St. Louis Cardinals
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| St. Louis Cardinals Established 1882 |
|||
|
|||
| Major league affiliations | |||
|
|||
| Current uniform | |||
|
|||
| Retired Numbers | 1,2,6,9,14,17,20,42,45,85 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | |||
|
|||
| 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. |
|||
| Owner(s): William DeWitt, Jr. and Fred Hanser | |||
| Manager: Tony La Russa | |||
| General Manager: Walt Jocketty | |||
The St. Louis Cardinals 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 and are the reigning World Series Champions. The Cardinals have won 10 World Series, the most of any National League team, and second only to the New York Yankees, 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 new 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.
[edit] Franchise history
[edit] Early years: American Association dynasty
The team was formed as part of the American Association in 1882 where they enjoyed a four-year dynasty 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.
In total, the early Cardinals won four straight pennants in the American Association.
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 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. Dropping brown as the team color led to its adoption by the new American League franchise, the St. Louis Browns.
[edit] 1920s: The first world championship
The Cardinals built themselves into a winner during the mid-1920s, led by second baseman / manager Rogers Hornsby, the closest player the National League had, statistically speaking, to Babe Ruth. In 1926, the Cardinals won their 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 to be had during those 21 seasons.
[edit] 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, 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 Jerome Herman 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 and 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 during the recovery process, losing his famous fastball, and signalling a brief decline by the Cardinals.
[edit] 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. 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. Outfielder Stan "The Man" Musial led the ’44 team. Known to loyal fans as "Ol' Number 6", Musial spent 23 years in a Cardinals uniform. In 1968, a statue of Musial was constructed outside Busch Stadium. 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, 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 the 1960s) gained notoriety by 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 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.
[edit] 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 drive 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.
[edit] 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 5 years before divisional play went into effect 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, 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, took on the veteran Yankees, which 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. This was the last Series appearance by the "Old" Yankees dynasty, which had appeared in 14 of 16 Series, 1949-64. 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.
In 1967, the Cardinals ("El Birdos") romped through the National League 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.
In 1968, "The Year of the Pitcher", Gibson finished with an astonishly low ERA of 1.12, and the Cardinals again won the pennant by a double-digit 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 both Gibson and McLain were 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 faltering. 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.
[edit] 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. 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.
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 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.
[edit] 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, but it was probably much more than just Denkinger's strike zone bothering the tough Dominican.
The Cardinals again won the National League in 1987, losing to the Minnesota Twins 4 games to 3 in the World Series. This time, St. Louis was without clean-up hitter Jack Clark, the Cardinals' #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.
[edit] 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 Cardinal 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 AB, 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. The anabolic steroids scandals a few years later have possibly tainted these records, but at the time it was great theater and helped baseball recover further from the players' strike in 1994 which had angered and alienated many fans.
[edit] 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.[3]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. [4] 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 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 somebody on their team win both of these awards the same year.
[edit] 2006: A new Busch Stadium, another championship
Old Busch Stadium was demolished in the 2005 offseason, and the third Busch Stadium opened on April 4, 2006. After a 31-16 start, injuries took their toll and the Cardinals began to struggle. They had an eight-game losing streak in June (their longest in eighteen years) and then another a month later. In late September the Cardinals lost seven straight games and their lead in the division shrank from 8 1/2 games to 1/2 game. It was nearly the worst collapse in baseball history, but on the last day of the regular season, despite a 5-3 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, the Cardinals clinched the NL Central title when Houston lost to Atlanta 3-1.
St. Louis Cardinals
The Cardinals entered the postseason with an 83-78 record, the third-worst ever for a playoff team, and were given little chance to advance. However, they beat the San Diego Padres in the first round and moved on to face the New York Mets. Heavy underdogs, the Cardinals went on to beat the Mets in seven thrilling games, winning the series on a two-run homer by Yadier Molina in the ninth inning of Game 7. It was the franchise's 17th National League pennant.
The Cardinals entered the 2006 World Series again as underdogs, this time to the Detroit Tigers. (Bob Nightengale of USAToday expressed the general opinion when he famously predicted "Tigers in three".) However, things would turn out very differently. Scott Rolen hit .421 for the Series; David Eckstein hit .364 and won the MVP. The Cardinals compiled a team 2.05 ERA for the Series. Detroit, on the other hand, played very poorly overall, hitting .199 and committing eight errors (five by pitchers) in five games. On October 27, 2006, the Cardinals won their tenth World Championship, defeating the Tigers 4-2 and winning the Series in five games. The Cardinals were the first team since the 1923 New York Yankees to win a World Series in their first season in a new park. They also joined the Yankees as the only Major League teams with double digit World Championships. The excitement was so intense. When the Adam Wainright struck out Brandon Inge to end the game and the series, it was the loudest noise the City of St. Louis had ever heard. Surely, it will go down as one of the best and worst seasons in St. Louis Cardinals history with the team with the fewest wins ever to win a World Series title.
