Cardinal FavoritesMemorable YearsWhere they finishedRetired NumbersHall of FamersMVPsCy YoungRookies of the YearManager of the YearStrikeoutsERANo-HittersThey said it Fan Web pagesBooksGame

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Cardinal fans!!

Welcome to my Cardinal site!  I have been a die-hard fan all my life and the following pages represent my tribute to greatest team in baseball history.  Even the players today can sense, even if just in passing, that it means something special to wear the "Birds on the bat" uniform!!

Your comments are welcome (address at the bottom of the page...)  Enjoy!

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Some of My Cardinal Favorites!

Bob Gibson                     Willie McGee

Lou Brock                     Mark McGwire

Ozzie Smith

 

Ted Simmons | Bob Forsch | Bruce Sutter | George Hendrick | Ray Lankford | Ken Reitz | Jack Clark | Darrell Porter | Pedro Guerrero | Tony Pena | Jose Oquendo | Brian Jordan | Gary Gaetti | Bake McBride | Todd Worrell | Bob Forsch | Vince Coleman | Terry Pendleton | Keith Hernandez | Joe Torre | Al Hrabosky | Tommy Herr | Whitey Herzog | Albert Pujols | Jim Edmonds | Scott Rolen

The Sporting News has ranked Stan Musial number 10 in their list of the top 100 greatest players of all time!!!!

Sportsline All-Century Roster

 

New Ballpark  Pictures    Old Busch Stadium Tribute (in progress)

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Cardinal's Recent Memorable Years

1982                  1985

1987                  1996

2000                 2001

2002                  2004

2005                  2006

World Champions:   1926193119341942194419461964196719822006

National League Champions: 1928193019431968198519872004

National League Central Champions: 1996200020022005

National League Wild Card: 2001

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Where they finished (since 1964)

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Cardinal's Retired Numbers

#1 -- Ozzie Smith                   #17 -- Dizzy Dean

#2 -- Red Schoendienst            #20 -- Lou Brock

#6 -- Stan Musial                 #42 -- Bruce Sutter (& Jackie Robinson)

#9 -- Enos Slaughter              #45 -- Bob Gibson

#14 -- Ken Boyer                   #85 -- August A. Busch, Jr.

    We'll miss you DK!               Farewell, Jack...

32 - Josh Hancock

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Cardinals in the "Hall"

Cardinals team info. (Hall of Fame)

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Cardinal's NL MVP Winners

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Cardinal Cy Young Winners

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Cardinal Rookie of the Year Winners

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Manager of the Year

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NL Strikeout Leaders

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NL ERA Leaders

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Cardinal No-Hitters

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They said it...Fun Facts...

 

Albert Pujols reached 1,000 career hits and 200 career home runs in fewer games than any player in Major League history (806 games).... the record had been held by Willie Mays, who notched 1,000 career hits and 200 home runs in 825 games.

In 1998, Mark McGwire was named Player of the Month in April, May, and September.  He thus became the first man in the 40-year history of the award to be honored three times in one year.  Mac had also won it in Setember 1997, giving him three straight citations - another first - and four awards in his first eight months in the NL.  McGwire had won only one POM in 11 years in the AL.

"The way to catch a knuckleball is to wait until it stops rolling and then pick it up." -- Bob Uecker

"Baseball has been very good to me since I quit trying to play it." -- Whitey Herzog

"Tradition here in St. Louis is Stan Musial coming in the clubhouse and making the rounds.  Tradition in San Diego is Nate Colbert coming into the clubhouse and trying to sell you a used car." -- Bob Shirley

"He has an upper body like Charles Atlas and a lower body like Lana Turner." -- Whitey Herzog talking about Pedro Guerrero

"You can't worry if it's cold.  You can't worry if it's hot.  You can only worry if you get sick, because if you don't get well, you die." -- Joaquin Andujar

"There is one word in America that says it all, and that one word is 'You never know.'" -- Joaquin Andujar

"It has options through the year 2020 -- or until the last Rocky movie is made."  Reliever Dan Quisenberry, describing his 1990 contract with the Cardinals

"Stan Musial could have hit .300 with a fountain pen." -- Joe Garagiola

Stan Musial leads the Cardinals with 12 walk-off home runs.

Stan Musial led the NL in; batting average 7 times, slugging 6 times, hits 6 times, doubles 8 times, triples 5 times, runs 5 times, RBIs 2 times.

Stan Musial played in the All-Star game 24 times in his career, tied for the most ever with Willie Mays and Hank Aaron.

