Adam Kilgore, The Washington Post’s national sports reporter, has a baseball theory that us St. Louisans may find controversial. After Game 1 of the World Series, Kilgore tweeted this from Kansas City:
It’s easy to understand how an outsider could make this type of mistake. After all, Kansas City has an impressive and dedicated fan base that has rallied behind its team after a long postseason drought. Anyone who watched Tuesday night’s 14-inning game could feel the passion.
But just because Kansas City is a Missouri town with baseball fever doesn’t mean it’s St. Louis. Kilgore, who grew up in Maine and covered baseball in Virginia, Boston, and Washington before becoming the Post’s national sports reporter, seems to be getting Missouri’s two MLB markets confused.
Let’s break this down, shall we?
For starters, we’d point to a recent WalletHub study that named St. Louis as America’s best baseball city. St. Louis ranked No. 1 for both team performance and affordability. Only Boston ranked above St. Louis for having the most friendly and engaged fans on social media.
Kansas City ranked No. 11.
St. Louis’ love for America’s pastime is so strong that the Wall Street Journal published a profile calling the city a baseball “love bubble” where “even the yoga instructors wear Cardinals jerseys.”
“Even opponents get treated with respect,” the WSJ noted. “Last month, Michael Reed, a 22-year-old rookie outfielder for the Milwaukee Brewers got his first major league hit against the Cardinals at Busch Stadium. Fans gave him a rousing round of applause. Skip Schumaker, an unspectacular former Cardinal second baseman and outfielder, got a standing ovation when he returned with the Cincinnati Reds earlier this year.”
Here are a few other baseball-related differences between St. Louis and Kansas City, according to Twitter.
Like proper baseball fans, these Cardinals supporters break down the numbers:
After all, only two years in the postseason does not a great baseball town make.
Contact Lindsay Toler by an email at [email protected] or on Twitter @StLouisLindsay. For more from St. Louis Magazine, subscribe or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
