In my 10+ years in the United States, i’ve learned a lot of things about baseball. I’ve come to what i think is a pretty damn good understanding of the game itself, and its history, and its place in American culture and folklore. What’s more, i love it. It’s just an awesome game.
But one aspect of it that continues to perplex me is the constant assertion by Cardinals fans that St. Louis is somehow unique in the world of baseball, that it’s a better baseball town than other places, and that its fans are somehow both more knowledgeable and more committed than fans in other places.
I’ve watched baseball on the east coast and on the west, and at ballparks in between. Admittedly, i’ve never been to St. Louis or watched a game there, but i’ve seen no evidence in my travels that the fans of other teams lack the sort of characteristics that Cards fans claim only for themselves. And i’d be willing to bet that there are some assholes and some people who know little about baseball in the stands in St. Louis, just like there are in most other places.
St. Louis baseball hubris remains a mystery to me.
While I doubt St. Louis fans know more about baseball than fans anywhere else - fans everywhere make this claim and I have never in my life seen the slightest bit of evidence fans in one city are more or less knowledgable than another - it is absolutely the case that St. Louis fans support their team to an extent that is wildly disproportionate to the size of the city.
St. Louis is not large by the standards of Major League Baseball markets and yet consistently draws huge, huge crowds. The Cardinals have finished in the top half of attendance in the National League every year for thirty years, even when the team wasn’t very good. About the worst they’ve ever done was slighty below average in the late 70s when the team was bad and had won nothing for years.
There isn’t any economic explanation why this would be. St. Louis is, as I said, a slightly below average market by MLB standards. It is not an especially rich city. It doesn’t have a huge exclusive region to exploit, the way Seattle or Toronto do. It’s not a one-sport city. The team has good attendance in good years and in bad years; they had good attendance before they built the shiny new ballpark. The only explanation I can come up with is that people in St. Louis just really love major league baseball.
Are Cardinals fans more knowledgable? No, I don’t believe they are. But they show up by the millions, no matter what, and you have to respect that.
There are a couple of characteristics about Cardinals games that, if not unique, at least are consistent:
They applaud opposing players when they make good plays. They rarely boo, except if the player comes off like an asshole.
They’re generally well behaved toward fans of the other team. A little trash talking, but no fist fights.
They come to the park early and stay for the entire game. They also watch the games closely.
They like scrappy young players who may not have the most talent, but play hard and with enthusiasm.
Overall, they don’t have the passion of Red Sox fans, the sophistication of Yankee fans or the boisterousness of Cub fans, but they make attending – and playing – there a pleasant experience.
I do respect that, but i guess my main gripe about the whole thing is that St. Louis fans so often seem keen to beat you over the head about what awesome fans they are. And, almost by definition, it seems to come with an assumption that other fans are not just less good, but are actually somehow lacking. I just find it annoying, is all.
I’ve never seen a fist fight at a baseball game. I’m not denying that they sometimes happen, but this doesn’t seem to be something that plagues the league in general.
As i said, i’ve never seen a game there, but i’d be willing to bet that i could walk through the crowd and find hundreds, perhaps thousands of people, chatting away or checking their email or whatever, just like at every other park.
So they’re fans of David Eckstein. You’ll have to excuse me if i say that this doesn’t really make a very strong case for them.
He was re-signed before the end of the season. One year, 12 mill (he was at 8 mill this year). Basically Pujols insurance and leverage.
I’m not even getting into the "Best Fans in Baseball’ nonsense. I’ve been to hundreds of games and Busch II and III and heard some of the dumbest and smartest baseball analysis and fan reactions. The only things I’d say is out of the ordinary about STL fans is the willingness (nay, eagerness) to applaud the opposition (which I also love to do, for some reason… I’m close to giving Holland a standing O here in my living room as he gets pulled as I type…) and their willingness to show up no matter what.
That last point is why I won’t be shocked at all if Pujols signs elsewhere. He will almost certainly be offered more money/years by some GM. The Cardinals organization knows that the fans will show up as long as the team is decent.
I must say, if they do this, then that is a good thing.
I grew up watching cricket, and one of the hallmarks of the sport is that you are supposed to applaud a good shot or a nice piece of fielding by the opposition.
ETA:
And now i have to turn the baseball coverage off, because if Buck and McCarver weren’t annoying enough, Blowhard Asshole Pierzynski is now on the screen, and i can’t look at him without wanting to damage my television.
Don’t you guys get the other feed too? If I turn to TSN, I get the FOX cameras but with some guy and Don Sutton doing the commentary, and they’re not bad. I think it’s the TBS feed.
Must be, because the gentlemen doing the announcing aren’t TSN guys. If TSN were to send their team it would be Buck Martinez and Pat Tabler who are - and I know none of you will believe this - worse than Buck and McCarver. Pat Tabler is an absolute Grade A moron and I’m convinced they hired him just because he has a folksy accent; Martinez isn’t actually stupid, but he’s a crap announcer, a guy who at best should be the color man and who doesn’t really have the speaking skills to sit in the lead chair.
(The TSN Blue Jay radio team of Jerry Howarth and Alan Ashby, on the other hand, are sensational.)
Anyway, we get a choice; I could watch the Buck/McCarver version on FOX, or the Someone/Sutton version on the simulcast. You can guess who I pick.
Yeah, i quite like Buck Martinez, and we used to get him quite a bit when i lived in Baltimore, but always as the color man. I can’t really imagine him as the play-by-play guy.
You’ll note I very carefully never said they were the best fans in baseball, I just listed a few defining characteristics.
And it’s not just players like Eckstein. Cardinal fans also loved Rex Hudlerand Stubby Clapp. You have to give some respect to fans who go out and spend money (non-ironically) for a Stubby Clapp jersey.
MLB’s television contracts in the U.S. say only one exclusive TV feed can be offered per series. That means only Fox is allowed to do TV broadcasts of the World Series. Teams can do radio broadcasts if they are a team playing, but (1) only the flagship station can carry the broadcast and (2) streaming is strictly prohibited.
He’d have to be not human or crazy not to. He’ll either wind up with a cubic mile of money or the glory that goes with settling for a mere 3.5 cubic kilometers from the Cardinals.
Furcal was two feet on the fair side of the line on that play at first. He’s supposed to be called out for that. Is it really asking too much for MLB umpires to start calling that damned rule?
You have to give some respect to fans who go out and spend money (non-ironically) for a Stubby Clapp jersey.