4 days...

And now begins the longest days of my life... Yesterday the submission process ended for MLB Fan Cave. Now there are four days until the top 50 candidates are announced. I seriously am going to go crazy before they are announced! My heart is racing like crazy all ready and the waiting period just started!!!

I also found out that the World Baseball Classic edition of the Fan Cave winners will be announced on February 25. That is an even longer waiting period. I so can not wait til either of them are announced!!

Well as soon as I know something you will hear about it! The only thing I can do is hope and pray for the best! Everyone say an extra prayer for me!! I really want this!! Just to give you a little reminder, I will repost my essay and the link to my video. Thanks everyone for reading this!

I would be the ideal fan to live in the MLB Fan Cave because I watch every game at home during the season. I went to 12 Cardinal games this year, 11 at home and 1 in Colorado. I tweet about the Cardinals several times a day and actually annoy all of my followers because I tweet so much. I spend so much time thinking about the Cardinals and following them and tweeting to them, I feel like I know them! I was at Game 6 in 2011 when David Freese hit the triple to tie the game and the home run to send us to Game 7. I remember watching Game 5 this year and crying because I was so happy that we made it to the NLCS, and then crying during Game 7 because we lost. I love all of my Cardinals; I have been a fan since before I was born. I have gone to so many games that I don’t even know how many I have been to. I have pictures with Willie McGee and many others and almost touched Mark McGwire once at spring training. I would love to take part of MLB Fan Cave because it seems like the best place for me. I am a huge fan of baseball and all I do is talk about it anyway so why not do it here? I could go on for hours talking about who is going to win the World Series, and why the Cardinals just didn’t have enough gas left to get there this year. Thanks to the Cardinals I know what I want to do with the rest of my life, and that is to be a radio/tv broadcaster. I would love to work with KMOX and broadcast the games. If I were to become a part of the MLB Fan Cave, this would be a great start for me. So please choose me!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=4767917991442&set=vb.267940726668422&type=3&theater

~Emily
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EmilyCallisForThe2013MlbFanCave
Twitter: @emicall_12
Hashtag: #EAC4Cave

19 days! And random other stuff

Wow we are getting so close! Who's ready for this long bitter winter to end?!?! I don't mean just for warmer weather, cause God knows I'm ready for that but who's ready for some BASEBALL!!! After keeping up with the Cardinals tiny moves and seeing Cardinal Nation bleed red for Stan the Man, it makes me happy to know we're all one happy family. It just shows you can't knock them down yet.

Well the good news is almost every arbitration elgible player has been resigned. Phew. Except to of my favorites, :( David Freese, 

(I just really wanted to see a pretty picture... XD I'm such a girl)

and Mark Rzepc... O forget it, Scrabble.

These are some of my favorite players from the 2011 post season run! David Frees obviously because he's gorgeous and he hand delivered one of my favorite games to me via Game 6 of the WORLD SERIES!! Did I mention, I WAS THERE?!?!? Now only if Mr. Freese would RT that would like make my life. If anyone could help us meet or have him retweet me please that would be AWESOME! 

Now that I've had my super girly moment, lets talk business. Yes I can see why the Cardinals are hesitant to sign both of these players. Scrabble had not such a great year this year. He struggled most of the year and didn't have the stuff and the fire that made me love him during the post season. Mr. Freese, I can kinda see because of the injury prone person (we are soooooo meant to be, I am such a klutz!) but common! He pretty much hand delivered the World Series title!! Yes he had a lot of help from guys like Berkman and Craig and a bunch of other guys, but seriously, he is an AMAZING 3rd baseman!! Those aren't easy to come by! I know we have Carpenter waiting in the wings but he's learning new positions so he can play more! They seem to be planning on Freese for awhile, but it seems to be taking forever to sign him!! Lets go boys!!

