The
St. Louis Cardinals team is one of the gold standards
of Major League baseball. The team has been around since
1882, when it was known as the Brown Stockings (shortened
to Browns the next year) and played in the American Association.
The team took the pennant each year from 1885-1888, then
became part of the National League when the American Association
fell apart. After a one year name change to the Perfectos,
the team became the Cardinals.
The
story of the Cardinals features some of the greatest names
in Major League history. People who don’t know much
about baseball even recognize many of the names of men
who’ve played for St. Louis. Rogers Hornsby won
six batting awards in a row, from 1920-1925, three of
those years with an average over .400. In the 1930s, the
Cardinals’ winning lineup included the legendary
Jerome “Dizzy” and Paul “Daffy”
Dean and Joe Medwick.
A
statue in front of Busch Stadium, home of the Cardinals,
pays tribute to Stan “The Man” Musial, who
is generally recognized as the greatest player in the
team’s history. Fans bought baseball tickets by
the thousands to see Musial, who wore the number 6 and
played over 20 years for the Cardinals, at first base
and in the outfield. He set numerous team batting records
that still stand, and he took batting awards from 1943
to 1957. He is fourth on the all-time career hits record
for the Major Leagues, with 3,630, behind Pete Rose, Ty
Cobb and Hank Aaron.
After
winning the World Series for the sixth time in 1946, the
Cardinals suffered a 17-year drought before enjoying a
great 1964 season when the team won the World Series.
Players such as Lou Brock and Orlando Cepeda took the
team on to win the Series again in 1967. They made the
Series again in 1968, but went down 4-3 to the Tigers.
The slump returned, but loyal fans bought Cardinals tickets
through the 1970s, when the team finished no higher than
second in the division.
1980
ushered in the Whitey Hertzog era, when manager Hertzog
came aboard and whipped the team back into top form. His
strategy and tactics, combined with the star performances
of players such as Willie McGee, Bruce Sutter, Ozzie Smith
and Keith Hernandez, sent the Cardinals to three pennants
and the 1982 World Series win. The Cards went to the Series
again in 1985, when a controversial call cost them the
title.
The
1990s brought the team only one visit to the playoffs,
but in 1998, fans snapped up Cardinals tickets to Busch
Stadium to witness Mark McGwire’s home run battle
with Sammy Sosa. McGwire hit 70 homers that year, shattering
the old Roger Maris record of 61. Since 2000, the team
has had five trips to the playoffs, including a World
Series bid in 2004 when they lost to the Cinderella team
of the year, the Red Sox.
.