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Leave it to Lou Brock to find a hole in a five-man infield.

On June 27, 1972, the Expos put five players on the infield in an attempt to escape a jam against the Cardinals.

Brock did what the Expos hoped he would _ hit a ground ball _ but it eluded the infielders and bounded into the outfield for a game-winning hit.

Stacking the infield

After a loss to Sam McDowell and the Giants dropped their record to 24-32, the Cardinals won six in a row heading into a Tuesday night doubleheader versus the Expos at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

The Expos’ starting lineup in Game 1 featured a pair of former Cardinals (Tim McCarver, making his second career start at third base, and center fielder Boots Day), two future Cardinals (right fielder Ron Fairly and first baseman Mike Jorgensen) and a St. Louis native (second baseman Ron Hunt).

After the Cardinals came back from a 3-0 deficit and tied the score, the game went to extra innings.

In the 11th, with the bases loaded and one out, Brock came to bat against closer Mike Marshall, who was working his fourth inning. Marshall’s signature pitch was a screwball, which batters tended to hit on the ground.

Hoping for a ground ball to create either a force at the plate or a double play, if Marshall couldn’t get Brock to strike out or hit a pop-up, Expos manager Gene Mauch removed left fielder Jim Fairey and sent utility player Hector Torres to the infield.

Because Brock batted left-handed, the Expos put three infielders on the right side _ first baseman Mike Jorgensen, shortstop Tim Foli (positioned to the right of second base) and second baseman Ron Hunt (stationed between Jorgensen and Foli), according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

On the left side were third baseman Bobby Wine (who had replaced McCarver in the sixth inning) and Torres (positioned to the left of second base).

The two outfielders, Ron Woods in center and Ken Singleton in right, played shallow in case of a pop fly.

Getting it done

Jorgensen at first base moved in a bit from his normal fielding spot so that if Brock did ground the ball to him he could attempt a short throw to the plate. Jorgensen also didn’t want to be too far from the bag in case he needed to beat Brock there to field a relay throw on a double play.

Brock, a spray hitter, did the unexpected, slashing a grounder down the first-base line. The ball zipped past Jorgensen for a single, scoring Scipio Spinks from third with the winning run. Boxscore

“He hit it to the (Expos’) strong point, the right side, and still hit it past them,” Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst said to the Post-Dispatch.

Stunned that Brock, who hit .233 for his career against Marshall, drove the ball where he did, Mauch said, “If I’d have had seven infielders, I wouldn’t have put one right there.”

Brock seemed surprised, too. “It must have been 1967 since I last hit a ball to that spot,” he told The Sporting News.

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At the Polo Grounds, site of baseball magic for the hometown Giants, the Cardinals got to experience something extraordinary, too.

On June 15, 1952, the Cardinals erased an 11-0 deficit and defeated the Giants, 14-12, at the Polo Grounds, the ballpark located between Coogan’s Bluff and the Harlem River in upper Manhattan.

Eight months earlier, in “The Miracle of Coogan’s Bluff,” Bobby Thomson hit a walkoff three-run home run in the ninth for a pennant-clinching Giants triumph versus the Dodgers.

Thomson was in the lineup the following year when the Cardinals made their improbable comeback.

Sure thing

A crowd of 41,899, the largest of the season in the National League, gathered at the Polo Grounds on a hot, sunny Sunday for a doubleheader between the Cardinals and the Giants.

The first game, which began at 3:22 p.m., featured starting pitchers Sal Maglie of the Giants versus Joe Presko of the Cardinals. Maglie had the best record (9-2) in the league and a 1.94 ERA.

In the second inning, the Giants struck for five runs against Presko, snapping his streak of 18 consecutive scoreless innings.

After the Giants added six more runs in the third against Jack Crimian for an 11-0 lead, confident manager Leo Durocher began substituting, taking out left fielder Bob Elliott and catcher Wes Westrum.

The Giants’ lead “was as safe as money in the bank,” Bob Broeg wrote in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Cardinals first-year manager Eddie Stanky, the former Giant, also considered lifting some starters, but “something inside told me not to make the changes,” Stanky told the Post-Dispatch.

Letting up

The Cardinals, shut out by Maglie for four innings, began their comeback in the fifth, totaling seven runs against him to make the score 11-7. The big hits were a three-run home run by Enos Slaughter, a solo shot by Tommy Glaviano and Stan Musial’s two-run single.

(Musial had a career .474 on-base percentage versus Maglie. In 171 games played at the Polo Grounds against the Giants and Mets, Musial batted .343 with 216 hits.)

“With the big lead, I relaxed,” Maglie told the New York Daily News. “Then they started hitting and, when I tried to bear down again, I just didn’t have it.”

Rookie knuckleball specialist Hoyt Wilhelm relieved, and in the seventh the Cardinals scored three times against him, cutting the deficit to one at 11-10.

