photo: Adam Wainwright (Jeff Curry/USA TODAY Sports)
This past week, St. Louis Cardinals icon Adam Wainwright officially retired. The club added infielder Buddy Kennedy off waivers and cleared five more 40-man roster spots. In our history feature, the highly successful 1960s Cardinals teams are remembered.
New and Notes for the Cardinals offseason
This section will feature St. Louis Cardinals offseason news items each week that do not require extensive coverage.
- Adam Wainwright made his retirement official on October 25. The transactions page on the St. Louis Cardinals website reflects that Wainwright retired on that date.
People keep asking me if I’m officially retired. Well, here is my official retirement paperwork that we turned in to the @Cardinals and @MLBPA. Retired? Absolutely, for all the best reasons. Will send more later. Love y’all. pic.twitter.com/yxCvgFjFdz
— Adam Wainwright (@UncleCharlie50) October 30, 2023
- At that time, the Cardinals announced the acquisition of infielder Buddy Kennedy off waivers from the Oakland Athletics. Kennedy takes the 40-man spot opened by the retirement of Wainwright.
Kennedy, 25, was drafted by Arizona in 2017 and spent most of his professional career in the Diamondbacks minor league system. He played 40 games over two different seasons for the major league club and was claimed off waivers by the Athletics on September 9, 2023. He did not play in the majors for Oakland.
- Former Cardinals broadcaster Joe Buck was named one of the 10 finalists for the Ford C. Frick Award. Buck began his broadcasting career calling games for the Cardinals Triple-A affiliate Louisville Redbirds in 1989. In 1991, Buck began broadcasting for the Cardinals on KMOX as well as on St. Louis local TV. He continued to call Cardinals games after being hired by Fox Sports on both KMOX and Fox Sports Midwest until 2008.
- The recent rumor that former Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina may rejoin the Cardinals in some capacity got more interesting this past week. Molina recently discussed the situation in an interview with KTRS radio in St. Louis. Molina is quoted as saying, “I think there is something cooking with St. Louis”, and further said there was “a 90 percent chance that it happens”.
- The 2023 Fielding Bible Award winners were announced. The Cardinals were not represented by at least one player for the first time since 2017.
Trade and Acquisition Rumors
Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat tweeted on October 25 about a report out of Japan that Rakuten Eagles closer Yuki Matsui would be pitching in MLB in 2024. The report stated that it is believed Matsui will receive an offer from the Cardinals.
Matsui, 28, is a left hander who has pitched for Japan’s NPB for the last 10 years. In 2023, he posted an ERA of 1.97 and recorded 39 saves.
Transactions
In addition to the two transactions mentioned above, the Cardinals cleared five spots from the 40-man roster. Two of the five elected free agency. The five spots will be needed to accommodate the players coming off the 60-day injured list for the off-season.
- 10/25 The Cardinals claimed IF Buddy Kennedy off waivers from the Oakland Athletics.
- 10/25 RHP Adam Wainwright retired.
- 10/26 The Cardinals sent RHP Kyle Leahy outright to the Memphis Redbirds.
- 10/26 The Cardinals sent LHP Andrew Suarez outright to the Memphis Redbirds. Suarez declared free agency.
- 10/28 The Cardinals sent IF Juniel Querecuto outright to the Memphis Redbirds.
- 10/26 The Cardinals sent IF Irving Lopez outright to the Memphis Redbirds.
- 10/26 The Cardinals sent RHP Casey Lawrence outright to the Memphis Redbirds. Lawrence declared free agency.
Injury Report
There are no new injuries to report.
Looking Ahead
The World Series has begun. The best of seven series between the Texas Rangers and the Arizona Diamondbacks will conclude no later than November 4.
Once the World Series is over, the offseason officially begins. Five days following the end of the World Series, free agency opens. The Cardinals have one free agent, reliever Drew VerHagen.
Taylor Motter, who is also a free agent, was designated for assignment on September 5 and did not finish the season in St. Louis. Now, Casey Lawrence and Andrew Suarez have joined him as free agents.
As the offseason begins, teams have a final five-day exclusive window to negotiate with their free agents. After that window concludes, free agents may negotiate and sign with any other team. This is also the period in which teams may make eligible free agents the Qualifying Offer to remain for one year. The QO is believed to be in an amount around $20.5 million.
The annual GM Meetings are scheduled for November 7-9 in Scottsdale, AZ.
The next important date on the schedule following the GM Meetings is November 17. This is the 2023 non-tender deadline. Players on the 40-man roster with less than six years of major league service must be tendered a contract by this date. Should a player not be tendered a contract, he immediately becomes a free agent. The Cardinals have not indicated whether any players will be non-tendered.
Blast from the Past
The Cardinals did not make the postseason in 2023. The reasons for that have already been hashed over and the historically bad season analyzed in every quarter. Now that the postseason is underway without the Cardinals, the Blast from the Past will make a U-turn, and rather than bemoan the lost season, will celebrate those seasons in which the Cardinals did play in October.
