ST. LOUIS, Mo. (February 15, 2013) – Today, Cardinals Care, the charitable foundation of the St.  Louis Cardinals, announced the start of a ten-day online auction of commemorative “Musial 6” jerseys worn and autographed by St. Louis Blues hockey players.

The auction, which begins today at noon and continues through Monday, February 25 at 3 p.m., features five one-of-a-kind jerseys worn when the St. Louis Blues honored Stan “The Man” Musial before the January 27 game at Scottrade Center. Musial’s grandson dropped the ceremonial first puck, and all Blues players wore jerseys with “Musial” and “No. 6” during pregame warmups.

The Cardinals’ auction includes the autographed jerseys belonging to Blues players David Perron, Brian Elliott, Kris Russell, Ian Cole and Jamie Langenbrunner. Proceeds from the jersey auction will benefit Cardinals Care in their mission to help kids throughout the Cardinals’ community. Those wishing to bid on the rare jerseys can do so by visiting the Cardinals’ website at cardinals.com/musialauction.

“We are extremely grateful to the St. Louis Blues,” said Michael Hall, Vice President of Cardinals Care and Community Relations. “The Blues supported the Cardinals family during our time of need and are making it possible for Cardinals Care to help kids in our community, a cause close to the heart of Stan Musial.”

Cardinals Care was established to give fans a way of teaming up with Cardinals players and the Cardinals organization to help children in our community – both on and off the baseball field. Since it was established 16 years ago, Cardinals Care has invested nearly $18 million in helping children, including providing nearly $11 million in grants to over 800 non-profit youth organizations, and building 19 youth ball fields in neighborhoods in both Missouri and Illinois. For nearly a decade, Cardinals Care has run the innovative Redbird Rookies program, a free baseball league for kids who otherwise might not have the opportunity to play. In addition to providing all the uniforms, gloves, bats, balls and other equipment needed for each team, Redbird Rookies also provides extensive off-field support in the areas of health, education, mentoring and the cultural arts for each of the nearly 4,500 kids who participate in the program each year.

St. Louis has slogged through the first half of yet another gray, cold winter in the country’s heartland, especially without the aid of St. Louis Blues hockey until Saturday. But that all changed this weekend as the St. Louis Cardinals opened up their annual Winter Warm-Up celebration.

Friend of the site Cadence with Chris Carpenter in 2012

Each year, just as fans start to feel the pangs of being baseball-deprived for three months, the Cardinals host the Winter Warm-Up event in downtown St. Louis. The event serves as a pep rally for the club before it heads to Jupiter, Fla., in about a month, and gives fans a chance to meet with past, current and future members of the organization.

This year’s event ran Saturday through Monday at the Hyatt Regency St. Louis at the Arch hotel.

For many fans, the Winter Warm-Up is their chance to get re-acquainted with their team and enjoy a baseball-filled weekend even though temperatures hovered in the 30’s Sunday and dropped to 24 degrees Monday.

In several ways, the Winter Warm-Up is similar to the Fanfest events that Major League Baseball has in the All-Star Game’s host city in the days leading up to the game. There are interactive displays and activities, as well as opportunities for autographs, although that’s an additional expense.

The Winter Warm-Up is also a chance for fans to ask questions about the team heading into spring training and the upcoming season. This year, people will surely have plenty of questions for the Cardinals about players such as Jaime Garcia, Rafael Furcal, Matt Carpenter and Adam Wainwright.

Those four players, in particular, will be vital to the Cardinals success in 2013, but they each come with legitimate concerns for either the coming year or future years.

Garcia turned down an opportunity last week to pitch for Mexico, his native country, in the upcoming World Baseball Classic. That’s certainly his right to choose, but concerns about that decision arise because Garcia dealt with left shoulder problems last season and has spent the offseason trying to rehab so he can be ready for the start of the season. That rehab is especially important since he decided against surgically repairing the shoulder.

Furcal also has injury concerns. He tore a ligament in his right elbow Aug. 31 against the Washington Nationals and never returned to the field. His return as the starting shortstop is important to the team because the Cardinals and their fans aren’t sold on his backup Pete Kozma, even though Kozma hit .333 in 26 games down the stretch and played a key role in the Cardinals’ first-round series win over the Nationals.

Carpenter doesn’t have any injury concerns, but the Cardinals have asked him to pull a Skip Schumaker move during the offseason and transform into a second baseman. Carpenter has been a great utility player for the Cardinals in the past two seasons, but asking a player to change positions at the big-league level is always a dicey proposition.

The only questions for Wainwright about the 2013 season will be if he can fully return to his dominant form before suffering a season-ending elbow injury at the start of spring training in 2011. All of the other questions will likely be about the years following 2013.

Wainwright’s contract is up at the end of the season, and with another solid season he will be a highly sought-after free agent in the offseason. With pitchers signing increasingly large free-agent contracts in the last few years, Wainwright’s price tag could be incredibly high. With those factors in place, Cardinals fans could be on a Pujols-like watch at next year’s Winter Meetings.

All of those issues will be sorted out at the proper times, of course. Most importantly, the third weekend is always a chance for St. Louis sports fans to start dreaming about the warm summer days and nights they’ll experience in the heart of downtown St. Louis surrounded by a sea of red clothes in one of the best places on Earth: Busch Stadium.

ST. LOUIS, November 1, 2012 – The entire St. Louis Cardinals family is saddened by the passing of Ernie Hays, retired Busch Stadium organist, last night at the age of 77.

“We are deeply saddened by the passing of Ernie Hays,” Cardinals Chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. said. “Ernie’s music shaped the soundtrack of Cardinals baseball for nearly four decades. He was one of the premier sports organists in the country, and a valued member of the Cardinals family. The entire Cardinals organization extends its sincere condolences to his wife Loreta and his entire family.”

A St. Louis native, Hays began playing piano at the age of seven. He finished high school in Houston, Missouri, and majored in music at Drury College and Southwestern Missouri State University in Springfield. Hays served four years of active military service with the United States Navy before returning to St. Louis and earning an engineering degree from Washington University.

Hays’ sports music career began in 1971 when the Cardinals installed an organ in Busch Stadium II, and he quickly became a fixture at major St. Louis sporting events. Hays soon started playing for the St. Louis football Cardinals, the St. Louis Blues, and the St. Louis Stars and Steamers soccer teams in addition to area college teams. It was at a Steamers game where Hays first played “Here Comes The King,” the popular Budweiser beer advertising jingle, and a now staple at every Cardinals game. Hays is credited in St. Louis with popularizing batter “walk-up” songs, as well as the intro music for relief pitchers. Hays retired from the Cardinals in 2010 after 40 seasons.