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="bmfc1":2z0i2i5k]With the All-Star Game in St. Louis, we can expect to hear that "St. Louis is the best baseball town in America" about a zillion times. [/quote:2z0i2i5k]
Joe Buck's St. Louis history may make it 2 zillion.
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Benjamin Grimm
Jul 12 2009 05:57 PM
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Probably because they're one of the few remaining cities to prefer baseball to football.
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Willets Point
Jul 12 2009 06:03 PM
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The hyperbole is annoying but I think there's an element of truth to the popularity of baseball in St. Louis and the support the fans of the Cardinals offer their team in good years and bad.
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Frayed Knot
Jul 12 2009 06:07 PM
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The rep comes from is that StL is one of the few cities outside NYC & Boston where baseball is the clear #1 to football combined with the native mid-western boosterism of the home folks that makes the fan base less angry than their east coast counterparts. Hence they like to see themselves as being the best of both worlds: more passionate and serious than the west coast while just as knowledgeable yet more supportive than the east.
Although you do need to keep in mind that it's pretty much a self-label which has been picked up by various media members. StL fans love calling themselves "the best fans in baseball" - although saying so doesn't necessarily make it true. I've also read some very harsh things on Cardinal boards so I know they're not nice all the time. One guy yelled at Isringhausen to "Die on Christmas" following a blown save and LaRussa (and former GM Jocketty) would have been removed long ago if some fans had their way despite being competitive nearly every year.
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Fman99
Jul 12 2009 08:14 PM
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="Frayed Knot":1mzukg10]The rep comes from is that StL is one of the few cities outside NYC & Boston where baseball is the clear #1 to football combined with the native mid-western boosterism of the home folks that makes the fan base less angry than their east coast counterparts. Hence they like to see themselves as being the best of both worlds: more passionate and serious than the west coast while just as knowledgeable yet more supportive than the east.
Although you do need to keep in mind that it's pretty much a self-label which has been picked up by various media members. StL fans love calling themselves "the best fans in baseball" - although saying so doesn't necessarily make it true. I've also read some very harsh things on Cardinal boards so I know they're not nice all the time. One guy yelled at Isringhausen to "Die on Christmas" following a blown save and LaRussa (and former GM Jocketty) would have been removed long ago if some fans had their way despite being competitive nearly every year.[/quote:1mzukg10]
What a load of shit. They wear red shirts, good for them.
You're telling me that there is a bigger sport in New York than baseball? Our two NFL teams play in New Jersey, the Knicks have sucked for 10 years and hockey? Well, most people don't care about hockey.
Uh, boo to St. Louis.
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John Cougar Lunchbucket
Jul 12 2009 08:26 PM
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I've found it a load of shit. Their fans (and Bob Costas) practically blow themselves telling us what terrific fans they are but are proud to have referred to the Mets and New York as "pond scum" which is something we wouldn't have ever done to them.
Meantime I went out to St. Louis to soak up that great fandom one night and couldn't find one person in the stands who was knowledgeable enough about what was happening on the field, or in baseball in general, to engage a visiting fan in conversation. They just sat there in their red hats blowing eachother.
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Gwreck
Jul 12 2009 08:39 PM
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="John Cougar Lunchbucket":a6tx33lr]Meantime I went out to St. Louis to soak up that great fandom one night and couldn't find one person in the stands who was knowledgeable enough about what was happening on the field, or in baseball in general, to engage a visiting fan in conversation.[/quote:a6tx33lr]
That was my experience was well when I was out there last August.
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Frayed Knot
Jul 12 2009 08:54 PM
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| ]You're telling me that there is a bigger sport in New York than baseball? Our two NFL teams play in New Jersey, the Knicks have sucked for 10 years and hockey? Well, most people don't care about hockey. |
I didn't say I thought it was bigger there then here, only that they see themselves that way and more supportive of their guys to boot.
NY, Boston & StL are the three cities where baseball is the clear #1 sport.
Out of those StL fans like to think of themselves as nicer than fans in either east coast city, ergo self-proclaim themselves to be better.
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Vince Coleman Firecracker
Jul 12 2009 09:12 PM
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It's a easily-repeatable, meaningless platitude made popular by the hive mind of the mouth-breathing members of the sports media.
What the hell does "best" mean in this context?
