Boy, do I feel old -- really old.
This week the New York Yankees are in St.Louis for a three-game series with the Cardinals. The last time the Yanks were in town was for a World Series encounter, one I remember vividly as it was the first one I ever really cared about.
The significance of the Yankees visiting St. Lou this week is that it happens to be the 50th anniversary of that fabled World Series battle -- 50 years! Something that I can remember that well happened 50 years ago makes me feel, well --old
In those days, growing up in southwest Missouri, pretty much everybody was a Cardinal fan. Wonder of wonders, even no nonsense, nose to the grindstone Mrs. Medlin brought in a television set for us to catch some of one of the afternoon games in our fifth-grade classroom.
In 1964, the Yankees were still pretty much winning most all the time and while the Cards have the most successful National League franchise of all time, they weren't leading the league that year until the last days of the season when a collapse by Philadelphia gave them a chance to slip in and take the National League title.
In 1964, the Cards and Yanks had met four times previously in World Series finals with the teams splitting the the titles 2-2. No team in the United States had an edge on the Yankees in the that department and if the Cardinals could prevail, they would have an honor held by no other.
The Cardinals had home field advantage and won the first game behind the pitching of Ray Sedecki, the Cardinals' ace. While giving up some runs, the Cardinals put up a lot more and won 9-5.
In the second game, a young Bob Gibson pitched eight innings but was trailing 4-3. Manager Johnny Keane decided to relieve Gibson in the ninth and the Yankees pounded three relievers for four more runs as New York won 8-3. A Mickey Mantle homer won game No. 3 to give the Yanks a 2-1 edge.
Things looked bad for the Cards when game one winner Sedecki was knocked out in the first inning of game No. 4. He allowed three runs, registering only one out as New York led 3-0 after one inning. This time the bullpen held together and shut the Yanks out the rest of the way. A late inning grand slam by Ken Boyer won the game 4-3 for St. Louis as they tied the series 2-2.
Gibson started game No. 5 and pitched well but went through nine innings tied with New York at 2-2. A Tim McCarver three-run homer gave St. Louis a 5-2 edge at the top of the 10th and with the Cards' bullpen depleted pitching the entire game the day before, Gibson went ahead and pitched the 10th inning. The future Hall of Famer set them down for the win.
The final two games were in St. Louis, and game No. 6 was all New York as the visitors won 8-3. Manager Keane then had a dilemma. Did he start his shaky ace Sedecki who was shelled the last time out or start the gritty Gibson who just finished a 10-inning start just two days previous. Gibson, of course.
Tired, but ever the competitor, Gibson gave up three home run balls but not a lot of base runners as the Cardinals prevailed 7-3 to win the series. Current Cardinal radio announcer Mike Shannon homered in that game as did Boyer.
Boyer played third base and had a brother Clete who played third base for the Yankees. There was another Boyer brother (Cloyd) who was a pro years before and they were all natives of southwest Missouri, attending school in Seneca.
The odd thing about the '64 Cardinals is that the winning manager Johnny Keane immediately quit his job after winning the World Series and took the managing job with the Yankees. Both teams fared poorly the next two seasons with the Cardinals winning the '67 World Series with a former Yankee star Roger Maris and new manager Red Shoendienst.
Schoendienst went on to be a longtime successful Card manager and is still around the clubhouse as a special assistant coach.
Growing up just 40 miles from St.Louis, Schoendienst made the Cardinals starting outfield in 1945 and played there many years. Playing briefly for the Giants and Braves, he returned to St. Louis at age 39 and was a player coach for two years, batting over .300 in that role. At 41 he became a full time coach, and at age 43 he became the St Louis manager.
Health reasons helped Schoendienst decide to become a coach again, stepping down as the manager and he is still serving today as a special assistant manager. He has the special distinction of having worn a major league uniform for 69 consecutive seasons. He is 91 years old this season.
That was so long ago. I remember one of the games being interrupted by a news bulletin that the premier of the Soviet Union Nikita Krushchev had been deposed from power. My dad reminded me that he was "the guy that tried to put missiles in Cuba to threaten us, he failed, and now he was gone, good to know, now get the game back on."
Having had multiple surgeries in recent years has made me acutely aware of my age but seeing Coach Schoendiendst still in uniform makes me feel a little less old.
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Editor's note: John McGee is an award-winning columnist and sports writer. He is the art teacher at Pea Ridge elementary schools, coaches elementary track and writes a regular sports column for The Times. He can be contacted through The Times at [email protected].
Editorial on 05/28/2014