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As Lou Brock was chasing 3000 career hits late in the 1979 season--his last after 18 years in the majors--the St. Louis Cardinals were looking for a new identity. Brock's departure represented the final link to the team's glory years of the 1960s, and a parade of new players now came in from the minor leagues. With the Cardinals mired in last place by the following June, owner August A. Busch, Jr., hired Whitey Herzog as field manager, and shortly handed him the general manager's position, too. Herzog was given free rein to rebuild the club in order to embrace the new running game trend in the majors. With an aggressive style of play and an unconventional approach to personnel moves, he catapulted the Cardinals back into prominence and defined a new age of baseball in St. Louis.
The 1982 St. Louis Cardinals played an entertaining style of baseball built on speed and defense. The roster was constructed and piloted by Whitey Herzog, a baseball visionary who tailored his team for the AstroTurf and spacious dimensions of Busch Stadium. Herzog traded for closer Bruce Sutter, speedsters Lonnie Smith and Willie McGee, and defensive wizard Ozzie Smith, adding to a talented roster that included the likes of Bob Forsch, Keith Hernandez, and George Hendrick. The result was an exhilarating season filled with winning streaks, numerous obstacles, and one unforgettable steal of home. The Cardinals won the National League pennant despite hitting the fewest home runs in the major leagues, then overcame baseball's most powerful team--the Milwaukee Brewers--in the World Series. This exhaustive account chronicles the Cardinals from Herzog's rebuild to the final out of the Fall Classic. Hundreds of sources, including original interviews, were compiled to revisit a championship season and tell the backstories of an eclectic group of players who reached baseball's pinnacle.
After a decade starring for the St. Louis Cardinals, Albert Pujols is already compared with names in the highest reaches of baseball's pantheon: Ruth, Gehrig, Aaron, Mays. Slugging his way toward the Hall of Fame, Pujols has raised the game's standard for greatness beyond any statistical measure. But the standard by which Pujols measures himself has less to do with baseball performance than with honoring God and exemplifying his faith for the millions who follow him. From his birthplace in the Dominican Republic to his high-school days in Kansas City, from a single season in the minor leagues to the World Series and nine All-Star Games, Pujols has developed his immense talents on the basebal...
The inside stories from baseball's legendary beat writers
After only 10 seasons, the St. Louis Cardinals' Albert Pujols is already one of the greatest players to have ever laced up a pair of spikes. But when adulation and glory come his way, Pujols is quick to credit another--to point people to his hero--God.
In Suds Series, J. Daniel takes readers back forty years, telling a story that is part baseball history, part urban history, and part U.S. cultural history, the narrative weaving together the development of the Midwest cities of St. Louis and Milwaukee through their engagement with beer and baseball. As the National and American League champions squared off for the 1982 Fall Classic, the St. Louis Cardinals, owned by Anheuser-Busch, took on the Milwaukee Brewers, so named by owner Bud Selig in homage to the city’s baseball and brewing past. Even nominal baseball fans will enjoy reading about legendary players, teams, and personalities that emerged in the 1982 season: the year Ricky Henderson stole 130 bases; Reggie Jackson led the league in home runs; and Cal Ripken Jr. began his remarkable playing streak. Readers will also enjoy the cultural references, including the Pac-Man craze, a chart-topping album by Rush, and the “Light Beer Wars” waged by Anheuser-Busch and the Miller Brewing Company through a series of humorous TV commercials featuring well-loved professional sports figures.
A lot happened in baseball in 1980. After being stabbed with a penknife in Mexico during spring training, the Indians' "Super Joe" Charboneau captured Cleveland's heart--and Rookie of the Year. Nolan Ryan became baseball's first Million Dollar Man, Reggie Jackson twice found himself looking down the wrong end of a gun, and George Brett posted the highest single-season batting average since 1941. The Phillies and Expos battled up to the season's final weekend while the Dodgers tilted against the Astros in a one-game playoff for the division title. In the American League, Brett led Kansas City past the mighty Yankees and into the Series, where slugger Mike Schmidt and the Phillies awaited. This book covers it all.
For the St. Louis Cardinals and their fans, there was a great deal of uncertainty going into the 1985 season. Only three years before, the Cards had won the World Series, but were predicted to finish last in the National League East Division by every major publication. Manager Whitey Herzog was expected to rebuild his team, drug abuse had cast a lingering shadow over the game, and a players' strike threatened to halt play. The situation looked bleak for St. Louis but the season turned out to be nothing like the predictions. The Cards found themselves in a battle for the pennant. From beginning to end, that magical season is chronicled here. The book recaps the 1982 championship season and provides background information on Whitey Herzog and Gussie Busch's building of the early 1980s Cards, Busch Stadium and its characteristics particular to base running, and players of the era, including Ozzie Smith and Willie McGee and pitchers Bob Forsch and Joaquin Andujar. It then goes in-depth to discuss the Cards' 1985 spring training and season and the World Series.
"This books details the last four years of the St. Louis Cardinals' playoff run"--
If you’ve followed the White Sox at all, you might be familiar with the “Hitless Wonders,” the 1919 Black Sox scandal, the 1950s Go-Go club, South Side Hit Men (1977), Winning Ugly (1983), the 2005 World Series Champions to Pedro Grifol's current club. Check out Ed Walsh, the Sox’ 40-game winner in 1908; or the four 20-game winners in 1920 (one entered the Hall of Fame, whereas another was banned from baseball). How about the Sox rookie that pitched a perfect game in the early 1920s; “Old Aches and Pains” playing shortstop; and the GM who traded for Nellie Fox, Billy Pierce, Minnie Minoso, among others. Then there’s Little Luis - the 1st of 6 Sox’ Rookies of the Year; Early W...