Sunday, July 02, 2006

New website devoted to Ken Boyer


Probably no member of the St. Louis Cardinals ever made as dramatic a debut as Charlie Smith in 1966.
The third baseman, who came to the team unheralded, was leading the National League in hitting after the first few weeks, with a batting average well over .400.
Before long, he came down to earth, but even before he did, he never really won over the Cardinal fans. They were still missing the man he replaced, Alba native Ken Boyer, who had been traded to the New York Mets.
Ken Boyer was the National League's most valuable player in 1964 when the Cardinals vaulted over the Philadelphia Phillies in the last week of the season to capture the pennant, then beat the favored New York Yankees in the World Series, with Boyer's grand slam winning one of the games.
I can vividly remember sitting by an old blue-and-white radio in our kitchen in Newtonia, listening to Harry Caray saying over and over "The Cardinals win the pennant," on that final day of the 1964 regular season.
The team, unfortunately, fell apart in 1965, and after that season, old favorites Ken Boyer, Bill White, and Dick Groat were traded. And though those moves began paving the path for the team's success in 1967 and 1968, it was hard for a nine-year-old fan to understand that.
Boyer, who definitely should be voted into the Hall of Fame, is the subject of a new website, www.kenboyer.net which southwest Missouri baseball fans should check out.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Randy,
Thanks for the web site to Kenny Boyer. I have been fans of the Boyer Boys all my life. My Father went to school with The Boyers.
Thanks again fan in C. J.