SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
Maybe the Cardinals were fortunate that the sweep occurred on the road, and the Washington Nationals realized that there they were, at home in the nation’s capitol and wrapping up the franchise’s first trip to the World Series since losing it in over eight decades.
Once, only once, was this baseball team that had been renamed the Senators to the Nationals so many times, the fans in D.C. decided to call them whatever they chose, as long as the family name of the nation’s first president remained.
So it was in 1933 that Washington, then the Senators, won the American League pennant, but lost in the World Series to the New York Giants.No winning a World Series than, and not anotherWorld Series until now, 86 years later, when game four of the NL championship series secured the surprising, stunning sweep of the shocked St. Louis Cardinals Tuesday night with the 7-4 triumph.
Neither was expected. The Nats had been one of the better teams in their league in recent years, but this team, minus All-Star Bryce Harper, who as a free agent hooked with the division rival Philadelphia Phillies, got away to a terrible start, were once at 15 games under .500, recovered at midseason, slumped again, and then made a late rush to become one of the six teams challenging for a wild card spot.
And they took care of business like never before. They finished behind the Atlanta Braves in the regular season, but their late surge brought them the No. 1 wild card berth. So while the Cardinals ousted the Braves in five, the Nationals did the same in knocking out the Los Angeles Dodgers, the team with the best record in the league, in five, in LA no less.
Prior to the 20th century, various teams played with either the Senators or Nationals tag, and then when an expansion team landed in Arlington, Tex., and named the Rangers, D.C. did not have a team of its own, it was there but owed and financed by the Major League until the Montreal Expos moved to Washington as the latest version of the Senators.
There aren’t many names remembered through all these back-and-back years, except that Ted Williams and Gil Hodges had short terms there at managers. Now it awaits the American League winner of the championship series between the New York Yankees and the Houston Astros, with Houston up two games to one.
The Cardinals are a completely different story. Known through the years after they were founded in 1892 as the St. Louis Browns, the Red Stockings, the Brown Stockings, the Perfectos, and changing their sock colors from red to brown. But the Cardinal name stuck after someone got the idea and the team adopted it. Whatever the name stands for, the franchise logo on the team jersey has long been the Cardinal redbird perched on a baseball bat.
They have been the most successful franchise in the NL. They have won the most pennants, 23, the most World Series, 11, the most post-season appearances, 29, and the only downfall is losing the WS 18 times. Only the Yankees have been more successful.
It’s been a franchise of big-name players, great managers, excellent fans who first filled Sportsman Park and also the other home ballparks with knowledge and great support and recognition as one of the finest home fans in baseball.
After opening its long stay with an announced turnout of some 1,000 fans, through the years it became millions a season, first one mil, than two mil, than three mil, and in recent years filled the seats and introduced rather convenient SRO entries to often total four mil.
Names of former St. Louis Cardinals would no doubt fill a book. The best of all was the late Stan (The Man) Musial, who was as popular as they came, even on the road, and who was a classic lefty batting champion with his own style stance. He played the outfield, he played first base, he isone of 17 St. Louis players who have been named to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
There were more, many more. There was the hard-throwing right-hander Bob Gibson labeled as the best-ever Cardinals. There was right-fielder Enos Slaughter, who gave his all in each and every game, who often took the extra base, got the key hits, whether bunting or hitting away.
There was Red Schoendienst, the second baseball who passed away last year at the age of 95, who provided the leadership as did outfielder Joe Medwick in earlier years. There was slim, but stellar shortstop Marty Marion, followed by defensive whiz shortstop, Ozzie Smith, old timer Rogers Hornsby taking care of second base, as did Frankie Frisch.
There were standout outfielders in Lou Brock and Curtis Flood, both also hailed for their base running, Mike Shannon, a spark at third base, as was the smooth fielding Kenny Boyer. There wasthe fun of watching Dizzy Dean show his stuff on the mound, and the splendid relief hurling of Bruce Sutter.
Whitey Herzog, known for his savvy as a coach and as a manager, and long-time manager Tony LaRusso, who compiled the best record by far of any Cardinal manager. He won 1,408 times and lost 1,182.
They also had Cy Young on his way to having the prestigious pitching award in his name. They also had Keith Hernandez with his hitting and skills at first base. Catcher Tim McCarver was the spark behind the plate, Home run hitter Johnny Mize also played at first base, as did more recent Albert Pujols, and before him, long-ball threat Mark McGwire.
Basketball-baseball star Dick Groat also showed how equally adept he was as a shortstop, and first baseman Orlando Cepeda, who arrived in a trade for Bill White, and brought yet another bat to the lineup.
Eleven of these players have had their numbers retired.
So what happened to bring down this storied franchise? Well, Washington came to life with solid hitting, fancy fielding, base running, and excellent pitching. The Cardinals just didn’t have any answers.
Their pitching was dismal, and that included the bullpen, they made mental mistakes and let the Nats take the extra base, and their hitting was pitiful, never able to mount a rally, and never getting to figure out the Washington pitching.
These were only four games, but four embarrassing games, and St. Louis should recover and still be a factor each season, it’s just that these Nationals had the upper hand this time in every phrase of the game.
