August 13- Canada World Baseball Classic

I’ve been to Canada three times in my life. The first time was when I was 19-years-old. My girlfriend at the time and I traveled north to Vancouver, B.C. for a weekend of boozery and gambling. What ended up happening is that I became violently ill after the first night, but still partied through the pain. When we got back to Vancouver, Washington I dropped by the doctors office to see what was wrong with me after my fever of 104 degrees wouldn’t go away and because I was actually pissing orange. At first my doctor thought I had contracted hepatitis, but I lucked out and only had a wicked case of mononucleosis.

The second time I ventured up was in during late August of 2009 when my then-girlfriend took a job teaching German at an immersion school in Anchorage, Alaska. She didn’t have a lot of stuff to move, but we managed to get it all into her Ford Focus and drive all the way from Eugene, Oregon to her new place. It took us four days and close to 3,000 miles to make it through some of the mostly uninhabited, yet strangely beautiful country that I never in my life imagined that I would have ever visited. It took me four-and-a-half hours to fly back to Portland and she promptly broke up with me less than three weeks later. Needless to say, my experiences with Canada were not exactly the most riveting.

My last trip came in late July of 2012 when I flew into Toronto to meet up with my friend, and fellow MLB Fan Cave hopeful Dave Barclay (@DaveBarc). I stayed with him and his wife Krista for about six days and took in four Toronto Blue Jays games, two against my Oakland Athletics and two against my friend, and another Fan Cave hopeful Jay Tuohey’s (@TheRoar_24) Detroit Tigers before I headed east to Montreal to visit my good friend Dave Kaufman (@TheKaufmanShow) for a week. In short, it was one of the greatest experiences of my life.

My time in Toronto felt like it flew by way faster than it did. The first leg of my journey started at the airport when I was almost not allowed into the country. Due to the fact that I was staying for such a long period of time, leaving the country by car with Dave and looking the way I do made a few people in customs a bit suspicious of my trip. It wasn’t until I fibbed a little bit and said that I worked for Major League Baseball that they started to come around and understand what I was doing. Due to the fact that the Expos no longer play in Montreal it caused a bit of red flag. I had to explain to them that I was writing a book on Olympic Stadium and the culture of baseball in Eastern Canada before they finally understood my purpose for being their. After an hour-and-a-half delay I received my stamp and approval and I made my way to baggage claim and then on out to Dave’s car as we had to then haul ass to the Rogers Centre for that night’s game against the Athletics. Thank God we made it too, as that was the game when Josh Reddick pulled off the Spiderman catch to rob Travis Snyder of a home run and the Blue Jays suffered their biggest home loss (0-16) in franchise history. I was left grinning…

Dave had a bit of sad face.

The next game I went to solo, but met up with a fellow Athletics fan from Canada named Brad Baker (@Beleaf33).

We both managed to score tickets right behind the visiting (Athletics) dugout, but our seats were a ways apart. Oddly enough, a few of the Blue Jays fans in the surrounding seats pointed out that there were two empty seats together and invited us to sit together, because Canadians are too damn nice! I met up with Jonny Gomes before the game started and a few of the other players were shocked to not only see me outside of Oakland, but in another country. 

I explained to them that I had it planned out in advance all around catching the last two games of the series which helped their morale quite a bit. As everyone took their place on the field I headed back to my seat where I was stopped by two of the ushers asking me if I was the guy from the Fan Cave. I smiled and said yes and we chatted for a bit about it. To be honest, most of my time in Toronto at Rogers Centre was met with people stopping to take photos with me and to ask about my experience. I don’t say any of this to brag, I honestly am humbled by all of it and was very appreciative of everyone who paid attention to what I had done and all the support they had and still give me. When I got back to my seat it was time for the National Anthems. Because we were in Canada they started with the Star-Spangled Banner, which the singer flew through because, well… it’s Canada. I sang along with it as I usually do and gave a sporting cheer afterward. Then, it was time for Oh Canada. I know this sounds weird coming from someone from the United States, but I actually really enjoy Canada’s anthem. I love it even more because everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, sings along with it. There’s no shame in not singing your anthem, but it’s kind of telling how a culture is based on how many people are involved with something that seems insignificant. And to be honest, I sang along too. I’ve sung for all of my life, believe it or not, and Oh Canada is one of those songs that has a wonderful harmony and movement that is almost irresistible to resist singing to. More important, it’s truly inspiring. Don’t believe me, check out this video from Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals in 2011. Chilling.

One point from this game that I’ll never forget is when I was standing in line for a beer and I met up with one of my now friends Seth Ehrenberg (@SethE19) for the first time. Seth is a marketing rep for New Era and one of the biggest reasons why I’ve developed such a close bond with the company, let alone had the chance to visit their headquarters in Buffalo, New York twice. After our chance meeting I ran into another friend, Jeff Sammut (@JeffSammut590), who is one of the regular sports talk guys on 590 Sportsnet in Toronto who has had me on his show numerous times as a baseball correspondent over the last year. Unfortunately, the Athletics were only able to take two out of the three games in that series, and after the loss in the final game I took to the streets of Toronto with a few random fans I met at the game and got absolutely plastered. Luckily I was able to sober up to meet up with Dave and his friend Matt to help make one of his Fan Cave correspondent videos he had been working on before and after his run. Here it is if you want to check it out. It’s pretty funny, except for me.

The rest of my time was filled with swapping stories with Dave and his wife, checking out a modernized Shakespeare in the Park production of “A Midsummer Night’s Tale” along with Jay before we all headed out to the Tigers/Blue Jays game the next day. I had also happened to catch the first game of the series with a few friends I had made while I was in New York, Kenneth Tan (@ktan09) and Eric Hartman (@EricHartman). 

Eric, Kenneth, Me

I also ran into a few others I met through Twitter, Steven P (@stevenact4) and another dude whose name escapes me at the moment. 

A few things I do remember from my time with Kenneth and Eric is that we got thoroughly hammered, saw Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder hit back-to-back home runs for only the second time that season, Eric won a gift card to Boston Pizza during the game and was shown on the Jumbotron

and I lost my only source of spending (my debit card) at said Boston Pizza after the game. Luckily I found it two days later. As for the game with Dave, Jay and Jay’s dad, shenanigans definitely ensued. 

On my final day in the big city before catching the train to Montreal, Dave invited Jay over so that he and I could be guests on his MLB podcast that he does with his friend Paul Frank (@pwgfrank) called Sunday Afternoon Baseball with Paul & Dave (@SABwithPaulDave). 

 Paul, Me, Dave

Bias aside, it’s one of the best, funniest baseball podcasts available which takes place during every Sunday Blue Jays game and features scores of guests all impersonated perfectly by Paul. I highly recommend it. As soon as we wrapped things up we all said our goodbyes and Jay and I caught the bus to the train station so he could bid me a fond farewell… and also because his hotel was right across the street from the station. Our adventure would continue in a month when I headed to Detroit, but I’ll save those stories for later posts. For now, I was on my way to Montreal.

