The BIZARRE DRAMA Between the 1987 St. Louis Cardinals NFL & MLB Teams

In 1987, while the NFL St. Louis Cardinals and their scab players were preparing for a game against the Washington Redskins, one player on the MLB St. Louis Cardinals, Jack Clark, was furious, to the point where he legitimately threaten to kill/severely injure the scab players and send them back to where they came from. It was a bizarre controversy that, when you break it down, doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense. This is the story behind the bizarre drama between both the football Cardinals and the baseball Cardinals

NOTE: Not sure why, but the sound briefly cut out for a second at 4:34. The sentence was supposed to say “this race was getting close,” but it cut out after two words

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Members of the 1987 Cardinals (NFL):
Sammy Garza
Greg Horne
Jim Gallery
Mark Royals
Greg Cater
Neil Lomax
Jason Staurovsky
Al Del Greco
Cliff Stoudt
Shawn Halloran
Travis Curtis
Dwayne Anderson
Mark Jackson
Terrence Anthony
Ed Scott
Ron Wolfley
Ken Sims
Tony Mayes
Gregg Johnson
Johnny Holloway
Stump Mitchell
Earl Ferrell
Derrick McAdoo
Vai Sikahema
Mark Mathis
Broderick Sargent
Don Goodman
Carl Carter
John Preston
Lonnie Young
Leonard Smith
Tim McDonald
Cedric Mack
Charles Wright
Ilia Jarostchuk
Tony Buford
Mike Ruether
Keith Radecic
Jimmie Carter
Charles Baker
Wayne Davis
EJ Junior
Anthony Bell
Jeff Paine
Pete Noga
Niko Noga
Terence Mack
Phil Forney
Steve Alvord
Lance Smith
Ray Brown
Tootie Robbins
Todd Peat
Joe Bock
David Galloway
Tom Welter
Luis Sharpe
Ron Pasquale
Charles Vatterott
Mike Morris
Colin Scotts
Victor Burnett
Victor Perry
Derek Kennard
Joe Bostic
Rod Saddler
Anthony Burke
Mark Duda
Gene Chilton
Curtis Greer
Mark Garalczyk
Freddie Joe Nunn
Ron Bohm
Gary Dulin
Bob Clasby
Bob Keseday
Robert Awalt
Roy Green
Don Holmes
Ron Brown
JT Smith
Jay Novacek
Clarence Collins
Adrian McBride
Troy Johnson
William Harris
Gene Stallings (head coach)

Members of the 1987 Cardinals (MLB):
Skeeter Barnes
Rod Booker
Jack Clark
Vince Coleman
Tim Conroy
Danny Cox
Bill Dawley
Ken Dayley
Doug DeCinces
Dan Driessen
Curt Ford
Bob Forsch
David Green
Tom Herr
Ricky Horton
Lance Johnson
Mike Laga
Steve Lake
Tito Landrum
Dave LaPoint
Tom Lawless
Jim Lindeman
Joe Magrane
Greg Mathews
Willie McGee
John Morris
Randy O’Neal
Jose Oquendo
Tom Pagnozzi
Tony Pena
Terry Pendleton
Pat Perry
Steve Peters
Ozzie Smith
Ray Soff
Scott Terry
John Tudor
Lee Tunnell
Todd Worrell
Whitey Herzog (manager)

[GregoryWeagle]

Love the WWF cameo in the newspaper clipping partially showing a prototype match to the Royal Rumble match which debut in January 1988.

[davidchodds]

"Willis" McGee. Lol. That's like calling Michael Jordan, Mickey Jordan or Tom Brady, Timothy Brady. Omg.

[bkjbearcat]

I remember people used to call the football Cards the Big Red to differ them from the baseball team. Being from the KC area I remember both the Big Red and the Chiefs were horrible most of the ‘80s. In fact when both teams faced one another depending on the home team one side of the state couldn’t watch the game. It wasn’t until the Chiefs faced the Rams in the mid 90s that the whole state could watch a game between its teams. Bush stadium while a good baseball stadium was horrible for football. Arrowhead was way ahead of it. The problem for fans in St. Louis, the Dome wasn’t all that much better.

[ATCguy]

Can you please do a Mets/Jets dispute over the years at Shea stadium? Also in 1975, Shea stadium hosted both My baseball and football teams.

[tomworrier]

ah yes, I remember the '87 strike well! Washington wins their second Super Bowl (the first one also coming during a strike-shortened season in 1982) completely random unrelated side note: the WWF newspaper ad at 10:02 features the first ever test run of the Royal Rumble, which was won by the One Man Gang

[Zs_Guitar]

Man I miss old Busch Stadium so much cooler looking than new Busch. Love the arches on the top of the stadium and the real arch just outside.

[rockylum]

I am not surprised that this story revolves around Jack Clark. He was a brilliant hitter, but he was also famous for his surly demeanour.

[johnnysama]

It was so long to the NFL Cardinals in St. Louis after all this drama. X( Pretty crazy story.

[Gen-X-Memories]

I remember Bidwell whining about just wanting a bigger stadium so the Cardinals could compete with other teams. He was such a cheapskate and terrible owner. He couldn't even fill Busch Memorial on a regular basis.

[TheYAProblem]

10:00. Holy shit!!! Paul Orndorff vs Ric Rude!!! I can’t wait to see that match!

[danivuk]

As some one whose family came from the former Yugoslavia, I love that my Twins beat his Cardinals in 87.

[michaelholmanminKC]

Jack Clark was nuts. This story doesn’t surprise me in the least…

[mooninites]

I think this is a pretty disingenuous portrayal of what he said, even if what he said was bad.

He said he was going to hit line drives at them, not that he would kill them. The fact that a line drive could kill them, is not the same as saying he would.

This wasn't some angry, anti-immigrant rant. He was angry about the scabs and, historically speaking, scabs have traditionally been immigrants from poorer, Eastern Europe countries. It's probably a lot less relevant or well known today, given that it's been like 120 years since poor, Eastern Europeans have been coming in as scabs to work in the factories. It's a relevant piece of US history that gets glossed over today, but was probably significant when Jack Clark was in school. The quote seems more symbolic rather than he actually thought they were from Yugoslavia

[annaleighstewart]

I am a Twins fan since I do live in Minnesota, but do you think the 87 WS would have bern different if Clark was available for that 4-3 Series loss by the Cardinals.

[gothard]

Whitey Herzog’s Cardinals teams in the 1980s were incredible. 3 World Series appearances in 1982 beating the Brewers (I think?), 1985 losing to the Royals, and in 1987 losing to the Twins. All of this coming from a diehard Reds fan.

[armorybrunotjr.]

In 1987, the baseball St. Louis Cardinals went to the World Series, but lost to the Minnesota Twins in seven games. The football Cardinals had a disappointing season, and ended up moving to Arizona. From 1960-87,
St. Louis had both the baseball and football Cardinals; people called the
football Cardinals Big Red to differentiate it from the baseball team. Both
Cardinals used the original Busch Stadium (1960-65) and Busch Memorial
Stadium (1966-87).

[kolfibrown]

1987 Worldseries my Minnesota Twins defeated that 1987 St.Louis Cardinals team

[jimsmith]

OP, the Cardinals had WAY MORE than one week to go on September 9th in 1987.

[mandocalrissian]

On a Different note, Look at that WWF flyer looks like a Saturday Nites Main Event card..

[johncate]

I'm a Red Sox fan. My last memory of Jack Clark was him stealing money and playing like crap in his last season.