RetroSimba

From 1960 through 1987, St. Louis had two major-league Cardinals franchises: the baseball Cardinals and the football Cardinals of the NFL.

Here’s a look at how the baseball Cardinals fared on three key St. Louis football dates: the first regular-season game of the St. Louis football Cardinals, the regular-season opener of the final season of the St. Louis football Cardinals, and the first regular-season game of the St. Louis Rams:

SEPTEMBER 23, 1960

On this Friday afternoon, the baseball Cardinals swept a doubleheader against the Cubs before 2,061 at Wrigley Field. That night _ yes, a Friday night _ the St. Louis football Cardinals played their first regular-season game, defeating the Los Angeles Rams, 43-21, in the opener of the 1960 NFL season.

At Chicago, first baseman Bill White drove in four runs, including a three-run home run off Glen Hobbie in the third inning, lifting the Cardinals to a 5-1 victory. Ernie Broglio pitched a five-hitter for St. Louis, improving to 21-7. Boxscore

In the second game, St. Louis won by the same 5-1 score in a game called after seven innings because of darkness. Third baseman Ken Boyer solved Seth Morehead for a solo homer in the second and a two-run triple in the seventh. Ray Sadecki, a 19-year-old rookie, earned his ninth win, limiting Chicago to five hits. Boxscore

At Los Angeles, backup quarterback John Roach, who replaced King Hill at halftime, threw four touchdown passes, rallying the football Cardinals over the Rams. Roach tossed a 52-yard scoring strike to running back John David Crow, and touchdown passes of 57, 37 and 24 yards to end Sonny Randle. “We were a bunch of tigers,” Cardinals coach Pop Ivy told the Associated Press.

SEPTEMBER 13, 1987

On a relentlessly rainy Sunday afternoon, the Mets moved to within 2.5 games of the first-place Cardinals with a 4-2 victory against St. Louis at Shea Stadium. At Busch Stadium, the football Cardinals opened their final season in St. Louis with a 24-13 victory over the Cowboys.

Rookie pitchers David Cone and Randy Myers combined to hold the Cardinals to six singles, a double and one earned run. Five of the eight outs recorded by Myers were on strikeouts. Boxscore

“The day was a funny day,” Cone told the New York Times. “All the delays and sitting around wondering if we were going to play _ when we got to the second delay, I was sure we wouldn’t play. It was nice to be able to relax and watch football games on television. I didn’t have to think about the game.”

At St. Louis, the football Cardinals won their first home opener since 1975 when they rallied from a 13-3 deficit by scoring three touchdowns in the final two minutes, beating the Cowboys, 24-13.

The Cardinals had lost 14 of their last 17 against Dallas and had been outscored by the Cowboys 68-13 in two games in 1986. St. Louis quarterback Neil Lomax connected with receiver Roy Green on touchdown passes of 16 and 22 yards, and Earl Ferrell capped the comeback with a 15-yard touchdown run.

“We just gave it away,” Cowboys coach Tom Landry told the Associated Press.

Said Cardinals coach Gene Stallings, who had been a Cowboys assistant before joining St. Louis: “This was special.”

SEPTEMBER 3, 1995

On the Sunday of Labor Day weekend, the Cardinals and Rams each played a close game, with different results. At Busch Stadium, the Rockies defeated the Cardinals, 5-4, in 11 innings. In their first regular-season game since locating from Los Angeles to St. Louis, the Rams beat the Packers, 17-14, at Green Bay.

At St. Louis, the Rockies scored four in the first and the Cardinals scored four in the fourth. The score stayed 4-4 until the 11th when backup catcher Joe Girardi hit a two-out single on a 0-2 pitch from Jeff Parrett, scoring Andres Galarraga from second and carrying Colorado to a 5-4 victory. Boxscore

In Green Bay, the Rams’ defense, led by defensive end Sean Gilbert, sacked Brett Favre four times and intercepted the Packers quarterback three times in St. Louis’ 17-14 victory.

“Brett’s a great quarterback,” Rams tackle D’Marco Farr told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “I don’t know if you can battle a guy like that. We just had to keep people in his face, keep him occupied.”

Said first-year Rams coach Rich Brooks: “It was a gutsy win. We didn’t paint a Rembrandt, but we got an NFL win on the road.”

In his first NFL start, Rams wide receiver Isaac Bruce blocked a punt and caught a touchdown pass from Chris Miller. “It’s a lot harder to block a punt than it is to catch a touchdown pass,” Bruce told the Associated Press.