I have never really thought about this since reading Will Leitch’s "God Save The Fan" last year and now, since I have had a few of St. Louis's greatest export, I thought I would post few thoughts...

What impact, looking back, did growing up with the 80's Redbirds have on our perception of race?  I will freely admit that my Grand-Parents, God bless them, were racist.  They were people that didn’t read much and were focused entirely on providing for their families...when it came to "race" (black folks), it usually began with one member of the local  African American community that was the "exception".  With the 1980's Cardinals it was interesting.

The first case that jumps in my head was my sister, Kasey.  I was the oldest and she was the youngest in 1986.  She was 5 years old and apparently tired of all the attention that I (I was a year older) shared with my father rooting for the Cards, she proclaimed that she was adopted. In fact her biological father, according to her, was Ozzie Smith.  I thought this was funny, not for anything relating to race, so I humored the thought.  My parents also thought it was funny, so they, while denying it, also kept reminding Kasey of her opinion that she was Ozzie Smith's long lost daughter.

In 1988 I read a whole bunch of books for a charity in the hopes of the grand prize: meeting Ozzie Smith.  I read 56 books (they were short) that summer and was rewarded with "dinner" with the Wizard.  Of course, when I showed up the "dinner" was Dominos Pizza with 150 other kids, but I met Ozzie (and Jim Hart, who I had never heard of) so I was thrilled (In fact, I am looking at a pic of the encounter on my fridge as I type). However, Kasey's reaction was something else...it was the first time (some how) that she had realized that Ozzie was African-American.  It was visible that it had hit her like a ton of bricks...she had always assumed that he looked like she did (being Caucasian) and she was embarrassed.  I never thought anything of it.

This story has always made me think about the impact the 80's Cardinals had on my, and other folks, perception of race. I am from Southern Illinois (Murphysboro to be exact) and while I always had a diverse population of classmates, my family (or at least grandparents) were not exactly tolerant.   But I have always had posters of African Americans on my wall...Ozzie, Willie and Vince (and later, Bo Jackson).  Even then, when I focused on learning about the past Cardinal greats it was Gibby, Lou and Curt Flood.

It is clear to me now that baseball had a huge impact on me in regards to race. I am interested to hear your thoughts.

So tonight I went to my local Yuma Scorpions independent baseball league game. The season just got started and I am trying to make it to at least one game per home series. Mike Marshall runs the local squad and tonight they were hosting the Orange County team, managed by none other than Gary Carter. I grab an official MLB baseball that my two year old son has been destroying in our back yard and head to the ballpark for a nice evening of baseball with my father-in-law who is visiting.

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This is to spark conversation that are based soley on life experiences and perception rather than stats...ultimately thats what got us into the game so it is fun to visit. I dont think there is a better time to reflect than just before the start of a new season. So here is how it works, my favorite cardinals, a super brief description of why I love them and their stats from their best season with the redbirds. Some of my picks are based on reality others are based on my perceptions at the age of 9. Others are based on my fascination with Bat S!@# Crazy people. I avoided digging in to old cards and line ups to try and be clever, these are all off the top of my head...if you cannot name your top 25 favorite cardinals off the top of your head, what kind of cardinal fan are you? I tried to make this look as much like a fantasy league roster as possible, so I only list OF vice LF, CF, RF...it makes it much easier. The stats are from baseballreference.com. Additional Disclaimer: this list obviously reflects my disinterest in baseball from 1995 to 1998 when  I was more interested in music and girls than baseball...luckily, I got over it. Also, this list could be completely different tomorrow. Submitted for your approval...  

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So I am sitting in doors on beautiful Sunday afternoon in Yuma...its 75 and sunny and I am sitting in doors...only because I can and everyone back home is miserable. SOOO I thought I would write something.

Friday night I had a hankerin' for baseball (shocking). Not just any baseball, but random pre steroids, oh my God the Cardinals are horrible (we should all prepare for that again) baseball. I tried to find random pirated video clips on the internet, I am sure they existed at one time, but any trace has been assumedly cleaned up by the attorneys and powers that be at Major League Baseball. So, I was forced to sign up for the MLB.com "Baseball's Best" archives to find a game. As I scanned the games available I realized that I wasn't really getting into anything that they were offereing...I almost watched the 89 NLCS game where Will Clark gives the Cubs the "Thrill" (I am lame) of being losers for another year and almost settled for the 1982 game seven of the world series to watch the Cardinals stick it to the Brewers ...but the 1982 Cardinals were never really one of my Cardinal teams...I was two years old. BUT then, among the greatest WS games of all time, greatest career accomplishments, I found the Gem of all the futile efforts (I use the word effort in its lightest sense) of the Joe Torre era...the game where Mark Whiten hits four homeruns and collects 12 RBI. I was giddy as a school girl.

This was a tough time for Cardinal fans...my greatest memory of this time is it being around the 100th year anniversary of the Cards and McDonalds had this set of Cards cards (!), celebrating the greatest players of the franchise.  You couldn't buy the set, you had to put it together yourself while eating hundreds of double cheeseburgers (or at least I did). You got like 3 cards for 3 bucks and my Grandma Pat and Aunt Lois didn't sleep until I had the whole set (It was the first time in 60 years that a kid said "FINALLY I got a Chick HAFFEY card!) I believe that Augie had died already and this may have been one of the last seasons that Anheiser Busch, Inc reluctantly ran the club. Also, if I remember right Augies son hated baseball and he was in charge...I have visions of Joe Torre motivating the club in the locker room with a half naked cut out of the evil owner, Augies son, ala Major League. I have sick visions.  So I sat down with an 18 pack of Busch Light and began my journey back to a simpler, pre GNC time. Here are a few things I found interesting....

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