Season has begun

The season is well underway and the Cardinals are playing some good baseball. The issue I am having is with the Cardinals bullpen. I feel as of now its just some growing pains. Rosenthal Kelly and Boggs have shown bright spots and not so bright spots. Overall I feel time will show how good we have it with or bullpen.

Defense has been a little shady. Errors have been piling up. Part of it is because we are young on the field and experience can play a significant part on the field But the errors haven't hurt us too bad..... yet.

Overall, I am happy the way the Cardinals are playing. They are showing the league they are for real and are here to win the central!

My son turns 1 today. Needless to say I'm kinda shocked/happy. In one hand I can not believe a year has passed and on the other hand I'm so proud of him. Not to go into too much detail this time last year my wife and I were sent to the hospital because there was no Ambiotic fluid left in her stomach. Cy was born a month early and stayed in NICU for 2 weeks. Those 2 weeks were the longest ever! I cant imagine staying longer! BUT now he is more than healthy and rotten!

I made a commitment this January and 4 months later I'm down 40lbs and stronger then I have ever been thanks to Crossfit. Those of you who are not familiar with CF need to look into it. Do your research. You will be amazed what CF can do for you. They have changed my life! If you have a small competitive bone in your body you will fall in love with CF. Thats my plug for CF.

I'm going to get my Cardinals tattoo touched up and I'm adding a rose to it. In honor of my wife. The rose is her favorite flower and I am wanting to do something for her but not put her name on my arm! ;)

I talked about a little bit of everything today. Kinda short and choppy. Now that the baseball season has started I will be blogging some more. Hope you have enjoyed my blog and next week I will be aiming more forward MiLB. Until then I will see you at the ball park!

Icon of St. Louis Passes Away

I had fun last weekend at the St. Louis Cardinals Winter Warm-Up. I had the chance to get Yadier Molina's and David Freese's autographs. I got Yadi's on a helmet and David's on a Bat. They both turned out great! I also made a big trade and was able to get Albert Pujols signed bat. I was stoked! Over all it seem to be a smaller turnout then last year. Probably because last year we were coming off a WS win!

Saturday night me, and everyone in Cardinal Nation received devastating news. Stan "The Man" Musial passed away at the age of 92. Stan was the FACE of Missouri not to mention St. Louis. I never got to watch Stan play and I never got to meet him. From what I understand he was the nicest person you could meet. He never turned down the chance to swap stories and enjoy his fans. Although I never got to meet Stan, I feel I lost someone in my family. I was devastated when I heard the news. The last true ball player of the "Golden Age," of baseball passed away. Stan, although you are in heaven, I would like to say from the bottom of my heart thank you for being the icon of St. Louis. Thank you for being a man of men. Thank you for being THE MAN. You represented St. Louis till the day you passed. I hope your playing your heart out in heaven and one day I will finally get to meet you. Goodbye Stan Musial #6

Off Season Baseball

Is it too soon to say, I miss baseball? I truly do. I miss going to games, I miss getting autographs, I miss the feeling being caught up into something thats bigger than me. Some people do not understand why I would stand for five hours waiting on a autograph in 100 degree heat. Some don't understand why I would rather spend my time at a ballpark then with friends.

I will tell you why. Collecting autographs allows me to be close to the game. It allows me to talk to players, allows me to meet new people. These people have the same passion for the game like I do. Collecting a autograph allows me to capture a piece of the game in a certain place and time. It gives me a story to tell. It allows me to relive my boyhood. I know, this sounds silly. But we all enjoy doing something, or collecting something. For me, I enjoy my time in the park. 

Baseball is one game I use ALL my senses. I see my favorite players take the field or I see the new pattern the grounds crew placed into the grass hours before the game takes place. Have you ever closed your eyes at the ball park? Try it sometime. UNBELIEVABLE. You know whats going on without seeing anything! "Peanuts, Cracker Jacks," the vendor yells. You can hear the excitement in the other fans voices. "THIS IS OUR YEAR!" You can hear the crack of the bat or the heavy foot steps headed your way in a attempt to make a catch! I love hearing the ball players walk by and hearing the crunch sound their cleats make. I know I'm crazy...I prefer passionate... Feel. When you sit down, you know that seat it yours for the next three hours. The cold plastic turns warm on your back. My favorite ball-park food is the American classic HOT DOG! With mustard and that is it! The taste of a hot dog at the ball park is the best, nothing compares! My favorite sense is smell. At a ball park you smell 100 different smells each minute. The food, people, the morning dew that still lingers around. The one thing I always do when I reach my seat is sit down and close my eyes. I will take a deep breathe in. I LOVE Smelling the fresh cut grass! In my opinion grass makes a ball park. I am anti turf and always will be, turf takes away from the game. 

I love the game of baseball because I use to play baseball. I was not blessed with the talent that todays athletes have. I wanted to play pro ball so bad, what kid doesn't? The one thing that separated me from the others is the passion I had on the field and for the game. Every single day I wanted to improve and be the best player I could be, and I did. My best wasn't good enough and that's okay. I still love the game. I still love talking about today's game versus early 1900's. I love debating if Babe Ruth would still be the best if he could face today's pitchers. 

Winter Warm-Up is quickly approaching. This is a time where members of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team come together and sign autographs. This is also a time where I get excited because I know the season is right around the corner! I hope me writing this helps some who may not understand why some people love the game of baseball, I also hope this helps some to understand why some fans do what they do. 

