STRICTLY BUSINESS: CARDS NO STRANGERS ON TRAIL TO THE WORLD SERIES

It's been a while since the St. Louis baseball Cardinals have been involved in post-season playoff series, but that position is not an unusual one for the Red Birds.

The Cardinals are rich with post-season tradition -- 15 National League pennants and nine World Series championships.

One of the most memorable series for me was the 1944 inter-city World Series between the St. Louis Browns and the St. Louis Cardinals.

I wasn't there, but as a kid, I can remember the Cardinals holding spring training at Kotter's Field in Cairo, Ill. While the Red Birds were engaged in pre-season activities in Southern Illinois during the World War II, the Browns were tossing the ball around at Cape Girardeau.

When the Cardinals clinched the National League flag on Sept. 21. of 1944, the possibility of an inter-city World Series was set in motion.

The Browns, on Sept. 29, with two games to play, were tied for first place in the American League with the Detroit Tigers, and were granted permission to start accepting applications for baseball's biggest show, just a week away.

Prices? $18.75 for a reserved seat for three games.

The Browns won their first American League pennant ever on Oct. 1, 1944, by beating the New York Yanks, 5 to 2, setting up the Cardinals vs. Brown World Series.

The Cardinals won the Series in six games.

Being a former sports writer and an avid Cardinal fan, I have traced the Red Birds' post-season appearances through the years -- the 1920s (twice), the 1930s (three times), the 1940s (four times), the 1960s (three times), into the 1980s (three times). I was fortunate to attend Series games during the Cards' last six appearances.

The Red Bird emblem

The Cardinals, in addition to training at Cairo, Ill., have another tie to this small Southern Illinois community.

A woman who spent most of her life in Cairo was responsible for the Red Bird emblem that is still used on their uniforms.

How so?

The year was 1921.

Steak was 20 cents a pound, a car, modest but new, could be purchased for as little as $600, and real stage plays costs 50 cents for admittance to the balcony.

And, in the sports world, the Cleveland baseball Spiders moved their franchise to St. Louis.

That same year, a St. Louis newspaperman dubbed the new St. Louis team the "Cardinals."

Billy McHale was covering a Spider game in Chicago. When the Spiders trotted out on the field in their gray uniforms trimmed in bright red, a young girl, sitting directly behind McHale, exclaimed:

"Oh! Isn't that just the loveliest shade of Cardinal."

McHale caught the exclamation, and referred to the team as the "Cardinals" in his story of the game.

The name stuck.

The second part of this story takes place in January of 1921 when Allie May Schmidt of Ferguson, Mo., found herself in charge of decorations for a Men's Brotherhood dinner at the First Presbyterian Church in Ferguson.

Branch Rickey, vice president of the St. Louis Cardinals, was to be principal speaker.

Red birds on a branch (bat)

As Miss Schmidt gazed out the window this typical January Day, the ground was covered with snow, and two red birds were perched on the branch of a shrub.

She was trying to settle on decorations for the Brotherhood dinner, and the red birds gave her an idea. Since it was the Cardinal team that was to be discussed, why not decorate the table with Cardinals -- the feathered kind, that is.

Enlisting the help of her father, Edward H. Schmidt, who was connected with the art department of a St. Louis printing company, the Schmidts made redbirds out of cardboard, using cardinal carnations as a centerpiece.

The decorations were not lost on Rickey. Rickey commissioned a drawing of the two birds facing each other in a fighting pose on a bat.

Thus, the Cardinal emblem came to be.

A Cairo connection

The Cairo connection?

Miss Schmidt, in 1925, appeared as a soloist at the Cairo Baptist Church, where she met Clarence Keaton, who was affiliated with McKnight-Keaton grocery warehouse distribution center.

Romance bloomed, and in October of 1925, the Keatons were married. They made their home in Cairo.

In later years, Mrs. Keaton said she didn't know that the redbird was ever considered a good luck symbol, but "it certainly stands for luck to me. The cardinal is my favorite bird, always has been, and in 1925, it brought luck to the Cardinals."

Mrs. Keaton lived in Cairo until her death.

Help wanted...

More new jobs are being added to the Southeast Missouri work force.

Schneider National Inc., one of the largest truckload carrier organizations in North America, will be adding 150 new jobs in the Cape Girardeau.

Schneider, which currently has a fleet of almost 13,000 drivers, plans to hire 150 new over-the-road drivers within the next two months.

Kevin Jones, director of capacity development for Schneider, said the new positions will provide training wages, benefits and career opportunities for both men and women.

"The addition of several new accounts and the growth of existing accounts in the area has increased the need for new drivers," said Jones.

Additional information is available by calling 1-800-447-7433.

B. Ray Owen, business editor of the Southeast Missourian, is a former sports editor.