60 In 30 (or 21) How do you cram sixty years of Cardinals history into a little over 21 minutes?

That was the task I was given, to produce the October installment of our 60th anniversary celebration that airs this coming Friday. Sixty years of the Cardinals and KSDK. I figured it would be no problem, that there would be more than enough material to fill the time. I was right. And wrong.

There was way too much material to fill a half-hour. And there are those commercials that have to run, too. So 21 minutes filled up pretty quickly.

I've always known that KSDK has a really good archive. I've been poking around in our basement for years now, seeing old film and videotape that I remember seeing as I was growing up. We have two guys here at the station, Bob Garger and Ray Hoffstetter (who, incidentally, are being honored by our regional Emmy chapter this weekend for their many years and contributions to our city's television history), who have done yeomen's work preserving and transferring years and years of historic news and sports film to tape, and much of this special happened thanks to their efforts.

Some high points:

Film from 1947 of the news conference announcing the sale of the team from longtime owner Sam Breadon to Fred Saigh and Bob Hannegan.

The late, great Dizzy Dean explaining (as only he could) the nuances of broadcasting a game during a rain delay, when he couldn't say on the air that it was raining.

Ernie (Let's Play Two) Banks telling Ron Jacober how playing all those day games at Wrigley Field prolonged his career. There are also interview snippets with Tiny Tim (surprisingly, a very big baseball fan), Yogi Berra, Hank Aaron, and a very young Johnny Bench.

A timeline of all the milestone moments in that sixty-year span. Editor Jon King is a wizard at using all the computer-generated effects to really dress things up, and he's outdone himself on this.

And then there's my favorite--an Art Holliday story from 1983 where he put a wireless microphone on Whitey Herzog during a game. You'll have to see for yourself how Art couldn't have picked a better day for that to happen.

There a a few things that we didn't have. I really wanted to find film of Bake McBride's 25th inning dash from first to home in 1974, and we looked but couldn't find anything saved from Harry Caray's theatrical entrance on Opening Day, 1969 (tossing away his crutches to show he'd healed after nearly being killed when he was hit by a car the previous November) or "(H)We (H)love Hrabosky" Banner Day in 1975. But there is still plenty to keep you entertained.

In case you haven't seen the promos on the air, that's this coming Friday night at 7 p.m. A lot of people put a ton of hard work into this, so I hope you watch and enjoy. And see how sixty years flashes by in a half-hour. ¶ 7:33 AM