July 6, 1929: The Cardinals Score 28 Runs At The Baker Bowl

On July 6, 1929, the Cardinals broke out of an 11 game losing streak in grand fashion by scoring a National League record 28 runs at the Baker Bowl in Philadelphia. The 28 runs still stands today as the National League record. It happened after the Phillies had knocked the Cards off 10-6 in the first game of the doubleheader, in the nightcap the Cardinals did more than stop a losing streak they stopped it with an exclamation point. The Cardinals scored ten runs in the first, one in the second, two in the fourth, then ten more in the fifth. With the lead 23-4 they weren't done, the Redbirds put up 5 more runs in the eighth before the Phillies tacked on two more then the bludgeoning came to an end with the Cardinals on top 28-6. Jim Bottomley and Chick Hafey both hit grand slams, Bottomley had crushed two home runs in the first game of the twin billing to give him three on the day The pitcher on the mound that day for the Cardinals was Fred Frankhouse, he not only picked up a complete game winner for the club, he picked up 4 hits and knocked in 4 baserunners in the annihilation of the Phillies. The record has not since been matched by any other National League team and is the fourth highest run total in the modern era.

Check out the most runs ever scored list here: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/history/rare_feats/index.jsp?feature=most_runs_game

Check out the box score: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PHI/PHI192907062.shtml

July 5, 1977: Mike Tyson's Grand Slam Leads The Cards Passed The Pirates

On July 5, 1977, Mike Tyson's fourth inning grand slam led the Cardinals to a 7-3 winner over the Pirates at  Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Tyson was hardly known for his power, he hit just 27 home runs in his big league career and only one of them was a grand slam. The big blast opened up a 5-0 lead over the Buccos before Al  Oliver closed the gap with a three run bomb off of Bob Forsch in the fifth. It was all the Pirates had in them as Forsch settled down and Ted Simmons added two more Redbird runs to the board with a bomb of his own in the eighth. Forsch went onto pick up his third complete game victory, along with his tenth win. By season's end Forsch had eight complete games under his belt and led the team with 20 wins.

Check out the box score: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PIT/PIT197707050.shtml

July 4, 1980: Hendrick Wins It With A Walkoff In The Tenth

On July 4, 1980, George Hendrick set the fireworks off at Busch with a walk off home run in the bottom of the tenth inning to give the Cardinals a 1-0 victory over the Phillies. It was the 17th home run of the year for Hendrick who would go onto lead the club with 25 dingers on the year. The game was a pitching duel throughout, on the Cardinals side Bob Sykes went the distance for the Redbirds to pick up a complete game victory while the Phillies countered with Nino Espinosa who was making his first start since coming off the disabled list. Espinosa showed no signs of rust as he shut the Cardinals lineup down, giving up just two hits through eight innings, a single to Leon Durham in the first and a seventh inning double to Ted Simmons. After a second inning walk to Dane Iorg, Espinosa set down 15 straight before Simmons picked up his double. The Phillies nearly broke the tie in the eighth after Pete Rose tried to score from first on a Greg Luzinski double, but Leon Durham fired the ball in from right nailing Rose at the plate. In the bottom of the ninth the Phillies skipper Dallas Green made a call to the bullpen for Kevin Saucier, the new hurler made quick work of the Cardinals hitters in the inning but wouldn't be so lucky in the tenth. After he picked up the first out of the tenth, Hendrick came to the dish and parked the ball over the left field wall to give the Cardinals the Independence Day winner.

