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.

May 1- St. Louis Cardinals

Growing up, I never had an issue with the St. Louis Cardinals. They had won the 1982 World Series against the Milwaukee Brewers a few months before I was born, and I honestly don’t recall watching the 1985 World Series when they lost to the Kansas City Royals. My only experience I can really remember from the 1980s was when they lost to the Minnesota Twins in the 1987 World Series in seven games. It would be the last real season of greatness for Hall of Fame manager Whitey Herzog as the 1990s would usher in the Joe Torre era of Cardinals baseball. The extent of my knowledge of the Cardinals at the time relied heavily upon the Topps baseball cards I collected and the occasional games I’d catch on TV whenever they played the Atlanta Braves or Chicago Cubs. To be honest, the only reason I ever cared about catching any bit of the game was for the same reason any kid growing up in the 80s and 90s would, to watch Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith do his tumbling act as he took to the field. If I had the patience to actually watch the game back then I always made sure to catch the at-bats for Smith, Vince Coleman and Willie McGee, as they were my favorite players from those squads. Yes, those mediocre years for the Cardinals were some of my favorite to watch.

I have a much more vivid memory of the first day when I started hating the Cardinals; April 1, 1996, the first day of the Tony LaRussa era. As a die-hard Oakland Athletics fan for a solid 26 years of my life, there are very few moments of absolute anguish in my baseball fandom, but LaRussa jumping ship from the bay to take the helm for the Cards is definitely in my Top-five. I was 13-years-old at the time and I was finally starting to get a grasp on all of the historical numbers within Major League Baseball. The one that shot out at me the hardest back then was the number nine; as in nine World Series championships won by both the A’s and Cardinals. The New York Yankees were, and still are virtually uncatchable; however, being number two on the list was a nice little token to keep in one’s pocket. 1996 was an especially scary year for A’s fans on account of the Cardinals coming within one game of playing in the World Series that year. Luckily for us, the Braves owned the 1990s in the National League, and took down the Cardinals in the National League Championship Series in seven games. I should also point out that it really sucked to see Dennis Eckersley follow LaRussa to St. Louis as well.

In 1997 the world kind of righted itself out as the Cardinals fell back in the standings to a level of mediocrity that I recalled from my earlier years. All was going well until the trade deadline on July 31^st; the last day I would ever see Mark McGwire in an A’s uniform. My favorite player was gone; and he of course broke the single-season home run record in his first full season in 1998. As happy I was for his accomplishment I couldn’t help but think of how much more fitting it would have been to see him do it in the green and gold.

2006 was a great year to be an A’s fan. Years of hard work and sacrifice finally paid off as the A’s got out of the American League Division Series in a 3-0 sweep of the Twins, the team that had shattered our hopes in the same series during our magical 2002 “Moneyball” run. The Cardinals had progressed as well into the NLCS and we had a seemingly easy battle ahead of us in the American league Championship Series against the Detroit Tigers, but alas, our date with destiny failed to be. The Tigers smoked the A’s in four games and proceeded to get thwarted four games to one in the World Series against the Cardinals. The World Series tie was broken. The A’s were now the third best team in MLB history. 2011 made matters worse as the Cardinals once again held the crown high after winning and epic seven-game series against the Texas Rangers.

I had the highest of hopes going into the 2012 season as the A’s representative in the MLB Fan Cave, but I also had some stiff competition from the Cardinals rep Kyle Thompson. During the Top-30 audition process in Arizona I got a feel for him and went back to Oregon not being overtly impressed by him, but I had a strong feeling that he would make his way to New York with me. My intuition was sharp as this became a reality. I don’t dwell too much on our interaction in this post, but I assure that it will come up farther down the road. All I can tell you is that if all Cardinals were like Kyle, any justification I have for hating Cardinals fans would be legitimate.

