A decade after the Cardinals and Dodgers were matched again in a National League Division Series, the result was familiar. So was the touch of class.
After the Cardinals eliminated the Dodgers from the 2004 National League Division Series, players and staff from both teams met on the field and shook hands.
After the Cardinals eliminated the Dodgers from the 2014 National League Division Series, St. Louis manager Mike Matheny tipped his cap to his opponent.
On Oct. 7, 2014, the Cardinals beat the Dodgers, 3-2, in Game 4 at St. Louis and advanced to the National League Championship Series. Boxscore As Matheny entered the field to congratulate his team, he turned toward the Dodgers’ dugout, doffed his cap and, in a gesture of respect, nodded in their direction. Check out the video clip.
Ten years earlier, on Oct. 10, 2004, the Cardinals beat the Dodgers, 5-2, in Game 4 at Los Angeles and advanced to the National League Championship Series. In an unscripted act of sportsmanship prompted by Cardinals outfielder Larry Walker and led by managers Jim Tracy of the Dodgers and Tony La Russa of St. Louis, the teams met near the third-base line and the Dodgers offered congratulations.
A surprised Matheny, then the Cardinals’ catcher, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch afterward, “I didn’t know what was going on. I thought we were going to brawl.”
Hockey lesson
Late in the regular season, after the Cardinals had clinched the 2004 Central Division crown, Walker suggested to La Russa that the Cardinals and their Division Series opponent shake hands on the field after the series finale. Walker, a Canadian, was impressed by how National Hockey League players formed a line on the ice after games and congratulated one another.
“Those guys (hockey players) go out and beat the daylights out of each other and then shake hands,” Walker said. “I think it’s a class thing.”
At the time Walker proposed his idea, the Cardinals didn’t know who they’d face in the first round of the postseason. “It sends a great message,” La Russa said of Walker’s suggestion. “But it depended on who we go up against. I know some managers better than others. But I know Jim Tracy really well.”
Before Game 1 of the Cardinals-Dodgers series, La Russa and Tracy discussed Walker’s idea, but neither mentioned it again.
Impromptu gesture
After the Cardinals’ clinching victory in Game 4, La Russa, like Matheny in 2014, went onto the field and turned toward the Dodgers’ dugout. He waved to Tracy. Then, La Russa made a handshake motion.
Tracy got the message.
He led the Dodgers onto the field.
“It was a class act,” said Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan. “Tracy led the way.”
Said an appreciative La Russa: “I know it had to be much more difficult for them to come out of the dugout and meet us halfway. It was impressive.” Boxscore
Walker, who had joined the Cardinals two months earlier in a trade with the Rockies, was delighted.
“This is something I’ve thought about for a long time,” Walker said. “You can laugh at it, but I think it’s something that can be done. It can’t hurt.”
Previously: Mike Matheny sparked Cardinals over Dodgers in 2004 NLDS
Leave a comment