The 1982 Cardinals had no player hit 20 home runs. One of their best relievers was 43 and had been in the majors since the 1950s. Only one of their pitchers struck out as many as 90 batters.
Yet, the 1982 Cardinals may be the franchise’s greatest team since baseball went to a divisional alignment. Since 1969, the only Cardinals club to finish a regular season with the best record in the National League and win a World Series title was the 1982 team.
A new book, “Runnin’ Redbirds: The World Champion 1982 St. Louis Cardinals,” provides insights into why that team was so special.
Written by Eric Vickrey, a member of the Society for American Baseball Research, the book is available on Amazon and direct through the publisher, McFarland Books. Until Nov. 27, there is a 40 percent discount (the discount code is HOLIDAY23) for those who order direct from McFarland.
Here is an email interview I did with the author in November 2023:
Q: Hi, Eric. What prompted you to do a book on the 1982 Cardinals?
A: “Growing up in Alton, Illinois, during the 1980s, I fell in love with baseball watching the Cardinals sprint around the bases and play amazing defense. Ozzie Smith, Willie McGee, Vince Coleman and Tommy Herr were my heroes as a kid. Fast-forward to 2020. During the early days of the pandemic, when I was stuck inside and there was no baseball to watch, I started writing player bios for the Society for American Baseball Research. I enjoyed the research and writing process as well as the nostalgia of revisiting the roots of my baseball fandom. I miss the Cardinals’ style of play in the 1980s, which was so different than the game today. I thought it would be interesting to really dig into one season as a longer narrative project. I chose 1982 because it included the arc of Whitey Herzog’s rebuild and the pinnacle of a championship.”
Q: What makes your book different from other books, such as those from Whitey Herzog or Keith Hernandez, about the 1982 Cardinals?
A: “Herzog’s memoir, White Rat, was incredibly insightful, particularly in regard to his roster reconstruction in 1980 and 1981. In typical Whitey fashion, he pulled no punches. Ozzie, Hernandez, Bob Forsch and Darrell Porter also authored books that touched on their experiences in 1982. But there had not been a book that focused primarily on the Cardinals’ 1982 season. In addition to delving into the on-field highlights of that year, Runnin’ Redbirds examines the team in the context of baseball history with some modern analytics sprinkled in. It is also very much a human-interest story. The Cardinals were an eclectic group, and I tell a bit of each player’s story.”
Q: Could you provide an example or anecdote about a 1982 Cardinal who was the most fun or enjoyable for you to interview?
A: “I interviewed Dane Iorg, who was one of the stars of the World Series for St. Louis. In his 17 at-bats against Milwaukee, he recorded nine hits, five of which went for extra bases. If there is such a thing as a clutch player, he was it. I’m sure he has been asked about the 1982 World Series a million times, but to hear the pure joy in his voice while describing the thrill of a championship more than 40 years ago was really cool.”
Q: Since baseball went to a divisional format in 1969, 1982 is the only year in which the Cardinals finished with the best record in the National League and won the World Series title. Do you think then the case can be made that the 1982 group is the last great Cardinals team?
A: “I think that depends on how you define greatness. I’d consider the 1985, 2004 and 2005 Cardinals great teams even though they fell short of a championship. Anything can happen once you get to the postseason and sometimes a bit of luck swings things in favor of one team. The 1982 Cardinals, for example, benefitted from a rainout in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series when they were trailing the Braves in the fifth inning. Then there was Game 6 of the 1985 World Series, but let’s not go there.”
Q: Who do you think is the most under-appreciated member of the 1982 Cardinals, and why so?
A: “That’s a really tough question because the Cards received contributions from so many players during the course of the season. Unheralded guys like Mike Ramsey, Doug Bair, Ken Oberkfell and Glenn Brummer all made key contributions. But perhaps the most under-appreciated player, relative to his production, is Lonnie Smith. He led the league in runs scored and led the Cardinals in hits, extra-base hits, stolen bases and Wins Above Replacement _ an MVP-level season.”
Q: Could you provide an example of something surprising you learned about the 1982 Cardinals in doing your research and interviewing?
A: “The 1982 Cardinals are most remembered for their speed and defense, and rightly so. But until I dug into the numbers, I never realized how historically dominant the Cardinals’ pitching staff was during the playoff push. They had a stretch in September in which they allowed two earned runs or less in 11 straight games. Only three pitching staffs in the live-ball era have longer streaks, and two of those occurred during the pitching-dominant season of 1968.”