Preparing to face George Spencer leading off the eighth, Solly Hemus asked Stanky whether he wanted him to try to draw a walk. Stanky instructed him to swing away. Hemus took a rip at Spencer’s first offering, driving it against the front of the upper deck in right for a home run, tying the score at 11-11.

Max Lanier, the former Cardinal who was traded to the Giants for Stanky, relieved. He retired Red Schoendienst and Musial, but Dick Sisler singled, Peanuts Lowrey drew a walk and Slaughter followed with a single, scoring Sisler and putting the Cardinals ahead 12-11.

Hemus hit another homer, a two-run blow in the ninth against Monty Kennedy, extending the lead to 14-11, and the Cardinals went on to a 14-12 triumph. 

Cardinals relievers Bill Werle, Eddie Yuhas and Willard Schmidt combined to limit the Giants to one run over the last seven innings. Boxscore

Things change

“Greatest rally I’ve ever seen,” Stanky told The Sporting News.

Cardinals coach Buzzy Wares, 66, said, “I’ve been in baseball since 1905 and I’ve never seen anything like that.”

According to the New York Daily News, no Giants team “ever suffered a more humiliating defeat.”

“How the Giants ever contrived to blow that horrendous opener is something that doubtless will remain to plague Durocher for all his days,” the New York Times declared.

When the second game began at 5:52 p.m., less than half of the crowd remained. Those who departed missed the performance of Giants starter Dave Koslo, who pitched a shutout in a game called after seven innings because of darkness. The win was his 11th in a row versus the Cardinals. Boxscore

(A left-hander, Koslo stretched his streak against them to 13 consecutive wins before the Cardinals beat him on Sept. 14, 1952. His career record against the Cardinals was 24-21.)

The day after the doubleheader, the Cardinals took a 7-4 lead into the bottom of the ninth, but Bobby Thomson again did something special, hitting a walkoff grand slam for an 8-7 Giants victory.

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On the weekend he returned to St. Louis for the first time as an opponent of the Cardinals, shortstop Garry Templeton got booed, but he also got the last laugh.

In May 1982, Templeton was with the Padres when they played a series versus the Cardinals at Busch Memorial Stadium. Templeton hadn’t been to St. Louis since being traded by the Cardinals for Ozzie Smith after the 1981 season.

Templeton’s departure from St. Louis was prompted by his outburst in August 1981 when he made obscene gestures to fans at a home game.

Welcome back

On May 28, 1982, a Friday night crowd of 31,733 gathered for Templeton’s return. “The moment Templeton took batting practice, the hecklers went to work,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

During the game “each time he batted, fielded ground balls, or merely stepped out of the dugout, he was booed and harassed,” according to the Post-Dispatch.

Two spectators unfurled a banner that declared, “To forgive is human, to error is Templeton.”

“The fans were what I thought they’d be,” Templeton said to the Post-Dispatch. “I played here before, and there was no change … Common sense should have told you what to expect.”

Batting third in the Padres’ order, Templeton was hitless in four at-bats versus Bob Forsch, who boosted his record to 6-1 in the Cardinals’ 5-2 victory. Rookie Willie McGee, playing in his third home game, scored three times. Boxscore

Running wild

Templeton got satisfaction in Game 2 of the series on Saturday night May 29. In addition to scoring a run and driving in another, he had a key role in a bizarre play involving Ozzie Smith.

In the eighth inning, with the score tied at 2-2, one out and none on, Cardinals pitcher Joaquin Andujar lined a single against Padres starter and former Cardinal John Curtis.

Smith followed with a groundball single into right field. Andujar rounded second but “stopped dead in his tracks when Sixto Lezcano’s throw came in quickly behind him,” the Post-Dispatch reported.

Templeton took the throw and tossed to third baseman Luis Salazar, who tagged out Andujar.

Before Salazar could fire to second, where Smith was headed, Andujar swiped at the ball and knocked it from Salazar’s grasp, according to the Los Angeles Times. As the ball rolled toward the dugout near third base, catcher Terry Kennedy and left fielder Alan Wiggins chased after it.

Smith sped to third and rounded the bag, but Templeton came up behind him, took a throw from Wiggins and tagged out Smith, ending the inning.

In a baseball rarity, Smith had singled into a double play.

“If you are keeping score, the play went 9-6-5-7-6,” the Los Angeles Times noted.

“That was the weirdest double play I’ve ever been in,” Templeton said.

In the ninth, the Padres scored twice for a 4-2 lead. Leading off the bottom half of the inning against reliever Eric Show, McGee laced a sinking liner that Templeton caught near his shoestrings, preventing the ball from bounding into the outfield for an extra-base hit.

Fans booed Templeton for making the play, prompting Padres manager Dick Williams to tell the Los Angeles Times, “How do people boo a play like that? I’m ashamed to admit I was born in St. Louis. It was totally embarrassing.”

