St. Louis Cardinals: Round one, part three of 125 tournament

The St. Louis Cardinals are a massive piece of baseball lore. 2017 marks the 125th year of the Cardinals existence and contain a treasure trove of great moments.

125 years of St. Louis Cardinals baseball is a wonderful thing. To celebrate, Redbird Rants is thrilled to join our brothers and sisters through the United Cardinals Bloggers and specifically with Cards Conclave (C70 At The Bat specifically) to bring you a special, multi-site tournament recognizing the top 125 greatest Cardinals moments.

For more on this tournament, jump over to my earlier article here.

Today, we at Redbird Rants continue the tournament on our grounds and continue the first round of head-to-head competitions. But first, let’s review the results from our first voting round, part two.

First was Chris Carpenter‘s dive to first in the World Series of 2011 vs. Pete Kozma completing the rally in the NLDS of 2012. With only 80 votes, Carpenter stole the round from Kozma by a vote of 61 percent to 39 percent. Admittedly, this was to be expected but I would have liked to have seen a greater number of votes.

Unfortunately, I accidentally posted the poll through my personal account so that might have been the cause of the low numbers…

Next up was Mark McGwire‘s 70th HR in 1998 vs. Willie McGee robbing Gorman Thomas of a HR in the 1982 World Series. This poll was posted through the Redbird Rants account and garnered 65 votes… So maybe my personal account post did better?! Where are you, Cardinals Nation? Why aren’t you voting in this tournament?!

Here are the results of the McGwire/McGee head-to-head: McGwire one 66 percent to 34 percent.

This week’s competitions should get a greater number of votes as the names are popular and massive pieces of Cardinals history.

Gibson vs. Herr

The first our competitions in this part of round one involves the arguable best pitcher in Cardinals history, Bob Gibson and involves his 3,000th strikeout in 1974 facing off against Tom Herr winning “Seat Cushion Night” in 1987. Here’s the skinny…

Gibson was a beast. Can we just say that? The dude could almost do no wrong on the mound. Watching Gibson pitch was like watching a masterclass in sportsmanship and pitching adroitness. The moment in question in today’s competition was his 3,000th strikeout. Check the video below for highlights of one of the best pitchers in St. Louis Cardinals history.

It might not be a fair comparison, but Herr’s win on the “Seat Cushion Night” shouldn’t be tossed aside either. Tom Herr was a second baseman who started his MLB career with the Cardinals and played with the birds on the bat from 1979 to 1988 before he went to the AL and then bounced around the end of his career. Herr was an All-Star in 1985.

“Seat Cushion Night” occurred on April 18, 1987 and was a raucous night. The game had the St. Louis Cardinals hosting the New York Mets when both teams were neck-and-neck in 1987. At “Seat Cushion Night” the giveaways were, you guessed it, logo bleacher cushions. This back-and-forth game saw the fans becoming impatient.

Several times during the game, fans tossed their freebies on the field and the game would have to be stopped so that field crews could clean the field. At one point it was even announced that the game would be forfeited by the Cards if fans continued tossing items onto the field.

The game went into the tenth inning with a tie until Herr’s at-bat. In the iconic moment, Herr blasted a walk-off grand slam to close out the exciting game. Here’s the video:

Wainwright vs. Brock

Our next match-up in this round is another head-to-head of big St. Louis Cardinals names. This competition has Adam Wainwright squaring off against Brandon Inge in the 2006 World Series going up against Lou Brock‘s 3,000th hit in 1979. I must admit that I’m nervous about this head-to-head.

Let’s look first at Wainwright going up against Inge in the 2006 World Series. Whether you know it or not, you know this moment. We have all seen the iconic photo of Wainwright with his arms stretched to the air in ultimate joy knowing his finger would now be heavy with a World Series ring.

In 2006, Wainwright- now a starter- was the shut-down closer for the Cardinals out of the pen. Waino had come to the Cards from the Braves and the Cards were fully intent on using his abilities to slam the door shut and that is just what he did.

In game five of the 2006 World Series, facing their final out, the Detroit Tigers had Brandon Inge– a formidable hitter- at the plate. Waino, unstoppable in 2006, tossed Inge an enticing slider to which Inge swung and missed and through which the Cardinals won that World Series. Here’s the video:

Go up against this iconic photo-ready moment is one of the fastest Cardinal, Lou Brock and his record-book 3,000th hit. Brock retired from baseball after the 1979 but not until he entered the 3,000-club. In fact, he didn’t stop there but left MLB with 3,024 hits in his 19-year career.

For voting purposes, here’s the video of Brock’s 3,000th hit:

So, the time is yours now. Please go vote. You can find our poll question on Twitter to place your vote. And, come on Cardinals Nation, go out and vote for these well-deserving St. Louis Cardinals moments!

Next: Bader will make a bigger impact

Be sure to visit the other sites participating in the tournament as well and thanks for being loyal followers of Redbird Rants! Go Cardinals!