Ok so I'm trying something new, since the Ravens seem to be playing for that guy, who had some importance to the team, who died earlier this season and thats why they're doing so well I think the 2013 Cardinals need to use that same fire. The Cardinals need to start saying "Win for Stan" and hopefully that will carry us to #12 in 2013. I think it would be a great way to remember him. I love that our boys are wearing the #6 on their jerseys this year and you know the #6 will be all over the stadium, 

but I think it would be really cool to keep the theme going and really dedicate this year to Stan the Man, he meant so much to the Cardinals and Opening Day just won't be the same without him. And I know when I go to my first game of the season I know where I'm making a pit stop before entering the stadium: 

I really hope whomever is with me doesn't mind! This way I can pay my respects since I won't be able to go to the visitation or see the statue anytime soon. I know all over Cardinal nation hearts will be breaking and tuned in to watch as Stan the Man is slowly said good bye to this year. He will never leave our hearts and we will never forget what this great man did for our team. #WinforStan

~Emily

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EmilyCallisForThe2013MlbFanCave

Twitter: @emicall_12

Hashtag(s): #EAC4Cave & #WinforStan

Stan Musial 1920-2013

This is very hard to get out, so I will be brief. Cardinal Nation lost a beloved member tonight. Stan the Man never failed to miss anything to do with the Cardinals. He was always there and any person in Cardinal nation knew him. He played his entire 22 year career with the Cardinals which is such a rarity now a days. I know there are a lot of pictures here but these are some great pictures all around Major League Baseball people have been posting. Cardinal fans, MLB, and any other team have been giving their condolences. RIP Stan the Man. I know you will be dearly missed. 

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/stan-musial-dies-at/article_663ad0b8-d8fb-5cdd-8fd3-8f397f7a263a.html

http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/stl/fan_forum/stan_musial.jsp?partnerId=ed-6695797-525963470

http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/photos/gallery.jsp?content_id=40774882&c_id=stl&partnerId=aw-8551073597051818995-1068

Check out his book: http://www.amazon.com/Stan-Musial-American-Life-ebook/dp/B004J4WLYG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358648587&sr=8-1&keywords=stan+musial

Also July 21 the Cardinals give-away is a Stan the Man bronze statue during the game. Could be a tribute night now that he has passed away.

~Emily
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EmilyCallisForThe2013MlbFanCave
Twitter: @emicall_12
Hashtag: #EAC4Cave

Test #1 Coming Up...

Well its official, one Fan Cave contest has been closed. 16 countries are going to be competing for the World Baseball Classic title again and this time there will be 16 people in the Fan Cave competing to be the ultimate cave dweller. This time as a country gets eliminated so will the person representing that country. Here's hoping team USA does really well!

As much as I would love to be in the regular MLB Fan Cave I would also love to be a part of the World Baseball Classic Edition. I know its an even bigger long shot than it is to get in the regular Fan Cave but I'm going for it because this is what I am meant to be doing!!

In both my essay and my video I talked about how I want to bring baseball back to America. Baseball for a long time has been known as our past time, but it seems like everyone is starting forget that baseball exists here. ESPN spends more time talking about football than any other sport. Even when its in the off season. Most of the time the only thing you will hear about baseball is when theres a big trade or someone has a big game. Nothing else changes.

I have ESPN's Score Center on my phone and 90% of the time the alerts are about football and or hockey. I had to turn the breaking news alerts off because I was so sick of getting those alerts! One of my goals is getting baseball back into the hearts of America. America is slowly forgetting about our past time and we need to find ways to bring new people to baseball.

I joke a lot that I converted one of my friends to being a baseball fan. She never really hated baseball but she never really watched it. She went to most all of the games this summer with me and because of that she became a Cardinal fan! I really think that if we could get more Americans to go to games and make games more enjoyable we could bring baseball back. Maybe it would help if we could lower ticket prices too... That would definitely help...

The other part of my application and video was talking about the Olympics. My family and I were heartbroken when we found out that baseball and softball were taken out of the Olympics this year. We couldn't understand why it was removed. They claim it was because the US dominated every four years but really if thats the truth, basketball should be removed! USA wins like every Olympics! Besides in baseball USA does well but we don't win every year. We won softball more times than we won baseball but whatever.

