Winner in the Cards? : New Ownership, New Manager and New Players Have St. Louis Believing It Can Be a Contender

The Clydesdales of Anheuser-Busch may be gone, but the St. Louis Cardinals think they have the horses to overtake the three teams that finished ahead of them in the National League Central last year.

New ownership, new management and an expensive group of new players--much of that newness with a distinctly Oakland A’s flavor--has the tradition-rich Cardinals enthusiastically enduring the rites of spring.

“All of the new guys have one thing in common,” Tony La Russa, the new manager, said of his players.

“They’ve been in championship situations and are not intimidated by the chance to win.

“You look at the other clubs in the division and know they’re good on paper, but we can be as good as anyone. I think that’s a heck of a statement considering where [the Cardinals] finished last year [22 1/2 games behind Cincinnati].”

La Russa finished in Oakland, where his teams reached the World Series three times, won once, and averaged 97 victories between 1988 and 1992. He is one of 14 former A’s with the Cardinals, among them General Manager Walt Jocketty, who spent 14 years in the Oakland front office.

“One of the things we wanted to do here was establish the sense of family that we had in Oakland,” Jocketty said. “We also wanted to add proven winners and veteran leadership to what was a pretty good nucleus.”

Among the free agents St. Louis signed--after being rejected by Craig Biggio and Mark Grace--are Ron Gant, Andy Benes and Gary Gaetti.

Among the trade acquisitions are Todd Stottlemyre, Dennis Eckersley and Royce Clayton.

None came cheaply.

The Cardinal payroll of $33 million at the start of the 1995 season went up about $5 million, not including La Russa’s two-year, $3-million deal.

Gant got $25 million for five years, Benes $8.1 million for two, and Gaetti $2 million for two.

The Cardinals also re-signed outfielder Ray Lankford for three years at $12.5 million, signed Stottlemyre for two years at $8.3 million, and avoided arbitration with Clayton by agreeing to pay him $1.6 million for 1996.

“The new owners wanted the franchise turned around and turned around quickly,” Jocketty said. “We wanted to improve the club and stimulate fan interest, and we had to be aggressive because we’d fallen so far behind.”

Anheuser-Busch had owned the Cardinals since 1953, but chairman August A. Busch III eventually wearied of the escalating salaries and ongoing labor dispute. He also did not have the affection for baseball that his late father did.

August III traditionally arrived at the season opener in the third inning, left by the seventh and did not attend another game. A quality team and franchise was allowed to erode, but a group headed by St. Louis lawyer Fred Hanser and bank chairman Andrew Baur remembered the potential and paid $150 million for the team, Busch Stadium and the adjoining parking garages.

The new owners replaced the artificial surface at Busch with grass and are giving the front office a lot of green to work with.

“We want to win now,” Hanser has said, adding that the owners will circulate through the stands, sitting in different locations, getting feedback. They will be involved, said partner Baur, but will not interfere in the operation.

Said La Russa, of the new owners, “They’ve extended themselves to give us a better chance and you have to feel good about that.”

La Russa said he was lured to St. Louis, where he replaces interim manager Mike Jorgensen, who had replaced the fired Joe Torre last year, by the franchise’s history, the consistent fan support, the opportunity to manage in a one-team city, the probability he would share the same relationship with Jocketty that he did with A’s General Manager Sandy Alderson and the new and supportive ownership.

“I liked the new owners and looked on the retooling as a positive challenge, but I had been there 10 years and felt that was long enough,” La Russa said.

Four members of his Oakland coaching staff--including respected pitching coach Dave Duncan--moved with him.

So did a stunning array of his former players. Said left-handed relief specialist Rick Honeycutt, “Guys are loyal to Tony because he’s loyal to them.”

Added Eckersley, “It’s his consistency. You know what’s expected of you at all times, and that’s all you can ask of a relationship.”

Can the Cardinals make up 22 1/2 games? Nothing is automatic, and there are questions.

The shortstop competition between Clayton and Ozzie Smith could become a volatile distraction.

Benes has yet to fulfill his potential--that $8.1-million contract raised eyebrows--and will be pitching in a rotation with his brother, Alan, a rookie. Two in the rotation--Donovan Osborne and Mike Morgan--will not be ready until late May, and Eckersley, 41, converted only 29 of 43 save opportunities last year.

The Cardinals were last in the league in offense in 1995, but the acquisition of Gant, who joins Lankford and Brian Jordan in a potentially powerful outfield, should help correct that if Gant’s 29 homers and 88 runs batted in with the Reds accurately measured his comeback from the broken leg that sidelined him in 1994.

The questions will be answered during the long season. In the meantime, left-hander Osborne looked around the Cardinals’ spring clubhouse and said it was great to have all the new players, but added, “I just keep asking myself, ‘When was I traded to the American League?’ ”