Whether trying to drive in a run against Bob Gibson or snare a Stan Musial line drive to stop a Cardinals rally, Ernie Banks often excelled on the baseball field. The rough-and-tumble arena of Chicago politics was quite a different matter. In December 1962, a month before he turned 32, Banks said he would run as a Republican candidate in the election for 8th Ward alderman in … [Read more...] about Ernie Banks swung and missed in bid for elected office
John McGraw and his peculiar season with St. Louis
Technically, John McGraw turned down an offer to manage the Cardinals. Actually, though, he was their de facto manager for part of a season. The question of whether McGraw was or wasn’t the Cardinals’ manager made headlines in August 1900. After manager Patsy Tebeau resigned, Cardinals president Frank Robison said publicly that McGraw, the Cardinals’ captain and third baseman, … [Read more...] about John McGraw and his peculiar season with St. Louis
Bobby Joe Conrad made an art of adapting to gridiron roles
As a youth in small-town Texas, Bobby Joe Conrad would go to a vacant lot near his house and practice kicking a football. He taught himself to boot the ball high and far and straight. After a while, he was kicking footballs over the arching branches of a cluster of hackberry trees. “I guess a lot of it came naturally,” he recalled to the Bryan-College Station Eagle. Conrad … [Read more...] about Bobby Joe Conrad made an art of adapting to gridiron roles
Dizzy Dean was a Gashouse Gang slugger, too
Pitching in relief just two days after making a start, Dizzy Dean got the win and a walkoff home run for the surging Cardinals. Dean delivered four innings of hitless, scoreless relief and slugged a three-run homer in the bottom of the 10th inning, carrying the Cardinals to a 6-3 triumph over the Reds at St. Louis on Aug. 6, 1935. The win was the Cardinals’ fifth in a row … [Read more...] about Dizzy Dean was a Gashouse Gang slugger, too
Abe Woodson: An innovator in Cardinals secondary
Coveted by the NFL St. Louis Cardinals for his uncanny ability to return kickoffs and punts for good gains, as well as for his skills as a cornerback covering the game’s top receivers, Abe Woodson provided a bonus. At a time when cornerbacks gave receivers lots of room at the line of scrimmage in the hope of not getting outmaneuvered, Woodson used a different technique _ the … [Read more...] about Abe Woodson: An innovator in Cardinals secondary