gblowfish
10-19-2005, 09:08 AM
This from today's KC Star. La Russa is not my favorite manager, but I do admire his love for animals. Kudos to him for helping pets find homes:
Posted on Wed, Oct. 19, 2005
Kitty Cards
Players think two cats who hang out at Busch bring good luck
By JEFF PASSAN
The Kansas City Star
ST. LOUIS — The keys to the St. Louis Cardinals’ run toward a World Series victory are not Albert Pujols’ bat and Mark Mulder’s arm. They are small, furry and eat out of a bowl.
Meet Tigger and Snoopy, cat companions who live in the bowels of Busch Stadium and have become the unofficial mascots of the Cardinals the last two years.
“They’re our good-luck charm,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said.
Toward the end of last season, Tigger, the male, started sneaking through a chain-link fence near the indoor batting cage. He would settle on rickety wooden slats near the cage and take a nap, awoken only by the curious Cardinals, who toyed with him like a new pet.
All of the attention, apparently, has gotten to his head.
“Now,” La Russa said, “he acts like he owns the place.”
Cardinals employee Joe Humphries sets out bowls of food and water for Tigger and Snoopy, a shy type who rarely ventures from behind the fence. Every day, about the same time, Tigger emerges and jumps on the slats or a pile of folded-down cardboard boxes for his afternoon snooze.
Never mind the noise from Pujols’ line drives that crackles off the walls. Tigger sleeps through it all.
“Usually, if you walk up on a cat, it’ll scatter away,” Cardinals outfielder John Rodriguez said. “That one is like, ‘Hey, what’s up? All right. I’m sleeping. Take care.’ ”
“I just call him ‘Cat Daddy,’ ” Cardinals utilityman John Mabry said. “Look at him. He’s cool.”
Cool enough to have found a woman.
When Snoopy showed her face the first time, the Cardinals were excited. Already Tigger had brought them good fortune: The Cardinals won 105 games last season and advanced to the World Series, only to get swept by Boston. Double the cats surely would mean double the luck factor.
Actually, turned out it was nine times the felines. In the middle of this 100-win season, Snoopy had a litter of eight kittens.
“We weren’t too proud of that one,” La Russa said.
Not since La Russa’s other cause, outside of baseball, is controlling the pet population through his Animal Rescue Foundation, an animal-adoption center in the Bay Area. All eight of Tigger and Snoopy’s kittens — for the sake of monogamy, we hope Tigger’s the father — were adopted. Snoopy was spayed. No more love-making shenanigans.
Which just left the two of them to stir up the other kind of trouble the Cardinals were used to seeing.
When shortstop David Eckstein came to St. Louis for the first time during the winter, Tigger sneaked up behind Eckstein’s fiancée. He just wanted to introduce himself, of course, though she didn’t exactly appreciate the introduction.
“She screamed,” Eckstein said. “It was hilarious.”
Oddly enough, St. Louis has a rich history of cats in sporting venues. At the old Checkerdome, cats were allowed to roam around the place to dispose of rats, a purpose that, on occasion, Tigger and Snoopy serve at Busch.
Yet they’re more than that to the Cardinals — more than rodent disposals or simple forms of entertainment. While no time soon will the Cardinals change their nickname to the Cats, they will ensure Tigger and Snoopy survive the demolition of Busch.
At the end of the season, La Russa or Humphries or someone will scoop up the two troublemakers and take them next door, where they’ll live in the lap of luxury at the new Busch Stadium.
If the Cardinals win the World Series this year, Tigger might even find himself taking those naps on a set of gold slats.
Posted on Wed, Oct. 19, 2005
Kitty Cards
Players think two cats who hang out at Busch bring good luck
By JEFF PASSAN
The Kansas City Star
ST. LOUIS — The keys to the St. Louis Cardinals’ run toward a World Series victory are not Albert Pujols’ bat and Mark Mulder’s arm. They are small, furry and eat out of a bowl.
Meet Tigger and Snoopy, cat companions who live in the bowels of Busch Stadium and have become the unofficial mascots of the Cardinals the last two years.
“They’re our good-luck charm,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said.
Toward the end of last season, Tigger, the male, started sneaking through a chain-link fence near the indoor batting cage. He would settle on rickety wooden slats near the cage and take a nap, awoken only by the curious Cardinals, who toyed with him like a new pet.
All of the attention, apparently, has gotten to his head.
“Now,” La Russa said, “he acts like he owns the place.”
Cardinals employee Joe Humphries sets out bowls of food and water for Tigger and Snoopy, a shy type who rarely ventures from behind the fence. Every day, about the same time, Tigger emerges and jumps on the slats or a pile of folded-down cardboard boxes for his afternoon snooze.
Never mind the noise from Pujols’ line drives that crackles off the walls. Tigger sleeps through it all.
“Usually, if you walk up on a cat, it’ll scatter away,” Cardinals outfielder John Rodriguez said. “That one is like, ‘Hey, what’s up? All right. I’m sleeping. Take care.’ ”
“I just call him ‘Cat Daddy,’ ” Cardinals utilityman John Mabry said. “Look at him. He’s cool.”
Cool enough to have found a woman.
When Snoopy showed her face the first time, the Cardinals were excited. Already Tigger had brought them good fortune: The Cardinals won 105 games last season and advanced to the World Series, only to get swept by Boston. Double the cats surely would mean double the luck factor.
Actually, turned out it was nine times the felines. In the middle of this 100-win season, Snoopy had a litter of eight kittens.
“We weren’t too proud of that one,” La Russa said.
Not since La Russa’s other cause, outside of baseball, is controlling the pet population through his Animal Rescue Foundation, an animal-adoption center in the Bay Area. All eight of Tigger and Snoopy’s kittens — for the sake of monogamy, we hope Tigger’s the father — were adopted. Snoopy was spayed. No more love-making shenanigans.
Which just left the two of them to stir up the other kind of trouble the Cardinals were used to seeing.
When shortstop David Eckstein came to St. Louis for the first time during the winter, Tigger sneaked up behind Eckstein’s fiancée. He just wanted to introduce himself, of course, though she didn’t exactly appreciate the introduction.
“She screamed,” Eckstein said. “It was hilarious.”
Oddly enough, St. Louis has a rich history of cats in sporting venues. At the old Checkerdome, cats were allowed to roam around the place to dispose of rats, a purpose that, on occasion, Tigger and Snoopy serve at Busch.
Yet they’re more than that to the Cardinals — more than rodent disposals or simple forms of entertainment. While no time soon will the Cardinals change their nickname to the Cats, they will ensure Tigger and Snoopy survive the demolition of Busch.
At the end of the season, La Russa or Humphries or someone will scoop up the two troublemakers and take them next door, where they’ll live in the lap of luxury at the new Busch Stadium.
If the Cardinals win the World Series this year, Tigger might even find himself taking those naps on a set of gold slats.