this is me
I still can't believe that the St. Louis Blues won the Stanley Cup. This was a day I never thought I'd see. I thought the Blues were doomed to another 50 years of championship drought a la the Cubs or Red Sox. I've never been so happy to be wrong in my life. Congratulations to the St. Louis Blues, and the Blues fans around the world.
Before there was a Hot in Herre, there was Highway Farty and carn on the cob. No, I'm not having a stroke, I'm referring to the dialect that I heard as a child growing up in St. Louis. Citylab recently had a post explaining the St. Louis accent.
The most stereotypical St. Louis pronunciation is “farty” for “forty.” St. Louisans swap an “ar” for an “or” sound, so they eat “carn on the cob” and wish each other “good marning.” This is unique to St. Louis, but the city has other features in common with the Midlands. Older St. Louisans say “worsh” for “wash,” “wants off” for “wants to get off,” and “I waited on him” instead of “I waited for him.”
The whole article is pretty fascinating. Go and give it a read.
Now that Baseball season is upon us, I thought I'd share a link that was sent to me a couple of weeks ago. Distilled History has a great look at the history of baseball parks in St. Louis (please forgive the author for not being a Cardinals fan). I never realized how many there actually were, especially in north St. Louis. Growing up, I only really heard of Sportsman's Park, and of course, Busch II & III.
Go check out the post. He has some great images and maps.
"Do I want to be in St Louis forever? Of course. People from other teams want to play in STL and are jealous that we are in STL because the fans are unbelievable. So why would you leave a place like STL to go somewhere else and make 3 or 4 more million a year? It's not about money, I already got my money. It's about winning, that's it". -Albert Pujols Feb 15, 2009
He reportedly signed a 10 year contract worth $255 million (which is $3-4 million per year more than what the Cardinals reportedly offered).
Proposition A jeopardizes the funding of critical services including fire and police protection, street repair, park maintenance, after-school programs, services for seniors including senior nutrition, transportation, cultural attractions and even restaurant health inspections.
I'm loving the moves that the St. Louis Cardinals are making this year. In the face of a struggling pitching staff, roller coaster hitting performances, and general fan unease, the Cardinals have made some very noteworthy additions to the team. First we picked up Aaron Miles, one of the best lawn gnomes to ever play the game. Then we signed the .213 slugger Randy Winn, making St. Louis the 5th team that didn't really want him but signed him anyway. Hot off the signing of former Cardinal Aaron Miles, and picking up Randy Winn, the Cardinals decided to sign a struggling former Cardinal pitcher, Jeff Suppan.
Jeff Suppan is coming back to the St. Louis Cardinals.
He will be joining the team in Phoenix and hopes to be active early next week. He will be signing for the pro-rated minimum, his agent Scott Leventhal said.
Suppan has not officially signed yet because the Cardinals have to work out some issues with the 40-man roster.
He was released by the Brewers on Monday after going 0-2 with a 7.84 ERA in 15 games.
Suppan pitched for the Cardinals from 2004-06 and was 44-26 with a 3.85 ERA, the best 3-year span in his career. He was the MVP in the 2006 NLCS, winning Game 7 over the Mets.
Suppan signed with the Brewers as a free agent in December of 2006. He was 29-36 with a 5.08 ERA in Milwaukee.
He is 35. STLToday
The Cardinals aren't stopping there though. No, rumor has it that they are in talks of signing even more has-been players. After being petitioned by fans to get Jack Clark off the air, the Cardinals have signed him to a year long contract as a bench player. Also, negotiations are well under way with Dizzy and Daffy Dean's corpses. They are expected to join the Cardinals for the Seattle series.
I haven't made a history post in a while, so I thought I'd post another little known fact about St. Louis history.
On August 26, 1856 Benjamin Gratz Brown, a newspaper editor, future United States Senator, and future governor faced Thomas C. Reynolds, a United States district attorney and future lieutenant governor, on the field of honor. The duel was the outcome of several years of bitter political disagreements resulting from editorials published in the Missouri Democrat.
Brown strongly supported the emancipation of slaves and Reynolds sympathized with the slaveholders. The first planned duel was never fought because the near-sighted Reynolds could not agree to Brown's choice of rifles at eighty paces.
A year passed, and tempers flared again. Brown accused Reynolds of not honoring the first challenge. Reynolds retaliated by "posting" Brown and publicly charging him with cowardice. Brown challenged and Reynolds accepted.
