Some Notes On The Incredible Final Round History: Boston Vs St. Louis

The incredible final round history between Boston and St. Louis teams will begin to “write anew,” as its eleventh such entity commences Monday night, when the Boston Bruins (6-13) in NHL final round play, entertain the St. Louis Blues, who are (0-3) and in a final, for the first time in 49 years.

There will be more facts in the days to come, for now consider the great players that have been a part of Boston/St. Louis major North American sports league’s final round play.

Four greats named Bob are on the list, Boston’s Cousy vs St. Louis’ Pettit in all four Boston Celtics/St. Louis Hawks final round clashes in ’57, ’58, ’60 and ’61. Cousy is 90 years old while Pettit is 86.

St. Louis Cardinals’ pitching great Bob Gibson won 3 games, including #7 at Fenway Park as St. Louis 7’d the Boston Red Sox in the 1967 World Series.

The remarkable Bobby Orr scored in overtime of game 4 in the 1970 NHL final for the Bruins vs the Blues, giving Boston its first NHL crown in 29 years.

Certainly Orr is at or near the top of the list, as the subject of the NHL’s greatest player is considered.

Additionally, so are Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics and Tom Brady of the New England Patriots, each of whom played in Boston vs St. Louis final rounds.

Nobody has as many NBA titles as a player nor such Super Bowl wins as Mr.Russell (11) and (Mr. Brady is Robert Reed and Tom is still playing) Brady (6).

Add (so many others and apologies to those not cited) two all-time baseball players, Stan Musial of the Cardinals and Ted Williams of the Red Sox, who clashed in the 1946 World Series, another Red Sox player, Carl Yastrzemski, another awesome great, whose performance right through the 1967 World Series, is one of the best ever in a season.

Sam Jones with 10 titles for the Celtics, Lou Brock of the Cardinals, David Ortiz of the Red Sox, and Phil Esposito of the Bruins, all won more than one title, are all-time great considerations in important categories and of course, part of the storied final round history between the great sports and otherwise cities of St. Louis and Boston.

Among the great coaches/managers in the storied final round Boston/St. Louis history is Bill Belichick, pictured above.

Belichick won the first of his six Supe crowns as New England coach, vs the St. Louis Rams in the 2001 season Super Bowl.

Arnold “Red” Auerbach won the first of his 9 NBA titles as Celtics’ coach, vs the St. Louis Hawks, coached by Alex Hanumn in 1957.

The Celtics won an incredible 11 crowns in 13 seasons and only two Hanumn coached teams, one the 1958 St. Louis Hawks (the great ’67 Sixers, the other) denied them.

Eddie Dyer (1946 Cards), Red Schoendienst (’67 Cards), Harry Sinden (’70 Bruins) (vs Scotty Bowman, who went on to coach more NHL title teams than anyone), Terry Francona (’04 Red Sox, ending an 86 year title drought) and John Farrell (’13 Red Sox, the only home title clincher for the Red Sox in 100 seasons, 99 of which had a World Series and the first in 95 years) also guided their teams to titles in this great final round history.