 The train took about four hours to get there, but I was beyond stoked to finally land in a city that I had been wanting to visit since I was kid. Granted, I wanted to see the Expos play, but with that no longer and option I was equally satisfied with being able to spend time with my friend Dave Kaufman on his home turf. And Dave, being the gracious host that he is, kicked things off by taking me to a local pub called Grumpy’s for a few rounds and some pub trivia hosted by his good friend Amy Luft (@amyluft). Normally I’m really good at bar trivia; however, I felt an immediate bias due to the fact that at least two of the rounds focused heavily on landmarks and history around Montreal. I call those rounds my “Ryan Leaf moment.” Other than that, I held my own as Buck Rodgers judged me from above. 

Dave took me all over the city and introduced me to a culinary staple of Quebec culture known as poutine at one of the more famous spots called La Banquise. If you don’t know, it’s basically french fries with brown gravy and cheese curds. You can also add various meats like bacon to it like we both did, but I could only woof down about half of mine before the richness of it. One thing that I will never forget about La Banquise in the three trips that we made there (twice whilst intoxicated) is that I was absolutely infatuated with one of the waitresses working there. I don’t speak French, so I was pretty much dead in the water from the start, but she easily could have been a model for Suicide Girls. I am much happier in my current relationship, but this story would have less accurate if I left this detail out. As far as other culinary delights are concerned, the best part of the trip came when Dave took me to Schwartz’s for a smoked meat sandwich which can only be perfectly paired with a black cherry soda. Needless to say, I still have wet dreams about this sandwich.

Dave and I had become acquainted back in February of 2012 when he first had me as a guest on his weekly radio show The Kaufman Show on TSN 990 in Montreal. During my time in the Fan Cave I became his weekly correspondent after we finally met in person when he had paid a visit to New York to catch Bruce Springsteen in concert, a detail that will be brought up again in a not-too-distant post. Our mutual love and sadness for the Expos is what brought us together in the first place and it is definitely what motivated me to go up and visit him. 

It took a few days, but we finally made it out to the Big O sometime around midnight on a week night. I wasn’t in any kind of rush, it’s not like it was going anywhere…

Sort of. I found this chunk lying on the ground and definitely held onto it. I had never felt compelled to ever want a piece of a stadium, but I knew this one would carry a lot of significance based on the fact that I never had a chance to see the Expos play inside. Most of our experience that night I wrote about on February 16th for my Gary Carter tribute piece, but what I may have left out is that in that moment, as an Expos fan, I was happiest. I had never grown up or had other friends who were Expos fans, nor could they have ever understood the loss of that team quite like Dave had. Being with someone who had gone through it all could have only been rivaled by the final Expos game played in the Big O on September 29, 2004 which ironically occurred against the Florida Marlins. Just listening to Dave’s stories about the 1994 season, Vladimir Guerrero’s bid for 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases and the moments he shared with his friends and family, good or bad, was all I needed.

One thing that Dave surprised me with (twice) was entrance and media passes to OSHEAGA, a three-day music festival that took place in Montreal. Dave had mentioned it in passing well before I got there, but I didn’t really understand how big of a deal it was until I saw the lineup: Snoop Dogg (his second appearance as Snoop Lion), The Black Keys, the Arkells, Garbage, Fun., Bloc Party, Justice, The Shins and a hell of a lot more. Like I said, three days. 

Personally, I’m not the biggest fan of going to live shows, mostly for he sake of price gouging and so many people “all up in your business;” however, since this was an outdoor event it made things way more tolerable, plus with backstage passes food and drinks are like half the price. I got thoroughly bombed on Day 2. 

One of the other really cool aspects of being up in Canada during this time period was because the Olympics had just kicked off. Having been in the US for every Olympics it was interesting to get a different take on the summer games in a different country. And yes, even in Canada things are vastly different. See, during the winter games the Canadians obviously own the US when it comes to medals, but during the summer it’s the other way around. So when the Canadians win anything (mostly bronze) it’s a huge deal. I found it to be way more fulfilling than all the years of watching in the US and how it’s almost a failure if we don’t win gold in a particular event. Not to mention, having the pleasure of Jay Onrait and Dan O’Toole as the lead anchors is hands down better than anything that the States could have put together. You can blame Dick Ebersol on the one.

Toward the end of our time together Dave and I took a leisure day and drove south down to the States to take in something that I had never had a chance to experience: the National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum in Cooperstown, New York. 

We combed every inch of the three story building and even met up with one of the museum’s historians to set up a possible second so that we could go through the archives to check out all the Expos stuff that wasn’t on display. That meeting altogether was interesting because it ended with him saying that I should submit photos of my tattoos to get added to the collection. It’s been a year-and-a-half and I still haven’t done it. Not because I don’t want to, but because it’s not finished. After our tour we took to the street to do some shopping. I of course bought a few hats at one of my favorite shops I routinely purchase from online, Mickey’s Place.

All in all, we had a great time. There are very few people in my life who I could have shared that experience with on the same level, and Dave is certainly one of those people. 

The last days I was able to enjoy in Montreal ended on the best note possible. I made my last in studio appearance on The Kaufman Show along with Nick Dika (@NickDika), the bass player for The Arkells and Brad Ferguson (@LeftOffBase), a tour manager and sound engineer who I befriended through Dave and Nick. Brad I wrote about in my Buffalo Bisons post on June 24^th as we happened to be at the same game while I was on my New Era trip. 

Me, Dave, Brad, Nick

 

The reason why the four of us were together that night was because we were heading the US the next day to catch the Texas Rangers play the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, which turned out to be Nick’s and my first Fenway experience. So, like the responsible people that we are, we hit a bar and got thoroughly toasty on my final night in Canada.

As luck would have it my friend Tarn MacArthur, a graduate student at the University of Oregon from Montreal, happened to be visiting home on the same night.

Seriously, I couldn’t have had a better experience.

We packed up Dave’s car the next morning and drove over to his mother’s place to borrow her SUV for the trip. Dave and Nick were the only two driving back into Canada as Brad was catching a flight out of Boston and I was meeting up with my good friend Neil Beschle at Fenway to which I would be crashing with him in Worchester, Massachusetts for the next week. When we got to Dave’s mom’s place I helped load all of our belongings into the back while Dave talked to his mom and gave her his car keys for the duration. Before we left his mom made mention to one of us forgetting a sleeping bag; however, none of us actually had a sleeping bag so we dismissed it. Little did I know, this moment would come to bite me in the ass hard. But… that story will wait for another post.

Based on my previous two trips to Canada, this particular trip was obviously a million times better. But on a grand scale of life accomplishments, this trip ranks in the top-10. I’ve always done what I could to get out and explore the world and all the people that I met along the way to make it possible are the sole reason why my time up north was so praiseworthy. Canada has produced some fine people, and Dave and Dave are certainly two of the best I have the honor of calling my friends.

