It's pretty jarring to think that this summer represents the 20th anniversary of my becoming a St. Louis Cardinals fan. I've been a Cards fan longer than I've been just about anything.
It's funny what's stuck with me about that 1985 season. I still remember the first game I ever attended with my dad at Busch Stadium, against the Phillies, where the guys in front of us kept making ridiculous bets with one another. I remember instructing my 2nd grade classmates on the spelling of John Tudor's name when we were composing fan mail in class. I remember Fredbird visiting our assembly at Chesterfield Elementary. I remember seeing Willie McGee patrolling center field in between Vince Coleman and Andy Van Slyke, which I still think is the greatest outfield I've ever seen. I remember thinking Coleman was the fastest human being on the planet. And I remember thinking Jack Clark was some sort of Colossus at the plate, even though his home run total of 22 is more than pedestrian by today's standards. I remember Tudor and Dwight Gooden going against each other with the division on the line when both had sub-2.00 ERAs. I remember envisioning the tarpaulin that ate Vince's leg as some sort of monster that lived under the Astroturf at Busch Stadium. I remember Ozzie's homer in game 5 of the NLCS, and Jack's in game 6. I remember wondering why my family wasn't watching game 7 of the World Series as it was still going on. I remember being dejected over the loss to the Royals but thinking how much would it matter because the Cardinals would go 101-61 and win the pennant every year from now on.
I don't know how good I'll be at updating this blog, but hopefully it will be a good place to park all the thoughts that don't quite fit elsewhere. I'm still trying to write for and update the SportsHistory website as much as I can. Look for future articles on the following:
- Coach John Gagliardi and his unique coaching style, which is an (almost certainly unintentional) acknowledgement of the fact that football teams are complex adaptive systems
- The ethics of professional participation in the Olympics
- Game theory and Cold War Olympic strategy
- Cricket: Friend or Foe?
- The St. Louis Rams: The Tech Bubble of the NFL
- A new way of scoring baseball games
- and a whole bunch more
