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The great franchise of the National League has returned to the winner's circle. The St. Louis Cardinals got it done in five games against the Detroit Tigers. The Cards' tenth title (sorry about the Super Bowlish title above) was 24 years coming, by far the biggest gap since the World Series title first came to the midwest in 1926. Only then, it wasn't the midwest. The Cardinals were, for eons, baseball's western-most and southern-most team. That's why, to this day, millions of us between the Smokies and the Rockies make the pilgrimmage every year. I stood in Lyndon Johnson's childhood bedroom several years ago, and read a plaque attached to a radio. The plaque explained how the future President of the United States listened, all the way down in Johnson City, TX, to Cardinals' broadcasts early in his life, way before Astros or Rangers crossed anybody's mind.
This is, perhaps, the Cardinals' least likely championship. The Cards' injury problems alone would have prevented any sane person from expecting tonight's clincher. Pujols missed 16 days with an oblique. Mulder wasn't right all season, before finally checking out for surgery. Edmonds bashed his head on the warning track, resulting in continuing problems with Post-Concussion Syndrome. Rolen's surgically-repaired left shoulder can't stand up to a full season. Eckstein missed time. The franchise's all-time save leader, Jason Isringhausen, watched his hip fall apart on him.
It got so bad that castoffs Jeff Weaver and Preston Wilson were picked up during the summer. Thank God! Rookies like Chris Duncan and Josh Kinney and Tyler Johnson, Anthony Reyes and Adam Wainwright had to produce and produce quick. They did. Walt Jockety has to be very, very satisfied tonight. We all wondered why he didn't do more at the trade deadline. Turns out, he did plenty.
Which leaves Tony LaRussa. Tony is too smart for baseball. He's an attorney, for crying out loud. He hasn't seemed one of us; he lives in California and works with the PETA people. And Whitey Herzog has always been available to remind everyone that Cardinal Baseball is about speed and stolen bases. Not this home run hitting nonsense. Many people have savaged Tony's record. He had the best players in Oakland and in St. Louis; why only one title? Everyone's forgotten about the magic that a Kurt Gibson can sprinkle on a World Series, or the insanity of the Nasty Boys and the Idiots.
Well he didn't have the best team this season. Only the most beat up. And somehow, he convinced whatever able bodies and walking wounded he had from day to day to ignore their record and believe that they could get it done. And the third winningest manager of all time, who actually has a shot at reaching second, became only the second manager in Major League history to win the World Series in both leagues. Tony LaRussa is a Hall of Famer. And he should be in a St. Louis Cardinals cap on his plaque. Take LaRussa to heart, Cardinals fans. He, more than anyone else, (including The Great Pujols) won you your tenth World Series championship tonight.