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1982 St. Louis Cardinals

1982 NLCS: The Cardinals Sweep The Braves

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The St. Louis Cardinals have become a regular in the National League Championship Series, advancing to this round nine times from 2000-14. The Atlanta Braves would also become an NLCS regular with nine trips of their own between 1991-2001. But at the 1982 NLCS these two future powers were relative newcomers to a playoff round only its 14th year. The Cardinals were in the NLCS for the first time ever and the Braves for the first time since the inaugural LCS year of 1969.

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You can read more about the regular season paths the Cardinals and Braves took to the playoffs and about the years enjoyed by their key players, at the links below. This article focuses squarely on the games of the 1982 NLCS.

READ MORE ABOUT THE 1982 ST. LOUIS CARDINALS
READ MORE ABOUT THE 1982 ATLANTA BRAVES

Both teams were led by Hall of Fame managers. St. Louis’ Whitey Herzog had established himself in Kansas City, reaching the ALCS each year from 1976-78 and then turning around St. Louis. Meanwhile, Joe Torre was just starting to build the managerial chops that would come to full fruition in the Bronx fourteen years later, as he led Atlanta.

LCS play was best-of-five through 1984 and homefield was determined by a rotation system. The Cardinals would host the first two games and the Braves would get the balance of the series at home.

Game 1 on Wednesday might have been seen as an ominous foreshadowing for Atlanta. Veteran knuckleballer Phil Niekro threw four shutout innings when the rains came and washed the night away. Had this happened today, play would likely have just resumed in the fifth inning. In the more antiquated world of 1982, MLB rigidly adhered to regular season policy, even in the playoffs.

Had the Braves gotten three more outs, it would have been an official game. Because it wasn’t, the four innings were wiped off the books and Game 1 started fresh on Thursday night. Pascual Perez pitched for Atlanta against St. Louis’ Bob Forsch.

Both pitchers cruised through the first two innings perfectly. The Cards broke through in the third when Willie McGee led off with a triple and then scored on a sac fly from Ozzie Smith. In the top of the sixth, the Braves got a leadoff single from Claudell Washington. But he was promptly wiped out on a stolen base attempt by catcher Darrell Porter. It was a signature moment when the game decisively swung.

St. Louis came up in the bottom of the sixth and broke Game 1 open. Lonnie Smith, Keith Hernandez and George Hendricks led off with consecutive singles, making the score 2-0 with runners on first and second. Torre came to get Perez and gave the ball to reliever Steve Bedrosian, a pitcher who had a bright future ahead of him.

Bedrosian’s future was better than his immediate present. He walked Porter, then gave up consecutive singles to McGee and Ozzie Smith. It was now 4-0, the bases were still loaded and Forsch helped the cause with a sac fly. With two outs, third baseman Ken Oberkfell knocked in another run. It was 6-0 by the time the inning was over. Forsch cruised home, the Cards tacked on another run and won 7-0.

Another day of rain pushed Game 2 to Saturday night and wiped out the travel day originally scheduled. The teams would leave this game and go immediately to Atlanta for a four-games-in-four-days that qualifies as grueling in the postseason.

Niekro was back on the mound for Atlanta, while Herzog turned to John Stuper. And the Cardinals kept their momentum going with a quick run in the bottom of the first. Hernandez walked, took third on a single by Lonnie Smith and scored on a wild pitch.

Atlanta finally scored their first officially recognized run of the NLCS in the third. Bruce Benedict worked a leadoff walk and was bunted up by Niekro. With two outs, shortstop Rafael Ramirez singled him in and then an error in centerfield by McGee kept Ramirez running. He didn’t stop running until he had an inside-the-park-home run (albeit one officially scored as a single) and the Braves had a 2-1 lead.

Niekro escaped a jam in the fourth when the Cardinals got a man to third with none out. The old knuckleballer struck out Hendricks and McGee and ultimately escaped. The Braves had some momentum now and added to the lead in the fifth. Glenn Hubbard singled, went to third on a double by Benedict and Niekro was doing it all—the pitcher hit a sac fly for a 3-1 lead.

St. Louis got a run back in the sixth when Hernandez singled and scored on an RBI double from Porter. Hendricks beat out an infield hit and even though Porter couldn’t move up, the Cards were poised to tie the game. After a McGee strikeout, Ozzie Smith singled to right. But Washington came up throwing and gunned down Porter at the plate, keeping the game at 3-2.

