FanPost

Why I am a Cardinals Fan


Geography has a lot to do with my baseball loyalties, but family has even more to do with it. I grew up in central Illinois in the 1960s, a part of the world where baseball loyalties are pretty much evenly divided between the two major cities north and south - Chicago and St Louis. It seemed as though my neighborhood and school was pretty evenly divided between Cubs and Cards fans, although Cubs fans didn't have much to cheer about - it would be another half a century before they were a real competitor to the Cardinals.

But, we were Cards fans, again primarily because of geography. Both of my parents were born and raised in northwest Arkansas, born during the Depression, they got what little they knew about the outside world through the radio, and a lot of what they got was from KMOX - which carried the Cards games over most of the MidWest and Great Plains. My parents were part of the great migration out of the South just after World War 2, where uneducated people moved north to take advantage of union jobs in the upper MidWest and move their families into the bottom rungs of the middle class. They moved to Central Illinois in the early 50s, and my dad worked at Caterpillar for over 30 years. And, he was a Cardinals fan.

That meant I was as well, since I primarily remember following baseball at the age of six or so in order to spend more time with my dad. He and his friends would sit in the back yard on our cement pad patio and listen to the Cards on the radio, much as he had done in Arkansas. It was 1964, and that great Cards team went on to win the World Series. It was my first year of caring about baseball, so I thought "This is Great!" It was. I also thought - "This happens every year." It doesn't. To this day, in the back of my now very adult mind, a part of me expects the Cards to win the World Series every year. That's a gift from my youth.

My dad and his friends (and I) would listen to the Cards at home after he got off of work and watch them on TV on weekends. We would also listen around the campfire when we went camping on weekends in the summer. We also traveled to St Louis almost every other year. We went to Six Flags Amusement Park, and we also saw a couple of games at Bush Stadium. As a kid, that place was spellbinding - it was so huge and round and complicated. There was so much going on it was sensory overload. We would usually sit on the 3rd base side - in good years in the lower section and in lean years in the upper section (something I would put together much later.) Seeing them play in person made them seem real. I must have had a dozen Cardinals pendents before I got too "teenage" to go on vacation with my parents.

My dad and I continued to watch and listen to the Cards all through my time at home, and when I would return after moving away. Not having a lot else in common, it was one thing we could bond with - one of our few shared interests. He died in 1988 far too young and I still think about sitting in lawn chairs on our patio listening to the radio and sneaking my first sip of beer. And I always smile when I do.

After my dad died, my mom was alone at 65 for the first time in her life - she moved out of her family house into a house with my dad. She was lonely and scared, so I would call her three or four times a week at night and we'd listen to the Cardinals game together. We'd talk about the game or anything else. It was 1988, so the Cards weren't such a good team, but we didn't really care too much. It helped her get through that first year, after which she got her footing and started a new life. We still tried to listen to a game together once a week or so until she came down with Alzheimers and dementia. She died in 2012 still very much a Cardinals fan.

Being a Cards fan has always been about family for me, especially my parents. Neither of my siblings cared much for sports at all, let alone the Cardinals. For me, it was a way to connect with my parents, and it's still some of the best memories I have now that they are both gone. I think the things that are really meaningful in our lives always have more than one reason for their importance. I loved baseball and the Cards especially - I played third base as a kid because Mike Shannon was my favorite player. Unfortunately, my skills peaked in 5th grade, but my love for the game and the Cards didn't. Win or lose, whether I'm living in Washington DC, England or South Africa, I'll always be a Cards fan.