I also gained this destiny/curse from my father, whose family at one time hailed from Knob Knoster, Mo. Most of the family made its way up to the Joliet, Ill. area in the 1980s, and given that I was born in 1980 that afforded me plenty of ice cream birthday cakes with Vince Coleman Starting Lineup figures on them. I was too young to know the misery of 85 and 87, only knowing for the latter that I hated the Twins and their damn dirty dome. The 1996 was my indoctrination of the fandom stomach punch, after so many years of fanatical thinking that Pedro Guerrero or Todd Zeile or Tripp Cromer would drive the bandwagon to the promised land.

The 2001 playoffs really was when I reached a new level of fandom. I knew all the pieces of the team and could identify its faults and strengths, loving both equally. Since then, it's afforded me the heights of NLCS game 6 and the lows of the Sept. Cubs series in 2003.

I guess, being only connected through box scores, the Internet and a few televised games, it's a "Cold Mountain" situation. The devotion only grows with the distance between me and the Redbirds.

back in 1985... when my love for the Cards was cemented. It seemed that Whitey's teams played just like I did... no power... aggressive on the bases... good in the field. I even played really deep centerfield like McGee.
 I grew up in a town of 1,900 with one stoplight... so needless to say... St. Louis was always a treat.
  Fans were always so kind to my brother and me.
I can remember sitting next to a very friendly family whose Dad taught me how to keep score. (My Dad is a wonderful father... but knows as much about baseball as I do auto repair.)
  During the early 90s... I stopped following the team as closely. Then in 1995... I was in the car with my family on the way home from a holiday party when we heard the Cards had signed Andy Benes and Ron Gant. I knew we were in for a new day of solid ownership and management. I've been hooked ever since.
  I think the team has changed with me. Now that I'm a working father... I appreciate the tradition of the Cards a lot more. I like the fact that they don't have a silly third jersey. I like the fact that our fans are lauded everywhere. I especially like the fact that players are traded to St. Louis and are then won over to staying.

I am in a very unique position to comment on this question, since I count among my best friends a life long Cub fan, I attended school right on the Cardinal/ Cub divide, currently live in Milwaukee, and am married to a Boston born Red Sox fan.  (Yes, the World Series was difficult, thanks for asking.)  

What's in it for me?  The first thing I would say is the sense of community that the Cardinal fans enjoy with each other.  There is recognition and a friendly face anytime you meet someone else wearing a Cardinal item.  Go on a road game when the Redbirds are in another city and its amazing the number of Cardinal fans, 95% of whom will look you in the eye, say hello, and then ask where you are from.  Going to games in Milwaukee, the people you sit next to become friends by the start of the first pitch.  You talk about the current team, games you've been to in the past, memories, and the finer points of the game.  Cards fans on the road don't boo the other team when they walk Edmonds to pitch to Grudz, when they are down a run.  That just doesn't happen, because we understand why they did it.  

I've seen the Cask N Flagon, in the shadows of Fenway, filled with Cardinal fans there for a regular season match up.  I've seen the third base side of Miller Park filled with Cardinal Red and a clear dividing line right behind home plate so it looks like the stadium for a European soccer match, minus the dividing phalanx of uniformed cops.  I've heard Wrigley so sonically balanced that if you closed your eyes you wouldn't be able to discern which team just did what.  

Hopeful optimism runs through any Cardinal crowd.  Until the World Series last year, I would tell my wife that the difference between the Cards and Red Sox fans was expectations.  We came to the park hoping the Cards would win, and accepting the fact that if they didn't the other team just beat us.  

Red Sox fans, and I think the Cubs are now the sole inheritors of this dubious title expect the worst.  They KNOW, just know, that the baseball gods are out to get them.  They focus more on the entire penumbra of the game: umpires, broadcasters, media, etc., rather than focusing on the game at hand.  Somewhere, somehow something is GOING to make them lose this game.  At when it happens, they knew it was going to happen.  How many Cubs fans have you heard say that when Bartman grabbed at that ball, they just KNEW they were going to lose then?  

It's not a positive way to live your life.  

For the most part, all of our Cardinal memories are positive.  It's winning, its milestones, its grateful players.  In 1998, I was there for homeruns 67 and 68 off Big Mac's bat.  As number 68 sailed into the bleachers strangers high fived each other and some actually hugged and danced in aisles.  That last sentence would sound strange to anyone who either wasn't there or isn't a Cardinals fan.  

