My Cards' story

i’m with you chuck. genetically predisposed and reinforced by behavior. my dad grew up in stl, went to high school with butch yachtkeman (long time clubhouse major domo), and was a knotholer—and uncle ben played 3rd base for the cards one night (his wife found the experience so unpleasant that he had to choose between her and baseball, it was her). started growing up in memphis going to chicks games and listening to harry, jack, and joe on the radio. also went to college in stl so i could go to games. just never got over it.

ps—dad also gave me an autographed baseball with enos slaughter, rogers hornsby, dizzy, and many other players from that era that was stolen from my house. i have no idea how i could recover such a thing, but if any of you have any ideas, i’d appreciate hearing them. i have a list of the specific individuals on the ball, but beyond that, nothing.

was passed down from my father as well. I lived my whole life in Spfd, MO and so have my parents. Before I was born they used to take weekend trips up to STL all the time to catch a weekend series. After I was born, they didn’t bother to stop. I don’t remember it, but there are pictures of me, 18 months old, wearing a Cardinals t-shirt with my pop holding me just outside of old Busch Stadium. My earliest memories are of us watching the games on tv (I think I was around 5 or 6) and my dad would either be shouting in disgust or cheering with jubilation. I’ve never known anything other than being a Cardinal fan, and quite frankly, I don’t want to.

but didnt have a team till the cards…My dad grew up in flint, MI, and grew up a Tigers fan…always talks about big John Mize. He moved to LA in the 80’s and met my mom…I was born there and my first game was, indeed, a Dodgers game. But I knew the Cards were my team in 96. It was a home game against the giants. It was amazing…and I knew i’d love the cards after that…

not being a Cardinals fan. Southern Illinois is Cardinals Country, and when I was growing up Whitey-ball was in full swing. I remember many games my father and I were too nervous to watch—we would just have to check back every once in a while and wait for a score. When I started paying attention to the wider sports scene, I wondered why the announcers were so bad. Eventually I realized that I thought Jack Buck was normal.

The high point for me, so far, was going to Game 5 of the World Series in 1987. A friend got tickets and we sat one row from the very top. I wish we still had Augie Busch driving the Clydesdales around the stadium.

I went to the University of Illinois, and I love my Fighting Illini, but the deepest roots are with the Cards. Here’s to Cardinal Baseball!

Dad, Grandpa, and everybody else in the whole fam damily were Cardinals fans! When I was little, Dad would get tickets from the brewery and take me to Sportsman’s Park (Busch Stadium I), where it seemed that we would always see the Cards and the (woeful) Phillies… for a while, I thought those were the only two teams in the league!

Later, I returned the favor at Busch II, thanks to the P-D’s “Straight A Student” nights. (‘Twas a scam; because I was taking so-called “advanced” classes, I got in even with “B” grades…) I’ll never forget the brawl between El Birdos and the Cincinnati Reds in ’67!

Most important, baseball was the first subject where my parents and grandparents listened to what I had to say as if my opinions were not those of a child. My Grandpa passed on his love of Mizzou; I even cut my hair for my graduation in 1975. I learned to love hockey and the St. Louis Blues on my own… but my longest-standing sports love is Cardinals baseball.

I’ve lived (mostly) in Arkansas since graduating ffrom Mizzou’s J-School; but the Cardinals have always been with me. I produced a pre-game show for Cards broadcasts at the local radio station in Blytheville, Arkansas, during my first job; today, all the Cards telecasts are on cable TV in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

Go Cards Go!

1 cub fan in our extended family, haha.

I grew up in southeast Iowa. My mom’s parent were originally from the Lou. My Grandpa would sneak away from school and go to Brown’s games. I don’t know if it was easier to get into Brown’s games or if he liked them better. But when I knew him he was always a die hard Cards fan, and he passed on his love to my Mom. I still remember hanging around my Grandparents house during the summer 2 things were constants jack buck on the radio and Budweiser in the cooler. Besides afternoons at my Grandparents, my mom always had the games on the radio I can’t tell you how many times I feel asleep to Jack Buck and Mike Shannon. I remember nights during the nineties when the cards were losing badly and mike and jack were enjoying 2 or 3 ice cold Budweisers and the stories they would tell. I always compare these ends of the games to riding in the car with my mom while she would listen to games and beat the dash when exciting things happen, good or bad. It was an interesting dichotomy the intensity and competition early to a more subdued end to a game where 2 friends were watching a game and telling stories from the ballpark. These were my roots, the beginning of my Cards fandom, but my story wouldn’t complete I always was a fan, but at the time I really got in to the game, was the time I found this blog, so i owe almost as much to Lboras and the rest of the community here for your intelligent conversation as I do my mom and Grandparents. So thank you guys and gals for making me a better fan and my love for the cards growing into an obsession.

I was born in St. Louis in ‘60 but moved to the DC area when I was 6. I got my Card Fandom from my grandparents on my Moms side (my Dad grew up in India & the UK so wasn’t a baseball guy).

We would visit my grandparents in St. Louis every summer. We were driving to a game in ‘68 (I think), and while stopped at a red light, an African American man beckoned for me to open the window. He seemed friendly enough, so I did, much to my grandparents horror (this was a stranger AND he was “colored”, which terrified them). He told me he was Curt Flood’s brother, and I told him that Curt Flood was my favorite player. He then gave me a tiny little bat key chain that said “Curt Flood, ’67” on it. I was on cloud 9 for weeks after that. And I was even more hooked as a Cardinals fan. I eventually lost the chain, but the memory lives on. Note to self: search Ebay for Curt Flood key chains…

I’ve been a fan my whole life and have mostly loved every minute of it (I finally determined that watching the Cards in the postseason is torture for me, so that’s where the “mostly” comes from). I can’t imagine NOT following the Cards w/ rabid interest. And off course, living in Washington Senators/Nationals territory didn’t exactly test my faith.

Side note: I used to be a NFL Cardinals fan. But due to the fact that they moved to Arizona and that they are essentially the Cubs of the NFL (at least success-wise), I finally succumbed to the RIDICULOUS amount of Redskin coverage in DC and became a quasi-fan. But now that the Cardinals are in the NFC championship game, I find that it’s kind of re-awakened my long dormant fandom. Weird.

Born and raised in STL. Never had interest in sports as a kid or an adult. In early 2006 I was recovering from surgery and decided that I would give baseball a shot by watching two full games. I picked a good year to start!

Come for the game, stay for the statistics! Or vice-versa, or both. I still don’t watch any other sports.

for me came at the end of the 1963 season. Up until that point my interest in baseball had been in playing “hot box” or “indian ball”, plus clothespinning baseball cards into my bicycle spokes so it sounded like a motorcycle.

On a beautiful fall afternoon when I was outside playing Robin Hood with my friends, my Dad made my brother and me come inside. We sat in front of the TV to watch Stan Musial’s last at bat in a Cardinal uniform. I think Stan laced a double or something like that and we looked up at my Dad to see tears in his eyes. That is still the only time I have ever seen my father cry.

He explained that Stan had been a star for the Cardinals since the summer of his 7th birthday and how it was the end of an era. The impression was reinforced the falling summer of ‘64 when the Cardinals ran down the Phillies in September and beat Mickey Mantle and the Yankees in the World Series. I still feel seven years old every time I pick up David Halberstam’s excellent book, October 1964.

