I feel like a shrewd old guy who has seen it all, having lived through so many distinct St. Louis Cardinals baseball eras. I would want to make this plea to the team that I have supported since birth, even though even I have never seen anything like the season they have had thus far this year.
A brief biography of my own life in case you’re not acquainted with it. I went to my first St. Louis Cardinals game in the early 1970s, having been born in Missouri in the middle of the 1960s. Warning: We weren’t that great back then. The expression on my cousin’s face indicates that the ballpark soda wasn’t too pleasant either.
We had Lou Brock, at least, back then. Despite having little knowledge of Bob Gibson at the time, I was nevertheless able to appreciate his accomplishments. My initial favorite player on the Cardinals was Joe Torre. After all, I changed to Garry Templeton, which was a bad move (until that fateful game when he turned the fans away and was subsequently moved). Wonderful moments, wonderful times.
In 1982, the Cardinals unexpectedly won the pennant once more when I was sixteen. a stunning run that won them the World Series over the Brewers. We would sometimes spring up, surprise everyone, and take several pennants throughout the 1980s. Then came the early 1990s, when we were once again atrocious. I will never forget watching a 1994 doubleheader against the Astros, where we lost both games by double digits. What’s the goal of all this? I’ve gone through a lot of times when our squad wasn’t that good.
I could not have been ready for what the 2023 season has turned into for even with all of those periods combined. Huge players such as Brendan Donovan, Tommy Laskey, Nolan Arenado, Nolan Gorman, and Paul Goldschmidt.
