September 28, 1930: Dizzy Dean Makes an Impressive Debut

     On September 28, 1930, Dizzy Dean impressed in his major league debut by allowing just three hits, and struck out five, during a 3-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates at Sportsman's Park. The 20-year-old product of the Texas League was had joined a club that had sown up the National League Pennant two days before, and the management was getting their first major league look at the kid who would end up immortalized not only in St. Louis. Dean did more than pitch, he also picked up his first major league hit, and scored his first major league run. Dean would win a total of 134 games with the club through 1937. The win that came on that last day of the 1930 season was the first mile marker on a road that would lead to Cooperstown.

Dizzy's first big league box score: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN193009280.shtml

September 27, 1942: The Cardinals Take The Flag

     On September 27, 1942, with a 9-2 victory over the Cubs during the first game of a doubleheader at Sportsman's Park the Cardinals punched their ticket to the World Series. Ernie White led the way to the pennant clinching victory by striking out eight, and allowing just five hits, while Terry Moore led an 11-hit offensive outburst by going 3 for 5 with three RBIs, and two runs scored. The final out of the ballgame came off the bat of Clyde McCullough, and sailed into the mitt of a 21-year-old rookie by the name of Stan Musial. It was said that when that ball hit the mitt a celebration broke out at the ballpark that reverberated through the neighborhood. St. Louis was buzzing. The National League Crown had returned for the first time since 1934. The club followed up the pennant clincher by knocking off the Cubs 4-1 in the second game, as they prepared for a battle against the Yankees.

     The '42 Cardinals were a young hungry bunch that had won 43 out of their last 51 games, which led to the number 106 being featured in the win column. No team in franchise history has won more ballgames than that group of men. They had held off the Dodgers by just two games in what was great race of baseball thoroughbreds. They had another thoroughbred in front of them with the New Yankees who had won the World Series in five of the previous six seasons. While many had the Bronx Bombers picked to win it, there were many who thought that the Cardinals could get the job done, and that they did. Eight days after that pennant clinching game the Cardinals were World Champions. They had toppled the mighty Yankees in five games.

Check out the pennant clinching box score:http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN194209271.shtml


   

September 26, 1983: Forsch Throws His Second No-Hitter

     On September 26, 1983, it took Bob Forsch just 96 pitches to no-hit the Montreal Expos at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. The performance led the way to a 3-0 Redbird victory that will never be forgotten. It was the second time Forsch had achieved the feat with the Birds on the Bat across his chest making him the one and only pitcher in franchise history to record two no-hitters for the club.

     His first no-hitter came on April 16, 1978 against the Phillies at Busch. Many considered it to be controversial because it looked like the Phillies snuck one past Kenny Reitz at third in the eighth, but it was ruled an error by Neil Russo of the St. Louis Post Dispatch. When Reitz was asked he said he should have had it, and the call by Russo was the right one. Forsch followed up the miscue with a double play ball, then set down the last four men he faced. While the feat was celebrated it did have a cloud hung over it. That fact made the no-hitter in September of '83 one that Forsch would hold in much higher regard. There would be no cloud over this one.

     The Cardinals came into that game simply looking to finish the year strong. It had been a disappointment for the defending champions. They had stayed in the race until mid September, before skidding to fourth place finish. Forsch was simply trying to right the ship. He came into the contest 8-12, and had been struggling to put together a strong outing. That was about to change, for that one night the disappointing season by the team, and Forsch alike would be forgotten, and this night would forever be remembered.

     Only two men reached against the virtually untouchable Forsch, and they both came in the second inning. He had set down the first five men he faced. The fifth man was Tim Raines, and that second inning at bat was the only at bat that looked like it might turn into an Expo hit, as he crushed one that Willie McGee had to recover on the warning track. Forsch then sailed one in on Gary Carter that caught the backstop, and sent him trotting down to first. The hit batsman was followed with a hotshot to third that went through the legs of Ken Oberkfell, but this error was a no doubter, and would not leave the same taint as the error in '78. Forsch shook off the misfortune, and retired the next 22 men in a row. He was provided with the tuns he needed in the fifth, then finished off one of the finest gems of them all; a no-hitter.

