For Card fans!
NOT TODAY
Busch Stadium is not our house.
So I will not waste your time this morning talking about the importance
of the Cardinals protecting our house in Game 6 of the NLCS. I will not
broach the obscenity of seeing Houston players spilling champagne on our
living-room carpet.
Busch Stadium is not our house.
It's much more important than that.
It's where many of us watched our first game, caught our first foul
ball, begged for our first autograph.
It's where Gibby ruled the mound, where Brock ran like the wind, and
where Ozzie made all the folks go crazy.
It's where the El Birdos dominated, where Sutter struck out the last
batter of 1982, where Mike Shannon has worked since the joint opened in
1966.
The Ol' Redhead managed there. Stan the Man played his harmonica there.
The White Rat led us back to glory there. This is where Gussie drove the
Clydesdales, where Willie McGee tracked down fly balls, where Joaquin
Andujar summed up his philosophy of life in one simple word:
Youneverknow.
This is where Big Mac smacked No. 70, where Tommy Lawless flipped his
bat, where GOOD GOD ALMIGHTY...BRUMMER'S STEALING HOME!!!!!!!
This is where the greatest St. Louis team in Busch Stadium's history
performed. That's right, the 2005 Cardinals. They had the best
home-record, the best record in baseball. Right on that field.
Ted Simmons played there. Kenny Boyer managed there. And a beloved old
man in a bright red jacket told a mournful nation why it was good and
right to play baseball after Sept. 11.
My friends, Jack Buck's coffin rested on that field. Daryl Kile pitched
his last game there. And many of cannot walk into that stadium without
thinking of loved ones who are no longer with us.
Not today.
We don't lose today.
Not against the Houston Astros. Not against a pitcher named Pete Munro.
Not against a wild-card team.
Not in Busch Stadium.
No, it's not our house.
It's simply the place where our memories congregate, where our baseball
dreams are stored, where the voices of millions of fans and the ghosts
of seasons past await their call to arms.
Folks, it's time to wake 'em up.