After the St. Louis Cardinals won Game 7 to give the franchise its 11th World Series Championship this year, much of the city celebrated until the early hours of the morning. Rob Rains was among the fans that stayed up, but he didn’t have time for celebration. Instead, Rains had to finish writing his book, “Wild Cards.”
Rains, a Webster University adjunct professor, was contacted by Triumph Books in mid-September about writing a book that chronicled the Cardinals’ season. However, the only way the book would be published was if the Cardinals won the World Series.
“We talked about it and said we’ll just kind of watch things for another week or two,” Rains said. “When they got in the playoffs and actually beat the Phillies is when we said we need to get to work on it.”
Rains finished writing “Wild Cards” at 4 a.m. on Oct. 29, only hours after the Cardinals won Game 7. The final summaries and stories related to Game 7 and the World Series had to be completed. Rains then sent it to Triumph Books at 7 a.m. to be published.
“It’s a happy memory recapping how the season came off, where they came from and how they were able to go on and win the World Series,” Rains said.
“Wild Cards” features stories about all postseason games and recaps the Cardinals’ regular season.
“I picked out some key moments of the regular season,” Rains said. “I talked about the trades in July, the injuries, (Cardinal outfielder Lance) Berkman, the bullpen struggles and what I consider the main points in the season.
“It’s interesting to look back now — with the perspective of having won the World Series — at some of the moments and how close they came to either not making it or the key losses that you thought were going to knock them out. You kind of look at those a little bit differently with the hindsight of knowing they did in fact win the World Series.”
His book is 128 pages and more than 20,000 words recapping the Cardinals’ unexpected run to the World Series title. “Wild Cards” is illustrated with Associated Press photographs of the Cardinals throughout the regular season and postseason.
“Wild Cards” was in bookstores and available online at Amazon.com and TriumphBooks.com a week after the Cardinals won.
“It’s kind of a collector’s item,” Rains said. “It’s a souvenir edition for fans who want to remember the season. It’s a good Christmas gift for a Cardinals fan on your shopping list.”
Rains has been covering Major League Baseball and the St. Louis Cardinals since 1980. Rains hosts “The Sports Zone Radio Show” weekdays from 1 to 3 p.m. on 1380 KSLG-AM.
Rains also writes about St. Louis sports on his website, StLSportsPage.com, also known as RobRains.com. Including “Wild Cards,” Rains has authored or co-authored 30 books during his sports writing career.
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