Q: In the postseason, the 1982 team came face to face with prominent Cardinals of the past. In the National League Championship Series, the Braves were managed by Joe Torre and coached by Bob Gibson and Dal Maxvill. In the World Series, the Brewers had players Ted Simmons and Pete Vuckovich. Did that create any drama?
A: “It certainly made things more intriguing. Torre and Gibson were still beloved in St. Louis and got enormous ovations at the start of the NLCS, but Cardinal fans wanted to see them lose. Gibson, on the other hand, said before the series he wanted the Braves to ‘beat the blazes’ out of the Cards. Simmons was another St. Louis icon, and there were many fans who wished he could have been a part of the 1982 team. Now if Garry Templeton had been in the opposing dugout, that may have created some drama.”
Q: Thanks, Eric. To wrap it up, I’m going to list five names from the 1982 Cardinals and ask you to respond, in a sentence or two, with the first thing that comes to mind for you on each. First up: Lonnie Smith?
A: “Lonnie could not seem to crack the Phillies lineup, but Herzog shrewdly traded for him before the 1982 season and what a steal that was. The guy was a winner. He played in five World Series.”
Q: Joaquin Andujar?
A: “Andujar is probably more remembered for his off-the-wall quotes and blowup in the 1985 World Series, but the 1982 team probably doesn’t win it all without him. He was nearly unhittable down the stretch.”
Q: George Hendrick?
A: “Silent George was a solid all-around player and accounted for nearly a third of the Cardinals’ home runs in 1982. One of my favorite anecdotes from Game 7 is that after the last out, Hendrick headed straight for his car and listened to the postgame celebration on his drive home.”
Q: Jim Kaat?
A: “Kitty pitched to Ted Williams during the Eisenhower administration and to Ryne Sandberg during the Reagan administration. He kept reinventing himself and was the quintessential crafty lefty.”
Q: Whitey Herzog?
A: “Pure baseball genius who was not afraid to take risks. An excellent communicator. Every player I talked to who played for him raved about the way he communicated with his players.”
RetroSimba 
That was quite a team, all right. The starting infield hit eleven home runs. Green got hurt. McGee stepped up.
Yes, indeed. The home run totals for the 1982 starting infielders: Keith Hernandez (7), Tommy Herr (0), Ozzie Smith (2) and Ken Oberkfell (2). Hernandez, Herr and Ozzie Smith each had more sacrifice flies than home runs that season. Yet, in 7 decades of watching Cardinals baseball, there is no team I have enjoyed more than the 1982 club.
What a great interview and what looks to be a great book. I love that 1982 season and thanks to youtube, all the games from the Series are available to watch. One of the amazing things to me about the 82 cards is that the baserunners were thrown out nearly half as many times as they stole bases. I also love that the Brewers and Cardinals made that huge trade in the winter of 1980 and then they met up in the Series a short time later.
Good observations, Steve. In the 1982 World Series, Cardinals were successful on 7 of 10 steal attempts and most of the steals came against the Hall of Fame battery of Don Sutton and Ted Simmons.
I guess I was looking at it wrong. I thought the Cards regular season SB % wasn’t so great, but as Michael pointed out, it was 69% which ain’t too bad. It’s interesting in that their % in the series was identical to their regular season %.
Thinking about the series now reminds of Willie McGee and if I remember right, during one of the games, he tagged up and scored on a deep fly ball to CF which wouldn’t be such a big deal except that he tagged up from second base! I think it was Gorman in center and he was hobbled by injuries.
Mark, I found the video of the sac fly play on youtube. I had it wrong. It was Ozzie Smith who scored from second after Gorman stumbled a bit. McGee was on third and scored before Smith.
Thank you for finding this and sharing it, Steve. That play perhaps symbolizes the 1982 Cardinals better than any other. I genuinely hope you and all Brewers fans get to experience soon the shared happiness of a World Series championship.
It’s one of those plays you never forget. I always felt a little bad for Gorman, but what incredibly aggressive base running by Smith.
Thanks Mark for the well wishes for a future Brewers championship. The two times we got closest it was the Cardinals who stopped us, first in 82 and then in 2011 in the NLCS. I love that we’re in the same division.
I love these interviews and it makes me feel like I should do more myself, and this one didn’t disappoint. Great job, Mark. I’ll probably pull up a game on YouTube today and check out the 1982 Cards because this was before my time and I have this nagging feeling like I’m missing out on something.
