Game Two in our series of classic baseball match-ups sees the 1967 St. Louis Cardinals traveling to Municipal Stadium on the shores of Lake Erie to take on the 1948 Cleveland Indians.
Before listening to the broadcast, here are some things to know.
Municipal Stadium
Opened in 1932, Municipal Stadium was a multi-purpose facility built to host baseball and football games.
The Cleveland Indians played their first baseball game at Municipal
Stadium on July 31, 1932.
A major league record crowd of 80,184 turned out for the game.
First impressions?
Two thumbs down.
The place was just too big!
Spectators felt far removed from the action.
Players
complained it was nearly impossible to hit home
runs.
Throw in a cold wind that always seemed to be blowing in across Lake Erie plus swarms of bugs attracted to the lights of the stadium and , well ......
Let's just say that Municipal Stadium wasn't the coziest of ball parks.
At the end of the 1933 season, attendance became so bad that the team decided to return to their old home, a place called League Park.
But two years later, major league baseball
decided to hold the 1935 all-star game at Municipal Stadium.
Seems like they wanted to give that big ol' barn by the lake one more
shot.
And what do you know!
Nearly 69,000 fans showed up.
For the next number of years, Cleveland returned to Municipal
Stadium to play some of their home games.
Usually on special occasions.
In 1947, the Indians finally took the plunge and moved back into Municipal Stadium permanently.
The next year, when Cleveland won the World Series in 1948, over 2.6 million fans showed up to cheer on their team.
Over the next few decades, when the team played well, fans came out in spite of the stadium's many imperfections.
And when they didn't ...... they didn't.
Municipal Stadium was home to the Cleveland Indians until the end of the 1993 season.
The Teams
The 1967 St. Louis Cardinals were managed by Red Schoendienst (shane-deezt).
Hall of Fame players were found throughout the Cardinals line-up.
They won the National League pennant easily, finishing with a 101-60 record during the regular season.
It took St. Louis seven games to defeat the Boston Red Sox and secure the 8th World Series title in Cardinal franchise history.
The '48 Cleveland Indians were led by player-manager Lou Boudreau.
The club completed the regular season with a 96-58 record.
So did the Boston Red Sox.
Which meant that a one game playoff would decide the winner of the American League pennant.
No problem.
Cleveland won 8-3 and advanced to the Fall Classic.
It took Cleveland six games to defeat another team from Boston, the Braves, to capture their first World Series title in 28 years.
Key Players
Bob Gibson was a major league hitter's worst nightmare.
Just sixty feet-six inches away from home plate, the Cards pitcher could stare down even the best of batters.
Scary.
Gibson had a blazing fastball and possessed pinpoint control.
Wherever he needed to throw a pitch, well, that's where he threw it.
In 1967, Gibson fractured his leg when he was hit by a batted ball.
He returned in time to lead his team to victory in the World Series winning all three games that he pitched.
Bob Gibson was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981.
Lou Brock
Traded to the Cardinals during the 1964 season, Lou Brock was the St. Louis left fielder for more than a dozen years.
He was fast.
Real fast.
So it makes perfect sense that stealing bases was Brock's specialty.
He swiped 938 bases during his major league career placing him second on the all-time list for thefts.
Brock was also durable.
From 1964 until 1974, he appeared in at least 153 games each year over the course of a 162 game season.
That's an impressive accomplishment considering that stealing bases involves a whole lot of scrambling, sliding and diving!
In the 1967 campaign, Brock collected 206 hits and led the league with 113 runs scored.
Lou Brock was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1985.
Larry Doby
Larry Doby became the second black player to break through the colour barrier when he joined the Cleveland Indians on July 5, 1947.
He was a seven time all-star center fielder during his time with the Indians.
Doby served in the United States Navy during World War II.
He was also a key member of the Newark Eagles club that won the Negro Leagues World Series in 1946.
What this means is that Doby was a man of distinction long before arriving in Cleveland.
In 1948, his first full year in the majors, the 24 year old outfielder hit for a .301 average and was solid in the field.
Larry Doby was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1998.
Joe Gordon
Cleveland's Joe Gordon was an all-star second baseman.
His great range allowed him to scoop up every ball hit in his direction.
Gordon was no slouch at the plate, either.
He possessed good power and always seemed to come through in the clutch when the team needed him most.
There's no better example of how Gordon could be counted on in key situations than what happened on the day of Larry Doby's first appearance in Cleveland.
You see, racism existed.
In society.
And in baseball.
There's no getting around it.
Some of Doby's Cleveland teammates didn't want to play with a black player.
A few even refused to shake his hand.
In warm-ups that day, players had partnered up and were tossing a ball back and forth.
All except Doby.
He was isolated.
Alone.
A young man, feeling the enormous pressure of the moment.
Until Joe Gordon trotted over and said, "Let's warm up, kid."
That's called coming through for your team when everything is on the line.
That's a Hall of Fame player at his hall-of-fame best.
Other Nuggets to Know
- Lou Boudreau played shortstop and managed the Cleveland ball club from 1942 until 1950
- St. Louis first baseman Orlando Cepeda was voted the National League's Most Valuable Player in 1967
- Negro League legend Satchel Paige joined the Cleveland team mid-way through the '48 season
- 1967 marked the first full season for the Cards at Busch Stadium
By the Numbers
While you listen
- Who did Lou Brock play for before being traded to St. Louis?
- What did Curt Flood do after being traded at the end of the 1969 season?
- What was Joe Gordon's nickname?
- Learn more about Larry Doby's path to the major leagues
- Look into pitcher Satchel Paige's remarkable career in baseball
- Research Roger Maris and his 1961 season with the New York Yankees
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