Padres broadcasters threw shade.
MLB Network face Greg Amsinger shamed.
The other day, I received a text message from a family member who happens to be a fan of the Cubs. Even he had jokes about the Busch Stadium attendance. Where were the Best Fans in Baseball?
Yes, it seems everybody has an opinion about the number of people at — or not at — Cardinals home games as this season winds down.
Here’s mine.
Cardinals fans, ignore the noise — just like anyone opining about your attendance chooses to do when presented with an example that doesn’t fit a predetermined narrative.
Cardinals, don’t ignore the evidence. Just because a team-fan relationship that is the envy of most professional teams still is stronger than what is found in plenty of other places, legitimate signs of acted-upon disgruntlement should be taken seriously. There are such signs. And they are growing.
People are also reading…
It didn’t generate any headlines, but the announced Busch Stadium crowd Friday night for a series opener against Seattle, a game that featured a home team with nearly nonexistent postseason odds and a visiting one trending in the wrong direction, read a strong 37,476. And it wasn’t one of those nights, because there have been some lately, where the announced attendance didn’t seem to resemble the actual attendance. It was a healthy crowd. I was there to see it. And I was here Saturday, when Cardinals fans and previously enshrined Cardinals Hall of Famers flocked to the ballpark to welcome this year’s new class. The pregame ceremony was a good reminder. This isn’t some other place. This is ºüÀêÊÓƵ and the Cardinals.
The “best fans†jabs will fly any time there are swaths of empty seats. Those closest to the epicenter know this isn’t about fair-weather fandom. And while a game’s numbers can be nudged in different directions by things such as school starting up again, oppressive heat compared to this week’s beauty, or the interest level in the opponent, these components that always influence things to some degree are not the only thing influencing things now.
School and weather happen every year. We are seeing some stadium-low numbers of announced and actual attendance at Busch. What we are witnessing, I believe, is a proud and loyal fanbase saying it wants more.
More accountability from ownership about a continued slide that was shrugged off for too long, then wrongly explained away as, “one bad season†following last season’s last-place finish. More clarity about the future of a front office that says it’s nearing change but without providing details on when and how. More results from a player development effort that lost its edge, which should be a massive concern for a draft-and-develop organization. More winning, of course, but also more signs that the winning can bubble up from within again instead of constantly being added, sometimes effectively but sometimes not, from the outside. More desire and dynamism. More direction. More.
At least that’s what I hear from lots of Cardinals fans, some who go to games and some who don’t. Many are frustrated, and not just those who scream the loudest on social media. And you know what? Some of the ones who go to the games are madder than the ones who don’t. That doesn’t make the ones who abstain bad fans, and it doesn’t make the ones who go sheep. It’s baseball.
Sometimes you don’t want to go because the sun is baking. Sometimes you want to go because the weather is nice. Sometimes you want to go because you want to support the team. Sometimes you don’t want to go because you don’t. Sometimes going or not going has pretty much nothing to do with the team. And, yes, sometimes you just want that game’s giveaway jersey.
Broad-brush painting rarely is a good idea. Not if you actually care about what’s going on. I do think the Cardinals actually care about what’s going on, and I do hope they get serious about getting back on the same page as their fans. Winning always is the best way to do it. Something else feels almost as important now. Communication. Cardinals fans have been taking a hard look at their beloved team for a long time now. They need to see the Cardinals taking a hard look at themselves. Action, not excuses. Substance, not spin.
If the Cardinals are punting on their goal of producing a team annually that is worthy of the postseason, they owe folks an explanation on why and what replaces it. If they are sticking with their goal of aiming for the postseason annually, they are overdue to audit why that’s becoming a failed mission too often. One bad season doesn’t cover more postseason misses than makes since 2016, especially when the postseason trips that did happen mostly were wild-card fizzles.
I don’t and won’t blame fans for wanting more from an organization that taught them to expect a lot. The relationship between the Cardinals and their fans is, at best, a mutually beneficial one. One of the expectations, though, is that the Cardinals are aimed toward relevance and have a good idea of how they will get there. Filling in those gaps seems like the most sustainable way to fill in seats.