The St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox are two of the oldest, most storied franchises in Major League Baseball and once again the two will be battle it out for the World Series title. But this isn’t the first time the teams have met in the fall classic – in fact it has happened three other times.
From fried ravioli to baked beans, Budweiser to Sam Adams, jazz to Celtic punk, the two cities have very different tastes on pretty much everything – except the sport of baseball. Both towns are considered baseball-first cities and can you blame them, given the amount of success each has had in their history?
While St. Louis fans have witnessed 11 World Series victories – second most – over the Cardinals’ 121 years, Boston has only seen seven titles – fifth most – during 112 years of existence. The two cities should be pretty familiar with each other when it comes to baseball; that all started back in 1946 – the first time the two squared off for baseball’s top prize.
For the Red Sox, it was their first appearance in the fall classic since 1918, while the Cardinals had defeated their cross town rivals, the St. Louis Browns, just two seasons earlier. There was plenty of star power thanks to Ted Williams, Stan Musial and Enos Slaughter and after a very back and forth series, fans turned to a deciding Game 7 at Sportsman’s Park to see who would be crowned champion.
It was a very familiar name that came up big for the Red Sox in Game 7, hitting a two run, game-tying double in the eighth inning – that name was DiMaggio. No, it wasn’t Joe DiMaggio. This was his little, now lesser known brother, Dom Dimaggio. With the game tied in the bottom of the eighth, the Cardinals put on one of the most famous hit and runs in history – which is referred to today as the Mad Dash – and took home their third World Series in five seasons.
21 years later, Boston would seek revenge.
Led by Triple Crown winning outfielder Carl Yastrzemski, the Red Sox looked to erase the famous “curse of the Bambino” against a potent Cardinals roster that included a young Steve Carlton, Bob Gibson and Lou Brock. Much like their previous matchup, this series also came down to seven games in what is now one of the most memorable fall classics in history – only this time Game 7 was on the Red Sox’s home turf, Fenway Park. Cardinals ace Jim Lonborg – who was pitching on two days rest – took the mound and thanks to the two spot St. Louis put up in the third, it was smooth sailing from there. The loss was tough for a Red Sox team that had battled back in the series after being down 3-1. Boston fans had to live another year with the curse but 37 years later it would finally come to an end – at the expense of the St. Louis.
After suffering for years, through Bill Buckner and Aaron Boone, 2004 was a season to remember, despite no one really remembering too much of the World Series. No, for Boston it was all about the miraculous 0-3 comeback in the Championship Series against the New York Yankees, but one opponent still stood in their way – the Cardinals.
The Red Sox continued exorcizing their demons, sweeping St. Louis – a team with plenty of veteran firepower like Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds – who had had the Red Sox’s number prior. It led to the biggest parade the city of Boston has ever seen.
Now, almost a decade later, the loss is still on the minds of the Cardinals and their fans but can the red birds exact revenge and walk away with yet another World Series? We will soon find out.
Ed Miller is a contributor for CraveOnline Sports. You can follow him on Twitter @PhillyEdMiller or “like” CraveOnline Sports on Facebook.
Photo Credit: Getty
