928 1926 | ||||
| AA Pennants (4) | 1888 • 1887 • 1886 • 1885 | ||||
| Central Division titles (7) | 2006 • 2005 • 2004 • 2002 2001 • 2000 • 1996 | ||||
| East Division titles (3) [1] | 1987 • 1985 • 1982 | ||||
| Wild card berths (1) [2] | 2001 | ||||
[1] - In 1981, the Cardinals finished with the overall best record in the East Division. However, a players' strike in the middle of the season forced the season to be split into two halves. St. Louis finished second in both halves and was thereby deprived of a post-season appearance. [2] - In 2001, the Cardinals and the Houston Astros finished the season with identical records of 93-69 and finished tied for first place in the Central Division standings. Both teams were awarded a co-championship.[8] According to MLB, this was the "the first shared championship in major-league history".[9] For playoff seeding, the NL Central slot went to Houston and St. Louis was awarded the wild card berth. | |||||
| Front office | |||||
| Principal owner(s) | William DeWitt, Jr. and Fred Hanser | ||||
| General manager | John Mozeliak | ||||
| Manager | Tony La Russa | ||||
The St. Louis Cardinals (also referred to as "the Cards" or "the Redbirds") are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won 10 World Series, the most of any National League team, and second only to the New York Yankees in Major League Baseball, who have 26.
The Cardinals were founded in the American Association in 1882 as the St. Louis Brown Stockings, taking the name from an earlier National League team. They joined the National League in 1892 and have been known as the Cardinals since 1900. The Cardinals began play in the current Busch Stadium in 2006, becoming the first team since 1923 to win the World Series in their first season in a new ballpark. The Cardinals have a strong rivalry with the Chicago Cubs that began in 1885.
Franchise history
Early years: American Association dynasty and move to the NL
The team was formed as part of the American Association in 1882 where they enjoyed great success under flamboyant owner Chris von der Ahe. Initially they were known as the "Brown Stockings", named for a previous professional team in the city, whose name was one of several "Stockings" teams inspired by the success of the Cincinnati Red Stockings. This new team's nickname was quickly shortened to "Browns". The Browns won four American Association pennants in a row, 1885-88, and played in an early version of the World Series four times, twice against the National League's Chicago White Stockings (now the Cubs). The Series of 1885 ended in dispute and with no resolution. St. Louis won the 1886 Series outright, the only Series of that era that was won by the AA against the NL. The vigorous St. Louis-Chicago rivalry continues to this day.
The Browns joined the National League in 1892 following the bankruptcy of the American Association. They were briefly called the Perfectos in 1899 before settling on their present name, a name reportedly inspired by switching their uniform colors from brown to red. There was already a "Reds" team at Cincinnati, so the St. Louis team became "Cardinals" (reportedly because a woman spectator exclaimed that the uniform was "a wonderful shade of Cardinal."[citation needed])
Also in 1899, the Cardinals' owner, dissatisfied with his club's 1898 performance (twelfth place, 39 wins and 111 losses) transferred much of the talent from the other team he owned, the Cleveland Spiders, to the St. Louis franchise. This led to the spectacular demise of the Spiders, who fell to 20-134 (.130), along with significant improvement of the St. Louis club, which jumped from last (twelfth) place to fifth place. In effect, Cleveland and St. Louis switched places in the standings. The St. Louis-Cleveland chicanery also influenced contraction of the National League, which opened the door to the establishment of the American League as a rival to the National.
The change of name led to the adoption of the "St. Louis Browns" moniker by the American League franchise formerly known as the Milwaukee Brewers (the future Baltimore Orioles) upon their move to St. Louis in 1902.
1920s: The first modern world championship
The mid-1920s brought the Cardinals their first sustained success since the American Association days. Led by second baseman / manager Rogers Hornsby, St. Louis in 1926 won its first pennant in 39 years, and then shocked the baseball world by knocking off the powerful New York Yankees in seven games in the World Series. The storied Game 7 reached its climax in the seventh inning when the previous day's winning pitcher, the aging Grover Cleveland Alexander, was summoned in relief to face slugger Tony Lazzeri with the bases loaded (some fans feared that Alexander might have been a little "loaded" himself after celebrating the previous day's win). After giving up a long foul ball, "Ol' Pete" then struck out Lazzeri swinging on 3 low fastballs. A closely-guarded secret at the time was that both men in that confrontation happened to suffer from epilepsy. In the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7, with the Cardinals clinging to a 3-2 lead, Babe Ruth drew a walk. He chose to steal second, and was thrown out, giving the Cardinals their first World Series championship.
The Cardinals fell just short in 1927, then won the pennant again in 1928, edging out the resurging Chicago Cubs and the perennially contending New York Giants. The Cardinals did not fare so well in the World Series, as the Yankees continued their dominance from 1927 and shot down the Cardinals in four straight.
Regardless, the stage was set for the new order of the National League. Innovative Cardinals General Manager Branch Rickey was establishing a minor league farm system that would produce great players and keep the Cardinals in contention for the next two decades. Between 1926 and 1946, the Cardinals, Cubs and Giants would become fierce rivals, that trio winning 17 of the NL pennants during those 21 seasons.
1930s: Ol' Diz and the "Gang"
Highlights from Cardinals history include the 1930s era Gashouse Gang featuring Dizzy Dean, Joe Medwick, Pepper Martin, and Leo Durocher.
