St. Louis Swan Song: The 2013 Cardinals

What a year it was for the Cardinals. They won an NCAA basketball championship, chose a new Pope, picked up Caleb Barron as a pseudo beat writer, took home a National League Pennant and played for a World Title.

But, it's that last part I want to focus on, which of course pertains to a certain group of Cardinals... the St. Louis Cardinals.

The World Series loss is still stinging, as we're less than twenty-four hours removed from it, but when one reflects on the whole season, it was definitely a success. Anytime a team can have Pete Kozma as its every day shortstop and go all the way to the World Series, that's a feat in and of itself. Winning ninety-seven games en route to the NL Central title and tying the BoSox for the best record in baseball, I think it's a fair to say this team exceeded expectations.

Down the road, when I look back on the 2013 Redbirds, it's only natural that I'll remember the loss to the Sox in the Series above all. I desperately wanted revenge for the 2004 debacle, but it wasn't to be. However, I would be remiss if I overlooked the positives this year provided. This year saw Matt Carpenter have a real coming out party, it had "Wacha Wacha Wacha!", and it was the long-awaited full season of Shelby Miller (even if he mysteriously wasn't used during the playoff run). What's more, the Cards won their 19th National League Pennant, tying up the San Francisco Giants, and even today, winning the Pennant still means something.

As this isn't meant to be a memoir of the 2013 season, I'll cut it off here. But, after the final out was recorded last night, the 2013 Cardinals officially became part of history, so they were an easy choice for today's H-Pod. Series loss aside, the 2013 St. Louis Cardinals were a smashing success. In a year in which St. Louis lost it's most beloved figure, Stan Musial, this year's club did a heckuva job honoring The Man day in and day out, culminating in another NL Pennant and another trip to the Fall Classic.

King Edward, Jerry!

When I think of Edward VIII, the one time King of the United Kingdom, I typically think of the TV show Seinfeld. Fans of the show know of the episode where George is dumped by a girl due to a difference in their religions. In a classic Costanza move, George decides he can get her back by converting from Judaism (his faith) to Latvian Orthodox (her faith). The idea for this wasn't thought of by George (how could it have been?), but rather by Elaine. She compared the act to King Edward VIII abdicating the British throne to be with his love, Wallis Simpson. Sounds romantic, doesn't it? Maybe it was, but more on that later (George got screwed in the end by the way).

So, King Edward VIII, Britain's very own playboy. I can imagine Edward would've gotten along very well with the Kennedy's. Prior to his ascent to the throne, he was the worry of the British Royal family and the government. He was a prolific womanizer and was known to have had many affairs. Combine this with a few other rather scrupulous activities, people were really worried that he could one day be King. Then, it happened. He ascended the throne in January of 1936, where he would stay for just under a year, which brings us back to the abdication.

Edward had fallen for Wallis Simpson, who was a twice-divorced American. After consulting with the Prime Minister, various leaders of the Church of England, it became clear that the best option, if he really wanted to marry Wallis Simpson, was to abdicate the throne, which Edward ultimately did on December 11, 1936. It sounds rather romantic, but personally, I don't see how either of them would've had much romance left in them. She'd clearly been around the block at least a couple of times, and we KNOW he had been known to have his fun. Nevertheless, he abdicated the throne, leaving it to his brother, and King Edward VIII became the Duke of Windsor.

Things really were never dull, especially early on, for the new couple. Leading up to and during WWII, there were rumors that they were Nazi Sympathizers. I mean, how could you blame someone for thinking such when you see a picture like this:

Edward finally pissed off enough people in the British government that he was sent to the Bahamas, where he was actually the Governor of the Islands until the end of the war. After that, however, the couple retired to France, where they lived for the rest of their lives. Relations between themselves and the rest of the Royal Family were constantly strained, and really never fully healed. So, that's a brief overview of King Edward VIII. Clearly, he's more known for his abdication and subsequent activities as the Duke of Windsor, but he's most definitely one of the most interesting monarchs to have ever sat upon the British throne.

