Tag: St. Louis Cardinals

Cardinals & Homophobia

~ The Accidental Rabbi ~ Leave a comment

Thinking about a news story that appeared regarding Tyler Dunnington,  a 2014 minor league player in the Cardinals system who quit the sport due to the high degree of homophobic commentary he encountered. I just posted the following comment on an article discussing the steps the team is taking, along with MLB’s national consultant on LGBT inclusion, Billy Bean, on my favorite Cardinals blog, http://www.vivaelbirdos.com:

As a Cards fan and longtime LGBT ally

…I’m saddened by this story. Great that [John Mozeliak, General Manager of the Cards] is saying he wants to do the right thing and great that Billy Bean is doing the work he’s doing. I guess I have to say that it’s getting harder and harder for me to continue being an enthusiastic Cards fan given the many deeply politically conservative and religiously conservative movements so many in the organization have been overtly and subtly supporting for years. When you have a major religious organization with key Cards involved among MLB players preaching a version of Christianity that views homosexual behavior as contrary to God’s will; when you have players on Cards WS championship teams declining to go to the White House for the team honors; when you have Pujols and LaRussa appearing at Glenn Beck’s rally; when you have Waino’s twitter promoting Chik-fil-a restaurants; and the frequent anti-choice radio ads during ballgames on KMOX, the act of trying to be an active Cards fan feels more and more like it requires me to enter into some kind of quiet fraternity of the very socially conservative. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not begrudging every American his/her right to his/her opinion, nor do I begrudge the members of the Cardinals family the right to express theirs too. I’m just saying that, as someone who has very different values and beliefs, it’s getting really uncomfortable for me to have anything to do with the Redbirds. And that’s so sad, as I’ve loved following the team since I was a child.

 

The vivaelbirdos.com article can be found here.

 

 

Regression to the mean is a #@!!%!

~ The Accidental Rabbi ~ Leave a comment

Wow, this past week the Cardinals have not only lost 5 of their last 7 games, but they’ve been outscored – wait a minute, let me check it – about 54,000 to 1. Their crazy-unhittable pitching is coughing up runs left and right. Their already somewhat anemic offence has gone on vacation. And they just are giving off a vibe of blech.

So, is this the beginning of an historic September collapse, ending in not making the post-season? Or is this a temporary regression to the mean?sad cards

My Trouble with My Cardinals

~ The Accidental Rabbi ~ 1 Comment

I grew up in St. Louis and started going to Cardinals games around age 5. Usually I’d go with my father, sometimes with my grandfather. It was the 70s, the Cards had tons of hitting, but no pitching, and they finished 3rd or 4th every year. When I was 13, that mediocrity suddenly transformed into an exciting, speed and defense driven, small-ball-oriented team that won the World Series in 1982. While I was in high school, this team, managed by Whitey Herzog, was even further built for speed, and they won the NL pennant two more times, in ’85 and ’87, though they lost the WS each of those years.

My baseball heroes were Ozzie Smith, Terry Pendleton, Tommy Herr, Jack Clark, Bob Forsch, John Tudor, and Willie McGee, to name a few. OzzieBy the time I started college, the Cards were as deeply embedded in my sense of identity as anything else that had been a consistent force throughout my childhood. Whether I liked it or not, I was a die-hard fan, and I followed the team daily. I still do.

When the Cards won the NL pennant in 2004 (only to be swept in the WS by the miracle Red Sox of that year), my interest in the team was re-ignited. And since then it’s been a fun ride for Redbirds fans, no doubt. Between 2004 and 2014, St. Louis has won 4 NL pennants, 2 World Series, and has made the post-season almost every year. The Cards currently have the best record in all of baseball, by quite a margin, and they’re locks to be in the post-season once again.

Pretty much the one thing that could sour my child-like devotion to the Redbirds would be if, say, the star player of the team and the manager went to a huge Glenn Beck rally and gave speeches and received awards from him. Which is exactly what happened in August 2010.

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