ST. LOUIS — Thursday should have been a St. Louis holiday revisited.
The home opener at Busch Stadium is one of the greatest days of the year, an event that measures up to any city or town with a sports team. The Clydesdales come out, legends ride around on top of sports cars, and a sea of red covers not only the stadium but the majority of the downtown area. The record doesn't matter yet, and everybody is in a good mood.
Hope abounds and the red and white uniforms worn by Yadier Molina bring back all the emotions they have for decades. Your son or daughter is a year older, grasping more things about the game that is so complex yet packed with virtue. The little kids are all about Fredbird while mom and dad want to know how many strikeouts Jack Flaherty will collect today.
The coronavirus has taken away so much from cities across the world. A sense of normalcy being the biggest and for many people, spring time baseball downtown is a big normal. Blues playoff hockey would be starting this week as well. April is that vintage time of the year when two or three sports merge into one. Since the Blues and Cardinals work so well together, their partnership of the spring connects with their collective fans.
The great Bill Withers passed away last week. A voice synonymous with many great tunes, one of them reminding me of a longing for something sacred like baseball. "Ain't No Sunshine," is one I found especially fitting. He wrote it in 1971 for an album called, Just As I Am. Withers got the idea from the song from a Jack Lemmon film called "Days of Wine and Roses," about two lovers battling alcoholism. Withers sings about it not being warm when she is away, and that's the part that got me thinking about baseball.
"Lean on Me" is another tune that reminds me of baseball's power: something to lean on during such turbulent and difficult times. Something that doesn't demand much of you outside of a keen sense for the game. Something that soaks up 3-4 hours of your evening, absorbing all of that day's troubles into a mist that quickly evaporates in the air.
It may be 82 degrees out this week, but it's simply not warm when baseball is away. There's something missing in the air and city without a sporting event taking place.
As I played the song and sat back in my chair, all of the emotions came right back. Opening Day. The home opener. Molina and Wainwright playing catch. A walk-off home run. Kolten Wong screaming in jubilation after a big hit.
All of that is missing right now. In order to grasp the scope of it all, I reached out to Cardinal Nation via Twitter to tell me about the exact aspects of the in-game experience and team they were missing. Some gave kudos to Dan McLaughlin, the Fox Sports Midwest play-by-play announcer. Others noted the comfort of a cold beer at the game. Let's see what they had to say about baseball in St. Louis.
Tony, my brother-in-law, grew up watching the game with his old man, the late Salvatore Imperiale. Trust me, there was plenty of commentary at the Imperiale house during a game.
This hits the nail on the head. When you are at Busch, it always feels like a group effort. High-fiving a stranger after a big hit or walking out together. Plenty of friends have been made at the ballgame.
Matt gets it. Baseball in St. Louis is synonymous with McLaughlin's voice. He's been a part of FSM for 20 years and is the voice of the television network for many years. He makes every broadcast a special treat by adding stories or with signature calls including, "It's gone! It's gone! Grand SLAMMA!"
Another great aspect of the home game experience are the pregame festivities and theme nights. Something to take home with you after such an experience.
Tradition. Fathers, sons, mothers, daughters, brothers, and sisters. Baseball ties it all together with so many families across the country, not just in St. Louis.
This is a direct hit. Four hours of baseball takes away all the pressure and stress of life's hardest punches.
There's that word again. Normal. One of the normal parts of spring is baseball. For me, it's driving down Kingshighway listening to KMOX radio.
So much is lost without baseball. One could argue it's essential, even if 40,000 people in a stadium wouldn't exactly equal healthy and safe right now. It's something to long for, just as Withers did in that song.
When will it return? Let's hope before the summer ends, when everyone is healthy and the world is thriving again. An empty Busch Stadium spells misery faster than most.
Thanks for reading. Reach me at buffa82@gmail.com for potential story ideas or @buffa82 on Twitter.
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