We’ve been cleaning out our basement, and in the process have uncovered some items that I’ve had tucked away. One of them is this fun pennant that I remembered I had, but hadn’t been able to locate for over a decade! As you can probably see, it had something spill/drip on it (that happened long ago when we still lived in St. Louis), but I still think it’s a fun item.
1985 was the summer between 7th and 8th grade, and I think it was one of the first summers that my friend Craig and I went to games by ourselves and tried to get players’ autographs before and/or after the games. It was a magical season as the Cardinals won 101 games on their way to the National League Pennant. Perhaps it was the style of ball they played (stealing over 300 bases) and perhaps it was the age I was at the time, but even though they fell one game short of winning the World Series, all these years later, the '85 Birds are still my favorite team ever! In fact, I even administer a Twitter account that recaps their season day-by-day!
Anyway, the pennant above was one that I got signed by a many of the players on that team (in addition to a couple Cardinals legends). While many of the signers played multiple seasons with the Cardinals, two of them (Ivan DeJesus and Bill Campbell) played for the team only in 1985. And one of the signers (Todd Worrell) only joined the club for the last six weeks of the season, so I must have gotten at least some (if not all) of the autographs relatively late in the season.
Two Hall of Famers signed my pennant back in 1985:
Lou Brock (who was inducted to the Hall of Fame in '85, and is my all-time favorite)
I have no idea how much something like this is "worth." Probably not a whole lot, given the condition. But for the memories it evokes of a 13-year old kid getting those autographs, it is absolutely priceless to me! And 35 years later, it makes me want to track down Ozzie Smith and Tom Nieto to sign it so I could have a whole starting lineup's worth!
Now up to 95 autographs for Project87. Here's the latest update:
A few months ago, I sent three cards to Ron Cey. He signed two of the three, one of which being the Cubs Leaders card that featured him and Steve Trout. I sent that card to Trout, and didn't hear back from him. Fearing that it might be gone for good, I sent Cey another one of the Cubs Leaders cards as well as the one he didn't sign last time. He signed both of them and returned them quickly, getting them back to me in just nine days!
Just ten days later (74 days after I'd originally sent them), I got these back from Steve Trout! Trout was a solid starter for the Cubs in the mid-80s, after having started his career with the White Sox. His best year was probably 1984 when he went 13-7, 3.41 for the NL East champs. The southpaw finished up his career with a few months with the Yankees and two seasons with the Mariners.
Mike Fischlin was a solid, versatile defender who managed to have a ten season career despite not having much pop in his bat. His best season was 1982 when he had a .351 OBP in 322 plate appearances for the Indians.
While I still consider myself very much an amateur, my friend, Alex Hyde is a serious autograph collector. Not long ago he contacted me and asked if I still needed Dick Schofield for Project87. Indeed I did. Schofield was going to be signing at a show the next day in St. Louis, and Alex offered to get me his card signed for me.
Schofield had a very respectable 14 year career that spanned much of the 80s and 90s. He played mostly for the Angels, with short stints also with the Blue Jays, the Mets, and the Dodgers. From 1986-88, he averaged a WAR of 3.3 per season, the two best seasons of his career coming in '86 & '88.
Schofield's father also played 19 years in MLB, including eight with the Cardinals.
I got a lot of six cards from Tom Tessier. They included:
Bobby Meacham was a first round draft pick of the Cardinals who was traded to the Yankees along with fellow prospect Stan Javier as a "make-good" for Bob Sykes, who ended up injured when the Yankees acquired him in October of 1981 in exchange for a young outfield prospect named Willie McGee. Sykes never pitched for the Yankees in 1982, while McGee starred for the World Champion Cardinals. Yankees owner George Steinbrenner threatened legal action so the Cardinals agreed to deal him two of their top prospects. Meacham was a starter for most of the 1984 and 85 seasons, leading the AL in sac bunts each season. He would only last six years in the MLB, but would stay in baseball and ultimately became the 2017 manager of the Blue Jays' AAA affiliate, the Buffalo Bisons of the International League.
Tracy Jones came up with the Reds and played for five teams in his six year career.
Tom Lawless is famous for two things: First he was the only player to ever be traded for Peter Edward Rose, having been sent to the Expos by the Reds when they acquired Rose to become their player-manager. Secondly, Lawless is the possessor of the most ridiculously epic bat flip in MLB history. In 1987 he had only two hits (in 25 at bats) for the Cardinals, but still found himself in the starting lineup of World Series. His fourth inning home run not only broke a 1-1 tie, but represented the only three RBIs he would get all season long. Even though it BARELY cleared the wall, Lawless acted as if it were out of the stadium completely.
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Chris Codiroli spent six of his eight years in MLB with the Oakland A's. In 1985, he led the AL with 37 games started as he went 14-14 with a 4.46 ERA.
Denny Walling spent 18 seasons as a corner infielder/outfielder, 13 of which were spent with the Astros. His best season was 1986 when he hit .312 with a career-high 13 home runs for the NL West champs. At the trade deadline in 1988, he was shipped to the Cardinals in exchange for one of my personal favorites, Bob Forsch, who I've written about elsewhere. Walling would spend the next two seasons in St. Louis before finishing up with a season with the Rangers and a few final at bats for the Astros.
Dane Iorg was a pinch hitter extraordinaire for the Cardinals in my earliest memories (1977-1984), and hit .276 throughout his ten-year career.
