Editor's note: As we enter the 2020 baseball season Hall of Famer Rick Hummel is presenting STLtoday.com subscribers with a look back at 10 of the most memorable games he's covered.
For those who call baseball boring, and there are still those rank holdouts, a celluloid of Thursday's ninth inning at Busch Stadium should be made required viewing.
There may be 161 more games and 177 more days left this baseball season, but the essence of the sport will never be conveyed more graphically than Cardinal pitcher Pete Vuckovich conveyed it, with a supporting cast of Pittsburgh Pirates batters Tim Foil, Dave Parker and Willie Stargell and more than 45,000 howling, stamping bystanders.