As we prepare for the finale of this exciting series, and its marquee Game 5 matchup of two former Cy Young Award winners, let us take a walk down memory lane, and look at the Cardinal history in Game 7s (and Game 5 for the NLDS).

St Louis is the preeminent franchise in the National League, second only to the Yankees in terms of World Series wins. All that success means the team has had multiple occasions to play a one game, winner-take-all contest. For example, the Cardinals played seven consecutive World Series Game 7s from 1946 to 1987. How did they fare in those opportunities?

The Early Years (1926-1967)

Their first World Series appearance went seven games. The Cardinals won that game, which ended with my personal favorite game-ending play for any World Series, namely Babe Ruth getting thrown out trying to steal second. Can you imagine the amount of ink, hot air, and bandwidth that would be consumed dissecting that decision if it happened in 2006 instead of 1926?

Having started well, the Cardinals kept rolling. They defeated the Philadelphia A’s to win the Fall Classic in 1931, and took out Detroit in Tiger Stadium to win the Series three years later. Enos Slaughter’s mad dash home secured the 1946 title in front of the home town fans, and Bob Gibson wrestled those mighty Yankees into submission 18 years later in front of those same fans. The Boston Globe learned the price of publishing a great headline prematurely (‘Lonborg and Champagne’), as Gibson extended Cardinal dominance and Boston angst with a 1967 Game 7 win at Fenway.

So six Game 7s had come and gone, and the Cardinals had won all six. They were invincible when all the chips were down. No one wanted to play them in those situations, no matter where the game was to be contested.

The Desert of Futility (1968-2001)

Was it Curt Flood’s slip? Was it Lou Brock getting thrown out at the plate two games earlier? Was it the law of averages finally catching up to them? Probably some combination of the three. The Detroit Tigers, led by Denny McLain, beat St Louis at home in that 1968 Game 7. After that, Cardinal dominance in Game 7s ceased. They continued to win the Game 7s played at home, clinching the World Series against Milwaukee, defeating both Los Angeles and San Francisco in the LCS.

But on the road they were hapless. The Cardinals blew a 3-1 series lead in 1985, dropping Game 7 in Kansas City. They blew a 3-2 lead two years later, losing to the Twins in the Homer Dome. Then, when they returned to the post-season 10 years later, even their home mojo disappeared. They blew another 3-1 lead, getting embarrassed by the Atlanta Braves and losing the NLCS for the first time. Finally, to conclude their first best-of-five playoff series that went the distance, they lost a heartbreaker in the Arizona desert.

Return to Normalcy (2002-present)

They needed a great play or seminal moment to change their luck. They got one, and it occurred in a Game 7. The Cardinals played their next winner-take-all game to close out the 2004 NLCS against Houston. The Astros looked poised to take complete control of the game when with two on and one out, Brad Ausmus hit a fliner into the left-center field gap. Jim Edmonds ran it down, making a spectacular diving catch to keep the runners at their respective bases. St Louis went on to win the game and the National League.

They played another Game 7 two years later, and thanks to a Yadier Molina HR in the top of the ninth, St Louis beat the Mets 3-1 at Shea. It marked the first time since the 1967 World Series the Cardinals had won a Game 7 on the road.

Summation

Over 85 years of playoff baseball, the Cardinals have played 15 Game 7s and 1 Game 5. They are 7-1 as a franchise at home in those games, and 4-4 on the road. In comparison, the Philadelphia Phillies have never played a Game 7. They have played 2 Game 5s, winning the first, beating the Astros in extra innings to win the NL in 1980. But, they lost the second, to the Dodgers a year later* in the same situation.

What does it all mean? No Phillie on the current roster has ever played in a Game 5/7 for that franchise. The Cardinals have 4 men left from the 2006 playoff run: Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina, Adam Wainwright, and … Chris Carpenter, tonight’s starter. Additionally, tradition here has to favor St Louis. Plus, the veterans who played in those games of yore – men like Lou Brock, Gibson, Red Schoendienst, Willie McGee, even Stan Musial – keep that tradition alive by being a part of the locker room during spring training, and passing that tradition on to the current generation.