I grew up in in Memphis just as my father did. As most of you know, Memphis was and still is a Cardinals’ stronghold, perhaps more than any other city outside the Midwest (some “Braves fans” filtered in in the 90’s). He grew up listening to Harry and then Jack on the radio, so I eventually inherited the gene. His favorite story is listening to the Cardinals come back from an 8 or 9 run deficit to beat the Reds in the 60’s. I’ve seen pictures of my first Cardinals game, but I don’t remember it. It was the Pirates in either ‘91 or ’92, when I would have been 4 or 5 years old. Listening to Jack and reading box scores was the extent of my following until around 1997, when dad finally shelled out for DirecTV. Along with it came FSN Midwest (never needed the Extas Innings package, as Memphis is part of the Cardinals’ television territory), and the rest is history.

i was born in st. louis to a mother from ny who liked sports but didn’t watch or follow. Her mother was from Brooklyn and was a big big dodger fan, at least until they bolted for the west. my dad grew up in stl and was and is a big cardinal fan, (even went to a ’ 64 world series game with his brothers as the guest of ken boyer) but i didn’t live with him and he didn’t raise me, my cardinal loving ways had a genesis of their own.

my love affair with baseball began at two, hitting softly tossed wiffle balls from my mother in the park. i played organized ball starting in 3rd grade in a local stl league, and loved baseball. the first game i attended was i believe in 1982 at old busch II. i have hazy memories from that game, though the one thing that stays clear in my mind is fredbird driving around the field on a atv and then taking his/her hands of the wheel and putting them behind his head. naturally, a couple of years later when i got a big wheel (a three-wheeled plastic vehicle for little lads and ladys that you pedaled like a bicycle) i drove it down my street and tried to go “no hands” just like fredbird and crashed into some bushes. i learned my place, fredbird i was not.

i loosely followed the whiteyball cardinals from about ‘87 on, but didn’t really start following sports closely until ’89 whilst in 5th grade. as the years went on i watched as many games as possible on tv at busch. so many memories at busch: cold april games for my birthday, sitting in the upper deck on muggy summer nights, sneaking down to the box seats on muggy summer nights… the last cardinal game i attended was in 2002 just after jack buck passed and i was with a pal who was a baseball novice and when timlin came in to pitch i was lamented his home run allowing tendencies when another fan next to us heard me and concurred. he then lamented to my pal about timlin. we chatted throughout the at bat then lo and behold, timlin gave up a homer. that is the only time i have high-fived someone when a cardinal pitcher gave up a home run.

as i got older i followed the cards more and more, and still yet more. today i love them as much as ever, and enjoy going inside the numbers on this site and reading the enjoyable posts from the wonderful gang around here.

above all else though, radio is what really tied the room together. i lived in stl, yes, but i didn’t have the means for season tickets, nor could i watch every game, but the blanks would be filled in with jack buck, mike shannon, and the soft hum of the crowd in the background. my visual mind’s eye could see the game; mike’s stories and jacks gravel-voiced description were my friends, even if i didn’t have many others. if i were driving around in the evening i wasn’t listening to music, it was the game. it was on the radio i would hear the cards hit a homerun while driving away from that very game at busch since my mom always wanted to beat the traffic and leave early. my radio dial at home was always on kmox; i would listen in bed, loved jack’s recap of the game, the out of town scoreboard and of course the bonus sports open line to fill the time until the top of the hour.

that’s my cardinal story, and so long for just a while.

I was born in St. Charles, but the family moved to L.A. shortly after my birth in 61. Dad was always a Cards fan and he talked of stories of Sportsman park…. but damn if I can remember any of them now. Stan the Man was his hero. We took in a couple of Cards/Dodgers games (never liked the Dodgers) but didn’t go to a Cards home game till 1970 when we went to a family reunion. Saw the Cards play the Pirates and I only remembered three things….. Big Park that looked cool, Getting Jerry Reuss autograph (lost that program) and the Cards got thier butts handed to them by the Pirates. Lou Brock was my favorite during the 70’s when I really “got into” the Cards and started keeping my own stats on a daily basis during the summer. Every day the newspaper would be torn apart till I got the boxscore information. We were too broke to get the Sporting News which would have made it easier… but then, maybe my passion for the Cards wouldn’t be the same. In any event, the summers of the 70’s with the Cards were my best times as a kid….. in fact, it’s probably the only good things that happen.

My family moved to Webster Groves from Florida in 1980 when I was 4 years old and I knew very little about baseball, or anything for that matter. My first two game were during the 1982 World Series, games 2 and 6 to be exact. I went to game 2 with my neighbors and sat on the first base line and before the game I was hanging out at the railing just above the Cardinals dugout, hoping for an autograph. Not only did I get an autograph, I got it on a black bat Willie McGee cracked (not fully broken) in batting practice. Thankfully he used a different bat to hit both his home runs in that game, which I later learned was 2 of 6 he hit the entire year. I also went to game 6 of the series with my parents and sat about 4 rows from the top of the stadium out in center field, prior to the days when they added a scoreboard. Needless to say I don’t remember anything about that game, probably a combination of being 6 years old and being about a mile from the action. I do however remember that after the game we were dancing with my family and neighbors in the driveway while “Celebration” was playing on the radio.

I guess you could say I learned to love the Cardinals that year, even if I didn’t know everything that was going on in the game until about 5 years later. I moved to Colorado for college in the late 90’s and could still catch Cardinals games on KMOX on a clear night. Of course this was during the Big Mac era so there was plenty of reason to be excited (post-strike). After that I moved to San Francisco for work, about 7 years ago. I met a girl here in the fall of 2006 who quickly learned of my passion for the Cardinals. This girl is from Portland and had to be taught baseball which surprisingly I enjoyed doing at night while I was sprinting through my TIVO’d games before bed. During the playoff run, first game of the Pads series, this girl told me that she could get the Cardinals to win the World Series that year if I agreed to marry her. Well we all probably remember how far-fetched we thought it was that the Cardinals would win the World Series, especially after the 4 game shellacking from the Red Sox we received two years earlier. So I said, absolutely no problem. We watched the rest of the series together and actually flew to the Lou for games 4 and 5, my first time in the newest Busch and her first time in St. Louis. It was a bit frustrating to deal with the rain and delays while there, but the outcome from my standing-only section in Left Field was well worth the wait. As for the outcome of our relationship, we’re engaged now. i asked her about two years to the date from when we won that World Series. My love for the Cardinals still runs very deep. I can’t say that my kids will love the Cardinals because AT&T Park (or whatever it is called this week) is a great way to take in a game and we have season tickets for my work so catch 20 – 30 games there a year. But I’m hoping at least that my exuberance for baseball rubs off on them and they chose the Cardinals because one night when my son is old enough he will ask, “mom and dad, why do you like the Cardinals so much?” “Well son, there was this rookie in 1982 named Willie McGee. The first game I saw him, I was about your age actually….”

He was born in WY and his dad’s family were from Kentucky. In the summer of 1966 he and his family drove to Kentucky for a visit. They stopped in St Louis to catch a baseball game in the then brand new Busch II. It was June 15 and Bob Gibson was on the mound. My husband saw Gibson get his 100th win and became a Cardinal fan (forever giving up any love he might have had for the Yankees).

Fast forward to 1998 and the Home Run chase— My husband and I were in the beginning stages of our relationship and the McGwire/Sosa home run chase provided the background music. Originally from Iowa, I grew up in Northern California, and didn’t care much about baseball as a sport, but was very intrigued in baseball as an American cultural institution (thanks to a professor I had in college). I became a Cardinal fan because my husband was one, and McGwire wore the birds on the bat.

We married in 2000 and soon after discovered the wonder that is MLB extra innings. We both have watched and cheered and suffered and booed the Cubs together. I discovered this amazing blog in 2006 (didn’t most of us discover VEB in 06?) which was also the same year that I took my husband to St Louis for his birthday— we caught 2 agonizing games in Busch III against the Cubs (including the one where El Hombre got hurt) but had a wonderful visit to the ballpark and St Louis.

And last year, after a long wait, we both got to see El Hombre hit a home run out of Phone Booth park. It was worth the wait!
I love this team!

That was the night my first son was born…awesome. My wife had been in labor since that morning and around 9/10pm she finally gets an epideral. She is feeling good so I say “Lets check the Cards game” , I thought I would catch the 9th inning and the game was just getting started. We watched the game, relaxed, and 6 hours later we had or baby boy.

We had no idea how bad the storm had been (we were in Carbondale, IL) until a couple days later we talk to a buddy who went and see the video of that poor person getting hit by the trash can.

…I cut my teeth as a Cardinal fan in my Grandpa’s garage in the summer, with the smell of gasoline, freshly cut grass, and BBQ mixing in the air with the crackle of a transistor radio and Jack Buck’s voice. I remember men in plain white t-shirts standing around the radio with Busch or Bud beers (definitely NOT Bud Lite) arguing Musial-vs-Williams (Grandpa was a sadly misguided Ted William guy) and talking about the greatness of Lou Brock.

