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Of the games I've been to in Busch stadium, I have to agree wholeheartedly with Rick Hummel. I say the # 1 game that I have seen in person is the same as his. The seat cusion night game is without a doubt the greatest game I ever saw at Busch and I've literally seen hundreds of them.
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Take 5: Best regular-season moments at Busch
By Rick Hummel
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
09/18/2005
We're down to a precious five regular-season games remaining at Busch Stadium and, oh, the memories.
Discounting postseason games, which have created their own special brand of excitement, you've had such compelling contests as the Labor Day game in 1996, when veterans Ozzie Smith and Willie McGee each coaxed one more big game out of their aging bodies in an 8-7 win over Houston that started the Cardinals on their run to a division title in manager Tony La Russa's first season here. That day, Smith scored four runs and McGee had four hits, with each player driving in three runs.
You had Al Hrabosky fanning the heart of the Cincinnati Reds batting order after loading the bases with nobody out in the ninth inning of a game on May 9, 1977. The Cardinals won that game in the 10th, 6-5, on Ted Simmons' homer after Jose Cruz had thrown out Ray Knight trying to score the winning run in the top of the inning.
For the 1960s, you could have the very first game at Busch, a 4-3, 12-inning win by the Cardinals over the Atlanta Braves when Lou Brock singled home the winning run after St. Louisan Jerry Buchek had tied the game with a hit in the ninth.
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For the current decade, you could pick the July 28, 2002 game when the Cardinals rallied for six runs in the ninth before a full-house crowd to beat the Chicago Cubs, 10-9, with Edgar Renteria's three-run homer capping the surge.
But, for some reason, more of the most exciting, noteworthy, bizarre games at Busch were played in the 1980s. Herewith one Top Five of Busch Stadium's most memorable games:
1 - April 18, 1987. Down 5-0 at one point to the defending world champion New York Mets and 8-7 entering the last of the 10th, rookie Tom Pagnozzi singled home the tying run for the Cardinals and Tom Herr hit a game-winning grand slam off Mets lefthander Jesse Orosco to pull out a 12-8 victory. One of the unusual notes of this game was that Cardinals relief ace Todd Worrell walked five batters in one official inning. This was Seat Cushion Night at Busch. After what Herr did, it was the last Seat Cushion Night at Busch, as thousands were hurled onto the field.
2 - May 14, 1988. Utilityman Jose Oquendo became the first position player in 20 years to gain a pitching decision, but it was a loss, 7-5, in 19 innings. Oquendo walked six and fired probably close to 100 pitches in his four innings, featuring as he recalled, a split-fingered pitch. Pitcher Jose DeLeon had to be installed as an outfielder with the Cardinals out of players and he and regular right fielder Tom Brunansky switched positions 11 times in the game as manager Whitey Herzog tried to hide DeLeon. The next day, Oquendo was asked to play center field by Herzog and, too scared to say no, played the position while throwing sidearm because his arm still hurt. During the 19-inning game, people streamed into Busch in the early morning hours after the downtown bars had closed so they could get a beer and watch ball. "I thought they had come out to watch me pitch," Oquendo said.
3 - April 29, 1983. This was the first game affected by the Busch automatic tarpaulin, but instead of running over the leg of Vince Coleman as it did a couple of years later, it got stuck on the field when it rained after 13 innings and the game with the San Francisco Giants had to be suspended and then completed the next evening. The winning run in a 6-5 Cardinals victory came when Giants catcher Milt May threw wide of first on what could have been an inning-ending double play after he had taken a forceout throw home from second baseman Joe Pettini, now a Cardinals coach.
4 - Aug. 22, 1982. Giants catcher May was involved in this one, too. With the game tied, the bases loaded, two out and two strikes on Cardinals hitter David Green, Glenn Brummer (a backup catcher) decided to steal home. May moved in front of the plate to take Gary Lavelle's pitch, which might have been Strike 3 had May waited for it. Umpire Dave Pallone forgot the count and moved out from behind the plate and up the foul line to call Brummer's slide home, so he wouldn't have known if it was a strike, either. "Tractor Head" Brummer was called safe and the Cardinals had a 5-4 win.
5 - July 7, 1987. In the second game of a twi-night doubleheader delayed two hours in starting, Cardinals backup catcher Steve Lake, with the clock well past midnight, blasted a two-out homer to tie the game in the ninth. And Jack Clark singled home the winning run in the 10th to give the Cardinals back-to-back, 5-4 wins over the Los Angeles Dodgers. "They always said I was a 3 o'clock hitter," Lake said. "I didn't know they meant 3 o'clock in the morning."[/b][/quote]
By Rick Hummel
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
09/18/2005
We're down to a precious five regular-season games remaining at Busch Stadium and, oh, the memories.
