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1. August 14, 1971. Gibby’s no-no.
Bob Gibson no-hit the Pirates (11-0 blowout of the eventual World Series champs) on a Saturday afternoon. The 8-year-old me listened to the game by myself as Dad was out running errands. When he got back, just a few minutes after it ended, I ran to him to relay the news. Felt like Christmas morning.2. May 12, 1984. Mario Soto v. Silent George.
The Reds’ ace Mario Soto took a no-hitter into the 9th, his team clinging to a 1-0 lead. Dad and I were halfway home from a track meet 80 miles away, and listening on the car radio. With two outs, top 9, and the bases empty, George Hendrick came to the plate. First pitch, George crushes one but hooking, hooking foul. Next pitch, chin music. I mean, he put Hendrick on his pants. Very up and very in. Eventually the count reached 2-2…and then Hendrick smashed one over the left field fence to spoil the no-no, the shutout, and the Cincy win.3. Don’t know the exact date, but whenever it was that the club hired Herzog.
Honest. I was old enough by then to know good managers from bad ones from outstanding ones, and I’d admired Whitey’s Royals right alongside Weaver’s Orioles throughout the mid-late ’70s. Remember when the Cards used to hire excellent, proven MLB managers? God, I miss those days.Those may not be my absolute positive lifetime top 3, but I wanted to maybe jar someone else’s positive memories.
Also in 2011, Carp’s incredible 3-hit shutout of the Phillies in the deciding game 5 of the division series.
I was visiting a friend in Virginia that evening and we were driving around the mountains and trying to find the game on the AM radio. I remember finding it and hearing that, somehow, the Cards were still holding the Phillies scoreless. Good memories.
>The Freese triple and then home run of the 2011 WS. The triple was enough to make this list, but the HR that followed was incredible…. literally. I can’t think of anything that cold come close to that night for pure excitement.
>Ken Boyer’s grand slam in game four of the 1964 World Series. I was at Yankee Stadium in-person for this one…. on the third base side and could follow the ball as it disappeared into the left field seats. Touch ’em all Kenny.
>Molina’s 2 run HR v. the Mets. The Stadium went quiet and you could hear Yadi’s cleats hitting the ground as he rounded the bases. I think that I passed out and was on the floor.
HM. Jack Clark HR 1985 NLC Game 6 at Dodger Stadium. The crowd was stunned and silenced.
HM 2. Hearing that Roger Maris was obtained by the Cards for Charlie Smith. I thought that I was dreaming. I started my first year at SLU that fall…. got to see many of those games.
HM 3. Seeing Stan Musial in-person for the first time at the Polo Grounds. Of course he hit a HR in that game.
.Cool stuff 14Ny! Wow, you were at 1964 game 4! How cool is that! One thing that gets overlooked in that game was the terrific long relief we got from Roger Craig. He really gave us a chance by holding the deficit at 3-0. Must have been a real thrill for him, pitching in the World Series in New York after the previous two years toiling for the legendarily bad Mets.
I remember the Maris trade well. I was a kid, but old enough to be in charge of my younger sisters while my parents went out. I saw on the local television sports segment that we got Maris for Charlie Smith, and was elated. Later I heard the garage door opening and went running out to the garage to excitedly tell my dad, “The Cardinals got Roger Maris!!” He kind of groaned and did not think Maris would help much, but we saw how those teams worked out.
1.) Having breakfast with Stan Musial
2.) Attending an open house at Curt Flood’s condo and seeing all his art work
3.) Representing Lou Brock in the sale of his dry cleaning business.Whoa, breakfast with “The Man”! I guess that tops the lunch I had one time with Woodie Held. But I did sit at the same table for breakfast at the old Stouffers Riverfront Inn with Steve Carlton and Deron Johnson. So I got that going for me. 😀
My firm was representing the sale of a large local food distribution business. We thought a good buyer would be Dick Musial, Stan’s son, who was running a business at the Lake of the Ozarks at that time. If he bought it, it would bring him back to St. Louis and reunite the family. I called Dick, and told him that I had a package of information on the business, and would send it to him if he would please sign a non disclosure agreement. He asked if I could give it to his dad, and he would set up a breakfast at Schneithorst’s to do that. Was happy to comply.
Bikemike:
But I did sit at the same table for breakfast at the old Stouffers Riverfront InnI was working for The Stouffer’s Westchester Inn on their management team. That brought back a memory. A position was offered to me to transfer to St. Louis. I passed and stayed in NY. Good non-move call.
Great stuff gents. Dick Musial ran the financial side of Stan’s many investment ventures.
Unfortunately he unintentionally contributed to the falling out between Stan and Joe Garagiola. From what I have read, Dick transferred some funds from the account of Redbird Lanes, the bowling alley Stan and Joe co-owned, to the restaurant Stan owned with “Biggie” Garagnani. Joe filed a lawsuit to get the money back.
Stan was so upset that Joe didn’t just come to him personally about it, and he would’ve have “written a check” to cover the funds. The lawsuit hurt Stan deeply and he never forgave Joe for that.
Joe eventually relocated to Arizona and got involved with the DiamondBacks franchise. Not sure whatever happened to Redbird Lanes, but maybe Cranny or some of you guys know.