The first game I remember (probably not my very first game but the first one I remember any details from) was July 20, 1982 against the Braves. I was just shy of my 12th birthday. We arrived late and the Cards had already gone down 5-0 in the bottom of the first, but had rallied for two runs, chased Rick Mahler, and Ken Dayley was on the mound (for the Braves) with the bases loaded and a skinny new kid named Willie McGee was at the plate. We were walking to our seats but I made my Uncle stop in left field so I could watch Willie hit, and he cranked a grand slam right over our heads. That following Saturday, on This Week in Baseball, I saw myself jumping around like a fool on a replay of the homer. I rarely remember that they lost that game, except when I look it up. From that moment, I was hooked. I remember watching one of the day games of the ‘82 series in my 7th grade classroom on a crappy old TV. I remember in the days before video games and the internets, going to the card store to complete my Cardinals team set and laying them out on the floor, by position and making up some half-assed simulation game with dice (before I got my first strat-o-matic game). And I remember waiting up at night for my Dad who worked at several different restaurants and hotels downtown, mostly because I was glad to see him, but partly because he would sometimes bring me autographs. I still have my ’82 Cards autograph ball and an old Browns ball I inherited with Satchell Paige and Marty Marion’s autographs.

My favorite recent memory is of course the 2006 Series, walking around downtown trying to find a ticket and getting shut out, but watching the game in a bar in the shadow of the stadium jam-packed with die-hard fans, shoulder to shoulder, hearing the roar of the crowd in the distance, singing “Take me out to the Ball Game” in the seventh inning stretch to alleviate the nerves, and making a mad dash down the street to get inside the stadium and be a part of it all after the last pitch. While it would have been great to be at the game, I’ll always remember the comaradery in that room full of strangers. Truth is, if your a Cardinal fan, you’re not a stranger- you’re family.

both got me started. My grandma bought a radio for my brother and I, so we could listen while we fell asleep. I still remember listening to my mom and dad hooting and hollering listening to the seat cushion game, with me having to be quiet in bed. My dad listened to KMOX all day long on the farm. My best memories are just being in the truck, tractor, or combine around our farm, listening Jack and Mike. My favorite farm memory is the September game in ’87 against the Mets. We had to do chores with my mom while my dad was harvesting. My brother and I were whining about the Mets passing us up and my mom was on us all night not to give up. She still gives us hell for giving up.But still, I probably love being on the tractor in spring, listening to a Cards game. It never really feels like spring until I get a day game during corn planting.

born in Tennessee but my dad was a native St. Louisan, member of the Knothole Gang, he said his favorite player when he was a kid was Rogers Hornsby, liked the way he played the game (the papers must not have reported on Hornsby’s habit of urinating on other players in the showers).

We moved to St. Louis when I was six in 1961. One of our first nights in town we went over to my aunt and uncles and after dinner my dad and uncle said “Let’s go”. I said “Where are we going”?, the answer—
“We’re going to the ballgame!” “Wow! the ballgame”?!!

First Cardinals game at Sportsman’s Park, the great sounding wooden seats(during the ninth inning rally everybody was standing and slamming the wooden seats up and down to make a terrific cacaphony of hope. (Cards rally one run short).

My Dad and I went to the All-Star Game was it in 1966? First season for the new ballpark. Heat wave that day, people passing out at the game but we enjoyed our bleacher seats anyway!

He got tickets for 1967 WS game, he was out of town but I went with my Mom. It was the game 5 , Lonborg beats Carlton 3-1, Red Sox get two in the ninth , Cards get one in the ninth on a Roger Maris dinger. Lonborg went nine, Carlton relieved by Washburn in the seventh.

Non-baseball game memory—I grew up in South St. Louis (Walsh street off of Hampton ave.) and at the time Stan Musial’s house wasn’t too far away, It was Halloween, my neighbors knew which house was Mr. Musial’s so we eventually walked over there and trick or treated,
when the bell rang
Mr. Musial’s daughter screamed over a speaker by the door, when the door opened we could see The Man seated at a card table with his friends , a big friendly smile towards us.

We went to a lot of games back then and usually in the summer would play that game in the tiny backyard, two players one hitter taking names of the Cardinals players batting in a usual lineup. Hit a ball over the garage into the alley-Home Run! One day I had Schoendienst pinch hit in my lineup and he hit a game winner over the garage, that evening at the end of the game cards brought in Schoendienst to pinch hit for real (i think he was a player coach must have been 1963) He didn’t get the homer but it was sure exciting at the time!

My mom worked with Terry Moore’s sister and one day brought me home a ball autographed by Mr. Moore.

I moved to Washington State in 1978 and had lost rabid interest in baseball for awhile,
the place I moved to is real remote and back then radio reception was pretty iffy due to the narrow mountain valley, but in 1982 I managed to bring in the end of game 7 WS, I mean the very end but heard that Cardinals won, this was the start of my renaissance as a baseball fan.

Turns out there are a lot of old-time Washington natives that are Cardinal fans due to KMOX having such a stong signal and no other NL or AL teams west of the Mississippi back in the 40’s and 50’s . I meet them from all over the state and Idaho, Montana as well.

Of course now with internet I can listen to Cardinal broadcasts all the time!

I’m a casual member of SABR and went to the St. Louis Convention a couple years back, attended five games at the new ballpark, it was a lot of fun even tho Cards only won two of the five games. I like the new field and the park but hated the scoreboard and Dewitt’s Pond.

one might ask…

I grew up in a small town near the Quad Cities (current home of Cardinals A affiliate the River Bandits… I wish the Cardinals had an A team when I lived there!) with a front yard that was big enough to set up a baseball diamond and hit ball into the corn field across the street (a couple of close calls with hitting cars going by, but we got lucky there). when dad oddly enough liked both the Cards and the Cubs (business trips sent him occasionally to both St. Louis and Chicago). our family however visited St. Louis more often since it was a less stressful trip in the 80s for a family to make. My uncles liked the Cardinals more and one even brought me to a Cardinals game with my cousin. I think I was sold at that point; I was a big fan of Willie McGee and Ozzie Smith as a young kid, and it excited me to root for a team that won the ’82 world series, the time when I was about 6 or 7 and starting to form opinions on things, like what my favorite baseball team would be (wise choice!).

My Uncle Marv was the one who really kept me interested since he would always talk about the Cardinals when I saw him (I got my other team, the Bears, from him as well). He seemed like he knew more about the game than my dad or anyone else I knew, so I always looked forward to hearing baseball stories from him (RIP Uncle Marv). My dad got me and my brother into playing baseball too, and I’d always drag my brother out to play catch or hit the ball around, trying to get it into the corn field. The 80s were a great time to be a Cards fan, and I knew every player on the 85 and 87 teams (and all the late 80s teams). Always looked forward to watching Jack Clark or Van Slyke belt one, or to see Ozzie do his back flips, or to watch McGee lace another double, or Vince Coleman get another stolen base, etc etc. That team was a lot of fun, and I liked Whitey Herzog enough to read his book, ‘White Rat’. it was an exciting time to be a Cardinal fan. I also read Bob Gibson’s biography to give me more of a sense of history of the game… but the best thing for that was listening to Jack Buck on the radio as often as I got a chance. I’d remember me sitting by the radio playing with a toy or something while my dad read the paper. all the sudden something would happen and both of us would drop what we were doing and celebrate briefly. it was good times.

fast forward a bit (yes, I made it through being a cardinal fan in the 90s, which had its own special charm). Went to see a game at Busch II the last year it was operational (had been going to Cards games at Wrigley before that after moving to Chicago to attend The School of the Art Institute of Chicago). but when I knew that it would be my last chance to go to the stadium where I saw around 5 games as a kid, on summer vacation (some of our best vacations were to St. Louis or to Missouri as a kid). To wrap up, it was definitely worth sticking wiith my team despite locale since 1997 I’ve been living in Cubs territory. especially since we’ve had the opportunity to watch none other than Albert Pujols and see my second WS championship as a Cardinal fan (that was a pretty long wait! 24 years…).

Here’s to ’09!

I grew up in New Jersey and now live in New York. There is little reason that I should be a Cardinals fan. My Dad grew up in New Jersey as well. But he was a fan regardless. Why? Who knows. He says it was Bob Gibson’s stare that lured. Whatever the reason, I grew up watching Jack Clark, Vince Coleman, Terry Pendleton, and of course Willie McGee. Whitey ball was exciting and I was hooked.

We’ve been to Busch three times. The last being the three game set against the D’backs in 2005 where the Cards took 2 of 3. Everytime the Cards play the Mets in Shea I make sure to catch at least 2 of the games. I was at Yankee stadium where Clemens beat the Cards for his 300th win and 4,000th strikeout. Cant wait for the Cards to get back to Yankee Stadium. But the best game I’ve ever attended was Game 7 against the Mets. I actually had to be convinced to go because I did not want to be at Shea with celebrating Met fans. My dad convinced me, saying the Cards will win, its destiny. Years later, that is still one of my fondest memories. Not because the Cardinals won but because I was able to share that with my hero. Of course, every Cards game I share with him.

