Thanks for this blog entry,DG. Really interesting stuff…here is something else I find interesting…..
Izzy is killing us.The birds seem to have tried and are trying to go younger. It is time for the once great Izzy to find another spot on another club. Should Pujols take some of the blame for Wednesdays debackle?Yes.The fact is though is that there were still chances for Izzy to close out the game. Can we say…Chris Perez.

I kind of smell a catcher controversy at the catcher position. Yadi is one of my favorite Cardinals but Brian Anderson’s bat is appealing. Someone eventually will go. What do you thing,DG?

Experience tells me there is much if not more interest in the Cardinals than the Reds in southern Indiana. All of Tennessee is Cardinal territory, except Nashville, which wants to be Atlanta.

I always see Cardinals fans everywhere I go East of the Mississippi. Several older fans in the southeast have told me they have been fans since back in the 40s-50 when there were no southern teams. When I see people in MLB caps at college and minor league games in NC, I’d put Boston first, and Cardinals at least tied with Braves for 2nd most common.

I’m in Minnesota and I’ll wear my Cards gear almost anywhere. I tend to see someone else wearing Cards gear pretty regularly. And I even get a shoutout, “Go Cards!” at least twice a month!

emc, not that I wholly disagree that it will be interesting to see what Anderson does, but Anderson is an inferior catcher if Yadi is hitting .260.

Moreover, this is the same anderson that has played 6 games at the AAA level. Not sure I’m ready to jump on a bandwagon yet. I’m intrigued and excited about his coming up and playing in the coming years, but not looking for him to bump Molina anytime soon.

Finally, I’d suspect, even when he does come up, he’ll be a backup and catch 2x a week or so to spell Yadi and be a LH platoon option for TLR. But he should do good things and should fetch us some very nice free agents from some AL club that is looking for a C/DH (unless his defensive skills are that bad, then hopefully the cards would trade him to an NL team).

Then again, Yadi may get hurt, lose his effectiveness behind the plate, lose those speedy legs of his (is he the fastest in the family?), or lose that power bat that made Endy Chavez’s glove superfluous!

I’m starting to think that Chris Perez is going to get the Backup Quarterback Treatment. It’s a phenomena often found in the NFL where the backup quarterback is always beloved and desired over the starting quarterback — because the starter’s failures are heightened and the backup never gets the snaps to fail. Just my two bits.

There is a way for Bryan Anderson and Yadier Molina to peacefully coexist as catchers for the Cardinals. In fact, that tandem makes a lot of sense — not just as mentor and apprentice, but starter and backup. Molina is the superior defensive player, has proven skilled at calling games and has that arm. Anderson is a lefthanded complement with a better bat (a pinch-hitter bat) and a defensive game that won’t hurt the team if he sees regular playing time as Molina’s backup.

dg
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Just want you to know that I have been a Cardinals fan for 50 years in what you describe as “Braves Territory”………And I might add, there are many here who grew up listening to KMOX and Harry and Jack on hot summer nights in Alabama as I did!

I’m all for Molina remaining as the starter.I love the way he handles the pitchers and what about that amazing throw sunday night. I was just curious on how much compettion Anderson would provide eventually for the catching job.
I’m not giving Perez the “Backup QB” treatment. Lets trade Izzy while he still has some value and we can develop ,Perez.

I was born near Texarkana, Texas in 1961 and now live near Waco, Texas. I have very early memories of listening to Cardinals baseball on KMOX. Even though Texas had the Colt-45s (later the Astros), and much later the Rangers, the Cardinals were THE team.

The tradition continues today. My daughter, aged 23, loves the Cardinals.

Much of my whole extended family lives in the Waco, Texas area now, and at family gatherings, Extra Innings is on, or MLB.com is up so that we can all keep up with the Cardinals game of the day.

Even now, with the Astros and Rangers having gained some foothold of a fanbase here, there are still Cardinals fans to be found. I see them in numbers at Minute Maid Park.

At lunch today in Waco, I saw a kid walk in the restaurant with a Cardinals shirt on; on the back was the name Edmonds.

I thought that was so cool.

