Photograph by Kevin A. Roberts
Few burgs this side of Brooklyn are as steeped in sports history as St. Louis. Our fair city has exported America’s two prime pastimes—beer and baseball—for well over a century.
In fact, one of the first organized baseball games west of the Mississippi River was played in North St. Louis, between The Cyclone and The Morning Stars, in 1860. Alfred H. Spink, founder of the Sporting News and a one-time director of the St. Louis Browns, later published an account of the game. It was his paper, considered “the Bible of Baseball,” that recorded the demise of our town’s lovable losers and the rise of the Gashouse Gang. The paper would send questionnaires to players like Enos Slaughter and Stan Musial, Willie McGee and Bib Gibson. While broadcast greats Jack Buck and Mike Shannon were calling games on KMOX-AM, Sporting News was covering the eras of Red Schoendienst and Whitey Herzog, Joe Torre and Tony La Russa. Eventually, the publication would amass what was believed to be the largest collection of baseball memorabilia outside Cooperstown.
Over time, Sporting News expanded its reach beyond baseball, to the Hawks, the football Cardinals, and the Blues. St. Louis cheered for Bob Pettit, Dan Dierdorf, and Bernie Federko. The city swelled with pride while watching athletes like Frank Borghi, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, and Dawn Harper compete internationally. And when The Greatest Show on Turf won Super Bowl XXXIV at the beginning of the new millennium, the city celebrated with then–Rams owner Georgia Frontiere. Now, Jeff Fisher—the same coach who once served as defensive coordinator for Frontiere’s Los Angeles Rams—is attempting to resurrect the struggling team alongside star running back Steven Jackson.
Of course, there are countless others beyond those mentioned in this month’s cover feature who shaped St. Louis sports: the St. Louis Stars, who dominated the Negro National League from 1928 to 1931; the St. Louis Hummers, who played in consecutive women’s softball World Series during the late ’70s; the St. Louis Steamers and Spirits of St. Louis, both one-time fixtures at St. Louis Arena… That’s not to mention those in the minors and college, roller derby and rugby, billiards and bowling.
And on baseball diamonds and soccer fields from The Hill to Chesterfield, North City to South County, kids imagine they’re David Freese or Lori Chalupny, paying homage to St. Louis’ past while shaping its future.