We will be going back to Busch again this year. Trying to decide what 3 game Cards sweep we want to attend. The fans, the city, the beer vendors, etc. It makes a Cards game like no other. Beer vendors actually know people’s name. I mean, that to me is remarkable. Trust me, you will not see that in Shea or Yankee Stadium.

The Cards are now a part of my life and I have one guy to thank.

I grew up in Alabama, and when I was seven years old in 1991, the Braves caught fire. Everyone around me was caught up in Braves fever. My Dad was born in Atlanta and grew up in East Tennessee, so he was always kind of a Braves fan. However, he’s much more into football than baseball, so he was never really a die-hard Braves fan. That year (and the next few years after it) it was Braves everywhere, all the time. At first I was really into the Braves. I can still remember sitting on the floor with my parents and some friends of ours when Francisco Cabrera laced a single into LF to a skinny Barry Bonds, and screaming as it took what seemed like a week for “Molasses” Sid Bream to round third and barely beat the throw to send Atlanta to the World Series. We were all ecstatic.

However, as I got a little bit older, I wanted to be different from the crowd. The Braves wore off on me pretty quickly, so I started experimenting with other teams. My Mom had grown up in Memphis, and I had a long maternal lineage in the Memphis area, and as many people above me have pointed out, Memphis was (and still is, for the most part) a huge Cardinals stronghold. Her brother-in-law, my Uncle, used to tell me stories about the Cardinals and watch or listen to games when we would go visit in the summer. I started enjoying the Cardinals more and more, until my interest really piqued in 1996. That season, the Cardinals came out of nowhere to make the playoffs. They even took a 3-1 lead in the NLCS over the Braves (which I loved, because I could rub it in my friends’ faces). Alas, it was not to be, as they lost games 5, 6 and 7.

My first live Cardinals game came on April 29, 2005 in Atlanta, when Mark Mulder faced off against former Big Three-mate Tim Hudson. I got to witness a Pujols bomb and a Cardinals win. It is still, to this date, the only Cardinals win I’ve witnessed live. Every year since then I’ve trekked over to Atlanta to catch one Cardinals game, but I’m really aiming at making it to St. Louis this year for a home game, since I have never been to St. Louis, or even Missouri. I don’t even know anyone who lives there. Maybe a VEB day 2.0? I couldn’t think of a better 25th birthday present for myself.

…I have to say that you’ve really cranked it up a notch since LB left. You really knocked this one out of the park, one of the best I’ve read around here in my 2 years at VEB. Well done!

Here’s my story: I was born and spent the first 12 years of my life in Durham, N.C. The first game I ever attended in any sport was a UNC/Duke basketball game at UNC. Duke won and I’ve been a loyal Dukie every since. However, I never really became attached to a baseball team. Basketball is the thing down on Tobacco Road. I played a little bit back in NC, but I didn’t really become attached to a team until we moved to St. Louis in February of 1982. My new friends were all Cardinals fans, so I became one too. I have to admit it was a bit of a bandwaggony way to come to the Cardinals, but hey what are you going to do.

Anyway, I really fell in love with the team and with baseball during the course of that season. Willie McGee became my favorite player, and Bruce Sutter was a close second. Go figure that was the season they won the World Series. I was hooked. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

I grew up in central Illinois, where it’s about 50/50 between Cubs and Cardinals fans. You’re expected to announce your loyalties early there and you don’t change your mind. My dad grew up a Tiger fan, and didn’t care about baseball as much he used to. My little head could have been influenced by either side…thank God one of dad’s good friends was a big Cardinal fan. Thank God he also happened to have some seats (good seats) to Lou Brock night in 1979, or maybe it was 1980….not sure. Either way I had a great time, I decided I was a Cards fan, and from them on enjoyed listening/ watching every game. There’s been a lot of great memories and a few bad ones. I’ve got to see some truly remarkable players, and some bad ones there too (I’m looking at you Estaban Yan).

When you grow up in Central Illinois, and you don’t have family influences to push you one direction or the other, the odds of becoming a Cubs fan are pretty good. I am so fortunate that I was able to dodge that fate. I’ve been to a lot of big games over the years…including the WS games in 06’. I’m so thankful I’ve had those opportunities, but above all I’m glad I got to go to Lou Brock day when I was 5 (I think). Had my dad’s friend been a Cub fan, maybe I would be too, and then I suppose my experiences with baseball would be completely different.

I had some friends living in my town in 2006 who had moved up from Atlanta. I took them down to STL for the Braves series and have been down each year since. That one was definitely the most unpleasant. The Marquis game was just painful. I’ll never forget that storm before game 3, though. It whipped in just when I was boarding the metrolink. We saw flaming palettes, broken barricade arms, and all sorts of insanity on the way to the stadium. The Civil Courts building looked incredible against the red sky. I thought I was witnessing the coming of Gozer the Gozerian. The grounds crew did a hell of a job rebuilding the batter’s box.

I was born, raised, and still live in Syracuse, NY. When I was 5, Mom & Dad took us kids to Cooperstown. When we finished touring the Hall of Fame, we each got to pick out a pennant for our favorite team. I didn’t have a favorite team, but i liked birds, so Dad (not a big sports fan) suggested the Cardinals. And it has stuck for 40+ years.

I grew up as the only Cardinal fan amongst a lot of Yankee, Mets, and Red Sox fans, along with a few from other teams. I used to stay up to watch the late local news because they usually showed all the MLB scores. I studied the box scores in the paper as well, and finally I got a subscription to TSN so I could see the expanded box scores and read actual news about the Cards. Only got to see the Cards play on those rare occasions when they were on the Saturday or Monday night games of the week. We also made several trips back to the HoF when I was growing up, and that gave me a chance to buy some Cardinals gear and yearbooks (still have those).

Luckily, I could listen to the games fade in and out through the static on KMOX even at this distance. Used to drive my oldest brother (a Mets fan) crazy listening to those games while he tried to sleep. The 70’s were some lean years.

I was a sophomore in college in northern NY when they won the WS in 1982 – I vaguely remember watching those games in my dorm room and down at the frat house. Definitely a highlight.

The night before our daughter was born, the wife and I were at the hospital where we watched the Cards get eliminated by Arizona in the 2001 playoffs. My poor wife took it harder than me, but the next day was the best when our future Cardinal fan was born.

My favorite live Cardinal moment was again going to Cooperstown for Ozzie’s induction. For the first time, I was surrounded by Cardinal fans and was part of the sea of red. Met a lot of nice people that day. Can’t believe that was the last time I was in Cooperstown, it’s time for a trip back this year.

In 2005 I finally saw the Cardinals in person. Drove to Toronto for 2 games against the Blue Jays. Lost the first game (Halliday), but the second game was a gem by Carp, with HR’s by Albert and Larry Walker thrown in. Lots of Cards fans at those games, and I again met a lot of nice folks. Of course, 2006 was just awesome, and it was especially nice to hear the wife and daughter cheer on our boys on during that great run.

As chuck said, this franchise has a tremendous history. I have read and re-read lots of great books about the team and the players. And of course, VEB has been a daily read for the last few years.

Never been to St. Louis, never even close. Some day, hopefully. Anyways – it’s great to be a Cardinals fan!

I have not had to endure as many of the harships of losing like some have. living in St. louis, baseball seems to be in the genes.

 I started following baseball in ‘96. My first memory was having my mom come tell me during one of my soccer games that the cards has lost the NLCS to the braves. I dont think she has even forgiven the braves for that and , along with the fact that some of my extended family are braves fans, it seems to really irk her. Anyway, baseball has always seemed to be the bond between me and my dad. Baseball alsways seemed to be something that we could always talk about, no matter the place, time, circumstance, or audience. Even my grandparents, who my mom says were never all that into baseball when she was a kid, have grown to be such cards fans that anytime we meet for dinner or birthdays, the topic of how the latest game, or what La Russa’s newest infatuation or whatever is the latest cards news is always a talking point. One of my favorite stories from my grandfather about baseball is the summer afternoon games he and his friends at work would go to where Gibson and co. could finish the game in two hours or less.

