Cardinal Legends Gather for Opening Day (photo courtesy of Nathan Heimgartner)

Imagine a gorgeous summer day with temperatures in the low 80’s. You sit down next to some of your closest friends talking baseball in anticipation of an upcoming game, the first one you’ve seen this year. A warm breeze carries the smell of barbecue as you take a pull from a cold beverage and smile at your good fortune.

I attended my 8th straight St. Louis Cardinal home Opening Day this year, but this one seemed more special than usual. The last couple of seasons, we’ve had rain, snow and overall terrible weather. Attending opening day has almost been more like survival than enjoyment. We hadn’t seen a Cardinal win since 2006 and each of the teams had major flaws that made you doubt how far they’d go.

This year, everything has come together. After a spectacular offseason in which the Cardinals filled their most glaring weaknesses (Holliday, Lopez, Penny, Garcia, Rasmus 2.0), the Cardinals are 15-7 to begin the season and are showing why they are one of the best teams in baseball.

We Have It Good
I was lucky enough to attend the Cardinals away opener in Cincinnati and the difference couldn’t be more striking. Cincinnati was great, but there is added electricity to the air in St. Louis. From the Cardinals pregame ceremonies with the Clydesdales, introductions of Hall of Famers and players to the massive fan support downtown, you figure out how special we have it in St. Louis.

This doesn’t just stop on opening day. The Cardinals routinely have 40,000 strong at the ballpark while other teams struggle to draw 20,000 fans. It doesn’t hurt that the Cardinals have a strong team, but even good teams are feeling the economy around Major League Baseball.

Holliday Blogging

Baby Bryson

After a Winter hiatus, I will be back to blogging around once a week. It’s been a busy time preparing for new beginnings as my son was born April 28th (the same birthday as David Freese).

I also had the opportunity to write for a great Cardinal pre-season magazine (Maple Street Annual). Check it out if you get a chance.  It is full of great information about the 2010 team.  You can find the magazine at many St. Louis (and Southeast Missouri) grocery stores and newsstands or go here.

Have you ever wanted to hang out at Pujols’ locker?  What would it be like to visit the field, or see where the Cardinals prepare for their games?  Monday, I had the opportunity to visit Busch Stadium during the Cardinal’s “Season Ticket Holder Appreciation Night”.  It was emceed by Cardinals announcer Jay Randolph and featured appearances by Bill DeWitt III, and former Cardinals:  Kerry Robinson and Jason Simontacchi.

In my two part look at the event, I first wanted to focus on Bill DeWitt III.

Cards Club located behind home plate

Normally, I wouldn’t be invited to these gatherings, but the Cardinals extended their events to partial season ticket holders in 2009.  I was happy to find that my 27 game plan was upgraded to qualify.

The Cardinals are doing more for the fans during the “All-Star Summer” than they have in the past.  This hasn’t been the only instance where I’ve been impressed with the Cardinals PR, as they seem to be going the extra step this year.

Public relations has historically been a sore spot for the club, but I believe the Cardinals may be taking a lesson from the Blues “Whatever it takes” slogan.  They are stepping up their customer service efforts, and it has been refreshing.

Making the event even more special, my Dad made the trip up to St. Louis from the Southeast Missouri area to join me.  After parking in a free parking lot next to the stadium, we walked into the area outside of the ballpark, behind home plate.  My dad and I met up with fellow blogger, Matt Wilson and his family for the event and began the evening in the upscale Cardinals Club, located behind home plate.  The Cardinals had a complimentary buffet of ballpark food and desert along with free refreshments of soda and beer.

Bill Dewitt III

Randolph kicked off the event by discussing our stadium tour along with an introduction of himself and the other guests.  DeWitt was the first to speak, thanking everyone for being season ticket holders, and discussing his hopes for the ballpark village.

I know that many of us are frustrated with the lack of movement in the development, but the man that is spearheading the project laid out plausible reasons for the delay, and seems earnest in his efforts to make it a success.

For everyone that criticizes the area as “Lake DeWitt”, and feel like the owners aren’t doing anything, I think they are minimizing the efforts put forth by the club.  No one could have predicted this historic recession, and the Cardinals have felt the effects like everyone else.  It is an embarrassment to them, but they are going to build the project right, and are willing to wait to make it happen.

