remembirds wrote: ↑25 Oct 2024 08:42 am
Just two days after naming Tony La Russa the Cardinals’ new manager and one day after they began removing the AstroTurf from Busch Stadium to install natural grass, Anheuser-Busch shocked St. Louis on October 25, 1995, with the announcement that it was selling the team.
I remember those days well. It was the sports equivalent of the Berlin Wall coming down. Suddenly something that seemed like would never happen transpired with a stunning suddeness such that a celebratory euphoria took over. The Cardinals were stuck in a cycle of mediocrity. Hey, new manager, this is good. Going back to grass. Also good. The brewery finally selling the team?? Awesome! Everyone knew 1996 was going to be a LOT different.
In similar yet different ways the franchise is again stuck in a rut of mediocrity. The slow burn change in the FO is a good start, but more needs to happen. Imagine if the Cards decided to change managers to someone with credibility, how that would breathe some optimism into the fan base. Then if the present owners announced a sale to a committed party? How awesome would that be?
remembirds wrote: ↑28 Oct 2024 08:18 am
We all remember Game 6. But it all would have been for naught if the Cardinals hadn’t won this game, 13 years ago today.
There is no way in hell the Cardinals were going to lose that game. Baseball is still a game played by human beings, and even the most disciplined, mature players are subject to the emotions of the sport, especially in such high-pressure conditions. The Rangers were spent after game 6, to the point I could better rewrite my first sentence in this paragraph as "there is no way in hell the Rangers were going to win that game." I knew that all day and couldn't wait to get home and watch the Cardinals win the World Series. On the other side of that same coin, I knew in 1985 that the Cardinals were not going to win Game 7 at KC. They had been gut-punched the night before and were a spent force for Game 7. In either situation, a day or two to mentally and emotionally recover would have done the '11 Rangers and the '85 Cardinals wonders, but that's not how it works out in life.
remembirds wrote: ↑28 Oct 2024 08:18 am
We all remember Game 6. But it all would have been for naught if the Cardinals hadn’t won this game, 13 years ago today.
There is no way in hell the Cardinals were going to lose that game. Baseball is still a game played by human beings, and even the most disciplined, mature players are subject to the emotions of the sport, especially in such high-pressure conditions. The Rangers were spent after game 6, to the point I could better rewrite my first sentence in this paragraph as "there is no way in hell the Rangers were going to win that game." I knew that all day and couldn't wait to get home and watch the Cardinals win the World Series. On the other side of that same coin, I knew in 1985 that the Cardinals were not going to win Game 7 at KC. They had been gut-punched the night before and were a spent force for Game 7. In either situation, a day or two to mentally and emotionally recover would have done the '11 Rangers and the '85 Cardinals wonders, but that's not how it works out in life.
After Fisk hit his 6th game winning HR in 1975, the hapless Reds won Game 7. I agree with your sentiment. The Blues after losing Game 6 here in St. Louis wins Game 7 in Boston which seemed unlikely.
On November 3, 1970, the Baseball Writers Association of America named Bob Gibson the National League Cy Young Award winner for the second time in three years.
On this date in 1963, the Cardinals traded for Roger Craig, who pitched 4 2/3 scoreless innings to win Game 4 of the 1964 World Series to help St. Louis claim its seventh world championship.
On this date in 1967, Orlando Cepeda was named the first unanimous National League MVP in over 30 years. He hit .325 with 25 home runs and a league-high 111 RBIs ...
Not long before he won the 2005 NL Cy Young Award, Chris Carpenter seriously considered quitting the game. Here’s a look back at how he turned his career around ...
Wednesday will mark 45 years since Keith Hernandez was named co-NL MVP alongside Willie Stargell. Years later, Hernandez admitted that part of him felt that Stargell didn’t deserve his share of the MVP honors that season.
When he arrived at spring training in 2001, Albert Pujols was a longshot to make the Cardinals’ roster. By the end of the season, he was the National League Rookie of the Year.
