If you walked around St. Louis on Friday, you probably saw a lot of red, weary eyes. Game 6 of the World Series was to blame for that, a game that stretched 11 late innings into a chilly night, a game with a finish that made sleep an afterthought.
The increments of a 10-9 Cardinals victory on Thursday amounted a World Series game on steroids. There was enough suspense, adventure and misadventure to fill a Ken Follett novel. Both local and national observers have suggested the game might be the greatest in World Series history.
Where the night ranks among dramatic championship events in St. Louis sport history probably depends on your age, your gender, your race, your sport of choice and perhaps a few other considerations.
"I think it will be .... you will have to go real hard to have a better sixth game than that, ever," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said.
Certainly, Game 6 forever will be in the conversation. Here is one man's list of five other memorable postseason events in St. Louis that would be in the conversation. Remember, the key ingredients are dramatic, exciting, postseason and St. Louis.
"Monday Night Miracle"
In terms of back-from-the-dead drama, this one had a similar texture to Thursday. The Blues were heavy underdogs to the Calgary Flames in the best-of-seven Campbell Conference finals, as both teams hoped to advance to the Stanley Cup finals. After the Flames won Game 5 in Calgary, the series came back to St. Louis on May 12, 1986.
Calgary had things well in hand, leading by 4-1 after two periods of Game 6. Blues center Doug Wickenheiser scored a power-play goal in the third, but Calgary's Joe Mullen answered moments later to make it 5-2. If the fat lady wasn't singing, she was going over the sheet music.
Then, with 12 minutes remaining, Brian Sutter scored on Calgary goaltender Mike Vernon and the deficit was 5-3. With eight minutes to play, Greg Paslawski scored, narrowing the margin to 5-4. Suddenly, the old barn on Oakland Avenue was convulsing.
As the clock slipped under two minutes, the Blues still trailed by a goal. But with just over a minute left in the Blues' season, Calgary's Jamie Macoun came around his net, unaware of Paslawski on his trail.
Paslawski lifted Macoun's stick from behind and swept the puck past Vernon all in one motion. The game was tied 5-5 and pandemonium was loose.
In overtime, Mullen narrowly missed deciding the series, hitting a goal post behind Blues goalie Rick Wamsley. The Blues then broke up ice the other way, and announcer Ken Wilson leaned into his microphone:
"Here's Ramage, for Federko ... too far. Federko steals the puck from Reinheart, over to Hunter, who shoots ... blocked ... Wickenheiser scores! Doug Wickenheiser! The Blues pull it off and it's unbelievable!"
As for the rest of the story, the Blues went back to Calgary for Game 7 and, all those heroics notwithstanding, lost 2-1.
Jim Edmonds: The Home Run/The Catch
After losing three straight in Houston, the Cardinals returned home for Game 6 of the 2004 National League championship series, trailing the Astros 3-2.
With more than 52,000 in attendance at Busch Stadium II on Oct. 20, the game seesawed. The Cardinals had leads of 2-1, 4-2 and 4-3 before Jeff Bagwell's two-out single tied it 4-4 in the ninth, forcing bonus cantos. In the bottom of the 12th, with one out and Albert Pujols on first, Jim Edmonds took Dan Miceli deep for a game-ending homer, setting up Game 7.
One night later, although lacking the extra-inning dynamics, Game 7 was equally exciting. The Cardinals trailed the Astros and Roger Clemens 1-0 in the second when Houston put two on with one out. Brad Ausmus drove a ball deep to the gap that promised to chase home both runners. But Edmonds went horizontal to make a spectacular catch.
In the sixth Pujols doubled home a run and Scott Rolen followed with a two-run homer off Clemens to give the Cardinals and their delirious crowd the lead. They held on for a pennant-clinching win. Again, there was an anti-climactic ending. The club was swept by Boston in the World Series, as the Red Sox celebrated in front of the Busch Stadium crowd.
"Go Crazy, Folks, Go Crazy!"
More than 53,000 were in Busch II on Oct. 14, 1985, as the Cardinals and Los Angeles Dodgers took Game 5 of the NLCS to the ninth inning. The score was 2-2 and the series was 2-2, with the final two games, if it went that far, to be played in Los Angeles.
Dodgers skipper Tom Lasorda lifted starter Fernando Valenzuela and brought in Tom Niedenfuer to hurl the bottom of the ninth. The big righthander retired Willie McGee on a pop out, bringing switch-hitting Ozzie Smith to the plate.
