ST. LOUIS — The television ratings were nearly as lousy as C-Span. The weather was from Cape Horn. There were times the baseball wasn't all that scintillating, either.
If the highlight films of the 2006 World Series are ever shown, look what will be on the screen. The Detroit center fielder falling down. A smudged hand. Tigers pitchers throwing the ball ... everywhere.
But dismiss this World Series? Wait a second.
Any professional sport that can produce a 5-foot-7 MVP — not counting the jockey room — is worth something. David Eckstein is barely tall enough to be seen above the trophy.
Nor was the past week without significance. It made Tony La Russa a championship manager in both leagues. Only Sparky Anderson had been able to say that. "He should really have this alone," said La Russa, who considers Anderson an irreplaceable baseball ambassador.
It struck a blow for equality, just when the American League was ready to take over the world.
This was the quickest a National League team won the World Series in 17 years, since Cincinnati swept Oakland.
Best of all, it gave St. Louis a champion. This is too good and decent of a baseball town to go 24 years between World Series titles.
This was 90 minutes after Game 5 Friday night: Thousands were still in Busch Stadium. They just wouldn't leave. Many stood and gawked and cheered anyone on the field who looked as if he could hold a baseball. Dozens stood in line, still buying T-shirts.
Outside the ballpark, police in riot gear manned the curb, with nothing to do. There was no unrest to quell. Several people stopped in front of the officers to take their pictures. A man played a saxophone in the middle of the street.
"They have a way," Scott Rolen said about the Cardinals faithful, "of celebrating baseball itself."
Jeff Weaver — the new civic hero — has told the story about his first night in St. Louis, after being traded to the Cardinals in July. He was having dinner alone at an Outback Steakhouse when fans recognized him, welcomed him, made him feel at home.
He hadn't thrown a pitch in a St. Louis uniform yet, but he was a neighbor. Weaver goes back this week, and I'll bet he doesn't have to buy his T-bone.
"The Midwest is all about its sports teams, and you forget that when you go to the bigger cities," Weaver said.
None of this moves the nation at large, which vigorously ignored this World Series.
That seemed surprising. The Tigers were a charming Cinderella story. The Cardinals presented Albert Pujols, arguably the game's finest player. There was tradition on both sides. It was the last act of a season that saw record attendance and an unpredictable October.
"I think this is a way better story than why the Yankees aren't here," Detroit reliever Todd Jones said the other day.
But the guess is that a lot of people like to go to baseball games, but don't like watching baseball. Not on television, anyway. Besides, where were the Yankees?
So the sport claims robust health, even as its main event suffers from ratings anemia. One could plead for earlier games for the kids' sakes in the eastern half of the nation, but why go down that futile road?
It was not a great World Series. It might not have even been a good one. But it was an important one. Baseball is a two-party system again, the underdog won and St. Louis — where 99.8% of the audience wears red — gets to be capital of the baseball kingdom for awhile. Nothing wrong with any of that.
But the Cardinals' party can't last long. Free-agent season started Saturday. One of them is Jeff Weaver.
Source http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/lopresti/2006-10-28-world-series_x.htm