As a kid growing up in St. Louis (Kirkwood) baseball just seemed like the right thing to do on a summer afternoon. My neighbor and I would wake up late on summer mornings, and invariably start a two person baeball games between the two houses. Pitcher stood 30-48 ft from the plate, with a strike zone made with tape on a basketball hoop. It’s cool how the imprint of the tape is still visible on that hoop. My friend and I used all sorts of different combinations of baseball equipment, eventually settling with tennis balls, which were plentiful, easy to hit, and difficult to break windows with, and a wooden bat that I had received at one of my first baseball games. The dimensions of our “field” are still memorable, the tree being the foul pole, the way you could catch a ball of the roof and it would still be an out, the absolute rockets that I gave up to my friends that put a multitude of dents in his family garage door. This friend of mine became so dominant at this game of ours that i made him turn around and bat left-handed and he still would be able to hit 60mph fastball or my patented “Gravity-Ball” that never got over 30.

As my friend seemed to give up baseball for basketball and football, seemingly due to the amount of inaction he perceived in baseball, although he was pretty skilled at football and basketball, I began to follow the cardinals and baseball in general with a passion that has no equal. The routine that developed in the summer, revolving around that game that started right after dinner, and trying fruitlessly with my dad to understand the eccentricities of TLR and marveling at the greatness of Albert. I have been a crazy obsessed cards fan ever since and VEB has been a godsend for the last 2+ years

A couple of years after my grandfather died, my grandma started really watching the Cardinals with the extra time she had after selling off our family farm. I spent a lot of time with her on the weekends and started watching the Birds with her. Not gonna take the time to find the exact year but it was the days of Pagnozzi, Garry G, Brian Jordan, Ron Gant, Ray Lankford, John Mabry, The Benes Brothers, Morris, Todd S, Ozzie and Clayton to name a few. Probably a 96 or 97.

I do remember one game when Ozzie was at the plate and was listening to Jack call a game and I was just randomly bantering on about nothing.. I said to myself out loud,

“Mighty Ozzie up to bat,”

and then Ozzie not known for his power corked one out to which my grandma replied,

“he hit a home run and I nearly shat!”

   I think I speak for all Cardinal fans when I say, “As Cardinal fans, we have been so blessed to be able to witness countless unforgettable events.” I am sure that fans from every other team will say the same thing, but I really do believe that there is something very special about being a Cardinal fan.
 
   I have been very fortunate to be able to witness some pretty unforgettable Cardinal memories. One of my most vivid memories also happens to be one of the saddest days as a Cardinal fan. I was in Chicago with a few friends attending Wrigley Field for the first time on a Friday night, the Cardinals had lost the game 2-1, in what was one of the quickest games played that year. Very badly wanting to put that game behind me, we got up early and went right back to the scene of the crime hoping to see the Cardinals redeem themselved and put a good pounding on those hated Cubbies. Unfortunately, that wish was never granted. Daryl Kile had passed away that morning! I am sure we all remember that moment, as it was like we each lost a member of the family. I remember that day very vividly, and I will always remember Joe Girardi’s vice echo over that loud speaker.

   Another memory that I love to revisit in my mind is the time that I got to meet Joe Buck. Waiting outside of Busch to see the players arrive at the stadium in hopes of getting their autograph was a weekend staple for me and some friends. One particular day we had been waiting for the players to arrive and we noticed out of the corner of our eyes Jack Buck rounding the corner with a big smile on his face, he knew he was gonna sign some autographs. As Jack approached, the butterflies were stirring in my belly as I played out his famous calls in my head. He took my piece of paper and with his badly shaking hands, he happily gave me his autograph, one letter at a time.

  Finally, the most recent fond memory was at the clinching game of the 2006 World Series. I was lucky enough to witness a very unique situation. Sure, the victory is the best memory that I might have of that night, but it was the family sitting next to me that really stuck with me. There were 4 guys sitting to my left, ranging in age from probably 85 to 5. After talking to them for a little bit, they informed me that the eldest was the great grandfather of the youngest, and each one of them had now witnessed a Cardinal World Series game.

Go Cardinals!!!!

I grew up in Vandalia, IL, which is roughly an hour from St. Louis. It’s right on I-70. Anyway, as a child in the 80s I had plenty of chances to attend games with my family and I especially remember watching Sunday afternoon games with my dad. As I grew older and the 90s began I was busy playing baseball everyday of the summer. I had my organized team and I had my backyard neighborhood games where I would fill out the scorebook (yes, I kept a scorebook for backyard games) with the Cardinals lineup and bat from whichever side of the plate I was supposed to as each batter came to the plate. (Sidenote: Unfortunately this never led to successful switch-hitting, only poor backyard hitting when I imitated the likes of Ray Lankford, my personal favorite) As I got to high school and starting working and having a social life, I came away from baseball. I would still ask my dad about the outcome, but I was nowhere near as interested as I had always been. Fast forward a few years into college and the 2004 playoffs. I had been slowly drawn back in during the end of the 2004 season by that magnificent team. I was sitting around with my friends watching Game 6 of the NLCS. When Jimmy finally hit that homerun, not only our apartment, but the entire (on campus, at SIUE) apartment complex exploded with joy. That homerun was the final nail in the coffin of my exile from baseball.

but this post is just too good to pass up. i cant read any of the above stories without grinning ear to ear.

i was a very reluctant fan, in actuality. i lived in st louis county and my parents never were big fans of any sports— at least not until i became obsessed with the cards. i was a good student and the reward for straight A’s in my school district was six free tickets to go see the cards play at busch. i remember getting those tickets every year and either having them collect dust or giving them to someone else who was interested. i remember going to a home game when willie mcgee came in to pinch hit in the ninth and not knowing why everyone left their seats and got so incredibly loud. i remember going to my friend’s house in 1996 when the cards were playing the braves and my friend’s dad going absolutely insane when they would score.

i never really followed them until 1998 when mcgwire was in the home run chase. even then, i didnt follow the team, just the home run totals. i begged my mom, that summer, to buy me a big mac jersey, which i still have (and cant fit in, still). after that season, i became a casual fan. in college i really got into them. i needed something to get my mind off of my studies and baseball really fit. i went to school in omaha, but the cards games would be broadcast in our dorms (even though the rest of omaha had to watch the royals) and i would watch them every chance i got. when i moved out of the dorms, i got mlb radio and would watch the gameday illustrations along with mike shannon. i would eventually get mlb.tv, but i didnt become addicted to the stats and even start reading blogs like this one, until i was going to graduate school.

here is the actual story, and its magical, just as any of yours are. i was in omaha, nebraska at my favorite chinese restaurant, the rice bowl, with my gf and another guy from my lab. we ate our food and then got our fortune cookies as usual. i normally just throw away the cookie along with the fortune since i have this strange diet in which i dont eat refined sugars or caffeine, but my gf made me open it and read my fortune. it read “your team will do very well this year.” i was incredibly excited by it and immediately called all of my friends and told them that we were in for a great season. i took the fortune and taped it to my albert pujols jack in the box that my mom had bought for me that christmas.

i would look at the fortune whenever i would watch the cards games that season. i was encouraged at pujols monstrous may and knew that we would go to the world series because of how well we were doing. then came the cubs game that knocked the wind out of me. pujols was fielding a fly ball and fell and hurt his back and aramis ramirez (i think) followed that up with a grand slam. i moved to texas for graduate school and brought the jack in the box with me even though our season was not going so well by the end of august, as demonstrated by our extremely long losing streaks. we ended up making the playoffs, barely.

we had a ramshackle starting rotation and isringhausen was pretty much done for. i didnt believe that the cards would make it out of the first round. the onion agreed with me whole-heartedly when they had their fake odds of winning the world series listed. every team had their own odds next to the name, but next to ST LOUIS, was just a word, “nope.” i hung it up at my desk. our pitchers were lights out in the first round (i dont even remember the opponent, prob the padres, its ALWAYS the padres) and the NLCS was amazing. i didnt start believing my fortune, however, until wainwright struck out beltran to win game 7.

the next week, espn put out a poll to see who the readers believed would win the world series (http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30532085&l=c11b8&id=32501629) which is comical now, but reflects how much the odds were in the tigers’ favor. a contrary poll came up after kenny rogers decided to rub pine tar on his hand (http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30542435&l=ea2fd&id=32501629) and we eventually won and im certain that my entire apartment complex knew it as it happened. i was incredibly loud and excited.

in conclusion, i leave you this final onion article that sums up why tony is sorry for winning the world series. its quite hilarious.

