2015 All Star Game Tribute: St. Louis
Since there seems to be a lack of interest in this particular season of EWB, the Tribute to St. Louis is not only appropriate in its tardiness, but also in its content or lack thereof. However, and I will get to this later, St. Louis is deserving of a better tribute than I am capable of delivering at this particular time. I am going to go over some of the organizations accomplishments as well as some of the star players to have played predominately in STL or those that have excelled in STL. I will also briefly do some comparisons with the St. Louis Cardinals, mostly on the ownership with regards to deviation between our reality and EWB reality.
As mentioned before, the Savages are deserving of a top-notch tribute as the most successful organization competing in the 6 team Ohio Valley Division. More than once, various humans have noted that there seems to be a certain lack of identity when speaking referencing the Ohio Valley teams. In recent history, the OV has been very jumbled with no particular team setting itself apart. I am not sure if the stereotype is a result of the general boredom that is associated with the Midwest, the lack of a recent dominate organization, or perhaps the similarities in uniform - both Ohio teams are mostly white with red trim, St. Louis, Indy and Pit have some variation of yellow and black (Detroit sets itself apart with the ugliest uniforms in the league).
Yet, the St. Louis Savages should distinguish themselves as they have the most playoff appearances in the OV by far with 19 and 1 championship, following them is Pit with 11 appearances but no championship, Detroit with 9 and 1 championship, then comes Cleveland and Indy both have 8 appearances and 1 championship each, and finally Cinci also with 8 Playoff appearances, but no championship. The Savages amazingly have the third most playoff appearances behind juggernauts Miami and Washington (both have 27). That is a pretty amazing feat especially considering that St. Louis is rarely ever in discussions as one of the top EWB organizations. Obviously a lot of that has to do with their inability to capitalize with championships on all of those appearances.
Another possible reason that St. Louis has fallen by the wayside in popularity and recognition is the fact that their most successful run was back in the '70's. St. Louis had 6 playoff appearances in the '70's along with their only championship in 1973. The Savages topped the defending Champions, Denver Amigos, in the fourth EWB World Series and then returned twice more in '74 and '77 only to be bested by the Admirals in both returns trips.
During the '70's, St. Louis had two great leaders in Hall of Fame SS/3B Francisco Mendoza and Aged-Veteran Pitcher Ernest 'Moby Dick' Everhart who started his career in EWB in 1970 at age 33. Perhaps, Everhart is a possible candidate for late admittance to the EWB HOF with one of the most impressive pitching resumes in what should have been the downside of his career. Obviously, had EWB started five or ten years earlier, Everhart would have been a shoo-in. Adding to his impressive regular season stats, Everhart was 6-0 in 6GS during the 1973 Postseason posting a 1.39 ERA and a 0.93 WHIP with a 32/8-K/BB ratio and 4 CGs with 2 Shutouts! That has to be one of the greatest postseason lines of any SP in the history of baseball.
Other players contributing to the Championship run included the before mentioned Francisco Mendoza, OF Cesar Javier, another Aged-Veteran 38-year-old Catcher Wayne Thompson, rookie and future MVP Jason Greene, Greene added much needed power with 21HRs that year and Everhart's fellow SPs Dan Denton who in his career fell one win short of 200, and SP Roy Kelly.
The Savages have four Hall of Fame players retired in Savage Black and Gold: the before mentioned SS/3B Francisco Mendoza; OF Tom Mills who played all 15 of his season in St. Louis, Mills is the current color commentator for the Savages; 3 time Bob Gibson Award Winner, Luis Altagracia; and finally Closer Chris 'Swami' Sykes who claimed his 500th Save as a Savage in '85.
St. Louis has only one MVP winner and that was the young Jason Greene in 1974. Greene rose to prominence and fell just as quickly. At age 22, Greene was a major contributor to the Savages '73 Championship, but was considered washed up soon after his 27th birthday in 1978.
Perhaps St. Louis's most notable Star is 3 time BG winner Luis Altagarcia. Altagarcia didn't break into EWB until he was 26 years old, but for the next 8 years would be considered the most dominant pitcher in baseball leading the Savages to four division championships in '87, '90, '92, and '94. Three of those four years ('87, '92, and '94) Altagarcia would go on to win the BG Award.
In 1976, Ernest 'Moby Dick' Everhart won the Bob Gibson Award making him the oldest player (at age 39) to receive the award. I believe that title still holds.
Other Savage award winners include Angel Rosa Award winners, Daniel Morgan and Javier Gomez, neither of whom amounted to very much beyond their few seasons in EWB. Morgan, in particular, has been singled out as one clearcut case of the Steroid Era.
St. Louis has also had two Fireman Award winners including Joe Murphy '92 and Bill 'Looney Tunes' Samuels who has found his way back to CL with El Paso after several years as a reliever.
Again while most of St. Louis's success occurred in the 70's, they have been very consistent in getting to the playoff 4 times in the 80's, then four more times in the 90's and again in the 2000's. However St. Louis has fallen off in the 2010's. Currently they only have one appearance and it doesn't look like a second will occur in 2015. If they wish to maintain their playoff standard of 4 times per a decade; they need to turn things around soon.
The St. Louis Cardinals are clearly a much better organization than the Savages in comparison to what the Cardinals have accomplished in MLB to what the Savages have done in EWB. However, one similarity is that both organizations have been the best team in their division through the history of their respective league. A fact that I believe is not always at the forefront of EWB fans's minds when considering the Ohio Valley Division.
One other difference is that the Busch family has held the reigns of the Savages for 45 years and are still going strong. Anheuser Busch, who is a genetically modified-being incorporating DNA from both Eberhard Anhuesser and Adolphus Busch, is in ownership of Budweiser in EWB reality and figures to live well into the next century by modern day, scientific innovations such as cryogenically freezing himself in the offseason and eating Aroniaberries which he imports from Omaha, NE. The real life Busch family's involvement with the Cardinals lasted for about 40 years until they sold out in the mid-90's, not long after they sold out the family business and have little to do with the St. Louis Cardinals other than namesake of the stadium.
Management-wise, Mike Scioscia is going to have hard time keeping his position going into the second half. Scioscia showed promise in 2011 when he guided the Savages to a division win and playoff appearance, but since then has failed to have a winning record and is on his way to his third 6th place finish in the Ohio Valley.