The Cardinals lost the 1930 World Series to the Philadelphia Athletics 4 games to 2, but came back strong the following year (1931), playing an aggressive game of "inside" ball that broke the back of the A's in 7 games.
In 1934, Dean and his younger brother, Paul, combined to win 49 games - still a single season record for brothers. Dizzy, whose real name was Jay Hanna Dean and was called "Jay" by his pals, won 30 of them, with Paul (facetiously nicknamed "Daffy" by the press) contributing 19. Dean's country humor made him a popular favorite, particularly in the rural south and midwest where Cardinals fans were numerous. The outgoing "Diz" and the shy "Daf" (a pair that Diz called "Me an' Paul") sometimes teamed up in doubleheaders. On September 21, 1934, Dizzy won the first game, allowing one hit. Then Paul pitched a no-hitter in the second game. Later, Diz jokingly remarked that he wished Paul had told him he was going to throw a no-hitter, because "Then I'd've pitched one too!"
In 1935 the Cardinals were overcome and defeated by the Chicago Cubs, who reeled off 21 straight wins in September. The Cubs clinched the pennant in St. Louis, although their streak had been snapped by then. In 1937, Dizzy Dean's toe was broken by a line drive in the [All-Star Game], and he injured his arm altering his pitching motion during the recovery process, losing his famous fastball, and signalling a brief decline by the Cardinals.
1940s: The war years and a young "Man"
In the early 1940s, the Cardinals dominated the National League. The 1942 "St. Louis Swifties" won 106 games, the most in franchise history, and are widely regarded as among the greatest baseball teams of all time, beating the Yankees in five games. Outfielder Stan Musial played his first full season with the 1942 Cardinals. Known to loyal fans as "The Man", Musial spent 22 years in a Cardinals uniform, 1941-1944, 1946-1963. He won seven batting titles and three MVP awards, and his 3,630 hits remain the 4th highest in baseball history. In August 1968, a statue of Musial was dedicated outside Busch Memorial Stadium. In 1943 and again in 1944 they posted the second-best records in team history at 105-49. The Yankees got revenge in the 1943 World Series, beating the Cardinals in five games. The 1944 World Series was particularly memorable as they met their crosstown rivals, the St. Louis Browns, in the "Streetcar Series". The Cardinals won four games to two. All six games were played in Sportsman's Park, which the two teams shared. Billy Southworth, the manager for all three of those seasons, remains the only Cardinal manager to guide his team to three straight pennants.
After finishing 3 games behind the Cubs in 1945 without "The Man" who was in the U.S. Navy, St. Louis came back to tie for the pennant in 1946, and ousted the Brooklyn Dodgers in a playoff series to get to the World Series. They faced a powerful Boston Red Sox team and defeated them in 7 games, the eventual winning run in Game 7 coming in the eighth inning on Enos Slaughter's famous "mad dash" around the bases on a hit to shallow left-center field.
In 1947, the Cardinals (who were effectively the South's only major league team until 1966) gained notoriety by allegedly (the accusation is disputed[10]) attempting to boycott games against the Brooklyn Dodgers to protest the Dodgers' signing of a black player, Jackie Robinson. The alleged ringleader of the boycott was Enos Slaughter. National League president Ford Frick threatened to ban any players who boycotted any games, and the boycott never happened. The Cardinals did not sign a black player until 1954 with part-timer Tom Alston and did not sign a black regular until Curt Flood in 1958. The Cardinals' resistance to the trend of hiring minority talent contributed to a team slump that ran from the late 1940s until the early 1960s. However, the organization was also the first Major League team to integrate spring training housing a decade later.
Anheuser-Busch takes over
Rickey had a falling-out with longtime owner Sam Breadon, and left the team to become general manager and part-owner of the Dodgers in 1942. With Breadon as effectively a one-man band, the Cardinals faded into the pack after their 1946 Series victory. After finding out he had terminal cancer, Breadon sold the team to former United States Postmaster General Robert Hannegan and businessman Fred Saigh for $3 million. Hannegan died in 1949, leaving Saigh as sole owner. Although the Cardinals remained competitive, they were on shaky financial ground. Meanwhile, the Browns, under new owner Bill Veeck, began a concerted effort to drive the Cardinals out of town. Ironically, the Cardinals had been the Browns' tenants since 1920 at Sportsman's Park, even though the Cardinals had long since passed the Browns as the city's dominant team.
In 1953, however, Saigh was convicted of tax evasion. Facing almost certain banishment from baseball, Saigh turned down higher offers from other cities in favor of a bid from the Anheuser-Busch brewery. August "Gussie" Busch took over as team president. Soon afterward, Veeck was forced to sell Sportsman's Park to the Cardinals under threat of having the facility condemned. Busch heavily renovated the 44-year-old park, renaming it Busch Stadium. Within a year, the Browns were forced to move to Baltimore as the Orioles.
1960s
The Cardinals front office continued to improve their minority hiring record, and built the Cardinals into another of their periodic dynasties. In 1963, they made a late-season run against the Dodgers which came close to putting Stan Musial into a World Series in his announced final season. The Dodgers held them off on that occasion, but for the last six years before divisional play went into effect in 1969 and changed the nature of the pennant races, there were only two colors on National League pennants: Dodger Blue and Cardinal Red.