Everyone looks for even the slightest edge in games like this. Only in games like this can intangibles play a role. Experience and tradition favor the Cardinals. That has to count for something. It might be the last straw they need to break the Phillies back.

* Editor’s Note: It should be noted that this game five in Phillies history in 1981 was the first ever division series. This series was mandated by the players strike that year.

Last week, we took a look at the Rise of Joaquin Andujar. After the talented and often temperamental hurler wore out his welcome in Houston, he became something of an overnight sensation in St. Louis. He almost pitched the Cardinals into postseason in the strike shortened 1981 season, and did that and more the following year, including a gutsy performance in Game Seven of the World Series.

As did many of the Cardinals, Andujar struggled through the all of the transitions in 1983, but emerged as a stronger and more capable pitcher in 1984. Surrounded by a bunch of kids, just getting started in their major league careers, Andujar was totally dominating in 1984. He went deep into games, completing 12, including 5 shutouts. His command seemed to be much better as well, not that he was getting any more strikeouts, but he just wasn’t walking batters. The result was the first 20 win season of his career. If Andujar could keep this up, and the kids could mature a little, 1985 might be a very good year.

Blitzkrieg

Joaquin Andujar

There is really no other way to describe the start to Andujar’s 1985 season. After a shaky start to the season, the ace of the staff would win his remaining 4 starts in April, allowing just 7 runs in those 4 games. He would lose his first start in May, but then win the next five, running his record to an amazing 9-1 as the calendar turned over into June. He would win his next three starts before losing a pair of heart breakers to the Philadelphia Phillies, 1-0 and 3-1. It’s sort of hard to win when your team is scoring half a run in your starts. Unphased, he would win his next three allowing just three runs in 27 dominating innings.

As the Cardinals were preparing for the All Star break, Andujar’s 15-3 record started whispers of a possible 30 game winner across the national sports media. His record was being compared to that of Denny McLain, the last pitcher to win 30 games in the Major Leagues. And that brings us to the first four events that converge like a perfect storm to destroy the career of one of the best pitchers in baseball.

July 12 and the All Star Fiasco

The 1985 All Star Game would be held on July 16, in the Metrodome in Minneapolis. The manager of the National League, Dick Williams of the San Diego Padres, was about to announce his pitching selections, including his choice as a starter. Without question, everybody expected Andujar to get the start in the mid-season classic – well, everybody but Andujar. As it turned out, the second best pitcher in the National League was LaMarr Hoyt, who happened to pitch for the San Diego Padres. He had just come over from the American League, pitching for Tony La Russa’s Chicago White Sox. His 11-4 record was impressive, to be sure, but it was well short of Andujar’s 15-4, and Andujar’s ERA was a half a run better.

But this is Joaquin Andujar, and crazy things seemed to follow the Cardinals hurler.

In a stroke of luck, the two pitchers would face each other, just 4 days from the All Star Game. It was perfect – let the two men give it their best, and let the winner start the All Star Game.

But Andujar couldn’t just let that happen. No, he had to do something unexpected. Prior to the game, he announced that he would not be playing in the All Star Game. He took the decision right out of Dick Williams hands.

It didn’t lessen the drama from the game on July 12. In fact, it magnified it significantly. In the game, Andujar was good. The Padres had their chances, but Andujar limited the damage. They managed just two runs, both after a little bit of small ball, and key singles. Unfortunately for Andujar, Hoyt was brilliant. In 7 innings of work, Hoyt would allow just 2 Cardinal hits. Goose Gossage was just as stingy in his 2 innings of relief. The Padres would win 2-0, and Andujar would take the tough loss.