On April 13, 2012 the Cardinals celebrated their home opener against the Chicago Cubs and it became the only day that I would ever wear Cardinals gear in the Fan Cave. It became quickly known by everyone inside and outside of the Fan Cave that I had an array of gear from every team. Even though I was there to represent the A’s I always felt it was more of my duty to represent baseball for all of the fans who did not have a representative. I care about the game too much to be a one dimensional fan. So, knowing that I had a few family friends in attendance at Busch Stadium that day, all of which had signs of support for me in the Fan Cave if they ever got on TV, I wore my Bob Gibson player-T and a Cardinals hat to show my support. Everyone was cool with this; everyone except Kyle. One of the deals I had made with the other eight Cave Dwellers was that I would never wear any gear for their team if any players or representatives came into the Fan Cave. I knew that this was their day and I did not want to spoil their fun in any way. Since this was an Opening Day occasion and we weren’t exactly celebrating anything in the Fan Cave that day, I didn’t see a big deal in what I was doing. My reasons were justified and I didn’t exactly do anything to shift the attention to myself, especially considering that the cameras were NOT rolling that day. But to Kyle, I had invaded his turf. This would be the first time that he and I had a bit of a spat. I just shrugged it off and told him to relax, something he apparently didn’t want to hear. As confrontational as I can be I didn’t want this situation to make anyone look bad so I just let it slide. Besides, the games were starting. It’s not like I had time to go back to the apartment and change. I suppose I could have just walked around shirtless, showing off my tattoos, but I’m pretty sure that would have been taken as attention-getting as well. So, I did the only thing I could do… watch the game.

I didn’t know much of what the Cardinals had planned for the day as there was a slight drizzle falling upon the crowd which had postponed the ceremonies for a bit. Then, in a little white golf cart, out came Stan Musial. I’ve never had much of a problem with teams bringing out players from their past for such an occasion, but this is one of the few times I remember feeling uncomfortable. Musial’s health was visibly fading fast, and it really didn’t look like he wanted to be there; however, he put on a smile and went out to the pitchers mound to greet the sold out crowd in typical Stan the Man fashion. He was 91-years-old, but he could still light up the room from his presence alone. One of the greatest to ever play the game, he owned that day, even in the short period of time he was there to congratulate the team on winning the World Series the previous year. In an instant it was over. Musial was carted off the field the same way he came in, but all of use knew that this was probably going to be one of the last times we’d ever see him. On January 19 of this year Musial passed away at the age of 92 at his home in Laude, Missouri. The last hero from the Golden Era of baseball was gone.

I had wanted to pick up a vintage Cardinals cap for years, but my angst toward the team had always stepped in the way. To make matters worse, my opinion of Kyle had spilled over into my social media content and I really wanted nothing to do with the Cardinals. It would take months before I could even bring myself to watching or talking about the team publicly, and the thing that made everything click was my trip to St. Louis on September 8 as the Cardinals took on the Brewers. I had kept to myself for most of the game, not really wanting to interact with anyone, and trying to avoid a confrontation. To my amazement small groups of people spotted me sitting in the centerfield bleachers and came over to introduce themselves to me. Everyone I chatted with recognized me from my time in the Fan Cave and every one of them asked why I wasn’t there anymore. In so few words I did my best to explain that it was a “business decision” and that Kyle was one of the roots of that move. Of all the people I talked to, not a single one liked Kyle. They all felt he was making Cardinals fans look “psychotic” and “uneducated.” I just sat and listened with a cracked smile on my face. I was so happy that I was not the only one who saw this. Needless to say, my illusions of the Cardinals and their fans changed for the better that night. I had a blast. The mascot became one of my biggest fans after I took a picture with him and I was regaled by stories from the Musial days by a few of the older couples strewn about the crowd. I also got a phone number from a Cardinals fan who was on vacation from LSU, but nothing happened. I think the one thing I took away from my trip to Busch Stadium was an education of how my emotions had gotten the better of me for years. I still hate the team, from a sports competition perspective, but I have a greater respect for the people who help the fan base thrive. For that, I finally broke down and picked up some classic Cardinals caps.