The thing is, Major League Baseball, despite being called the National Pastime, is largely a regional sport. It's immensely popular in New York and Boston and it has a significant following in a few other spots in the country, St. Louis being one of them. It stands out only because of the contrast with its surroundings.
Saying Cardinals fans are the "best" is like saying Austin is the "hippest" city.
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metsguyinmichigan
Jul 12 2009 09:28 PM
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I have to tell you, it's a damn good baseball town.
When I went to college at Mizzou, I was pretty impressed by how many people were into the Cardinals. I'm not saying they can recite stats and the rule book, but people who you would not expect to be into sports seemed to know the players.
If I asked people here in Grand Rapids to start naming people in the Tigers' current starting lineup, I bet three of five would tell me Alan Trammell and one in five would say Al Kaline.
I don't know if you can say a team has the "best" fans, but you can clearly say that it's not that big a city and the team has always been supported, even in the rare years that they stink.
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LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr
Jul 12 2009 09:49 PM
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="Frayed Knot":2lxptp3e]Although you do need to keep in mind that it's pretty much a self-label which has been picked up by various media members. StL fans love calling themselves "the best fans in baseball" - although saying so doesn't necessarily make it true.[/quote:2lxptp3e]
Never had much use for folk what self-appellated. Folk what give 'emselves superlatives? Well, them ah got even less use fer.
/Spits, chews on an ear of wheat
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G-Fafif
Jul 12 2009 09:59 PM
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My just-passing-through experience in 1992 (old Busch) and 2006 (new Busch) was remarkably similar to JCL's and 'wreck's. Big disappointment as I was expecting the sort of atmosphere MGIM describes. I'm sure there's something to it, but it doesn't translate immediately. They sure do wear red and they sure do show up. Now that MFYS II is shuttered, it's probably the closest we'll ever get to mindless, lockstep, peer-pressure, conformist Japanese-style rooting in this country. (MFYS III is overbearing but the inhabitants don't seem as fascistly organized as they used to.)
I remember much was made in 2004 when Larry Walker came over, got a standing O, struck out and got another standing O. It didn't seem all that remarkable on TV. Mets fans give their big acquisitions plenty of support for the first 24 hours, too.
Wayne Hagin offered an interesting take [url=http://www.wfan.com/Wayne-s-World/4360436?contentRating=1]here[/url] regarding Cardinal fan reaction to the Red Sox winning on their field for the first time in 86 years and how Mets fans would never be as accommodating.
| ]I am asked by the multitudes about broadcasting in New York City as opposed to other cities where I worked and resided. The answer is, broadcasting in New York brings you face to face, mind to mind, and heart to heart with the fan. In this case, the New York Mets fans. People designate the St. Louis Cardinals fans as "baseball's greatest fans" and Keith Hernandez and I have spoken often about the Cardinals fortune of having a collegiate type of following. Mistakes are made on the field but the fans will support you as if you were a member of the family. They revel in their midwest hospitality and that transcends to the baseball diamond at Busch Stadium. It's their legacy and there was no better example of that then when the Cardinals played the Red Sox in the 2004 World Series.
Game four was played in old Busch Stadium and Derek Lowe shut down Albert Pujols and company to win the game, the World Series, and beat the demons of not winning it all over the past 86 years. What did the St. Louis crowd do? They not only clapped their hands in tribute but ushers and stadium officials actually let Red Sox fans, who didn't have seats and had stood outside the stadium, come in and join in the history of the moment. That was St. Louis and as you know, that wouldn't have happened at Shea nor will it happen at Citi Field.
It doesn't make one city "better" than the other. They are different cities altogether and that's what makes my experience special to me. I love the heart and soul of the Mets fan. I work with a man, Howie Rose, who exemplifies the Mets fan. Howie is a true pro and it's fabulous to sit next to him broadcasting a game. |
(I should point out I fucking hate the fucking Cardinals, so my opinions may be biased, but I tried to put all that on hold when I visited because I generally like to enjoy myself in other parks and thus think the best of their folks.)
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MFS62
Jul 13 2009 05:57 AM
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I think some of the St. Louis reputation comes from when they were the Westernmost outpost of Major League Baseball. Fans could hear their broadcasts on KMOX and would travel hundreds of miles to attend a game there.
Later
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