Cardinals-Cubs rivalry
| MLB Rivalries Ratings |
   |
| Invite Your Friends to Rate |
The Cardinals-Cubs rivalry refers to the Major League Baseball games between the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals. The rivalry is also known as the I-55 series, deriving its name from the roadway connecting the two cities, Interstate 55. The Cubs lead the all-time series 1,129-1,069 through 4/28/07. They are just as even in National League pennants with the Cardinals claiming 17 and the Cubs winning 16. However, the Cardinals have a clear edge when it comes to World Series success, having won 10 championships to the Cubs' 2. Unlike Yankees-Red Sox or Dodgers-Giants games, Cardinals-Cubs games see numerous visiting fans in either Chicago's Wrigley Field or St. Louis' Busch Stadium. These games are usually the first games of the season to sell out in Chicago and St. Louis. When the National League split into two, and then three divisions, the Cards and Cubs remained together. This has added excitement to several pennant races over the years, most recently 1989 and 2003.
Contents |
[edit] Territorial rights
In his book Three Nights in August, Buzz Bissinger compared this rivalry to another famous pair: "The Red Sox and Yankees is a tabloid-filled soap opera about money and ego and sound bites. But the Cubs and Cardinals are about . . . geography and territorial rights."
One of the "territories" in question is central Illinois, which receives both radio broadcasts of St. Louis Cardinals games (on KMOX for decades until the 2006 season, when the Cardinals' owners moved the broadcasts to KTRS, a station they bought for the purpose) as well as WGN radio & television broadcasts of Chicago Cubs games. Loyalties to the two teams divided friends, families, and co-workers, and shaped the locals in various ways, as George Will noted in a 1998 commencement address at Washington University in St. Louis: "I grew up in Champaign, Illinois, midway between Chicago and St. Louis. At an age too tender for life-shaping decisions, I made one. While all my friends were becoming Cardinals fans, I became a Cub fan. My friends, happily rooting for Stan Musial, Red Schoendienst, and other great Redbirds, grew up cheerfully convinced that the world is a benign place, so of course, they became liberals. Rooting for the Cubs in the late 1940s and early 1950s, I became gloomy, pessimistic, morose, dyspeptic and conservative. It helped out of course that the Cubs last won the World Series in 1908, which is two years before Mark Twain and Tolstoy died. But that means, class of 1998, that the Cubs are in the 89th year of their rebuilding effort, and remember, any team can have a bad moment."
[edit] History
In his book, Before They Were Cardinals, Jon David Cash speculates that the economic trade rivalry between the cities of Chicago and St. Louis led to the formation of the St. Louis Brown Stockings in 1875 to compete with the Chicago White Stockings. The Brown Stockings would later fold and reemerge in the 1880s when the Cardinals (as the Browns), met the Cubs (as the White Stockings), in a pair of pre-World Series matchups between American Association champion St. Louis and National League champion Chicago. The first series played in 1885 ended in dispute with no winner. The next year St. Louis won the matchup.
[edit] McGwire/Sosa home run chase
In 1998, the teams were eternally connected by the Mark McGwire-Sammy Sosa home run race, credited by many with revitalizing the sport following the players' strike which cancelled the 1994 World Series and the first part of the 1995 season.
In early September the teams met for a 2-game series at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. In game one, McGwire hit his record-tying 61st home run off pitcher Mike Morgan in the first inning as part of a 3-2 Cardinals victory. The following day, McGwire broke the record with #62 off Steve Trachsel in the fourth inning as part of a 6-3 victory against the Cubs. In a show of sportsmanship, Sammy Sosa was there to embrace and congratulate his home run rival and on-field opponent after McGwire rounded the bases. McGwire would finish the year with 70 home runs and Sosa with 66. However, the Cubs won the National League wild card, making the playoffs for the first time in nine years, while the Cardinals finished with a sub-.500 record.
In 2005, the Cardinals and Cubs renewed their rivalry when first basemen Derrek Lee for the Cubs and Albert Pujols for the Cardinals were on a MVP race. Lee got the better half in batting average and home runs, with Pujols taking the lead in RBIs. With the Cardinals winning the division, Pujols took home National League MVP honors.
[edit] A break in the rivalry
On June 22, 2002, the Cardinals and Cubs were set to play a nationally-televised Saturday afternoon game on Fox Network at Wrigley Field. However, word had spread throughout both organizations that current Cardinals' pitcher Darryl Kile had died in his hotel room. While the news was not confirmed at first, Cubs catcher Joe Girardi stepped up to a microphone to announce that "Due to a tragedy in the Cardinals' family, today's game has been canceled." The game was made up later in the season and the two teams resumed their series the next day with the Cubs winning 8-3.
Tragically, the rivalry had to be put on hold again when Josh Hancock, a relief pitcher for the Cardinals died in a car accident on April 29, 2007. The game, which was to be ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball game, was postponed.
[edit] Notable personalities
Many players have played for both teams, including Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby, who holds several single season hitting records for both clubs. Notably, Hall of Famer Lou Brock was traded from the Cubs to the Cards early in his career for pitcher Ernie Broglio. This is widely considered one of the most one-sided trades in baseball history. Other Hall of Famers who played/managed with both clubs include Grover Cleveland Alexander, Clark Griffith, Burleigh Grimes, Bruce Sutter, Roger Bresnahan, Dizzy Dean, Dennis Eckersley, Rabbit Maranville, Hoyt Wilhelm, and Leo Durocher.
Legendary announcer Harry Caray began his career in St. Louis, broadcasting on KMOX radio for 24 seasons, before moving to Chicago in 1971 and becoming a staple of WGN radio and television broadcasts from 1981 until his death before the 1998 season.
The rivalry between the two clubs intensified following the hiring of Dusty Baker to manage the Cubs following the 2003 season. In 2002, when Baker was managing the San Francisco Giants, he and Tony La Russa had run-ins during that year's National League Championship Series, with the animosity carrying over to Baker's tenure with the Cubs. According to Baker, part of the intensity stems from the close relationship of the two. "It's very intense...When you play 18 times against a team that's had a long-time rivalry, and my former manager and my former confidant, that just increases things." Dusty Baker played for La Russa in 1986 as a member of the Oakland Athletics.
Some say that the feud between the two managers have added to the rivalry between the two teams. "Both managers are fiercely protective of their players. Both believe in old-school baseball protocol. Neither will sit by idly and watch an opponent show up their team. Both are fierce competitors with enormous pride…. Fans don’t usually buy tickets to watch managers manage . . . but this tactical showdown added something to the Cubs-Cards series."