Stan Musial's 3,630 career base hits....  1815 came at home, 1815 were on the road...

Bruce Sutter was the second pitcher to reach the 300-save mark and his 300 ranks him 11th all time; his lifetime 2.83 ERA is actually among the lowest for relievers with 300 or more saves.

Al Hrabosky was cut from his Little League team three years in a row and two consecutive years from his junior high school team.

"One paragraph on obstruction and I'm asleep." -- Whitey Herzog

Keith Hernandez was the 42nd-round pick in 1971, the 783rd player selected in the draft.  The team's first-round choice that year also was a first baseman, Ed Kurpiel.

For most players, one game in which they get five hits is the highlight of their careers.  In the 1948 season alone, Stan Musial did it four times.

"The difference between playing at home and on the road is that on the road, you can't go down to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee in the morning in your underwear."  -- Andy VanSlyke

In 1985, Tommy Herr drove in 110 runs with just eight homers.  He's one of three players in the post-WW2 era to collect 100 RBIs on less than ten home runs.

On August 1st, 1985, Vince Coleman steals two bases, running his season total to 74 and breaking the rookie record of 72 set by Juan Samuel in 1984.  St. Louis loses to the Cubs, 9-8.

On August 9th, 1972, Ted Simmons finally gets around to signing his contract, though he's been playing all season.  It's believed that Simmons is the only big leaguer ever to play without a contract.

Ted Simmons has more career hits (2,472) and doubles (483) than any other catcher in big league history.

When former Cardinals pitcher John Denny posted a NL-best 2.52 ERA mark in 1976, he tied for the youngest ever to win an ERA crown.  He was 23.

On May 22nd, 1970, Steve Carlton fans 16 Phillies, but the Cardinals still lose, 4-3.

Vic Davalillo set a National League record (since surpassed) with 24 pitch-hits in 1970.  Davalillo's manager was Red Schoendienst, holder of the old NL record of 22.

On September 13th, 1964, during a 15-2 blowout at Wrigley Field, the Cards become the first team to score in every inning in more than 40 years.  It had last been done on June 1st, 1923, by the Giants.

Specs Toporcer, a shortstop for the Cards, was the first non-pitcher to wear glasses.  On June 12th 1922, Specs hit his first big league homer, but was called out when he passed a base runner.

On September 29th, 1952, Stan "The Man" Musial makes his only pitching appearance.  He has his 6th batting title wrapped up (he will finish at .336) and asks to pitch to the runner-up, Cubs outfielder Frankie Baumholtz.  Baumholtz reaches base on an error, and Harvey Haddix relieves Musial.

On September 7th, 1993, Cards outfielder Mark Whitten goes 4-for-5, with four home runs and 12 RBIs.  The home run performance puts him in company with 11 other players, including Lou Gehrig, Willie Mays, and Mike Schmidt.   The RBI tally has been equaled by only one other player in baseball history.   Jim Bottomley, also a Cardinal, did it in 1924.

After the Yankees, which have 22 World Series titles, the winningest teams are the As and the Cardinals, with nine apiece.

Five teams in baseball history have managed 300 stolen bases in a season.  The only ones in the past 80 years:  The 1976 As with 341 and the 1985 Cards with 314.

Stan "The Man" hit 475 career home runs, but never once won a home run title.  He also led NL outfielders in fielding percentage three times: once each in the 40s, 50s, and 60s.

For a season of complete hitting dominance, it's hard to top Stan "The Man" Musial's 1948 campaign.  Stan led his league in average (.376), slugging (.702), on-base percentage (.450), hits (230), doubles (46), triples (18), runs (135), and RBIs (131).  The only thing he didn't lead in was homers, as his 39 were one short of the 40 that led the league.  Not surprisingly, Musial won that year's MVP award going away.

In 1963, his 22nd and final season, Stan Musial passed a few milestones.  Early in the season, he collected his 1357th extra-base hit, passing Babe Ruth for the all-time lead (to that point).  In July, he played in his 24th All-Star Game.  And on September 12th, he hit a home run in this first at-bat as a grandfather.  He finished the year hitting .255 with 12 homers and 58RBIs in 337 at-bats.

An aggressive slide in Game 7 of the World Series by Joe Medwick results in a set-to with third baseman Marv Owen.  When Medwick returns to his outfield post, angry Tigers fans pelt him with fruit.  Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis makes Medwick leave the game "for his own safety."   The Cards go on to an 11-0 win to clinch the Series.