Atlanta missed a big chance when they put runners on first and second with none out. Cleanup hitter Bob Horner struck out and then Dale Murphy, NL MVP, tried to steal third and was caught. The rally died and it stayed a one-run game.

Gene Garber was now on in relief for Atlanta and with one out in the eighth, issued a walk to Porter. Hendrick singled, putting runners at the corners and a productive groundball out from McGee tied the game. Garber was back on the mound in the ninth and no more successful. He gave up a leadoff single to David Green, who was bunted up and then scored on a game-winning hit by Oberkfell.

It was a disheartening sequence of four days for Atlanta. They’d had an early lead in one game that got washed out and a late lead in another game that they’d blown. Niekro had to especially frustrated after his stellar work. All it added up to was that St. Louis was one win from a pennant and Atlanta was going home needing to win three straight.

Game 3 on Sunday night proved to be anticlimactic. St. Louis jumped Atlanta starter Rick Camp early. In the top of the second, Hernandez singled, Porter walked, Hendricks knocked in a run with a single and McGee slashed a two-run triple. Ozzie Smith finished it off with a base hit for a quick 4-0 lead. St. Louis added to the lead in the fifth with a leadoff double from second baseman Tom Herr and a two-out base hit from Hernandez.

Joaquin Andujar was rolling on the mound for St. Louis. Atlanta didn’t seriously threaten until the bottom of the seventh. Washington and Horner singled to put me on the corners. But Andujar got Chris Chambliss to ground into a double play. It might have scored on a run through the backdoor, but it killed a potential big inning. Because Murphy singled, moved up on a wild pitch and scored on a Hubbard single. But Herzog summoned his great closer, Bruce Sutter, to kill the threat and keep the game at 5-2.

McGee tacked on one more run for St. Louis with a ninth-inning home run. Sutter set down all seven batters he faced. Chambliss, who had ended the 1976 ALCS for the Yankees when he hit a ninth-inning walkoff home run, ended this one in less dramatic fashion. A flyout to leftfield sent the Cardinals to their first World Series since 1968.

Porter was named NLCS MVP. He went 5-for-9 with three doubles, was a part of important rallies and his throwing out of Washington in Game 1 was a series turning point, to the extent there can be one in a three-game sweep. He was a worthy choice, although you could make a good argument for Ozzie Smith (also 5-for-9), along with Hernandez (4-for-12 and an instigator of key rallies). Sutter also threw 4 1/3 innings of perfect baseball and had won Game 2.

There was success in the future for Atlanta and Torre, but not together. After a good 1983 season where the Braves contended to the final weekend, they fell off the radar. Torre did not return to the playoffs until he began his great run with the Yankees in 1996. The Braves didn’t make it back to the playoffs until Bobby Cox led them in 1991.

St. Louis had a lot of good times ahead. In the immediate future, they beat the Milwaukee Brewers to win a good seven-game World Series. In the short-term future, the Cardinals won two more National League pennants for Herzog in 1985 and 1987. And in the long-term future they’ve become the model baseball franchise.

The 1982 St. Louis Cardinals Paint The Town Red Again

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The 1982 St. Louis Cardinals inherited the legacy of the National League’s proudest franchise, but one that was—relatively speaking—in a dry spell. After going to consecutive World Series in 1967-68 and winning one, this great baseball city had been quiet in October. Baseball expanded in 1969, the leagues split into two divisions each, but St. Louis didn’t win the new NL East.

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It wasn’t as though the team was bad—there were seven winning seasons between 1969-81, and the 1981 team had the NL East’s best overall record—but the strike of that year caused a split-season format and St. Louis didn’t finish first in either half. 1982 saw the Cardinals again paint their hometown red for October.

Whitey Herzog had managed the excellent teams that won division titles from 1976-78, and he switched Missouri locales in 1980, taking over the Cardinals midway through the season. Herzog brought an aggressive, running style to the offense and St. Louis was one of the most unique offensive teams in baseball in 1982.

