A stroll down memory lane with HJ

fanforever · Post by **fanforever** » May 3 07, 10:36 am

true Jim

The Pirates were the favorites

But Seaver Matlock and Koosman plus that Mets Bullpen got very hot.

They beat a far superior reds tem in the playoffs too. (LOL the rose buddy harrelson fight)

doe_boy · Post by **doe_boy** » May 3 07, 10:37 am

fanforever wrote:The 1973 and 1974 teams broke my heart. Came so close both years

Damn you Steve Swisher!

DAMN YOU TO HELL!!!

Straightest throw he ever made hit Bob Robertson right between the shoulder blades. After he drops a third strike.

Add Mike Jorgensen's HR off Gibby in the bottom of the 8th the previous day and....

Ironic that both Swisher and Jorgensen became Cardinals.

Tambourine Man · Post by **Tambourine Man** » May 3 07, 10:40 am

doe_boy wrote:
Tambourine Man wrote:Somewhere at my parent's house, there's drawer full of ticket stubs from Busch II around the early 90's. My buddy and I would get into the stadium on cheap seats and then use the massive amount of box seat ticket stubs we'd acquired to try and sneak down to the boxes. If an usher guarding the stairs down to the boxes figured out that we were flashing week old ticket stubs, we'd just reach into our bags and pull out another set to try out on the next usher. We always made it down.

/Believes Jim and RC need counseling.
The fellas I ran with back in HS used to know an usher at Busch II, we'd get in with GA and then he'd let us in on unused Field Box seats. That worked back in the 70s and early 80s before Whitey ruined everything by making the Cardinals a team everybody wanted to pay to see.

Yeah, I spent the majority of my summers as a kid collecting autographs from the opposing team before the games and we could always convince a player to get us some seats. Coaches were an even safer bet. I knew that when the Cubs were in town, Wendell (sp?) Kim was my way into the stadium. They were usually loge level, but we'd sneak down just because we could.

jim wrote:That is smart. They really patrolled that field box area, didn't they? The secret service should have taken some tips from those people guarding that area.

It was a lot tougher than you'd imagine. We'd circle the concourse looking for the most apathetic usher before we tried to move in.

jim · Post by **jim** » May 3 07, 12:09 pm

If memory serves me correctly, you could not even get to the field level before the game. That's one good thing they did with the new place, my son and I were first row behind the Brewers dugout the entire BP session.

I couldn't develop those strategies going 1-2x per year, it was basically try a couple of times and learn your lesson. The bad thing was there were often plenty of seats down there. Now a days, you can't find anything. No upgrading now.

Tambourine Man · Post by **Tambourine Man** » May 3 07, 1:53 pm

jim wrote:If memory serves me correctly, you could not even get to the field level before the game. That's one good thing they did with the new place, my son and I were first row behind the Brewers dugout the entire BP session.

I couldn't develop those strategies going 1-2x per year, it was basically try a couple of times and learn your lesson. The bad thing was there were often plenty of seats down there. Now a days, you can't find anything. No upgrading now.

Correct. Unless you had the magical ticket, you weren't getting past Eddy (aka-the meanest damn usher ever).

Nice to hear you and your son can get down close before the game. Those will be some of his best memories.

Post by **Radbird** » May 3 07, 2:01 pm

fanforever wrote:The 1973 and 1974 teams broke my heart. Came so close both years

Damn you Steve Swisher!

I saw more games in person in 1974 than any other year as a left field bleacher bum. Probably made 40 games that summer.

Unfortunately, I was back at college when Lou broke the record.

I thought that team was going far....

albertized · Post by **albertized** » May 3 07, 3:47 pm

It seems to me there was a Monday night Baseball game where Hrabosky came in and struck the side against the Reds with the bases loaded. Anybody remember this? It was back when ABC ran baseball on mondays to try to ride the football tide.

Jmodene · Post by **Jmodene** » May 3 07, 4:00 pm

doe_boy wrote:
Some guy named Jerry Morales making the final out of losing game!
I remember several of those from when he was a Cardinal.

He was a big 'Cardinal killer' while with the Cubs though.

He killed the Cardinals as an opponent and while with them.

Morales worked out well, though, because we traded him to Detroit for Bob Sykes, who we later traded to the Yankees for Willie McGee.

I'd say that progression worked out pretty well.

Of course, we then traded McGee for Felix Jose - still OK, as Felix hit .300 for us a couple of years - and then traded Jose for Gregg Jefferies, who had two excelent seasons for us in 1993 and 1994 - but then nothing, as the brewery allowed Jefferies to go FA and sign with Philly - which, interestingly enough, all but ended his career as he faded fast thereafter.

And, of course, we brought McGee back in 1996.