Tag: St. Louis Cardinals

Sep 27: Browns fade to black

SEPTEMBER 27,  1953 | ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI – Befitting their history, the St. Louis Browns lost the final game they ever played on this date in 1953. Their loss to the Chicago White Sox in 11 innings was the 100th of the season. They left St. Louis that winter for Baltimore to become the Orioles in 1954.

Until the team moved to Baltimore, where they remain, the franchise had a somewhat vagabond history. It was established in 1901 in Milwaukee as the Brewers – one of the charter franchises of the American League. The Brewers, not to be confused with the current Milwaukee Brewers, stayed a year. The team moved to St. Louis for the 1902 season and became the Browns, a name relinquished a few years earlier by the St. Louis Cardinals.

Confused? Suffice it to say, the Browns are now the Orioles and in Baltimore. The Brewers, who were the Seattle Pilots for one year, have been in Milwaukee since 1970, and the Cardinals remain where they’ve always been – St. Louis (unless you’re talking about the football Cardinals, but that’s a story for TODAYinFOOTBALL). And, oh, the Baltimore Orioles of 1901 – not to be confused with the current Orioles – moved to New York in 1903 and became the Highlanders (today’s Yankees).

Contributing sources:
September 27, 1953 box score/play-by-play
MLB team histories
Major League Baseball

Oct 7, 1969: Curt Flood remembered for what he would not do

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI – Curt Flood was a pretty good baseball player. He broke in with the St. Louis Cardinals at the age of 18. He had a .293 lifetime batting average and won several Gold Glove awards. Flood did a lot for the Cardinals. He is most remembered for what he would not do.

Flood was traded from St. Louis to the Philadelphia Phillies on this date in 1969. He wouldn’t go. Flood didn’t like that he had no control over where he played. If a team traded a player to another team, that’s where the player went. That was the essence of the “reserve clause.” Flood balked, “I do not feel that I am a piece of property to be bought and sold irrespective of my wishes.”

Flood’s case against the reserve clause went all the way to the U-S Supreme Court. While the court ruled against Flood in 1972, the decision altered the landscape which soon allowed much freedom of movement by the players – and much higher salaries.

Contributing Sources:helping
Kurt Flood https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/floodcu01.shtml
“Koppett’s Concise History of Major League Baseball” by Leonard Koppett

Aug 9 in baseball history: The Fall and Rise of Rick Ankiel

AUGUST 9, 2007 | ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI – Rick Ankiel of the St. Louis Cardinals hit a dramatic 3-run home run on this date in 2007. It was the culmination of the fall and rise of Rick Ankiel. He had gone through an agonizing public collapse as a pitcher seven years earlier. It got so bad he gave up pitching, but he didn’t give up baseball.

Rick Ankiel was drafted out of high school by the Cardinals in 1997. He received a big signing bonus and progressed through the minor leagues fairly quickly. There was no hint of the trouble ahead. He was Minor League Player of the Year in 1999. Ankiel went 11-7 in 2000, his first full season with the Cardinals, striking out an average of 10 hitters every 9 innings.

The problems surfaced in the playoffs. Though only 20-years old when the season started Ankiel got the start in game one of the National League Division Series. That’s where the trouble started. He gave up a hit and two walks in the first, but got through unscathed, no problems in the second, but mysterious wildness that would eventually drive him from the mound started in the third.

Here’s how it went:

• Greg Maddux walks
• Rafael Furcal pops out
• Wild pitch
• Wild pitch
• Walks Andruw Jones
• Wild pitch
• Strikes out Chipper Jones
• Walks Andres Galarraga
• Brian Jordan singles
• Wild pitch
• Walks Reggie Sanders
• Walt Weiss singles
• (Ankiel relieved)

The Cardinals won the game, swept the series and Ankiel shrugged off his wildness, but he didn’t make it through the first inning of game two of the National League Championship Series against the New York Mets. Five of the first 20 pitches he threw went back to the screen, but only two were counted as wild pitches because no one was on base… yet. He was lifted after three walks and a double to drive in two.

Ankiel’s pitching troubles continued. He was sent down to the minors in 2001 and his wildness got worse. He finally gave up pitching in 2005. He became an outfielder, eventually making it back to the Cardinals and a tremendous reception on August 9, 2007. He drew a prolonged standing ovation in his first at-bat on this date. He popped out in his first at bat, struck out in his second and hit the 3-run homer in his 3rd plate appearance.

Rick Ankiel ended up playing 11 years in the majors, 7 of those were after the fall and rise of Rick Ankiel.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
Cardinals-Padres, August 9, 2007
2000 NLDS Cardinals-Braves, Game 1, October 3, 2000
2000 NLCS Cardinals-Mets, Game 2, October 12, 2000

June 30 in baseball history – It took balls

JUNE 30, 1959 | CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – On this date in 1959 St. Louis Cardinal slugger Stan Musial was called out on a play that, let’s say, it took balls. When nobody was looking two balls were in play at once during a Cubs-Cardinals contest at Wrigley Field.

According to Edward Prell’s story in the next day’s Chicago Tribune, Cubs’ hurler Bob Anderson walked Musial. Ball four got away from catcher Sammy Taylor. Rather than go after the ball, Taylor argued with home plate umpire Vic Delmore that the ball hit Musial’s bat.

While this was going on Musial, who was already at first, darted for second.

The ball that got away from the catcher was picked up by the batboy who was about to give it to field announcer Pat Pieper, who sat almost directly behind home plate. Piper was also in charge of the stash of extra baseballs.

Before the batboy could give Pieper the ball, Cub third baseman Alvin Dark, who had raced after it, grabbed it.

By now home plate umpire Delmore produced a new baseball and gave it to pitcher Anderson who had the same idea as Dark and fired it to second. Anderson’s ball sailed over the second baseman’s head into centerfield. Dark’s ball was caught by shortstop Ernie Banks on one bounce. Musial and stepped off the bag after seeing the first ball sail into center and was promptly tagged out by Banks.

After much consternation Musial was ruled out because the ball he was tagged out with was the one Bob Anderson threw for ball four and was never out of play. There would have been a protest no matter what the ruling was. As it turned out the call went against the Cardinals but St. Louis won the game. That was the end of it, but it took balls.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
Edward Prell, The Chicago Tribune, July 1, 1959
The Chicago Daily News, July 1, 1959

APRIL 10: This Bud’s not for you

APRIL 10, 1953 | ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI – Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick was not amused that the St. Louis Cardinals wanted to name their ballpark after a beer. On this date in 1953 the Cardinals got the hint and backed off. The ballpark they bought from the St. Louis Browns the day before was not going to be called Budweiser Stadium. In other words, this Bud’s not for you. Instead it was called Busch Stadium.

The head of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, an anti-alcohol group, wasn’t impressed by Anheuser-Busch‘s decision. “Busch” wasn’t the name of a beer back in ’53, but it was the name of the family that owned the brewery and the team. So, Temperance Union President Leigh Colvin said, “You could toss up the three B’s. Call it Beer Park, Budweiser Park or Busch Park and they all mean the same thing.”

The Cardinals’ ballpark is still known as Busch Stadium, though it’s on its third incarnation since 1953.

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How about a little history quiz. Guess which teams played in these old stadiums?
1. Huntington Avenue Grounds
2. West Side Park
3. Jarry Park
4. Shibe Park
5. Forbes Field
6. Polo Grounds
7. Griffith Stadium

(For answers, see [April 11th story]