It’s Friday! It’s nearing the end of March! There are only 9 more days until the Cardinals begin the regular season on April 5!

Yes, single digits now. And No. 9 is retired by the Cardinals, for Hall of Famer Enos Slaughter (although today at Cards Conclave, Daniel highlighted another No. 9 also now in the Hall of Fame in Joe Torre).

Slaughter is best remembered for a play that occurred exactly 25,000 days ago today, on Oct. 15, 1946.

Here’s more on his “mad dash” from the Cardinals website:

Slaughter dashed into baseball immortality in Game 7 of the 1946 World Series against the Boston Red Sox. With the scored tied 3-3 in the bottom of the eighth inning, Slaughter led off with a single. He remained there as the next two batters were retired and then took off to steal second base with left fielder Harry Walker at the plate. Walker stroked a double into center field, and Boston’s Leon Culberson threw the ball to shortstop Johnny Pesky. While Pesky hesitated on the relay, Slaughter kept on running, ignoring third base coach Mike Gonzalez’s stop sign and scoring what proved to be the series-deciding run.

Ah, beating the Red Sox in a World Series … here’s to that happening again the next time the two teams meet up.

Here’s a Throwback Thursday post from November 2013, after the most recent Sawx-Cards World Series, that focuses on this happier time. Included is this video with the “mad dash” in all its glory, with a description by Harry Walker, who doubled to drive Slaughter in.

Just 9 days!