Happy 4th of July to everyone, be safe and enjoy. Here's the box score: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN198007040.shtml

July 3, 1946, The Turning Point in '46

On July 3, 1946, the Cardinals exploded for 10 runs in the fourth inning en route to a 16-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds at Sportsman's Park. Enos Slaughter led the Cardinals charge as he went 3-5 with 6 rbi and Whitey Kurowski's provided the highlight of the big inning with a three run home run that is still orbiting the planet. The Cardinals came into this game intent on stopping a 4 game skid that had the fans in St. Louis questioning if they could put together a true run at the pennant. The win put the club 7 games back in the standings behind the league leading Dodgers and they knew they better win some ballgames if they were going to keep up with Dem Bums from Brooklyn, and win they did. By July 12th they found themselves just 4 1/2 games back and the Dodgers were heading to town for a four game set, by the time the series came to an end the Redbirds had their brooms out and were only a 1/2 game out in the standings. A few days later they took the lead but it was short lived as both teams had their sights set on a pennant. Down the stretch neither team held more than a 2 1/2 game lead over the other as they went back and forth throughout. The two clubs would be tied with a 95-68 record as as the season came to an end which led to a best of three palyoff to decide the winner of the National League. The Cardinals took care of business as they swept the Dodgers in two and punched themselves a ticket to the Fall Classic where they would beat the Boston Red Sox in 7 games. There are games you can point to in a championship season that you think that was a turning point for a team, I think that 16-0 beatdown of the Reds in '46 might just be one of those games for the Cardinals.


This is Whitey Kurowski, Enos Slaughter, Marty Marion, and Stan Musial posing after beating the Dodgers in in the championship game.

Check out the box score: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN194607030.shtml

July 2, 1965: Gibby Takes Care Of Business

On July 2, 1965, Bob Gibson scattered seven hits and struck out 13 in a 6-3 win over the Mets at Shea Stadium. While it wasn't the best day on the hill for the Cardinals ace he battled his way through it to nail down his tenth win of the season with a complete game victory. Gibson would go onto win 20 games and he set down 270 men via the strikeout during the '65 campaign.

Check out the box score: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN196507020.shtml

July 2, 1976: McGlothen Fans 9 As The Cardinals Rollover The Expos At Busch

On July 2, 1976, Lynn McGlothen struck out 9 and picked up a complete game victory for the Cardinals as they rolled passed the Expos 3-0. The Cardinals hurler was coming off a rough stretch as he had lost four of his last five before he pitched the gem at Busch, and a gem it was.  After giving up a single to Tim Foli in the first then another single to Larry Parrish in the 2nd, McGlothen didn't give up another hit until the eighth, he was locked in. With the game on line in the ninth McGlothen gave up a couple one out singles before nailing down the victory. The win ended a four game losing streak for the Redbirds.

Check out the box score: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN197607020.shtml

July 1, 1934: The Gashouse Gang Win It In The 18th

On July 1, 1934, it took 18 innings for the Cardinals to beat the Reds 8-6 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. It was a pitching duel of different variety as both Dizzy Dean and Tony Freitas pitched 17 innings apiece. Each of them gave up 5 runs in the regulation 9 then they both got into a heated battle that lasted until the 17th when Joe Medwick broke out of an 0-19 slump with a blast that bounced out of the ballpark. Unfortunately for the Cardinals the Reds tied it right back up in the bottom of the inning to keep the game alive. The game would be decided as both teams went to their bullpen's in the 18th. Jack Rothrock and Frankie Frisch both picked up rbi singles in the inning off of Paul Derringer to give the Cards an 8-6 lead, while they held the lead it was far from over. The bottom of the 18th had the men in the Cardinals dugout on the edge of their seats as the Redbird reliever Jack Lindsey loaded the bases. The next batter he would face was a former Cardinal and a future Hall of Famer, Jim Bottomley. Bottomly hit a hot shot into left that Ducky snagged with  a one handed grab, if the ball would have gotten passed Medwick all three baserunners would have surely scored. The game took nearly 4 and 1/2 hours to play, each team committed two errors, and they combined for 39 hits. Can I get a Holy Cow!!??!! It was the first game of a scheduled doubleheader, the second game was called because of darkness in the 5th, the score was 2-2.

Check out the box score: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CIN/CIN193407011.shtml