On Saturday, Julia's good friend, Suzanne, called with pretty sweet news. She had free tickets to Sunday's Cardinals game against the Pirates for us. That's great by itself, but wait, there's more! Suzanne's father-in-law is Jay Randolph, Sr.
In case you are unfamiliar with Mr. Randolph, he spent 15 seasons (1973-1987), many of which were my formative baseball years, calling Cardinals games on Channel 5.
He worked with Jack Buck and Mike Shannon in the booth while also serving as the sports anchor for KSDK. Those three voices conjure many Cardinal memories for me. They were Cardinal baseball. I'd watch games with my dad on Channel 5 and he'd rant about "professional ball players making $1 million a year dropping balls he coulda caught." Mr. Randolph is back in the booth broadcasting Cardinal games with former Cardinal lefty Ricky Horton (1984-87 & 1989-90). I live for those 22 games this season - they take me back. I'm a child of the 80s, what can I say?
But I digress...
Suzanne offered to take us up to the booth to meet Mr. Randolph, and with that, one would assume, Ricky Horton and possibly Mike Shannon as well. Armed with this knowledge, I dug out my 1985 Ricky Horton rookie card (and 1986 card) and headed to a baseball card shop for a Mike Shannon card, but struck out. Get it? Struck out? Sometimes I amuse myself. Since I couldn't get a Shannon card, I went to Target where I found an official Rawlings Major League Baseball in a ball cube for $15. I got it to try to get them to sign it.
Mind you, I started feeling like the creepy old men with Sharpies, baseball cards and Avery labels harassing players at minor league games, but this is different. I'm not in it for the cash. I just love the game and my memories of it.
Since I tend to be a bit of a pessimist, while I knew that we had tickets and would be going to the game, I feared that something would thwart my destiny to visit the KSDK booth on this day. However, the planets aligned (except for Pluto) and all went as planned. At the end of the 3rd inning, we headed upstairs and "I'm Jay Randolph's daughter-in-law" actually worked and got us all the way to the door to the booth. It was almost too easy. I assumed that the door would be locked or we wouldn't have the secret password for the entry trolls, but there we were...standing 10 feet behind Mr. Randolph and Mike Shannon as they called the 4th inning.
A few minutes later, the inning was over and Suzanne was introducing me. I'm not sure if I passed out or threw up a little, but my voice was cracking more than usual. These men, whether they know it or not, are part of Cardinal lore and have a place in the memories of millions of Cardinal fans like me. It was an honor being in their presence. And they couldn't have been nicer to some idiots invading their workplace. Mike Shannon signed the baseball, patted me on the back and left to go next door to the radio booth to switch places with Ricky Horton. Mr. Randolph introduced us to him and he signed his 1986 card. I asked Mr. Randolph to sign the ball and he was genuinely happy to do so.
Then Julia mentioned that I had a story for Mr. Randolph and so I began...
In 1985, as a seventh grader at Immaculate Heart of Mary grade school, we were assigned a writing project describing what we wanted to be when we "grew up." We had to interview someone in that field and compose a 500-word essay. I wasn't much of a writing fan in seventh grade, so 500 words might as well have been a letter to the Ephesians as far as I was concerned, but I decided, then and there, that I wanted to be a sportscaster like Jay Randolph on the Cardinals games. So I called KSDK and explained my assignment and they gave me the "he's really busy so why don't you give us your number and he'll call you back?" I knew they were shrugging me off, but I gave them the number anyway. A few hours later, I heard my mom yelling from downstairs, "David! Jay Randolph's on the phone!" Holy crap! My voice probably cracked more today (maybe), but Jay Randolph called me (a seventh grader at Immaculate Heart of Mary with a stupid 500-word essay) back for an interview. And he was awesome and I got an "A" on the essay. Nice, huh?
Then the door opened and in walked a guy wearing a lanyard and name badge. It was Greg Mathews, another Cardinals lefty (1986-90),
to visit his friend, Ricky Horton. I asked him to sign the ball too and he seemed surprised that I'd want his autograph, but he did hit .1000 in the 1987 NLCS. Suddenly, there was a bit of commotion on the field with the umpires. It turned out that the ad sign in dead center field, which turns to reveal Ford or Edward Jones messages was stuck on Ford while the Cardinals were batting. It took 13 minutes for it to be fixed during which time Ricky Horton asked if I had anything else for him to sign - he remembered we were there! So he signed the ball and his rookie card, which he said was his favorite card of himself because it has his career highlight on the back - the year he married his wife. I almost threw up, but it was a nice sentiment (I guess).
To top it off, we saw someone who looked familiar coming out of the radio booth heading towards the bathroom. It was our friend, Elgy's sister and Elgy, who isn't much of a fan, was hanging out in the radio booth right next door to us the whole time! Remember how I mentioned that the planets had aligned?
All in all, it was a bit of a surreal day for this child of the 80s. Special thanks to Suzanne, Mr. Randolph, Ricky Horton and Mike Shannon for making a 7-4 Cardinals victory that much more sweet.
