So many people refer to Todd Thomas as “That One Guy,” he actually wears a No. 1 Cardinals jersey with the nameplate THAT ONE GUY. For 27 Cardinals seasons, he’s been the in-game emcee at Busch Stadium, featured on the video board between innings as he dances or plays games with fans or dances while playing games with fans.
He’s the guy you know but don’t know.
Because you know him as the energetic spirit at Busch who lifts the spirit of Ƶ. But you don’t know that he’s grieving — living life to honor the spirit of his late wife.
“She would want me to be happy, ٳ’s the thing about her,” Thomas said of Cheri, who died Aug. 30, 2023, at the age of 54 from breast cancer. “And me being happy is me being at a Cardinal game and working.”
He’s back to work on Thursday. It’s opening day at Busch Stadium — the Cards play their first home game of 2024 against the Marlins at 3:15 p.m.
Baseball games sure can be spiritual. And Thomas will lose himself in the all-encompassing bliss of the ballpark, where he can simultaneously be present and escape. Nine innings of healing.
“I think my dad is the embodiment of charisma,” said Austin Thomas, a senior at Lindbergh High School and one of Todd’s three children he shared with Cheri. “One thing I think helps him is — he does what he loves. The grieving process is obviously a very crazy, wild road. But he knew that if he were to stop going to those games and stop doing what he loved, it would just get worse.”
They met under the neon moon in the Cactus Moon, a country music bar in North County. It was 1993. The days of Garth Brooks and Brooks & Dunn. Dollar longnecks on Wednesdays. Spirits on the rocks, boots on the dance floor and a green-felt pasture of pool tables.
“I love to make people laugh and be lighthearted and be the brightest light in the room,” said Thomas, 53. “That has always been my mojo. ... That night, I was dancing by a pool table, and she was a cocktail waitress. She came up and she was like, ‘You look you’d be a lot of fun,’ and she wrote her name down on a napkin and gave it to me.”
They talked on the phone later that night for three hours.
Cheri was a high school valedictorian and graduated college magna cum laude, but she was also spiritual and a free spirit who breathed life into, well, life. She was a self-proclaimed unicorn.
Austin described his mother as the most curious, knowledge-seeking person he’d ever met. Cheri cherished connections with others. On airplanes, while Todd would try to slip into sleep, Cheri would befriend the person next to them and chat. By the end of the flight, she had shared advice or analyzed their dreams and exchanged names and numbers.
“She brought joy,” Todd said. “Mine is more funny and people-pleasing. Her joy was more from the heart.”
They were married on Sept. 2, 1995 — and so, she died three days before their 28th anniversary.
Their wedding was at a hotel downtown on The Landing where Todd worked as a DJ. He now owns a company called Porta Party DJs — perhaps you’ve seen That One Guy at a local wedding.
“She also loved to dance,” Todd said, recalling their raucous reception, “and was never to be one-upped. Nor was I. And I looked over, and I saw her standing on a table at the reception. People were kind of cheering her on. And I said, ‘Well, she’s not going to outdo me!’ So I ran to get up there and I just about tipped the whole table over and flipped her off, but luckily I grabbed her.”
‘Happiness is contagious’
As a Cards fan in the 1990s, he’d go to games and end up on the big screen organically, notably dancing the Macarena. In 1996, Thomas got a gig doing one in-game promotion at Busch. His in-game role grew, and his persona did, too. He now works in cahoots with “Team Fredbird,” bouncing around from section to section with the T-shirt-tossing girls and Fred. In some ways, Todd is a mascot, too.
“Happiness is contagious,” Todd said. “The happier you are, the more exciting you are. You excite others, and I think ٳ’s DzԳٲdzܲ.”
Cheri and Todd raised their children Austin, Sydney (now at the University of Alabama) and Tyler (now at the University of Missouri) in Sunset Hills. They would also spend ample time at their family cabin in High Hill, which is on the way to Columbia.
In June of 2021, Todd could tell that Cheri wasn’t feeling like Cheri. Something was up. They ultimately went to the doctor.
“She had stage 4 breast cancer,” Todd said, “that had metastasized to her liver.”
Cheri endured chemotherapy.
She considered announcing her diagnosis to friends on Facebook — even had Todd film a video of her — but she decided not to post it. Heading into the summer of 2023, Todd chatted individually with each child. He knew things “behind the scenes” that they didn’t know. He asked how they’d want to maximize their summer with their mother. And so the Thomas family took trips everywhere from Boston to the Bahamas. Seemingly each week on Facebook, Todd posted photos of his glowing family somewhere together.
And Sydney became a member of Team Fredbird, working at Cardinals games alongside her father. Cheri was able to attend some games and see this beautiful synergy at Busch.
In August, Sydney and Tyler had left for college.
Soon after, they got word from Todd.
Tyler hustled home from Mizzou.
“And my sister arrived at like 11 from Alabama,” Austin said. “And at like 11:45 is when she passed. So it was very clear that she waited for my sister’s arrival.”
Return to Busch Stadium
In the days after his wife died, Todd tried to get in to see a counselor. While he waited for his appointment, he sought therapy at Busch.
There he was on the big screen, a widower with a smile.
“I could come in and escape,” Todd said of the September games in 2023. “Forget about all the bad stuff and enjoy the good. ... Now, until I had my first counseling session, there were some times where I did say, ‘Hey, am I masking this? Am I not dealing with this?’ But going to the counselor and talking through it, it was like one or two sessions, and I was like, ‘I’m good, this is legit.’”
“From my perspective,” his son Tyler said, “if you’re at home and facing the grim realities of what the future looks like, what life looks like when all your kids are (out of the house) and your wife’s gone, that can be kind of gloomy. And so being able to come to Busch Stadium and being able to not only lift his own spirit but lift other people’s spirits? That’s a nice outlet.”
Cheri is gone. But she’s omnipresent. In Todd’s home, there is an oversized photo of Cheri on a tire swing from a girls weekend.
“Just the biggest smile on her face,” Todd said.
Over the years, Todd and Cheri received several wind chimes as gifts. She really liked them. Some are at their cabin.
“It’s very windy out there,” Todd said. “So we hear her all the time.”
He breaks down sometimes. Recently, he made some renovations to their cabin that he knew she would’ve loved. He thought about calling her to tell her.
“That’s probably the hardest,” he said with tears again in his eyes. “And the most difficult thing for me work-wise was when I would deejay wedding receptions. And I would see the mother-son dance and I start thinking about it. I’m announcing the groom getting to dance with their mom — and I’m thinking about my sons not getting to dance with their mom.”
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Todd Thomas poses in the front yard of his home in south Ƶ County on Friday, March 29, 2024. Thomas is known by most Cardinals fans as “That One Guy” who appears on the big video board between innings at Cards games. Thomas’ wife, Cheryl “Cheri” Thomas, died last year at age 54.
Todd Thomas keeps this photo on display of his wife, Cheryl "Cheri" Thomas who died last year at age 54. An enlargement of the photo hangs in Thomas' home as a reminder of his wife's spirit and energy.