1964 saw one of the wildest pennant races in baseball history. The Philadelphia Phillies seemed to have a commanding lead from 6 1/2 games ahead with only 12 games to play, but fell apart in the last two weeks of the season, as the Cardinals and other teams pounced on the opportunity. The Cardinals, thanks in part to the mid-season acquisition of Lou Brock from the Cubs, swept a 3-game series from Philadelphia to take over first, then clinched on the last day of the season, finishing a game ahead of the Phillies and the Cincinnati Reds, with the San Francisco Giants and the Milwaukee Braves close behind.
The 1964 World Series matched the upstart "Redbirds", led by third baseman and captain Ken Boyer, with the veteran Yankees, who featured his younger brother Clete, also an All-Star third baseman. Ken Boyer's stunning grand slam home run in Game 4 at Yankee Stadium, along with the overpowering pitching of their young hurler Bob Gibson, resulted in a 4 games to 3 win by the Cardinals. Ken was named National League Most Valuable Player at the conclusion of the season. This was the last Series appearance by the "Old" Yankees dynasty, which had appeared in 14 of the 16 series played from 1949 to 1964. Prior to 2001, the Cardinals remained the only team to hold an overall World Series edge against the Yankees, 3 Series to 2.
In a slightly bizarre post-season twist, manager Johnny Keane, who had been targeted for firing before the Cardinals' made their late-season comeback, left the team and took the job managing the Yankees. The Cardinals then promoted coach Red Schoendienst, who would take the managerial helm for the next 12 seasons. (According to The Baseball Hall of Shame by Nash and Zullo, the owners of the Cardinals and of the New York Yankees had decided, during the season, to replace their managers, Keane and Yogi Berra, after the season, regardless of the season's outcome. When these two teams happened to meet in the World Series, this plan received a great deal of attention.
In 1967, the Cardinals ("El Birdos") romped through the National League by 10 1/2 games with a superb 101-60 (.627) record, and then defeated the Boston Red Sox in the World Series, bursting "The Impossible Dream" bubble of the latter team, which had won their first pennant in 21 years, on the last day of the season. The 1967 team featured future Hall of Famers Lou Brock, Orlando Cepeda, Steve Carlton, and Bob Gibson, who won 3 games in the Series who was again named Series MVP, as he was in 1964. KMOX radio also awarded Lou Brock a car for his superb play (12-29 .414 with a record-tying 7 stolen bases) in the Series.
In 1968, "The Year of the Pitcher," Gibson finished with an astonishingly low ERA of 1.12 winning 22 games and the Cy Young Award, and the Cardinals again won the pennant (97-65 .599), with a comfortable 9-game margin. Although essentially the same team as the previous year, they faced a tougher opponent in the Detroit Tigers, who had also won their pennant easily, behind the 31-win season of Denny McLain. Even though pitchers Gibson and McLain both were rare league MVPs that season, another Tigers starter, Mickey Lolich, stole the show, becoming the last pitcher to date to win three complete games in a single Series. The Tigers won the closely contested 7-game affair. It was the last Series appearance for this great Cardinals team, and the last Series before baseball adopted its divisional format.
1969 saw a number of changes as the major leagues expanded into 24 teams and 4 divisions. The resurgent Chicago Cubs led the newly-formed NL East Division for much of the summer before falling apart in the last month. The Cardinals put on a mid-season surge, as their famous announcer Harry Caray (in what would prove to be his final season of 25 doing Cardinals broadcasts) began singing, "The Cardinals are coming, tra-la-la-la". Ultimately the "Miracle" New York Mets would win the division, the league championship and the World Series.
1970s
In 1970, Curt Flood, along with Tim McCarver, Byron Browne, and Joe Hoerner, were to be traded to the Philadelphia Phillies for Dick Allen, Cookie Rojas, and Dick Donovan. However, Flood would challenge the reserve clause since he did not want to play for one of the worst teams in the National League. As a result, Willie Montanez and another player would compensate for Flood as he would set the tone for free agency. Also in 1970, Bob Gibson would continue his dominance as he won another Cy Young Award, winning 23 games. He would be the last Cardinal to win it until Chris Carpenter won it in 2005.
Another deal with the Phillies proved to be even more disastrous. Prior to the 1972 season, owner Gussie Busch refused to renegotiate the contract of left-handed pitcher Steve Carlton, who was coming off of his first 20-win season and an appearance in the All-Star Game. Instead of paying the money, Busch traded Carlton to Philadelphia for right-hander Rick Wise. Carlton immediately turned the deal into a steal for the Phillies by winning 27 games and the Cy Young Award for a club that finished the 1972 season at 59-97, setting a record for highest percentage of team wins (45.8%). Wise would be gone from St. Louis by 1974; Carlton would go on to the Hall of Fame.
The Cardinals continued to be perennial contenders throughout the 1970s, placing second in the National League Eastern Division and finishing above .500 six times during the decade. In 1974, Lou Brock led the team in a pennant race against the Pirates by breaking Maury Wills single-season stolen base record (104) set in 1962. Brock set a new record of 118 in '74 but the Cardinals finished a game-and-a-half behind Pittsburgh. Popular manager Red Schoendienst, was replaced in 1977 after 12 seasons guiding the Cardinals, as many players arrived and departed the Gateway City. Joe Torre won the 1971 National League MVP award hitting .363 with 24 HRs, but was later traded to the Mets. Jose Cruz, Dick Allen, and Ted Sizemore were all dealt away to other teams in the league. Ted Simmons led the team in On-Base-Percentage six times during the decade, but more changes would come as the Cardinals began to retool the roster to become champions again.