Being from the Hudson Valley (Yankee/Met country) I am constantly amazed at how many Cardinal fans will come up to me if I am wearing my Cardinal hat. Cooperstown for the Ozzie induction was ablaze with Cardinal red, and I spoke with people from all over the country who came to see another Cardinal become a Hall of Famer. Even at Shea an awful lot of Cardinal red shows up, in spite of being in physical danger if you do :>)

When any discussion of the huge fan base the Cardinals have developed over the last century arises, much credit is deservedly given to KMOX. However, another factor in the Cardinals massive fan base throughout the South and West is their pioneering farm system developed by Branch Rickey. Houston was a triple A outpost for many years and Little Rock was a Cardinal affiliate for at least a half a century. Other cities and towns that were home at one time or another to Cards minor league teams: Atlanta, Tulsa, Louisville, Union City TN, Columbus OH (where a minor league talent named Jack Buck was discovered) Memphis (before the current AAA team- Mike Shannon played there) Savannah GA, Johnston City TN, New Orleans, and if I recall correctly, Denver.
Of course, this is a partial list. But seeing future Cardinal stars play when fewer people in these areas had a chance to travel to major league games helped develop the fan base we have today.

I live in Sioux Falls SD and believe it or not, there is plenty of Cards fans here. I wear my gear everywhere and I always get a comment here and there from other Redbird fans up here….This is Twins territory, but I’d put the Birds in the top five up here.
Prior to their switch to KTRS, i could pick up KMOX at night. Now i have XM and the Ticket to catch games.

OOOPPS!! Now I have my copy of last years press guide. And I made two mistakes. Denver has never hosted a Cardinals farm team. And Little Rock was a Cards outpost for 35 years, not 50. Sorry. But perhaps pepper34 will be less surprised about the plentiful amount of Cardinal fans in the Hudson Valley when he/she is armed with the information that the Cards had a farm team in Rochester for 34 years. Albeit, not since 1960 but I am convinced of some generational passing of the torch from not only transplanted midwest Cardinals loving natives but also from fans who fell for the Birds because of long standing minor league affiliations.
Paul Turner

i used to be on the road most of the time in the seventies and had my am radio dial set to kmox. when conditions were right and only at night, you would be amazed the places the station came in loud and clear. and it’s a good thing, otherwise i would have stuck closer to home. northern california has a good card fan base, centered mainly around sacramento. home of fernando vina!

I live in Round Rock, Texas, home of the Astros AAA team, the Express. Recently, when the Redbirds were here I went to a game. There were a lot of Cards fans in attendance and they were boisterous.

I have listened to Cards games regularly on KMOX in Birnamwood, Wisconsin; Colorado Springs, Colorado; Lubbock and Round Rock, Texas dating back to 1964. I wish that were still possible, but…

As for Izzy, He has earned some respect and we should give him the chance to work out his problems. The Cards are doing well and the Cards fans need to remember what a class organization is all about. We don’t want to be lumped in with the knee jerk crowd some organizations are identified with.

I’m from South Florida and have been a Cardinals’ fan from my first breath.

Nothing’s more fun than being at a Cardinals away game decked out in Birds-on-Bat, and getting the last word among the hostile crowd. Years ago I took my son John out of middle school in Poway, California, playing hooky, so we could watch an entire Cards series vs. the Padres in San Diego. We were trailing badly during an afternoon contest, but scrapped to come back, and finally the deal was sealed by a Jack Clark HR described in next morning’s paper as “a laser beam”. We had been surrounded by heckling Pads fans while behind in the game, but they dwindled and disappeared along with their lead, and finally we were alone, cheering our victorious Cardinals! Years later, John and I were driving from Oklahoma to St. Louis to take in a Mets series (which we swept, capped off by Tommy Herr’s walkoff grand slam); as we drove, we tuned in the radio for the game that day, and were astonished to hear Jack Buck send on-air greetings to us by name (I had sent a postcard to him, congratulating him on his Hall of Fame induction). Last weekend I trekked to St. Louis for my first experience at Busch III, taking 2 of 3 from the Northside Ne’er-do-wells. Ah, the memories! We ARE Cardinals Nation!!!

