Sports outlook

Gosh, I find it difficult to believe. That greatest of summers has been 40 years ago.

I can still remember with stark clarity what might be one of the most defining moments of the latter half of the 20th century.

Go back in time with me to Friday, Feb. 7, 1964. It was early evening. Clint Kraft and I decided to drop by Mike Holmes' house on N. Tower to see if he was ready to go out (which he wasn't) for the evening prior to the Nevada basketball game. The 5:30 news was on and there was all this furor about the Beatles, who had just landed in New York. It was an insane scene and marked the first time in my life that I saw the group fresh from England that would one day be known as the Fab Four.

It was a significant year for me anyway since 1964 was the year I graduated from high school. Back in those days I was a fan of the St. Louis Cardinals. I listened to Harry Caray all the time and he made you a fan. You see, there wasn't a great deal of baseball on this side of the state. Our A's didn't give us a great deal to cheer about. There were eight teams in the league until 1961. The A's promptly dropped another rung in '61. In '64 they were doomed to finish 10th.

The Cardinals had made a good run in 1963 before finally falling behind and losing to the Dodgers at the end as Stan Musial closed out his illustrious career.

Well, 1964 didn't start that good for St. Louis. At one point the Cardinals were 40-41.

But something had happened on June 15. The Cardinals decided that Charley James was not the answer as successor to Musial in left field. Still smarting from a deal they had made with the Cubs a couple years earlier when they were fleeced in obtaining George Altman, a major bust.

It was Chicago's turn for a fleecing this time around as the Cardinals got Lou Brock for pitcher Ernie Broglio. Brock wound up in the Hall of Fame and Broglio disappeared from the majors in 1966 and won just 10 more games in his career.

For a long time it appeared as though the Philadelphia Phillies would win in a walk. They got people talking about the 1950 Whiz Kids again and I can remember going over to Charlie Ferguson's store which was my favorite place for talking baseball. Charlie and I could recite the lineup of the Whiz Kids even though I was only three when they won the pennant. I can still give it to you: first base, Eddie Waitkus; second base, Mike Goliat; shortstop, Granny Hamner, third base, Puddin' Head Jones; right field, Del Ennis; center field, Richie Ashburn; left field, Dick Sisler, catcher, Andy Seminick.

We caught baseball fever that summer as the Cardinals caught fire and went 53-28 (.654) in the second half. What a run. I can't remember now if the Cardinals won 18 of 19 or 19 of 20 down the stretch, but they came on strong.

I recall one Saturday afternoon when Joe Whisler and I went down south of town to pick up a load of bricks for, as I recall, Renwick. I had my trusty transistor radio on and listened as the Cardinals won.

At one point, the Cardinals trailed by 10 games, but a sweep over the Phillies in late September closed things up. Gene Mauch, manager of the Phillies, panicked and kept throwing Chris Short and Jim Bunning on short rest. The Cardinals caught them and held a one-game lead with three to play against none other than the lowly Mets. I still remember the groan in the crowd at Logan Field during the Friday night football game when the score was announced. The Mets won. On Saturday, the Mets won again. The Reds caught them. On Sunday, if St. Louis lost and Philadelphia won, it would have produced the first and only three-way tie in history.

A Cardinal loss and Red win would have meant a Cincinnati flag. But the Cardinals won, with Caray screaming, "The Cardinals win the pennant, the Cardinals win the pennant, the Cardinals win the pennant. Holy cow! The Cardinals win the pennant." The Phillies had ended their losing streak and beaten Cincinnati. There never was and never will be another pennant race like 1964.

I still remember sitting in the car one July or August night when the Cardinals came back against Sandy Koufax and won in the bottom of the ninth on a 3-and-2 single by Bob Skinner, the other left fielder the Cardinals acquired to two days prior to getting Brock.

And that was 1964, the year of the Beatles and the year of the Cardinals, a year never to be forgotten or duplicated.