Today in Cards history: Thrilling win at Busch II 

A look back at big moments in Cardinals history that happened on this date.

May 12

1966: Just three days after they closed down old Sportsman’s Park (or Busch Stadium, as it was known when it was torn down), the Cardinals opened their new Busch Stadium, or Busch Stadium II, with a 4-3 win over Phil Niekro and the Atlanta Braves. Mike Shannon had three hits, including a triple, and Lou Brock had a walk-off single in the bottom of the 12th to score Curt Flood and christen the new ballpark. (Also fun: Bob Gibson had a pinch-hit single in the bottom of the ninth, a batter after the Cardinals tied the score.) The stadium would stand for 40 years before being replaced before the 2006 season.

May 11

2003: When the wind is blowing out at Wrigley Field, crazy things can happen, and every bit of home run wildness you can think of went down on this date in 2003. Moises Alou hit a home run in the bottom of the first, but Albert Pujols answered with a grand slam in the top of the second. The Cardinals’ Brett Tomko would give up four more homers by the fifth inning, and first baseman Tino Martinez would hit two himself. The game was 11-9 St. Louis in the fifth inning … when the rains came and washed away the entire game, as if it had never existed at all.

May 10

2013: Shelby Miller, 22 years old and one of the top Cardinals pitching prospects in a decade, gave up a leadoff single to the Rockies’ Eric Young. Young then stole second base. He would end up being the last Rockie to reach base all day. Miller would subsequently set down the next 27 hitters, striking out 13 (including Troy Tulowitzki all three times he faced him) in a 3-0 Cardinals victory. Miller lowered his ERA to 1.58, but he would only throw one more shutout the rest of his Cardinals career before being traded to Atlanta prior to the 2015 season for Jason Heyward. The Cardinals would reach the World Series that year, but Miller wouldn’t be much of a part of it; he only threw one inning that entire postseason, giving up a homer in mop-up time against the Pirates in Game 2 of the National League Division Series.

May 9

1967: After leaving New York following years of suffering under the intense media glare, mild-mannered North Dakotan Roger Maris found a home in St. Louis, where he felt more comfortably among the quieter environs. However, a month into his first season in St. Louis, he still hadn’t hit a home run. In the midst of a 2-for-29 slump, Maris at last homered off Woodie Fryman in the sixth inning of a 6-3 victory over the Pirates. The Cardinals were in third place at the time, but thanks largely to Maris, they’d get hot over the next month, taking over first place on June 19 and never giving it up. By October, Maris had his third World Series title.

May 8

1966: The Cardinals play their final game at Sportsman’s Park, though by the time it closed, it was known as Busch Stadium, the name of the two stadiums that would ultimately succeed it. The Giants beat the Cardinals, 10-5, thanks to homers from Willie Mays and Willie McCovey; the final Cardinal to homer at Sportsman’s Park was current Cardinals broadcaster Mike Shannon. The stadium stood on the corner of Grand and Dodier in north St. Louis, now site of the Herbert Hoover Boys & Girls Club, which has kept the field in the same place it was initially. Sportsman’s Park, which was also the home of the Browns, hosted 10 World Series, and two All-Star Games

May 7

1959: The 1959 Cardinals were the last of a run of underwhelming Cardinals teams that arguably wasted some of the best later years of Stan Musial's career: They would go 71-83 that year, the fifth season of the last six with a losing record. Musial was still the team’s best player, regardless, even on the downside of his career at the age of 38. And he’d hit his final major milestone on this date, smashing a walk-off homer off Don Elston to break a 3-3 tie against the hated Cubs. It was the 400th homer of Musial’s career, and despite playing for four more seasons after that, he’d never quite make it 500, topping out at 475. Later that year, The Sporting News reported that the Cardinals were going to trade Musial to the Yankees for Yogi Berra (This trade did not happen.)

May 6

2012: Just one month into his first full-time MLB season as a position player, Rick Ankiel -- who famously began his career as a flamethrowing left-handed starter before a spate of wildness led him to contemplate retirement and ultimately become an outfielder -- hit his sixth home run of the season in a 6-5 win over the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. The game is much more famous, however, for two otherworldly throws Ankiel made from the outfield, both throwing out runners at third base. Ankiel may have had trouble throwing strikes from the mound, when he had to think about it, but when he was just reacting as a center fielder, the guy could hit a nickel from 250 feet away.