1954 St. LOUIS CARDINALS
plus
"The Cardinal Tradition"
and
"The Game Nobody Saw"

Here's a 1950's St. Louis Cardinal tripleheader that Redbird diehards will find fascinating! Three vintage Cardinal films, "Let's Train With The Cardinals", "The Cardinal Tradition" and "The Game Nobody Saw"are now all available on one DVD from Rare Sportsfilms, Inc!

The 1954 St. Louis Cardinals are shown in beautiful COLOR in "Let's Train With The Cardinals", narrated by legendary broadcaster Harry Caray. The complete story of the '54 Cardinals in Spring Training at Al Lang Field in St. Petersburg is shown with manager Eddie Stanky and coaches teaching and directing workouts. Players are introduced as they work into shape and appear in spring games against the Yankees, Dodgers and Phillies. You'll see the entire pitching staff, Harvey Haddix, Vic Raschi, Brooks Lawrence, Jerry Staley. Tom Poholsky, Al Brazle, Stu Miller and Joe Presko, as well as other Cardinals of the day: Ray Jablonski, Tom Alston, Del Rice, Bill Sarni, Alex Grammas, Red Schoendienst, Wally Moon, Rip Ripulski, Dick Schofield, Solly Hemus, Peanuts Lowery and Joe Frazier, and many others! Of course, the great Stan Musial is shown in spring games and a Musial home run is captured in slow motion. Stan and Red Schoendienst are also shown with their families. Others shown include club owner Gussie Busch, Al Lang, Doc Middleman, trainer Bob Bauman, Equipment Manager Butch Yatkeman with the beautiful Cardinal uniforms, Farm Director Joe Mathis, G.M. Dick Meyer and Traveling Secretary Leo Ward. You'll also see a movie set for the filming of a scene for the Paramount picture "Strategic Air Command", starring Jimmy Stewart (who plays a Cardinal third baseman) and June Allison, in which a giant B-36 bomber flies over Al Lang Field! The club winds its way north following spring training and included are beautiful scenes vs the Cubs at Wrigley Field, Los Angeles! Great color shots also here of old Busch Stadium - in fact, the scenes in this film are the oldest COLOR shots of nearly every player in the film!

Actors at old Busch Stadium portray "The Cardinal Tradition" during an actual New York Giants game in 1956. Tommy Richards, a rookie pitcher on the bench, is trying to convince his pitching coach to let him relieve for the Cardinals in his first big league ballgame. Meanwhile, the grizzled old coach relates the great Cardinal tradition by discussing the first five St. Louis World Championship teams. Flashbacks to vintage game-action film clips of the 1946, 1944, 1942, 1934 and even 1926 World Series' are shown: Slaughter's winning dash in '46, Musial's home run vs. the Browns in '44, and Johnny Beazley's second complete-game win vs. the Yanks in '42 are covered. Rare clips from 1934 show pinch runner Dizzy Dean getting knocked cold by a thrown ball at second base and being carried off the field in game four. In the seventh game at Navin Field, Joe Medwick triples and his hard slide into third baseman Marvin Owen ignites a rhubarb! Then with the Cardinals leading 9-0 after 6+ innings, the angered Tiger fans are shown peppering Medwick with trash and fruit when he takes his left field position in the bottom of the inning. Commissioner Judge Landis then orders an upset Medwick from the field to help restore order. Parts of game three of the 1926 World Series (Jesse Haines' shutout) are covered and Babe Ruth's home run to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead in game seven at Yankee Stadium is shown. Shown also is part of the Redbird 3-run fourth inning, and with Cardinal fans crowded around a vintage radio, Grover Cleveland Alexander is shown relieving Haines in the Yankee 7th with the bases loaded and RBI man Tony Lazzeri at the plate! Rare film shows Alex striking out Lazzeri in one of the great moments in World Series history! At this moment, young Tommy Richards gets called upon to appear in his first Major League game! Cardinal broadcaster Jack Buck describes the situation to St. Louis fans over the radio. Will Richards become a new Cardinal tradition?

Narrated by Cardinal broadcaster Joe Garagiola, "the Game Nobody Saw" is a film about the 1959 St. Louis Cardinals in Spring Training at Al Lang Field in St. Petersburg. Shown are many Redbird players learning and coaches teaching the fundamentals of baseball. Coach Ray Katt instructs catchers Hal Smith and Jimmie Schaffer on fielding popups. Johnny Keane works on the double play with Lee Tate and Don Blasingame. Shown playing pepper are Tate, Blasingame, Ken Boyer and Joe Cunningham. Coach Harry Walker instructs Charlie James and other youngsters on outfield play. Pitching coach Howie Pollet teaches Von McDaniel, Vinegar Bend Mizell, Dick Ricketts and young Bob Gibson. Cardinal great Marty Marion (#76) is shown working with infielder Julio Gotay (#63). Finally, one of the greatest Cardinals of them all, Stan Musial, demonstrates and talks about good batting habits. Also on this video are great scenes of old Busch Stadium, including night game shots from an airplane flying low over the ballpark!