Steve Zesch retired from Cardinals Publications this week after 29 years of creating and preserving St. Louis Cardinals history in the form of calendars, magazines, and scorecards sold at Busch Stadium. Nearly 200 of those scorecards are tucked in binders in my home office, dating back to the Cards’ 8-7 win over Houston on Labor Day in 1996 – when Ozzie Smith corked one down the line over the right field fence for the last time, a two-run homer off Astros’ starter Darryl Kile – and I jotted it down in 10-year-old scribble.
Amateur scorekeepers are an afterthought at most MLB parks. When I visited Globe Life Field in May, I found the gameday scorecard – a single sheet of paper with a generic “Visitors” label for the opposition – stapled inside a $10.00 Texas Rangers magazine issue. Not so in St. Louis, where the Cardinals offer a stand-alone scorecard beautifully illustrated by Mike Right and the box score inside is complete with the date, numerical rosters, and team logos inlaid – all for $3.00.
Recalling a piece titled “125 Years of Scorecards” that appeared in the third issue of the 2011 Cardinals Gameday Magazine, Mr. Zesch admired St. Louis’ commitment to producing an industry-leading product. Starting lineups were typed into scorecards on-site at Busch Stadium for decades – a practice that ended after the 1982 World Championship season – and Steve fondly recalled childhood memories of racing to the scorecard vendor to see the lineups and promising his father that he’d keep up with scoring the game if they bought one. Cardinals’ President Bill DeWitt III, an enthusiastic advocate of the souvenir, occasionally approves its design and annual cover.
But then our conversation took an ominous turn.
“Of course, you’ve got to have customers, too,” Steve told me. “That’s the one thing I wonder – do parents teach their kids how to keep score anymore? I’m not sure they do…just looking at the stands, here in the ballpark or on TV, I don’t see too many people keeping score, you know? Everybody is distracted by, well, you know what they’re distracted by, I don’t have to say it.”
I looked at the binders holding my scorecards: the outside covers decorated with colorful ticket stubs and paper All-Star Game ballots that MLB stopped printing a decade ago. Steve didn’t have to say it; my stomach dropped.
Noah Carroll holding scorecard from July 10, 2022 St. Louis Cardinals game at Busch Stadium
Noah Carroll’s scorecard from July 10, 2022 St. Louis Cardinals game at Busch Stadium
“WW” Stands for Wasn’t Watching
I was in the nosebleed seats with friends on June 17, 2004, for an interleague game against Oakland. We graduated from high school two weeks before, and while A’s ace Tim Hudson cruised through five shutout innings and the Cards fell behind 4-0, our Nokia flip-phones chirped with news of a party back in St. Charles. With my scorecard – and more importantly, the car keys – in my hands, I held firm for a while, but peer pressure mounted.
“If we don’t score in the eighth, we can go,” I finally conceded. The Redbirds trailed 4-2, and I listened to Mike Shannon broadcast the top of the ninth over the concourse speakers and kept my scorecard going as we descended the concrete ramps of the doomed cookie-cutter.
We reached the car, and I turned on KMOX to hear Ray Lankford load the bases in the bottom of the ninth with nobody out. Two runs scored on an error to tie the game, and Reggie Sanders’ walk-off single brought Lankford home as we drove west on Highway 40. Final score from Busch: St. Louis 5, Oakland 4 – except on my scorecard. I seethed all the way back; and my bookkeeping habit, which in my friends’ eyes was a nerdy quirk in an otherwise laidback persona, had morphed into the obsession of a deranged psychopath.
They found the whole episode hilarious.
Cover Stories
The annual debut of Mr. Right’s artwork on the scorecard’s front cover is an Opening Day tradition as anticipated as the Clydesdales for St. Louis’ scorekeepers. In a 2021 interview with Paul Lukas for the website Uni-Watch.com, Mike described the inspiration for the covers as “1940’s retro advertising art”, and each offseason he collaborated with Mr. Zesch to create the theme. Most covers feature a muscular Cardinal bird in action, but in 2012 Mike began incorporating rival mascots into the design, to the delight of Steve and Cardinals fans alike.
“We had won the World Series in 2011, and Mike’s illustration had his signature big red Cardinal (holding the World Series trophy) and three other complimentary characters representing the teams we had beaten in the postseason. We had a Philly that was basically crowned and covered up by the Liberty Bell. We had the Brewer guy, sort of, stuck in a beer mug. And we had the Texas Ranger, with his big 10-gallon hat pulled down over his eyes, so he’s got his rope lasso there, and he clearly can’t see what he’s doing,” Steve said.
That design and subsequent covers that poked fun at other franchises went forward with Mr. DeWitt’s blessing, sometimes after subtle changes.
“Originally in Mike’s sketch, I know we had the Texas Ranger hog-tied up…basically looked like from an old western where the guy was about to be burned at the stake. And (Mr. DeWitt) was a little like, ‘ah I’m not sure we want to push it that far’. I think the Brewer may have been in an even more compromised position, so he just encouraged us to tone it down a little bit,” Steve said.
