The St, Louis Cardinals rank among the most popular and respected franchises in Major League Baseball and all of sports. Perhaps what is most amazing about the Cardinals is the consistency – the team continues to win big games and championships in the 21st century.
The Cardinals have won 11 championships, the best in the National League. The only team with more in all of baseball are the Yankees, who have 27. Here are five great moments for St. Louis Cardinals baseball.
Yankees World Series Wins 1903 - Present
1: 21st Century Championships
Unlike many of the glory teams for the 20th century, the Cardinals have kept rolling in the 21st century. They have two World Series championships (behind only the San Francisco Giants, who have three, and the four won by the Boston Red Sox). They’re also tied with the Giants, Yankees and Red Sox for the most pennants this century (4). The high point (so far) came in 2011, when the Cardinals came from down in the World Series against the Texas Rangers to win it all for the second time this century (they won the 2006 World Series over the Detroit Tigers).
Best Moments of Detroit Tigers Baseball
2: Ken O’Dea’s Walk-off Single
In the 11th inning of Game 2 in the 1944 World Series, Ken O’Dea came on to pinch hit. He hit a single, knocking in the winning run. While the Cardinals have had many great walk-off singles, none came in the World Series. That gives O’Dea’s pinch hit a special place in Cardinals’ history. To make it even more memorable, it came against the St. Louis Browns in the only all-St. Louis World Series.
Best Baseball Moments in the 1940s
3: Enos Slaughter’s Mad Dash Home
In the 1946 World Series, Enos Slaughter scored the winning run in the bottom of the 8th inning, breaking a 3-3 tie with the Boston Red Sox. Slaughter was on first when Harry Walker hit a double. With two outs, Slaughter was running on the pitch and later said he knew he could score even as he rounded second. Rather than stop at third he kept flying, sliding into home plate in a moment immortalized in a statue at Busch Stadium.
Best Moments of Red Sox Baseball
4: David Freese’s Insane Game 6
In the 2011 World Series against the Rangers, the Cardinals were down 7-5 in the bottom of the 9th inning of Game 6 when David Freese came to the plate with two runners on base and two outs. Freese got down to a 1-2 count – the Rangers were just one strike away from winning the club’s first World Series – when Freese hit a triple, tying the game. Then, in the bottom of the 11th, Freese won the game with a solo home run.
5: Mark McGwire Hits His 62nd Home Run
On Sept. 8, 1998, McGwire hit his 62nd home run, breaking the single-season home run record held since 1961 by Roger Maris. He finished the season with 70. Barry Bonds beat the record with 73 just three years later, in 2001.
These are just five of the best moments in St. Louis Cardinals baseball. Fans of the Cardinals can count themselves fortunate to follow such a talented, and consistent, team.
I only count 4 moments? What happened to the 5th? Here are possibilities for 5th:
1964 World Series game 4 – Ken Boyer grand slam off Yankees and won 4–3, evening the series and Cards go on to win World Series. instead of 1985 Ozzie Smith’s ninth inning home run off Dodgers in Game 5 of the NLCS.
2011 game 6 of NLCS Albert Pujols’s 3-run home run in the sixth inning, a two-run home run in the seventh & solo HR in the 9th, beat Rangers..
1985 NLCS game 6, Jack Clark homers off Dodgers giving the Cardinals a 7-5 win.
Lots more in rich Cardinal history.