This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, May 7, 2009 - What a prize they would be today, that bat and baseball autographed by the St. Louis Cardinals and presented to Ed Hagnauer, now the mayor of Granite City, and his brother during an outing to Busch Stadium in 1964.
The big names were all there: Lou Brock, Bob Gibson, Tim McCarver, Mike Shannon ... the entire team that would go on to win the World Series that season. Yes, that ball and bat were special mementos, courtesy of then-Cardinals infielder Dal Maxvill, who grew up in Granite City.