Many cover designs during Mr. Right’s tenure are tributes to the club’s successful run. But when the 2018 season didn’t feature a playoff berth, the 2019 illustration paid homage to Cardinals fans, and offered Mike and Steve another opportunity to tease Central Division adversaries.
Official 2019 St. Louis Cardinals Scorecard cover featuring an illustration by Mike Right
“We had a (Cardinal) with a son or daughter there sitting in the stands, and they’re cheering on the team. And all the other (Central division) team mascots are fans sitting around the two Cardinals cheering – they’re getting popcorn dumped on them, and we’re knocking over the Brewer mascot’s beer,” Steve said. “The Mr. Red – I think initially when Mike sketched it out, the (young Cardinal’s) pennant stick was poking the guy in the eye. I thought Bill (DeWitt) might take exception to that, so the pennant is knocking the Red’s cap off and he’s clearly irritated.”
Mr. Zesch surveyed more than 20 years of work as we spoke. “Those were my favorites,” he said.
I’m Like Jimmy Fallon’s Character from Fever Pitch
Stew Stiles, the official scorekeeper for Birds on the Black and the online community of Cardinals fans, creates his masterpieces inside the cover.
Captivated by his youth baseball coaches’ scorebook, Stew started leisurely with the Cardinals gameday scorecard but quickly outgrew its confined spaces. He ordered Bob Carpenter’s scorebook for the 2014 season, and for 11 years he’s scored every game, home and away. The process starts more than an hour before the first pitch, as Stew meticulously preps his book with current MLB standings, statistics, rosters, and lineups in flawless penmanship.
When the game starts, Stew’s record keeping is unmatched. “Even popouts to infielders, if they’re on the outfield grass, I always mark that down, too. A popout on the infield, it’s P-6, but if it’s on the outfield grass and the shortstop catches it, I’m writing “OF” in the corner,” Stew said.
“I try not to be a perfectionist, but I think I am. I don’t try to pride myself about it, it’s just naturally how I’m wired. I always joke with my friends too, they know during baseball season ‘we aren’t going to see you for like seven months.’ And I’m like ‘yeah, that’s pretty much how it works.’ I go to work, I come home, I watch baseball – it’s like rinse, repeat, we’re doing it again the next day.”
Several of Stew’s scorecards turned into merchandise – Game 6 of the 2011 World Series, Albert Pujols’ 700th home run, and his recreation of Bob Gibson’s 17-strikeout performance in the 1968 World Series are available on t-shirts and other collectables. Fans sometimes contact Stew to create gifts that feature his scorecard on wedding days and birthdays.
“I’m like, okay, what if (the Cardinals) lose, do they want this?”, Stew said. The response is usually “’it is what it is’, so anytime someone reaches out, we’ve always accommodated them.”
Stew’s dedication to his craft makes it hard to watch the Cardinals casually. When he attends games, he leaves his scorebook at home, to be completed later. His younger brother got engaged on May 17, when St. Louis was on the road in Kansas City, and Stew prepped his scorecard but headed for the engagement party. The game was on TV at the bar and Stew asked the bartender to turn it off.
“If I’m not watching live, I have to turn notifications off on my phone, I can’t be online. I’m like Jimmy Fallon’s character from Fever Pitch,” he said.
Feeling like I was speaking with a kindred spirit whose passion exceeds my own, I asked Stew, “Why do we do this? What about baseball, or our nature, or both, compels us to write down the actions on the field?”
“That is like one of the best questions anybody has ever asked me, and honestly, I don’t know,” he said. “I’ve never actually thought about this, and now I’m going to be thinking about it all day.”
Why I Keep Score
I took my son, Noah, to his first game on September 14, 2014, when he was six months old. Jhonny Peralta’s two-run blasted lifted the Cards to a 4-1 win over Colorado. But my scorecard is empty from the 3rd inning on, and he was asleep in my arms when fireworks from Peralta’s homer exploded overhead. We went to Ted Drewes afterwards and he tasted ice cream for the first time. I’m convinced saving the scorecard helps me remember that.
We were at Busch Stadium on July 10, 2022, and Noah was excited to wear the Yadi tank top giveaway. Albert Pujols hit career home run No. 684 in the sixth inning, just his fifth homer of the year and the start of the second-half tear that vaulted him to 703. I had recorded Ozzie Smith’s last home run, a Cardinals’ legend who retired when I was too young to appreciate him. I was glad my kid had a connection to Pujols; a historic home run captured in his own hand.
I helped Noah write “No. 684” in the margins and my mind wandered back to 1996. I was baking under a late summer sun, seated down the third-base line at old Busch, and I asked my dad for something to drink. He missed the Wizard’s last trot around the bases, and I told him about it when he got back, though I’m sure he already knew. That’s the reason to keep score, not just to record what happened on the field, but what happens off the field, too.
I was at Busch Stadium on April 17, 2010, with the same friends that convinced me to leave before the Cards’ rally in 2004. We were joined by a larger group of high school and college buddies. The Cards and Mets played for seven hours, and the game was scoreless for 18 innings. A double switch put the pitcher’s spot behind Pujols, and the Mets intentionally walked Albert twice in extra innings and escaped unscathed. New York won 2-1 in the 20th – I remember everyone that rode with me was there at the end.
