JUPITER, Fla. — They had already survived the ridicule of their teammates for dressing in their home whites on a day there was clearly no game to be played, but wait until the clubhouse gets a look at the picture below. Four Cardinals sporting game-ready jerseys and pants as white as they will be on Opening Day and each wearing a straw hat.

Hey, they could have been the ones who had to wear the fake beards.

Skip Schumaker, the first to don the straw hat, and Ryan Franklin, a ham in the ZZ Top look, were two of a handful of St. Louis Cardinals called on Thursday to star in commercials for the club. As they did last year during spring training (retro blog alert: “Lights, Camera … Cardinals!”), the Cardinals and their marketing firm are in town to shoot new promos that fit the franchise’s adopted marketing theme, “Play Like a Cardinal.” Last spring, with a little film-editing magic they produced a commercial that showed Gold Glove catcher Yadier Molina catching three pitchers a the same time.

This year, they ditched the special effects but increased the challenge for Molina.

This morning, with the help of a coach, the film crew had Molina going through a blocking-balls drill. He blocked hundreds of skipped and spiked and skidding baseballs, all for the benefit of the commercial. The punchline: After a reel of his blocking dozens of balls in the dirt he was going to get up, take off his catcher’s mask and reveal that he’s wearing a blindfold.

Props were big Thursday.

The film staged a group of people putting up plywood to protect the windows of the Cardinals’ second-floor offices here at Roger Dean Stadium. With the Florida sky in the background and the look of spring training all around, it’s supposed to give off the impression of some workers boarding up a building for a hurricane, I suppose. But:

CAMERA PULLS BACK, PANS RIGHT TO FIELD

CAMERA FOCUSES IN AT HOME PLATE

WHERE … Albert Pujols is taking batting practice.

Ryan Ludwick, Brendan Ryan, Brian Barton and Schumaker were called on for maybe the most actor-intensive spot of the campaign. Ludwick went out to the field thinking he was going to have to wear a sombrero for the spot — “Who wants to wear a Golden Sombrero?” he asked — but instead it was Schumaker who got stuck with the straw hat. Typically ebullient infielder Ryan caught the eye of the director, I suppose, and earned himself a speaking part.

“OK, let’s go,” he said as the director and camera moved into place. “Energy everyone.”

The script for the foursome’s scene went a little like this: Ludwick and Barton are watching Schumaker take batting practice while wearing a straw hat. Ryan trots up as only Ryan can trot up and Ryan asks as only Ryan can ask: What’s with the hat? One of the other two players explains that Schumaker wore it the day before and went 5-for-5*.

Cut to the next scene: All four players are wearing straw hats.

Brendan Ryan, Brian Barton and Ryan Ludwick shoot a commercial for the Cardinals with Skip Schumaker. The straw hats are not the new Sunday alternative. (Chris Lee — P-D)

The commercial you’ll have to wait to see to believe the beards features the bullpen trio of Jason Motte, Chris Perez and Franklin. The premise is simple: Franklin is tutoring the young fireballers in the finer points of being a successful reliever for the Cardinals. To make this point he’s borrowed the mojo of one of the greatest Cardinals’ closers of all-time — Bruce Sutter. (The Cardinals had another spot that was going to star Sutter, but more about that after tomorrow’s filming …) How did the trio elect to channel their inner Sutter? Why, with beards, of course. Long, country-fried rocker beards. Franklin, apparently, stole the show.

“If you want to pitch like Bruce Sutter, you’ve got to be Bruce Sutter,” he tells the kids.

“My beard is itchy,” Perez replies.

“That means,” Franklin drawls, “it’s working.”

* Mind you, Schumaker did have a six-hit game last year in New York. He did it sans straw hat.

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