So if I were to make the MLB Fan Cave World Baseball Classic edition, my one goal is to help promote baseball around our country. I would help push baseball into ESPN and make sure it was widely noticed. Especially since all three rounds of the Classic are gonna be played on our soil!! Even the championship round is gonna be played here! It will be played in the home of the World Series Champions parks! Yeah I'm a little sad its San Francisco Giants name, but I'm glad we get to be a part of the Classic on our soil.

If you would like to see this happen, keep thinking good thoughts for me! I have been praying, working, tweeting and Facebooking so I can make one of these dreams come true. I really think these ideas are really good for the USA and our WBC team, but if you have any thoughts or helpful ideas please let me know! I'm open to suggestions! Facebook or Tweet me! Also please don't forget to keep tweeting #EAC4Cave!!

~Emily
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EmilyCallisForThe2013MlbFanCave
Twitter: @emicall_12
Hashtag: #EAC4Cave

Hall of Fame

Well as everyone knows, the Baseball Writers Association did not elect anyone this year for the Hall of Fame. There were many fine candidates this year but they all fell just short of making it. Including the man I think deserves it the most, Craig Biggio.

This man was rather annoying to the Cardinals back in the day because he helped the Houston Astros make the Cardinals fight for the division title. It was a good thing but none of us liked him for it. But aside from that he was a great player. He was such a good guy and a great player that he deserves to be elected! He was in the steroid era but he was one of the few big names that did not do steroids and deserves to be rewarded for that!

Speaking of the steroid era, as the years pass by we are now getting the steroid users are becoming eligible to be elected into the Hall of Fame. The question remains: Do we celebrate our accomplishments or do we punish them for their abuse of steroids? I do not know where I stand on this issue. Guys like Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, brought baseball to a generation, my generation. They made baseball fun to watch during the home run chase of '98 but should they be rewarded for using steroids to do what they did? Now I do believe even tho Barry Bonds broke the home run record set by Mark McGwire, I do believe he should be punished for using steroids. It became obvious about him since he did after the steroid trials and everything the other players went through.

Now my question is, since I believe we should punish Bonds, should we punish the rest of these men? If we punish one do we have to punish all of them? I mean we need to set an example since we just found one more guy this summer doing steroids or other performance enhancing drugs. I think it needs to be done because obviously these players these days aren't learning anything from the guys before them.

Now I appreciate Mark McGwire because he came forward about his abuse of the drugs and admitted what he had done. Many of the other guys have denied it even tho it is blatantly obvious. Look what McGwire has done since then. He has turned his life around. He became a coach for the Cardinals and helped many Cardinals immeasurably to turn their batting around. David Freese gives all his credit to help from McGwire, and apparently Skip Schumaker also worked with McGwire personally. So as we can see McGwire has turned his life around and is helping todays players, which I think he deserves to go to the Hall of Fame. The other steroid users? I'm not sure but if there is a case for them I would be happy to hear it, so please message me and let me know.

I thought since this is the big news around baseball these days I would bring it up and give my thoughts but I want to hear yours too! Please message me here, Facebook or Twitter! Also don't forget to let me know if you support the campaign to bring the DH to the National League! Thanks guys!!

~Emily
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EmilyCallisForThe2013MlbFanCave
Twitter: @emicall_12
              #EAC4Cave

Commercials and Pictures

Ok so the Cardinals come up with some really creative commercials last year. I mean really these are super hilarious!! I laugh really hard every time at all of them! I don't know why they are so funny but they are. I can not wait to see what the Cardinals creators come up with this year!


http://mlb.mlb.com/stl/fan_forum/cardinals_tv.jsp

It's going to be kind of difficult for them because we didn't have a golden finish that we were hoping for but hey they can come up with some crazy things. I have a cool idea, or at least I think its a good idea.

The commercial starts with a view of Busch Stadium for the grass level. The lights are out in                              the stadium and the sun is peeking over the top. Then the camera goes to a shot of the locker room dark besides one light, you can see all of the players uniforms in each of their lockers. Then we rewind to last years post season. We see the various highlights including the game 5 heroics from the NLDS, and ending with the game 7 disappointing ending. We span all of the players disappointed faces and really get a feeling of how they felt when the series ended. We jump to the celebration from the 2006 World Series and the 2011 World Series and these words come across the screen: Last years disappointing ending brings this years reason to believe. Ending the commercial with the typical Cardinal paraphernalia and the hashtag #12in13.