[edit] 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, and St. Louis has been deemed "Baseball City, USA". Players have been known to tell other players that they have not played baseball until they have played baseball in St. Louis. 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.
- St. Louis-Chicago Cubs rivalry draws sell-outs on a regular basis. More recently a new rivalry has developed with the Houston Astros due to the frequent meetings in the NLCS in the past years, and their frequent competition for dominance in the Central Division.
- 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 nine no-hitters: Jesse Haines (1924), Paul Dean (1934), Lon Warneke (1941), Ray Washburn (1968), Bob Gibson (1971), Bob Forsch (two, in 1978 and 1983), Jose Jiminez (1999), and Bud Smith (2001). The Cardinals have never been involved in a perfect game, win or lose.
[edit] Year-by-year results
[edit] Quick facts
- Uniform colors: Cardinal red, White, and Navy blue
- Logo design: One or two cardinals perched on a baseball bat.
- Team motto: Welcome to Baseball Heaven.
- Mascot: Fredbird, an anthropomorphized Northern Cardinal
- Other nicknames: Often called the Redbirds or even just the 'Birds, or the Cards.
- 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. In addition, other songs that have been associated with the Cardinals are:
- "The Heat Is On" by Glenn Frey, played after Cardinals victories during the glory years of the 1980s and still a beloved song among Cardinals fans who lived in that era. (Used during the 1985 Series run, it was interspersed with Cardinal highlights)
- "Shakedown" by Bob Seger, used during their 1987 Series run, also interspersed with highlights
- "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter, currently played after losses.
- "Shout It Out Loud" by KISS, currently played after wins.
- "We Like To Party" by the Vengaboys, played after playoff wins in 2006.
- "Redbird Fever" by Gretchen Wilson, a country song about Cardinals support in Wilson's rural Illinois home
- "Everytime We Touch" by Cascada, the team's current run-out song.
- "Sandstorm" by Darude, played after home runs
- "Meet Me In St. Louis", played before each game by organist Ernie Hays, with the words scrolled on the scoreboard.
- Pre-bat songs include:
- "Number One Spot" by Ludacris, for David Eckstein
- "Ridin" by Chamillionaire, for Juan Encarnación
- "Rollin'" by Limp Bizkit, for Scott Rolen
- "Swing" by Trace Adkins, for Chris Duncan
- "Bat Country" by Avenged Sevenfold, for Anthony Reyes
- "Back in Black" by AC/DC, for Aaron Miles
- "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns n' Roses, for Jim Edmonds
- 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 Rick Horton for KSDK.[5]
- Spring Training Facility: Roger Dean Stadium, Jupiter, FL
- Rivals: Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros, Kansas City Royals
- Famous fans: Chingy, J-Kwon, Nelly, Kristin Cavallari, John Grisham, Billy Bob Thornton, Gretchen Wilson, John Goodman, Bill Clinton, Scott Bakula, James Carville
[edit] Baseball Hall of Famers
|
Players elected with Cardinals logo on plaque
|
Players elected with Cardinals as primary team
|
|
Other Hall-of-Famers associated with Cardinals
|
|
- Hall of Fame pitcher Rollie Fingers was with the Cardinals from December 8, 1980 to December 12, 1980, but he never played for the team.
[edit] Retired numbers
 Rogers Hornsby 2B, M Retired 1937 |
 Ozzie Smith SS Retired 1996 |
 Red Schoendienst 2B, M, Coach Retired 1996 |
 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.) The team also honored longtime radio commentator Jack Buck by placing a drawing of a microphone on the wall with the retired numbers.
Joe Garagiola likes to mention that his number was also retired; he wore 17, the same number as Dizzy Dean.
The Cardinals have retired the second-most numbers in baseball (10), behind only the New York Yankees (16), although the Los Angeles Dodgers have also retired 10 numbers.
At Busch Memorial Stadium, the retired greats were honored with large flagpoles in the center field scoreboard area that had flags with their numbers on them, while at the base of them was a large sign with the number and the player's nickname (for instance, Stan Musial's flagpole had "6 STAN the MAN" at the base of it). At the current Busch Stadium, the numbers were first memorialized in small circles below the scoreboard in right-center field. But Cardinals management later realized this was not enough to honor their former greats, so they erected a mural on the left field wall with pictures of the players as well as their numbers.
[edit] Current roster
40-man roster
Last updated on February 11, 2007
Coaching staff
- 10
Tony La Russa (Manager) - 24 Joe Pettini (Bench Coach)
- 18 Dave Duncan (Pitching Coach)
- 39
Dave McKay (First Base Coach) - 11
José Oquendo (Third Base Coach) - 20 Lou Brock (Special Instructor Coach)
- 45 Bob Gibson (Special Instructor Coach)
- 2 Red Schoendienst (Special Assistant to the General Manager)
[edit] 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
[edit] Radio and television
For over 70 years, the Cardinals and KMOX radio were synonymous with each other. But the relationship ended in 2005 and the Cardinals left the 50,000-watt Clear Channel behemoth in favor of KTRS, a talk radio station of which the team controls 50 percent. Mike Shannon and John Rooney alternate as play-by-play announcers.
