CARDINALS HISTORY
Transaction Wire
The Cardinals purchased Elmer Zacher from the New York Giants in 1910.
The Cardinals traded John Antonelli and Glenn Crawford in 1945 to the Philadelphia Phillies for Buster Adams.
In 1966 the last game is played at Busch Stadium, known for most of its existence as Sportsman’s Park. The 64 year-old ballpark, which served as the home field for the American League’s Browns until the franchise moved to Baltimore in 1954, was also the home for the Cardinals from 1920 until today’s final contest, a 10-5 loss to San Francisco
The San Francisco Giants traded Orlando Cepeda to the Cardinals for Ray Sadecki in 1966.
The Kansas City Royals traded Tom Murphy in 1973 to the Cardinals for Al Santorini.
Bob Gibson sets a major league mark in 1973 when he starts his 242nd straight game. The competitive right-hander, a future Hall of Famer, is tagged with the loss in the Cardinals’ 9-7 defeat to San Francisco at Candlestick Park
In 1988, Cardinal Mark McGwire reaches the 400th career home run mark. Big Red’s historic milestone comes in 4,727 at-bats (127 fewer at-bats than Babe Ruth), which is the least plate appearances ever needed to reach the mark.
The Cardinals signed Kevin Nicholson as a free agent in 2002.
MUSIAL HOME RUN HISTORY
475 Career Home Runs
May 8, 1951, Stan Musial hit his 2nd homer of the season and his 176th career long ball. The game was in New York facing the Giants. The bases were empty and the Cardinals were behind 2-0 in the top of the 5th inning. Facing Larry Jansen, Musial connects for a solo home run.
Home Run #266 of his career and 9th of the season on May 8, 1954, was in Cincinnati. Solly Hemus and Red Schoendienst were on base with the game tied 3-3 when Musial went deep off Ken Raffensberger.
May 8, 1962, Stan was facing the fireballing Juan Marichal of the San Francisco Giants. The Cardinals trailed 2-1 in the bottom of the 4th inning with no one on base when Musial hit a solo homer to tie the game. It was his 449th of his career and 5th of the season.
In 1963, he hit #465 from Bob Miller in the bottom of the 4th with a solo home run.
Birthdays
Mike Cuellar (May 8, 1937 – April 2, 2010) was acquired in 1964 by the St. Louis Cardinals, where his win-loss record was 5–5, primarily as a relief pitcher. He gained the following honors:
- 4× All-Star (1967, 1970, 1971, 1974)
- 2× World Series champion (1964, 1970)
- AL Cy Young Award (1969)
- MLB wins leader (1970)
Steve Braun (1938) made his major league debut on April 6, 1971. He played for the Cardinals from 1981-1985 and was part of the World Championship team of 1982. As a Cardinals player, he accumulated 94 hits in 330 games with 35 runs batted in and a .258 batting average. His last game played was in a Cardinals uniform on October 6, 1985.
Deaths
- Fred Wigington 1980
Debuts
- Brad Thompson 2005
In Other Baseball News
On May 8, 1871, Ezra Sutton hit the first home run in professional baseball history for the Cleveland Forest Citys against the Chicago White Stockings.