Discounting postseason games, which have created their own special brand of excitement, you've had such compelling contests as the Labor Day game in 1996, when veterans Ozzie Smith and Willie McGee each coaxed one more big game out of their aging bodies in an 8-7 win over Houston that started the Cardinals on their run to a division title in manager Tony La Russa's first season here. That day, Smith scored four runs and McGee had four hits, with each player driving in three runs.
You had Al Hrabosky fanning the heart of the Cincinnati Reds batting order after loading the bases with nobody out in the ninth inning of a game on May 9, 1977. The Cardinals won that game in the 10th, 6-5, on Ted Simmons' homer after Jose Cruz had thrown out Ray Knight trying to score the winning run in the top of the inning.
For the 1960s, you could have the very first game at Busch, a 4-3, 12-inning win by the Cardinals over the Atlanta Braves when Lou Brock singled home the winning run after St. Louisan Jerry Buchek had tied the game with a hit in the ninth.
Advertisement
For the current decade, you could pick the July 28, 2002 game when the Cardinals rallied for six runs in the ninth before a full-house crowd to beat the Chicago Cubs, 10-9, with Edgar Renteria's three-run homer capping the surge.
But, for some reason, more of the most exciting, noteworthy, bizarre games at Busch were played in the 1980s. Herewith one Top Five of Busch Stadium's most memorable games:
1 - April 18, 1987. Down 5-0 at one point to the defending world champion New York Mets and 8-7 entering the last of the 10th, rookie Tom Pagnozzi singled home the tying run for the Cardinals and Tom Herr hit a game-winning grand slam off Mets lefthander Jesse Orosco to pull out a 12-8 victory. One of the unusual notes of this game was that Cardinals relief ace Todd Worrell walked five batters in one official inning. This was Seat Cushion Night at Busch. After what Herr did, it was the last Seat Cushion Night at Busch, as thousands were hurled onto the field.
2 - May 14, 1988. Utilityman Jose Oquendo became the first position player in 20 years to gain a pitching decision, but it was a loss, 7-5, in 19 innings. Oquendo walked six and fired probably close to 100 pitches in his four innings, featuring as he recalled, a split-fingered pitch. Pitcher Jose DeLeon had to be installed as an outfielder with the Cardinals out of players and he and regular right fielder Tom Brunansky switched positions 11 times in the game as manager Whitey Herzog tried to hide DeLeon. The next day, Oquendo was asked to play center field by Herzog and, too scared to say no, played the position while throwing sidearm because his arm still hurt. During the 19-inning game, people streamed into Busch in the early morning hours after the downtown bars had closed so they could get a beer and watch ball. "I thought they had come out to watch me pitch," Oquendo said.
3 - April 29, 1983. This was the first game affected by the Busch automatic tarpaulin, but instead of running over the leg of Vince Coleman as it did a couple of years later, it got stuck on the field when it rained after 13 innings and the game with the San Francisco Giants had to be suspended and then completed the next evening. The winning run in a 6-5 Cardinals victory came when Giants catcher Milt May threw wide of first on what could have been an inning-ending double play after he had taken a forceout throw home from second baseman Joe Pettini, now a Cardinals coach.
4 - Aug. 22, 1982. Giants catcher May was involved in this one, too. With the game tied, the bases loaded, two out and two strikes on Cardinals hitter David Green, Glenn Brummer (a backup catcher) decided to steal home. May moved in front of the plate to take Gary Lavelle's pitch, which might have been Strike 3 had May waited for it. Umpire Dave Pallone forgot the count and moved out from behind the plate and up the foul line to call Brummer's slide home, so he wouldn't have known if it was a strike, either. "Tractor Head" Brummer was called safe and the Cardinals had a 5-4 win.
5 - July 7, 1987. In the second game of a twi-night doubleheader delayed two hours in starting, Cardinals backup catcher Steve Lake, with the clock well past midnight, blasted a two-out homer to tie the game in the ninth. And Jack Clark singled home the winning run in the 10th to give the Cardinals back-to-back, 5-4 wins over the Los Angeles Dodgers. "They always said I was a 3 o'clock hitter," Lake said. "I didn't know they meant 3 o'clock in the morning."[/b][/quote]
RIP Stan the Man
The StL Blues will NEVER win the Stanley Cup. I repeat, NEVER!
The StL Blues will NEVER win the Stanley Cup. I repeat, NEVER!
I miss TLR!
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