The Cardinals were fifth in the National League in runs scored, and they did it without a single player hitting 20 home runs and only one batting over .300. St. Louis was, in one respect, the original Moneyball team—they did it with on-base percentage and just getting runners on base, at a time when taking a walk was still seen as something a little less than manly.

But in another important respect, the Cardinals were decidedly anti-Moneyball. The statistics-driven philosophy preaches against the stolen base, believing it a play that’s on the wrong side of the risk-reward equation. The Cardinals swiped 200 bases and led the National League.

Lonnie Smith, the team’s one .300 hitter, led the way with a .381 OBP and he stole 68 bases. Ozzie Smith, the defensive whiz at shortstop, had a .339 OBP and good speed. Second baseman Tom Herr and third baseman Ken Oberkfell were consistent at getting on base and centerfielder Willie McGee provided another great speed threat.

The middle of the lineup might not have had home run hitters, but that should not be mistaken with a lack of talent. Keith Hernandez, one of the best all-around first basemen of his day, had a .397 OBP. Rightfielder George Hendrick hit 19 home runs and drove in 104 runs. Darrell Porter, the catcher, hit 12 home runs and a .347 OBP. It wasn’t a conventional offense, but it was deep and they had a good manager overseeing everything.

St. Louis’ pitching was even better, ranking third in the National League in ERA. Joaquin Andujar won 15 games with a 2.47 ERA and logged 265 innings. Bob Forsch won 15 games with a 3.48 ERA. Pitchers ranging from Steve Mura to John Stuper and Dave LaPoint were steady in filling out the rest of the rotation. And in relief stood one of the great closers in the game at a time when that position was starting to really come into vogue—Bruce Sutter, with his split-fingered fastball, saved 36 games with a 2.90 ERA.

The Cardinals came out of the gate fast, with a 12-game winning streak in April, and they went 5-1 against the Philadelphia Phillies, who had won the NL East four of the previous six years, the World Series in 1980 and won one of the “halves” in 1981.

From mid-April to June 23, St. Louis stayed in first place, by as many as 4 ½ games. Along with the Phils, the Montreal Expos were in the hunt. Montreal had won the division in 1981 and with a slew of young talented players, led by catcher Gary Carter, were a popular pick to go the distance.

The three teams stayed fairly close together through the summer. St. Louis ranged anywhere from two games up to two games into early September. Then they won two important series that opened up the division.

On Labor Day, the Cardinals hosted the Expos to open a three-game series. St. Louis won two of the games, and both wins were by 1-0 counts. Their aces, Andujar and Forsch came up with complete-game wins. In mid-September, St. Louis won two of three in Philadelphia, again both wins being shutouts. Stuper and Sutter combined on a five-hit whitewashing and Andujar added another complete-game gem.

By September 17, St. Louis had a three-game led and they never looked back. They got up by as many as 6 ½ games and clinched the NL East on the Monday that began the regular season’s final week. The clinching win came in Montreal, representing a symbolic changing of the guard in the NL East.

The Atlanta Braves were the opponent in the National League Championship Series. The Braves were led by MVP centerfielder Dale Murphy, and they were managed by another legend in Joe Torre. The difference is, that unlike Herzog, Torre’s managerial skills were not yet recognized and wouldn’t be until he landed in New York for 1996.

St. Louis got an early break when their 1-0 deficit after four innings in Game 1 was wiped out by rain and they started fresh the next night. They took full advantage, winning Games 1 & 3 easily and rallying to win Game 2 on a walkoff single by Oberkfell. They swept what was then a best-of-five series.

Now it was time for the World Series and it would be an all-Midwest affair as the Cardinals played the Milwaukee Brewers, then in the American League. The Brewers were the polar opposite of St. Louis—Milwaukee was built on a fearsome power attack.
St. Louis and Milwaukee played a compelling World Series. Each team got one blowout win, each team won a nail-biter and it went the full seven games. The Cardinals rallied from a two-run deficit in the sixth inning of Game 7 and brought the championship back to St. Louis.

The Cardinals have never gone away over the ensuing thirty-plus years. They won National League pennants in 1985 and 1987. They remained a relatively consistent contender, though it was 2004 before they got back to the World Series and 2006 when they won it again. Another championship came in 2011, with yet another pennant in 2013. It was 1982 that a 15-year drought ended and essentially ushered in the modern era of St. Louis Cardinals history.