In 1979, Keith Hernandez was the co-NL MVP while Pete Vuckovich and Silvio Martinez each won 15 games. Garry Templeton became the first switch-hitter to collect 100 hits from each side of the plate and led the league in triples for a third consecutive season. Hall-of-Famer Lou Brock collected his 3,000th hit in his last Major League season.
1980s: Whiteyball, Ozzie and the "Runnin' Redbirds"
After a less-than-successful 1970s, new Cardinal manager Whitey Herzog, affectionately known to fans as the White Rat, revived the winning tradition at Busch Stadium. Herzog's brand of baseball, known in St. Louis as "Whiteyball", catered to the hard Astroturf of Busch Stadium and featured speed on the base paths, sparkling defense, and unconventional roster moves. Herzog was known to put the pitcher in right field, bring in a reliever for one batter, and then put the original pitcher back on the mound. In his 11 years as Cardinal manager, Herzog won three National League pennants, and a 1982 World Series title. The 1980s era Cardinals included stars Darrell Porter (1982 NLCS and World Series MVP), Ozzie Smith, Willie McGee (1985 NL MVP who won two batting titles in a Cardinals uniform), John Tudor, Tom Herr, Jack Clark, Bruce Sutter, Keith Hernandez, Terry Pendleton, and Joaquín Andujar.
The 1985 World Series, christened the "I-70 Series" because it featured the in-state rival Kansas City Royals, is perhaps the most controversial in Cardinals history. The Series started ominously for the Cardinals as their rookie lead-off hitter and catalyst, Vince Coleman, who stole 110 bases that year, was run into by the mechanical tarpaulin at Busch Stadium during the NLCS. Scribes joked about a "killer tarp", but the remark proved metaphorical, as Coleman was unable to play in the Fall Classic. Game 6 of that Series featured "The Call." In the bottom of the 9th inning, umpire Don Denkinger called Royals batter Jorge Orta safe at first base — a call refuted by broadcast television's instant replay. The Cardinals, leading 1-0 at the time of the play and needing that victory to clinch the title, went on to lose Game 6 a few batters later by the score of 2-1. The "Runnin' Redbirds" then were blown out of Game 7 the following night, by the score of 11-0, as both of their pitching aces failed to come through on this occasion — John Tudor, who, upon being removed from the game, punched a mechanical fan and severely cut his pitching hand, and Joaquín Andújar, who was ejected by home plate umpire Denkinger for arguing balls and strikes.
The Cardinals again won the National League pennant in 1987, but lost to the Minnesota Twins 4 games to 3 in the World Series. This time, St. Louis was without clean-up hitter Jack Clark, the team's #1 offensive threat, who caught a cleat in the abominable turf at Montreal's Olympic Stadium in the closing days of the regular season. The Series was the first in which the home team won each of the seven games. The Cardinals held their own at Busch Stadium, but the electronically-enhanced crowd noise and the "Homer Hankies" in the Metrodome seemed to spook the Redbirds. The booming bats of the Twins, which seemed to come alive only in the "Homerdome," were too much for the Cardinals "inside baseball" style of offense to overcome. Games 1, 2, and 6 were pretty much blowouts, and in Game 7 the Twins' pitching shut down the Cardinals.
1990s: A new era and Big Mac
After August Busch, Jr. died in 1989, the Cardinals would finish in last place in 1990 with Whitey Herzog resigning. He was replaced by Schoendienst and eventually Joe Torre. During Torre's tenure in St. Louis, the Cardinals' highest finish was 87 wins (3rd place in 1993).
In 1995, Anheuser-Busch, Inc. sold the Cardinals team and Busch Stadium to a new ownership group headed by Southwest Bank's Drew Baur, Fred Hanser and William DeWitt, Jr., for a price substantially undervalued in order to keep the team in St. Louis. Additionally, Civic Center Redevelopment, earlier acquired by A-B, sold the parking garages and other surrounding property owned by this quasi-civic organization to the new ownership group.
The new ownership group almost immediately sold off the parking garages next to the stadium to an investment group. With the proceeds of sale from the garages, the cost basis in the team was in the $100 million range, a real steal considering that Forbes Magazine values the Cardinals franchise on the high side of $300 million.
The year before the sale of the team, Anheuser-Busch had hired baseball executive Walt Jocketty as their new general manager. With a new ownership group in place and their commitment to return a winning team to St. Louis, Jocketty's expertise in locating baseball talent soon was tested in one of baseball's most successful franchises.
The Cardinals reached the playoffs in 1996 (the first season for long-time Oakland Athletics manager Tony La Russa), but the Atlanta Braves defeated them for the National League pennant. The Cardinals blew a 3-1 series lead to the Braves in the 1996 NLCS.
In 1997, the team finished fourth in the NL Central Division with a record of 73-89. Mark McGwire arrived and hit 24 home runs in only 51 games. Delino DeShields led the league with 14 triples.
In 1998, Cardinals' first baseman Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs battled to set the record for most home runs in one season. McGwire broke Roger Maris's 37 year-old record of 61 on September 8 with a low line drive over Busch Stadium's left field fence. Somewhat ironically, it was the shortest home run McGwire hit that season. McGwire went on to finish with 70 home runs and had a section of Interstate 70 running through downtown St. Louis re-named "the Mark McGwire Highway". His record stood until Barry Bonds hit 73 in 2001.