There is still much more to this part of the story. LaMarr Hoyt would indeed start the 1985 All Star Game. Hoyt, Nolan Ryan, Fernando Valenzuela, Jeff Reardon and Goose Gossage would totally dominate the American League batters, and the NL won 6-1. Hoyt would pitch three innings, earn the win and was chosen as the Most Valuable Player for the game.

The Rise of John Tudor

A large part of Andujar’s success in St. Louis was undisputed role as ace of the pitching staff. He took over the day he arrived in St. Louis, and hadn’t been questioned since. Until early June when a left hander named John Tudor started turning heads.

John Tudor

Tudor had been acquired during the 1984 Winter Meetings in an effort to improve the pitching staff. With all of the young arms on the roster, it was thought that a veteran like Tudor, especially since he was a lefty, could turn the staff into something special. The coaches had noticed that Tudor was an effective pitch-to-contact hurler that could benefit from playing in front of an All Star caliber infield. Through May, that hadn’t happened, and Tudor was struggling badly.

Things turned around for Tudor on June 3 when he combined with Ken Dayley for just his second win on the season, to go with seven losses. It wasn’t a particularly good pitching performance, it was largely his team beating up on Houston starter Nolan Ryan. Tudor pitched just well enough to win. But his next start on June 8 was a real eye-popper. A 3 hit shutout against the New York Mets, in New York. The game was won on a solo home run by Tommy Herr in the ninth inning, but what everybody noticed was the cool domination of the Cardinals left hander. Including Joaquin Andujar.

As June went on, Tudor become the talk around town, and by the All Star Break, the national sports media had caught wind of his amazing turnaround.

For the first time since J. R. Richard and Nolan Ryan, there was a challenger to Andujar’s spot as ace of the staff.

As July turned to August, Tudor continued to collect win after win. 2 shutouts in June, 3 in July, 1 in August and an amazing 4 in September, including three in a row to start the month. While the talk in July was comparing Andujar to Denny McLain, now the comparisons were John Tudor to Gibson’s shutout record in 1968. From June 3 to the end of the season, Tudor would turn in an unbelievable 19-1 record, finishing the season 21-8.

For Andujar, the second half of the season wouldn’t be nearly as kind. With 15 wins at the All Star break, 20 wins was a given. The question was whether he would win 25, or maybe as many as 30. As it turned out, Andujar would win only 6 games in the second half. One of those games was the 3rd event that conspired too bring down the big right hander.

July 26, 1985 – St. Louis at San Diego

This would be Joaquin Andujar’s revenge game, to make up for the disappointing loss to LaMarr Hoyt just before the All Star break. Instead of facing Hoyt, Andujar drew Dave Dravecky, a left hander that would just give the Cardinals fits. Dravecky was just as good as Hoyt was two weeks earlier, so if Andujar was to get his revenge, he’d have to pitch one of the best games of his career. And he did. This was about the most determined we’d seen Andujar since postseason in 1982.

A little bit of small ball would give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Some small ball, including a double off the bat of former Cardinal Garry Templeton, tied the game in the fifth inning. While both sides battled, neither were able to get the key hit to take a lead. Dravecky turned the game over to the bullpen after 9 regulation innings, but Andujar continued to pitch until his team could rally. Which they would do in the 12th inning, giving him a 2-1 lead. Ken Dayley would come in and totally overpower the Padres to earn the save. Andujar got his revenge, but those 11 innings he pitched would end up costing him dearly.

Andujar would leave that game with a record of 17-4 and an ERA of 2.31. In his remaining 15 starts, he would win 4, lose 8 and his ERA over the period would skyrocket to 5.46. This was not a single bad game, something was seriously wrong with the Cardinals ace. His velocity was down, his control was inconsistent (a 1:1 k/bb ratio), 4 hit batsman and 9 home runs – this was not the work of an ace. Andujar should have gone on the disabled list and rested his ailing shoulder. But he didn’t, and things did not get better.

