October 6, 1964: St. Louis Welcomes The Fall Classic Back To Town

     On October 6, 1964, St. Louis was buzzing, as the World Series would be making a triumphant return to the Mound City for the first time since 1946. The race had went down to the wire, with the Cardinals grabbing ahold of the National league Flag in the last week of the season. Even then, they had to fight to the finish, and capped off the the schedule with an 11-5 victory over the Mets on October 4th. If they would have lost that game the club would have been in a two way tie with the Phillies who had won that day as well, but it was not enough to make up for what is considered one of the biggest collapses in the history of Major League Baseball. They had held a seven and a half game lead in late August, but let it slowly slip away. In the last two weeks of the campaign it slipped away for good. Cincinnati worked their way into the mix, but there would only be one winner in the National League, and that winner wore two birds on a bat.

     The city was not prepared for the postseason after being deprived for so long. Hotel rooms were scarce, as the press and Yankees arrived, as well as the fans from all the reaches of the mighty signal of KMOX. The Fall Classic was on tap. Everywhere you looked the color red was prominent. Banners flew to show support for the club, and an electricity filled the air that might have been great enough to power the entire city. Many fans had braved a frigid night and long lines as they awaited their chance to be one of the many who would witness the home games live and in person. The temperature and the wait hardly mattered. The only thing that mattered was the ticket that would grant them passage through the gates at Busch.

     For many of us the joy that was felt from the fanbase would be reminiscent to 2004 or 2006. It had been so long, and the fans were overjoyed to finally be back in the postseason. I personally believe the run in '64 could be closely compared to the run in 2011. The stars had to align for the Cardinals to be there, much like the stars aligned in 2011. They did align, as everything fell into place, and the Cardinals were set to make World Series history. Over the course of the next week or two we will relive all for the highs and all of the lows of the '64 World Series, and in the end we will celebrate that title 50 years after it was celebrated for the first time.

Throughout the day today I plan on posting several pictures and stories that were featured in the newspapers the day before a pitch was thrown in this series.

You can always find me on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/OnThisDayInCardinalNation

Or catch up with me on twitter here: https://twitter.com/CardinalHistory