2000s and beyond
In 2000, the Cardinals went 95-67, posting their best record since the '87 team that lost the World Series to the Twins. However, the Cardinals, their starting rotation in disarray after the injury to Garrett Stephenson and the meltdown of Rick Ankiel, lost to the New York Mets in the National League Championship Series.
In 2001, the Cardinals finished the season with a 93-69 record. The Houston Astros, also in the National League Central, finished with an identical record. Both teams were awarded a co-championship.[11]Since Houston won the season series against the Cardinals, 9 games to 7 games, Houston received the NL Central playoff seeding and St. Louis received the wild card berth. Major League Baseball refers to the 2001 Cardinals as "co-division champions" along with the Astros and notes that this was the first shared championship in major league history. Helping the Cardinals accomplish this was 21 year old rookie third baseman Albert Pujols, who hit 37 home runs and won the National League Rookie of the Year award. [12] On September 3, Bud Smith became the ninth Cardinal and 18th rookie since 1900 to throw a no-hitter. St. Louis lost in the first round of the playoffs to the eventual world champion Arizona Diamondbacks. After the season Mark McGwire retired due to a chronic knee injury.
In 2002, the Cardinals won the Central Division and this time defeated the Diamondbacks 3 games to none to reach the NLCS, but lost 4 games to 1 to the San Francisco Giants. The year was also marred with tragedy for the Cardinal family. On June 18, beloved Hall of Fame broadcaster Jack Buck died at the age of 77. Just ten months earlier, Buck (despite ailing from lung cancer and Parkinson's disease) stirred emotions when he addressed the crowd at Busch Stadium when Major League Baseball resumed after the September 11 terrorist attacks. The biggest shock came just four days after Buck's passing when pitcher Darryl Kile died suddenly at the age of 33 of heart failure while in Chicago for a series against the Cubs.
After missing the playoffs in 2003, St. Louis bounced back to post the best record in the Major Leagues in 2004, tallying their most wins (105) since the 1940s. Facing off against division rival Houston in the NLCS, the Cardinals took a 2-0 lead, then lost three straight in Houston. Coming home for Game 6, the Cardinals took a 4-3 lead into the 9th inning, but Houston tied it up. Jim Edmonds hit a walk-off homer in the bottom of the 12th to win the game. The next night, Scott Rolen's two-run homer off Roger Clemens won the series and gave the Cardinals their first NL pennant in seventeen years. Albert Pujols was named the series MVP.
The Cardinals played the Boston Red Sox in the 2004 World Series. This was the third time the two teams have faced each other in the Fall Classic, with the Cardinals winning the previous two in 1946 and 1967, but this Series would be very different. The Cardinals were swept by the Red Sox in four games, with Boston winning their first World Series championship in 86 years. The best demonstration of St. Louis' troubles in the Series: Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen, and Jim Edmonds, the normally fearsome 3-4-5 hitters for the Cardinals, were a dismal 6-for-45 with 1 RBI.
The 2005 Cardinals had another excellent season, winning 100 games and clinching their fourth NL Central championship (and fifth playoff berth) in the last six years. However, they again fell short, losing the NLCS to Houston despite Albert Pujols' memorable ninth inning three-run homer to win Game 5.
That offseason, Chris Carpenter won the Cy Young award and Albert Pujols won the NL MVP award. This made the Cardinals the first NL team since the 1991 Braves to have two players from the same team win both of these awards the same year.
2007
The Cardinals began the 2007 season defending their 2006 World Series championship. On April 29, 2007, relief pitcher Josh Hancock was killed in a motor vehicle accident due to a combination of alcohol intoxication, high speed, talking on his cell phone, and later was found to have trace amounts of the pain killer Oxycodone. He hit a tow truck that was parked in the road. The Cardinals' scheduled game with the Chicago Cubs later that day was postponed due to his death. Hancock was the second Cardinals' pitcher to die in the past five years during a Cubs series, following Darryl Kile's death in a Chicago hotel room on June 22, 2002. The death of Josh Hancock set the tone for a season marred by numerous injuries to the starting lineup, with a total of 15 players having spent time on the disabled list.
On August 6, the Cardinals tied a Major League record with ten consecutive hits (including 1 walk) without an out in the bottom of the 5th inning against the San Diego Padres. [13] This is the third time the Cardinals have had 10 consecutive hits, also doing it on September 17, 1920 vs. the Boston Braves in the 4th inning, and a second time on June 12, 1922 vs. the Philadelphia Phillies, 6th inning.
On September 23rd, Busch Stadium hosted its final game of the 2007 season as the Houston Astros came to town. Cardinals' broadcaster Mike Shannon was honored before the game for his fiftieth anniversary of working with the organization. Astros' second baseman Craig Biggio received a standing ovation during his at bat in the 8th inning, his final at bat in St. Louis before his impending retirement. He flew out to right fielder Skip Schumaker on a 1-0 pitch from Brian Falkenborg.
The Cardinals won their final home game in dramatic fashion as they entered the bottom of the ninth with a 3-1 deficit. After a single from Miguel Cairo and a pinch-hit walk to Ryan Ludwick, Albert Pujols stepped up to pinch hit against Houston closer Brad Lidge. Pujols hit an RBI single, falling a foot or two shy of a walk-off home run, to pull the Cardinals within one. Rick Ankiel followed with a 2-run triple to send the fans home with one final home victory in the 2007 season.
