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St. Louis Cardinals are World Series Bound!!

Posted by Jeff White on October 18, 2011 in Baseball

Wow, just wow!  Think about it.  30 other major league teams, cities, and fan bases do not have their team in the World Series.  The team that I was born rooting for, the St. Louis Cardinals are in their 18th World Series.  They call this one the Quest for 11.  11 wins, of which the Cardinals already have 7, equals the amount of postseason wins they would need to win the World Series.  This would also be the Cardinals 11th World Series Championship.  And of course it is 2011.  If there are any numerologists out there, you can analyze this all you want; all I know is that it is cool and maybe a sign from above that this is the Cardinals year!

The NLCS was a very interesting series.  The Milwaukee Brewers competed hard most of the time and really did not make fools of themselves on or off the field.  I actually think that most of the Brewers started to get it.  I say most.  I saw in the last game, Yuniesky Betancourt still lagging around at the plate with his shirt half tucked in.  I sure hope that wasn’t done on purpose.  His parents would be ashamed.  If anyone ever sees Josh on the baseball field at any level in an unfit uniform, please feel free to reprimand him.  This is your permission.  I do not think Josh would ever do it on purpose, and I hope Mr. Betancourt did not either.  Still, look professional and act professional.

I give kudos to the Texas Rangers.  They have set up standards in their organization to include having their pitchers go deeper into games in the minors so that their arms will strengthen as they develop.  I applaud Nolan Ryan in instilling that their players need to toughen up and be real ballplayers like they were in his heyday.  Nolan Ryan was always one of my favorite players to watch because I would never want to face him in a batters box.  Could any player ever really dig into the batters box to face him?  His style would be frowned upon in today’s baseball, but he has adapted and proved that with proper training, team concept, and the right mix of players, good things will happen.  The Texas Rangers are back to back American League Champions.  I also applaud the Rangers for celebrating with Ginger Ale due to the fact that one of their star players, Josh Hamilton, is a recovering alcoholic.  They are a team that is to be reckoned with and have intense desire to make-up for last year’s World Series loss.

I had the pleasure and honor of going to game 5 of the League Championship Series as a guest of Mike and Barb Rohman.  They are great friends and a good time was had by all, including their extended family during the carpool ride to Busch Stadium.  We had beautiful seats and  we got to see a great Cardinals win putting them up 3-2 in the series.

What amazed me in the LCS is that no Cardinals starting pitcher pitched past the 5th inning.  Tony LaRussa and Dave Duncan managed the bullpen well and the pitchers stepped up and performed at a national level.  I don’t care what LaRussa says, Jason Motte is the Cardinals closer.  He should also be starting in spring training no matter what happens in the World Series.  It was also refreshing to see local St. Louis kid, David Freese, explode and have an amazing series.  His performance earned him the series MVP.  Freese and every member of the 2011 St. Louis Cardinals have endeared themselves in the hearts of Cardinals Nation.

I originally thought the Detroit Tigers would make it to the World Series and win the Championship over the Cardinals.  Well, I was wrong.  And since the Tigers lost, I guess
that means that either Texas is much better than them or that the Cardinals cannot be beat.  I will go with the latter and say Cardinals in 6.

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Three Down, Eight To Go For 11 in 11!

Posted by Jeff White on October 9, 2011 in Baseball, Whatever

Many folks outside of St. Louis did not think I would be here writing today about a Cardinals victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.  I didn’t even know.  I just had lots and lots of hope.  I was glad to see lots of others jump onto the Cardinals bandwagon.  I have not been able to afford game tickets so unfortunately I know they have let even hockey fans into Busch Stadium.  The rally towels were spinning in both stadiums.

Albert Pujols and Lance Berkman had a nice League Division Series but I think the stars of that first round were David Freese, Yadier Molina, and the crazy genius of Tony LaRussa.  We all thought that starting Chris Carpenter on three days rest for the first time in his career was not the best decision of LaRussa’s career but it worked out for the Cardinals.  They won both games Carpenter started.

