St. Louis Cardinals: Round one, part two 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.

First up was Ozzie Smith “Go Crazy Folks” HR in the NLCS 1985 vs. Adron Chambers scoring on wild pitch in 2011. With 563 votes, Ozzie outpaced Chambers 90%! This very clearly great moment from St. Louis Cardinals history won in a landslide and will advance to the second round.

Next up was Lance Berkman tying the game (again) in the 2011 World Series vs. Rick Ankiel showing off his arm in 2009. With only 115 votes, Berkman defeated Ankiel 74% to 26%. A closer competition but still a dominating win.

Let’s move now to today’s competitions.

Carpenter vs. Kozma

First up, Chris Carpenter‘s dive to first in the World Series of 2011 vs. Pete Kozma completing the rally in the NLDS of 2012. Here’s the skinny…

Chris Carpenter was a dominating pitcher on the World Series team of 2011. During his most famous game, the first game of the 2011 World Series facing the Texas Rangers. Here’s a great single-page slideshow of the images of Carp taking the head-first dive to tag the bag beating out Elvis Andrus.

This gutsy move placed Carpenter firmly in Cardinals lore. If you want to see video of this great moment, here is a good look:

The Cardinals went on to win game one and then went on to win the entire World Series in that season.

On the flip side, Pete Kozma became an unlikely hero of the NLDS in 2012 when he was the completing factor of the rally that brought a win to the Cardinals. Facing the Washington Nationals, the Cardinals and Nationals were tied in the top of the 9th. Through a rally, the Cards had ducks on the pond for Kozma.

An unlikely hero, Kozma wasn’t necessarily known as a clutch hitter but that changed with his go-ahead two-run single scoring David Freese and Daniel Descalso. Here’s the video:

McGwire vs. McGee

More from St Louis Cardinals History

• Reflecting on the 2013 Cardinals’ top 30 prospects
• Cardinals: The best Silver Slugger performances at each position.
• The St. Louis Cardinals are in rare company with this free agency stat
• What Happened to the 2011 St. Louis Cardinals? Matt Holliday Edition
• The St. Louis Cardinals avoided disaster with Jason Heyward

Next up, Mark McGwire‘s 70th HR in 1998 vs. Willie McGee robbing Gorman Thomas of a HR in the 1982 World Series. Here’s the skinny…

McGwire was one of the most popular St. Louis Cardinals slugger of all times. This is due in large part to the home run race of 1998 when McGwire squared-off against Sammy Sosa of the rival Cubs in a cold war of home runs.

McGwire ultimately won the home run race and fans remember his 70th home run with the greatest of love due to it occurring during his final at-bat of the 1998 season. He slammed the home run into left field at Busch II. Here’s a video to remember it:

Our final competitor of the day in the head-to-head battles is the great Willie McGee flashing the glove in the outfield in the 1982 World Series. In game three of the then famous series of the Cardinals facing off against the Milwaukee Brewers (remember that the Cardinals were in the east division then).

With Gormon Thomas at the plate, the then superman center fielder scooted across the grass to leap into the air and rob Thomas of a home run that might have sealed the game differently. The Cardinals went on to win the WS in 1982 in seven games.

Here’s a video of the amazing flying catch:

So, the time is yours now. Please go vote. You can find our poll question on Twitter to place your vote.

Next: Podcast preview

Thanks for reading and be sure to follow our sister sites throughout this tournament and make sure to stop by Redbird Rants each Wednesday as we progress through this recognition of the greatest Cardinals moments.