Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa said winning the 2006 World Series helped take away some of the sting of the Cardinals coming up short in 2004 and '05 when they had loaded rosters and were favorites. They won the 2006 title after going 82-78 in the regular season.
Even today, with his Hall of Fame managing career and his place in baseball history long ago secured, Tony La Russa will tell anyone who will listen that he still isn’t over his 2004 and ’05 Cardinals teams falling short in their bid for a World Series crown.
The only thing that soothes that pain, Le Russa said, was the Cardinals getting healthy at the right time in 2006 and surprising the baseball world with the franchise’s 10th World Series crown that season.
“I think we all still respect that 2006 title because of how difficult the season was for us,” La Russa said during a recent visit to St. Louis. “In 2004 and 2005, we had some really tough losses, and we had to get tougher.
“In that ’06 season, we lost eight in a row twice and the injuries could have decimated that ballclub’s attitude. But we had guys come up like Chris Duncan and kept us alive. Then, before the first game of the playoffs, I showed our guys the starting lineup and said, ‘Well, we finally have everybody back.’ Then, told the team, ‘Nobody wants to play us now because we’re finally healthy.’”
On Friday night at Busch Stadium, the Cardinals will honor the 20-year anniversary of the 2006 team becoming unlikely champions. More than 30 players from that 2006 team, including National Baseball Hall of Famers Tony La Russa and Scott Rolen, Cardinals Hall of Famers Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina, Chris Carpenter, Jim Edmonds, Jason Isringhausen and José Oquendo and World Series MVP David Eckstein and NLCS MVP Jeff Suppan are scheduled to take part in the pregame motorcade around the Busch Stadium warning track.
The ceremony honoring the 2006 team will begin at 6:35 p.m. CT before the 7:15 p.m. CT game between the Cardinals and White Sox.
Whereas the Cards won 105 games in 2004 and 100 games in 2005, made World Series and NLCS runs and boasted the famed “M-V-Three” of Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds, the 2006 went just 83-78 during an injury-plagued regular season and little was expected of them in the postseason.
However, they upset the Padres in the first round of the playoffs and outlasted the heavily favored Mets in seven games in the National League Championship Series. In that epic Game 7, Yadier Molina hit the game-winning home run in the top of the ninth inning to break a tense 1-1 tie and Adam Wainwright froze Carlos Beltran with a curveball for the ages to send the Redbirds back to the World Series.
In the World Series, the Cardinals were given little chance of beating a juggernaut Detroit Tigers team that had breezed through the American League Playoffs to reach the Fall Classic. “We were predicted to get swept in three if I remember right,” joked Eckstein, who won that World Series MVP by going 8 for 11 over the final three games of the series.
Much to the shock of the oddsmakers and the rest of the baseball world, the Cardinals thrashed the Tigers 4-1 for the franchise’s first World Series win since 1982. As it turns out, the World Series ended similarly to how the NLCS culminated. Wainwright, who worked his way back from injury by pitching out of the bullpen, froze Tigers’ infielder Brandon Inge with a sharp-breaking curveball to lock up the victory.
La Russa said the 2006 World Series win will always be a special one to him because of how the Cardinals continued to fight when things looked bleak because of injuries and how the club repeatedly outplayed favored teams.
“One of the things I’ve learned is the best team isn’t always the one who wins the championship,” La Russa said. “But if you can get into October and play with a certain toughness and play with a certain execution of making a play, making a pitch or taking a big at bat. And October is so much fun because anybody can win a shorts series. I think a lot of winning in the playoffs is how mentally tough your team can be while handling the ups an downs from the 162 (of the regular season).”