This series looks at the Cardinals in the postseason by decade. The period from 1900-1920 was a tough two decades for the St. Louis franchise. It wasn’t until Sam Breadon purchased the Cardinals in 1917 that they began the ascent into the successful franchise it is today.
From 1920 until the present, the Cardinals made the postseason 32 times. In only two decades since then did they not made a single postseason appearance, the 1950s and the 1970s. In all other decades but one, they went to the postseason multiple times.
The fourth installment in this series looks at the decade of the 1960s.
The Cardinals went to the World Series three times in the 1960s – 1964, 1967, and 1968. They won two of those Series. In the final year of the decade, 1969, Major League Baseball introduced the Championship Series. That series will be included in future installments.
Entering the 1960’s, the Cardinals had last went to the World Series in 1946. In late 1947, owner Sam Breadon, faced with paying a large tax bill on a fund he had set aside for a new ballpark, and dying from prostate cancer, sold the team to tax attorney Fred Saigh. Saigh, along with partner Robert Hanegan, took on the Cardinals (Hanegan later left Saigh in sole ownership). Saigh failed to pay the tax bill and was forced to sell the Cardinals in 1953 to August “Gussie” Busch Jr.
Busch took the team to their first World Series since 1946 in 1964. The GM in 1964 was initially Bing Devine, but Busch fired him that August and hired Bob Howsam. The field manager was Johnny Keane.
The 1964 team started poorly and in August was stuck in fifth place in the NL. In June, Devine had made the famous trade with the Cubs to acquire Lou Brock, but the outfielder’s contributions were not felt immediately. The Cardinals began their ascent up the standings in late August. By mid-September they were tied with the Reds for second place.
At around the same time the Cardinals surged, the first place Phillies began to fold. Injuries to their best players plagued them. By the 30th of September, the Cardinals had slipped ahead of both the Reds and the Phillies to first place in the NL. On the last day of the season, the Cardinals beat the Mets, the Phillies beat the Reds and the Cardinals won the pennant.
The 1964 Cardinals finished the season with a record of 93-69 and a first-place finish in the NL. Future Hall of Famers on the team were Bob Gibson and Lou Brock as Stan Musial had retired the year before.
The Cardinals played the Yankees in the World Series. The Cardinals won the Series 4-3. The Cardinals took Games 1, 4, 5 and 7.
The 1964 Series was the subject of a book by David Halberstam entitled October 1964. It became a best seller. This series featured brothers playing against each other, Ken Boyer for the Cardinals, and Clete Boyer for the Yankees. In addition, managers Johnny Keane and Yogi Berra were both St. Louis natives.
The Cardinals next went to the World Series in 1967. The owner of the 1967 team was Busch. The GM was Stan Musial. The manager was Red Schoendienst.
The 1967 Cardinals dominated, finishing in first place in the NL with a record of 101-60. They ended the regular season 10.5 games ahead of the San Francisco Giants.
Future Hall of Famers on the 1967 team were Schoendienst, Brock, Gibson, Steve Carlton, and Orlando Cepeda.
The Cardinals played the Boston Red Sox in the 1967 Series. St. Louis won 4-3, taking games 1, 3, 4 and 7. This Series win was the Cardinals eighth World Series title. This World Series was the first since 1948 to not feature the Yankees, Dodgers or Giants.
The Cardinals went to their final World Series of the 1960s in 1968. The owner of the 1968 team was Busch. The GM was Devine. After being fired by Busch in 1964, Devine was hired by the Mets. Devine built a young team in New York that eventually won a World Series in 1969. Stan Musial decided he did not want to continue as GM after 1967, so Busch persuaded the Mets to release Devine (the Mets had lost 101 games in 1967).
The 1968 team was managed by Schoendienst. The team finished with a record of 97-65 and a first-place finish in the NL, nine games ahead of the Giants.
Future Hall of Famers on this team were the same as in 1967, Schoendienst, Gibson, Brock, Carlton, and Cepeda.
After leading 3-1 in games, the 1968 Cardinals lost this World Series to the Detroit Tigers 4-3. Gibson made history in Game 1 by striking out 17 Detroit batters. That record of the most strikeouts in a World Series game still stands today. Games 1, 3, and 4 were won by the Cardinals.
The winning runs were scored on a fly ball to center field that Cardinals center fielder Curt Flood misjudged. Whether the Gold Glove Award winning Flood should have caught the ball is a debate that still continues to this day. Some believe the mistake was a key issue that led to Flood’s eventual trade to the Phillies. That trade was the catalyst to a lawsuit that steered the way to free agency in major league baseball.
The Cardinals did not make the postseason in the 1970s. The next installment will continue with Cardinals’ postseason play in the 1980s and the first postseason for the Cardinals that included the Championship Series.
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