The Cardinals win the 2011 World Series, defeating Texas
in seven, which makes
my Dad happy as he is A) from St Louis and B) A Cardinals fan, along with everybody else from there. I have been to a Cardinals game , too, when they played at the old Busch Memorial Stadium (replaced, in 2006, by the New Busch Stadium) itself replacing Sportsman Park and where Moe would have seen games , if he could sneak in , on a week day afternoon. It is an experience - baseball as it should be played , where it should be played : in the Midwest , without the glitz and glam of
the East or West Coast clubs and their $8 hot-dogs and Jumbotron replays. Guys like Whitey Herzog, Bruce Sutter, Jackie Robinson and Ozzie Smith played for the Cardinals. Their rivalry with the Chicago Cubs goes back over
100 years.
The Cardinals joined the National League in
1882 as the St. Louis Brown Stockings, taking the name from an earlier National League Team, and known as the Cardinals since 1900. This city loves the team, oh boy, no matter what it's ups and downs. In recent years, it has been mostly downs so last night's World Series victory a nice thing to happen.
"Pressure is a word that is misused in our vocabulary. When you start thinking of pressure, it's because you've started to think of failure."
--Tommy Lasorda, Manager of the St Louis Cardinals
"My theory of hitting was just to watch the ball as it came in and hit it."
--Tommy Lasorda
Photo from the Associated Press, 2006.
