I was watching/listening the St. Louis Cardinals series with the Milwaukee Brewers (three of which the Cards won) and the two sportscasters were talking about the old days. They brought up the fact that there would be a golden anniversary celebration of the 1967 Cardinals World Series Championship with this being the 50th anniversary of that particular event.
Whoa! It hit me. I'm the old days! It's been 50 years, 50 years from the time I had first become a thoroughly committed Cardinal fan, watching or listening to nearly every game St. Louis played that year. I was a 14 year old with a well used bike that had a radio bracket on it so I could listen when I was riding someplace. Not many games were televised in those days and I listened to over 100 radio broadcasts, but those that were on TV, I was watching.
In the 1960s, there was no major league baseball team in Kansas City or anywhere in Texas. If you lived in Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas or Iowa, you were likely a Cardinal fan. Personally, I first became interested in the Cardinals when I started watched Dizzy Dean's major league broadcasts with CBS in the early 1960s.
Dean was a thoroughly entertaining color analyst, abusing and misusing the English language during his broadcasts. He grew up in Arkansas going to small rural schools, but his mother died when he was quite young and he often missed more school that he attended. Later in life, Dean remarked that he never made it past the fourth grade. His lack of education didn't stop him from becoming one of the most dominant Cardinals pitchers ever in baseball.
He was once chided by educators for his heavy use of the word "ain't" on his broadcasts. Undaunted, Dean replied that "a lot of folks that ain't usin' ain't, ain't eating. So you learn 'em English, and I'll learn 'em baseball."
Watching Dean "perform" on TV led to my watching the Cards on TV with my dad, and then I was hooked.
The year 1967 was a great year for both me and the Cardinals. St. Louis had won the World Series in 1964 but the team lost a lot of players in the two years following although they did see the emergence of Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Gibson. Gibson had become the ace of the staff and I was quite pleased to learn that his birthday was the same day as mine.
The first game in '67 saw the Cards take on San Francisco and it was quite memorable. Gibson threw nine strikes to strike out the side in the top of the inning. In the home half, Lou Brock hit a single on the first pitch then stole second on the second one. Curt Flood then drove him in and the Cards went on to win 6-0.
Another interesting fact was that famed New York Yankee home run king Roger Maris had come to St. Louis to finish his career. He played both the '67 and '68 seasons in St. Louis, with the Cards winning both pennant races. Another unusual occurrence was the fact that the starting line-up for that game in '67 was the same one throughout the season and then the World Series. That almost never happens. Injuries, slumps, etc., usually moves lineups around from week to week.
Gibson was one of the last of the iron men of baseball. Today, if a Cardinal pitcher gets to 100 pitches, he usually goes to the bench and in comes the middle relievers then the closer. The past few games has seen the Cards use their starter through six innings. Usually they will bring in Matt Bowman to pitch the seventh, Trevor Rosenthal to pitch the eighth, with closer Seung Hwan Oh to pitch the ninth.
When Gibson pitched, he usually closed it himself. For a seven-year stretch, Gibson pitched an average of 21 complete games a year. In 1968, Gibson recorded 13 shutouts, and five of his losses were 1-0 scores. His ERA in '68 was 1.12, and no one has been lower since. Gibson also pitched more than 100 pitches a game, sometimes a whole lot more. For contrast, since the year 2000, only one major league pitcher has had more than nine complete games for a season (11).
Baseball has changed a lot since 1967 but then again, so have I. Though I was only 14, I got a job in a bottling plant (Dr. Pepper) and that even wouldn't be allowed today. The drive for safety has changed the way we do a lot of things in America. Though generally that is a good thing, I think perhaps we have overdone that policy on occasion
The Cardinals have won 11 World Series titles, well more than any other team in the National League. It would be fitting for them to win their 12th in this golden anniversary year, but the odds are sayin' that ain't happening. The Chicago Cubs won it all last year, and did it with a young team. It is hard to repeat but the Cubbies are the team to bet on. However, the Cards are the Cards. They could come back. If only Gibson was still pitching.
Lady 'Hawks, Blackhawks holding No. 5 spot in state rankings
Though both teams have picked up a couple of losses lately, the girls softball team and the boys baseball team are still ranked in the Top 5 by the CBS MaxPreps 4A State Poll. District tournaments are rapidly drawing nigh with regional competition to follow, winding up with the state tourney for those that survive the first two hurdles.
Currently, five of the top seven boys teams in 4A ball are all from the North Region. That means a deserving team from the North will be left out of the state tournament which only takes four teams from a region. In the girls' rankings, Pottsville, Gravette and Pea Ridge have emerged as the clear top three favorites to qualify for state tournament play.
CBS MaxPreps 4A
Baseball poll
1. Ashdown 19-3
2. Shiloh* 18-5
3. Westside 14-2
4. Booneville* 18-5
5. Pea Ridge* 15-5
6. Pottsville* 16-5
7. Prairie Grove* 15-6
8. Heber Springs 17-5
9. Gosnell 13-5
10. Central Ark 13-7
14. Dover* 13-7
17. Huntsville* 18-5
19. Ozark* 15-5
22. Dardanelle* 13-9
31. Berryville* 11-10
35. Gravette* 6-10
38. West Fork* 2-12
40. Gentry* 3-14
46. Lincoln* 4-18
48. Subiaco* 1-13
*North Region teams
CBS MaxPreps 4A
Softball poll
1. Bauxite 24-1
2. Pottsville* 23-3
3. Gravette* 18-6
4. Nashville 15-5
5. Pea Ridge* 21-3
6. Monticello 20-4
7. Malvern 14-6
8. Brookland 12-7
9. Crossett 18-8
10. Stuttgart 21-7
13. Ozark* 13-7
14. Prairie Grove* 16-7
15. Booneville* 12-6
16. Dardanelle 14-9
23. West Fork* 10-8
29. Gentry* 10-14
34. Huntsville* 8-9
35. Berryville* 11-11
*North Region teams
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Editor's note: John McGee, an award-winning columnist, sports writer and art teacher at Pea Ridge elementary schools, writes a regular sports column for The Times. He can be contacted through The Times at [email protected].
Sports on 04/26/2017