This methodical approach mirrors their player acquisitions and development.  They minimize risk to allow the club the best opportunity to win, year in and year out.  They don’t make the flashy moves, but when you look back over a period of time, you realize that more often than not they are taking the prudent approach.

The team and PR staff has also been criticized in the past for not being out in front of negative issues.  Whether it be a DL stint, roster scenario or the ballpark developments, they have often times painted a rosier picture than the reality.  This has been a well deserved criticism, in my opinion, but DeWitt didn’t have to stand up and discuss the project with us.  He took responsibility and tried to describe the process to us.

While DeWitt admits being “as frustrated as anyone” in regards to the slow pace, he is optimistic.  Much of the foundation has been laid in the background and he believes that as soon as the economy picks back up, we will see real progress.

One of the funniest moments of the night happened due to the TVs in the Cardinals Clubhouse.  The area is lined along the walls with flat screen TVs, and the Cardinals were showing Monday’s game during the event.  Everyone was paying half of their attention to the TVs throughout the night.

Halfway through the speech, DeWitt interrupted himself with spontaneous: “Oh, that was a nice catch!”   Colby Rasmus had made a nice play at the wall, and it was refreshing to see one of the owners during a “fan moment”.  DeWitt was self effacing afterwords by saying: “I must not be that interesting if I can’t even hold my own attention.”  Everyone laughed at the joke, and I especially enjoyed seeing a glimpse of his sense of humor.  You often forget that the front office/ owners are fans too, and want the team to succeed for more than just business reasons.

I had not heard much from DeWitt III since he became President, but I was impressed with him all the same.  He seemed knowledgeable and down to earth, and even made himself available throughout the night to talk to fans.  It reminded me that there are real people behind the scenes working hard to make the Cardinals a success.

While it is fair to criticize the Cardinals for many of their decisions, you have to remember that they want to win as badly as we do.  They have a pretty good track record as a top notch front office, and most often deserve the benefit of the doubt.

Here is our continuing look at local college baseball and players that the St. Louis Cardinals will have an eye on in June’s MLB First Year Player Draft.

The Missouri Tigers look like they are beginning to right their ship after struggling out of the gate. The Tigers did not play the gracious hosts taking two of three from highly ranked Texas A&M. Kyle Gibson was his usual stellar self, striking out 16 in a complete game win over the Aggies on Friday night. The junior right-hander is now 4-1 with a 1.15 ERA along with 54-to-9 strikeout to walk ratio. For his efforts, Gibson was named the Big 12 Pitcher of the Week for the second consecutive week.

The Southeast Redhawks will be hosting UT-Martin this weekend after sweeping Tennessee Tech in its last OVC series.  Catcher Jim Klocke is slugging .608 and has made only one error behind the plate.  Plus, he has a team high five saves.

Arizona State’s Mike Leake had the game of his career against rival Arizona over the weekend. Leake struck out 15 Wildcats in gaining a complete game victory while giving up only five hits on the night.

Ryan Berry did earn his fourth win of the season but he wasn’t nearly as sharp as he had been previously. In Rice’s victory over Southern Miss, the right-hander allowed three runs in five innings.  For the season, Berry is 4-0 with a 1.96 ERA.   (See video of Berry above)

A new player I add to the board this week is Kentucky’s James Paxton.  When he was signed as a high school senior, the southpaw stood 6′1 but now possesses a 6′4 frame.  The native Canadian is racking up the strikeouts with 47 in 30 innings so far in 2009.  He is a perfect 4-0 and is holding the opposition to a .231 average.

Though he struggled over the weekend, D.J. LeMahieu is still hitting .368/.479/.553 for the LSU Tigers. I don’t know if he will still be available at 13 but he is becoming one of my faves.

Miami’s Ryan Jackson seems to be falling down draft boards with his struggles at the plate.  The slick fielding shortstop is hitting .277/.354/.400 on the season.  Though scouts question his bat none question his ability to stay at short.

Baylor’s Kendal Volz continues to struggle with his command with a 28-to-15 strikeout to walk ratio.  Volz has a big arm and superb mound presence but the control issues are what are hampering at this time.  Reminds me a lot of what was being said about Shooter Hunt this time last year.