The Pittsburgh Drug Trials

The final blow for Andujar would come in September, 1985. A Grand Jury would be assembled in Pittsburgh to look into illegal narcotics use that was running wild in baseball. One of the players being investigated was Joaquin Andujar. He would join former Cardinals Lonnie Smith and Keith Hernandez, as they testified in front of the Grand Jury. In exchange for their testimony, all of the players were granted immunity from prosecution, but not from the wrath of commissioner Peter Ueberroth, who had been very vocal about his disapproval of drugs in baseball. Lengthy suspensions were expected, but the players would not learn of their fate until the next spring.

All of this proved to be too much for the Cardinals star, and his on the field performance continued slipping. Whether it was pitching while hurt to take his mind off the upcoming verdict, or just trying to out-duel Tudor to maintain his position as the ace of the staff, things fell apart for Andujar in September. His sole win in the month would be more the result of an offensive explosion from the Cardinals bats than good pitching. Ironic, as that’s how the Tudor turnaround started. He would lose his last three starts and pitch ineffectively in 2 starts against the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series.

Andujar would make two more appearances as a Cardinal in the World Series. He didn’t pitch poorly, but would take the loss in Game Three. His final Cardinal appearance would be in relief in Game Seven, as the Cardinals unraveled in front of the huge Kansas City crowd. The volatile right hander would get into a shouting match with Don Denkinger, eventually being ejected from the game.

For a pitcher that had been dominating for most of five seasons, the end came so quickly, we didn’t really have time to take it all in.

Epilogue

As rumors of a year long suspension started floating around the Major League, the Cardinals acted quickly and traded Andujar to the Oakland Athletics for a backup catcher. Before the start of the 1986 season, Commissioner Ueberroth ruled on the punishment for the players involved in the drug scandal. All would be suspended for one year, but in a surprise act of compassion, the commissioner gave each of the players a choice of serving the suspension or donating ten percent of their salary to a drug prevention program. All of the players chose the donation, and all of them continued their careers.

For Andujar that meant starting over in Oakland. He never managed to get back on track, but would post a respectible 12-7 record in 1986. But the strangeness that was Andujar would continue. Even though the Athletics play in the American League where the designated hitter is used, Andujar insisted on taking batting practice. And he would be injured doing so.

A trip back to Houston in 1988 would end things right where they started. Somehow, that seems an appropriate end to his major league career.

Looking back at those four events in the summer of 1985, if any one of them didn’t happen, maybe the Andujar story ends differently. A lot happened to the tough right-hander, and in a very short time. Even considering how things ended, Andujar still gave Cardinals fans five of the best years we’d seen out of a pitcher since Bob Gibson. It would take a decade and couple of guys named Kile and Morris to rival them, but that’s a story for another day.

Over the last two weeks, the writers at I-70 Baseball have shared their perspectives on the 1985 World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and Kansas City Royals. It was an amazing time for both organizations, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the I-70 Baseball series, especially from the perspective of the Kansas City writers and those too young to have experienced it firsthand. No coverage of that great Series would be complete with a discussion of Don Denkinger’s call in Game Six. If you have not already done so, please read Aaron Stilley’s outstanding article, 22%: Quantifying the Denkinger Call. Whether or not you can put the call behind you, as Bill Ivie suggests, one area where we can all find agreement is that there have been other controversial calls in baseball’s history. What you may not know is that one such call by a future Hall of Fame umpire had a similar impact on the outcome of the 1968 World Series. Here is story of October 7, 1968.

