April 22, 1925: The Rickeymen Pummel The Reds In The Home Opener

      On April 22, 1925, the Cardinals kicked off their home schedule with a 12-3 beatdown of the Cincinnati Reds at Sportsman's Park. The boys came out swinging early, plating 11 runs on 12 hits in the first inning. 11 of the 12 hits were singles, and the other was a double. The Mayor of St. Louis Victor Miller had been sworn in the day before, and was on hand to throw out the first pitch before the offensive explosion at the ballpark. Every Cardinals batter picked up a hit with rightfielder Wattie Holm leading the Cardinal hit parade with three, while third baseman Les Bell led the team in ribbies with three.

Check out the box score here: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN192504220.shtml

     I got a kick out of how the newspaper article referred to the team as "The Rickeymen" in reference to manager Branch Rickey. He managed the club for 38 games in '25 before Rogers Hornsby took over as skipper. Rickey spent seven years as the Redbirds skipper before the change was made. His record 458-485. Despite the mediocre managerial record, Rickey was an instrumental part of building the Cardinals into a Championship caliber club.