In 1924, Rogers Hornsby goes 2-for-5 on opening day against the Cubs.  He will remarkably end up improving on the .400 clip during the rest of the season and will wind up the year hitting .424.  In a two month stretch between June 28 and August 28, he went an astonishing 149-for-302 (.489) at the plate.

In each of his first 10 full Major League seasons (1916-1925), Rogers Hornsby led the Cardinals in batting, slugging, and on-base percentage.  He repeated the feat with the 1927 Giants, 1928 Braves, and 1929 Cubs.

In 1906, Jack Taylor threw the last of his 187 consecutive complete games.  He had not required bullpen help since June 13th, 1901.

"We could finish first or in an asylum." - Frank Frisch, manager of the wild and talented "Gas House Gang" Cardinals, on the team's prospects for 1936

"Hoo-ee! I been to two county fairs and a goat roast, and I ain't never seen nothin' like this." -- World Series MVP Darrell Porter, amid the celebration in 1982.

Boastful bumpkin Dizzy Dean hurls a three-hit shutout (9/21/1934) against the Dodgers in the first game of a doubleheader.  Brother Paul Dean, a rookie, then completes the sweep with a no-hitter.  "If'n Paul had told me he was gonna pitch a no-hitter," Dizzy says, "I'd of throwed one too."

On May 14th, 1988, after using up seven pitchers, the Cards bring in utility man Jose Oquendo to pitch the sixteenth inning of a tie game with Atlanta.  Oquendo manages to shut out the Braves for three innings before giving up two runs in the nineteenth and suffering the loss.  It's the first decision by a non-pitcher in the major leagues in twenty years.

On July 26th, 1900, Gus Weyhing is released by the Cards.  He claims to have been cheated out of ten days pay and persuades a sheriff to seize the St. Louis share of gate revenues for a game at Brooklyn.  The money winds up being less than the $100 Weyhing claims he's entitled to.

Under Branch Rickey's direction, the Cardinals were one of the first teams to experiment with uniform numbers, adopting them briefly and then abandoning them in the mid-1920s.

On July 12th, 1931, 45,715 fans are admitted to Sportsman's Park (seating capacity: 34,000) for a Cards-Cubs doubleheader.  The extra bodies are corralled in the outfield, with any hits into the throng counting as ground-rule doubles.  Thirty-two doubles are hit in the twin bill, 23 of them in game two, won by the Cards, 17-13.

Curt Flood won seven Gold Glove Awards in his last seven years with the team.

Robinson Field, the park where the Cardinals played from 1893-1920, featured a wooden roller coaster encircling the outfield.

Geronimo Pena was the last Cardinals player to hit home runs from both sides of the plate in a single game.  (4/17/1994)

Marty Marion is the only Cardinal shortstop to win a NL MVP (1944).

Larry Walker is the only Canadian-born player ever to win a ML batting title.

Lee Smith is the all-time franchise leader in saves for both the Cardinals (160) and the Cubs (180).

Bob Tewksbury had almost as many wins (17) as walks given up (20) in 1993.

Scott Rolen was once named Indiana's "Mr. Baseball."

During his 15 years in St. Louis, Ozzie Smith led all NL shortstops in assists five times, double plays four times, and fielding percentage seven times.

Hall of Famers, Bob Gibson and Stan Musial spent their entire careers with the Cardinals.

From 1957, the first year for the Gold Gloves, to 2003, the Cardinals have claimed 64 awards, more than any other franchise!

In 2003, Albert Pujols held the second best slugging percentage (.6667) ever for a 23 year old.  Willie Mays holds the best. (.6673)

Garry Templeton became the first player in history to lead the league in triple three years in a row. (1977-79)

Garry Templeton became the first player in history to have 100 hits from both sides of the plate in the same year.  (1979)

The Cardinals retired uniform number 85 in honor of longtime owner August Busch.  The number corresponds with Busch's age when the franchise bestowed the honor on him in 1984.

John Tudor holds the franchise record for career winning percentage.  (62-26 over 5 seasons)

In 1964 the Cards were 5 games out of 1st place on September 23rd.  Then they reeled off 8 straight wins, including 3 against the Phillies, to claim the NL pennant by one game over the Phillies and the Reds.

All three Cruz brother, Jose, Hector, and Tommy, played for the Cardinals together in 1973.

The "birds on the bat" logo was first worn on the Cardinals jersey in 1922.

The starting infield for the NL in the 1963 All-Star Game was an all-Cardin