I cannot say how impressive Chris Carpenter’s game 5 start in Philadelphia was.  He pitched a masterful nine innings.  Nerves abounded in Cardinals Nation but he came through strong.  His competiveness is questioned by idiots like Zach Greinke who experiencing high pressure baseball for the first time in his career.  But Greinke is calm compared to Nyjer Morgan.  Morgan, or T-Plush as he would rather be called, spouted his mouth off on September 7th and that fueled the Cardinals fire to catch the Braves down the stretch.  Let’s just say there is a lot of bad blood between the two teams in the NLCS.

Another star that appeared during the series was @Buschsquirrel or Buschy the Rally Squirrel.  He made two appearances during the LDS in St. Louis.  He is now a bigger star then Torty.

Let me also mention that I do a bit of bleeding blue in the baseball off season.  Let’s Go Blues!!

Buschy the Rally Squirrel

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Angry Birds, Turtles, and Braves, Oh My!

Posted by Jeff White on September 30, 2011 in Baseball, Whatever

Up until now I have written about stuff that has happened in the past, but this 2011 St. Louis Cardinals story was something that is just incredible to anyone outside of Boston, Tampa Bay, or ESPN.

The Cardinals game back from an 8.5 game over the Atlanta Braves to win the Wild Card.  Tampa Bay came back from a 9 game lead to beat Boston.  So everyone is talking about that, especially those involved with Bristol.

If you listened to the experts at or around Labor Day, the Cardinals were out of it and the Rays still had an outside chance.  Many of my friends gave up on the Cardinals.  I never did.  I will admit to having some doubt in my mind, but I can honestly say, I never gave up on the St. Louis Cardinals.

In the last couple of weeks, the Braves showed that they didn’t have the passion of a team that wanted to make the playoffs.  Look at the last game of the season.  There was what, 8,000 people left at the end of the game.  I commented to my buddy during the game that I can’t believe how quiet it was in their home stadium.  Braves fans have shown that they don’t even sell out playoff games.  I believe that this was one of the many reasons that the Braves collapsed in the last few weeks of the season.  Would you want to fight and dig deep if you knew that the fans don’t fully support you by filling your stadium and cheering loudly?

So here comes the Phillies.  Most of the national ‘experts’ don’t give the Cardinals a chance to win the Division Series.  During the regular season the Cardinals beat the Phillies 6 games to 3.  The head to head season matchup numbers show the Cardinals out pitching and hitting the Phillies.  That says to me that the Cardinals should win 3-1.  Will they?  I don’t know, but my heart is rooting hard for my Cardinals.  I do believe that whoever wins this series will represent the National League in the World Series against the Justin Verlander and the Tigers.  If Verlander shows up this postseason, watch out.  He may even price himself out of Detroit in the future and will probably end up injured and playing for the Red Sox or Yankees in a few years.

During this chaotic run, many things have emerged.  Albert Pujols found his stroke, the Cardinals develop a bullpen hierarchy, and they discovered an inspiration in Torty.  No clue who Torty is?  Follow him on twitter, @tortycraig, you will not regret it and you will laugh hysterically.

The Cardinals playoff train is coming and they are ready to be underdogs to the rest of the nation; but they are number one in the hearts of all of us in Cardinals Nation.

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Being Cardinals Red Far Away– Part Two of ‘A Life Bleeding Cardinals Red’

Posted by Jeff White on September 23, 2011 in Baseball, Life

Ok, I was born and raised bleeding Cardinals red.  But what happens to a Cardinals fan when he moves away from St. Louis and has to live in the non-baseball area of Southern California?  Well, he moves back home to Cardinals Nation as soon as he can.

On September 5th 1989, I left St. Louis on my first plane ride ever to San Diego for United States Marine Corps boot camp.  Baseball was never far from me.  The first earthquake I felt in California was related to the October 17, 1989 earthquake that interrupted the 1989 World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland A’s.   I didn’t feel it much, but we were stopped at boot camp and they allowed those of us who wanted to, go to the chapel and pray.  Baseball could never leave me alone.

