As part of the Cardinal
Winter Warmup on January 19, 20 & 21 Cardinal Baseball Fans were treated to
the sight of a live Bald Eagle up close at the Hyatt Regency St. Louis, near
the Arch.
The Cardinal Winter
Warmup is a way for Cardinal Fans to shake off the winter blahs and get psyched
for a new season of Cardinal Baseball.
Fredbird poses with fans, WBS Intern
Fans showed up from
Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Arkansas, Indiana, Oklahoma, Iowa, and
Tennessee. These states have the
Cardinal games broadcast on their local radio stations and are affectionately
referred to as Cardinal Nation.
People showed up wearing
Cardinal hats, Cardinal shirts, and little kids were wearing whole baseball
uniforms. Red and white clothing
on people from all over the Midwest filled the Hyatt Regency rooms, escalators,
elevators, parking garages, valet service, restaurant and meeting rooms
and all the hallways in between--all to feed their baseball
fever in January.
The main auditorium was
full of autograph seekers--hundreds of people--who pay a fee to get current
players and previous players’ autographs.
While waiting for the autograph lines to move the fans are treated to Cardinal
baseball players being interviewed on the center stage of the auditorium, or it
could be the owner or general manager being interviewed.
Meanwhile, in side
meeting rooms, an author of a baseball book could be giving a lecture, or
another baseball team’s general manager could be heard giving his take on
players, previous trades, and the current state of baseball.
Fredbird, WBS Naturalist Mike Zieloski, and Patriot the Bald Eagle
For the past several
years World Bird Sanctuary has been invited to
bring a Bald Eagle to have on display in one of these side rooms. We are given a one hour or two hour
time slot for people to hear the stories about our Eagles flying at Busch
Stadium and learn fun and important facts about the Bald
Eagle’s life in the wild and important conservation ideas that affect our National Symbol. I have personally attended three of the
Cardinal Winter Warmups with our eagles.
What a great event. Also
families and individuals may come up for photos next to the Bald Eagle.
In other meeting halls
vendors or private owners are displaying their Baseball Card Collections,
pennants, used game jerseys, used baseball bats and impressive photos of
previous cardinal game action and memorable moments--a great way to collect or
sell memorabilia.
Another group called The
Green Team had a display table in a large hallway. The Green Team is the group of volunteers that scour the
stadium seating area between innings collecting recyclables so that those items
do not end up in landfills. The Green Team is headed up by
long-time World Bird Sanctuary friend Rick Frahm. Rick worked side by side with us at the Grant's Farm Bird
show for many years. I personally
spent two full seasons at Grant's Farm presenting the bird show alongside
Rick. What a great guy to work
with--always welcoming and professional.
If you want to make an environmental difference as an individual or with
your church group or school group as a member of the Green Team you can contact
them at 314-345-9485 or 4agreenergame@cardinals.com.
All the proceeds
from Cardinal Winter Warmup benefit Cardinals Care, the team's community
foundation supporting kids. Thanks
to the generous assistance of fans, players, staff, volunteers, and sponsors,
Cardinals Care has distributed more than $18 million to area organizations
since its inception in 1997. The
Winter Warmup is the largest of several fund-raising efforts that supply grants
to non-profit agencies in the St. Louis area. These grants help kids in health, education, mentoring and
the arts.
Fredbird, Patriot the Bald Eagle, and
Come see WBS’s Bald
Eagle fly at some Cardinal Home Games.
The Home opener this year is Monday April 8th, 2013.
When you see the Eagle
flying in Busch Stadium you will know that the Eagle is trained at World Bird
Sanctuary by our lead Trainer Roger Wallace, other staff, interns and WBS
volunteers.
Submitted by Michael
Zeloski, World Bird Sanctuary Naturalist/EEC Manager
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