I have been a Cardinals fan for as along as I can remember, growing up in Missouri will do that for you. I did face one major difficultly in becoming a Cardinals fan, my dad is a diehard Royals fan. Seeing the Cardinals constantly win and the Royals constantly lose (at least they have 1985 right) made it very easy for me to overcome this difficultly. As I was only 9 years old, I can only slightly remember the 2004 World Series. I do remember thinking “Stupid Red Sox. The Cardinals should have won.” That’s all I remember. Couldn’t tell you much about who was on either team or why the Cardinals totally could smoked by that evil Boston team who they play next.
It has been said over and over again, but I truly do picture the Cardinals as doing things the right way when it comes to baseball. A big reason why I believe this is because I have also grown up going to Springfield Cardinals games, the team who is the Double A affiliate of our beloved team. They become the affiliate in 2005 and the rest was history for me. I remember number upon number of current St. Louis players play in Springfield. David Freese, Allen Craig, Jon Jay, Matt Adams, Jamie Garcia, and many more. One of my favorite memories is telling my dad that Allen Craig would be good just because he wore number 5 in Springfield and we all know number 5 was big in St. Louis thanks to Albert Pujols. Who would have ever guessed that Allen Craig would actually be playing first base
(when fully healthy) and be a big part of the World Series Cards? I love every minute of it.
In 2006 I can recall one major thing, Adam Wainwright catching Yadier Molina in a big ol’ hug after he just finished the 10th World Series Champs title for the Cardinals. That was a good feeling. So thanks to Springfield and 2006 the interest in the Cardinals greatly evolved. Going to games in Springfield so very often and watching St. Louis games on television. I now go almost every night during the summer watching Cardinals games and I wouldn’t change a thing about it. It is all a great feeling when we can recall things like this. I just hope those 6 and 7 years younger than me right now can start to develop those same type of feelings. 2011 was a great feeling, staying up late on a school night, trying to stay quiet, and also celebrating, but that’s history, now we don’t want a feeling of, “Stupid Red Sox. The Cardinals should have won.” This year’s team is unbelievable. Where can you go wrong when you have a veteran pitcher like Adam Wainwright and a incredible rookie like Michael Wacha? With the whole team I just get the feeling that they are going places. Going into the record books. Into history. Into the hearts of future generations.
Why are the Cardinals a deserving of going into our hearts? Because they show you what it means to love baseball. They truly do things the right way. I don’t watch baseball for showboating; that should be left to basketball. I don’t watch baseball to see grown men grow out their beards as a team; let football or hockey players do that, they actually play in really cold weather. I watch baseball to see teams unite and overcome each others’ adversity. Oh, Albert Pujols is gone? Let’s replace him with Carlos Beltran, one of the classiest players ever who deserves this World Series. Oh, Chris Carpenter is hurt? Good thing him and Adam Wainwright have been mentor Michael Wacha into one of the best rookie postseason starting pitchers of all time. Oh, Allen Craig is hurt? Just replace him with Matt Adams, a man who was draft in the 23rd round of the draft and is now a beast of a man. We all have come to love the Cardinals over our lives in many different ways, but still love them all the same, because they completely deserve it.
Photo: Sports-Geekery.com
