Remembering the Cardinals’ wild ride to the top

Posted Nov 15, 2011 by Bob D'Angelo

Updated Nov 15, 2011 at 11:16 PM

The St. Louis Cardinals’ rush to the 2011 World Series title might be one of baseball’s most stunning chapters. Left for dead on Aug. 24, 10 ½ games out of a playoff spot with 32 games to play, the Cardinals remarkably caught fire and clinched a wild-card spot on the final day of the season, then dispatched the Phillies and Brewers in the NL playoffs before beating the Texas Rangers in a wild seven-game World Series.

If you’re a Cardinals fan, a commemorative book is a perfect keepsake. And that is the intent of the appropriately named “Wild Cards: The St. Louis Cardinals’ Stunning 2011 Championship Season,” by Rob Rains (Triumph Books, $14.95, paperback, 128 pages). Putting a book together so quickly after the underdog Cardinals took it all had to be difficult, and it shows in some places. However, there are some vivid and creative photographs from the playoffs and the regular season, and Rains’ writing is crisp.

Longtime Tampa baseball fans can point to a feature on native son Tony La Russa, who retired after nailing down his third World Series title as a manager — and second with the Cardinals. Vignettes on Albert Pujols (there is a great photo of Pujols leaning down to greet Hall of Famer Stan Musial on Opening Day), the bullpen’s early season problems, and St. Louis’ surge back into contention and into the playoffs are fun reads.

The fact that the book was rushed into print is apparent in some cases. The most glaring error was the repetition of “The Final Night,” when the Cardinals clinched a playoff berth by defeating Houston. Pages 72-75 were reprised again, with a slight design modification, as pages 78-81. Same photos, same stories. Ouch.

More ouch. The book notes that when Chris Carpenter outdueled Roy Halladay in Game 5 of the NL Division Series, it was only the third time that two Cy Young Award winners had started against each other in a deciding game. Pedro Martinez did it the other two times, the book notes, against Oakland’s Barry Zito in Game 5 of the AL 2003 Division series (correct) and against New York’s Roger Clemens in Game 7 of the 2007 AL Championship Series (incorrect). Martinez and Clemens did indeed hook up in a Game 7, but it took place 2003.

Red Sox fans will recall this game with two words that should make them wince: Aaron Boone.

And Jaime Garcia’s name is spelled as “Jamie” in some large lead-in type (Page 104).

The book naturally opens with the World Series, then segues back into the regular season, followed by a game-by-game look at the National League Division Series and the NLCS.

Despite its flaws, it’s not a bad book. The design is good and so is the writing by Rains, a veteran of the St. Louis writing scene. The photography (red makes for such a great color in a book), is top-notch. There is a photo of Rafael Furcal straining to make a throw to first to complete a double play, and the intensity is wonderfully displayed.

That kind of intensity is what carried the Cardinals to a place no one expected. “Wild Cards” captures it well.