Show retired the next two batters, Lonnie Smith and Keith Hernandez, to seal the Padres’ victory. Boxscore

Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog lamented the base running mistakes that contributed to Smith’s rally-killing double play in the eighth.

“Even if Ozzie stays on third, we’ve got a crack at a run,” Herzog said. “If we go ahead, I bring (closer) Bruce Sutter in, but we never got the chance.”

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The Reds thought they beat the Cardinals on a home run that didn’t count. The Cardinals thought they won on a home run that did count. The unsatisfying result was that neither team won. A tie score was declared and a makeup game was scheduled.

The adventure began on a Saturday afternoon, May 14, 1938, when the Reds and Cardinals played at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis.

In the sixth inning, the Reds led, 3-1, and had runners on first (Billy Myers) and third (Lonny Frey), two outs, when Dusty Cooke hit a deep drive to right-center against Cardinals rookie starter Max Macon.

“The ball soared on and on,” The Sporting News reported, and still was rising as it carried over the outfield wall and the bleacher seats. It struck an iron girder just below the roof “at a point where the pavilion is not protected by screen,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch observed, and caromed back into the playing field.

Lee Ballanfant, the umpire with the closest view, ruled the ball was in play. Center fielder Enos Slaughter retrieved it and threw to third baseman Joe Stripp. Cooke, sliding, arrived just ahead of the ball.

Cooke was credited with a two-run triple, extending the Reds’ lead to 5-1, but the Reds argued that he hit a three-run home run, making it a 6-1 score.

According to the Associated Press, Sportsman’s Park had no ground rule for a ball striking a beam underneath the pavilion roof and falling back into the playing field.

Ballanfant, backed by the other two umpires, Bill Klem and Ziggy Sears, determined it was a judgment call.

Reds manager Bill McKechnie disagreed and filed a protest, saying the umpires deprived Cooke of a home run. The Reds contended it was a home run because the ball cleared the outfield wall and would have landed on the pavilion roof or in the seats if it hadn’t struck the girder.

Diamond drama

Trailing 5-1, the Cardinals rallied for four runs in the bottom of the ninth. If Cooke had been allowed a home run instead of a triple, the Reds would have held on for a 6-5 victory. Instead, the score was 5-5 and the game went to an extra inning.

In the 10th, Frank McCormick’s two-out single scored Lonny Frey from second, giving the Reds a 6-5 lead.

Joe Stripp led off the bottom of the inning with a single against Ray Benge. Gene Schott relieved and fell behind in the count, 3-and-1, to Enos Slaughter.

Given the sign to swing away, Slaughter crushed a home run above the pavilion roof in right, turning “an impending defeat into a glorious Cardinals victory,” the Post-Dispatch reported. Cardinals rushed onto the field and “mauled and hauled Slaughter from the plate to the dugout” in celebration of the 7-6 comeback triumph. Boxscore

According to the Sporting News, McKechnie called National League president Ford Frick at his New York office and was assured a hearing would be held.

“Even officials of the St. Louis team anticipate Frick will allow the protest,” The Cincinnati Post reported.

Play it again

Frick decided to visit Sportsman’s Park and see for himself the spot where Cooke’s drive struck the beam near the pavilion roof.

On June 3, two days after he made his inspection, Frick ruled Cooke’s hit was a home run, but instead of awarding the Reds a 6-5 victory, Frick declared the outcome a 7-7 tie. He ruled that all statistics from the game counted in the record book, but the outcome did not. He ordered the game replayed in its entirety.

The Reds had hoped Frick either would award them a win, or rule for play to resume in the sixth, with the Reds batting, two outs, and a 6-1 lead.

“If that was a home run, the Reds won the game, and it must be difficult for manager McKechnie to understand Frick’s ruling to replay,” J. Roy Stockton wrote in the Post-Dispatch.

McKechnie, a former Cardinals manager who led them to the 1928 National League pennant, told The Cincinnati Post, “Frick’s decision that we must replay the entire game is unjust.”

“Frick showed a distinct lack of courage,” McKechnie said to the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Frick told the Associated Press that awarding the Reds a win, or resuming the game in the sixth inning, would penalize the Cardinals “for an error which was in no part its own and concerning which they had no responsibility.”

The Cardinals, though, were unhappy, too. They thought Frick should have upheld the decision of the umpires and validated the 7-6 victory.

Just peachy

The makeup was scheduled as the second game of a Saturday doubleheader on Aug. 20 at Sportsman’s Park.

The Cardinals scored four in the first, knocking out Reds starter Peaches Davis.

In the seventh, with the Cardinals ahead, 5-1, Johnny Mize hit a ball that struck near the edge of the pavilion roof atop the screened section in right. Mize stopped at second base, but umpire Dolly Stark incorrectly ruled it a home run. The Reds argued, and plate umpire George Barr overruled Stark, declaring the hit a double.

The Reds scored three in the eighth, but the Cardinals held on for a 5-4 victory. Boxscore

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