A Pennant-Winning Pennant

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)
• Red Schoendienst (who was a coach for the ‘85 Cardinals)
  

And here are the ten players from the 1985 Redbirds signed it:

• Terry Pendleton
• Willie McGee
• Jack Clark
• Andy Van Slyke
• Vince Coleman
• John Tudor
• Todd Worrell
• Ivan DeJesus
• Bill Campbell
• Tom Herr

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! 

Go Crazy, Folks! Go Crazy!

My ticket stub from 10/14/85

Today is the 30th anniversary of one of my most cherished adolescent memories, and yet it is a day of somewhat mixed emotions. Mixed emotions on the one hand because the Cardinals were eliminated from the MLB postseason yesterday, and (to make matters worse) they were eliminated by the Cubs. It's about the worst way possible for a Cardinals season to end.

Apart from that though, and more pointedly, there is a tinge of melancholy attached to this beloved memory because it's the memory of an event shared with my late father. Dad didn't get too worked up about much; he was a pretty stoic guy. But on this day three decades ago, he definitely got excited. You could even say that he went crazy.

It was far more common for me in those days to go to games with my mom. Among my earliest childhood memories is going with her to Sunday afternoon games with promotional giveaways (bat day, pennant day, hat day, etc.). We would head down to the stadium after church, brown-bag lunch in hand, and wait in line for seats in the left field bleachers to be as close as possible to her favorite player (and subsequently mine), Lou Brock.

On this overcast Monday though, it was my dad who pulled me out of middle school and took me to the fifth game of the 1985 National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The series stood tied at two games apiece and whoever won the day's contest would achieve the enviable position of being just one win shy of reaching the World Series.

The Cardinals scored two runs in the first off perennial all-star, Fernando Valenzuela, only to squander a number of other opportunities throughout the next seven innings. The Dodgers broke through in the fourth against one of my childhood favorites, Bob Forsch, when four-time batting champ Bill Madlock hit a two-run homer to tie the game.

The score remained 2-2 into the ninth inning. After Jeff Lahti retired the Dodgers in order, Willie McGee led off the bottom half of the inning with a pop out to 3rd. Then Ozzie Smith, all 150 pounds of him, stepped to the plate. NBC's television broadcast flashed a graphic stating that in 3,009 left-handed at bats over the course of his career, the switch-hitting Wizard of Oz had NEVER hit a home run. Then, with a 1-2 count and Dodgers closer Tom Niedenfuer on the mound, the rest, as they say, is history:

From our upper deck perspective high above the right field wall, we couldn't tell at first if the ball had cleared the fence. Our initial clue was the joyful reaction of the relievers in the Cardinals' bullpen, which was located in the right field corner. For an instant, I feared their exuberance (as well as that of 53,000 others) was misplaced when Dodgers right fielder Mike Marshall threw the ball in to shortstop Mariano Duncan, who looked as if he was going to tag Ozzie out. We quickly realized though that Ozzie's shot had caromed off of one of the concrete pillars above the wall and was indeed a game-winning homer.

As we stood there, clapping, yelling, cheering, chanting Ozzie's name, it occurred to me that in my 14 years of life, I had never seen my father so excited. I had truly experienced something special, something I would never forget.

It would not be until later that evening that we would hear Jack Buck's soon-to-be-famous call of the home run. Even so, three decades later, the text tone on my phone is Mr. Buck's voice beckoning, "Go crazy, folks! Go crazy!"

The Wizard of Oz

Of all the Cardinals of my youth, none were as entertaining as Ozzie Smith.  The Wizard came to St. Louis as a light-hitting, slick-fielding shortstop in 1982, and immediately helped lead the Cardinals to a World Series victory over the Milwaukee Brewers.  

He is remembered for his acrobatic fielding exploits, as well as his pre-game backflips at season openers and other select big games.  He eventually became pretty handy with the bat as well, collecting nearly 2500 hits in his career.  And he of course hit the famous "Go crazy folks!  Go crazy!" home run in the game 5 of the 1985 National League Championship Series, a game my father pulled me out of school to take me to.

I vividly remember the day I got this card signed.  While the rest of the autograph seekers were waiting by the doors where the players normally exited the stadium, I noticed Ozzie walking by himself across the bridge up above us from the stadium to the parking garage.  I ran up and met him, and he cheerfully signed the card and engaged me in chit chat.  Before long, everyone else noticed us and the crowd raced over to join us.  But not before I got about a moment of one-on-one time with the Wizard.