Last year when the Cardinals came to Detroit, Jack had a really neat experience when he got to meet Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright and Cardinals manager Mike Shildt. What made it even better in the eleven months since is the fact that Shildt has been very intentional in staying in touch with Jack, regularly checking up on Jack's progress via text or phone. He also told Jack that if he got back to St. Louis and wanted to come to a game, to let him know and he would hook up our family with tickets.
We had a wonderful week in St. Louis, spending time with family, getting to see and touch the Stanley Cup, seeing Footloose at The Muny, going to Grant's Farm, and eating at some of our favorite restaurants, including Imo's, a dinner with the extended Scribner clan at Rich and Charlie's, a dinner at Cunetto House of Pasta on The Hill, and (count 'em!) four trips to Ted Drewes.
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| Our favorite ballplayer chats with our favorite manager |
In Jack's estimation though, we saved the best for last, going to the Cardinals game on Friday night. Mike told us to get there by 4pm and he arranged for us to have field passes to watch the Cardinals take batting practice. While we were watching, he took time to come over and talk to Jack and the family, and was very encouraging, as he always seems to be!
As a promotional giveaway, we each received a jersey from one of the 2004 NL Champion Cardinals who were being honored over the weekend. During the game, we were able to catch up with my childhood friend, Craig Korte, as well as longtime friend of our family, Zach Smith.
As for the game itself, it was a thriller. With the Cardinals trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the eighth, Paul Goldschmidt hit a three-run home run to put the good guys on top to stay!
We followed the game up with a late night visit to Ted Drewes. On our way back to Grandma's house, Jack commented that this was just about as close to a perfect day as possible. As his parents, and given the way the last fourteen months have gone, I'm sure you understand that this was music to our ears!
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| The Cardinals welcome the Scribners to the game! |
