If a political party does not have its foundation in the determination to advance a cause that is right and that is moral, then it is not a political party; it is merely a conspiracy to seize power.
DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER
I love baseball and I love politics. In that order.
Two vivid early memories, apart from those I shared with my close family and early friends, stand out in my consciousness ; the wake and funeral of young President torn from us much too soon, and the 1964 St. Louis Cardinals going to and winning the World Series the following year. I was seven years old on that long November weekend in 1963, as the President’s body lie in state, my mother, brothers and sisters and I watching the somber procession of mourners quietly filing by President Kennedy’s bier, mom sobbing softly when Jackie, her black veil pushed back and young Carolyn in tow, knelt to kiss the American flag draped over his casket. His black caisson passing slowly the crowds on the sidewalks of D.C., the sharp report of rifle fire in the cold air of Arlington as he went to ground, his buoyant smile lost to us forever save for the priceless photographs and film.
But that tragic winter passed, as winters do, and what was lifeless sprang to life again across our nation — first in Florida, where grown men lucky enough to extend their childhood for just one more season gathered - and the lament of funereal firearms gave way to the joyous crack of ash on hardened leather.
That 1964 season the remarkable Lou Brock came to the Lou from Chicago and baseball’s regular season ended with one of the most exciting pennant races ever, the Cardinals taking advantage of the infamous “Phille Phold” to win The National League title by a single game on the last day of the season. The Cardinals then went on to beat the hated Yankees in The World Series - 4 games to 3.
They won it all again besting the Red Sox in seven in ‘67, and then, in 1968, the strange nexus of sport and politics in my life was forever cemented. All the tragedy and turmoil of that singular year ending (my mother crying again as that slow train carried Bobby across West Virginia) with a gut wrenching Cardinals loss in the Series to Denny McClain and the Detroit Tigers in October, and Nixon nabbing the White House the following month.