2006. It was a good year to be a Cardinals fan.
More specially, it was a good OCTOBER to be a Cardinals fan. From April through September, the Cardinals slogged to a 83-78 record, somehow winning first place in the old NL Comedy Central.
11 wins against the Padres, Mets and Tigers later, the Cardinals had their 10th World Series championship and total retribution for the surprise flop 2 years earlier in the 2004 fall classic.
Hard to believe that Carlos Beltran went from being the most feared post-season hitter to face the Cardinals to being the most feared post-season hitter the Cardinals had back to New York for a Twilight run with the Yankees as we speak.
But it’s true… it’s been 8 years since that magical run.
For two groups, though, the drama didn’t end. In fact, it’s still going on.
The St. Louis Police Department and the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) have been locked in a court battle pretty much this whole time over what happened that last week in October and why.
A quick primer: Several (8 to be exact) officers were found to have seized tickets from scalpers, used them, and then turned them back into the evidence room. Remember this was when bar code scanning for tickets was coming into the mainstream. They probably thought they’d never be caught.
Anyway, some officers got made at the game and then later reprimanded. The police department was asked to provide details of the investigation. They declined. The ACLU sued saying this should be public record. The SLPD countered that this could harm police work.
It’s been in the courts ever since. With different rulings coming from different judges.
The Post-Dispatch has been vigilantly reporting this story and I encourage you to check out their work.
But now it looks like the case could be determined soon with a ruling in June and release of documents even sooner since some of the previously unidentified officers didn’t show up to court to ‘argue their interests’.
What does it all mean?
Probably not much. Those officers abused their power and tried to exploit a loophole (specifically, a ticket doesn’t look used, even though it has been). Hopefully they were disciplined appropriately. But as a far as uncovering some other salacious details? It’s a long shot.
More likely, these two have battled for so long for the sole purpose of being right and for future litigation that is yet to happen. It’s all been exacerbated by the fact that it involved World Series tickets.
Then again, it could be bad. Maybe the Joe Mokwa era for the SLPD was worse than reported.
After 8 years, though, it’s time to find out.
Photo: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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