Kind of a funny story here. I wrote a request letter to Ron Cey very early on in this project, but I didn't send it. The reason was that I had Cey's A's card from the 1987 Topps Traded set and I had the Cubs Leaders card featuring him and teammate Steve Trout, but (to my amazement) I couldn't find his regular card amongst my collection.
As I mentioned in a previous post, when we were on vacation, I went to a card show and picked up a complete 1987 Topps set to fill in the various cards I couldn't track down. So finally, almost two months after I wrote the request letter, I was able able to send it off. In just eight days, an envelope appeared in my mailbox containing the three cards. As you can see in the picture though, only two of them are signed. Turns out (upon closer inspection of the Sports Card Forum Mail Manager) that Cey's normal practice is to just sign two cards, even if more are sent. Turns out I could've just sent the ones I already had a long time ago! Oh well. Next up I guess I'll send the Cubs Leaders card to Trout and we'll just go from there.
A day after getting the mid-1980s Cubs third baseman and six-time all star, I moved around the diamond to second base and got their ten-time all star, Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg. The 1984 NL MVP, Sandberg is the third Hall of Famer I've gotten through the mail, and (I would argue) the best player yet.
If you're in the Hall of Fame, there are probably a lot of teams you've had success against. That said, Sandberg always seemed to be REALLY tough on the Cardinals. I checked on it and sure enough, he hit more home runs against the Cardinals than any team in baseball. None of those home runs were more memorable (or more infamous for Cardinal fans) than the game-tying home runs he hit off Bruce Sutter in the ninth AND tenth innings one Saturday on the NBC Game of the Week in his MVP season of 1984. A lot happened in the game: Willie McGee hit for the cycle, the game went eleven innings, and the Cubs won 12-11. Despite everything else that happened though, it is simply known as "the Ryne Sandberg game."
The first part of our day was spent getting ready. We packed up the remainder of Eric's things as he would be moving out of the dorms and into a fraternity house with the start of summer classes. We spent some time playing Strat, and in the late afternoon we headed north on the 82 mile drive to Milwaukee County Stadium.
Even though this was the first game on our trip, it was probably the one we were least excited about. In a very real sense, the trip was not just about seeing various teams play, but even more so about seeing them play at different stadiums. We were VERY excited about seeing four of the six stadiums we'd go to. The Cardinals would be playing in one of the other two games. And then there was this game.
No disrespect to Milwaukee fans is intended. I'm sure if I had grown up in Milwaukee, I would have great memories of County Stadium and would remember it fondly. As an outsider who visited it though, it was pretty non-descript. There was nothing wrong with it per se, I just remember thinking that there was really nothing in particular to commend it. I take that back; the bratwursts were the best ballpark brats I'd ever had! In retrospect, I should have had greater respect for the history of the stadium...it was after all, where the great Hank Aaron played the majority of his career (1954-65 & 1975-76).
It was kind of neat for two Cardinals fans who had grown up in the 80s to visit the site where the Redbirds had played in the 1982 World Series, the last that they had won at the time! Especially memorable was rookie Willie McGee's classic performance in game three, when he hit two home runs off former Cardinal Pete Vuckovich, and squelched a ninth inning Brewers rally with a great defensive play.
As for tonight's game, the Oakland A's were visiting the Brewers. Oakland was the three-time American League champion from 1988-1990, and a truly dominant team winning an average of 102 games per season. I can remember wondering in the midst of their run how long it would be until someone in the AL would be able to dethrone them.
In the midst of a dynasty, it often seems as if it will go on forever. The reality is though, that all dynasties come to an end, and 1991 would be the year that would happen for the A's as they went 84-78. But in 1992, the A's would bounce back, winning 96 games and taking the AL West once more.
Mark McGwire led the charge for the A's. It would be his sixth straight season as an all star, as he finished fourth in the MVP voting with 42 home runs and 104 RBIs. Despite having a down season, Jose Canseco would be elected to his fifth all star game. One of the most dominant players in baseball from 1986-1991, just a couple months after we saw him play, Canseco would be traded to the Texas Rangers in exchange for Jeff Russell, Ruben Sierra and Bobby Witt.
The A's were star-studded, even if we didn't get to see them all shine. Nine time all star Goose Gossage was getting close to the end of a Hall of Fame career. Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson was on the disabled list at the time, so we didn't get to see him play. Relief pitcher Dennis Eckersley would win both the Cy Young Award and the MVP, going 7-1 with 51 saves. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see him this night either. DH Harrold Baines was a six-time all star, including the previous season.
With all of the all stars in their lineup though, the hitting star that evening for Oakland would be second baseman Mike Bordick. He went 4 for 5 on the night to raise his season batting average to .340. He would finish the season hitting .300 and would (believe it or not) actually show up in the 1992 AL MVP voting.
The Brewers, even with Hall of Famers Robin Yount and Paul Molitor, managed only four hits, and fell at home to the mighty A's 6-1. We made the (relatively) easy drive back to campus, less than 90 miles away and settled in for a good night's sleep. Have another game to go to tomorrow!
Miles Driven Today: 164 miles
Total Miles Driven: 485 miles
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Due Up: Canseco, Baines & McGwire. Back in 1992, we thought they might all end up in Cooperstown. Alas, none of them did until Baines entered in the class of 2019.
But the Brewers did have two players now in the Hall, including centerfielder, Robin Yount.
Not many photos from Milwaukee; not a whole lot to see. But the ballpark brats sure were great!
