GO, CARDS!!!

This past week, the Eye-talians came here to Herrin!!!  This was a BIG DEAL in our town, several months--almost a year--in the making.  Herrin is largely populated by Italian families, hence the 900+ families with memberships at St. Mary's, the huge Herrinfesta Italiana extravaganza, the dozens of Italian family-run businesses here, and the strong Italian population of our school.  This phenomenon is due to the fact that in her earliest days, Herrin was a mining town in need of workers, and posters were sent to Europe to draw immigrant workers to mine coal here.  Most of the workers hailed from Cuggiono, Italy, and Herrin became strongly influenced by the culture they brought here; foods, language, family structure, religion--they brought it all here and planted a new Cuggiono, right in the middle of Williamson County, Illinois.

Cut to a hundred years later--the leaders of the town of Herrin are committed to making sure the ties are never severed from Cuggiono, our sister city, and have taken many steps to ensure enduring relationships.  I myself have been to Cuggiono twice, and the Cuggionese have visited us a number of times as well.  But we visitors have all been adults, which is great for the present, but it is of extreme importance that we get the kids together to ensure the relationship is maintained into the future.  Toward that end, we hosted the Cuggiono basketball team this summer, in a trip timed to coincide with the Twinning Ceremony of our towns.  I hope you've seen this on TV--Herrin and Cuggiono are officially sister cities!  Twins, in fact.  Forever!  Yay!  And the boys who came over were feted and celebrated to the best of our abilities--they absorbed all the American culture we could possibly give them, and one of the days, we went to St. Louis and visited Busch Stadium.  Wherein I experienced A First.

We acquired tickets for a tour of the private, not-for-public areas of the famed stadium, and the boys were fully enthralled.  I'm not even a die-hard fan of baseball, but I was star-struck as well.  Take a look at what we saw!

Our first look!

Inside the walls of the stadium, our guide showed us the plaques of the former Red Bird logos, from the first days to the present.  Then he led us down onto the field.  ONTO THE FIELD.  This is the view from home plate--what a powerful image for the home team--all the Anhueser Busch logos and businesses and the Gateway Arch, right there in front of the batter.  And maybe a little intimidating for the visiting team?  Hm.

The pics under here are taken from inside the dugout.  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I'm INSIDE THE DUGOUT right here, next to Sandra Colombo (grand dame of Herrin, and maybe the whole world), and my friend Michaelann next to her.  Then, I SAT on the bench in there.  The second pic here is my view from the bench (right now, it's mostly some Eye-talians, but in a game, that view would be far more impressive . . . ).  The third pic is a shameless selfie of Ms. Amanda Hickman, English teacher, seated on the bench that belongs to professional Cardinal baseball players.  My caboose was in the presence of greatness, surely.

From the dugout, we went to one of three special bar/restaurant areas.  The first was this one, called, maybe, the Branch Rickey suite?  Am pretty sure.  Anyway.  Very swanky.  And pricey--can't remember how much, but more than I'd be spending for one baseball game, or like many, an entire season of tickets.  Also, I'm pretty sure these nice people who were eating in the right side of the pic were SUPERhappy that our tour group filed through their lunch.

And now on to the Redbird Club level--less swanky and private, but still pretty cool.  The wallpaper here is one-of-a-kind, printed using a VIP's baseball card collection to decorate the walls.

And here we are in the broadcaster's box--those windows are closed now, but during a game, they're open to the elements:  weather, crowds, and everything.  This place is pretty amazing.  If I'm going to a game, I want to either sit in the dugout or here.  I'm not picky.

That Reserved VIP sign is for the Mets!  They were the night's guests.

This view, as it turns out, is pretty special--that statue is of Stan Musial, and the view is framed by a mock Eads Bridge--the first bridge from Illinois to Missouri.  I like the artistry and the history combined here.

From the Champions Club--one of the World Series trophies.  This one designed by Tiffany, thank you very much.

So concludes the tour of the stadium, but I have one more pic to share--the Arch!  We led the boys--regazzi!--there, and handed them tickets, tucked them into the eggs to go up, and promptly collapsed on the chairs in the waiting area underneath.  They went up, enjoyed the view and the swaying of the arch, and came down ready for dinner.  Good day had by all!