IT’S THAT TIME AGAIN!

By Edwin Cooney

As this week’s musing comes tumbling head over heels -- or however it travels -- into your cyberspace mailbox, the 107th “World Series” is underway!

This year’s Fall Classic pits the new against the old, the Texas Rangers vs. the St. Louis Cardinals. The Texas Rangers were in the World Series in 2010 and were defeated by the San Francisco Giants. Thus, this is their second consecutive year playing for professional baseball’s “World” Championship. The franchise has been in existence since 1961 having spent its first eleven seasons in Washington, D.C. as the “new” Washington Senators. Then, in 1971, Senators’ owner Bob Short, a Minnesota Democrat who had managed Hubert Humphrey’s 1968 presidential campaign, moved the team to Arlington, Texas which is between Dallas and Fort Worth. Bob Short sold the Rangers in 1974. Since then, the Rangers have become very, very Republican. From 1989 until 1994, George Walker Bush was a co-owner. His Rangers presidency became almost as baffling as his United States presidency unless one believes that trading Sammy Sosa to the Chicago White Sox for the aging Harold Baines was a good idea. Sammy would hit 66 home runs in 1998 to mention only one of his feats. (Note: it was the White Sox who moved Sosa on to the Cubs).

The St. Louis Cardinals are after their eleventh world championship which makes them second only to the Yankees in baseball championships: the Yankees have 27. The Cardinals’ first one came in 1926 when they defeated Babe Ruth’s New York Yankees in seven games. The Cardinals have a unique distinction over every national league team. They are the only team to hold a winning World Series record over the Yankees among teams who have played the Yankees in more than one fall classic. (The 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks and the 2003 Florida Marlins haven’t ever been defeated by the Yankees, but they’ve played the Bronx Bombers only once). The Cardinals defeated the Yankees in 1926, 1942 and 1964. The Yankees defeated the Cardinals in 1928 and 1943.

The Cardinals are rich in history. Many fans know about the Cardinal’s 1926 victory over Babe Ruth’s and Lou Gehrig’s mighty Yankee juggernaut, but time is dimming the memory of that mid-America triumph. Then, there’s the legendary Cardinal “Gas House Gang” consisting of such colorful characters as Dizzy and brother Daffy Dean. (Dizzy’s real name was Jay Hanna Dean and Daffy’s first name was Paul). There was also Pepper (Johnny) Martin, the “Wild Horse of the Osage” and Frankie Frisch, a graduate of Fordham University who nevertheless possessed a decidedly blue collar personality. Finally, there was Joe Medwick, who holds the distinction of being the only player in the history of baseball tossed from a World Series or any other game by order of the Commissioner of Baseball. He was ejected for his own personal security. (The occasion was the seventh and deciding game of the 1934 World Series, when Medwick and Tiger third baseman Marv Owen tangled in a collision at third base, the outcome of which favored Medwick and the Cardinals. The game was in Detroit and the fans grew sufficiently restless to—as Commissioner Landis saw it—to threaten Medwick’s safety. Hence, baseball’s dictatorial Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis ordered Medwick ejected from the game.)

The Texas Rangers, awesome in their power and formidable in their pitching prowess, are more than worthy opponents to the scrappy Cardinals. Lynn (Nolan) Ryan -- an enormous pitching legend -- is both team president and an on-the-field advisor to their manager, Louisiana-born Ron Washington. St. Louis manager Tony La Russa, a former journeyman infielder and a licensed attorney, and Ron Washington are an interesting combination of intellect and savvy reigning in opposing dugouts.

Who am I rooting for, you ask! For three good reasons and one personal prejudice, I’m for the Cardinals. First, the Cardinals have always been my favorite National League team -- until I moved to the Bay Area and became rather exposed to the Giants players, the broadcasters and the team’s folklore. Second, part of the Cardinals’ rich history is that they became the haven for my favorite ballplayer of all time after he left the Yankees in late 1966: Roger Maris. Third, another part of the Cardinal’s rich history is that they were the first major league team to have a woman owner. Her name was Helene Hathaway Robison Britton. She inherited the club from her Uncle Stanley Robison when he died in 1911. She owned the team through 1916 and, while the team didn’t go anywhere really, it was during her administration that they began to put together some of the pieces when they signed Rogers Hornsby, their great “second sacker” as Dizzy Deen would say. At the end of 1916, Mrs. Britton had divorced Mr. Schuler Britton (the team president) and had sold the team to Sam Breadon.

As to my prejudice, haven’t I already told you something about that? Didn’t I mention that the Texas Rangers -- and the whole state for that matter -- are very, very Republican these days? Anything that makes too many Republicans smile kind of makes me nervous!

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY