Polyester and Astroturf: July 2011

Friday, July 22, 2011

I'm Sold on St. Louis!

The summer of 1987 was an especially wonderful one for me. I had a job working about one hour per day cleaning a local drug store which netted me paychecks of about $42 twice per month. Almost every penny I earned that summer went to one of two things: baseball cards or baseball tickets.

It was a great season to be a Cardinals fan. The Running Redbirds would win their second National League Pennant in three years (in addition to a World Series victory in 1982) as Whiteyball reigned in St. Louis. It seemed that my friend Craig and I lived at Busch Stadium that summer. Even though we were only 15 at the time (I turned 16 the final weekend of the season), I managed to get to 25 games that season.

The other day, I found the following video of Ralph Butler and "I'm Sold on St. Louis," produced in 1987. It reminded me of what a wonderful era it was to be a Cardinals fan.

Welcome to Polyester and Astroturf

I have been a sports fan in general and a baseball fan in particular for as long as I can remember. One of my most distinct early childhood memories is of my mom taking me to Busch Stadium, where we would sit in the left field bleachers and watch our favorite player, Lou Brock.

Sunday afternoon games were when they'd have the giveway games for kids such as Hat Day, Ball Day, or Bat Day (a lawsuit waiting to happen), so that's when we usually went. We would go to the 8:00 church service, make a sack lunch, and go wait for the gates to open so that we could be among the first to enter, ensuring us a front row seat.

I suppose it was these experiences that birthed my love for baseball as well as my love for baseball memorabilia. In later years, as teenagers, my friend Craig and I would spend the entire day at the stadium, getting autographs of players before and after the game. We waited for the Cardinals in the parking garage or we'd go down the street and stake out the visiting team's hotel lobby.

Over the years, I added to these mementos various souvenirs and other items. When my wife and I bought our first house, I had a room in the basement that she graciously allowed me to turn into my "sports room." In it I displayed much of the memorabilia I had collected over the years. Most of it had only sentimental value, but it was fun to relive the memories every time I entered the room.

In 2006, we moved to Flint, Michigan. Unfortunately for me, the house we purchased did not have an extra room for my stuff, and as a result, most of it has remained boxed in our basement ever since. I started this blog as a means of remembering and sharing. Remembering what I had, and remembering the events connected to those items; and sharing in this space both those items as well as my thoughts about them.

The color scheme of the blog is very intentionally patterned after the Cardinal road uniforms of the late 70s and early 80s. For some reason, baby blue was in vogue, and the color always evokes memories of this era for me. Much the same, polyester and astroturf were staples at the time, hence the title of the blog.

I hope you enjoy my trip down memory lane...I know I will. And please feel free to share your comments as well.