On January 21, 1947, Frankie Frisch, the starting second baseman and manager of one of the most colorful teams in Cardinals history, was elected to the Hall of Fame. Frisch was elected alongside pitchers Carl Hubbell and Lefty Grove and catcher Mickey Cochrane. It marked the first time since 1942 that anyone had surpassed the […]
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With his mad dash from first base, Enos Slaughter raced home with the winning run of the 1946 World Series and into baseball history. “Enos Slaughter’s great gallop from first to score on a blow to left center will rate with Paul Revere’s ride in the history of our country, and the picture of
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When star pitcher Mort Cooper walked into the office of Cardinals president Sam Breadon on May 23, 1945, he believed he was there to negotiate a new contract. Instead, Breadon informed the 1942 National League MVP that he had been traded to the Boston Braves. Cooper had reached double-digit victories in each of the previous
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After a dominant season in which he led all of baseball with 22 wins – including 10 shutouts – and paced the National League with a 1.78 ERA, Cardinals right-hander Mort Cooper was named the National League MVP. On a Cardinals team that won the World Series with contributions from most of its roster, Cooper
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On June 10, 1944, just four days after D-Day, the Cardinals found themselves facing Joe Nuxhall, a 15-year-old pitcher who had been facing high school opposition just a few weeks earlier. They showed him no mercy. Joe Nuxhall, a lefthander out of Hamilton High School in Hamilton, Ohio, lasted just 2/3 of an inning after
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On October 9, 1944, the St. Louis Cardinals clinched their second World Series championship in three years, defeating the crosstown rival Browns 3-1 and establishing themselves as baseball’s dominant wartime franchise. With America at war in Europe, players from every team either volunteered for or were drafted into the war effort. Though Cardinals stars Enos
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On July 24, 1949, Stan Musial hit for the only cycle of his illustrious career, helping to power the St. Louis Cardinals into first place in the National League with an emphatic 14-1 win over the Brooklyn Dodgers. Though the clubs were still in the dog days of summer, Musial’s achievement came in a series
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In the days before free agency, the reserve clause gave baseball teams all the leverage in determining each player’s salary. Even the greatest Cardinal of them all, Stan Musial, wasn’t immune. On March 4, 1948, Musial ended a brief spring training holdout in which the two-time National League MVP sought a $5,000 raise from his
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On January 20, 1942, Rogers Hornsby, the greatest right-handed hitter in baseball history, was getting his hair cut when he received the official word that he had been elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. “Wait’ll I get out of here and to the ballpark,” he said. “That’s the place to talk about this.”
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Just how incredible was Stan Musial during the 1948 season? The 27-year-old from Donora, Pennsylvania, led the league in batting average (.376), hits (230), doubles (46), triples (18), RBIs (131), on-base percentage (.450), slugging percentage (.702), OPS (1.152), and total bases (429). With 39 home runs, Musial was one homer shy of tying the Pirates’ Ralph
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