Opening Day 2012

Friday was the day that every Cardinal fan lives for . . .

Opening Day.

Last week it was in the '90's here in St. Louis.  Wouldn't you know it?  Opening Day comes around and it is barely 50 and pouring down rain.  Did that stop us?  No way!

I got down to Busch around 9:15am (game was supposed to start at 2:30pm) and all of the parking lots around the stadium were already packed.  I ended up finding a spot but it was nowhere near where I was supposed to be.  Oh well, I just had to go with the flow and get all of the stuff out and start setting up.  Luckily, my neighbor had this tent that I thought to throw in or it would have been one miserable day.

At one point, we had close to 20 people underneath this little tent.

Once it was time for the opening ceremonies to start, Flat Stanley and I made our way up to the ballpark.

The Cardinals have a great tradition of having a player parade before Opening Day.  Normally, the Budweiser Clydesdales lead off the parade but since it had been raining for 4 hours, they didn't make it.  Fredbird comes by and then out come the Hall of Famers.

Lou Brock

Bob Gibson

Red Schoendist

Ozzie Smith

Bruce Sutter

Whitey Herzog

And, of course, Stan "The Man" Musial

We were still celebrating last year's World Series win.  It was so foggy and rainy on Opening Day but if you look to the far right, you will see the 2011 Championship Flag flying.

Participating in his first Opening Day as the Cardinals' manager, Mike Matheney.

The Secret Weapon, Jose Oquendo

Mark McGwire

"Puma" Lance Berkman

Chris Carpenter

Kanin's favorite player, closer Jason Motte

Matt Holliday

New Addition, Carlos Beltran

After sitting out in the rain for an extra 2 hours because of a rain delay, I really wasn't in my normal Opening Day euphoric mood.  Scott cleaned up the tailgate and met me inside.  We saw the first Cubs player bat and then it started raining . . . AGAIN!  I just couldn't do it.  My socks were soaked, I was freezing, my pants legs were wet up to my knees.  I looked at Scott and said,

"There are going to be 80 more games after this one.  I can't sit out in the rain anymore." 

So, yes, we left . . . in the top of the 1st inning.

We couldn't head out, though, before grabbing one quick pic from us.