After starting the 1973 season in a funk, the Cardinals finished it with a flourish, but the feeling was the same on both ends of the spectrum: frustration.
In September 1973, the Cardinals won their final five games of the season. Highlighted by the return to health of Bob Gibson and the return to form of Rick Wise and Reggie Cleveland, the Cardinals allowed two runs over 45 innings during the season-ending win streak.
The big finish wasn’t enough, though, to earn them a division title. Weighed down by a miserable start (20 losses in their first 25 games) and more slumps in the second half of the season (11 losses in 12 games from Aug. 6 to Aug. 18, and 13 losses in 17 games from Sept. 7 to Sept. 25), the Cardinals ended up 81-81, 1.5 games behind the division champions.
Slipping away
On the morning of Sept. 25, 1973, the Cardinals (76-80) were in third place in the National League East. Ahead of them were the Mets (79-77) and Pirates (78-77). The division champion would advance to the playoffs.
The Cardinals had six games remaining, all at home _ three with the Cubs (75-80) and three with the Phillies (69-87). If they won all six, the Cardinals figured they’d have a chance to finish tied or alone atop the division.
That night, their hopes seemed to evaporate when they collapsed against the Cubs. The Cardinals blew a 2-1 lead with two outs in the ninth and lost, 4-3. A former Cardinal, Jose Cardenal, delivered a two-run double on an 0-and-2 pitch from Diego Segui. Boxscore
The Cardinals’ loss, coupled with the Mets’ win that night versus the Expos, was a crusher. It meant the Cardinals (76-81) trailed the Mets (80-77) by four with five to play. “We had to win this one,” Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The newspaper’s headline the next day declared: “Cardinals Face Reality: Loss To Cubs Ends Title Dream.”
Though the Cardinals mathematically still had a chance, the odds against them got higher when it was revealed that one of their best hitters, Joe Torre, would sit out the final five games because of an inflamed right shoulder.
Dominant pitching
The Cardinals saw a glimmer of hope the night of Sept. 26, when they beat the Cubs, 1-0, and the Mets lost to the Expos. Those results put the Cardinals (77-81) three behind the Mets (80-78) with four to play.
Rick Wise pitched his fifth shutout of the season for St. Louis. It was his second consecutive win after losing six in a row. The Cubs threatened in the eighth when Jim Hickman, a career .358 hitter in 53 at-bats versus Wise, came up with two on and two outs. Wise struck him out on three pitches, the last “a high, tight fastball with enough mustard on it to daub all the hot dogs in Busch Stadium,” Bob Logan of the Chicago Tribune reported.
The Cardinals got their run when Ted Simmons drove in Lou Brock from third with a single in the first. Boxscore
Brock and Reggie Cleveland were the standouts the next night, Sept. 27, when the Cardinals beat the Cubs, 2-0.
Cleveland, who had lost his last four decisions, pitched a one-hit shutout. He retired the first 16 batters before Ken Rudolph singled with one out in the sixth.
Brock slammed a two-run home run versus Burt Hooton in the bottom of the sixth. It was Brock’s only homer in 73 career at-bats against Hooton. “That was the first changeup I’ve hit out of the park in five years,” Brock told the Chicago Tribune. Boxscore
With the Mets (80-78) idle that night, the Cardinals (78-81) crept to within 2.5 games of first place. While the Cardinals prepared for three at home against the Phillies, the Mets were scheduled to play four versus the Cubs at Chicago.
Wet and wild
The Sept. 28 Friday afternoon doubleheader between the Mets and Cubs at Wrigley Field was rained out. It poured a lot in St. Louis that night, too, but the Cardinals withstood three rain delays totaling nearly two hours and posted their third consecutive shutout, a 3-0 triumph versus the Phillies.
Mike Thompson and Diego Segui combined for the shutout. Thompson, making just his second appearance for the Cardinals, pitched four hitless innings, then was lifted after an 89-minute rain delay. Segui pitched five innings of relief and yielded two hits. He got the last out as a fourth downpour began. Boxscore
The Cardinals’ outlook suddenly brightened. With a 79-81 record, they were two behind the Mets (80-78), who faced consecutive doubleheaders at Wrigley Field to end the season.
He’s back
The Cardinals got a boost from a franchise icon, Bob Gibson. Sidelined since tearing a right knee ligament on Aug. 4 and undergoing surgery, Gibson returned to start the Saturday afternoon Sept. 29 game against the Phillies. His mound opponent: former teammate and fellow future Hall of Famer Steve Carlton.
Gibson, 37, held the Phillies to one run in six innings and got the win. “It’s just like riding a bike,” Gibson told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “You never forget how.”
The Cardinals scored seven times and had 17 hits, including 11 against Carlton, who allowed five runs in six innings. The loss was Carlton’s 20th of the season. Tim McCarver, playing first base for the Cardinals, had two RBI-singles versus his friend Carlton. Boxscore
Meanwhile, at Chicago, the Mets-Cubs doubleheader was rained out for the second straight day. The Cardinals (80-81) had one game left against the Phillies. The Mets (80-78) still had four scheduled with the Cubs.
Wise choice
For their season finale on Sunday Sept. 30, the Cardinals started Alan Foster. The Phillies went with Jim Lonborg, the former Red Sox ace who six years earlier opposed the Cardinals in the 1967 World Series.
Just like he had done in that World Series, Lou Brock set the tone. He led off the first inning with a double versus Lonborg, stole third and scored on Bake McBride’s sacrifice fly.
In the fifth, with the Cardinals ahead, 2-0, the Phillies had two on, one out, when Foster was relieved by Diego Segui. After allowing a run-scoring single, Segui got the final two outs of the inning and the Cardinals still led, 2-1.
