This is an early photo of Cubs Hall of Fame outfielder Billy Williams, and with the scoreboard matchups here it was pretty easy to sleuth this one.
This was taken at the original Busch Stadium, formerly called Sportsman’s Park, home of the Cardinals from 1909 to 1966, when they moved into the second Busch Stadium in downtown St. Louis.
Since we have NEW YORK, MILWAUKEE and HOUSTON all on the NL side of the scoreboard, the only possible years are 1962 through 1965.
The next clue is in the background.
There are no leaves on the trees seen to the left of the scoreboard. That would mean this is early in the season; even in St. Louis, somewhat warmer than Chicago in April, that would be the only month we’d see that.
Lastly, this is a day game and there’s only one night game shown on the board.
There is only one match for all of this. It’s Saturday, April 21, 1962.
The Cardinals had played one home game before this date, defeating the expansion Mets in their first-ever game, then went on a road trip in which they swept all five games.
So they entered this contest with a 6-0 record, which would be a reason a photographer might have shown up — remember, back then photographers were not routinely assigned to cover every MLB game as they are now.
The Cubs, meanwhile, had started their 1962 season 0-7 before winning one game — in extra innings over expansion Houston — then losing again, so they began this series with a 1-8 record, had been shut out three times and outscored 54-27.
It did not get any better in the game depicted. The Cubs got shut out again, 8-0, with the game staying close until the sixth, when the Cardinals broke open a 2-0 game with a six-run inning. The Cubs had just three hits, two by future Cardinal Lou Brock.
That was just the beginning of a franchise-record 103-loss season. And despite the Cardinals starting their season 7-0, they finished 84-78, 17 games behind the pennant-winning Giants.
There is one oddity on the board as shown. You can see only one peek of the AL side of the board and it shows NEW YORK at CLEVELAND. That is incorrect for that date, those teams did play, but the game was in New York.
Just another slice of baseball history from more than 60 years ago.