This cap in particular is one of two I really wanted to have in my collection. I picked it up from a Web site called MickeysPlace.com, a shop based out of Cooperstown, New York who specializes in classic memorabilia. Most of the old school hats in my collection have come from here and I have no means of stopping shopping with them anytime soon. This was the third period of Cardinals hat to feature any kind of a logo on the front of the cap since 1893. The first two eras I have yet to find for sale, but I’m not one to let that stop me. This cap was used from 1940-1955; first as their home and alternate road cap in 1940 until it took over as their game cap from 1941-1950. In 1951-1952 the Cardinals used it as their home only cap as they had introduced the same cap with a navy blue bill as their road cap for those two seasons. Then, in 1953-1955, the Cardinals went back to the red billed cap for home and away games until switching to the navy blue billed cap for all of their games starting in 1956. Even though Musial missed only one year of wearing this cap (1940) throughout its existence I couldn’t think of anyone better to pay tribute to.

.331/475/1951- This will probably go down as one of the longest marks I’ve written on any of my caps. Musial was born in Donora, Pennsylvania, the fifth of Lukasz and Mary (Lancos) Musiał's six children (four girls and two boys). His mother was of Czech descent and his father was a Polish immigrant who chose the name Stanisław Franciszek for his first son, though his father always referred to Musial using the Polish nickname Stasiu, pronounced "Stashu." Musial frequently played baseball with his brother Ed and other friends during his childhood, and considered Lefty Grove of the Philadelphia Athletics his favorite ballplayer. Musial also had the benefit of learning about baseball from his neighbor Joe Barbao, a former minor league pitcher. When he enrolled in school, his name was formally changed to Stanley Frank Musial.
At age 15 Musial joined the Donora Zincs, a semi-professional team managed by Barbao.  In his Zincs debut he pitched six innings and struck out 13 batters, all of them adults. Musial also played one season on the newly revived Donora High School baseball team, where one of his teammates was Buddy Griffey, father of MLB player Ken Griffey, Sr. and grandfather to Ken Griffey, Jr. Baseball statistician Bill James described the younger Griffey, in comparison to Musial, as "the second-best left-handed hitting, left-handed throwing outfielder ever born in Donora, Pennsylvania, on November 21."

Musial had received a scholarship offer to play basketball from the University of Pennsylvania, but opted to sign with the Cardinals as a free agent. Musial's father initially resisted the idea of his son pursuing a baseball career, but reluctantly gave his consent after lobbying by both Musial and his mother. Musial also credited his school librarian Helen Kloz for pointing out that baseball was his dream and advising him to pursue it professionally. In what was then a common practice, the Cardinals did not file the contract with the baseball commissioner's office until June 1938. This preserved Musial's amateur eligibility, and he was still able to participate in high school sports, leading Donora High School's basketball team to a playoff appearance. He then reported to the Cardinals' Class D affiliate in West Virginia, the Williamson Red Birds.

Musial’s minor league days had its ups and downs. He married Lillian Labash on May 25, 1940 and the couple’s first child followed in August. His playing days took a turn for the worst shortly after as he suffered a shoulder injury that same month while playing in the outfield. For a while Musial considered leaving baseball entirely, complaining that he could not afford to support himself and his wife on the $16 a week pay. His then manager and lifetime friend Dickie Kerr talked him out of it, and even took the Musials into his own home to relieve the financial burden. To repay the debt Musial bought Kerr a $20,000 home in Houston in 1958. In 113 games in 1940 he hit .311, while compiling an 18–5 pitching record that included 176 strikeouts and 145 walks.

