Through no fault of his own, baseball Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa was a no-show Friday morning when President George W. Bush stepped off Air Force One at Lambert Field.

LaRussa’s excuse: His own plane flight was cancelled, (presumably because of the morning’s stormy weather) leaving the Cardinal leader stranded out of town when he was supposed to battling raindrops on Lambert’s tarmac.

A later flight got LaRussa back on track in time to meet the president at the airport for a send-off before he left town.

As Air Force One closed its doors and prepared for takeover, LaRussa giddily showed the unexpected presidential gift he’d received: a wooden box holding two sets of playing cards. The box and the cards with emblazoned with “Air Force One.”

And what did the two baseball junkies talk about during their few minutes together? Whadda think?

“He said we had a great first month, and it only mattered if we have five more like it,” LaRussa said, referring to the Cardinals’ blazing season kickoff.

LaRussa said he agreed with that presidential proclamation.

The meeting, LaRussa added, “gave me goose pimples.”