I went to the Persian Gulf in August 1990 and ended up on the little island nation of Bahrain just off of the coast of Saudi Arabia.  Luckily for me, the Cardinals were not that good as a team for these couple of years.  A few months after I came from Operation Desert Shield/Storm, I got to go to a Cardinals game in Dodgers Stadium with a friend.  It was an hour or so drive from where I was stationed on MCAS El Toro, California.  We knew we couldn’t make the Friday night game so we went to the Saturday July 1st game.  Of course, I missed a no hitter pitched by Dodger Fernando Valenzuela by one day.

A girl I was dating in 1992 asked me what I would want for my 21st birthday.  I made her pick something.  She purchased for me the Sunday Blue Cardinals cap the Cardinals had just started wearing.  I hated it, but what could I say.  It wasn’t the traditional Cardinals cap.  What was she thinking?  A few months later, we were no longer dating.

When I met my wife Lyn in the summer of 1993, she was not much of a baseball fan at all.  She was only a fan of the Royals back in the day featuring George Brett.  Growing up, George Brett did Vess commercials with Ozzie Smith and he always seemed stuck up to me.  What was I getting myself into?  Fortunately for her and me, I was able to mold her into a more knowledgeable baseball fan over the years and she seems better for it.

Eventually, Lyn and I would take trips to San Diego or Los Angeles whenever the Cardinals were in town over a weekend and see a couple of games.  We were even able to get tickets in 1996 to see the Cardinals sweep the Padres for their first playoff series win in 9 years.  Those were the days of ‘Baseball Like it Oughta Be’.  I remembered being
interviewed before the San Diego game by Channel 11 (or something) and they were shocked by the many Cardinals fans in Southern California.  If that game would have been St. Louis, no Padres fan would have been able to get tickets.  We were lucky to see the Cardinals celebrate on the field in that series.  And I must say, the Padres fans were extremely nice to us and even congratulated us after the game.

In 1998 when Lyn was pregnant with our son, I knew something exciting would happen on 9/8/98.  I thought it would be a cool day for Josh to be born, but as all Cardinals fans know, that was the day that Mark McGwire hit homerun #62.  I was happy that year that I got to see the Cardinals more on television and I think I got to see Big Mac hit #26 & #27 in San Diego.

For Josh’s first birthday in August of 1999, a friend of ours from my work softball team got Josh a tiny St. Louis Cardinals jersey.  Anyone who got a Christmas card from us that year saw that jersey, and then the questions started coming in about when we were moving back to St. Louis.  In November of 2000 for me and January of 2001 for Lyn and Josh, we moved back to St. Louis because I took a job opportunity here with the IRS.  No, the Cardinals were not the sole reason we moved back, but the love, spirit, and
family feeling that are Cardinals Nation, sure didn’t hurt it.

Baseball Like it Oughta Be

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16 Years Ago Today

Posted by Jeff White on September 16, 2011 in Life

Sixteen years ago today I married my best friend and wife Lyn.

Wow!  I really cannot believe I have been so lucky to of survived this long and I can honestly say have only begun in the journey of life with her.

It was a Friday evening in July of 1993 and I was at In Cahoots in Fullerton, California.  This was where me and my Marine buddies hung out every weekend night.  Each Friday night, we would pull on our tight Wrangler jeans, cowboy boots and whatever shirt we felt was appropriate.  That night I decided on a Goofy t-shirt.  Me and one of my buddies, Mike Brandt, made our way from the base to In Cahoots probably around 7:30 or so and sat in our normal spot on the raised area right by the DJ.  Somewhere around 9:00 we did our normal Friday and Saturday night show of dancing and motions to Confederate Railroad’s ‘Queen of Memphis’ (1) and making the normal fools of ourselves.

