RetroSimba

As an 11-year-old Cardinals fan, Bill Mueller attended Game 7 of the 1982 World Series at Busch Stadium in St. Louis and witnessed his hometown team clinch the championship against the Brewers.

Twenty-two years later, Mueller returned to a World Series for the first time.

As a 33-year-old big-league veteran, Mueller was the third baseman for the Red Sox in Game 4 of the 2004 World Series at Busch Stadium in St. Louis and witnessed Boston break the hearts of his hometown team by clinching the championship against the Cardinals.

Ten years after that, Mueller has come full circle.

On Nov. 17, 2014, Mueller was named assistant hitting coach of the Cardinals, replacing David Bell, who was promoted to bench coach after Mike Aldrete departed for a coaching job with the Athletics. Mueller had been hitting coach of the Cubs during the 2014 season. He will serve under Cardinals hitting coach John Mabry in 2015.

McGee a favorite

A native of the St. Louis suburb of Maryland Heights, Mo., Mueller grew up a Cardinals fan. Center fielder Willie McGee was his favorite player, Mueller told Jeff Horrigan of the Boston Herald in October 2004.

As a rookie in 1982, McGee sparked the Cardinals to their first National League pennant in 14 years. After splitting the first six games of the 1982 World Series with the Brewers, the Cardinals faced a Game 7 showdown at Busch Stadium.

Mueller attended the game with his father. Their seats were in the upper deck of the outfield. “The nosebleed section,” Mueller told The Patriot Ledger of Quincy, Mass., in 2004.

The Brewers’ Ben Oglive smacked a home run off Joaquin Andujar near the section where the Muellers sat. That’s one of Bill Mueller’s enduring memories of the game. What’s most memorable, of course, is that the Cardinals won, 6-3, earning their first World Series title since 1967. “Pretty cool,” Mueller said of the experience. Boxscore

Turning pro

Mueller became a baseball standout at De Smet Jesuit High School in Creve Coeur, Mo., and at Missouri State University in Springfield. He was drafted by the Giants and made his big-league debut with them in 1996.

In his first appearance at Busch Stadium with the Giants in August 1996, Mueller got five hits in 10 at-bats during a four-game series. Three years later, on May 25, 1999, Mueller hit a grand slam off Kent Mercker at Busch Stadium before more than 30 family and friends in a 17-1 Giants victory over the Cardinals. Boxscore

After the 2000 season, the Giants traded Mueller to the Cubs. He spent two years in Chicago, became a free agent and signed with the Red Sox. In his first season with Boston, Mueller was the 2003 American League batting champion, hitting .326 in 146 games.

Mueller vs. Rolen

The next season, Mueller helped Boston win the American League pennant, their first since 1986. He would be going to the World Series for the first time as a player and for the only time since he attended as a fan in 1982.

“That (1982) was my last experience with a World Series and now I’m going back for a World Series in St. Louis and I’m part of it,” Mueller said to Dan O’Neill of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on the eve of the 2004 World Series. “It’s really a pretty amazing thing when you think about it.”

In most media previews of the 2004 World Series, the Cardinals, with Scott Rolen, were rated as having the advantage at third base over Mueller and the Red Sox. Rolen had hit 34 home runs with 124 RBI during the regular season and would win his fifth consecutive Gold Glove Award in 2004.

Mueller, though, proved the experts wrong.

The Red Sox swept the Cardinals, winning the first two games at Boston and the next two at Busch Stadium, and earned their first World Series championship since 1918, ending what some considered to be a curse placed on the franchise after it had traded Babe Ruth to the Yankees.

Mueller played an integral role in Boston’s dominance of the Cardinals. He batted .429 (6-for-14) with four walks in the World Series. His on-base percentage was .556. He scored three runs and drove in two.

His counterpart, Rolen, was hitless in 15 at-bats.

Previously: Paul Molitor vs. Cardinals: Sensational, strange 1982 World Series