What do you think? I think it would make for a great commercial!! We have to start believing in our birds now if we want them to succeed! Remember nothing is ever impossible in baseball! Or for our Cards!!

Ok so I was just thinking today how connected to the Cardinals I have been my entire life! I went to Spring Training with my Grandmother and Aunt and Uncle one year. That is when the autographs fever began. Recently my family and I traveled to Colorado for vacation and we saw the Cardinals take on the Rockies. That stadium is awesome. Busch Stadium is baseball Heaven, but their stadium is pretty darn cool These are some pictures from the game. I got Joe Kelly and Matt Holliday's Autograph!

 Me and Joe Kelly, he totally laughed at my story!!!

Me and Matt Holliday! Pretty sure he is the biggest game I have ever gotten! 

I really have been and am obsessed with the Cardinals. My creativity extends to taking pictures. Like I have previously mentioned I love taking pictures! Autographs are kind of my thing and I really hope I get to go to Spring Training for the Fan Cave this year because the only autograph that I really want is David Freese. It keeps me hopeful that someday I will meet him!! Plus it brings back bad childhood memories because I could have reached out and touched Mark McGwire but I never got his autograph. :'( Some father put his kid on my back and he got my autograph. Someday!! 

Well I have more to say but I'll save it for another blog. I was featured on another Cardinal page today! Hopefully it will help me get closer to my dream of being in the MLB Fan Cave!!! O yeah I want to try and get my hashtag trending!! Please start tweeting #EAC4Cave!!!

~Emily

https://www.facebook.com/EmilyCallisForThe2013MlbFanCave
Twitter: @emicall_12

Hashtag: #EAC4Cave

Bye bye Birds

These are the faces of the Cardinals that are no longer Cardinals :'(. I grew up watching all three of these men.

 I remember the post seasons of 2004-2006 when Lance Berkman was with the Astros and the Cardinals had to compete against them every year to get to the playoffs. I remember crying when the Astros beat us in 2005 to get to the World Series!! My first memories of the Cardinals include him because he was on the opposing team. 

I remember Schumaker playing for a long time. He has always been one of my favorite players. He has always been there and in the past couple of years he has risen through the ranks. I think the Cardinals should have kept him because he was just one of those all around good guys that fits in so well with the Cardinals.

Finally one of my childhood heroes, Mark McGwire. While yes he did some bad things with the steroids but I think that's when I fell in love with baseball. During the home run chase of 1998, I loved baseball. It was so exciting watching McGwire, Sosa, and Griffey chasing that number all the way up til the end was amazing. It brought baseball to a new generation.

I am so incredibly sad that all three of these men gone. Last year was devastating when Pujols left but this year is even more devastating. These guys are the guys that made the 2011 World Series Championship team even more special. They are the the little guys that don't get the credit for the big stuff. When people remember the 2011 Championship Team, they will remember David Freese and his contributions during game 6 & 7. I agree that Freese deserves credit because I mean really that is when I realized how awesome he is, but in the bigger picture, I think we tend to forget the little guys who make big contributions but are forgotten about. 

What is really sad is at the end of this season we might be facing the same problems. Contracts for Furcal and Beltran are up. The Cardinals are already talking about replacing Furcal and finding someone who can help out at shortstop and Beltran is great in the outfield but unless he stays healthy we won't have any reason to keep him. This is why the National League needs a Designated Hitter. I am now starting my campaign to bring the Designated Hitter to the National League!! Let me know if you agree!!!

~Emily
https://www.facebook.com/EmilyCallisForThe2013MlbFanCave
Twitter: @emicall_12

Dreams and Wishes

Man I wish I could work for the Cardinals. My dream job is to do something for the Cardinals. This is why I would be perfect for the Fan Cave!! All I do is talk and think about the Cardinals!

