(Updated Aug. 2, 2019)
In August 2001, the Cardinals began a transformation from underachievers to postseason qualifiers when they acquired pitcher Woody Williams from the Padres for outfielder Ray Lankford.
After winning the National League Central championship in 2000, the Cardinals were expected to contend in 2001, but they entered August in third place at 53-51 _ 8.5 games behind the first-place Cubs and four behind the Astros.
With the emergence of rookie Albert Pujols, the Cardinals had a surplus of outfielders, including Jim Edmonds, J.D. Drew and Lankford. Complaining about a lack of respect, Lankford, 34, was falling out of favor with team management. It didn’t help that he was hitting .235 with 105 strikeouts in 264 at-bats. Lankford had missed on 36 percent of his swings.
On Aug. 2, 2001, the Cardinals sent Lankford (who agreed to waive his no-trade clause) and more than $2.8 million to the Padres for Williams. Andy Benes was struggling (7.06 ERA entering August) and the Cardinals needed a fifth starter to join a rotation of Matt Morris, Darryl Kile, Dustin Hermanson and Bud Smith.
“We’re extremely happy,” Cardinals general manager Walt Jocketty said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “Woody Williams is a quality pitcher and a quality person.”
Williams, who would turn 35 Aug. 19, didn’t appear to be the obvious solution. He was 8-8 with a 4.97 ERA for the Padres, yielding 170 hits in 145 innings.
“I’m going to use this as a steppingstone that will allow me to get back to where I want to be,” Williams said.
Relying on a change of speeds and sharp location, Williams made his first Cardinals start on Aug. 4, 2001, against the Marlins at St. Louis and pitched six shutout innings. He left the game to a standing ovation from the crowd of 42,312. Luther Hackman and Gene Stechschulte combined to pitch three shutout innings in relief, preserving the win for Williams in a 3-0 victory. Boxscore
“He knew what was at stake here and made a first impression,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said.
Said Williams: “I have always tried to be aggressive in the strike zone, not giving in.”
Starting with that game, the Cardinals went 38-16 the remainder of the season, finishing in a tie for first place with the Astros at 93-69 and qualifying for the playoffs for a second consecutive season.
The Cardinals couldn’t have done it without Williams, who was 7-1 with a 2.28 ERA for them, limiting batters to 54 hits in 75 innings.
RetroSimba 
[…] than four months later, before the extension even began, he was dealt to St. Louis in exchange for Ray […]
Back then the Cardinal coaches had the midas touch in turning mediocre pitchers into aces. The best example is probably Chris Carpenter. Another important acquisition which helped us that year was the trade for Dustin Hermanson and Steve Kline. Woody Williams is one of 18 pitchers to have at least one victory against all 30 MLB teams. Also on that list are Dan Haren, John Lackey, Jamie Moyer and Kyle Lohse.
Thanks for the mention of former Cardinals on that list.