On an additional note, as long as I can make it, Dave Kaufman scored me a ticket to the second game of the Blue Jays versus the New York Mets exhibition games at Olympic Stadium. I can finally now make that dream of seeing big league baseball at the Big O a reality. Thank you so much Dave.

And now, the hat…

This cap has been a fixture of the Canadian World Baseball Classic Team since the first tournament in 2006. I had been meaning to pick it up for a number of years, but kept letting it slide until my trip to Buffalo. Derick Chartrand (@lekid26), is one of the #CrewEra13 members who was invited to Buffalo as part of the New Era Fan Appreciation event. Derick is from Montreal and had never left the country, let alone flown on an airplane until that trip. A fellow die-hard Expos fan, we became friends very fast, much like the rest of the group with one another, but with Derick we had a little bit tighter of a bond because of the Expos fanship. 

When the time came for us to go on a shopping spree in the Flagship Store I found myself a little befuddled on what caps to get with so many options to choose from. Naturally, Derick suggested the Canadian WBC cap. I didn’t have a good reason not to get it, so… I locked it up, and have very happy with the decision since. All that was left to do was come up with some numbers.

4- Pete Orr was born in Richmond Hill, Ontario, attended high school Newmarket and has the distinction of being the only player to appear on the roster for all three times Canada has played in the WBC. Orr attended Galveston Community College in Galveston, Texas and was a 39th round draft pick of the Rangers in 1998 (1187th overall), spending one year there before signing with the Atlanta Braves on July 3, 1999.

Orr spent his first professional season with Short-Season Jamestown Jammers of the New York-Penn League in 2000, hitting .242 with two homers, 15 RBIs and 40 runs scored in 69 games. He hit .233 with four homers, 23 RBIs and 38 runs scored in 92 games with the Advanced-A Myrtle Beach Pelicans of the Carolina League in 2001. In 2002 he spent most of the season with the Double-A Greenville Braves of the Southern League, hitting .249 with two homers, 36 RBIs and 36 runs scored in 89 games. He also hit .392 with eight RBIs in 17 games with Myrtle Beach. Orr spent the 2003 season with AA Greenville, batting .226 with two homers and 31 RBIs in 98 games. He was named a Southern League Baseball America AA All-Star. He established career highs in average, .320, hits, 147, doubles, 16, triples, 10, stolen bases, 24 and runs scored 69. His .320 batting average and 24 stolen bases led the AAA Richmond Braves in 2004. He was selected to play in the International League All-Star game. He was named International League April Player of the Month, posting a .381 batting average with four doubles, one triple and five RBIs. He ranked fifth in the IL and fourth among Braves Minor Leaguers in average, tied second in the IL and led Braves Minor Leaguers in triples, tied for sixth in the IL and led Braves Minor Leaguers in hits and tied for seventh among Braves Minor Leaguers in stolen bases. Orr won the Bill Lucas Award as the player who best represents the Braves organization on and off the field by the 400 Club. He was also part of Team Canada who finished in fourth place at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Orr made his Major League debut for the Braves on April 5, 2005. He proved to be a versatile player, playing second base, third base, and various outfield positions during the 2005 season. Orr was optioned to AAA Richmond on July 5, 2007, when the Braves called up Jo-Jo Reyes from Triple-A Richmond to make his Major League debut. He was brought up again on August 27. He was designated for assignment by the Braves on November 20, 2007, and was released on November 28, 2007.

In December 2007, Orr signed a minor league contract with the Washington Nationals and on June 21, 2008, his contract was selected by the Nationals along with right-handed pitcher Steven Shell. On October 30, 2008, Orr rejected his assignment to AAA and became a free agent. However, he returned to the team two weeks later, signing a minor league deal, playing with the Syracuse Chiefs in the International League, with a chance to earn a spot on the team in the spring.

On November 11, 2010, Orr signed with the Philadelphia Phillies. During spring training play, he led the major leagues in triples, with 5, subsequently becoming a member of the team's Opening Day roster. After spending the 2011 season with both the Phillies and the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, their AAA affiliate, he became a free agent on October 18. On November 3, Orr re-signed a minor league contract with the Phillies, receiving an invite to spring training. He was again included on the team's Opening Day roster at the onset of the 2012 season.

11- Arguably one of the greatest names in baseball history, Stubby Clapp is a hitting coach with the Advanced-A Dunedin Blue Jays and is a former player who was a member of the 2006 and 2009 WBC teams and the 2004 Olympic team. He played for 11 years, most notably within the St. Louis Cardinals organization, including a brief stint in the Majors with the Cardinals. In his native Canada, he is best remembered for his performance at the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, where he slapped a bases-loaded single in the 11th inning to beat a more experienced U.S. team and put Canada in the semifinals. Canada eventually won bronze medal. Clapp graduated from Texas Tech University, where he played for the Red Raiders baseball team. He still holds (or shares) the Red Raiders' records for triples in a season (eight), runs in game (five, three times), strikeouts in a game (four) and walks in a season (66), both set during the 1996 season. He was drafted by the Cardinals in the 36th round (1,058th overall) of 1996 amateur entry draft. In 1998, when playing for the AA Arkansas Travelers he led the league with 86 walks and 139 games played. He remains popular among Travelers fans to this day.

In 2000, he led the AAA Memphis Redbirds with 138 hits, 89 runs, 80 walks, eight triples, and six sacrifice hits. He became a popular figure in the City of Memphis during his four-year stint (1999-2002). He was often referred to as the "Mayor of Memphis." During the 2002 season, the 5-foot-8 Clapp was featured on a growth chart for kids, sponsored by a Memphis-area medical group. In 2009, he was named one of the Memphis "Athletes of the Decade." In 2010, the club had "Ode to Clapping Night," which included giving away Clapp bobbleheads. In 911 minor league games, Clapp had a .270 batting average, 48 home runs, 50 triples, 196 doubles, 365 RBI, and 83 steals. Clapp also pitched in three games. In 2.1 innings, Clapp has given up two hits and no earned runs.

His Major League career only lasted 23 games for the Cardinals in 2001 in which he hit right at the Mendoza line (.200) with five hits total, two of which were doubles and he only batted in one run. On April 21, 2007, Clapp's jersey #10 was the first number ever retired by the Redbirds. This is commemorated by a painted "10" on the wall above the Redbirds' bullpen at AutoZone Park. He is second all-time for the Memphis Redbirds for games played (425) and hits (418).

Clapp began his coaching career as a hitting coach for the Lexington Legends, the Houston Astros Class-A team in the South Atlantic League. He came out of retirement to represent Canada at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In November 2010, Clapp became the hitting coach for the Corpus Christi Hooks, Houston's AA affiliate and then managed the Tri-City ValleyCats, another Class-A affiliate of the Astros, during the 2011 and 2012 seasons before taking his current position in Dunedin in January of 2013.