This atmosphere is the unified theory of everything from Southern Missouri to Central Illinois and in remote pockets throughout the Mid-West.  Walk into almost any public place in the St. Louis greater metro area, be it restaurant or watering hole, and ask "Did the Cards win tonight?" and 9/10 the person will immediately know the answer.  That's something that transcends merely saying we have a fan base.  A fan base, which someone once figured out, has to send the vast majority of people it in its market to as least one game a year to equal the number of tickets we sell in a year.  Either a lot of people are going to numerous games or people are coming from out of town.

No, it's both.  I read the previous comment about coming to St. Louis.  Fortunately for me, the stadium was a 20-minute drive growing up.  But, people would surround us in the summer who made St. Louis THEIR one and only vacation destination, but only when the Cards are in town.  In recent years, I have sat with families from as far away as Alabama who made their yearly pilgrimage.  One couple was there with their newborn daughter, happily snapping pictures of her with Stan the Man's statute out front.  

What generates this type of loyalty?  Great players for sure, but also players who will not go into the Hall of Fame, but for their stint in Cardinal Red showed a willingness to play hard and play the game right.  On today's team, David Eckstein epitomizes this type of player and he takes the mantel from guys like, Willie McGee, Tom Pagnozzi, Tommy Herr, and even our beloved announcer Mike Shannon.   And let's not forget those that did it for briefer stints, Bo Hart or Wreckless Rex Hudler.  Countless others that I missed and those that the rest mentioned, all ingrained in our individual experiences, the one you fought with your brother or sister over when you were assigning roles for the backyard wiffle ball game.  

Sure there were times when things did not go right; was it 94 or 95 that we finished near last in the division and called up Chucky Carr?  But in all that, we shared it together, players and fans and continued the mutual respect and admiration.  

a generational, born and bred into it, kinda thing. My grandparents, who immigrated to St. Louis with their parents from Germany in the early 20's, met at a Cardinal game in 1925. They, as they told it, went to ballgames because so many other germans went en masse, and they could always find someone to talk to in their native language. All their dates were Cardinal games, because it was the only place grandpa could afford to take her. They absolutely HATED the Browns. I grew up hearing tales of all the glorious players and World Series' of the 20's, 30's, and 40's. My mom and dad, both St. Louis natives, also met at a Birds game in 1958. I was born in 1960, and my earliest memories pretty much revolve around Cardinal culture--my first Cardinal cap, dad explaining the game and who the players were, making believe I was Gibby while playing catch in the backyard. I don't recall the many games they took me to as a baby, but I do recall the family's excitement over the '67 World Series and recall very well the letdown of the '68 Series. It took me quite awhile to get over the fact that Gibby didn't come through. I couldn't believe it was possible. All in all, though, that disappointment deepened my love of the Birds and the game. I came to realize that, in baseball as well as life itself, nothing is a sure thing. The 70's proved that. Though their were no WS victories, my adoration of Lou Brock, Joe Torre, and yes, even The Mad Hungarian are still fresh in my mind. The 80's, of course, were delirious times--I'll never forget the intense satisfaction Whitey and his teams gave us. McGee, Smith, Forsch, Herr, Tenace, Hernandez, Sutter, Psycho Andujar--now there were some ballplayers!! My grandparents both passed on during the '83 season, but I know they went to their rewards having experienced the joy of the '82 Series, which they talked about endlessly till the days they went. The ONLY thing that ever put me off the game was the strike. That totally killed my love for some years, and though Big Mac was never one of my favorite Birds, he and Sosa's contest (coupled with TLR's hiring--I had faith in him from day one) finally brought me back to the fold.