Game One

For fans of pitching, Game One of the 1968 World Series was one of the best in the history of the game. It featured two of the most dominating pitchers of their era, Bob Gibson and his 1.12 ERA versus the 31 game winner in Denny McLain. The two did not disappoint. Gibson pitched one of the best games in his career, striking out a record 17 batters on the day, including seven Tigers the first time through the order. Gibson had all of his pitches working – fastball, slider, change-up (yes, a wicked change-up) and a completely devastating curveball that Gibson won’t even acknowledge to this day. While Gibson breezed through the Tigers batting order, McLain struggled early. He fought Tom Gorman, the home plate umpire from the National League, all afternoon. Gorman refused to give McLain the high strike he had been getting in the regular season, and the big right hander was slow to adapt to the smaller strike zone. The Cardinals started exploiting McLain’s troubles in the third inning, finally breaking through in the fourth with three runs on a pair of walks and two RBI singles. McLain would exit the game early, turning the ball over to Pat Dobson and Don McMahon, who both pitched well. The only blemish was a solo home run to Lou Brock off Dobson. The Cardinals would win the game 4-0 behind the record setting performance of Bob Gibson. What the box scores don’t tell you is that even though McLain struggled, he nearly matched Gibson for the first half of the game.

Games Two, Three and Four

After a brilliant pitching duel in Game One, the respective offenses were on display for Games Two, Three and Four – or perhaps it was the vulnerabilities of the two bullpens. Because of Nelson Briles inability to keep the ball in the park, the Tigers were able to get into the Cardinals bullpen in Game Two, and bad things happened rather quickly. After surrendering his third home run of the game, all solo shots, an infield single by Willie Horton ended the day for the young right hander. Manager Red Schoendienst would go to his bullpen for the big left hander, Steve Carlton. Lefty would get hammered, giving up two more runs to the bottom of the Tigers batting order. Side armer Ron Willis was not any more effective the next inning and the Tigers had opened a huge lead. It is all Mickey Lolich would need as he shut the door on the Cardinals with a nifty complete game.

Fortunes would change for the Cardinals as the series moved to Detroit. Veterans Ray Washburn and Earl Wilson would do battle in Game Three. The Tigers jumped out to a 2-0 lead when Al Kaline took Washburn deep in the third inning. There is no shame in giving up a long ball to the Detroit slugger, and Washburn limited the damage to just two runs. The Cardinals would get to Wilson and reliever Pat Dobson, taking a 4-2 lead in the fifth. Washburn would give one of those runs back when Dick McAuliffe hit a solo homer. Schoendienst would again go to his bullpen, calling on Joe Hoerner who had been victimized badly late in the previous game. This time, Hoerner was solid as a rock, earning a save in 3 2/3 innings of nearly perfect relief. Meanwhile the Cardinals would again get to the Tigers bullpen on their way to a 7-3 victory.

The Tigers bullpen would again be torched in Game Four. While Bob Gibson was cruising to another dominating victory, the Cardinals bats lit up starter Denny McLain and relievers Joe Sparma and John Hiller. When the dust, or maybe more accurately, the mud settled, the Cardinals won in a 10-1 laugher. More importantly, they had taken a 3 games to 1 lead in the World Series while making the Tigers bullpen throw a lot of innings.

This brings us to Game Five, the pivotal game of the 1968 World Series.

Game Five

This last game in Detroit featured the starters from Game Two, Mickey Lolich for the Tigers and Nelson Briles for the Cardinals. This time it was Lolich that had trouble with the long ball, and early. The Cardinals would jump out to a quick 3-0 lead in the first inning on a lead-off double by Lou Brock, a single and stolen base from Curt Flood and a two run homer off the bat of Orlando Cepeda – a bat that had been far too quiet for most of the 1968 season. Lolich would bear down and limit the damage, pitching effectively against the bottom of the Cardinals batting order.

On the other side of the diamond, Briles was cruising along, as he had done throughout most of the 1968 season. A couple of hard hit balls in the home half of the fourth inning caused a bit of trouble for Briles as Mickey Stanley and Willie Horton both tripled and scored in the inning. At least the ball was staying the field of play this time around. Like Lolich in the first, Briles settled down and limited the damage by retiring Bill Freehan to end the inning.

With the Cardinals holding on to a slim 3-2 lead and just 15 outs from their second consecutive World Series Title, we now proceed to the fifth inning, and the “other” blown call of the World Series.