The Confederacy's Doc Sadler

For today's H-POD, we stick with a confederate theme. In so doing, we pay homage to the craftiness of General John B. Magruder. Magruder would be otherwise unremarkable, if it weren't for all the tricks and schemes he employed in trying to hold off the Union Army under the command of General George McClellan whose forces vastly out numbered his own, during the Peninsula Campaign. McClellan, known for his aggressive tactics (sarcasm!), was refusing to attack the Confederate lines, thinking it was he that needed additional troops to be successful. President Lincoln, you may know, was frequently frustrated with the, uh, deliberate way McClellan would utilize the union army against the outnumbered rebels. Anyway, during this particular campaign, Magruder was craftier than the other generals. Of a night, he would send a portion of his troops up the railway and have them board a train. Then, once daytime would arrive, the train would come into the Confederate lines and Magruder would make a big show of the arrival of these "new" reinforcements. He would employ other tricks as well, big looking camps, marching guys around the same place constantly to make his force look bigger. Basically, he was the Doc Sadler of the Confederate army. Actually, he was probably more creative than Doc, but that's not that point. Of course all this time, the Federal commander, our buddy McClellan, was flooding the wires back in D.C asking for reinforcements, only further infuriating the President.

So, while General Magruder had little other distinction later in the war, he deserves credit for this stalling maneuver. He caused General McClellan to freak out about what other, more competent commanders, would probably have seen right through. As with any H-POD, I would encourage you to read more about General Magruder if you're so inclined. From all accounts, he had an incredible tenor voice. So, there's that. I doubt Doc Sadler can sing the Ave Maria...

Oh, MRS. Longstreet!

So, you get married at thirty-four. Seven years later, you find yourself widowed. Tragic accident to your husband perhaps? No. Instead, you married a former Civil War General in 1897 when he was older than the freaking hills. The general in question is Confederate General James Longstreet. His second wife is today's "Historical Person of the Day", Helen Dortch Longstreet.

This lovely Southern Bell married the general when he was seventy-six years old. Seventy-six. Again, she was thirty-four. That's a nice forty-two year difference. (Math!) Anyway, think about this, the first two years of the Civil War, when General Longstreet was middle-aged and fighting the Union, his future wife wasn't even born yet. Craziness. Anyway, the two met through a friend, or actually, a roommate of Dortch. I dunno if General Longstreet kept himself in fantastic shape, or was still quite the charmer, but either way, the very eligible young bachelorette said, "I've gotta have him!". They had around six years together, before General Longstreet passed away.

As crazy as that part of the story is, Mrs. Longstreet went on to live a very full and very long life. She was somewhat of a political activist, and an early 20th century version of a tree-hugger. Not necessarily a bad thing, either. What's more, when she was nearly eighty years old, Mrs. Longstreet worked in Atlanta as a "Rosie the Riveter" during WWII. Following WWII, in 1950, when she was eighty-seven, she even ran for governor of Georgia as a write-in candidate. Age meant nothing to Helen Longstreet, apparently.

Through all of Helen Longstreet's political endeavors and airplane building, the one thing she always did was work to defend her late husband's honor and reputation. In the years following General Robert E. Lee's death, General Longstreet increasingly became the scapegoat for the C.S.A's defeat at the Battle of Gettysburg which is generally considered the turning point of the Civil War. Modern historians now agree, this was really not the case, but for a long time, Lee was almost like a deity in the south, so blaming Longstreet was somewhat natural. Other officers also blamed Longstreet in their wartime memoirs. Mrs. Longstreet went so far as to publish a book defending the General. Helen Dortch Longstreet died in 1962 at the age of ninety-nine. She had to be one of America's last surviving, first-hand connections to the Civil War.

So to recap, Helen Dortch Longstreet married famed Civil War general, James Longstreet, when he was seventy-six. She was, for a time, the assistant State Librarian of Georgia. When most people in her demographic had long since retired, or even died, she was working as your classic (or not so classic) Rosie the Riveter during WWII and after all of that, she still tried to run for Governor. Quite the full life. For me, the craziest part, is that the wife of a Civil War general was still living in 1962, but if that's the only thing you take away from Helen Longstreet, then you're selling her life and achievements quite a bit short.

The Tsar of all Fakers

Today's inagural HPOD (Historical Peron(s) Of the Day, brought to you by Mabes) is Russia's very own Dmitriy II, "Tsar of All Russia" from July 1605 until May of 1606. You may wonder why his reign was so short, which is perfectly reasonable. Besides ruling during Russia's famed "Time of Troubles", our buddy Dmitriy is known in Russian lore by a different, more famous name: False Dmitriy I. You see, he was an imposter, claiming to be the last son of Ivan the Terrible. Only problem is, he wasn't (the real one died years ago at a young age). No one is even sure of False Dmitriy's real name. False Dmitriy I was the first of three...THREE...imposters who attempted to lay claim to the Russian throne during the Time of Troubles. But lets give our guy some credit here, THEY ACTUALLY LET HIM BE THE TSAR. Classic Russia. Well anyway, eventually, poor Dmitriy, or Grigory if you prefer (thought to be his real name) met a muderous end, thus ending his short run as Tsar of All the Russia's.