And speaking of Stan and Biggie’s restaurant, that same teenage trip me and a buddy made to St. Louis in the ‘70s, we took a bus out to the restaurant and had dinner one night. Stan was there and greeting guests and handing out autograph photos, but he never came to our table. We kind of sensed that he was not interested in talking to a couple of kids, and maybe even wondered where our parents were. 🙂
bikemike, I had never heard of Stan and Biggies until you mentioned it. I found this article. It is a facsinating read.
I received one of those 8×10 autographed glossy photos of Musial during a dinner when my grandparents took me to Stan Musial and Biggies on Oakland Ave. for my 9th birthday. Along with the autographed photo came a dessert that consisted of a small birthday cake with 4th of July type sparklers taking the place of candles which I thought was amazing at the time…Haha! In any event, did anyone else on here have a similar experience or know someone who did? I think the sparkler adorned birthday cake was the routine at the time.
Thanks for sharing that gscottar – a terrific read indeed!
Cool memory 1TD.
“Biggie” sounds like an interesting guy based on the quotes. A real character. 🙂
Now this is the kind of nostalgia I could get behind.
Another Buck (Joe) and Caray (Chip) in the booth calling a #STLCards game just as Hall of Famers Jack Buck and Harry Caray did in St. Louis on KMOX from 1954-69? It could happen … for one night at least. https://t.co/CydEsrhpOD
— John Denton (@JohnDenton555) January 23, 2024
One of my fondest set of Cardinal memories is that voice of Harry Caray calling Cardinal games on the radio. Caray would say, “It could be, it might be, it IS a home run!”
One time he started his chant a bit too early and the drive was off the wall and he had to change his tune, lol.Mine too, Lou. Jack Buck was a great PBP man but, in my view, no one came close to Harry Caray in regards to providing the listener with fun to listen to and one of a kind entertainment. And no one loved and showed more enthusiasm for their team than the great Harry Caray. I was as devastated when Harry was fired as I was when I found out Cepeda had been traded for Torre.
Good timing for me on this post as just last night I finished a book about Harry Caray, “Holy Cow, St. Louis”. The book is mostly about Harry’s St. Louis years, which were his best as a broadcaster.
Although Harry had his detractors, most notably the local press and some corporates exec’s during his time in St. Louis, the fans overwhelmingly loved him. My dad especially enjoyed Harry’s unique style and enthusiasm. As kids, we would all do Harry Caray impersonations. I was pretty good at it and would crack up my teammates while playing as a kid and teenager.
One thing I did not realize is that after Harry was done as Cardinal announcer, he and Jack did a weekly sports show together for a few years.
Still don’t understand how Harry is not in the Cardinal Hall of Fame. Hope the kiddie corps do a game together at some point. That would be must-see-TV.
Haha!…Yeah, Bikemike, the only thing that may have been as much fun as listening to a radio broadcast of Harry calling the action on the field was doing a Harry impersonation! It simply proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the old axiom that says imitation is the sincerest form of flattery is a universal truth.
I’m not sure why Caray was fired by the Busch people. Caray was clever about how he would plug their products. If the Cardinals were leading in the 9th, but the other team team was close, Caray would say, “hold on tight to that cold bottle of Budweiser, here’s the windup, and the pitch…….”
Good timing for me on this post as just last night I finished a book about Harry Caray, “Holy Cow, St. Louis”. The book is mostly about Harry’s St. Louis years, which were his best as a broadcaster.
I just finished that book as well bikemike. It is a really good read.
I’m not sure why Caray was fired by the Busch people.
The book touches on that a bit brocklou but isn’t definitive. Harry speculates it was because one of the brewery execs just didn’t like him. Other people specualate it was because of an off the field dalliance. We will probably never know for sure.
Yes, as gscottar points out the book does talk about what happened with Harry’s firing, although there is not a conclusive thought. For one, a top executive at AB just never liked Harry, and kept a file on all things Harry said in broadcasts that were critical of the team and organization. Harry was not afraid to say if he felt the club made a bad trade. He was sort of like us on here – as an example, if he was the announcer today, in a broadcast he might say, “And here’s Matt Carpenter – man, I don’t know why we would bring this guy back, but here he is wearing his familiar 13.”
Then by the time Harry was fired, Gussie had stepped down as the AB CEO and the company was run by his son. August Busch III never had the interest that his dad did in the baseball team, and it did not help that Harry and Busch III’s wife were good friends. They may have been more than good friends. A lot of people think they were having a full fledged affair although both of them denied that they were “that” close.
Talking about doing Harry Caray impersonations, Tim McCarver mentioned in the book that players would do Harry impersonations as well. On a personal note, back some 20 years ago I met former big leaguer George Altman, and talked at length with him about his career and all. We got to talking about those powerhouse Giants teams of that era and all the sluggers they had. I have cassette tapes of a 1962 KMOX broadcast between the Cards and Giants, and there is a part in there where Harry says, “These guys….these guys really hit the ball” (talking about the Giants). I was telling Altman about that and went in to my Harry impersonation saying that for him, and he started cracking up and goes, “You sound just like him.” 🙂
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