The play

After Nelson Briles leads off the inning by striking out, Lou Brock nearly hits the ball out to left field. A great play by Willie Horton holds Brock to just a double. This defensive gem would become significant when Julian Javier singles to left field on the next play. Willie Horton comes up firing and throws a strike to Bill Freehan, who was blocking the plate. Brock actually beats the the throw to the plate, and unbelievably, Hall of Fame umpire Doug Harvey calls Brock out. A huge argument breaks out, involving the on deck batter, Curt Flood, Lou Brock, coach Joe Schultz and manager Schoendienst. Through all of this, Harvey remained resolute on his call, and the inning would eventually come to an end with Cardinals still nursing a slim one run lead.

After the game, Brock would defend his decision not to slide into home plate, as everybody expected. With Freehan blocking the plate, the only way for Brock to score would be to run through the Tigers catcher, which he did. What Harvey missed was Brock’s foot clearly on home plate before Freehan was able to turn and tag the speedy Brock. In his post game interview, Harvey even admitted to turning his attention away from the tag, calling it inevitable.

The best comment came from Bill Freehan, prior to Game Six in St. Louis. The Tigers catcher said, “After the game the other day, the writers came up to me and everybody wanted to know if Lou Brock had touched the plate or not. I told them I had to be the worst person in America to know because I was trying to catch the ball and couldn’t see a thing.” The grin on his face suggested otherwise.

The Implication

Had Harvey called Brock safe, the Cardinals would have had a two run lead at 4-2, instead of 3-2. They would also have had a speedy runner at second in Julian Javier. With only one out and the heart of the order coming up, the fifth inning in Game Five might have been a huge inning for the Cardinals. St. Louis had trouble with Lolich in Game Two, but he had not been particularly sharp thus far in Game Five. The momentum shift of a Brock run might have been all it took to rattle the Tigers lefty. The actual call had the opposite effect – Lolich toughened and the Cardinals would never really challenge him again.

The second domino to topple would happen in the bottom of the fifth inning. Trailing by two runs, with Briles crusing, Tigers manager Mayo Smith might have lifted Lolich for a pinch hitter. That would have put the game back in the hands of the Tigers bullpen, who had just been torched in the last two games. Down only a single run, Smith gambled, leaving Lolich in the game and that turned out to be the right decision as Lolich would be the one who cruised to the complete game victory, not Briles.

And we’re not done with the implications quite yet. With a two run lead, Red Schoendienst might have stayed with young Briles a bit longer when he got into trouble again in the bottom of the seventh inning. Down to just 8 outs for another championship, Schoendienst went to his bullpen, again calling on lefty Joe Hoerner. The Tigers ripped Hoerner just as they had at the end of Game Two, taking a 5-3 lead before the Cardinals reliever could record a single out. Ron Willis would finish the game, but the Tigers would go on to win this pivotal game.

The Outcome

The record books tell us how this story would end. In Game Six, the World Series would return to a soggy St. Louis. Denny McLain would shake off his early World Series troubles and pitch a dominating complete game. Cardinals starter Ray Washburn would not be so lucky, giving up five runs before leaving without getting a single out in the third inning. Larry Jaster, Ron Willis and Dick Hughes would follow Washburn in the third inning, and would also be hit hard. The game was not even an hour old and the Tigers had an insurmountable 12-0 lead. They would go on to win Game Six in a laugher, setting up a decisive Game Seven.

Not even Bob Gibson could salvage this series. He pitched well, but a late defensive miscue by the always dependable Curt Flood led to three tigers runs in the top of the seventh inning. That proved to be the difference in the game, and ultimately the series as Lolich continued his domination of Cardinals hitters, winning his third game and earning the 1968 World Series MVP award.

When looking back at the 1968 World Series, many historians will point at the Jim Northrup fly ball that Curt Flood played into a triple in Game Seven as the turning point. If you are willing to take a closer look, the controversial call by Doug Harvey in Game Five was just as devastating as Don Denkinger’s now infamous call in Game Six of the 1985 World Series. The difference is that Harvey’s call happened in the middle of the game, in the middle of the series.