12- If I had to make an assertion on who the greatest Canadian baseball player of all-time is, you better believe that 10 times out of 10 I’m rolling with Matt Stairs.

Growing up in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Stairs showed athletic ability at an early age, playing Beaver League baseball a year before his age eligibility and excelling in hockey. After playing Bantam & Midget baseball, at age 16 and 17, he played for the local Marysville Royals of the New Brunswick Senior Baseball League and was voted "Rookie of The Year" in 1984 and the league's Most Valuable Player in 1985. He was also named Nova Scotia Senior Baseball League MVP in 1987 and '88 while playing for the Fredericton Schooners. He attended the National Baseball Institute (NBI) in Vancouver, British Columbia for one year and played for Canada at the 1987 World Amateur Championships in Italy where he was named to the "World All-Star" team. In 1988, he joined the Canadian Junior National team after graduating from Fredericton High School. From there he went on to play for the Canadian Olympic Team at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. On January 17, 1989, Stairs was signed as an international free agent by the Expos.

Stairs, in all fairness, was a bit of a journeyman. In fact, he holds the record for most teams played for as a position player at 12, but technically 13 as he played for the Expos and the Nationals at different stages of his career. Octavio Dotel holds the record for pitchers at 13 as well. For 19 seasons Stairs “turned many cloaks” with the Expos (1992-1993), Chunichi Dragons of the Japanese League (1994), Red Sox (1995), Athletics (1996-2000), Chicago Cubs (2001), Milwaukee Brewers (2002), Pittsburgh Pirates (2003), Kansas City Royals (2004-2006), Rangers (2006), Tigers (2006), Blue Jays (2007-2008), Phillies (2008-2009), San Diego Padres (2010) and the Nationals (2011). 

I’ll be honest, I don’t remember too much from his time with the Expos as I was nine and 10-years-old, but I’ll never forget him crushing dingers with the Athletics. His longest stint with any team happened to come in Oakland when he played in 632 games in five seasons. He hit .268 with 122 home runs and 385 RBI. Tow of those seasons (1998 and 1999) featured him hitting 26 home runs and 106 RBI and 38 home runs with 102 RBI respectively. Both the top home runs and RBI totals are career highs. Stairs finished 17^th overall for the American League MVP in 1999. In his July 5, 1996 debut with Oakland, Stairs tied a major league record with six runs batted in during one inning. That first inning performance included a grand slam and a two-run single. This was subsequently broken by Fernando Tatis on April 23, 1999. The only reason why Stairs never stayed with the Athletics is due to cost-cutting. I know, nothing about that is surprising. What is fortunate for Stairs is that he eventually bounced around to a team at the most ideal time, the Phillies in 2008 when they won the World Series. It would be the only time that Stairs would get a ring let alone be on a team in the World Series.

When he retired in 2011 he had a .263 average, 265 home runs and 897 RBI and a World Series and the record for most pinch hit home runs (23) to his name. He was also a member of the 2006 and 2009 World Baseball Classic team, one of only a small handful of guys to be on multiple teams on top of having played in the Olympics in 1988. Noted baseball analysts Bill James and Joe Posnanski have theorized that Stairs is probably a far more talented hitter than his career stats suggest. Stairs didn't have 500 plate appearances until age 29, at which point he recorded 100 RBI seasons and an adjusted OPS of over 130 two years in a row- and never saw 500 at-bats again. James contends, "You put him in the right park, right position early in his career ... he's going to hit a LOT of bombs." Possibly, Posnanski contends, enough to be have been worthy of Hall of Fame consideration.

August 5- St. Louis Cardinals

This post is kind of an interesting follow up to my Baltimore Orioles post on Rafael Palmeiro’s Hall of Fame career from yesterday. By the time you’re done reading this you’ll understand what I mean.

I first came across this cap in Buffalo, New York during the New Era Fan Appreciation (CrewEra13) event back on June 24^th. When the time came to go on our totally bitchin’ shopping spree I saw this sitting underneath an old school Kansas City Athletics cap and made no mention that I even noticed. Why? Because I had no idea what it was. Upon first glance I could tell it was a St. Louis Cardinals cap of some variety, but outside of that I couldn’t pinpoint a timeframe. This became especially frustrating because I couldn’t get my phone to work in order to look it up to see if it was worth scooping up. So, without any real knowledge behind it, I let it sip through my fingers. When we got to the marketing part of the tour and we were shown the bevy of Turn Back the Clock caps New Era had in store for the season, that’s when everything had come into the light. However, still knowing what I did then, I still let it go.

It was kind of a weird move on my part for a few reasons, most of which had to do with the fact that I rarely ever let a Turn Back the Clock cap go unpurchased. But the one real oddity of this trip/moment was that at the time I only owned four total Cardinals caps, all of which I have written about (January 25^th, May 1^st, May 19^th and June 17^th). There is still one more cap the team currently wears that I still need to purchase, but there really is no rush in scooping that one up. As far as their Cooperstown Collection and Turn Back the Clock caps are concerned; yes, I really should have been more aggressive about things. Thankfully, I lucked out. I found this one on Hat Club while they were running a sale and made sure to out it at the top of my checkout list… but not before I did a background check.

Like a lot of caps from the turn of the 20^th century, the Cardinals “technically” only used this cap for two seasons; however, the years in which they used it (1903 and 1906) were not the specific year in which the Cardinals were celebrating. See, back on May 5^th of this year the Cardinals were playing on the road against their National League Central rival the Milwaukee Brewers when the whole Turn Back the Clock motif was presented. The timeframe that was selected was 1913, which played more heavily as a tribute to the Brewers than it ever did to the Cardinals as explained here…

Back in 1902 the original American League Milwaukee Brewers moved to St. Louis where they were known as the St. Louis Browns until 1953. With the absence of Major League Baseball in town, Milwaukee entered a new team that adopted the Brewers name into the minor league American Association. That minor league franchise lasted 50 years as an affiliate of the Browns, Chicago White Sox and Cubs, Cleveland Indians and Boston Braves. Its first American Association championship came in 1913. And that's the reason 1913 is being celebrated today.

The Braves' association with Milwaukee led to the demise of the American Association Brewers in 1954 when the parent club moved from Boston to Milwaukee. That relationship, however, would only last a little more than a decade as the major league club moved to Atlanta in time for the 1966 season. The American Association Brewers were moved to Toledo where they became known as the Mud Hens. While Milwaukee doesn't have any Major League Baseball championships to celebrate, the 1913 Cardinals hadn't yet begun their National League best run of 11 World Series wins by that point in franchise history.

