For many, it no longer paid to watch the Cardinals try to remain in the 1989 division title chase.
On Sept. 14, 1989, the paid attendance to see the Pirates play the Cardinals in a Thursday afternoon game at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis was 1,519.
It was the lowest paid attendance total for a Cardinals game since the stadium opened in May 1966.
The Cardinals’ previous lowest paid attendance figure at Busch Memorial Stadium was 3,380 on Sept. 27, 1972, for a game against the Mets. The Wednesday afternoon game was the regular-season home finale for the Cardinals, who began the day 23 games out of first place at 71-79. Boxscore
In 1989, the Cardinals were supposed to have an off-day on Sept. 14, but a game hastily was scheduled to make up for the previous night when rain halted a scoreless standoff with the Pirates in the sixth inning.
Change of plans
The three-game series with the Pirates should have been a chance for the Cardinals to secure their position in the National League East Division race, but instead it turned out to be a continuation of a slide out of contention.
The Cardinals’ woes began a few days earlier at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The Cardinals (76-63) were 1.5 games behind the Cubs (78-62) entering the three-game weekend series. The Cubs won two of three and the Cardinals returned home to face the Pirates (63-79).
Held to a total of three runs, the Cardinals lost the first two games to the Pirates and went into the Sept. 13 series finale 4.5 games behind the Cubs.
The Wednesday night game matched starting pitchers Doug Drabek of the Pirates and Jose DeLeon of the Cardinals. They waged a scoreless duel before the game was called off because of rain with one out in the top of the sixth. Boxscore
The game, to be replayed entirely, was rescheduled for 12:35 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 14. With little notice of an unscheduled game for a day when many were at work or school, few bought tickets.
In addition to the 1,519 paid attendees, the Cardinals allowed those with ticket stubs from the previous night’s rain-halted game to get in free. The Cardinals said 2,015 people used the free vouchers, bringing the total number of spectators to 3,534.
Stranger things
The few fans were confined to the lower deck of the stadium. The sight of such a small gathering for a Cardinals home game was unsettling to both teams.
“It was almost like a 10 o’clock in the morning game in spring training,” Pirates manager Jim Leyland said to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Pirates outfielder Andy Van Slyke, a former Cardinal, told the Pittsburgh Press: “I’d have given you my paycheck if you told me I’d have played before 3,500 in Busch Stadium in September with the Cardinals four games out.”
Said Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog: “We’d have done better (in ticket sales) if we’d played the game in Pittsburgh.”
Adding to the weird vibe was the smoke wafting into the stadium from a fire at a burning warehouse nearby. Herzog told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch the scene looked to him “like a graveyard with lights.”
Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz noted, “The Cardinals’ season is burning and you could smell it at Busch Stadium.”
Hitting the skids
The game matched pitchers Jeff Robinson, a converted reliever, for the Pirates versus Bob Tewksbury, making his first start as a Cardinal.
The Cardinals led, 2-1, before the Pirates scored three runs in the seventh against relievers Dan Quisenberry and Ken Dayley.
In the ninth, trailing 4-2, the Cardinals scored a run on consecutive doubles by Tim Jones and Ozzie Smith. With Smith on second and one out, Vince Coleman laced a liner, but it was snared by shortstop Jay Bell, who caught Smith venturing too far off second base and turned a game-ending double play. Boxscore
The sweep by the Pirates gave the Cardinals five losses in a row and pushed them 5.5 games behind the Cubs. The Cardinals scored a total of nine runs in those five defeats.
“It’s hard to say when the nail is in the coffin,” Dayley said, “but there isn’t much daylight getting in right now.”
Said Jones: “Luckily, with the way we played, there weren’t 30,000 people in the stands.”
The Cubs (93-69) went on to win the division crown. The Mets (87-75) finished second and the Cardinals (86-76) were third.
RetroSimba 
We lost the division that year by going 12-24 against the Cubs and Pirates. In fact before this series against the Pirates, we had just lost 2 out of 3 against Chicago. Little did we know it, but the Whiteyball era was coming to a close.
Thanks. That 1989 Cardinals club had a reliever, Frank DiPino, whose 9-0 record that season is reminiscent of the 10-0 mark posted by John Gant 30 years later for the 2019 Cardinals.