As giddy as we all are on this Tuesday after the 12-3 beat down of the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday night in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series, there are thousands of folks with even brighter smiles.
They are not in the St. Louis region, even in the state of Missouri.
They are on college campuses.
They are in small towns, medium-size cities and sprawling metropolitan areas. They are members of Cardinal Nation abroad.
I was one of this crowd from 1978 to 1996. From Lawrence, Kan., to Danville, Ill., to Lansing, Mich., to Little Rock, Ark., to Washington, D.C., I followed the Cardinals on television and radio.
There wasn’t a place in that list of residents that didn’t pick up the KMOX signal in the evening. The internet helped out during my final years away from this region, but primarily I followed the Cardinals via national TV broadcast and radio.
I was a football manger at KU listening to a radio I had squirreled away in my pocket during practice as the Cards did the Atlanta Braves in the NLCS in 1982. I would watch all the games of the World Series at the Alpha Phi Alpha House, including the Friday night effort of Willie McGee, which changed that Series.
I cried when the final out was recorded.
I had my heart ripped from my body in October 1985 while a reporter in Danville. I was at work the Saturday night of the Don Denkinger call. I didn’t watch a pitch of Game 7. I knew what was coming, and I could not take it.
Two years later, I was in Lansing. I would listen to the beginning of Cards’ games while sitting in my VW Rabbit just after the sun went down. Michigan should be in the Central Time zone, but because of marine traffic on the Great Lakes, it was decided to place the state in the Eastern Time zone.
This made for some long nights as the Cards tried to hold off the New York Mets for the NL East title. Remember the pair of 1-0 shutouts during a doubleheader late in the 1987 season? I was sitting in the car in my driveway for all of the first game and most of the second.
By 11 p.m., I could pick up KMOX in the house like I was in St. Louis.
Lean times for the Cardinals followed me to Little Rock and then D.C., but I remained loyal.
The legion of Cards’ fans that don’t live here often have to listen to other idle chat about how great a team is or how great their fans are. I heard it about the Chicago Cubs when living in Illinois. I heard it about the Detroit Tigers when living in Lansing.
Little Rock is Cardinals territory, so I was amongst friends when it came to baseball. I have to tell you that some of the most obnoxious baseball fans in America cheer for the Baltimore Orioles. You don’t know how badly I wish the Washington Nationals had come to town back in the early 1990s.
I love baseball, but the American League brad is often hard to stomach. And Orioles baseball, even when the team was pretty good, was like going to a long, bad movie which no one really paid much attention to.
I loved my career and would not change a thing about my travels. But I’m thankful that I could still stay in touch with my ball team during all those years away.
Sometimes I’d stew on a loss all night while 1,000 miles away. Sometimes I’d sit by myself and enjoy a big win in the playoffs or World Series.
The city is going to be hopping for the next two weeks—yes, the Cards are going to the World Series.
And the members of Cardinal Nation stationed throughout America will be having as much fun as any of us here.
Commentary by Alvin Reid