So in some crazy way, the Brewers were trolling the Cardinals if you really break down the where each team was on a success scale back in 1913. Clever! But, what does that have to do with this hat? Well, as I mentioned above the Cardinals only used variations of this cap twice back in 1903…

And 1906 (right)…

Both of them featured the same style “STL” logo on the front of the cap, but only the 1906 version comes the closest to the Turn Back the Clock cap of 2013. So what exactly were the Cardinals wearing back in 1913? These…

Like a lot of the Turn Back the Clock caps that I’ve written about already, the logo on the modern cap is a new edition. Most of the caps back in the old days really didn’t feature any kind of logo or anything too flashy, that’s what the uniform was for. Some teams brandished across the chest, but most stuck to sleeve patches and an occasional patch over the heart. The 2013 Cardinals Turn Back the Clock uniforms were spot on, but I can only speculate as to why New Era elected to go with a different cap other than the pinstripe model shown above. My theory, because it looks cooler.

The logo on the sleeves of the road uniform had a pretty good run as they were used from 1909 through the end of the 1917 season.

Now, due to the fact that this cap was technically only used for the one game on May 5^th I suppose I should mark it up with something having to do with that game. Matt Holliday and Allen Craig had great offensive nights and starting pitcher Jaime Garcia pitched eight strong innings while only allowing one run on eight hits and one walk. But, in keeping with the theme of the uniforms and tribute, I decided to go with something a little more historic. Rather, something that very few people outside of historians have ever really bothered to take a look at. For this, I had to go back to the origin of this cap in 1903.

PD: Contrary to my last name, Christensen (it’s Danish), I have a lot of Irish blood running through my veins which I inherited from my mother’s side of the family. The first tattoo I ever got marked the occasion.

My heritage though, goes beyond the traditional stereotype of drinking whiskey, eating potatoes and continually living with mistakes of the past. I for one am proud of my heritage and conduct research regularly on the men and women whose footsteps I have followed. This is the story of arguably the greatest Irish-born baseball player/mind to ever take the field.

It’s not secret that Irish players have come and gone throughout the ranks of Major League Baseball, some of the earliest players of the games weren’t too far removed from the boat that they had stepped off of when they picked up a bat and glove. Throughout the 144-year history of the league there have been 47 players and two additional managers to take the field who were born in Ireland. The last of which was born in 1945, Joe Clearly. Prior to that, the last Ireland-born player was in 1916. Since the 1960s the concept of foreign-born players started very small and has quickly worked its way into a regular part of the game. Countries like Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela have farm systems and plenty of talent ready to burst onto the Major League scene; however, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone in the league today who was originally born in a 150-mile circumference of the country that gave birth to the game we’ve come to know and love.

Back in the late 1800s the United States had just gotten finished the last war on home soil and all walks of life were taking a shine to this new game that was spreading throughout the East Coast like a wildfire. Despite claims that the Irish were blackballed from most jobs and contributions to the “American Way,” history has proven time and time again that the motto “Irish Need Not Apply” is merely a work of fiction. With that in mind, some of the greatest players early in baseball history were from the Emerald Isles. One of the first 46 born before 1917 played 17 seasons from 1890-1907 and was a player/manager for 11 of those years. His name was Patsy Donovan.

 Born in Queenstown, County Cork, Donovan established himself as the most successful Irish-born major leaguer. He broke into organized baseball in 1886 with the Lawrence, Massachusetts team in the New England League. In 1888 and 1889, Donovan played outfield for the London Tecumsehs of the International Association at Tecumseh Park (today's Labatt Park) in London, Ontario, Canada, where, in his first season in 1888, he led the league in batting with a .359 batting average (according to the Donovan family Web site; however, the London Tecumsehs' official scorer C.J. Moorehead, in a 1903 copy of The London Advertiser, cited Donovan's 1888 batting average as .398), had 201 hits, scored 103 runs and stole 80 bases. His second season with the Tecumsehs was less successful due to a leg injury.

In 1890 he made his Major League debut in the National League with the Boston Beaneaters, and moved to the Brooklyn Bridegrooms in midseason; it would be the only time in his career that he played for a league champion. In 1891 he played in the American Association (AA) for the Louisville Colonels and Washington Statesmen; he then returned to the NL in 1892, first with the Senators (the former Statesmen, who had joined the NL in a league merger) before going to the Pittsburgh Pirates for most of the year. Donovan starred with the Pirates from 1893 through 1899, notching six consecutive seasons batting .300 and serving as player/manager in 1897 and 1899. The team was sold late in 1899, during a time when the league was contracting from twelve teams to eight; new owner Barney Dreyfuss brought in Fred Clarke to be manager, with Donovan being sent to the Cardinals. He played for St. Louis from 1900–1903, sharing the league lead in stolen bases (45) in his first season, also managing the team in his last three seasons with them. By the end of the 1903 season he ranked among the NL's top ten career leaders in hits and at bats, though he would drop from among the leaders before his playing career ended. His 64 career double plays in the NL ranked one behind Jimmy Ryan's league record. He then served as player/manager for the American League's Washington Senators in 1904, his last season as a regular.

In 1903, he broke Sam Thompson's major league record of 1401 games in right field; Willie Keeler passed him in 1906, before Donovan played his last several games and retired with a total of 1620. In 1906, he became manager of the Brooklyn Superbas, and made his last few playing appearances that year, along with one more game at the end of the 1907 season. In a 17-season playing career, Donovan had 2246 hits, 1318 runs, 16 home runs and 736 RBI in 1821 games, along with 207 doubles and 75 triples. Donovan collected 302 stolen bases from 1890 to 1897 and 216 more after the statistic was revised to its modern definition in 1898. He batted .300 lifetime and set a major league record for career games in right field, as well as retiring among the career leaders in total games (fifth, 1813), assists (ninth, 264) and double plays (fifth, 69) as an outfielder.

Donovan joined the Boston Red Sox as a scout in 1909, and managed the team in 1910 and 1911. As a major league manager, he compiled a 684-879 record (.438) in 11 seasons. He was also instrumental in bringing Babe Ruth to the Sox in 1914 through his acquaintance with one of the Xaverian Brothers who coached Ruth at a Baltimore orphans' home. Later he went to the International League, where he led Buffalo to pennants in 1915 and 1916, and also managed Jersey City in 1921–22 and 1925–26. He finished out his career coaching High School baseball at Phillips Academy in Andover, where he coached the future 41st President, George H.W. Bush. Crazy!

Donovan died at the age of 88 in Lawrence, Massachusetts on Christmas Day 1953, and is interred at St. Mary Cemetery in Lawrence. Despite his accomplishments throughout the history of the league, let alone the game, he is not in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Based on the time frame in which he played, his accomplishments should have gotten him in. He was a hell of a hitter, almost average by the standard of those days, but his is still one of the greatest defensive players to ever take the field. And yet, men who played less years and accomplished less than he did have found their way into the Hall by the Veteran’s Committee. None of it makes much sense. 