Smith had not hit a home run in 3,009 previous big-league at-bats while swinging lefthanded. But as he turned on an inside fastball, Cardinals announcer Jack Buck described the action:
"Smith corks one into right, down the line ... It may go ... Go crazy, folks! Go crazy! It's a home run! And the Cardinals have won the game, by the score of 3-2, on a home run by The Wizard! Go crazy!"
Two days later, the Cardinals got another dramatic homer from Jack Clark and beat the Dodgers in Game 6 in Los Angeles, advancing to the World Series. Again, the ultimate outcome was disappointing. The Kansas City Royals beat the Cards in seven games to capture the World Series.
Rams 11, Bucs 6
On Jan. 23, 2000, the Rams played host to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with a chance to become St. Louis' first NFL Super Bowl entry.
The Rams had piled up 49 points in a victory over Minnesota the previous week, and scored 526 points during the regular season. But a Warren Sapp-led Bucs defense limited Marshall Faulk to 49 all-purpose yards, intercepted Kurt Warner three times and slapped a governor on the "Greatest Show on Turf." As the game headed deep into the fourth quarter, two Martin Gramatica field goals had the Bucs ahead 6-5 and had St. Louis football fans in agony.
But Rams cornerback Dre' Bly intercepted a pass by quarterback Shaun King near midfield. Moments later, with 4:44 to play, Rams quarterback Kurt Warner found receiver Ricky Proehl for a 30-year touchdown pass. The leaping catch by Proehl was his first scoring reception of the season.
With the home crowd in a frenzy, the Rams survived a scary drive by the Bucs, sacking King twice and advancing to the Super Bowl. A week later, Warner was the MVP and the Rams defeated Tennessee 23-16 to secure this town's first NFL championship.
The Pettit Performance
Although years have faded the picture, a strong case can be made that the events of April 12, 1958, at Kiel Auditorium are the most remarkable in St. Louis sports history. The St. Louis Hawks had made it to the NBA finals against Bill Russell and the Boston Celtics the previous year, only to suffer a crushing, double-overtime, Game 7 loss in Boston.
This time, Hawks star Bob Pettit was not going to let that happen. The Hawks won a critical Game 5 at Boston to take a 3-2 series lead and come back to St. Louis with a chance to clinch. With 10,218 excited hoop heads at Kiel, Pettit produced an extraordinary performance.
Pettit scored 19 points to help stake the Hawks to 57-52 halftime lead, as he was just warming up. Six straight points from Pettit boosted the lead to 10 early in the third quarter, but the champion Celtics weren't going away. As guard Bob Cousy directed the show, the Celtics went ahead 86-84 early in the final period.
The Kiel crowd was dumbfounded, as the Celtics snatched the momentum and threatened to create a Game 7 replay in Boston. "Big Blue" had other ideas.
Although he was being double- and triple-teamed, the 6-foot-9 Pettit drained shot after shot, keeping the Hawks solvent. With a little more than 20 seconds to play, Pettit drove the lane, stopped and scored over the outstretched hand of Russell, giving the Hawks a 108-105 lead.
Two Tom Heinsohn free throws made it a one-point game and the Celtics swarmed the Hawks to get the ball back. Sure enough, Slater Martin fired a shot off the mark, but Pettit fought his way to the basket and tapped in the rebound, rendering a final Boston basket irrelevant.
Pettit finished with 50 points, including 18 of his team's final 21, as the Hawks defeated the Celtics 110-109 and captured the NBA title. It was the first championship for St. Louis in any sport other than baseball.
A Schocker
In their first season, the Blues advanced to the Stanley Cup playoffs and beat the Philadelphia Flyers in seven games to get through the first round. In the semifinals, the Scotty Bowman-coached club faced the Minnesota North Stars. It became an epic series, with four of the seven games going into overtime.
The North Stars won 5-1 in Game 6, forcing a Game 7 in St. Louis on May 3, 1968. A then-record crowd of 15,586 was in attendance, with Glenn Hall in the Blues' net and Cesare Maniago between the pipes for Minnesota.
The goalies were outstanding as the game remained scoreless until Walt McKechnie beat Hall to give Minnesota a lead with just more than three minutes remaining.
Forty-three seconds later, aging Dicke Moore scored for the Blues to tie it and send the game into overtime, again.
"I knew Dickie was going to score," teammate Bob Plager said later. "He was holding that stick tight as could be and he had this look on his face. He just had this special look."
The first overtime ended scoreless. But 2:50 into the second overtime period, Blues center Ron Schock got loose, broke in on Maniago and snapped a wrist shot past him to win the game 2-1 and send the Blues to the Stanley Cup Finals.
Again, not the best conclusion. The Blues were swept in four games by Montreal, with each game decided by one goal.
