{"id":2676,"date":"2009-04-29T12:00:22","date_gmt":"2009-04-29T11:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/?p=2676"},"modified":"2009-10-18T21:36:07","modified_gmt":"2009-10-18T20:36:07","slug":"st-louis-cardinals-past-present-by-doug-feldmann","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/?p=2676","title":{"rendered":"St Louis Cardinals: Past & Present by Doug Feldmann"},"content":{"rendered":"

St Louis Cardinals: Past & Present by Doug Feldmann (MVP Books, 2009), 144 pages<\/strong><\/p>\n

The St Louis Cardinals are the latest franchise to have a book devoted to them in this impressive series by MVP Books.\u00c2\u00a0 Fans of the Red Birds will revel in this eye-catching compilation of great photos and descriptive text that provide a well-rounded history of their storied team.<\/p>\n

St Louis Cardinals: Past & Present<\/em> follows the template laid out in similar tomes produced about the Cubs<\/a> and the Dodgers<\/a>, both of which have been reviewed here already.\u00c2\u00a0 The decent-sized, hardback book primarily lets the photos take centre stage, but the accompanying text is more than mere page filler.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

The history of the Cardinals is revealed through a wide variety of different sections.\u00c2\u00a0 They are a classic franchise due to their long history in a single city (stretching back to the St Louis Brown Stockings that entered the American Association in 1882) and the considerable success they have achieved over the years.\u00c2\u00a0 Their ten World Series wins are the most of any National League team; the latest, of course, coming in 2006.<\/p>\n

You don’t win so many pennants without having some great players and legendary teams and the Cardinals have certainly had their share of both.\u00c2\u00a0 The Gas House Gang of the early 1930s and the 1942 World Champion team receive particular attention, as do the champions of 1967 and 1982.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

As with the books on the Cubs and Dodgers, one of the key features of St Louis Cardinals: Past & Present<\/em> is the collection of chapters charting the lineage of players at each position throughout the franchise’s history.\u00c2\u00a0 First base, for example, has been home to players of the calibre of Johnny Mize, Stan Musial (more often an outfielder), Orlando Cepeda, Keith Hernandez, Mark McGwire and the present incumbent Albert Pujols.\u00c2\u00a0 These figures are joined by position players such as Rogers Hornsby, Lou Brock and Ozzie Smith and pitchers like Dizzy Dean and Bob Gibson to form a formidable cast.<\/p>\n

Details of their exploits in Cardinal Red are provided throughout the book, with Gibson’s dominance on the mound in the 1967 and 1968 World Series really catching the eye.\u00c2\u00a0 Newcomers keen to learn more about the great pitcher could do worse than read Roger Angell’s iconic essay \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcDistance’, available in several collections of his work (\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcGame Time’<\/a>, for example).<\/p>\n

Had this book been written five or six years ago, McGwire would undoubtedly have been a more prominent figure.\u00c2\u00a0 His fall from grace is not explicitly mentioned and, considering the cloud of uncertainty that still lingers over much of the 1990s and early 2000s (the so-called \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcsteroid era’), that is probably for the best.\u00c2\u00a0 Even so, it would be wrong to airbrush him (or any other player of the same era) out of baseball history.\u00c2\u00a0 Feldmann recognises McGwire’s achievements, but in a noticeably muted tone.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

My favourite part of the previous two books has been the photos of the ballparks and that trend continues here.\u00c2\u00a0 Sportsman’s Park (or Busch I) is a little under-represented, but Busch Stadiums II and III get plenty of attention.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

The double-page spread on pages 116 and 177 is fantastic, wonderfully illustrating the way in which the current Busch Stadium gobbled up the previous incarnation.\u00c2\u00a0 Page 117 is taken up by two photos, each shot from a similar position inside the two ballparks that reveal how the direction of the field changed.\u00c2\u00a0 In Busch II, you are looking out from the first base-line side of the stadium, with the 630-foot Gateway Arch protruding above the enclosed structure beyond the left field.\u00c2\u00a0 In Busch III, you are sitting in the upper-deck behind home plate with the Arch situated straight ahead past the open outfield.<\/p>\n

The Cardinals don’t come with a particularly iconic ballpark or curse-inflicted tragicomedy story (like the Cubs), nor do they reside in a glamorous, mass media market (like the Dodgers).\u00c2\u00a0 What you get with the Cardinals is a pure baseball story, befitting a pure baseball city.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s a theme that runs throughout the book and is encapsulated in Feldmann’s comment about the St Louis fans:<\/p>\n

“Whether at Sportsman’s Park of one of the Busch Stadiums, the atmosphere felt within the confines of a St. Louis ballpark is different to that felt in other cities’ ballparks, exuding great focus and elation. Cardinals fans have a scholarly appreciation for the game that is mixed with an unbridled enthusiasm.\u00c2\u00a0 There are no better fans in baseball, and Cardinals followers know it”.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There is one minor blemish in an otherwise excellent book.\u00c2\u00a0 The early deaths of Darrell Porter, Darryl Kile and Josh Hancock are noted alongside the story of Rick Ankiel’s journey from pitching woes to a Major League return as a hitter.\u00c2\u00a0 Ankiel’s story is well worth covering, but combining it with the lives of three players being cut tragically short in a chapter titled \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcHard luck players’ seems inappropriate.<\/p>\n

Apart from that, St Louis Cardinals: Past & Present<\/em> works brilliantly as an enjoyable history of the organization, suitable both for supporters of the Red Birds and for baseball fans keen to learn more about the past of a great baseball franchise.<\/p>\n

Have you read \u00e2\u20ac\u0153St Louis Cardinals: Past & Present \u00e2\u20ac\u009d? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below. Can you recommend any other similar books? If so, let us know.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

St Louis Cardinals: Past & Present by Doug Feldmann (MVP Books, 2009), 144 pages The St Louis Cardinals are the latest franchise to have a book devoted to them in this impressive series by MVP Books.\u00c2\u00a0 Fans of the Red Birds will revel in this eye-catching compilation of great photos and descriptive text that provide […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[76,553],"class_list":["post-2676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-baseball-books","tag-book-reviews","tag-mlb-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2676"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5678,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2676\/revisions\/5678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}