June 17- St. Louis Cardinals

Somewhere in my quest to write about and publish stories that took place on their actual date for this New Era Cap blog I really fell off the wagon with this hat. For some crazy reason I thought the original idea I had for this post took place much later in the season, around the end of August/early September, but boy was I wrong. In fact, I should have written about this cap on June 3^rd if I was going to be accurate about things, yet here we are on June 17^th, a little over two weeks late. Damn it! So with that, I have two stories for you. The first of which is a personal story and the second is one that took place on a much earlier date and really should have been my main focus as it has to do with two records which may never be broken. But first, the hat.

I picked this St. Louis Cardinals cap up from the Lids in Eugene, Oregon in June of 2010. I’ve always fancied navy blue and figured it would be the best option for my collection as, at the time, I only set out to acquire one cap per team. The Cardinals first introduced this cap in 1992 as a throwback to the hat I wrote about on May 1^st, but instead this one featured the same-sized “STL” logo on their current game caps. From 1992 through the present the Cardinals have worn this cap for all of their road games while occasionally adopting a third cap which I will cover later in the year. What’s really coincidental about both of my stories is that, not only did they both take place on the road; they both took place in the same stadium. What are the odds?

As I mentioned above my first story takes place on June 3^rd, 1998 on a warm spring day in Los Angeles at Dodger Stadium. If you read my post from yesterday you might remember that I had mentioned that the last game my father and I had gone to prior to 2011 took place in 1998. Well, this is that game. I was a few days away from completing my freshman year of high school at Centennial High School in Bakersfield, California when my father decided to pull me out of my Spanish class for a special trip. As we drove home he let me know that I needed to change into something nice as he was taking me on a business trip with him, so I had to look somewhat presentable. I grabbed some slacks and a nice shirt, which met his standards, and we jumped in the car without him letting me know what where we were going. As we pulled onto Highway 99 he reached into his pocket and pulled out tickets to that night’s Cardinals versus Dodgers game. I thought it was an awesome surprise, but unfortunately there was one thing that I was disappointed about that my father knew as well, Mark McGwire wasn’t playing that night. Talk about the worst luck in the world; throughout the entire 1998 season McGwire played in 155 of the possible 162 regular season games. Three of the seven games he missed that season took place during their series against the Dodgers in LA. At that point in the season McGwire was at 27 of his eventual season record-breaking 70 home runs. Just imagine what he would have finished at had he played in those seven, let alone three games.

Anyway, my father was working for Southern California Gas Co. at the time, in between his tenures with Pacific Gas & Electric. One of his jobs was to entertain and bring in new clients. Most of the time it involved long afternoons of golf at fancy clubs, but in this case it involved baseball, my specialty. We somehow didn’t get caught up in a great deal of traffic on the way down and we pulled into Chavez Ravine about two-and-a-half hours before the game started as my father had access to “The Stadium Club,” the semi-fancy restaurant which sits near the first base side foul pole. My dad’s client and his son met up with us there and we enjoyed a ridiculously amazing meal before the game started. Everything is set up buffet-style, which features a mountain (not an exaggeration) of Dodger Dogs as the centerpiece. Needless to say, even after I got my fill I still stuffed my pockets with as many Dodger Dogs as I could. The other thing that stuck out to me was that the Dodgers were playing Game 1 of the NBA Finals (Utah Jazz versus Chicago Bulls) on the jumbotron throughout batting practice, which should have featured McGwire hitting dingers, but no dice.

About 35 minutes before game time we headed down to our seats… which were third base side, four rows up from the field and about 15 yards to the left of the dugout. It was pretty ridiculous. The people who had seats to the left and right of us didn’t show up until around the second inning, and that was the moment when I realized how much crazier the night was going to be. To our left sat Dan Lungren and his wife Bobbi. Who is Dan Lungren you might be asking? Well, if you’re not from California I don’t expect you to know, but if you are, and don’t know then shame on you. Lungren was the Attorney General of California at the time and had been serving at that position since 1991. In ’98 however, he ran for governor as the Republican representative, but lost to Democrat Gray Davis, who was then recalled in favor of Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2003. Funning thing about the Davis recall is that he is only the second governor to have that happen, the first being Lynn Frazier of North Dakota… in 1921. From what I remember Lungren was a nice guy. We chatted a little bit about baseball, but nothing too memorable outside of little trivia tidbits and such. I think he was more focused on the “of age” voters that sat around him instead. The person sitting to our right left me in a slight state of shock when he sat down, but I made sure to keep my mouth shut and not make an ass out of myself. That person? Billy Zane. 

Rather interesting timing on that one too as “Titanic” had been released just six months prior, but was still kicking ass in theaters, so it’s not like there was anyway I didn’t know who he was, even though I was familiar with his other body of work including “Dead Calm,” “Sniper,” “Demon Knight,” “The Phantom” and of course the “Back to the Future” trilogy. Three things that I swear happened that I wasn’t expecting:

1. He was more than willing to chat it up with me about “Demon Knight” as I’m a huge “Tales from the Crypt” fan.

2. He shared his package of Starburst with me.

3. He laughed his ass off when my dad’s client’s kid asked the ball boy Freddie for a ball, which was rejected, to which I shouted, “Son! We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” in a slight southern accent. Not only was it Zane’s most memorable line from “Back to the Future II,” but it also got Freddie to toss me a ball.

To be honest, the game itself wasn’t entirely memorable other than the fact that Dodgers’ pitcher Ramon Hernandez, Pedro’s brother, pitched a solid seven innings with six strikeouts for the win, and of all the players on the Cardinals to step up and get a home run it was almost 40-year-old Gary Gaetti who took Antonio Osuna deep in the ninth inning. Oh, and Eric Karros had a decent 4-5 game with a home run, but that was standard for Karros back in those days. The Dodgers won 7-4 and as sure as the sun does rise, McGwire knocked #28 in the first game after the series with the Dodgers ended. My dad and I were both a bit heated after that one.

Now, onto the real story…

4/23/1999: It was Game 15 of the Major League Baseball season and the Cardinals were sitting in first place in the National League Central Division. McGwire had done his home run thing the season before as I mentioned above, but the Cardinals didn’t come anywhere near making the playoffs that year. This season then-manager Tony LaRussa wasn’t going to settle for an early offseason.

At the trade deadline of 1998 (July 31) the Cardinals made a deal with the Texas Rangers which sent shortstop Royce Clayton and pitcher Todd Stottlemyre to Arlington in exchange for outfielder Mark Little, relief pitcher Darren Oliver and an up-and-coming third baseman by the name of Fernando Tatis. One of the more ironic parts of this story is that Tatis was the replacement for Gaetti who was dealt to the Cubs shortly after the arrival of Tatis.

At 17-years-old Tatis was signed as a free agent by the Rangers in 1992, but didn’t start playing in the Rangers’ circuit until 1994. For three-and-a-half seasons Tatis bummed around the minors, doing a pretty solid job at that. From 1994-1997 Tatis played at every level from Rookie League in the Gulf Coast League through AAA Tulsa with the Drillers, batting .309 with 57 home runs, 24 of which came in AAA. On July 26, 1997 Tatis made his MLB debut as the starting third baseman against the Chicago White Sox in a 4-1 victory. Tatis went 1-4 with a single and RBI that game. From then on, he was the man at the hot corner.

