(Updated May 22, 2022)
Once a tradition as reliable as fireworks and ice cream, the big-league baseball doubleheader was a staple of Independence Day in the United States.
The Cardinals played a July 4 doubleheader every year from 1927 through 1950.
Since 1900, the Cardinals have played 59 Independence Day doubleheaders _ but none since 1984.
Played at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park on a Wednesday, with Game 1 beginning at 10:30 a.m., the last Cardinals doubleheader on July 4 featured the debut of one of their starting pitchers, the first career save for one of their relievers and a timely hitting display by a first baseman who would be dealt to the Giants after the season.
Riding a six-game winning streak entering the doubleheader, the Giants were stopped in Game 1 by the pitching of Cardinals rookie left-hander Ricky Horton.
Horton allowed the Giants’ leadoff batter to reach base in four of seven innings pitched, but limited San Francisco to two runs.
“I didn’t exactly have good stuff,” Horton said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “The whole day I was behind a lot of hitters.”
Paced by first baseman David Green’s two-run home run, the Cardinals led, 4-2, when manager Whitey Herzog turned to closer Bruce Sutter in the eighth.
Sutter loaded the bases with one out before striking out pinch-hitters Chili Davis and Scot Thompson.
In the ninth, Sutter gave up three hits and a run, but with runners on first and second, one out, he retired Dusty Baker and Joel Youngblood on forceouts, preserving the 4-3 win for Horton and St. Louis. Boxscore
For Game 2, Herzog started Kurt Kepshire, a right-hander making his major-league debut.
Called up from Class AAA Louisville, where he was 7-5 with a 4.60 ERA in 16 starts, Kepshire limited the Giants to a run through eight innings.
In the ninth, with one out and the Cardinals ahead, 5-1, Kepshire walked Thompson and Youngblood. Jeff Lahti relieved and retired Bob Brenly on a flyout and Al Oliver on a groundout, earning his first big-league save. Boxscore
“I had butterflies, but I wasn’t petrified,” Kepshire said to the Associated Press. “The wind made my breaking ball hang early in the game, so I started using the fastball more.”
Said Herzog: “He challenges those guys. He’s got some guts. I love it.”
The Giants stranded 19 baserunners in the doubleheader. Referring to the Cardinals’ two rookie starting pitchers, Giants shortstop Johnnie LeMaster told the San Francisco Examiner, “We let two guys get away with some awful bad stuff.”
Green drove in the go-ahead run in Game 2. Seven months later, he was traded by the Cardinals to the Giants as a key part of the deal for slugger Jack Clark.
One unfortunate note: Late in the second game, the San Francisco Examiner reported, someone flung a large explosive from the upper deck in center field down past the scoreboard to the seats in the lower deck. “The bomb went off in a blast that sent white smoke billowing and a roar reverberating through the stands,” according to columnist Art Spander. A 24-year-old woman was injured, suffering facial burns and cuts, and taken to a hospital.
RetroSimba 
Enjoyed reading this post because it brought back childhood memories. One of the best family reunions I experienced was the the 4th of July weekend of 1977. The only disappointing thing to happen was watching the Cardinals drop two games to the Pirates. In 1980 they didn’t play a doubleheader but I bet all of us still remember George Hendrick’s walk off homer in the 10th inning. Great memories when even an extra inning game took less than two hours to complete. And even a 0-0 game kept you on the edge of your seat.
Thanks for sharing the personal remembrance. So glad you got to experience that.
Game one was apparently the Cardinals last morning game before today (5/22/22). Any details as to why? They weren’t traveling far afterwards, just to LA.
Interesting quote from a 1989 article in the Wash. Post: “But then, there hasn’t been a doubleheader scheduled on any major national holiday since the St. Louis Cardinals visited the San Francisco Giants at Candlestick Park on July 4, 1984. The Dodgers haven’t played a holiday doubleheader at home for nine years. The California Angels, who haven’t played a scheduled doubleheader at Anaheim Stadium this decade, played their last holiday twin bill on Labor Day 1977.
Having to travel a minimum 6 hours round trip to visit a big league park (not counting traffic), DHs used to be my go to games to see. I miss ’em.
Thank you for reading and for commenting.
According to columnist Art Spander in the San Francisco Examiner, the first game of the July 4, 1984, doubleheader at Candlestick Park started at 10:30 a.m. because “the plan was to allow everyone to return home in plenty of time for the evening firework displays” in the area.
According to Spander, “Paid attendance was 28,085, although most arrived late and departed early.”
A smart major-league franchise would find a way to bring back holiday doubleheaders. I hope they never return to the farcical 7-inning doubleheaders played in 2020 and 2021.