"But because dueling was now against the law in Missouri, the two men agreed to take boats to a small island in the Mississippi River, nicknamed "Bloody Island." The two met in the morning and held their duel. But this was interesting in ways that we can't understand in the 21st Century, it was truly an affair of honor," said CEO of the Missouri Historical Society, Robert Archibald.
Brown was shot in the leg and limped for the rest of his life. Reynolds sustained no injuries.
Brown was elected to the United States Senate in 1863 and became Governor of Missouri in 1870. In 1872, he ran as the vice-presidential candidate on the ticket with Horace Greeley and lost to incumbent Ulysses S. Grant and Henry Wilson.
Reynolds was elected Lieutenant Governor of Missouri in 1860 and later served as second Confederate governor of Missouri.
Bloody Island continued to grow through the early 1800s and threatened to land-lock the levee and the harbor of St. Louis. So, the Army Corps of Engineers under Captain Robert E. Lee devised a system of dikes and dams that did away with the western channel and joined the Island to the Illinois shore. Throughout the nineteenth century, Bloody Island had been a popular rendezvous for duelists. The island appeared as dueling became popular in Missouri, and sank back into obscurity as pistols ceased to be an acceptable means of settling differences. (via KSDK)
Don't you sometimes wish dueling was still legal? I could thing of a few people I'd like to challenge.
Today (unless it gets rained out by the major storms hitting the area this afternoon) is opening day for the St. Louis Cardinals. It should be an interesting season for the Redbirds, that's for sure. We have many new faces on the team, most of them young talent. It'll be nerve-racking to see how the Cards do this year with so many young players.
The time is approaching. You can hear it swimming through the air. Closer and closer. You hear a crack. A sound so familiar, but you can’t quite figure out where you’ve heard it before.
Time passes. The trees are bare. Then the noises get louder. This time the crack is accompanied by a thud. It sounds like a broom beating on an old rug. Again, it is a recognizable sound, but you still can’t figure out where and when you first heard it.
Time passes and snow covers the ground. The noise comes back, and this time, every one of your senses is bombarded by blurry visions, sounds, and smells.
The snow melts. The smells get stronger. You know what that smell is. It is a smell that you recognize as one of your first childhood memories. Visions of sunny days fill your mind. The sounds are back, and this time, you recognize them. You close your eyes and live in the moment. You look around. There are people everywhere. You smell stale beer. The kind of smell that could only come from years and years of spilt beer staining concrete. But this is not a bad thing. It reminds you of all the good times you’ve had, and the great ones to come. The noise is deafening. You hear people cheering. You hear loudspeakers, cracks, and thuds. A new smell comes over you. You inhale. When you do, memories of watching your dad cut the grass when you were little float forward. Yes, the smell of freshly cut grass overpowers the stale beer smell. Now the musty smell of wet dirt travels through the air to where you are. The loudspeaker explodes with sound. You hear names being called. People cheer. You feel like you are there. At that moment. At that place.
Time passes. The grass turns green. All those wonderful smells, visions, and noises come back. This time they are as strong as ever. It is time. You don’t have to imagine anymore.
The day comes. You stand in line, smiling. You talk with other people enthusiastically. You talk about how this is the year. You never give up hope. Neither do they. For all your differences, this is the one thing you have in common. The one thing that binds you, and fifty-thousand other people in the vicinity, together. Nothing can taint this feeling. Not talks of financial problems or drug problems. This is the perfect moment. You walk in. Your heart beats swiftly. You hear the loudspeaker. You hear those familiar names. This time it is real. You smell the great smells of stale beer, cut grass, and wet dirt. You hear cheering. You see the color that dominates the town. The color you are wearing on this day, at this moment. People continue to cheer. Thud! That?s all right. Everyone knows to lay off the first one. Then you hear it. CRACK! A line drive base hit. And the season is under way. What a great one it will be. Dedicated to Baseball, and those that made it great. The ones that are alive in person, and those that are alive in our memories.
All throughout the Mid-West the words baseball and Buck are synonymous. For almost 50 years Jack Buck broadcasted for the St. Louis Cardinals. He was a class act and could be heard, on a clear night, as far south as Arkansas and as far north as Iowa. Generations grew up listening to Jack Buck. I remember BBQing in the summer and listening to Jack Buck and Mike Shannon announce the wonderful Cardinals. As Jack's son Joe got older he started broadcasting. He's such a knowledgeable man in the sports arena that he is the lead announcer for the NFL and MLB on Fox. It was announced this week that he would no longer broadcast any games for the Cardinals. It will be weird to not have a Buck announce any games this year. Though I'll miss him announcing, I'm very happy for all his success. From StL Today:
For the first time since 1960, there won't be a Buck in a Cardinals broadcast booth this year.