When Tatis joined the Cardinals in 1998 he started off a little slow, but turned on the offense during his fifth and sixth games with the club as he went 3-5 and 3-6 respectively during a three-game sweep of their division rival the Chicago Cubs. For the rest of the year Tatis hit .287 with eight home runs and 26 RBI to bring his season total to .270 with 11 home runs and 58 RBI. Even though he put up decent numbers in his first full season, Tatis wasn’t even considered for the American League or NL Rookie of the Year award that season. Shame!

With 1999 just around the corner Tatis was given the full-time job at third base, which would end up being his first full season in the Majors with one team. In some cases players have been known to crumble under the pressure; however, Tatis was not one of those players. Leading up to April 23^rd Tatis was hitting a modest .250 with four home runs and 11 RBI. The most notable stat to look at is how he started the first three games of the season off with a home run, just like McGwire had done the previous season. But here we are; a shade over two weeks into the season and Tatis’s bat had leveled out… or so everyone thought.

Chan Ho Park was on the mound for the Dodgers that night. He was 1-1 on the season with a 5.29 ERA in three starts. Not exactly stellar after coming off of a 15-9 record with a 3.71 ERA the previous season, but still decent nonetheless.  Park pitched well, if you want to call it that, in the first two innings as the Dodgers built a 2-0 lead off of Cardinals’ pitcher Jose Jimenez. Despite not scoring the Cardinals bats were discovering Park’s weaknesses early as he gave up a few early hits and walks, but not a single run as of yet. As the top of the third inning begun Park did his best to prepare for the worst outing of his career.

Cardinals’ right fielder Darren Bragg kicked things off with a single, which was then followed by a Edgar Renteria hit-by-pitch and then another single by McGwire in which Bragg did not advance past third. One thing that should be noted here is that McGwire was batting in the three-hole, not the cleanup spot like a guy of his stature should be hitting in. That night cleanup duty went to Tatis. The first two pitches Park threw went in for balls. In most cases this early in the game most batters would bother swinging at the next pitch unless it was served up to them. This was one of those cases. Tatis swung with all of his might and lodged a ball over the left field wall to give the Cardinals a 4-2 lead. As it turned out, this would be Tatis’s first career grand slam.

Despite the early rattle Dodgers’ manager Davey Johnson elected to keep Park in the game. Not only that, he kept him in through a solo home run by catcher Eli Marrero, two walks to follow, a bunt single, a reach on error to Bragg which scored a run, a RBI-single to Renteria and a flyout by McGwire. Prior to Marrero’s solo shot JD Drew had grounded out. So now, with two outs, the bases loaded yet again, up walked the cleanup hitter Tatis with a 7-2 lead having all ready hit a grand slam off of the pitcher he had all ready faced eight batters prior. You would think at this point Johnson would have pulled Park for a long reliever. Nope! Tatis battled this time around, getting to count to 3-2. As Park threw the payoff pitch Tatis, a hanging breaking ball, Tatis unloaded, knocking the ball over the left field wall once again, becoming the first player in MLB history to record eight RBI in one inning, not to mention the first player in MLB history to hit two grand slams in one inning. One the more comical inverse, Park became the only pitcher in MLB history to give up two grand slams in one inning. Johnson finally wised up and pulled Park out immediately afterward.

For the rest of the 1999 season Tatis went on to have the best season of his career, batting .298 with 34 home runs, 107 RBI and 21 stolen bases. The most unusual part about all of this is that Tatis didn’t receive a single vote for NL MVP that season, which ultimately went to Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones. Even though Tatis was dealing with stiff competition that season, he was still hosed for even the slightest bit of recognition for what he was able to accomplish that season. I guess on the bright side he’ll always be able say that he made history.

May 19- St. Louis Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals are one of the most storied franchises in Major League history, and with that there also came a lot of players who temporarily hung up their cleats to enlist in the armed services to fight for their country. The franchise itself has been around since 1882; however, the Cardinals name became a staple at the start of the 1900 season. They’ve won 11 World Series titles, the most in the National League and the second-most in MLB history. The Cards also have 16 players enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the third-most by any team in MLB. But it’s the fours guys down below that truly stand out amongst the pack.

One of the more interesting things, in my opinion at least, I found during my research lies heavily on the name of the stadium in which the Cardinals reside. The current incarnation of Busch Stadium is the third baseball park to carry that name; however, the second stadium had a much more appropriate name. From 1966 through 2005 Busch II was called Busch Memorial Stadium. After World War II most newly built and opened stadiums carried the “Memorial” moniker in tribute to the men who perished in World War I and II. Obviously it’s not mandatory for teams to do this, but I find it a little odd that in these modern times of showing support for the troops it’s become a bit of a dying tribute.

This season the Cardinals are allowing fans to pay tribute to their friends, family or pretty much anybody who has served, or is currently serving in the armed forces. Fans are encouraged to send in messages to the Cardinals on the team’s Web site which will be shown during the fifth inning on the ribbon of screen that revolve around the circumference of the stadium during every home game.

Since 1971 the Cardinals have gone 21-18 on Memorial Day; they split one doubleheader against the Ney York Mets in 1978 and only missed playing on four of those days due to travel days. As far as any Memorial Day patterns outside of the protest fiasco against the Florida Marlins in 1999, the Cardinals have consistently played against three teams: Atlanta Braves, Houston Astros and Colorado Rockies. The Cardinals’ record against the Braves is a modest 3-2, their last win coming in 2012… but the first four matchups coming from 1971-1987. For the Rockies the Cardinals are 2-4 against them, which included three straight losses from 1996-1998. And last, the Astros in which the Cardinals have gone 3-4; all four losses came 1986-1990 as in ’87 they lost to the Braves.

#2- This one starts with an interesting tale of how scumbaggish the Cardinals were back in the day. Red Schoendienst made his Major League debut on April 17, 1945 and the jersey he was given in the locker room was #6. For those who aren’t savvy on the Cardinals, #6 belongs to Stan Musial. Now, Musial had been playing ball since 1940, but took one year off after being drafted into the Navy during World War II. That year, 1945. In most cases this wouldn’t be a big deal; however, Musial had all read won the National League MVP in 1943, now he was fighting for his country. No one thought there would be anything wrong with giving Schoendienst Musial’s number. Wow! With the war over and Musial back in the lineup, Schoendienst gave up #6 and switched to #2 in 1946.

Now I have to go back in bring everything up to speed, kind of like the movie Memento.

At the age of 16, Schoendienst quit school to join the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) where he continued to play baseball at Greenville, Illinois. While building fences with the CCC a nail hit him in the eye. He was driven to the Marine hospital in St Louis, where he pleaded with doctors not to remove the badly damaged eye. Schoendienst had limited vision in his eye when he returned to the CCC. Once the United States entered WWII the CCC was disbanded and he took a job as a supply clerk at Scott Field in Belleville, where he continued to play baseball.