I was just thinking today how crazy I am about the Cardinals. Over 3/4 of my wardrobe is Cardinal shirts, and sweatshirts. Last year alone I bought, all the clubhouse shirts and sweatshirts for every round of the playoffs! I'm so glad they won so I didn't waste all that money! This year I considered it but there was something in the back of my head that was cautious that they wouldn't win and, oops they lost. :( But hey theres always next year!!

My creativity for the Cardinals is through photography. I loooooove taking pictures, especially when its the Cardinals. All 12 games I went to last summer I took soooo many pictures! This is one of my favorites:

This game was the first time I had ever sat out on the bleachers in Busch Stadium. It was AWESOME!!  Anyway, this is one of my favorite pictures because, I love how the sun is shooting beams down on the outfield. It's one of those picturesque scenes you would buy from the website or a professional photographer, but I took it! Also it has my favorite pitching/catching duo.

Yadier Molina has always been one of my favorites. My sister loved Albert Pujols, but I always favored Yadi. He is a wonderful catcher and frankly, he is largely ignored by the MLB community. But one of my pitchers is Lance Lynn. I fell in love with him last post-season(2011) and was super excited when he got promoted to a starting pitcher. I loved that I was at one of his first wins of the season, the 2nd game of the season and ring day. I also realized how awesome he really was!! He was so great this season!!!

This is why the MLB Fan Cave is perfect for me. I am the biggest Cardinal fan in the entire world and I am very creative taking pictures! It's driving me crazy waiting on the release of whos gonna be in the cave!!! If I could be in the Fan Cave, it will be a dream come true! I just wish I could figure out what I can do to help my chances! O yeah! Don't forget to like my Facebook page! https://www.facebook.com/EmilyCallisForThe2013MlbFanCave

~Emily
https://www.facebook.com/EmilyCallisForThe2013MlbFanCave
Twitter page: @emicall_12

40 days!

The long wait is almost over!!! 40 days til pitchers and catchers report!!! 88 days til Opening Day!!! I really don't like winter... Not just because its so cold! I like the snow, just not the cold! I don't like winter because there's no baseball! Last year was fun cause I rode the Game 6 high and winning the World Series all the way to Opening Day!! This year we don't have that!!!

It also kind of stinks because the Cardinals have been so quiet! The Cardinals have made very few moves, and they have made me sad with what they have done! Hopefully this will all pay off with 12 in 13! Yes I'm starting it right now! I started saying it when the Cardinals lost Game 7 of the NLCS. Yes that just shows how dedicated I am.

So I have finally sent in my Fan Cave application and video. Now its just up to MLB to pick me! If you like this blog, please follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EmilyCallisForThe2013MlbFanCave. This can only help my chances!! I'm also attaching my essay since I can't post it on Facebook. Full steam ahead to the Fan Cave!!!

~Emily

I would be the ideal fan to live in the MLB Fan Cave because I watch every game at home during the season. I went to 12 Cardinal games this year, 11 at home and 1 in Colorado. I tweet about the Cardinals several times a day and actually annoy all of my followers because I tweet so much. I spend so much time thinking about the Cardinals and following them and tweeting to them, I feel like I know them! I was at Game 6 in 2011 when David Freese hit the triple to tie the game and the home run to send us to Game 7. I remember watching Game 5 this year and crying because I was so happy that we made it to the NLCS, and then crying during Game 7 because we lost. I love all of my Cardinals; I have been a fan since before I was born. I have gone to so many games that I don’t even know how many I have been to. I have pictures with Willie McGee and many others and almost touched Mark McGwire once at spring training. I would love to take part of MLB Fan Cave because it seems like the best place for me. I am a huge fan of baseball and all I do is talk about it anyway so why not do it here? I could go on for hours talking about who is going to win the World Series, and why the Cardinals just didn’t have enough gas left to get there this year. Thanks to the Cardinals I know what I want to do with the rest of my life, and that is to be a radio/tv broadcaster. I would love to work with KMOX and broadcast the games. If I were to become a part of the MLB Fan Cave, this would be a great start for me. So please choose me!