Shortly after the season ended, Bruce Manno (Sr. Director, Pro Scouting/Special Asst. to the General Manager) was told his contract was not being renewed.
On October 3rd, General Manager Walt Jocketty was relieved of his duties with the Cardinals after 13 seasons on the job.
On October 22nd, Tony La Russa and owner William DeWitt, Jr. announced La Russa's signing of a new 2-year contract to manage through 2009 which would extend La Russa's reign as Cardinals' manager to a record 14 years.
Other historical notes
- For much of the last half of the 20th century, the Cardinals' radio flagship was St. Louis powerhouse 1120 KMOX-AM. Over the years such announcers as Harry Caray and Jack Buck (Baseball Hall of Fame honorees), the latter's son Joe Buck, and former Cardinal player Mike Shannon broadcast games over KMOX and its affiliate network. In late 2005, after the Cardinals organization purchased a controlling interest in rival station 550 KTRS-AM, it was announced that KTRS would become the team's new flagship station beginning with the 2006 season. Missouri native and longtime Chicago White Sox announcer John Rooney joined Shannon in the broadcast booth in the inaugural season with the new station.
- Between 1960 and 1987, St. Louis was home to two big-league Cardinals teams, baseball and football. Sports fans and local news coverage got into the habit of saying "the Baseball Cardinals" or "the Football Cardinals" to distinguish the two. Locals also got into the habit of using "Redbirds" to refer specifically to the baseball team. This nickname had been commonly used decades before the football team came to town. As a result, the Football Cardinals became known as the "Gridbirds" or the "Big Red".
- Over the years, Cardinal fans have gained the reputation as being the best and most knowledgeable in the game, according to Peter Gammons and other experts,[citation needed] and St. Louis has been deemed "Baseball City, USA".[citation needed] Players have been known to tell other players that they have not played baseball until they have played baseball in St. Louis.[citation needed] The atmosphere is so addictive that several players have accepted a "home team discount" (lower salary) to remain on the Cardinals (which play in a relatively small market compared to other franchises), most notably Scott Rolen, Mark McGwire, Jim Edmonds, and Albert Pujols.
- The Houston Astros and Cardinals have won ten of the thirteen division titles (through 2007) since the Central Division was created in 1994, including splitting the title in 2001. They also met in consecutive closely contested National League Championships Series in 2004 and 2005.
- The Cardinals are one of six teams (through the 2006 season) that do not use a third jersey, along with the Detroit Tigers, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the New York Yankees, the Philadelphia Phillies and the San Francisco Giants.
- They are also one of five teams whose road uniforms do not display the name of their city or region, instead displaying the team nickname. The other four are the Baltimore Orioles, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the Milwaukee Brewers and the Philadelphia Phillies.
- Cardinal pitchers have thrown ten no-hitters: Ted Breitenstein (1891), Jesse Haines (1924), Paul Dean (1934), Lon Warneke (1941), Ray Washburn (1968), Bob Gibson (1971), Bob Forsch (two, in 1978 and 1983), Jose Jimenez (1999), and Bud Smith (2001).
- On July 15, 2007, the Cardinals gave the Philadelphia Phillies their 10,000th loss. [14]
- The Cardinals have drawn 3,000,000 or more fans in a season 11 times in their history: 1987, 1989, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007.
- On September 22, 2007, hosting the Houston Astros, the Cardinals set a one-day attendance record in their new Busch Stadium with 46,237.
- After their last home game on September 23rd, 2007, the Cardinals drew an all-time attendance record for any year with 3,552,180 in their 81 home games (breaking their previous record set in 2005), an average of 43,854 per game.
Current roster
Template loop detected: St. Louis Cardinals roster
|
Players elected with Cardinals logo on plaque
|
Players elected with Cardinals as primary team
|
|
Other Hall-of-Famers associated with Cardinals
|
|
Retired numbers
 Rogers Hornsby 2B, M Honored 1937 |
 Ozzie Smith SS Retired 1996 |
 Red Schoendienst 2B, M, Coach Retired 1990 |
 Stan Musial 1B, LF Retired 1963 |
 Enos Slaughter RF Retired 1996 |
 Ken Boyer 3B, M, Coach Retired 1984 |
 Dizzy Dean SP Retired 1974 |
 Lou Brock LF Retired 1979 |
 Jackie Robinson 2B Retired 1997 |
Bruce Sutter RP Retired 2006 |
 Bob Gibson SP Retired 1975 |
 Gussie Busch Owner Retired 1984 |
Jackie Robinson's number 42 was retired throughout baseball in 1997. The Cardinals 'retired' the number 42 a second time in Sept. 2006 as Bruce Sutter had been elected to the Hall of Fame earlier in the year.
Cardinal stockholders honored Busch with the number 85 on his 85th birthday, in 1984. Also, while not officially retired, the number 25 of Mark McGwire (1B, 1997-2001) has not been reissued since he retired, the number 51 of Willie McGee (OF 1982-1990, 1996-1999) has not been reissued since the late 2001 season, and the number 57 of Darryl Kile (P, 2000-02) has not been reissued since his death in the middle of the 2002 season. (Kile is honored with a small circular logo bearing his initials and number on the wall of the Cardinal bullpen, as is deceased pitcher Josh Hancock.) The team also honored longtime radio commentator Jack Buck by placing a drawing of a microphone on the wall with the retired numbers.