Musial was assigned to the Class AA Columbus Red Birds to begin 1941, though manager, Burt Shotton, and Musial himself quickly realized that the previous year's injury had considerably weakened his arm. He was reassigned to the Class C Springfield Cardinals as a full-time outfielder, and he later credited manager, Ollie Vanek, for displaying confidence in his hitting ability. During 87 games with Springfield Musial hit a league-leading .379, before being promoted to the Rochester Red Wings of the International League. He was noted for his unique batting stance, a crouch in which his back was seemingly square to the pitcher. This stance was later described by pitcher, Ted Lyons, as "a kid peeking around the corner to see if the cops were coming". According to a 1950 description by author Tom Meany, "The bent knees and the crouch give him the appearance of a coiled spring, although most pitchers think of him as a coiled rattlesnake." Musial continued to play well in Rochester—in one three-game stretch, he had 11 hits. He was called up to the Cardinals for the last two weeks of the 1941 season. Musial made his MLB debut on September 17, 1941 and played in the final 12 games of the season. In the 47 at-bats he received he made every one of them count, going .417 with 20 hits, a home run, seven RBI and scoring eight runs. Musial would never see a game in the Minor Leagues again throughout his playing career.

Everything I’ve ever know about Musial has come from watching old game footage from the likes of Ken Burns Baseball and the amazing stories I’ve heard over the years from older fans who witnessed him play when they were kids. It kind of bums me out when I do these longer posts on the legends of the game and I have no personal account of seeing them play. Most of their stories I have to piece together from encyclopedias and stat sheets, but what’s most impressive about Musial is how much you can derive from his playing years simply by looking at the numbers. In 1942 there was a Rookie of the Year award, but not on the grand scale like it is today. Sports writers in each league awarded one up-and-coming star per league (like today) and that was about it. There wasn’t any kind of a formal award until 1947. But, what I can tell you about 1942 is that had there been such an award, Musial would have won it easily. In his first full season in the Majors Musial finished in 12^th place for the NL MVP. Four of his teammates finished ahead of him and only one of them had a better batting average than he did: Enos Slaughter at .318. Musial’s .315 average was something to boast about. Very few had seen such consistency out of someone so young and very few thought it would last. Boy were they wrong. 1942 was also an interesting year because it would be marked as the ONLY full season that Musial would play in which he didn’t make the All-Star roster. That’s right; Musial made 20 consecutive All-Star appearances with the exception of 1945 which I’ll get to in a moment.

In 1943 Musial proved his worth by winning the first of seven batting titles he’d attain throughout his career. He hit .357 and lead the league in: triples (20), doubles (48) and hits (200). That season he won his first of three NL MVP awards, beating out his teammate Walker Cooper that year who had finished one spot ahead of him in voting the previous year. Musial would go on to win the NL MVP award two more times in 1946 and 1948, each time leading the league in average, triples, doubles, hits, runs and RBI once in 1948 with 131. 1945 was the only year from 1942-1958 where Musial was not on the NL MVP list due to the fact that he had been drafted into the US Navy to fight for his country in World War II. His military career would last 15 months. He never saw combat during his time as he was assigned to rebuild ship in Pearl Harbor.

In his return to baseball in 1946 Musial received his moniker during a game at Ebbets Field. During the Cardinals June 23rd game against the Brooklyn Dodgers, St. Louis Post-Dispatch sportswriter Bob Broeg heard Dodger fans chanting whenever Musial came to bat, but could not understand the words. Later that day over dinner, Broeg asked Cardinals traveling secretary Leo Ward if he had understood what the Dodger fans had been chanting. Ward said, "Every time Stan came up they chanted, 'Here comes the man!'" "'That man,' you mean", Broeg said. "No, the man", replied Ward. Broeg mentioned this story in his Post-Dispatch column, and Musial was thereafter known as Stan "The Man".

In 1959 Musial lost a bit of his step, which he later contributed to “improper physical conditioning.” It would be one of three years in which he would not be in the running for the NL MVP as he hit a career-worst .255 that season. That’s really funny to think about considering that most currently player would kill to have that as their best average in a season. But what do you expect from a guy who hit .331 lifetime? Musial was so displeased by his performance that he took a $20,000 pay cut to prove that he could do better and enlisted the help of Walter Eberhardt, the director of physical education at St. Louis University. In 1960 he finished 16^th for the NL MVP, hitting .275 on the season, but failed to make the list in 1961 despite hitting .288. In 1962 he finished in 10^th despite hitting .330 with 19 home runs and 82 RBI. It’s kind of incredible that he finished so low if you ever take a chance to look at the who finished ahead of him.

