ST. LOUIS — Oct. 14, 1985.
If you're a Cardinals fan who was alive on that date, there's no doubt you remember exactly where you were.
That date of course is the day Ozzie Smith made St. Louis "go crazy".
It was a pivotal Game 5 of the 1985 NLCS between the Cardinals and Dodgers at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. The teams were tied at two games a piece, and Game 5 would swing the tide of the entire series.
Defensive wizard Ozzie Smith stepped to the plate with one out in the bottom of the ninth against Dodgers reliever Tom Niedenfuer, and a foreshadowing graphic appeared on the TV broadcast.
The graphic read: "Ozzie Smith has not homered batting lefty in 2,967 career at bats"
A few pitches later, Ozzie sent one out to deep right... wait a second. Let's let the legendary Jack Buck take it from there.
"Smith corks one out to right down the line... it may go... Go crazy folks, go crazy! It's a home run, and the Cardinals have won the game, by the score of 3-2 on a home run by the wizard!"
The Cardinals went on to win Game 6 two days later in Los Angeles, thanks to another late home run, this time by Jack Clark, to go to the 1985 World Series, that they would eventually lose to the Royal in 7 games.
Ozzie Smith of course, would go on to the National Baseball Hall of Fame as perhaps the greatest defensive ballplayer in the history of the sport. But for that one magic moment 35 years ago in 1985, Ozzie was a wizard with the bat, and made Cardinals nation "go crazy".
