Being a Baseball Fanatic

Mark McGuire signing for me

 "You're just a baseball fanatic," my mother used to tell me.

She was right. As a 10-year-old, my love for the St. Louis Cardinals began, and it has never ended. Over the years, I followed the team with Stan Musial, Enos Slaughter, and Red Schoendienst, listening to late night radio as the signal bounced cross-country from KMOX, the voice of St. Louis. I dreamed of studying journalism at Washington University because I truly wanted to be a journalist and I wanted to be in St. Louis.

But life took its own turns. I kept listening to and watching the Cardinals, but I also graduated from high school and college (not in St. Louis), had a family, played tennis all day long every day during the summer months and almost forgot about baseball.

But not quite. 

At the end of the 20th Century and in the beginning of the 21st, my passion for the sport elevated almost to fanatical once more. Perhaps it grew because I started following Mark McGuire's home run record chase in 1998. I remember watching "Big Mac" approach breaking the record while we were barricaded in a room in a scary part of San Juan, Puerto Rico. We were stranded in the city during a holiday when all the rooms were taken. We eventually found a room in a hotel unlike anyplace we ever stayed before. What a calming relief to get to see my team play with so much on the line for Mark McGuire.

Tony La Russa at manager's party

Not long after that, we discovered baseball spring training in Florida. It was a joy to see players up close, chat with them, watch games, and attend the manager's party arranged following selected games at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Florida. That was a dream come true. In the photo, I became the little 10-year-old girl again in 2007 during spring training following the team's World Championship victory in the 2006 World Series.

That spring training was one of a series we have attended every year. Next February, I hope COVID-19 will not put an end to the unbroken string of years in Jupiter.

This year's World Series ended last week. Soon after, Tony La Russa, Cardinals Hall of Fame manager for many years,  came out of retirement and signed as manager of the Chicago White Sox. That was the team where he started his managerial career many years ago. I began remembering past times and longing for spring training to begin. 

Then, I became concerned the team will not look the same. Cardinal catcher Yadi Molina might not be there. 

If that happens, the little girl in me will be sad. But as in all things, baseball teams change. And I will still be a fanatic. Even in late fall and winter.

TV announcer Al Hrabosky, Yadi Molina (middle)

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Getting Manager Mike Shildt's autograph

Although I understand all of the challenges a creative life involves, I've decided to make it even harder. That's because I'm a baseball fan. I'm not just a casual, follow your team, look at the scores fan. No, I am a crazy watch every pitch of every game on satellite TV fan. It's possible that sometimes I might know almost as much about the games as some of the coaches do.

When I was about 10 years old, I fell in love with the St. Louis Cardinals. Through the magic of KMOX radio, their games resounded across the country, and while listening I got to know all of their players and became a fan of each one. How exciting when, years later, I got to meet one of those players, Red Schoendienst, on the Spring Training fields in Jupiter FL.

Every year, we go down to Florida for two weeks to watch the Cardinals train on both the back fields

Jim Edmonds, my all-time favorite player, signing

and in regular games at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter. For me, it is the most exciting time of the year. Every team has a chance, and excitement fills the air. I like seats located behind the bullpen where the action involves watching the pitchers who will play that day warm up. These are box seats and are the same price as seats behind the catcher that are actually better locations for seeing the game. However, games in the spring are just exhibition events, so I enjoy the bullpen location much more. This year, it was especially fun to see fire-baller Jordan Hicks practice for some of his many 100+ mph throws from the picher's mound after he entered the game.

Tyler O'Neill signs in the dugout.

Another place I really like to be for spring training, is next to the Cardinals dugout before the game. That's when I feel like a "groupie" edging into the crowd, standing there and leaning into the dugout for player autographs. It's also a good place to get the signatures of TV
broadcasters, Dan MacLaughlin and Ricky Horton. Although I'm not a big autograph-collector, it is fun to be in the mix and to listen to the conversations there.

We are back home now, and I am looking forward to next spring. In the meantime, I will watch every pitch of every game this spring, summer, and fall. And somewhere along the way, I will write books, promotional material and press releases. I will also paint paintings and hang them wherever possible.

Still, it would be so much easier if I weren't a crazy, fanatical fan. I shouldn't add to the difficulties of the creative life.