After we got done, I was drinking either water or beer and relaxing on the ledge when I noticed this blonde all alone under a picture.  I remember asking my buddy Mike if she was my type and I think he said something to without a doubt.  So I went to ask her to dance.  She said yes.  Normally when you two-step with someone for the first time, you do not talk the first time around the dance floor, but if you know Lyn, she is not one to follow the rules.  So, by half way around the dance floor, she was talking to me about something.  Now in the short version of this story, I say ‘And she hasn’t stopped talking since.’  But honestly, I have no remembrance of what we talked about that night besides her saying she liked my Goofy shirt and saw me when we were doing our performing thing.  I do remember a long kissing session leaning against my S-10 in the parking lot while Mike was napping inside.

I later find out that Lyn was supposed to meet some friends there and they never showed up.  Thank you to whomever those friends were.  But most of all thank you to God for bringing Lyn into my life that night.

I remember meeting her parents two days later and goin up to see her for her birthday while she was finishing up working after graduating from UC Davis.  We knew that weekend that we were going to get married.  We just didn’t let the rest of the world know (besides Lisa) until June 18, 1994.  See, my birthday is May 18th and Lyn’s is July 18th, so this seemed like a logical date to me.  I think that is the last time I have had a picnic on the beach.  I was a good boyand asked her father for permission and we stayed up after Lyn said yes to tellher mother.  Found out, that my now father-in-law is not a good secret keeper and told my mother-in-law and the surprise to her was not to be.  Oh well.

On September 16, 1995, in front of friends, family and God, Lyn and I were married.  16 years ago.  Wow!  Laguna   Hills Baptist Church was the location.  We chose it partially because it had a center aisle.  We ended up attending there for about two years.  I remember my brother-in-law having the wrong tux jacket and afterwards people reacting to how long the first kiss was.  The reception was held at a place called The Barn in Tustin, California.  Our wedding party entered the space to Disney’s ‘Main Street Electrical Parade’ (2) and Lyn I came in to Disney’s ‘Fantasmic’. (3)  We spent the next week in Walt Disney World and have survived with each other ever since.

There is no doubt in my mind that I am the luckiest man alive for finding, keeping, and marrying Lyn.  She is my best friend, the love of my life, and the mother of our son.  She is my rock, my support, and my perfect fit.  She likes my jokes, enjoys my company, and bandages my cuts.  We have bled together more than anyone but God will know and I don’t plan on losing her for the rest of my life.

I love you Lyn.  Happy 16th Anniversary !!

Our Wedding Photo Pulled From My Wallet

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Born and Raised Cardinals Red – Part one of ‘A Life Bleeding Cardinals Red’

Posted by Jeff White on September 9, 2011 in Baseball, Life

In my initial blog I talked about one of the references to the name ‘Born Bleeding’.  This was that I have been a St. Louis Cardinals (1) fan all of my life and I know I was born bleeding Cardinals red.  I do remember not being a Cardinals fan growing up so I can honestly say I have been a fan my whole life.

I would like to thank my Grandpa, Charles Niedringhaus, for really getting me into Cardinals baseball.  After my parents divorced when I was around 5, my Grandpa was the main male influence in my life.  I distinctly remember sitting on the back porch of my Grandparents house listening to KMOX with Jack Buck and Mike Shannon calling the games so beautifully.  Lou Brock was in the final years of his career and Brock A Pop was all the rage at the store to drink.  Ken Reitz and Keith Hernandez were Cardinals stars.

BroccaPop by Vess

I remember the baseball strike in 1981 being unfair to the Cardinals as we would have had the best record if they would of not split the season in half.  This got me excited for 1982.  I can recall the Cardinals having both Bruce Sutter and Rollie Fingers on the team for a few days that winter.  I can still see Willie McGee jumping up over the fence to rob a home run in the World Series against the Brewers.  I also remember my mom letting me stay up to watch the game that went on to midnight.  ‘Celebration’ by Kool and the Gang (2) was the Cardinals song that year.  When Bruce Sutter and Darrell Porter hugged on the field at Busch Stadium, there was much rejoicing in St. Louis.  I still have my Coca-cola bottle.