The Cardinals are tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers as having retired the second-most numbers in baseball with 10, behind only the New York Yankees' 16.
Quick facts
- Uniform colors: Cardinal red, White, and Navy blue
- Logo design: One or two cardinals perched on a baseball bat. Colloquially referred to as the birds on the bat.
- Team motto: Welcome to Baseball Heaven.
- Mascot: Fredbird, an anthropomorphized Northern Cardinal
- Other nicknames: Often called the Cards or Redbirds or even just the 'Birds.
- Theme Song:"The Budweiser Clydesdale Jingle (Here Comes the King)" is associated with the team from its time as an asset of Anheuser-Busch. The song was often played by organist Ernie Hays during the Seventh-inning stretch while the Budweiser Clydesdales made a circuit of Busch Stadium. Currently, it is played in the middle of the 8th inning, with the Clydesdales still occasionally making appearances.
- Local radio: KTRS
- Local television: FSN Midwest, KSDK (effective 2007)
- Broadcasters: John Rooney and Mike Shannon on KTRS, Dan McLaughlin, Al Hrabosky and Joe Buck on FSN, Jay Randolph and Ricky Horton on KSDK.
- Spring Training Facility: Roger Dean Stadium, Jupiter, FL
- Rivals: Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros, Kansas City Royals (interleague)
- Famous fans:John Goodman, Bob Knight, Bob Barker, Chingy, J-Kwon, Nelly, Kristin Cavallari, John Grisham, Billy Bob Thornton, Gretchen Wilson, Bill Clinton, Scott Bakula, James Carville, Jenna Fischer, Sammy Hagar, Randy Orton, Larry Bird, and Mike Patrick.
Minor league affiliations
- AAA: Memphis Redbirds (Pacific Coast League)
- AA: Springfield Cardinals (Texas League)
- Advanced A: Palm Beach Cardinals (Florida State League)
- A: Quad City Swing (Midwest League)
- Short A: Batavia Muckdogs (New York-Penn League)
- Rookie: Johnson City Cardinals (Appalachian League)
Radio and television
In St. Louis, Cardinals games on radio can be heard over KTRS, a talk radio station of which the team owns 50 percent. Mike Shannon and John Rooney alternate as play-by-play announcers. KTRS feeds the games to a network comprised of 115 stations, covering Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.
Prior to moving to KTRS in 2005, the Cardinals and KMOX radio enjoyed a partnership that spanned over seven decades. But the relationship ended after the 2004 season when CBS Radio, KMOX's parent company, and the Cardinals failed to reach terms on a new rights agreement, resulting in the team leaving the 50,000-watt clear channel behemoth in favor of becoming part-owners of 5,000-watt KTRS.
On television, coverage is split between Fox Sports Net Midwest and KSDK, St. Louis' NBC affiliate. KSDK replaced KPLR-TV as the Cards' over-the-air television broadcaster starting in the 2007 season. KSDK and its predecessor, KSD-TV, previously carried the team from 1963 until 1987.
Joe Buck and Al Hrabosky are the official announcers on FSN Midwest, though Buck's Fox Sports commitments restrict him to only doing ten games per season; Dan McLaughlin and Ricky Horton fill in when Joe Buck is unavailable. Buck's father was Cardinals legend and Hall of Fame announcer Jack Buck. Jay Randolph and Horton team up for KSDK contests. All telecasts on KSDK will be in HDTV, along with a select number on FSN Midwest.
Notes and references
- ^ http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/teams/nl/cardinals.htm
- ^ http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/stl/components/history/comp_timeline_2001.jsp
- ^ Peter Golenbock, "The Spirit of St. Louis: A History Of The St. Louis Cardinals And Browns"
- ^ Baseball Hall of Fame Official Site
- ^ MLB.com
- ^ MLB.com Wrapup: Cardinals defeat Padres. The Pitcher, along with the 9 hitter, both had 2 hits in the inning.
- ^ MLB.com Wrapup: Cardinals defeat Phillies
- ^ http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/teams/nl/cardinals.htm
- ^ http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/stl/components/history/comp_timeline_2001.jsp
- ^ Peter Golenbock, "The Spirit of St. Louis: A History Of The St. Louis Cardinals And Browns"
- ^ Baseball Hall of Fame Official Site
- ^ MLB.com
- ^ MLB.com Wrapup: Cardinals defeat Padres. The Pitcher, along with the 9 hitter, both had 2 hits in the inning.
- ^ MLB.com Wrapup: Cardinals defeat Phillies
External links
- Cardinals Forum
- St. Louis Cardinals official web site
- Current records and standings
- St. Louis Cardinals Team Index at Baseball Reference
- St. Louis Cardinals Team Page at Scout.com
Template:MLB Cardinals franchise
Sports teams based in Missouri | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baseball |  | ||||||||
| Basketball | |||||||||
| Football | |||||||||
| Ice hockey | |||||||||
| Roller derby | |||||||||
| Rugby | |||||||||
| Soccer | |||||||||
| Tennis | |||||||||
| College athletics |
| ||||||||
| World Series Championship Navigation Boxes |
|---|
|
Players elected with Cardinals logo on plaque
|
Players elected with Cardinals as primary team
|
|
Other Hall-of-Famers associated with Cardinals
|
|
Retired numbers
Rogers Hornsby 2B, M Honored 1937 |
Ozzie Smith SS Retired 1996 |
Red Schoendienst 2B, M, Coach Retired 1990 |
Stan Musial 1B, LF Retired 1963 |
Enos Slaughter RF Retired 1996 |
Ken Boyer 3B, M, Coach Retired 1984 |
Dizzy Dean SP Retired 1974 |
Lou Brock LF Retired 1979 |
Jackie Robinson 2B Retired 1997 |
Bruce Sutter RP Retired 2006 |
Bob Gibson SP Retired 1975 |
Gussie Busch Owner Retired 1984 |
Jackie Robinson's number 42 was retired throughout baseball in 1997. The Cardinals 'retired' the number 42 a second time in Sept. 2006 as Bruce Sutter had been elected to the Hall of Fame earlier in the year.
