Cardinals Winter Warm Up Day 1

After attending a fun Cardinals Caravan on Friday, my son and I set out early Saturday morning for Cardinals Winter Warm Up (WWU) in St. Louis.  Just like last year, it was held at Busch Stadium and across the street at Ballpark Village.  Unlike last year, the weather was not very good.  High temperatures for the weekend were in the single digits with wind chills below zero.  We made sure to wear plenty of layers and made great use of Hot Hands hand warmers both days we attended.    

The gates opened at 9:00 Saturday morning.   We arrived about 15 minutes early and were amazed to find about 150 people in line.  At the time it felt like -2 degrees.  Once inside, we made our way to the Cardinals Care store where you could find anything from game used jerseys, pants, caps, bats, helmets, to autographed baseballs.  Most of these items are from former players.  Plenty of Jack Flaherty and Paul DeJong items this year.  I make it a point to hit up the autographed player banners from previous years.  If you there within the first 30 minutes, most of the good ones are gone.  I picked out 2 from the 2023 WWU.

There are 2 of each banner.  These 1'x4' corrugated banners hang in front of the player's autograph station.  This is my 3rd Lankford banner and my first Carlson.  Last year I paid $45 each for Adam Wainwright and Tommy Edman.  This year Carlson was $35 and Lankford was $75.  The Lankford was a bit steep, but a crazy player collector like me could not say no.  I still have high hopes for Carlson despite his projection as the 4th outfielder.

We had 2 paid autographs signers at 10:00.  

     

Tink Hence is the Cardinals #3 prospect.  He has not thrown a lot of innings, but has been electric when he does pitch.  His autographs was $10 each.  Next year it will most likely be double that.  The picture also shows the Victor Scott autographs from Cardinals Caravan on Friday.  

The next paid autograph was $75 and the main reason I attended WWU this year.

I have been wanting to get David Freese on my 2011 World Series team bat since 2012.  This was his first time at WWU since 2014.  Hard to tell from the glare, but he inscribed 2011 WS MVP without me asking (I was going to request it anyway).  This bat may never get done thanks to the crazy price I will have to pay for Albert Pujols, but it as been a fun project.

After a quick lunch break, we had 4 different free autograph lines to get through from 12:00-2:00.  

  

  

All 4 of these former players have signed at previous WWUs, but it is hard to pass up a free autograph.  I guess they are not really free because the weekend pass cost $50 for me and $25 for my son since he is under 16 years old.  We receive our passes as Christmas gifts from my in-laws every year, so I consider these autographs free.

After finishing up the autographs, we walked through the vendor area.  I bought a couple of Peoria Chiefs team sets and a Victor Scott picture.  You will see that in the next post.  Our last stop of the day was the Cardinals Museum to renew my membership.  They always offer some type of incentive to new members or renewals during WWU weekend.  First I will show what anyone who buys a group membership receives.

 

The museum puts out 2 exclusive high quality bobbles heads every year.  These are not available at the stadium.  Each bobblehead is features a member of the team's hall of fame.  Some are well known like Rolen, while other like Javier are not recognized by many non Cardinal fans.  This year's incentive included a third bobblehead.

I have this bobblehead already, but will either sell it or trade for another I need.  We left a little about 3:30.  For the majority of time we were inside, but the short walk in between the 2 locations was very cold.  We drove about 15 miles to our hotel, attended church, grabbed some Little Ceasars pizza for dinner, and spent the evening watching Little Big League in our room.