www abdopublishing com Published by Abdo Publishing a division of ABDO PO Box 398166 Minneapolis Minnesota 55439 Copyright 2015 by Abdo Consulting Group Inc International copyrights reserved in all countries No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher SportsZone is a trademark and logo of Abdo Publishing Printed in the United States of America North Mankato Minnesota 052014 092014 Editor Chrös McDougall Copy Editor Nicholas Cafarelli Interior Design and Production Carol Castro Cover Design Craig Hinton Photo Credits Tom DiPace AP Images cover AP Images 1 4 7 9 13 15 17 18 23 24 29 33 42 43 top 44 George Grantham Bain Collection Library of Congress 10 Harry Hall AP Images 21 Diamond Images Contributor Getty Images 26 43 middle James A Finley AP Images 30 Gary Dineen AP Images 34 Al Behrman AP Images 37 Morry Gash AP Images 38 Bill Boyce AP Images 41 43 bottom Tom Gannam AP Images 47 Library of Congress Control Number 2014933060 Cataloging-in-Publication Data Gitlin Marty St Louis Cardinals by Marty Gitlin p cm Inside MLB Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN 978-1-62403-482-4 1 St Louis Cardinals Baseball team History Juvenile literature I Title GV875 S74G47 2015 796 357’640977866 dc23 2014933060
TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1 The Great Escape 4 Chapter 2 Cardinals Take Flight 10 Chapter 3 The Stan the Man Era 18 Chapter 4 Mediocrity to Greatness 26 Chapter 5 From McGwire to Pujols 34 Timeline 42 Quick Stats 44 Quotes and Anecdotes 45 Glossary 46 For More Information 47 Index 48 About the Author 48
CHAPTER 1 THE GREAT ESCAPE
T he St Louis Cardinals had reason to feel confident as summer turned into fall in 1964 They had just won three straight games against the Philadelphia Phillies Now the New York Mets were coming to town The 1964 Mets were one of the worst teams in the history of baseball The National League NL pennant race had become a mad scramble with one weekend remaining in the regular season The Cardinals the Phillies the Cincinnati Reds and the San Francisco Giants all remained in contention But most people figured the Cardinals would easily beat the Mets and go on to win the title They figured wrong The Mets had nothing to play for but pride and a chance to ruin the Cardinals season They set out to do just that The Mets won the first two games of the series One was a 15 5 embarrassment Cardinals ace Bob Gibson pitches in the 1964 World Series He won two of Cardinals ace Bob Gibson pitches in the 1964 World Series He won two of his three starts and struck out 31 batters in 27 innings his three starts and struck out 31 batters in 27 innings THE GREAT ESCAPE 5