Cardinal stockholders honored Busch with the number 85 on his 85th birthday, in 1984. Also, while not officially retired, the number 25 of Mark McGwire (1B, 1997-2001) has not been reissued since he retired, the number 51 of Willie McGee (OF 1982-1990, 1996-1999) has not been reissued since the late 2001 season, and the number 57 of Darryl Kile (P, 2000-02) has not been reissued since his death in the middle of the 2002 season. (Kile is honored with a small circular logo bearing his initials and number on the wall of the Cardinal bullpen, as is deceased pitcher Josh Hancock.) The team also honored longtime radio commentator Jack Buck by placing a drawing of a microphone on the wall with the retired numbers.
The Cardinals are tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers as having retired the second-most numbers in baseball with 10, behind only the New York Yankees' 16.
Quick facts
- Uniform colors: Cardinal red, White, and Navy blue
- Logo design: One or two cardinals perched on a baseball bat. Colloquially referred to as the birds on the bat.
- Team motto: Welcome to Baseball Heaven.
- Mascot: Fredbird, an anthropomorphized Northern Cardinal
- Other nicknames: Often called the Cards or Redbirds or even just the 'Birds.
- Theme Song:"The Budweiser Clydesdale Jingle (Here Comes the King)" is associated with the team from its time as an asset of Anheuser-Busch. The song was often played by organist Ernie Hays during the Seventh-inning stretch while the Budweiser Clydesdales made a circuit of Busch Stadium. Currently, it is played in the middle of the 8th inning, with the Clydesdales still occasionally making appearances.
- Local radio: KTRS
- Local television: FSN Midwest, KSDK (effective 2007)
- Broadcasters: John Rooney and Mike Shannon on KTRS, Dan McLaughlin, Al Hrabosky and Joe Buck on FSN, Jay Randolph and Ricky Horton on KSDK.
- Spring Training Facility: Roger Dean Stadium, Jupiter, FL
- Rivals: Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros, Kansas City Royals (interleague)
- Famous fans:John Goodman, Bob Knight, Bob Barker, Chingy, J-Kwon, Nelly, Kristin Cavallari, John Grisham, Billy Bob Thornton, Gretchen Wilson, Bill Clinton, Scott Bakula, James Carville, Jenna Fischer, Sammy Hagar, Randy Orton, Larry Bird, and Mike Patrick.
Minor league affiliations
- AAA: Memphis Redbirds (Pacific Coast League)
- AA: Springfield Cardinals (Texas League)
- Advanced A: Palm Beach Cardinals (Florida State League)
- A: Quad City Swing (Midwest League)
- Short A: Batavia Muckdogs (New York-Penn League)
- Rookie: Johnson City Cardinals (Appalachian League)
Radio and television
In St. Louis, Cardinals games on radio can be heard over KTRS, a talk radio station of which the team owns 50 percent. Mike Shannon and John Rooney alternate as play-by-play announcers. KTRS feeds the games to a network comprised of 115 stations, covering Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.
Prior to moving to KTRS in 2005, the Cardinals and KMOX radio enjoyed a partnership that spanned over seven decades. But the relationship ended after the 2004 season when CBS Radio, KMOX's parent company, and the Cardinals failed to reach terms on a new rights agreement, resulting in the team leaving the 50,000-watt clear channel behemoth in favor of becoming part-owners of 5,000-watt KTRS.
On television, coverage is split between Fox Sports Net Midwest and KSDK, St. Louis' NBC affiliate. KSDK replaced KPLR-TV as the Cards' over-the-air television broadcaster starting in the 2007 season. KSDK and its predecessor, KSD-TV, previously carried the team from 1963 until 1987.
Joe Buck and Al Hrabosky are the official announcers on FSN Midwest, though Buck's Fox Sports commitments restrict him to only doing ten games per season; Dan McLaughlin and Ricky Horton fill in when Joe Buck is unavailable. Buck's father was Cardinals legend and Hall of Fame announcer Jack Buck. Jay Randolph and Horton team up for KSDK contests. All telecasts on KSDK will be in HDTV, along with a select number on FSN Midwest.
Notes and references
External links
- Cardinals Forum
- St. Louis Cardinals official web site
- Current records and standings
- St. Louis Cardinals Team Index at Baseball Reference
- St. Louis Cardinals Team Page at Scout.com
Template:MLB Cardinals franchise
Sports teams based in Missouri | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baseball | | ||||||||
| Basketball | |||||||||
| Football | |||||||||
| Ice hockey | |||||||||
| Roller derby | |||||||||
| Rugby | |||||||||
| Soccer | |||||||||
| Tennis | |||||||||
| College athletics |
| ||||||||
| World Series Championship Navigation Boxes |
|---|