Madeleine Monday (Baby It's Cold Outside)

The area of the baseball stadium we were in Saturday has an indoor food area and lounge called the Redbird Club. Anyone can be a member of this club who is willing to pay something extra for a ticket. (Groucho Marx: I don't care to belong to any club that will have me as a member.) Anyway, given the low temperatures, I'm glad we ponied up. In fact, we hid out there for much of the game, watching the action on TV screens.

Major League baseball frequently has giveaways for people attending a game. All the tchotchkes have corporate sponsors. This one had bobble heads (insanely popular here) of former Cardinal greats riding in little Ford convertibles. You got one at random on entry. Ellie was quite satisfied with Lou Brock and his clone and had to share her thoughts with her mother.     

Faces Of Statues In The Rain: Cardinal Greats

There were two votes to continue this series and none opposed. Onward, then.

Two more members of the Cardinals' pantheon. They were active recently enough that I saw them play. 

The first is Ozzie Smith, one of the greatest shortstops ever to take the field. His athleticism was so magical, the catches he made so improbable, that he was known as The Wizard. Every year at the opening home game he would go to his position and do a standing back flip. I saw it, more than once. 

The second is Lou Brock, one of the finest base stealers there ever was. (Non-baseball fans and non-Americans: move along. There's nothing to see here.) Look at the intense gaze, watching the pitcher's motion, the catcher and the batter from his own team. When the moment was right, he would zoom from first to second base before his opponents could catch him.