Cardinals defeat Twins in Spring Training Game

The St. Louis Cardinals don't get over to this side of Florida too often, so when an opportunity presented itself to attend one of the few games they'd play on the "Sun Coast", we jumped at the chance to see them. The tickets came through Maryville University, who had conducted an alumni "meet and greet" the prior night in Naples, at the home of my first Board Chairman at MOHELA - this goes back to 1982 when he hired me to start what became a great 22 year run, and a retirement well enjoyed in Florida. Ron Henges and I have kept in touch through the two decades, and now he shares time in Missouri and Florida. Maryville, whose board Ron chaired back in the 80's assembled a large number of alumni at Ron and Anne's home on Thursday night, with a briefing on the University by it's new President. A great party, where this I.U. grad and his Butler University educated wife knew nobody but Mr. Henges, but then again it was great to see him again and spend the night in Naples, before heading back toward home with a stop in Ft. Myers to see the game at 1:05 PM.

Friday morning was leisurely, with Breakfast at the Best Western, then a half hour drive north to where the game would start, with a nice detour to a nearby outlet mall. When we arrived at the park, which was quite nice, we found that while it was the Twins home for Spring Training (the Cardinals train on the east coast of Florida in Jupiter), at least half the people in the stands were wearing Cardinal gear. There was a threat of rain, but it never materialized. We had several shirts, courtesy of our son who now lives in Florida, and thankfully the seats were in the shade from the 3rd inning forward.

It turned out to be a great game, with the Twins coming close to winning in the final frame, having loaded the bases several times. There was a tremendous "out at home" play, by St. Louis, and the only home run of the game was hit by a Cardinal. In the end, the Cards prevailed by a score of 3-2 final, but it was close. We stayed till the final out, and left the parking lot around 4:30 PM for the drive back to Sarasota and Longboat Key. The next morning, we'd be off for a one week cruise but that's another story to tell. Thanks, Ron Henges, for the invite, and thanks to the team with the birds on the bat for the win. If you can only make one Spring Training game, make sure it's a winner.