I’m in northwest PA and grew up listening to kmox (it didn’t always come in) and wanting to be like The Wizard. Cardinal Nation will probably dwindle now with TV and MLB.com broadcasting every team to any part of the country. But hopefully the old days won’t be forgotten. My young kids already wear the Birds on the Bat.

I live in Nebraska, and I’d say that generally speaking, eastern Nebraska belongs to the Royals and western Nebraska to the Rockies. I’ve lived in the central and eastern parts of the state, and I don’t think I know a single Cards fan. Sorry.

DG-

i’m in the air force, and while now stationed in Wash DC, i used to be stationed in Cheyenne WY. I realized two things being stationed in these places:

1-on a good night in wyoming, i could pick up KMOX from the air in my helicopter, much to the chagrin of my crew, as i then forced them to listen to the birdos. i loved it. they didn’t.

2-catching the cards in DC is a unique experience-since nobody is actually FROM here, the cards games are a lot of fun-30K fans, 20K wearing cardinal red. metrolink jokes on the DC metro. bigger ovations for the cards than the home team. and the ever-popular cardinal fans cheering for a great opposing team plays.

also-there is a huge cardinals fan base in alaska, due to the KPLR-11 days on satellite tv. friends from school had never seen a live baseball game (a whole life lived in the great white north) but were die-hard cards fans from the pre-”red sox/yankees non stop on espn” days.

I live near DC, have for over 30 years. Have taken in hundreds of games in Baltimore, Philly, Pittsburgh, NY, DC and various minor league venues (Bowie, Harrisburg, Potomac, etc.). It’s extremely rare (maybe 3-5 times) to attend a game and not see an STL cap (other than my own). When single games go on sale in DC, a little crowd forms for best choices. I’d guess at least a quarter of them are Card fans. BTW, I did get KMOX up here, on the east side of Washington. A real surprise.

KC is not all Royals country! Many, Many redbird fans are here, you will know this if you have been to a Cards game at Kaufman Stadium. Anyone know of a Cardinals bar in KC?

Please, please, can someone point me to a spot in the Chicago/Joliet area where I can find Cardinal broadcasts? I’m trapped in Baseball Wasteland - a.k.a. Chicago, and haven’t been able to pick up Cardinal broadcasts in decades. If it weren’t for the Web and the ability to read the Post online, I’d go slightly insane.

DG Great article about the Cardinals fans in the Denver Area. I drive past the scenic overlook on a daily basis, and while now we don’t have games on KMOX (I think it is a real shame)with MLB package I am still able to catch every Cardinals game (except Saturday afternoons, and that is very frustrating), the point is that technology makes it easy for me to keep my allegiance to “my” team while I am able to live anywhere in the world. I was at three out of four games this week, and I truly believe that it was nearly a 50-50 split between Cards and Rox fans at the games. Now if we could just get the Cubs and Red Sox fans out of Colorado this place would be close to heaven.

I grew up in Madison, Wis.in the 30’s, when the Cubs were the only NL game in town, needed some other team to cheer for. Chose the Cards over the Browns. Had to go Wrigley Field to watch them play. Too many friends were Cubbies. Lived on a KMOX diet of Harry Caray, Gabby Street and players of the vintage of Frisch, Bottomley, the Deans, Musial, Schoendienst, Medwick and the Cooper brothers. Now retired to North Carolina, but still catch the Birds on TV every chance I get.

Dick,

The Baraboo reference was by design. Many members of my family in Wisconsin tuned into Cardinals games on KMOX — including my Baraboo-born, Madison-bound grandpa who could find KMOX wherever he traveled for work. He had stories to tell …

dg
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Denver is A hub for Bird Fans. My one year old daughter and myself attended all 4 of the cards Denver set. We are residents of the Denver Metro Area and she is a Native. However to my amazment, in the bleachers we were able to carry on a “Let’s go cardinals!” chant for several minutes never actually being overpowered by rox fans. A True Point That Cardinal Nation is the Strongest in the NL.