    Bob's second no-no came one year after his brother Ken had achieved the feat in Houston, which made them the only two brothers in the history of the game to do so. When the last out were recorded on that day in '83, Bob became just the 20th player in the history of Major League Baseball to throw two no-hitters in his career. Today he is just one of 32 men to achieve that feat. Out of those men one of them stand above the rest in Cardinal Nation, and his name is Bob Forsch.

Check out the box score here: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN198309260.shtml

September 25, 1934: Dizzy Wins His 28th

     On September 25, 1934, Dizzy Dean won his 28th game of the season, and helped the Cardinals move one step closer to a National League pennant with a complete game performance in Pittsburgh. Dean was given a 3-0 lead early with RBIs from Ducky Medwick, Ripper Collins, and Spud Davis. The cushion looked to be all Dean would need for a W. He allowed just six hits in the contest, but one of them was a big fly in the ninth that came off the bat of  the Buccos shortstop Arky Vaughan. The two run shot might have had the crowd come alive with hopes of a comeback, but Dean shook off the misfortune, and locked down the victory. One of the many things that could be considered spectacular about Dizzy Dean and his 30 win season is the fact that he locked down the last three wins, which included this one over a five day stretch, and he went the distance in each of those contests. To top it off the last two games were shutouts.

     The New York Giants had lost 4-0 to the Phillies at the Polo Ground that same day Dean won his 28th, which put the Cardinals just one game behind in the standings. With just a handful of games left all of the mathematical scenarios were put together, and there was talk of what to do in case of an unprecedented tie, which would have led to a one game playoff. That scenario never played out. The Giants lost their last three, while the Cards lost just one game out of their last five. Dean's dominance continued into the postseason, as he and his brother Paul each claimed two wins apiece during the seven game Fall Classic.

Check out the box score here: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN193409250.shtml

   

September 24, 1900: Cy Young Outduels Rube Waddell In St. Louis

     On September 24, 1900, a pitching duel for the ages took place at Robison Field in St. Louis as Cy Young outdueled Rube Waddell during a 1-0 Cardinals win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Both pitchers allowed four hits in the contest,  and they picked up an error as well. The error committed by the Pirates came in the seventh when the Cardinals shortstop shot one right at the Pirates shortstop Bones Ely who could not get a handle on it. Wallace grabbed second base on a sac fly, and Dan McGann knocked him with a single to left. That run was all Young needed to defeat Waddell and the visitors, in what was a Hall of Fame battle at the turn of the century.

      Young won 45 games of his 511 wins as a member of the Cardinals. Waddell won 193 games during his career. While Waddell never did wear the uniform of the National League club that called St. Louis home, he did don the uniform of the American League's St. Louis Browns during the last three years of his storied career, going 33-29 during that stretch. While he wrote the last chapters of his Hall of Fame career in St. Louis, the best pages had been written well before he got there. His finest season came in 1905 with the Philadelphia Athletics when he won the pitching Triple Crown by leading the A.L. in wins, earned run average, and strikeouts.

     The story in the picture was published in the Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette the following day. I consider it to be a true gem.

September 23, 1941: Stan Musial Hits His First Big League Homer

     On September  23, 1941, a crowd of more than 13,000 witnessed Stan Musial hit the first home run of his major league career at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. The big blast came during the second game of a doubleheader that had the Cards looking to bounce back from a 4-0 loss, that included an 0 for 4 game by the kid who grew up roughly 30 miles from the ballpark. Bounce back they did. Musial went 3 for 4 with the big blast that came off of Rip Sewell in the fifth. It opened up a 6-0 lead, that was tacked on to in the seventh when Estel Crabtree blasted a three-run homer to cap off the day's scoring.

     A great deal of Stan's family and friends witnessed that historic blast. They had made the trip from Donora. Coincidentally when Musial's ball sailed over the right field wall it landed in the hands of a friend that put it back in the hands of the 20-year-old with the number 6 on his back. Stan swapped him a ball, and told said that the home run ball would be kept in his household. That was 1 of 475. All with the Birds on the Bat across his chest.