Television coverage has been split between KPLR, "CW 11," and Fox Sports Net Midwest. Joe Buck and Al Hrabosky are the official announcers on FSN, though Buck's Fox Sports commitments restrict him to only doing 10 games per season; Dan McLaughlin fills in when Buck's is unavailable. Buck's father was Cardinals legend and Hall of Famer Jack Buck. As of 2007, KSDK (which held the rights in the early 80's) will replace KPLR as the over-the-air station. Jay Randolph and Rick Horton will team up for those contests, and all telecasts on KSDK will be in HDTV, along with a select number on FSN Midwest.
[edit] See also
| St. Louis Cardinals | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
||||||||||||||
[edit] 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
- ^ Baseball Hall of Fame Official Site
- ^ MLB.com
- ^ http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/columnists.nsf/dancaesar/story/2A761673D1550D06862572460011D012?OpenDocument
[edit] External links
- 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
| Preceded by Pittsburgh Pirates 1925 |
World Series Champions St. Louis Cardinals 1926 |
Succeeded by New York Yankees 1927 and 1928 |
| Preceded by Philadelphia Athletics 1929 and 1930 |
World Series Champions St. Louis Cardinals 1931 |
Succeeded by New York Yankees 1932 |
| Preceded by New York Giants 1933 |
World Series Champions St. Louis Cardinals 1934 |
Succeeded by Detroit Tigers 1935 |
| Preceded by New York Yankees 1941 |
World Series Champions St. Louis Cardinals 1942 |
Succeeded by New York Yankees 1943 |
| Preceded by New York Yankees 1943 |
World Series Champions St. Louis Cardinals 1944 |
Succeeded by Detroit Tigers 1945 |
| Preceded by Detroit Tigers 1945 |
World Series Champions St. Louis Cardinals 1946 |
Succeeded by New York Yankees 1947 |
| Preceded by Los Angeles Dodgers 1963 |
World Series Champions St. Louis Cardinals 1964 |
Succeeded by Los Angeles Dodgers 1965 |
| Preceded by Baltimore Orioles 1966 |
World Series Champions St. Louis Cardinals 1967 |
Succeeded by Detroit Tigers 1968 |
| Preceded by Los Angeles Dodgers 1981 |
World Series Champions St. Louis Cardinals 1982 |
Succeeded by Baltimore Orioles 1983 |
| Preceded by Chicago White Sox 2005 |
World Series Champions St. Louis Cardinals 2006 |
Succeeded by reigning champions |
| Preceded by Pittsburgh Pirates 1925 |
National League Champions St. Louis Cardinals 1926 |
Succeeded by Pittsburgh Pirates 1927 |
| Preceded by Pittsburgh Pirates 1927 |
National League Champions St. Louis Cardinals 1928 |
Succeeded by Chicago Cubs 1929 |
| Preceded by Chicago Cubs 1929 |
National League Champions St. Louis Cardinals 1930 and 1931 |
Succeeded by Chicago Cubs 1932 |
| Preceded by New York Giants 1933 |
National League Champions St. Louis Cardinals 1934 |
Succeeded by Chicago Cubs 1935 |
| Preceded by Brooklyn Dodgers 1941 |
National League Champions St. Louis Cardinals 1942 and 1943 and 1944 |
Succeeded by Chicago Cubs 1945 |
| Preceded by Chicago Cubs 1945 |
National League Champions St. Louis Cardinals 1946 |
Succeeded by Brooklyn Dodgers 1947 |
| Preceded by Los Angeles Dodgers 1963 |
National League Champions St. Louis Cardinals 1964 |
Succeeded by Los Angeles Dodgers 1965 |
| Preceded by Los Angeles Dodgers 1966 |
National League Champions St. Louis Cardinals 1967 and 1968 |
Succeeded by New York Mets 1969 |
| Preceded by Los Angeles Dodgers 1981 |
National League Champions St. Louis Cardinals 1982 |
Succeeded by Philadelphia Phillies 1983 |
| Preceded by San Diego Padres 1984 |
National League Champions St. Louis Cardinals 1985 |
Succeeded by New York Mets 1986 |
| Preceded by New York Mets 1986 |
National League Champions St. Louis Cardinals 1987 |
Succeeded by Los Angeles Dodgers 1988 |
| Preceded by Florida Marlins 2003 |
National League Champions St. Louis Cardinals 2004 |
Succeeded by Houston Astros 2005 |
| Preceded by Houston Astros 2005 |
National League Champions St. Louis Cardinals 2006 |
Succeeded by reigning champions |
| St. Louis Cardinals Franchise | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| AAA | AA | A | Rookie |
| Memphis Redbirds | Springfield Cardinals |
Palm Beach Cardinals Swing of the Quad Cities Batavia Muckdogs |
Johnson City Cardinals GCL Cardinals VSL Cardinals |
