As someone who had grown up in Wildwood, Missouri, just outside St. Louis, David Freese knew more than most the honor bestowed upon Cardinals Hall of Famers. On June 17, 2023, the Cardinals announced that the hero of the 2011 World Series, who just a month earlier had been elected to the Cardinals Hall of […]
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When the Cardinals traded Vinegar Bend Mizell and Dick Gray to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Julian Javier and Ed Bauta, St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports editor Bob Broeg had three questions: Why couldn’t the Cardinals get more for Mizell? Who was going to pitch for the Cardinals now? And who in the world was Javier?[1] As
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With at-bats few and far between in St. Louis, the Cardinals finally found an opportunity for Matt Adams to play – it just happened to be in Atlanta. On May 20, 2017, the Cardinals traded the first baseman affectionately known as “Big City” to the Braves for 19-year-old prospect Juan Yepez, a Venezuelan corner infielder
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A leadoff, broken-bat single by Eric Young Jr. proved to be the only flaw in an otherwise perfect game for 22-year-old right-hander Shelby Miller on May 10, 2013, as he retired 27 consecutive batters for a one-hit shutout and a 3-0 win over the Colorado Rockies. “It was a start I’ll remember the rest of
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Tommy Lasorda may have been a Hall of Fame manager, but as a pitcher, the native of Norristown, Pennsylvania, appeared in just 26 big-league games. With a career 6.48 ERA, Lasorda never earned a win, and may have Cardinals outfielder Wally Moon to thank for it after Moon sent him to the hospital on May
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When Enos Slaughter was informed that he had been traded to the Yankees on April 11, 1954, the Cardinals’ captain broke down and wept. Slaughter was just two weeks away from his 38th birthday and the Cardinals were two days away from opening their season against the Cubs when they finalized the deal that sent
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On March 22, 1934, less than seven months before they won the World Series, the Cardinals sent female Olympian Babe Didrikson to the mound to face the Boston Red Sox. Two years earlier, Didrikson had qualified for five Olympic events, but rules at the time allowed female athletes to compete in just three events. At
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Cardinals manager Tony La Russa had so much respect for reserve infielder Joe McEwing that when the Cardinals traded him to the Mets for Jesse Orosco on March 18, 2000, the Cardinals manager grabbed a pair of McEwing’s Cardinals-red cleats to keep in his office and “remind me of what a professional ballplayer is supposed
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On March 11, 1981, “the Big Cat” Johnny Mize, who held the Cardinals’ single-season home run record for more than 40 years and would go on to hold it for 17 more, was finally elected to the Hall of Fame. Mize was selected by the Veterans Committee alongside Negro Leagues founder Rube Foster. He and
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The moments after Scott Rolen learned that he had been elected to the Hall of Fame were like a scene from the movie Field of Dreams. “Everybody cried,” Rolen said. “We’re an emotional family. When we get happy or whatever, that’s how it comes out. My son, it caught him a little off guard and
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