Help My Unbelief

Portion Under Busch Volume I, Issue 4

It was hot, humid, and boring.

Other than an Albert Pujols home run off (who else) Ryan Dempster, the Cardinals had mustered only two singles and trailed the Cubs 8-1 headed into the bottom of the fourth.

To make matters worse, the Reds (who were tied for first place with the Cardinals entering that Sunday matinee in 2010) had just taken a 2-0 lead against the Marlins.

Announcers’ jobs are tough on days like these and Mike Shannon tried to work his magic by assuaging fans that the game was only in the fourth inning, allowing the Cardinals plenty of time chip away. As positive as Ol’ Irish may have been, the Cardinals went quietly 1-2-3 in the fourth, unable to cut into the Cubbie lead at all.

***

Why keep watching on days like these? It can’t just be hoping that Mike Shannon goes into greater detail about the deliciousness of the seafood sampler at his restaurant or because Bobby Knight is in attendance and Frank Cusamano might ask him what it was like to coach Michael Jordan in the 1984 Olympics. No, I think it comes back to something Earl Weaver once said, when asked to describe why baseball was the greatest of the sports:

“You can’t sit on a lead and run a few plays into the line and just kill the clock,” the banty rooster observed. “You have to throw the ball over the damn plate and give the other man a chance.”

That’s the reason: There’s always a chance. Jay Randolph Sr. knew it that Sunday afternoon in August, which is why in between discussing Sam Bradford’s inauspicious preseason debut and rehatching the tale of Mike Laga hitting a ball out of old Busch Stadium, he kept reminding viewers that the Cubs bullpen ranked 27th in ERA.

Sure enough with the Cubs up 9-2, rookie catcher Steven Hill led off the ninth inning with his first (and only) career home run. The Redbirds followed that up with three singles and two walks and all of a sudden the Cub lead was cut to 9-6 and the Cardinals had runners on the corners and only one out.

***

The sparse crowd that remained began generating a buzz when Randy Winn took ball three and that buzz crescendoed into a roar when ball four loaded the bases. An Allen Craig RBI groundout cut the deficit to two and put the tying runner on second with two outs.

Steven Hill – the man that led off the inning with a home run – represented the winning run. And with the crowd on their feet cheering, believing their faith was about to be rewarded, Hill grounded out to short.

Cubs win 9-7, the comeback falling two runs short.

***

It’s absurd, isn’t it? To abandon logic and reason. To give up the certain for the less certain. To believe.

Especially when seasons of promise become missed opportunities. When glimmers of specialness are snuffed out by a back-up catcher grounding to short in his third career at bat.

Yes, it’s absurd. But it’s also courageous. You stayed. You divorced yourself from rationality and committed fully to a proposition so unlikely that you would be ridiculed as foolish if others heard your thoughts. You believed. How is that not brave?

***

This quarter’s issue tells the stories of those games and players that required fans to take a leap of faith. Where fans had to extend the limitations of logic and reason. When fans had to believe where others would doubt. And ultimately they were rewarded for that belief.

Click the links below to read each essay in this quarter’s issue:

Tenth Inning of Game 6 of the 2011 World Series: Daniel Shoptaw tells of the oft-forgotten inning that required quite a bit of hope to ensure David Freese’s heroics were not for nothing.

Adam Wainwright vs. Carlos Beltran: Joan Niesen recalls finding herself at home in a dorm room watching a rookie strike out one of the greatest post season hitters of all time and lead the Cardinals to their first World Series title in 19 years.

Rick Ankiel: Marty Wilhelm on being in attendance the night Rick Ankiel completed his solo journey from pitcher to outfielder.

Dmitri Young: Believing a rookie with less than two weeks of career at bats and no career extra base hits could deliver a pinch hit in the NLCS against the defending World Series champion requires a lot of faith. Listen as Young recounts the story of his pinch hit triple against the Braves in Game 4 of the 1996 NLCS. A clip:

David Eckstein: David vs Goliath stories are one of the stalest tropes in sports writing. But what happens when the cliche becomes a reality? For at least two nights in October of 2006, David Eckstein reminded us why it is a story that’s been told for millennia.

Trivia! - Without looking it up, can you name the Cardinal pitcher that is tied with Bob Gibson for the most Game 7 starts in Cardinal history?

Branch Rickey: When our skepticism evolves into frustration, we should still raise a glass to Branch Rickey. Without him, there may not be a team to doubt.

Hopefully at the end of next week, these stories will have reminded us that in times of doubt, the only thing to do is ask for more faith.