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/54778

my story is rather simple, i am from southeast Missouri & lived there till i was 10. my dads family are all Cardinal fans, so being a Cardinal fan is in my blood. thank God too.

in the 50’s and 60’s. My grandfather was born in Latvia, moved to NY when he was 2, then to a little town outside of Atlanta some years later. My father was born in Atlanta, but when he was 7 (a year before the Great Depression), my grandfather and his four brothers moved their burgeoning shoe business to St. Louis. By the time I came along in the late 50’s, my grandfather and dad (who had married a local lass) were both big Cardinal fans, and the company had seats six rows behind the Cardinal dugout in Busch II, which we got to sit in every other weekend or so. I saw WS games in Busch I and II, fell asleep listening to Harry and Jack, had posters of Gibson and Brock on my wall, and played Khoury League ball with one of Jack Buck’s sons around 1971 (also played on that team with a Griesedieck son (family owned the Falstaff Brewing Company)). I knew, KNEW, that whenever Gibson pitched, if his first pitch was a strike, he would win the game (of course, many times, when the first pitch was a ball, he still won). My father and grandfather both passed away in ’71, and my mom moved us to Baltimore a couple of years later. I could not stand any AL team, and hated (and still hate with a passion) the DH rule, so I never went to an Orioles game. She eventually remarried, to a great guy who grew up a Yankees fan on Long Island, but he was not partial to them. He has always rooted for the team of wherever he has lived. When they moved back to St. Louis in ’89, he became a Cardinal fan, and now has season tickets behind home plate in Busch III. I live in southern Colorado, and the last playoff game I saw was in 2004, with my stepfather. Looking forward to going back to St. Louis this summer for a game in the new stadium. I am, have ever been, and will always be, a die-hard fan of the St. Louis Cardinals.

When my dad was still alive, and I was about 6 or 7, we went to Stan Musial and Biggie’s restaurant, and The Man came over and sat down at our table for a couple of minutes to talk to my father; they seemed to know each other a bit, don’t know how, and never bothered to ask before he died. He also took to me to a dinner at a small church somewhere in the county, where Lou Brock was the headline speaker. I brought along a ball I had grabbed as a foul at a game about a year earlier. We sat at the main table, and there I was, three seats away from one of my childhood heroes. My father took my ball, put it in a coffee cup, and handed it to the guy next to him, who handed it to Lou, who leaned over, smiled at me, and signed it, then passed it back in the cup. I don’t remember anything else about the dinner, because all I could do was stare at the baseball. When we moved to Baltimore, that ball disappeared, along with a ball that had been given to me that had the 1943 NY Giants signatures, including Mel Ott, on it. Man, was that a bummer when I couldn’t find that box!

bore my favorite pictures of New Busch (sorry for the bad quality, it was cut out of the PD the day after the storm and has been sitting above the bench in my workshop for awhile):

As for how I became a Cards fan: I grew up in Peoria. When you turn six years old, city officials come to your house and make you choose if you’re going to be a Cubs fan or a Cards fan. I chose correctly.

In 1956 my dad got drafted. The army, trying to be diplomatic and not wanting to favor the family in California over that in New York, they send mom and dad to Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio, and then to Ft. Leonard Wood in Missouri, where they will be equidistant from all of them.

In January 1959 I’m born at Ft. Leonard Wood and spend my formative first 6 months in Missouri. In June we move to Los Angeles. I won’t return to Missouri until 1981.

In 1965 I’m, getting some speech therapy and allergy shots and as a reward for being compliant I get some candy. I choose these packs of baseball cards and start collecting and learn the team names. I learn ther eis a team in St. Louis,Missouri.

In 1966 I’m attending Camp Kinneret, a day camp for Jewish kids. We’re in LA where Dodger great Sandy Koufax, a “member of the tribes”, is pitching. Our groups chooses to be "the Dodgers" and each day one of us gets to be "Sandy". Something in me rebels at conformity and wants to be different or an individual. I reject the Dodgers and Sandy and choose to be a Cardinal fan.

1967, the first year that I really follow baseball, and we all know how happily that story ends. Mom’s not too thrilled with the baseball cards at first until I start talking about batting averages, earned runs averages, and other stats. So she sees that following baseball is leading me to do math. And then she sees that I’m reading a lot of books about baseball from the library. So at the school book fair that fall mom lets me buy as many books as I want. I select a bunch of baseball books including Gibson’s bio "From Ghetto to Glory".

1968. After following the team daily, really following as much as an 9 year old can, my 5th grade teacher lets us watch game 7 of the series during school that afternoon. The most crushing and devastating event of my life (to that time) occurs when Flood can’t catch up to that fly ball. I break dwon crying in front of the whole class after the last painful out.

By then I was bonded for life.

Other great moments as a Cardinal Fan.

1982 in med school in Galveston. Another Missourite and I watch game 7 at a sports bar. We go crazy. We’re the only ones that cared.

2000(1?) My wife and I are giving lectures in St. Louis. I ask for tickets to a Cards game instead of the typical dinner out, but they insist on dinner before the game. We arrive at old Busch II in the fifth inning. But I do get to see McGwire hit the homer that puts him past Killebrew on the all time list.

2004. I see the cards in game 5 vs. the Astros in the NLCS at MinuteMaid. I’m interviewed for ESPN because I’m wearing a Cardinal jersey (it seemed like I was the only one). Another guy, a hat dealer from Illinois, has extra tickets. Seeing that I’m a Card fan he gives me two much better seats for free! Alas we lose in a pitching duel.

It always amazes me how many Cardinal fans there are in Texas.

Like others, I can’t remember not being a Cardinal fan. My family has deep Southern Illinois roots (Pope County) and it was what we knew. Apparently I saw my first game before I was 1 and I don’t remember anything about ’82 (I was 6), but ’85 and ’87 are etched hard in my memory.*

Moved to Springfield IL in ’86 and got to see Zeile, Gilkey, Lankford, etc. on their way up. My best moment from then is getting to attend Game 1 of the ’87 NLCS. It was on a school night and my dad and I drove down from Springfield after class and the next day I carried my ticket around school like a trophy. I was the king of 6th grade for the day. The ADD inspired Whiteyball was great for a little kid. The last years of brewery ownership was when I got to attend most of my games…summers filled with mediocrity and the angst that came from Agosto, Cromer, et al.

I moved to Houston in 1997, so I’ve only gotten to see 1 game in St. Louis since then. I always try to go see at least 1 game here when the Cardinals come to town. My best moment from recent memory is Game 2 of the ‘06 NLCS. When Taguchi homered, I yelled “Sooooooooooooooo!” and woke up my 3 month old. My wife was not impressed. How I kept myself quiet during the end of Game 7, I still don’t know.

*Oddly enough though, the first game I remember attending was a Boston at KC game in Yaz’s last year (1983). The starting pitcher for Boston was John Tudor, and KC won.

My mother and father are both long-time Cardinal fans. Their parents were all long-time Cardinal fans. I never knew my paternal grandfather (died before my parents even got married.) My paternal grandmother was a mother of four athletic boys. My father, being one of those athletic boys, actually played baseball in high school and college, even threw batting practice for the Cardinals at one point. My maternal grandfather was also a huge Cardinals fan. Between my grandpa on one side and grandma on the other…plus my parents loving it…there’s no way that I could possibly grow up loving anything as much as the Cardinals. Of course, the Blues became a close second love.

Remember that game in Pittsburgh last year when I told you all Skippy was working on taking groundballs at 2B? Well, D Goold passes along these tidbits about 2B.

- Cardinals inquired about Robinson Cano and were asked for Adam Wainwright. Johnny Mo punched Brian Cashman in the left dangley bit and walked out of the meeting.
-Brendan Ryan is ‘bulking up’. Mark McGwire said he was not interested in talking about THAT either.
-Skippy has been spending the winter working on taking groundballs at 2B (again).

There is an article on STLToday that talks about Rasmus being in excellent shape, something that he wishes he would have been last year so that he would not have gotten hurt. When he did not go to winter ball, he apparently took the time away and put it to good use, I guess.

There are so many. I love the Cardinals so much…I may be obsessive. Beyond my family and best friends, the Cardinals are my favorite thing in the world. Some things that stand out:

I remember being 11 and going to game 4 of the 1996 NLCS. I thought for sure we were WS bound and the excitement of the crowd was something I wouldn’t experience again until the 2000 Rams playoffs. I remember listening to Jack Buck after the game in a STL parking garage and I don’t know that I was ever more excited. Dmitri Young’s hit that night was unbelievable

I remember flying to NYC for the playoff game, I believe game 3, the only game we won in that series. It was terrifying being in a NYC crowd cheering for the Cards. We won, then my mom and I got lost and had to ask NYPD how to get back to the city. It was something I have never forgotten.