Musial's last game, on September 29, 1963, was preceded by an hour-long retirement ceremony. Speakers at the event included baseball commissioner Ford Frick, Cardinals broadcaster Harry Caray, and Cardinals owner Gussie Busch, who announced that Musial's uniform number "6" would be retired by the team. During the game, Musial recorded a single in the fourth inning, and then hit a single to right field that scored teammate Curt Flood in the sixth. Cardinals’ manager Johnny Keane brought in Gary Kolb as a pinch-runner for Musial, bringing his major league career to an end. Just as he had recorded two base hits in his major league debut, Musial finished his last game with two hits, as well. Musial would finish with the all time National League record and second to only Ty Cobb on the all time Major League list. Musial's last hit in his career was hit past the Cincinnati Reds second baseman at the time, Pete Rose, who would later break Cobb's record to become the all time hit king.

Musial ended his playing career with 3,630 hits, a .311 average, 475 home runs and 1,951 RBI. He as inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969. He is, and will forever be the face of the organization.

One thing that I learned about Musial during my time in St. Louis, and then again a few weeks ago in Tampa was that he was quite the accomplished harmonica player which included his rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game". Through the 1990s, he frequently played the harmonica at public gatherings, such as the annual Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony and various charity events.  He performed on the television show Hee Haw and in 1994 and recorded 18 songs that were sold in tandem with a harmonica-playing instruction booklet.

In 2010 the Cardinals launched a campaign to build support for awarding Musial the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his lifetime of achievement and service. The campaign realized its goal, and on February 15, 2011, Musial was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama who called him "an icon untarnished, a beloved pillar of the community, a gentleman you'd want your kids to emulate."

I never got to see him again when he made his last public appearance before Game four of the 2012 NLCS, but from what I heard, it wasn’t much different than when I saw him on TV in the Fan Cave for Opening Day. It was hard enough seeing someone who had touched so many lives in such a weakened state, but that unfortunately is the sad reality of life. At some point we’ll all get to that state, but it’s how we adapt to it is what truly tests our character. Musial was a great guy through-and-through, and I have felt so awful for the years of anger I had toward the fans who adored him. I still have my beef with the team, but all for the sake of smack talk now. The Cardinals fans I got to know over the last year have truly been great and they should all be happy to have a three-time World Series champion, and all around good guy like Musial to call their own.

I shuffled through a lot of quotes about Musial and his career and I only found one that I really think summed up his life and his career perfectly. In Musial's 3,026 major league appearances, he was never ejected from a game. Speaking about his quiet reputation within the sport's history, sportscaster Bob Costas said, "He didn't hit a homer in his last at-bat; he hit a single. He didn't hit in 56 straight games. He married his high school sweetheart and stayed married to her. ... All Musial represents is more than two decades of sustained excellence and complete decency as a human being."

January 25- St. Louis Cardinals

Last night was the third time I’ve seen the comedic duo of Randy and Jason Sklar at the now infamous Helium Comedy Club in Portland, Oregon. I’ve been watching/listening to the Sklar Brothers for years starting with their Comedy Central Presents special from 2001, on up through Cheap Seats (2004-2006) and into the their numerous TV appearances, films, Jim Rome fill-ins and especially their podcast entitled Sklarbro Country. The first time I caught them live was back in 2010 with my friend Sean Davis. We shared some laughs; grabbed some beers and he gave me a savage ass-beating at darts after the show. In 2011 I invited my best friend Sam Spencer for round two with Sean and me. This time, I was a little more prepared. Randy and Jason hail from St. Louis, Missouri and a die hard St. Louis Cardinals fans. Trying to score some points and maybe a few words after the show, I threw on my Cardinals road cap that night. Sure enough Cardinals baseball was a hot topic. Granted, this was before their World Series victory that year, and well before I really started venting my disdain for the team.

