This is a story that was published in a book titled For Cardinals fans only by author Rich Wolfe. When I was a little boy growing up in Moberly, Mo I was brought up to be a Cardinals fan. Not all the games were televised back then so the radio was on every game and hearing the voice's of Harry Carey and Jack Buck was just normal. Dad took me to my first game in 1967, walking into Busch stadium seemed surreal to me. It was so huge and it seemed overwhelming. I absolutely loved it. I thought attending a Cardinals game was the coolest thing in the world. Well, that Christmas my folks asked me what I wanted for a gift. I honestly didn't know what to tell them. I had a bike, a good ball glove, a bat. Had some GI Joe's and hot wheels cars. I was honestly stumped. I half joked that they could just give me some money and then I would decide. Well, that is exactly what they did. I thought about it and decided if going to one Cardinals game was so cool, going to many would be just that much better. Without saying anything to anyone I got the upcoming season schedule out and picked out over 10 games. And every double header on the schedule. Please understand back and forth from Moberly to St Louis was about 300 miles roundtrip. I selected my dates and rode my bike downtown to City Bank and got a money order for the proper amount. Mr Graves at the bank gave me a funny look when he assisted me and asked me if Leon knew about this. I smiled and replied no, it was going to be a big surprise. He grinned and said he was certain I was right about that. Well, I watched the mail box like a hawk and finally the day came and there was this thick envelope from the St Louis Cardinals with all these tickets. I was sitting at the kitchen counter when dad walked in for lunch. He said, what ya doing bud? I said hey dad, remember that money from christmas? He said yeah, what did you ever do with that? I said, look, and showed him the envelope. He said, oh, some Cardinals tickets. Then he started to read them off and got this strange look on his face. April 12, April 20th, May 3, May 9th and on and on. Well, he could have bailed and said son we cannot go to everyone of these games but he didn't. He and I attended every single one of them that season. Back and forth to St Louis, usually on the way back I was sound asleep because I'd gotten mostly night games. Poor dad would make the drive and then have to get up and go to work the next morning. Later on we called it our Cardinals summer. The hours we spent attending those games were priceless. He caught a foul ball one night when Bob Gibson was pitching and gave me the ball. I gave the eulogy when dad passed away in 1999 and this is the story I told the audience at the services, this was the kind of dad he was. I also told them it was for sure the last time I ever got money for Christmas!!! He was an amazing man and a fantastic father and my best friend. I miss him terribly and think about him every day.
Happy fathers day guys.