El Birdos
The 1967 and 1968 St. Louis Cardinals
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About the Book
In 1953, August A. Busch purchased the St. Louis Cardinals for nearly four million dollars. His dream included not only the best players money could buy but a brand new Busch Stadium in downtown St. Louis. The early sixties found Busch working on both, and by May 1966, when the new Busch Stadium was opened, the St. Louis Cardinals were on the cusp of greatness. A world championship would follow in 1967, and in 1968 the Cardinals battled the Tigers in a classic seven-game series, narrowly losing their bid for back-to-back titles.
This volume looks back at the outstanding Cardinal teams of the 1967 and 1968 seasons. Beginning with the ownership shift in the early 1950s, it examines the events leading up to the opening of the new stadium and tracks the various player trades, policy changes and inside dealings of baseball that produced one of the era’s great teams. The effects of Branch Rickey’s farm system on both the franchise’s success and the sport of baseball are discussed, as are the rumblings of labor trouble that would directly involve one of the Cardinals’ own. An appendix contains detailed statistics from the 1967 and 1968 seasons. An index and period photographs are also included.
About the Author(s)
Bibliographic Details
Doug Feldmann
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 410
Bibliographic Info: 15 photos, statistics, appendix, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2007
pISBN: 978-0-7864-2965-3
eISBN: 978-0-7864-5535-5
Imprint: McFarland
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments vi
Prologue 1
1. Seventh and Walnut 5
2. The Omaha Express 29
3. Building a Champ; The Champ Goes Down 54
4. Young Arms on the Rise 85
5. A Bad Break 110
6. Recovery 144
7. “Lonborg and Champagne” 168
8. The Shaking of a Nation 206
9. Playing Through the Sorrow 244
10. Domination 272
11. Staying Focused 304
12. The Rematch of ’34 332
Epilogue 364
Appendix: 1967 and 1968 Statistics 377
Bibliography 385
Index 387