During the first month of my time in the MLB Fan Cave, I think it was the second week, Todd Pellegrino, one of the producers/directors of the production company overtaking all of the filming in the Fan Cave, came downstairs to talk to me while I was still in the process of mastering the new Samsung Galaxy Note I had won the previous day. He mentioned that he saw my (old) twitter photo (below) and asked if I was a big Sklar Brothers fan. 

For a second I had debated on laying some thick sarcasm, but I was in a good mood and responded with, “of course!” with a huge smile on my face. He sat down next to me and told me stories of how he was the director/producer for Cheap Seats during its run on ESPN Classic, and is also one of my favorite shows of all-time. Needless to say, my nerdisms kicked into full gear. I was hoping after that conversation that one day the two would come in to work on a sketch with us, but no dice. No big deal though. It was at least nice to hear some stories.

Which brings thing back to last night. Much like their show in 2011, I opted to rock another Cardinals hat; this time their classic red game style shown above. If you’ve been keeping pace with my blog, I always have a goofy photo of me wearing the hat, so I figured I could kill two birds with one stone on this one: a photo for this post and make the guys smile. This has always been kind of a theme of mine whenever I know I’m going to be in the presence of baseball fans, players or management, and it truly came out when I was in New York. Despite the fact that I went in as the Oakland Athletics representative, I still had a grip of hats, shirts and jerseys that I wanted to wear during my time. At the same time, only seven other teams were actually being represented throughout the season: Ricardo Marquez (Angels), Lindsay Guentzel (Twins), Ricky Mast and Shaun Kippins (Braves), Eddie Mata (Yankees), Ashley Chavez (Giants) and Kyle Thompson (Cardinals). I had made a promise to the others that I would never wear gear of their teams in the event that a player from their team would show up. I felt it would be too distracting and I didn’t want to spoil their fun. But, anytime a player came in without their team being represented, I stepped up to the plate. This may explain a few things for the people who followed. So, much like those times, and the previous Sklar Brothers show, I bit the bullet to even bring a few seconds of joy and conversation.

But now, onto the numbers…

#1- If you’re any kind of a baseball fan I would truly hope you know who this is. Ozzie Smith played shortstop for the Cardinals from 1982-1996 after playing his first four year with the San Diego Padres which he got hosed on the Rookie if the Year in 1978 by Atlanta Braves third/first baseman Bob Horner. (Yah, I don’t know who the hell that is either.) Despite the folly of the BBWAA, Smith would later go on to win 13 consecutive Gold Gloves as well as make 15 All-Star Game appearances. He also won a World Series title in his first year in St. Louis by beating the Milwaukee Brewers in seven games, but only after sweeping Bob Horner and the Braves in the National League Championship Series. I tried to find a photo of Smith giving the DEGENERATION-X “suck it” sign to Horner, but had no such luck. Smith was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2002, primarily for his defensive prowess.

#5- Before greed and disloyalty plagued him and his wife, Albert Pujols was a dead lock for the Hall of Fame, and probably would have gone down as the second greatest player to don a Cardinals uniform behind Stan Musial. But, Arte Moreno gets what he wants. From 2001-2011 The Machine took St. Louis and the baseball world by storm. He won Rookie of the Year honors easily, three MVPs in 2005, 2008 and 2009 and won two World Series rings in 2006 and 2011. His stats were all ready a fast track into the Hall as well: 2073 hits, .328/445/1329. While I realize where he’s playing now, I couldn’t leave him off of this hat. But it was incredibly hard to leave Willie McGee off.