Joe Buck, who had been doing the play-by-play for a few Redbirds games on FSN Midwest in recent seasons, has decided not to return in order to enjoy himself at the ballpark in a nonworking capacity.
"It's nothing more than it feels like it's time to make that change and to concentrate on some other things and basically go to Cardinals games as a fan,'' he said Monday night. "I'm a fan, and I love to go down there with my wife and two daughters. The fun of that now is more appealing than anything to me.''
Despite Buck's burgeoning career nationally at the Fox network, for which he is lead baseball and football play-by-play announcer, he had kept his ties to the Redbirds booth — where he got his start in big-league broadcasting in 1991 at age 21.
But he had been cutting back in recent seasons on his Cards workload, going from a busy schedule while filling in on radio while his father, Jack Buck, was ailing in 2002 to 31 FSN games in 2003 to 10 last season.
His departure ends a lengthy run of Bucks in the booth. His dad joined the club's radio broadcast team in 1954 and was there every year except 1960 until falling ill after the 2001 season and dying the following year.
But Joe Buck said that family streak never was a reason he kept doing Redbirds games.
"I don't think like that,'' he said. "My dad's career stands on its own. It was not a birthright of mine when I went there on a full-time basis in 1991, and it's not a birthright now. There's nothing written in stone that somebody with the last name of Buck has to be sitting in that booth.
"And really, we're only talking about 10 games. ... To do it just to say I'm on the list as one of the announcers is silly to me.''
FSN Midwest general manager Jack Donovan said Buck will be missed.
"We're sorry to see him leave, but we were lucky to have him as long as we did," Donovan said. "Unquestionably, he's the best play-by-play guy in sports.''
Buck said the flexibility of FSN management, which allowed him to pick his schedule, was what had kept him aboard in recent seasons.
"The fact they let me do as many or as few as I felt I needed to do meant a lot to me,'' he said.
He said there was another reason, too.
"I still continue to this day to feel indebted to the Cardinals for all they provided me,'' he said. "I'm (not) the lead voice of the NFL and Major League Baseball on Fox if I don't get that job (with the team), and if I don't get that chance to grow up and learn about the game and learn about broadcasting in the Cardinals' booth. Everything stemmed off that.''
Buck won't be totally gone from Cardinals broadcasts, as he is scheduled to do a couple of their games for Fox. But those have a different tone than local telecasts because they air in the market of the opposing team as well as in St. Louis.
Donovan said Rick Horton, who does the commentary on KSDK (Channel 5) telecasts of Cards games, will help fill the gap created by Buck's departure.
Horton will work with Dan McLaughlin (play-by-play) or Al Hrabosky (analysis) on about 10 FSN Midwest telecasts this season.
Horton also will continue as a regular on FSN Midwest's Cards postgame shows.
I have a feeling this is going to be a disappointing season for the St. Louis Cardinals. The new General Manager did very little, and I mean very little to strengthen the team for next season. In fact, he let some of our good players go (Eckstein, Edmonds, Rolen, Taguchi) and picked up players that are either hurt or no better than the ones we let go (Clement, Glaus). The Sporting News rates the Cardinals as 4th in the Central Division. 4th?!?! The Central Division is usually considered one of the weaker divisions (what, with the Cubs and all) and we are predicted to come in 4th. That's sad. Also, what's really sad is to know that the outfielder that we have with the most experience is Chris Duncan. That's just not right. It's also not right that the only two starting (everyday players, not pitchers) Cardinals that are returning this year are Yadier Molina and Albert Pujols. Unless by some miracle this mediocre team is able to pull off some wins, this is going to be a very depressing season.
One of the most infamous serial killers ever might have come to St. Louis. Jack the Ripper, the serial killer that terrorized London could have been an American and he might have died here in St. Louis.
In 1903, St. John's Hospital stood at the corner of 22nd & Morgan Streets. On May 28 of that year a man came here to die. Many believe that man was really Jack The Ripper.