Two Texas A&M pitchers are causing headaches for the Big 12.  Right-hander Alex Wilson has 49 strikeouts compared to only eight walks in 31.2 innings.  Left-hander Brooks Raley has racked up 34 Ks in 33 innings of work.  Plus, Raley is leading the Aggies in BA, OBP, SLG, OPS, TB, extra base hits, and steals.

Things have started slowly for Mike Minor but he still has himself positioned as a first round pick.  The lefty has posted a solid 3.41 ERA while allowing only five extra base hits in 31.2 innings.

Two outstanding high school lefties are featured at  MLB.com this week.  Matthew Purke and Tyler Matzek both should hear their names early in the 2009 draft.  Purke, a Texan, can dial his fastball up to 95 while the Californian, Matzek, can touch 94.  Zach Wheeler is one of the top prep right-handers has a projectable frame with the ability to run his fastball to the plate at 95.

Dustin Mattison

dustin@whiteyball.com

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With the Cardinals not getting to St. Louis until April 6th, there is a lot of other baseball taking place in the region. In less than 2 hours, you can get to Taylor Stadium in Columbia, MO to watch a top 25 college baseball team in the Mizzou Tigers. Mizzou is led by top college prospect Kyle Gibson. Gibson is a top 10 college prospect according to most sources. There are other options for baseball in the St. Louis area that don’t include a trip to Columbia, MO. You can catch Mizzou in the St. Louis area a couple of times this spring.

Kyle Gibson - Mizzou Pitcher

One of the best places to catch baseball this spring is at GCS Ballpark, the home of the Gateway Grizzlies, in Sauget, IL. The Grizzlies have posted their extra events schedule on their website. Games start on February 28th with a college baseball tournament hosted by Webster University. Webster University plays many of their home games at GCS Ballpark, but the stadium also will host collegiate games between Saint Louis University and SIU-Edwardsville, University of Indianapolis and SIU-Edwardsville, and the Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament. Not only does GCS host all these college games, they have 22 high school games, including many border war contests with Illinois high school teams matching up against Missouri high school teams. The great thing about these games is that the max cost of attending is only $5 and many are free.

The schedules for local colleges are loaded this spring, so catching a good game in your area won’t be to difficult.

Missouri Tigers
Saint Louis University
Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville
Southeast Missouri State University

SEMO actually just defeated the 16th ranked Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturday. You can catch some good baseball all over the area this spring.

One more game you may may want to catch would be a Westminster Christian Academy game started by high school pitching phenon Jacob Turner. Turner is projecting to be a top ten pick in this years amateur baseball draft. I’ll try and keep this site updated with dates he will be pitching this spring.

I was going to include the Gateway Grizzlies and River City Rascals as other St. Louis area baseball options, but I’ll save these for another post. The Grizzlies and Rascals don’t kick off their Frontier League season’s until late May. I’ll have a full Frontier League preview in a few weeks.

Until then, go out an enjoy some good baseball this spring, while we wait for the Cardinals to leave Jupiter and head back to St. Louis.

Matt Wilson

Kyle Gibson Photo – Baseball America Top Prospecs
Jacob Turner Photo – AFLAC All America Team

Photos taken by Josh Lee.

All Pics taken by Dustin Mattison

  Indoor training facility.

  Specialty of the house, the BEER float.

Pics taken beginning of August, 2007.

   Owner’s Suite

    Fedex Suite

    The dugouts.

  The Pressbox with the Peabody in the background.

 The Redbirds’ bullpen.

  Long live Stubby Clapp.

  Pics taken on Sept. 1, 2007.

Pics taken 9/1/07.

    RF line with the picnic pavilion and stadium club.

  Notice how most of the seats are on the first base side.

  Stadium club with the Tennesse Aquarium in the background.

    An Engel Stadium holdover, the barber chair.

    Luxury Box and Concourse.

  The bullpens are not visible, only a cutout so the players can watch.

  Inside the Stadium Club.

    Picnic Pavilion with adjoining seats.

    The beer garden.

What would a visit to Chattanooga be without the Chattanooga Choo Choo?  This comes out when a Lookout player hits a HR.

Pictures taken 8/4/07