October 5, 2011.

A day that forever changed St. Louis Cardinals fans. 

During fifth inning of Game 4 of Major League Baseball's NLDS Postseason game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Philadelphia Phillies. Skip Shumaker was at the plate facing Phillies pitcher Roy Oswalt when suddenly the Rally Squirrel, who had caused an outfield interruption the night before, bolted across home plate. This time, however, play was not interrupted. After Umpire Ángel Hernández called the pitch a ball, the Rally Squirrel vanished into the stands. Oswalt and Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel unsuccessfully argued Oswalt had been distracted by the squirrel and the pitch should be disregarded.

The following game, Game 5 of the NLDS, Oswalt was once again perturbed by a squirrel near the warning track in Philadelphia. Phillies fans proceeded to taunt the members Cardinals by throwing a stuffed squirrel into the Cardinals bullpen. Octavio Dotel, one of the Cardinals relievers, retrieved the stuffed squirrel and kept it in his locker claiming, 'They didn't know that it's our good luck; they gave us good luck to our bullpen and that's why the bullpen has been so great lately". The Cardinals completed the defeating of the Phillies in five games, and punched a ticket to the NLCS

Following the defeat of the Milwaukee Brewers on October 16 in Milwaukee, Cardinals teammates toasted the stuffed squirrel and showered it with champagne and beer to celebrate their NL Pennant, and opportunity to win the storied franchise's 11th World Series. 

The rest is history. The Cardinals went on to win the 2011 World Series, and the story of the Rally Squirrel will forever be a staple of Cardinals baseball.

Beautiful.