Francis Tumblety lived in St. Louis in the 1860s. "Casebook.org" a website dedicated to "Jack The Ripper" states "Tumblety moved to St. Louis, setting up his 'medical' practice, and again promenading himself around the city with arrogant splendor. It was here that another aspect of Tumblety's character emerges -- his paranoia. He was arrested in St. Louis for wearing military garb and medals he did not deserve, but Tumblety himself took it as persecution from his medical competitors. Soon after her traveled to Carondelet, Missouri and was again imprisoned for a time on the same charge."
In the 1880s he was living both in the U.S. and Europe.
"He evidently lived in London and lived in a boarding house. There are some witnesses who say they saw him coming and going at suspicious times and behaving suspiciously around the time these murders were taking place," said Missouri History Museum Librarian Emily Jacox.
On November 12, 1888, Tumblety was charged on suspicions of being the "Jack The Ripper" killer. He secured bail four days later. A December 10 trial date was set, but Tumblety didn't wait around. He fled to France under an alias and eventually boarded a steamer for New York City.
Casebook.org says, "New York officials knew of his impending arrival in the city and had the ports watched for the suspect, but to no avail. New York City's Chief Inspector Byrnes soon discovered Tumblety was lodging at 79 East Tenth Street at the home of a Mrs. McNamara, and he had him under surveillance for some days following. Byrnes could not arrest Tumblety because, in his own words, 'there is no proof of his complicity in the Whitechapel murders, and the crime for which he was under bond in London is not extraditable."
Before Christmas of 1888, Tumblety disappeared again, surfacing again Rochester in 1893. He would die a decade later in St. Louis at St. John's Hospital.
Tumblety's further connection to the Ripper case emerged nearly 90 years later when author Stewart Evans acquired what has now become known as the Littlechild Letter.
In 1913, Chief Inspector John Littlechild of Scotland Yard, in response to some questions asked of him by a British journalist, wrote in a letter that Tumblety as 'a very likely suspect,' and provided the first insight into a Scotland Yard suspect whose name was lost for 105 years. From KSDK's series on St. Louis history.
Another post about St. Louis history. This one involving my favorite sport, baseball. Many St. Louis people may already know this because a St. Louis baseball fan isn't just a fan. We are usually historians on the topic.
Today we wear Cardinals' Red, but it could have been Maroon's maroon.
In 1884, St. Louis millionaire and baseball aficionado, Henry Lucas attempted to bring the National League to St. Louis. But his attempts were thwarted and the league did not grant him a team. Not to be out done, Lucas decided to draw upon his personal fortune and create his own league, which became the Union Association.
St. Louis' team, the Maroons, were clearly the best team in the league and their owner, Lucas, did not hide the fact that he loaded the St. Louis team with as much talent as possible. While this made for a successful team in St. Louis, it did not bode well for the rest of the league. The Union Association lasted one season.
According to Christopher Gordon, Director of Library Archives at the Missouri Historical Society, soon after the league folded, Lucas' luck continued to go down hill.
"He had built Union Park, which was the baseball stadium for the Union League. In the midst of all this, fireworks during a fireworks display, the stadium caught on fire and he had no insurance so the last of his money was wiped out," said Gordon.
To continue with posts about St. Louis history as reported by KSDK, here's a bit about Kraft and the birth of Macaroni and Cheese.
In 1937, poor sales leads the National Dairy Products company to adopted the idea of one of its St. Louis salesmen. The idea? To combine grated American cheese with Tenderoni Macaroni, thus Kraft Macaroni and Cheese was born.
So next time you get those "blue box blues" you have the great city of St. Louis to thank.
Here is another post giving some little-known information about the city of St. Louis. Did you know that St. Louis and the Battle of Fort San Carlos was a crucial moment of the Revolutionary War? I didn't. Some historians think the country could have wound up a very different place if the colonists did not win this battle. Via KSDK.
When you think of the great battles of the Revolutionary War, you might not include the battle of St. Louis. To learn more, we turned to Dr. Robert Archibald, President and CEO of the Missouri Historical Society in St. Louis, and the National Parks Service.
"What most people don't realize is that the battle in the American Revolution that took place the farthest west occurred there in May of 1780," said Archibald.
According to the National Parks Service, St. Louis, in 1780, was a Spanish Colony and under the leadership of Spanish Lieutenant Governor, Fernando DeLeyba. As the American Revolution began heating up, particularly after the French became open allies of the Americans in 1778, the Spanish began to provide covert aid and supplies to the English colonists.
DeLeyba, fearing British reprisals, urged that four stone towers be built to protect St. Louis. At the top of the hill, near where the Old Courthouse exists today, the first of the towers, called Fort San Carlos was built in April, 1780 and a trench was dug around the town.