Click HERE to see photos from the experience.
In case you are unfamiliar with Mr. Randolph, he spent 15 seasons (1973-1987), many of which were my formative baseball years, calling Cardinals games on Channel 5.
He worked with Jack Buck and Mike Shannon in the booth while also serving as the sports anchor for KSDK. Those three voices conjure many Cardinal memories for me. They were Cardinal baseball. I'd watch games with my dad on Channel 5 and he'd rant about "professional ball players making $1 million a year dropping balls he coulda caught." Mr. Randolph is back in the booth broadcasting Cardinal games with former Cardinal lefty Ricky Horton (1984-87 & 1989-90). I live for those 22 games this season - they take me back. I'm a child of the 80s, what can I say?But I digress...
Suzanne offered to take us up to the booth to meet Mr. Randolph, and with that, one would assume, Ricky Horton and possibly Mike Shannon as well. Armed with this knowledge, I dug out my 1985 Ricky Horton rookie card (and 1986 card) and headed to a baseball card shop for a Mike Shannon card, but struck out. Get it? Struck out? Sometimes I amuse myself. Since I couldn't get a Shannon card, I went to Target where I found an official Rawlings Major League Baseball in a ball cube for $15. I got it to try to get them to sign it.
Mind you, I started feeling like the creepy old men with Sharpies, baseball cards and Avery labels harassing players at minor league games, but this is different. I'm not in it for the cash. I just love the game and my memories of it.
Since I tend to be a bit of a pessimist, while I knew that we had tickets and would be going to the game, I feared that something would thwart my destiny to visit the KSDK booth on this day. However, the planets aligned (except for Pluto) and all went as planned. At the end of the 3rd inning, we headed upstairs and "I'm Jay Randolph's daughter-in-law" actually worked and got us all the way to the door to the booth. It was almost too easy. I assumed that the door would be locked or we wouldn't have the secret password for the entry trolls, but there we were...standing 10 feet behind Mr. Randolph and Mike Shannon as they called the 4th inning.
A few minutes later, the inning was over and Suzanne was introducing me. I'm not sure if I passed out or threw up a little, but my voice was cracking more than usual. These men, whether they know it or not, are part of Cardinal lore and have a place in the memories of millions of Cardinal fans like me. It was an honor being in their presence. And they couldn't have been nicer to some idiots invading their workplace. Mike Shannon signed the baseball, patted me on the back and left to go next door to the radio booth to switch places with Ricky Horton. Mr. Randolph introduced us to him and he signed his 1986 card. I asked Mr. Randolph to sign the ball and he was genuinely happy to do so.
Then Julia mentioned that I had a story for Mr. Randolph and so I began...
In 1985, as a seventh grader at Immaculate Heart of Mary grade school, we were assigned a writing project describing what we wanted to be when we "grew up." We had to interview someone in that field and compose a 500-word essay. I wasn't much of a writing fan in seventh grade, so 500 words might as well have been a letter to the Ephesians as far as I was concerned, but I decided, then and there, that I wanted to be a sportscaster like Jay Randolph on the Cardinals games. So I called KSDK and explained my assignment and they gave me the "he's really busy so why don't you give us your number and he'll call you back?" I knew they were shrugging me off, but I gave them the number anyway. A few hours later, I heard my mom yelling from downstairs, "David! Jay Randolph's on the phone!" Holy crap! My voice probably cracked more today (maybe), but Jay Randolph called me (a seventh grader at Immaculate Heart of Mary with a stupid 500-word essay) back for an interview. And he was awesome and I got an "A" on the essay. Nice, huh?
Then the door opened and in walked a guy wearing a lanyard and name badge. It was Greg Mathews, another Cardinals lefty (1986-90),
to visit his friend, Ricky Horton. I asked him to sign the ball too and he seemed surprised that I'd want his autograph, but he did hit .1000 in the 1987 NLCS. Suddenly, there was a bit of commotion on the field with the umpires. It turned out that the ad sign in dead center field, which turns to reveal Ford or Edward Jones messages was stuck on Ford while the Cardinals were batting. It took 13 minutes for it to be fixed during which time Ricky Horton asked if I had anything else for him to sign - he remembered we were there! So he signed the ball and his rookie card, which he said was his favorite card of himself because it has his career highlight on the back - the year he married his wife. I almost threw up, but it was a nice sentiment (I guess).
To top it off, we saw someone who looked familiar coming out of the radio booth heading towards the bathroom. It was our friend, Elgy's sister and Elgy, who isn't much of a fan, was hanging out in the radio booth right next door to us the whole time! Remember how I mentioned that the planets had aligned?
All in all, it was a bit of a surreal day for this child of the 80s. Special thanks to Suzanne, Mr. Randolph, Ricky Horton and Mike Shannon for making a 7-4 Cardinals victory that much more sweet.
Click HERE to see photos from the experience.