I remember game 7 of the NLCS in 2006, punching a hole in my shitty Chicago apartment when Rolen was robbed of a home run. That hole represented something unique for the last 6 months of my lease but that we won that game, and the world series, is something I am thankful for every single day. That team represented a special place in my heart, that of the underdog, and that they won is amazing and still stunning to me

And foremost, I thank god every day for Albert Pujols. Without doubt, he’s the best player I have ever witnessed, something out of a science fiction novel, his talent is something truly special. As we complain and analyze the front office’s willingness to win and pay and compete, I sit here everyday thankful this guy in on my team. He is is the walking representation of greatness and I truly believe he will go down as the greatest Cardinal of them all.

All my relatives are Cardinals fans. I’ve always talked about baseball, even as a wee lass, with a deeper understanding than most adults around me. Oh, and I was seemingly born with tons of old baseball statistics floating around in my head.

I played pick-up baseball with the boys growing up (I was the pitcher b/c I had the best control) and I played softball as I got older and in high school. I taught myself to switch-hit as a teenager. For years after I stopped playing, I would hit the batting cages to burn of steam. I still love playing catch and don’t do it often enough.

Anyway, baseball is a passion, part of my hobby (photography), and an addiction. Since meeting my husband, I’ve converted him from someone who is mildly interested into someone who is baseball-obsessed. We share this. We usually get to 5 games a year.

Albert Pujols is a god and I’m so glad I’m alive to witness his spectacular talent. Can’t wait to see what the future holds for the Cardinals.

I would turn 8 on Monday the 10th.

My uncle was afraid I was turning into a Yankee fan, and got my parents permission to take me to a ballgame for my birthday. It was his plan that I would see Willie Mays, fall in love with the Giants and be a loyal ally when the family arguments started. To make sure the conversion stuck, it was a doubleheader.

Except it didn’t work like my uncle planned.

The Cards swept, and I was a goner.

I did fall in love with Willie (who legged out a triple in the second game and I swear he cut across the pitcher’s mound because no one could go from first to third that fast legally) but I fell in absolute adore with the Cards, and especially Stan Musial. We had seats along the first base side, and it was clear to me from watching him that there was something extra-special about him.

And he hit a home run in the second game, too.

So I became a Cardinal fan, lost and alone in the wilds of Jersey. When the Dodgers and Giants moved west, the Cards only got as close as Philly, and that might well have been on the dark side of the moon for us. It would be a couple years before my first transistor radio and KMOX late at night, so all I had to go on was the Sporting News, which I devoured every week.

I swear they invented the Mets just for me. My brother (who did become a Yankee fan) and I made several trips to the Polo Grounds and Shea when the Birds came to town, and we continued that habit through college.

Later on, I took my own daughters to Shea, but they just wanted hot dogs and hats. I’ve failed as a father.

I got to St. Louis for my first home game when I attended a social workers’ conference in August, 1983. Nobody but social workers would hold a convention in St. Louis in August, but I volunteered to go (even though I wasn’t even a social worker, I was an attorney for an agency that was full of social workers) after checking the schedule and seeing that the Braves were in town. (Nobody buys anyone a drink at a social workers convention, either),

Caught two games (the third was rained out, I recall). The first one was on “Webster Groves Night.” I remember that because I sat with everyone from town and was even introduced to Miss Webster Groves, who was very cute. The Cards won.

The next night, David Green hit two homers, but I remember the Cards lost..

Now I’ve relocated to Nashville. I’ve been down to see the Memphis club, and my wife and I talk about a pilgrimage to see the new stadium. Until then, I have to be satisfied with the Cards memorabilia she finds me on eBay, which fills the shelf behind my head as I type this.

The place of honor is my signed Stan Musial ball, which she found at Goodwill.

Through dark days and sunny, the Cards have sustained me. They’ve made me happy (Broglio for Brock) and unhappy (Carlton for Wise). But they’re my Cards, and have been for more than 50 years..

2004. Went to Cinncinnati to see a Cards-Reds game saw last two out of three. We happened to stay in the hotel right across the street from the Cards. I walk across traffic with pen, paper, and my hat. I was about 9. Edgar Renteria walks out of the hotel and my cousin and I are the first two he see’s we each get an autograph from him. Then Phat Albert walks out and we hand him our pens and hats. He was talking on his bluetooth. We were both estatic we just got Albert Pujols’ autograph. We head to GAB and right there near the Reds dugout is Steve Kline. We try to get some autographs(my cousin says she’ll make out with him for two autographs) he runs to the Cards dugout we start to walk away and here he comes with two baseball’s and a pen we get the balls autographed and our hats too. Then my next game was against the Brewers at the Old Busch. No autographs. I have followed the Cards since ‘03. I remember Darly Kile’s death, I remember Matt Morris,Steve Kline ,Bo Hart and I remember when McGwire set the record I even remember both of Scott Rolen’s accident’s(Tony Clark then Hee Sop Choi). I especially remember Josh Hamilton RIP. Sure I remember the bad but I remeber the good to. My circumstances are especially rough since my grand father and father are both Cubs fans and me and my uncle are the only Cardinals fans in our family. So that’s my story. Enjoy and God Bless.

Grew up in SW Missouri listening to Jack Buck on the radio with my dad from the late 1960’s through the 1970’s – great memories of that. But my true love for the Cardinals didn’t gel until the summer of 1981. That unusual “two season” year caused by the strike really solidified that the Cardinals were my team. That season bridged my freshman and sophomore years at college in a different part of the country, and the Cardinals were robbed of a postseason birth. They had the best overall record in the NL East, but the strike in the middle of the year caused the league to pick the first half and second half winners to move on (the Phillies and the Expos – interesting side note in that the same thing happened in the NL West to the Reds as they had the best overall record yet the Dodgers and Astros went to the playoffs). The summary is here: http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/NL_1981.shtml

I was forced to defend the honor of “my team” that fall, and kept a newspaper clipping of what the entire season results were with St; Louis in first in my dorm room the rest of the year. After winning the World Series the following year, there was no doubt where my loyalties would lie. I now live in Atlanta where there has been some great baseball played, but I love when the Cardinals come to town and always wear my “birds on the bat” with pride.

I’ve been a Cardinals fan since I became aware I was breathing.

My earliest Cardinal memories which I’m sure can be echoed by a number of folks my age are that of Jack Buck and Mikey on my radio and watching Ozzie Smith flip out onto the field on television. I played shortstop in little league and used to lay in bed thinking about how I’m so going to do flips onto the field to start the next game…. I never did, of course.

I’ve always looked around my house to see things such as autographed baseballs and pictures from Stan, Gibby, Lou Brock, Red… always seeing pennants hanging anywhere they would fit. My dad is a Cardinals fan and imparted that great heritage onto me. Currently on my bedroom wall I have a painting of Bob Gibson hanging next to a copy of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch from the 1987 NLCS with Jose Oquendo pictured touching on home plate to secure the go-ahead run that sent us to the World Series in that year of my birth. It’s been hanging up in view as long as I can remember and my folks gave it to me.

Looking forward, I wonder how I’m ever going to be able to function properly in this world with such a deep and uncontrollable passion for a baseball team. How can a guy get through basic training in the middle of the baseball season without even a hint as to how his ‘birds are doing? I watch every single Cardinals game all season, if I’m not home for one it gets TiVo’d and watched that night or the next afternoon. How is a young man expected to go about his life when he’s so passionately intertwined with a baseball team?

I suppose I’ll have a fine time working that one out. It’s strange being actually afraid to commit to something because it could potentially result in missed baseball games.

1. i’m being swung around at my aunts’ joint wedding. i’m about one and a half years old. this was 1982.

2. i’m in the kitchen of our old house, being scolded by my father for something involving dishware. i’m 3. did i break a plate? did i spill a glass of milk? don’t remember. in any event, no use crying over it now.

3. i’m on a camping trip, in a tent, with, among other family members, my mother and grandmother. i’m wrapped in a sleeping bag. in the tent, propped on a chair, is a small television, straining to deliver picture and sound through its antennae. on the intermittent occasion when it succeeded, what it looked and sounded like was: the 1985 world series.

i am, and was born, a fan of the st. louis cardinals. viva, god damn it. viva.