I do think our experience is fairly unique. I guess Yankee fans have something similar--that feeling that no matter how bad a few seasons may go, our team WILL be back in the thick of it at some point. Where we differ from the Yanx is that our successes have always had to come from determination and smartball, not an endless supply of money. It's just a matter of time, and usually not too long a time. We have a deep-seated faith that our ballclub will prevail, and they often do. There have been 3 World Series victories in my lifetime alone, and I KNOW I'll see at least a couple more before I die. I certainly want 05 to be one of them, but if not, ah well, it'll come. This is the disconnect we have with Flub fans. Many of my best friends are Flub fans, and their expectations of failure (and their smug self-satisfaction when they're proven right season after season) never did compute. I can't dis their memories, experiences, etc., but I thank the gods of baseball almost daily that I was born a Birds fan.      

that's such a cool story about both your grandparents and your parents meeting at a Cards game.  That should be in a book.  Don't know if everyone has read the Cards History book or knows the history but when your grandparents were going to games, the Cards were the second best team in St. Louis.  The Cards established their fan base by giving tickets to kids, namely working class imigrant kids.  I guess you reap what you sow because that's my lineage as well.  

When the Red Sox won, MANY of the fans interviewed talked about family members who took them to Fenway as kids and didn't live to see the World Series win.  All of us talked about family and friends and sharing those games or memories with them.  I loved hearing those memories.  Here's one for you.  

My wife is from Boston and had never been to Busch until the first game of the Red Sox series this  year.  We stayed late after the game because we had a suite, basically until they kicked us out.   We took a slow stroll around the park, to the parking garage.  Half way there, she decides she wants to see the field, up close.  She approaches a St. Louis cop who is guarding the exit, against  who I have no idea because its us and employees trying their hardest to get home.  The cop hears three words from her and knows she's from Boston and offers to escort us down to the field.  Near the rail, he says, "I can only let you on the dirt."  

She goes out on the field, reaches down and tenatively touches the field, and pulls her hand back like she got shocked.  She holds up her dirty fingers and says, "It REALLY happened."    

My distant second favorite team is the Red Sox.  I'm of the age when we hated the Mets and Clemens and Boggs were dominate. So I naturally gravitated towards them in 86.   While the outcome was not what I wanted, I hold no grudges because as a baseball fan I can just say, WOW!  It was awesome to watch the Red Sox push.  Also, as a Cards fan I can say that if we HAD to lose, that's the team I would want to do it to.  

I felt like I had somehow let the family down by NOT meeting my wife at a Cards game--though I did try many times over the years (heh-heh). But at least she is a Cards fan. Yeah, the Cards stunk in the early 20's, which is why they hated The Browns so much (aside from their naming themselves after the color of excrement), but I do recall hearing stories of free tickets to poor kids like themselves. That's a great story about your wife--those are the kind of things that make the loss a little easier to bear.

This has been a great thread--hey, lboros, any way to make this a diary or a permanent thing that can be added to as folks come across it? It'd be a shame to have it forgotten once a couple new posts come up.

Hey, all. This is my first time posting on this site. (Great site, by the way - lots of good reading!)

I was born and raised in downstate Illinois, in a little farm town just south of Springfield, Illinois - 900 Cards fans and maybe two Cub fans. I'm also a 3rd generation Cards fan.(In my hometown, a "mixed marriage" consists of a Cards fan marrying a Cub fan...)

My earliest memories are ridin' around in Dad's '64 Ford pickup, listening to the Cards on KMOX with Dad giving a running commentary. I also have distinct memories of just begging for a color tv for the '68 season; I was three years old.

I went to college at McKendree, just east of downtown St. Louis, then moved to St. Louis. I continued my love affair with the Cardinals, even when I got transferred for work to San Antonio, Texas. This is NOT a baseball town. It's really weird!

Anyway, thank God for minor league ball. The San Antonio Missions play the Springfield Cardinals at home twice every season, so we come out, my Texan-husband and I, and holler for our Cardinals.

We ALWAYS meet other Cards fans at Wolff Stadium. Shoot, just this evening, four guys were sitting behind us. One of them was from Trenton, IL, and was a lifelong Cards fan. He's stationed here, serving in our armed forces. We were instant friends, talking about the big league Cards as well as the AA team.

It's a feeling of unity, of this being OUR team, our storied, beloved team, a team with an amazing history, amazing fans, and an amazing hometown. We're all in it together!

Well, I did get to see Tom Pagnozzi's nephew Matt catch in the bullpen. I also got to see Tom Herr's son play on Saturday night.

Talk about a blast from the past!

The bad part about minor league ball is that your favorites usually come in and out pretty quickly, so it's easy to lose track of them. Bad for the fans, I mean - good for the players!

Thanks for the welcome. :)