On May 26, 1780, between 1,300 and 2,000 British-led Sioux, Sac, Fox and Winnebago warriors suddenly fell upon the unsuspecting community of 900 people. The Indians killed several settlers and slaves who were tending their fields on the outskirts of town. The firing alerted St. Louis's militia, who ran to the barely-completed entrenchments. The attackers were hit with a withering fire from militia musketry. But it was the cannon placed in the tower called Fort San Carlos that repelled the attack.
The battle lasted for two hours, with 21 villagers killed and 71 captured. George Rogers Clark and his Americans drove off a simultaneous British attack against Cahokia on the east side of the river.
"Historians say it may have been one of the seminal battles of the Revolutionary War, because if it had been lost, it's possible all that land in North America might have been retained by Great Britain. we may have ended up a very different nation," said Archibald.
Very interesting. You learn something new every day. Stay tuned for more little-known facts about St. Louis.
KSDK in St. Louis has been running specials during their news giving little known facts about St. Louis history. I think it's a great thing they are doing because it's important for people to know about where they live and a little history never hurt anyone. Plus it's something positive and not the same old negative story you see on every other news broadcast. I'm going to start posting the ones I find most interesting since I am a history fan and I love the city of St. Louis. Today's article is about St. Louis being the original site for Disney World (now located in Florida).
In 1964, downtown St. Louis was being courted as a possible location for, believe it or not, Walt Disney World.
"Disney was going to plan this sort of historical thing, it had rides, it had places dedicated to the mississippi river, places that were designed to give you an experience like Lewis and Clark and this was on a grand scale, this was no small plan," said Dr. Archibald.
Legend has it that Disney abandoned the St. Louis plan over a disagreement with August Busch II over sale of alcohol.
While the fact that Disney planned for an alcohol free environment at his park, Dr. Archibald believes that the reasons the plans never went through were far less sinister.
"The truth seems to be that, financially the project wasn't feasible, that disney got additional property in Florida at a very, very low price for the development of Epcot and the development of Disney World," said Dr. Archibald. Source
This is sad news for many in Cardinal Nation because Jocketty was one of the best in the business. He made some great moves and decisions with trades. Here is part of the story from StLToday.
The Cardinals will begin an intensive search today for general manager Walt Jocketty's successor while still awaiting word from free-agent manager Tony La Russa about whether he will return to an organization suddenly in flux.
Citing a widening front-office split, Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. dismissed Jocketty, the longest-tenured GM in club history, during a Wednesday morning meeting at DeWitt's Clayton home.
Jocketty had received no indication of a pending move regarding his status before DeWitt invited him to Wednesday's 45-minute meeting.
Many within the front office were unaware of the move until the club issued a press release at about 3 p.m.
The move, which was first reported on STLtoday.com, occurred less than one year after the Cardinals secured their first World Series title in 24 years, but was more directly influenced by DeWitt's installation of a new front-office model less than 13 months ago.
Jocketty's refusal to embrace the new structure brought scrutiny that culminated in his ouster, according to DeWitt, despite a successful 13-year run highlighted by two World Series appearances and five trips to the playoffs the last seven seasons.
So, the Crawl for Cancer was a great success. I drank a lot of beer, got a t-shirt, had fun, and helped support a great cause. I hope to participate in the next one. Here's a brief recap of what happened.
At the first bar we went to, the royal blue team was done with their four pitchers before we even got ours, so needless to say, we had some catching up to do. We continued to drink quickly at each bar. On our fourth bar we ran into the green team, which we had not seen at any of the other bars, and they said they were finished. That our fourth bar was their fifth. I don't know if that was true, but the green team were good people. I enjoyed drinking with them. Buncha drunks. The fifth bar was probably the best just because it was cool, I finally got to sit a bit, and the after-party downstairs was rockin'. I danced a bit, yes, I danced. I must have been drunk.
Anyway, it was a great time, and if you want to see pictures (lots more just added) check them out on Flickr
Tomorrow I'm participating in the Crawl for Cancer. For those of you who don't know what this is, you pay an amount of money ($45) to drink in different bars (5). All the proceeds are donated to find a cure for cancer. This is something I can really get behind. You won't see me running 5k. That's something I can't do, but drinking beer is. So if you talk to me tomorrow evening, chances are I'll be drunk. The crawl starts at 1 and will last probably 4 or 5 hours.
Update: Here are some pics from my phone from the event. A full post and more pictures coming soon.