#45- If there was ever a guy who played Major League Baseball, that I could easily argue is a Top 10 right handed pitcher of all-time, it’s certainly Bob Gibson. Hoot started his career in 1959 and threw his last game on September 3, 1975. Every year he played in the bigs came while wearing a Cardinals uniform. He was one of the calmest pitchers to ever play the game, but at the same time he was one of the fiercest. He never hesitated to throw some chin music if a batter crowded the plate and he certainly never backed down from a challenge. He helped the Cardinals win two World Series trophies in 1964 over the New York Yankees and in 1967 over the Boston Red Sox. In both Series Gibson won the MVP, most notably going 3-0 with a 1.00 ERA and 26 strikeouts. Throughout his career Gibson struck out 3117 batters, won the Cy Young award in 1968 and 1970, as well as the MVP in ’68 after going 22-9 with a 1.12 ERA and 268 strikeouts. Oh, he also won nine Gold Gloves. The man was a gamer every single time he pitched. In 1981 he was inducted into the Hall of Fame by a vote of 337/401. How he didn’t get every vote is beyond me.

While I make a lot of snide jokes and comments about the Cardinals and their fans, I still respect the history of the franchise and the men who suited up. But at the end of the day, I still hate the Cardinals. Knocking the A’s down to the third most successful organization will do that to you.

January 12- St. Louis Browns

I’ve never been much of a St. Louis Cardinals fan, but I’ve always been a fan of the “STL” intertwined logo on the front of the cap. Lucky for me, the old St. Louis Browns utilized the same logo on all of their caps for 1927 until their final year in St. Louis in 1953 before moving on to Baltimore to become the second incarnation of the Orioles. This particular cap was used for only two years (1950-51) and in my opinion, was the best color scheme the organization had, for their hats at least.

When I bought this hat in December of 2011 I didn’t have any real intention of purchasing any more of their hats. In fact when it came to all of my hats, I primarily only wanted one per team. Being such a huge fan of baseball caps it was hard to stay at just one per team, especially with so many awesome designs and logos each team created over their history. So, when choosing the numbers, I picked one from between 1950-51 and the other, as indicated, had to do with an earlier time in the teams’ history.

Starting with the ’22, which obviously stands for 1922 for those who don’t know shorthand for years. Back in 1915 a 22-year-old rookie took the field for the Browns with little to know aspirations of being one of the greatest hitters in Major League Baseball’s history. In his first five years he had no more than 190 hits in a season, nor did he have an average higher than .353. Yah, he was that good. In 1920 he had a career best 257 base knocks on a .407 average. It would be 84 years before his season hit total would be broken by the greatest Japanese baseball player MLB has seen, Ichiro Suzuki. That’s right, George Sisler, a Hall of Fame legend in his own right; however, 1920 was not his best year. In 1922 Sisler went on a hitting tear, but played in 12 less games than he did in 1920. That year he had 246 hits and held an astonishing .420 average which helped him lock up his one and only MVP. Just imagine if he had played those extra 12 games, let alone imagine if he played 162 games like today’s players do. In 1920 Sisler played in every game. 154 to be exact.

To keep things reflexive I opted to go with #22 for a jersey number. When looking through the players who had taken the field for the Browns between 1950 and 51 I didn’t see a lot of players of note, or at least ones that the casual baseball fan would recognize… except one. At the end of the 1950 season the Browns needed some help coming out of the bullpen so they looked heavily, and invested in a player who had been two years removed from the game. Oddly enough, this player had only played for two full season prior to coming over to St. Louis. Lucky for him, his team won the World Series his rookie year in 1948 and his is considered by some to be the greatest pitcher to ever live. Oh! Did I mention that he was 42-years-old when he made his MLB debut? That’s right; the great Satchel Paige donned the #22 for the Browns during his first few games with the Browns before switching back to #29, his number he wore with the Indians. Paige went 3-4 and only pitched for 62.0 innings that season, before rotating back to a starting position in 1953.

While some tend to forget about the brief Browns legacy of the golden era of MLB, I simply can’t. Despite never winning a World Series, 1922 was also the closest they came to winning one. Funny how the number 22 is truly synonymous with the franchise.