Taking Flight The St. Louis Cardinals and the Building of Baseball's Best Franchise

Written by veteran sportswriter and Cardinals insider Rob Rains, Taking Flight answers two basic questions – what makes the Cardinals different from other organizations, and why are they so successful?  Perhaps the most important man in the history of the organization was George Kissell. Among the future managers who came under Kissell’s tutelage were Sparky Anderson, Joe Torre, Tony La Russa and the Cardinals’ current manager, Mike Matheny. Kissell’s imprint is still everywhere on the Cardinals’ organization, nearly five years after his death. So too is the work of longtime coach and catching instructor Dave Ricketts, the man who first trained Matheny and later, Yadier Molina. It is the men such as Kissell and Ricketts, who worked for years without fame or notoriety, who helped mold the Cardinals into the franchise it is today. 

Rob Rains is the author of 31 books, mostly on baseball and many about the St. Louis Cardinals. His list of biographies or autobiographies of Cardinals includes Tony La Russa, Albert Pujols, Mark McGwire, Jack Buck, Red Schoendienst, and Ozzie Smith. He is a lifetime member of the Baseball Hall of Fame and a lifetime member of the Baseball Writers Association of America. Whitey Herzog managed the St. Louis Cardinals to three World Series appearances during the 1980s. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2010.