Cardinals World Series Coca-Cola Bottle from 1982

Somewhere in 1983 or 1984 my church took a group of us to a baseball game when the Cardinals were really bad.  Everybody wanted to leave early because the Cardinals were losing to the Mets by a big score.  I told my Grandpa I wanted to stay to the end because we couldn’t afford to see a lot of games in person. Everyone was waiting on the old church bus as we walked to it right after the game was over.

1985 brought back excitement.  Names like Vince Coleman and Todd Worrell were emerging.  ‘The Heat is On’ by Glenn Fry  was used as the Cardinals theme song and there might not be a better moment in Cardinals history than Ozzie Smith’s NLCS Game 6 Home Run off of Tom Niedenfuer.  I still get chills to this day when I see the video and hear Jack Buck say ‘Go Crazy,Folks, Go Crazy’.  Let’s not get into the World Series and Don Denkinger. I have mostly moved on.

In 1986, the New York Mets became Pond Scum.  And in 1987, the Cardinals made another run to the World Series.  Stupid Homer Hankies and home field advantage cost the Cardinals that World Series to the Minnesota Twins.

The Cardinals were good and the Cardinals were bad when I was growing up.  I remember the good times fonder but I remember them all.  I have since met some of the legends of my youth such as Bob Forsch, Ken Reitz, Tito Landrum and Lou Brock thanks to some of my work with Cardinals Care and Redbirds Rookies. (4)  These former Cardinals are all legends to me and many others in the St. Louis community.

I am proud to be a Cardinals fan and will not hide the fact that I am.  This franchise embodies the true ‘Spirit of St. Louis’ and is really hard to explain to someone who wasn’t raised here.  I have just scratched the surface on my experience and I hope you can understand a bit about being a real Cardinals Baseball fan is all about.

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Born Bleeding

Posted by Jeff White on September 1, 2011 in Life, Whatever

When thinking about a blog title, only three titles came to mind for me.  They were Door Opener, Semper Gumby, and Born Bleeding.  I will explain the meaning of each one and the reason I chose Born Bleeding.

Door Opener is a reference to my confirmation verse which is Revelation 3:20.  It states :  Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. (NKJV)  I am proud Christian and me and my wife both have the spiritual gift of hospitality.   That is where that idea came about.

Semper Gumby is a phrase I have been saying since I joined the United States Marine Corps.   Semper Fidelis is the Marine Corps motto and it means ‘Always Faithful’.  Gumby is a rubber flexible cartoon character from the 1980’s.  So you combine them together and you get Semper Gumby.  Due to copyright law and the fact my wife said I am not always that flexible, that idea was dropped.

People often ask me how long I have been a St. Louis Cardinals fan. The answer I give them is that I was born bleeding Cardinals red.  So that is where it idea started.  To me, the term born bleeding also means I was broken at birth and that I needed things in my life to help mend me.  There is no doubt that God and my savior Jesus Christ have mended me but I know there have been many ‘normal’ people that have helped stitch me up over time.

Who knows where I would be without three very important people in my life.  My grandparents, Charles and Viola Niedringhaus helped my mother raise me even thought I was years younger than my next cousin and they were in their 70’s during most of my growing up time.  Only God knows where I would be if I had not met my wife, Lyn.  She has done more for me than she will ever know and had helped daily fix this man who bleeds daily.  She is the foundation to my life on earth.  She has bandaged more cuts on me than anyone knows and has gotten blood spilled on her.

Now keep in mind bleeding is just a description of the hurt and pain and whatever that that I have dealt with in my life.  I hope to share with you the thoughts, opinions, and observations of this goofy guy along with the experiences of those around me.

So friends beware.  You may be in the next issue of Born Bleeding…

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Under Construction

Posted by Jeff White on August 23, 2011 in Whatever

Working on formatting the site.  Trying to get menus set up so everything is ready when I post the first real blog.  Please be patient and any help is welcome.

Jeff

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