Will the Thrill

A young fan admiring his new team

New Cardinal Baseball fan from Monterey, California

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On an August evening last year, Will, our youngest son, and I entered the Mohawk Tavern in the Sierras to have our vacation ritual beer before dinner. Suprisingly, on the tube were my beloved St. Louis Cardinals playing the Florida Marlins. The Cards were batting in the top of the eighth inning. I was thrilled to see the Cards on the tv in the boondocks. Will not so much. Will's team of choice at the time was the Oakland Athletics. Yawn.

As we sat down to watch the game, Lance Berkman, right fielder for the Cardinals, suddenly doubled to the centerfield wall for the go ahead run which proved to be the winning run of the game. Lance Lynn, a raw rookie fireballer pitcher for the Cardinals sealed the win with his first major league save while striking out two in the bottom of the ninth. The win placed the Cardinals 2.5 games behind the division leading Milwaukee Brewers. The Cardinals were making their customary August move in their division with seven weeks remaining in the season. Meanwhile, Will's Oakland A's were mired in third place in their division, 14 games under .500.

At the conclusion of the game, Will seemed transformed. He said, "I'm over the A's for good." Will determined then at that moment that he was "through" with the loveable, moneyballin', AL East's private farm club...the A's. Frankly, he was tired of following a misbegotten loser with transient players.

Without provocation from his old man, Will stunningly pledged his new allegiance to the Cardinals. A new found energy surfaced. He seemed re-born. He was visibly joyful like the millstone around his neck was cast aside. I called that day his "re-birthday date." I smiled and welcomed him aboard to one of the most successful franchises in all of sports, The St. Louis Cardinals.

As we all know now, that early surge by the Cardinals in August was a foretaste of what was to come in September and then in the Fall Classic in October of 2011. The Cardinals improbable win in the World Series mirrored only that of Will's improbable conversion that night in the Mohawk Tavern when he said the Cardinals were now his team.

This past week, Will and I traveled to Spring Training to see the World Champs, the St. Louis Cardinals, in Florida. That is Will, bedecked in Cardinal regalia, in the above picture with Roger Dean Stadium field in the background. Will was a kid in a candy store again looking at "his team." For me, a Cardinal-loving Dad, witnessing Will's euphoria on being on the same fields with real players was something to behold.

Will's journey to Jupiter, the city in Florida not the planet, this past week seemed to seal the deal and confirm his new fan loyalty with the birds on the bat . As we put Jupiter in the rear view mirror headed for South Beach, he looked at me and said, "I'll be back."

Circle completed.

One to go.

Go Cards in 2012.