In 1942, he hitchhiked to a Cardinals’ tryout camp in St Louis and signed with the team. He joined Union City in the Kitty League for $75 a month and when that league disbanded he was sent to Albany in the Georgia-Florida League. In 1943 he played at Lynchburg and got off to a great start. He was batting .472 when he was sent to Rochester of the International League where he hit .337. Despite his eye injury, Schoendienst was expecting to be called for military service. He started the 1944 season with Rochester and was batting .373 after 25 games when the call to arms came. Schoendienst reported to Camp Blanding in Florida in May 1944. “Joining the Army was not something I was real excited about,” he explained in his autobiography Red: A Baseball Life, “but I knew I didn’t have any choice. Training for the infantry, we were exposed to just about every situation you can imagine – how to wire for mines, how to blow up bridges, how to set booby traps and dig up mines.”

He was later transferred to Pine Camp, New York – a prisoner of war camp for Italian prisoners. “One of our jobs was to build ballfields so we could keep the prisoners entertained and give them something to do. We also put together a camp team. We played on weekends, traveling to some of the nearby Army bases.” During one of the Pine Camp games, Schoendienst suffered a shoulder injury. It was diagnosed as a shallow shoulder socket and would continue to pop out on occasions. A combination of the shoulder injury and eye injury led to Schoendienst’s medical discharge in January 1945. He went home to rest briefly before joining the Cardinals at the Cairo, Illinois spring training camp in 1945. The guy is pretty much indestructible.

Schoendienst’s career lasted from 1945-1963. He made 10 All-Star Game appearances and finished in the Top-five for the NL MVP twice in 1953 and 1957. He hit .289 lifetime along with 2,449 hits. In 1965 Schoendienst took the helm of the Cardinals and managed them from then until 1976, as well as two more one-year stints in 1980 and 1990. He went 1041-955 and won two NL pennants in 1967 and 1968, winning the whole enchilada in 1967. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1989 by the Veteran’s Committee despite never receiving more than 42 percent of the vote from the National Baseball Writers Association of America.

#9- Another teammate of the great Stan Musial, Enos Slaughter has arguably one of the most badass names in the history of mankind. Slaughter signed with the Cardinals back in 1935 and didn’t make his MLB debut until April 19, 1938. A left-handed batter who threw with his right hand, Slaughter hit .300 for his career with 2,383 base-knocks, 148 triples, 169 home runs and 1,304 RBI in 19 seasons. Slaughter’s best season came in 1942 when he finished in second place for the NL MVP after going .318/13/98 with a league-leading 17 triples and league-leading 188 hits. The cool thing about ’42 is that Slaughter had enlisted with the Army Air Force earlier that year, but his deployment date to boot camp was postponed due to the fact that he was playing in the World Series. The 1942 World Series against the New York Yankees was the first to be broadcast live to American troops overseas. After the fourth game, Slaughter was asked to speak to the troops by radio. “Hi fellows,” he told them. “We played a great game today and we won. And we are going to finish this thing tomorrow. Then I’m going to report for duty in the Army Air Corps and join you.”

The Cardinals did indeed wrap up the World Series the following day with Slaughter contributing a home run in the fourth inning. He was then assigned to the San Antonio Aviation Cadet Center (SAACC) for what he hoped would be flight school. “I wanted to be a pilot,” he told author Frederick Turner, “but they said I was color blind. They wanted me to be a bombardier, but I said if I couldn’t be the one flying the plane, I’d just as soon not be flying. So, I became a physical education instructor in charge of about 200 troops.”

Slaughter was assigned to the 509^th Base Headquarters Squadron at SAACC, where he led the base team in hitting with a .498 average in 75 games during 1943. On August 26, 1943, he was involved in a war bonds game that raised $800 million dollars in war bond pledges. Held at the Polo Grounds in front of 38,000 fans, the three New York teams combined as the War Bond All-Stars against an Army all-star line-up that featured Slaughter, Hank Greenberg and Sid Hudson. The War Bond All-Stars won 5 to 2.

Slaughter was based at Camp Kearns, near Salt Lake City, Utah in March 1945, and was told that if he would go with other players to the South Pacific he would be guaranteed a quick discharge when the war ended. He accepted the deal and was part of a contingent of 94 ballplayers that arrived in Hawaii in June 1945. Representing the 58^th Wing, along with teammates Bobby Adams, Joe Gordon, Birdie Tebbetts and Howie Pollet, the ballplayers island-hopped towards Japan following American forces. On Tinian, the Seabees bulldozed out a ballfield on top of a coral reef and made bleacher seats out of bomb crates. Exhibition games were also staged at Saipan, Guam and Iwo Jima with an estimated 180,000 soldiers getting the chance to witness major league baseball players in action. Twenty-seven games were played on the tour and Slaughter batted .342 with five home runs and 15 RBIs. The tour concluded in October and the players returned to the United States in early November. Slaughter received his military discharge on March 1, 1946 and returned to the Cardinals to lead the National League with 130 RBI and guided the Cardinals to a World Series win over the Boston Red Sox.

Like Schoendienst, Slaughter was not voted into the Hall of Fame by the BBWAA, but did get in based on the vote of the Veteran’s Committee in 1985.

BR- Most people know about Branch Rickey the general manager, but very few people remember that he was a player for four years and a field manager for 10 years. The majority of his managerial career came with the Cardinals from 1919-1925. He certainly wasn’t the greatest of managers, going 458-485 with the Cardinals. Rickey was replaced by Rogers Hornsby in 1926 who went on to lead the Cardinals to a World Series victory that season.

Rickey served as the Cardinals GM from 1925-1942 and had been the GM for the St. Louis Browns prior to that in 1914. What’s most interesting about this position is that it technically never existed prior to Rickey. The title he was originally serving under was business manager; however, Rickey’s innovations in the game by investing in the Minor Leagues paid off big time. See, prior to Rickey “pilfering” the Minor Leagues this was an uncommon, if not unheard of practice. In essence, Rickey’s methods pioneered the modern far system. Then commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis had a huge problem with this by the time 1930s were ending as the Gashouse Gang that Rickey had assembled had been one of the most dominant teams in the game. Rickey didn’t budge. Instead, other teams started their own farm league system. A few notable signing by Rickey: George Sisler, Dizzy Dean, Daffy Dean, Enos Slaughter and Stan Musial.

Rickey’s time in the military came during World War I as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army in France. He commanded a chemical training unit that included Ty Cobb and Christy Mathewson. Rickey served in the 1st Gas Regiment during the war, and spent over four months as a member of the Chemical Warfare Service.

#6- I don’t normally mark number on the opposite side of my hat, but it wouldn’t have felt right to leave Musial out. I’ve all ready written about him at great length on May 1st. So, I’ll leave it with that.