I grew up in the 70’s as a Mets fan (early 70’s) and Dodgers fan but always listened to the Cards on the radio because that is who you get in Western Kentucky (My grandfather was a Brooklyn Dodgers Fan but loved Stan the Man and my mom was a Reds fan)… I guess I never really warmed up completly because they did not produce in winnners in that decade (70’s)… When I was in the military in the 80’s I got to listen to them allot on Armed Forces Radio and that connection pushed me to only be a Cards Fan… I died hard in 85 and that is still my favorite Cardinal Team from top to bottom (The Jack Clark Home Run against the Dodgers is still more awesome to me then the one Ozzie hit in game 5)… I now have a shrine/collection displayed in my basement to the 64 Cardinals because that is the year I was born and of course the year of a Cardinals Series victory over those damn Yankees… I figure it was always there inside me just need something to pull it out of me…

Like a few posters above, I grew up in central Illinois on the dividing line between good and evil. (Well, evil may be giving the Cubbies too much credit. How about `the line between good and pathetic.’ Sounds better).

Stan the Man plays a role in my blessed place on the Cardinals side of the rivalry even though his career ended four years prior to my birth. My father grew up following Stan and the Cards and passed on the fanhood to myself and my siblings.

The 1970s were lean years in retrospect but, as a young boy, it did little to deter my love for all things Cardinals. I got to see Brock and Gibby play in person. I saw Simmons and Hernandez become cornerstones of the team. When Whitey arrived with the new decade and I got to see the ’82 champs and the two other pennant-winning teams in the 80s, I felt connected to all those Cardinals fans in the past. My daughter got to experience the same thing this decade, especially 2006 when our World Championship total reached double digits.

Even if the Cards don’t spend their way into the playoffs every year like the Yankees, tradition is what sets our team apart from other franchises.
    
My adult years have seen me move and settle in the Carolinas, where I’ve started a family of my own. VEB, XM Radio and stltoday.com keep me informed on the only pro sports franchise I follow regularly. I miss Jack Buck terribly but have learned to adjust.

Go Cards.

I wasn’t always a Cards fan. I grew up in South-Central Louisiana and though I loved the game of baseball, never really had a team to follow. Sure, we went to a bunch of Astros games (being that they were the closest team to us), but I never felt as though I owned that team in any way shape or form. After all, my father, brother, and I travelled all over the country trying to see games in as many stadiums as possible (we hit 11). We just loved the game.

Later in life, I got into fantasy baseball. From then on, I simply began rooting for my favorite players (which had a rough correspondence to my teams usually). Looking back, it seems sort of fickle, but with no team to call my own, I suppose it was the only thing that made sense.

In the Fall of 2003 I enrolled at Washington University in St. Louis. Though I had every intention of seeing as much baseball as possible (being excited to live in a city with a team), I never saw myself joining the local legion of fans. I figured the experience would roughly approximate every experience I had at the Astrodome and Bankrupt Ballpark.

But you know what? Something about the Cardinals, man… it gets into your blood. Maybe it was all the metro rides to the games in a sea of red. Maybe it was the thrill of watching Albert step up to the plate. Maybe it was tied to my eventual love for the city itself. Hell, maybe I was just destined to find this team all along.

Regardless, I became a fan through and through. In fact, now I just can’t get enough. I read blog after blog, I spent all of this past Christmas watching the Ken Burns Baseball feature, and now I sit restlessly until opening day.

GEAUX CARDS!

I have been one since the womb. My dad and grandpa are both huge Cardinal fans, to this day the best way to have a conversation with my grandpa is to have one over Cardinal baseball. I think that I have heard more stories about Cardinal games from the 40s onward than is really fair.

The first game I ever went to must have been in the late 70s against the Reds. I remember it being one of those July days where the temp in the stadium must have been over 130, but man did I love it. I think that game is the reason that I love hot weather so much. To this day if I go to a game I am always a bit disappointed when it isn’t one of those extremely hot summer days.

I’m late to the party, again, but after reading all the above stories, I couldn’t resist writing mine down too. It sure isn’t as inspiring as JerseyRed’s, but here goes.

Unlike many on here, I didn’t grow up in a baseball loving family. Now, they didn’t have anything against baseball, it was just not the sport of interest, that was football. Sometime in the mid ’60’s, must have been 65 or so, I started playing Pee Wee ball at the Boy’s Club during the summer. I don’t remember if I asked, or was just taken there since my parents ran their own business and the Boys Club got me out of their hair for 1/2 the day. Anyway, I liked the game but really don’t remember following the majors until the ‘67 WS. For some reason, I certainly don’t remember now, I was for the Tigers and was disappointed when the Cards won. It had to be the next summer before I was “converted” because one of my best friends from Sunday School was responsible and he went to a different grade school than me. Anyway, by the ‘68 series, I was rooting for the Cards. Thus, I “lost” the first two WS that I remember caring about. I do recall listening to games, wasn’t it during ‘68?, when Harry Carry would follow a Card’s victory with his “The Cardinals are coming tra la la la” song. (Anyone else remember that?)

My Cards fandom didn’t suffer from the loss, however, and from then on, I was hooked. If you think about it, 1968 wasn’t the best time to become a Cards fan as they didn’t make it back to the Series for 14 years. Yes, I suffered through the dark days of the ’70’s with many of the same memories stated already hear. My mom told of umpteen times that she got up in the middle of the night and turned my radio off after I had fallen asleep listening to a game from LA or SF. As many above have stated, there was nothing better than listening to Jack Buck and Mike Shannon. I do remember making into the 20 something inning of the 26 inning Mets game.

My first live game was in August of …. it must have been ‘77, the summer after I graduated from high school. The whole family had gone on a long road trip visiting relatives near Cleveland then near Milwaukee and we stopped in StL on the way home (Arkansas, obviously) and caught a game. I remember sitting in those seats perched above the outfield next to the bullpen in Busch II. I can’t even remember who we played that night, but I do remember that Lou stole a base (didn’t he set one of his records that year) and the Mad Hungarian came in for the save. I loved it! Couple of non-baseball but Missouri related memories that stand also stand out from that trip are my Dad trying to not get us run over in the 80 mph bumper-to-bumper traffic leaving the game on I-70 as we headed toward our hotel and my quick, un-planned exit at Ft. Leonard Wood when we heard on our CB that a trooper that we had met going east on I-44 was turning around and coming our way (I was going a BIT over the speed limit since we were all tired and ready to get home).

I remember thinking first of my boyhood friend when the last out was made in ‘82. He had written in my senior annual “Do you think the Cards will ever win another pennant?” I hadn’t talked to him in five years, but he was the first person that came to mind. I remember sitting in my car in our driveway in Texas straining to hear KMOX and my new wife not understanding at all. I remember, earlier, sitting in my parent’s car outside a church potluck and listening to Gibby get his 3000th K. There are so many memories of the Cards throughout my life.

I have succeeded in passing my passion on. Both of my daughters are Cards fans. Both of them send me everything they see that makes fun of the Cubs. My younger daughter and I continually got updates from Game 5 in ‘06 using our cell phones as she played in the band at a high school football game. The game did finish in time for us to hear the ninth inning in the car on the way home. I went to a meeting in StL one summer in the late ’90’s and took them with me (they were about 8 and 16 at the time). That one trip, and two games, hooked them. Last summer was the first one since then that I haven’t made it to a game with one or both of them. I don’t intend to let that streak last another summer!

Well, that’s my story, not as moving as some, but just thinking about all the games I’ve watched and listened too brings back so many memories. Go Cards!

My dad is a die-hard Cardinals fan, so naturally, I became one too. I also liked Mark McGwire during the home run chase in 1998 (when I was 6). I live near Detroit, and it’s sometimes hard being a Cardinals fan living in Tigers country. At least I get to brag about the 2006 World Series!

The 2006 season, in my mind, was something else. In no way did I figure that the Redbirds would go to the World Series, let alone win it. When I saw Brandon Inge swing and miss, I jumped up and down for joy. I was so excited that I wanted to run outside and yell “Go Cardinals!” but I was sick that week and my parents didn’t want me to do that. I still remember Yadi’s home run in Game 7 of the NLCS, and Waino’s strikeouts of Beltran and Inge like it was just yesterday.

I went to old Busch a couple times before it was torn down. I saw Abraham Nunez hit a walk-off single in my final game there, in July 2005. I always liked that ballpark – the architecture (mainly the arches on the top of the stadium) amazed me. I’ve only been to the current Busch once (in July 2006), but it’s a great ballpark too. I’ve always felt good going to watch the Cardinals play. In a life that has seen many changes, one thing has remained constant. I will always bleed Cardinal red. St. Louis truly is baseball heaven.