After Tommie Agee batted for Segui in the bottom half of the fifth, Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst made a bold move, choosing Rick Wise to pitch. Wise had not pitched in relief all season and had little experience in that role, but it turned out to be a good choice.
Wise worked the final four innings, yielding no runs or hits, and got the win, enabling the Cardinals to complete the season at 81-81. Boxscore
At Chicago, the Mets (81-79) and Cubs split their Sunday doubleheader. Another was scheduled for Monday Oct. 1. If the Cubs swept, the Mets and Cardinals would finish tied atop the division. The Pirates (80-81) still had one more game to play as well, at home versus the Padres, and needed a win to stay in the mix.
Silly season
Before a Monday afternoon gathering of 1,913 at Chicago, the Mets took a 5-0 lead against the Cubs in the first game of the scheduled doubleheader. Tom Seaver started for the Mets but faltered, allowing four runs and 11 hits before Tug McGraw took over in the seventh.
McGraw rescued the Mets with three scoreless innings and they won, 6-4. Boxscore
The victory gave the Mets an 82-79 mark, securing the division title and making the second game of the scheduled doubleheader unnecessary to play.
At Pittsburgh, the Pirates lost to the Padres, finishing 80-82 and leaving the Cardinals alone in second place.
In the best-of-five playoffs, the Mets, with the fourth-best record in the National League, played the team with the best record in baseball, the Reds (99-63), and beat them three times, winning the pennant.
That put them in the World Series, where the team with the second-best record in the American League, the A’s, prevailed, winning four of seven.
RetroSimba 
A patchwork pennant race. The Mets and Cardinals seemed to have a more than usual accumulation of past-their-prime and never-will-have-a-prime players. The Cubs crashed after a good start; their stars aging and/or slumping. The Pirates should have won the division by ten games, but the loss of Clemente, and Steve Blass losing control of his pitches set them back. Montreal was young and improving. Philadelphia had some good, young players, but Carlton fell way off from his 1972 success. For the rest of the decade, the East Division of the National League was Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, with Montreal just not quite getting to the top.
Good analysis. Indeed, Willie Mays, 42, made his last hurrah with the 1973 Mets as a utility man and got to appear in a World Series for a fourth time. The 1973 Mets were helped by a pair of former Cardinals pitchers. Ray Sadecki was 5-4 with a 3.39 ERA and was especially good in relief (1-0, one save, 2.36 ERA in 20 appearances). Harry Parker was 8-4 with five saves and a 3.35 ERA.
I lived and died with the 1973 Cardinals. If not for Bob Gibson getting hurt we would have easily won the NL East. I will also always be convinced that anything would have been possible for the Cardinals in the playoffs. Look at the Mets. They came awful close to winning the 1973 World Series. In fact, let me say that I really enjoyed rewatcing those games on the web not too long ago.
We have something in common, Phillip, with our affection for that 1973 Cardinals team. I was 17, living in Ohio, and listened to most of the games that season on radio. In September 1973, my father took me to St. Louis (my first time there) and we got to see two Pirates-Cardinals games. Going to Busch Memorial Stadium for the first time, seeing the Stan Musial statue, visiting the Cardinals museum _ quite a thrill. We stayed at the Stouffers Inn downtown and the Pirates were there, too. We rode in the elevators with some of the players and sat near them at breakfast in the dining room. Naturally, the Cardinals lost both games, but it was an experience I’ll always remember and cherish.
The 1973 Cardinals were 6-6 versus the Reds in the regular season, so, yes, indeed, anything was possible in a potential playoff series.
I’m not a fan of the 2 divisions (yes, I know you’re a traditionalist Mark) and def not a fan of a best of 5 NLCS, but I guess it all worked out in the end as the “Mustache Gang” took home the trophy.
Great work, Mark. Since the playoffs are just around the corner I must add that I will be rooting for either the Dodgers or the Brewers to take home the “worthless piece of metal.”
In its wrap-up of the 1973 World Series, Sports Illustrated had a clever headline: “Mutiny and a Bounty.” The mutiny referred to A’s manager Dick Williams resigning immediately after the World Series and the bounty, naturally, was the championship and the money that came with it for the A’s.
A great pennant race blog post. Read it with an eye on the scores as the Fish, Cubs and Reds battle for the last playoff spot.
Those pretenders can only hope to do as well in September as the 1973 Mets did. Those Mets won 21 of their last 29 regular-season games. In 13 relief appearances in September 1973, Tug McGraw had 3 wins, 9 saves and an 0.64 ERA.
Nothing much better than a close pennant race. Nicely done Mark. I prefer the old way, without the wild cards. It seems to me that the current system rewards mediocre teams that get hot at the right time or maybe those teams that get hot were good all along, but just hadn’t put it all together yet.
In any case .I always love reading about Reggie Cleveland and other players with city names who aren’t from those cities or even better is that Jose Cardenal was once a Cardinal.
It’s fun to think of ballplayers named after cities. The 1960s Milwaukee Braves had one: pitcher Denver Lemaster (who was from California, not Denver).
This is a good time to sincerely salute your Milwaukee Brewers, who have quietly put together a stretch of sustained excellence. The 2023 season marks the fifth time in six years that the Brewers have qualified for baseball’s fall exhibition season, or postseason. Kudos to manager Craig Counsell, farm director Tod Johnson and all the others. May the Brewers, at last, win a World Series title.
Great to hear praise for the Brewers. Thanks Mark. I don’t want to jinx the season and playoffs, but with the Brewer’s pitching and defense, it’s hard to not daydream about a World Series, but with the way the playoffs are set up nowadays, more like a tournament, there’s a long way to get there.