I am slowly starting to get into collecting game-used items. I have slowly learned these items are great to display and look great in my memorabilia collection. I have learned as well these items if bought can be very expensive. I have never thought about asking for a players possessions, since especially in the minors most of the players have to buy their own stuff. But it doesn't hurt to ask and if they say yes, it just makes my day even better.

A quick opinion on the Josh Hamilton deal. Josh Hamilton is my favorite player. Yes I know I am a Cardinals fan, but Josh Hamilton said something to me in 2009 that gained my loyalty for life! I will go into that story a later time. I am happy for Josh. I feel the Rangers waited to long and the wait bit them in the ass. Josh is the BEST player on your team and you don't offer him a deal? Not even in winter meetings they offer Josh a deal to pondering on. I am assuming Josh took that personally and took the deal the Angels offered him. A very good and fair offer that will pay off for the Rangers. I could go way into more in this deal but my arms are sore from typing. If you have questions or comments hit me up on Twitter @beebe76. Until then I will see you at the ball park!

Winter Meetings

Is it to early to say I have the baseball itch already? Well, it is true! I have been trying to cure my appetite for baseball by watching MLB network, and I am looking forward to the Winter Meetings. For me, this is an exciting time for the off season. Winter Meetings is where all 30 clubs, agents and media come together. This is where teams look to get better, or look to unload. The Cardinals will be looking for a middle infielder and a lefty reliever. All which they need.

ROY, CY, MVP

I will have to say I was completely satisfied on the awards this year. I thought the baseball writers did a good job...especially on AL MVP.

NL ROY: Bryce Harper, although I feel he won solely on his name. I am still okay with it.
AL ROY: Mike Trout, 110% earned this award!

NL CY: RA Dickey, a knuckleballer won the CY? I guess hell did freeze over.
AL CY: David Price, I thought Verlander would win this solely on the Tigers making it to the playoffs.

NL MVP: Buster Posey, though I was wanting Yadi to win. Buster deserved it.
AL MVP: Miguel Cabrera, Yes he deserves it over Trout. Triple Crown winner, should automatically win MVP. Although Trout did lead in a lot of categories. Unfortunately those categories don't matter. You know what does matter? AVG/HR/RBI The same categories that won Cabrera the Triple Crown.

December should be a fun month: Winter meetings, and Cardinals WWU tickets go on sale! I can not wait.
I want to remind everyone I love collecting baseball memorabilia. If you have something, tell me. Maybe we can work out a deal! Until then I'll see you around! @beebe76

Cardinals NEW Jerseys

It's Thursday night and I just caught wind of the Cardinals changing their alternative jerseys for 2013 season. First uniform change since 1998. Thought the Jersey are simple but cool! What do you think? Dont forget to follow me on twitter @beebe76

Mac is in LA

    It's official Mark McGwire has left St. Louis and now the batting coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers. This was the best move for him. I can olny imagine how hard it is to be away from your family for 6+ months. Especially all of his children. Now the kids can come to the ball park and enjoy their time with dad. "Big Mac" will be missed in St. Louis, and he has deffinately helped the Cardinals, but now it's time to focus on the 2013 season. 

    John Mabry has been named the new Cardinals hitting coach. I love this decision because he is my favorite player! Why you ask? He was my very first autograph back in 1998. Ever since, I have been a John Mabry fan! Time will only tell how he will do, but I have a hunch he will be just fine!!! Until my next post, I will see you at the ball park! Catch me on Twitter @Beebe76

It has been about 6 months since I have written on my blog and I am sorry. Life has been crazy since Cy was born and baseball took over my life. Cylas, Kallie and I got to go to the All-Star festivities in Kansas City this year. Kall ad I have actually decided to make our vacation each year to where ever the All-Star game is going to be. Awesome huh? With the exception of 2013, New York. We decided going there would probably put us in the poor house and just too crazy for us. BUT 2014 in MN, count us in! Our 2013 vacation we will be visiting 6 minor league baseball parks on our way to Gulf Shores, Alabama. We are looking forward to this trip!

I will tip my cap off to the Giants! They gained momentum during the NLCS, and took it to the World Series. The Cardinals did a wonderful job, went further then most would have thought. I tip my cap to Mike Matheny as well. I thought he managed the Cardinals well.

Now for the off season. Time will tell what happens with the Cardinals and around the MLB. I look forward to this time. Winter meetings are fun to keep track of and I look forward to the madness to come!

RUMORS:

Skip Schumaker, it makes sense the Cardinals would shop him. He doesn't have a place on the starting roster and the youth coming up is shunning him out. Skip will make a great utility man for a team and he will always be love by Cardinal Nation.

NEEDS:

It is obvious Lance Berkman is gone as well as Kyle Lohse. As much as I would rather keep Kyle instead of Westbrook, the fact is Kyle is going to be asking for a large penny.  Question is who is our starting rotation with Jaime and Jake still recovering. Here is my guess. Carpenter Wainwright Lynn Kelly and TBD...Boggs, Miller or Rosenthal would be a good filler until Jaime and get better.

Solid utility player is needed. I do not see Pete Kozma as the Cardinals future. They will use him as needed but I feel the Cards will phase him out eventually.

Another Bat. Matt Carpenter had a great rookie season. He still does not contain the power the Cardinals need. I feel the Cardinals will shop for a bat who can feel in at SS and 2nd.

Well there is my assessment, hope you enjoyed it