Thanks, Gary. I got to attend Games 1 and 2 of that 1982 World Series in St. Louis. Sat in the upper deck in right field for both. Those games showed the contrast in styles of those teams. The powerful Brewers won, 10-0, in Game 1. Mike Caldwell pitched a 3-hit shutout and the Brewers pounded 17 hits, including 5 by Paul Molitor and 4 by Robin Yount. In Game 2, the Cardinals scrapped and clawed their way back from a 3-0 deficit against Don Sutton, and won, 5-4. The winning run scored on a bases-loaded walk to journeyman Steve Braun.
One thing I remember about the ’82 team was their consistency and ability to avoid losing streaks. I don’t think they got swept in a series (not even a 2-game series) until Labor Day weekend that year.
You are right about that consistency. The 1982 Cardinals had the same record on the road (46-35) as they did at home (46-35) during the regular season. They were in first place for 149 days during that 1982 season, according to baseball-reference.com. Their longest losing streak, 4, was from Sept. 28-Oct. 2.
1982 sure was a magical season. Whitey Herzog did an amazing job of transforming the Cardinals into a great team. He also made us forget the lost decade of the 70’s by bringing a very exciting and fun brand of baseball to St. Louis. I feel that it’s only right to be forever grateful to the late Mr. Gussie Busch for being willing to hand things over to Whitey. I always enjoy rewatching the 1982 NLCS and Word Series. In game 2 of the NLCS and games 2 and 7 of the Word Series the Cardinals overcame deficits without the use of analytics. They simply demonstrated great plate discipline and took great at bats. It’s also right to mention that if you subtract the Brewers offensive barage in game 1, the Cardinals pitching staff held them to a .237 batting average the rest of the series.
Regarding that plate discipline you cited, Phillip, the 1982 Cardinals ranked No. 1 in the National League in team on-base percentage (.334). They ranked No. 2 in the league in walks (569) and in sacrifice flies (55). Only the Dodgers (804) struck out fewer times than the Cardinals (805) did in the 1982 season. That plate discipline must have been a factor in the 1982 Cardinals having a 35-22 record in one-run games.
I so enjoyed this interview, Mark, and I’m ordering Eric’s book today. The 1982 team is a real sweet spot in my lifetime of Cardinals fandom. It was the one championship season I experienced in St. Louis. My girlfriend and I were right-field bleacher regulars, and we went over the outfield wall and onto the field at the conclusion of Game 7 of the Series. If I tried that jump today they’d be sending the ambulance out for me. (That girlfriend and I have now been married for almost 40 years.) Just reading the names of the players in this post was a pleasure. It was a very special team. (They were successful on 69 percent of their stolen base attempts, by the way, so I don’t quite understand an earlier comment.) Here’s to Joaquin Andujar, one of my all-time favorite Cardinals. Eric says they probably don’t win it all without him. I say they definitely don’t win it all without Joaquin. Thank you, Mark. Thank you, Eric.
Hi Michael. I guess I was considering 75 % as successful, but you’re right, 69 percent is pretty close. I just thought the percentage would have been higher. I wonder what some of the best team SB %’s are all time?
Hi, Michael. Thanks for reading and for commenting. Congratulations on your successful marriage. That’s the best leap of all to make.
I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed this one! In 1982, I was 21 and over the moon to be there at the 7th Game of the World Series. There were so many unsung and under-appreciated contributors on that team along with the cast of characters mentioned in the interview. This book is a must-have for those of us who went along for the highs and lows of the Redbirds in the 1980s! Many thanks, as always, Mark!
How marvelous that you got to attend Game 7 of the 1982 World Series at St. Louis. Since then, only one other World Series Game 7 has been played in St. Louis (2011). So it was a mighty special and rare event you got to experience. I watched it on TV and I’ll never forget the tension and anticipation and joy when Keith Hernandez and George Hendrick delivered their game-changing RBI in the sixth.
Great interview, Mark. Yeah, Lonnie Smith was quite the “puzzle” in Philly we could not solve. That story about George Hendrick listening in on the celebration on his drive home sounds just like George from what I recall lol.
I mentioned earlier that my girlfriend and I were right-field bleacher regulars. We loved George Hendrick. Sometimes if he wasn’t likely to bat in an inning he’d go sit in the bullpen along the first-base line instead of making the “long” trek all the way back to the dugout. He was a beaut.
Thanks for reading and for commenting, Bruce. It’s good to have you back.
In his book “Tales From the Cardinals Dugout,” pitcher Bob Forsch recalled, “I loved George Hendrick. What a great guy, even if you couldn’t always understand why he did the things he did. After we got the last out of the 1982 World Series, George never did come back to the clubhouse to celebrate. He just ran off the field through the wagon gate in right field, went under the stands, took his uniform off, changed into his street clothes and left.”