     The clipping today was featured in the Pittsburgh Press the following day. Hence the title "Local Boy Makes Good .. With The Cardinals". They were very proud of their native son for making it in the big leagues.

Check out the box score here: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PIT/PIT194109232.shtml

September 22, 1948: Stan Musial Equals Cobb's Mark By Going 5 For 5 In Boston

     On September 22, 1948, the Cardinals stopped an eight game winning streak, and prevented the Braves from clinching the National League Pennant for the first time since 1914 by beating them 8-2 in Boston. The Birds unleashed 17 hits, and Stan "The Man" Musial owned five of them. The 5 for 5 performance included a homer, a double, and three singles, as well as two RBIs, and three runs scored. Many years later when Stan was asked about the best game of his career it was said he did not even have to think about it. It came on that day in Boston.

       He had come into the contest with a pair of sore wrists that resulted from a diving catch in the outfield one day, and beanball on another. The wrists were so bad that the team doctor wanted to tape him up, but Stan took tape off because it hampered his swing. The Cards were set to face Warren Spahn, so Musial decided to try to hit everything to left against the lefty. He just could not snap his wrists enough to pull the ball. Needless to say the strategy worked. His first hit was a looped single to left. He followed it up by knocking a ball over the left fielder's head for a double in the third, and by the fourth the Birds had helped send Spahn to the showers early. Red Barrett was on the mound in the fifth when Musial sailed one into the bullpen in right for his 38th home run of the year. He said he swung from his heel, and that his wrists were tied in knots when he connected on that one, and his wrists were on fire when he was able to shoot a Clyde Shoun pitch through the hole at third and short for his fourth hit of the day in the sixth.

     Stan had come into that game knowing about a record set by Ty Cobb in 1922. That record was the record for most five-hit games during a single season. That was record was four. Stan also knew he was one hit away from tying that record. He had battled, he had worked his way through the pain, and he going to tie that record. The chance to do so came in the eighth. At that point the Braves had Al Lyons on the bump. Described as a righty who lacked control, he lived up to the description by throwing issuing back-to-back balls to Musial. The Cardinals bench chimed in quickly, as they yelled for Lyons to put one over. Stan was not even sure if the next pitch was in the strike zone or not, he just swung at it, and for a fraction of a second he thought it was going to be an out, before it was rolling on the grass in right. He had match Cobb's longstanding record, and he did it in just five swings. His wrists  had hurt him so bad that he decided not to waste swings, so he put the wood on the ball when he took a cut, and each cut he took turned into a hit.

     The game also saw Enos Slaughter get his nose broken when struck by a line drive off the bat of Nippy Jones while on the basepaths in the fourth. It was terrible luck, and with just handful of games left Slaughter's season was done. With that said, Slaughter bounced back from it the next year, and had many more years left on the major league diamond.

      I would bet it is safe to say that Stan hated to see his season end that way, but as we all know the beat goes on after an injury, and "The Man" continued to swing the stick. The moment he tied Ty Cobb's record of four five-hit games in a single season had to be a great moment. Especially knowing how much he went through to get them. That feat has only been accomplished two times since that day: Tony Gwynn (1993) and Ichiro Suzuki (2004).

     Stan enjoyed the finest season of his storied career during that '48 campaign. Musial's led the league with a .376 average, 230 hits, 46 doubles, 18 triples, 429 total bases, and a .702 slugging percentage. Musial would have taken the Triple Crown had it not been for a lost home run due to a rainout. Just think a few clouds spoutin some rain denied Stan of a Triple Crown. Even though that might be the case, Stan was awarded the MVP award for the third time in his career.

     From ownership, to management, down to the players, and the fans alike, there had to be some level of disappointment with that a second place finish. However, after that disappointment subsided they could look back and smile at what the man who wore the number 6 on his back did, and we can smile about it today.

Check out the box score here: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BSN/BSN194809220.shtml

Stats of a legend: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/musiast01.shtml