Bringin' The Sauce

     Summer is here, the baseball season is underway, and Cardinal Sauce is back, baby! The last year has been crazy; filled with making home repairs, selling a house, buying a house, moving, and job changes. During that time, we never lost sight of our true mission: bringing the Cardinal Sauce and sharing it with all of you.

  

     Due to the new venue, there have been some changes, but change begets growth and we're growing here at Cardinal Sauce. First of all, The Wall of Cards in its previous form is a thing of the past. It's a bittersweet parting for us here at Cardinal Sauce because it was the original premise of this blog. 

     We have a new Cardinal Sauce bunker that is still under construction and we decided that marring the walls with stick-on Velcro pads wouldn't be appropriate or cost-effective. Not to mention, it took some time removing all those pads from the previous Cardinal Sauce bunker and, subsequently, re-painting the walls. The good news is: Instead of housing The Wall of Cards, the new Cardinal Sauce Bunker will act as a staging area for The Wall of Cards housed within the new Cardinal Sauce Bar.

         We're currently in the process of filling the bar with our favorite beverages and memorabilia. Stan the Man holds the position of honor in the Cardinal Sauce Bar. He's center stage in an autographed poster featuring a progression photo of his 3000th hit. The previous owners even helped out by leaving behind the fully functional Busch neon sign that you see hanging next to our libations.

          In addition, we're excited to begin expanding our collection of autographed 8 X 10 photos. We currently have seven Cardinals keeping watch over the bar: St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame members, Enos Slaughter and Mike Shannon; World Series Champions, Scott Rolen and Mike Ramsey; fan favorite, Fernando Tatis; and 1990s starters, Bernard Gilkey and Donovan Osborne. We look forward to adding more players to the current lineup.

     The only parting from the St. Louis Cardinals theme is College Corner. College Corner is an alcove above the fireplace in the Cardinal Sauce Bar that presented the perfect place to display some of our favorite collegiate items. The centerpiece is an autographed jersey of Hall of Fame Coach, Ara Perseghian. In addition, Illinois State University (my wife's alma mater) is represented with the decorative lamp and Doug Collins bobble head. My alma mater, the University of Illinois, is represented with a scale replica of Memorial Stadium. It was a gift in the 90s and, for the first time in twenty years, is now on display. The final piece is an autographed football by Mike Ditka that we wanted to display, but didn't know where it fit. It landed here to commemorate the work he did at Pitt and in the NFL to revolutionize the Tight End position.

     Well, that's the limited tour. We're excited to be able to share more with you in the future. We're in the planning stages of adding a variety of entertaining content. We'll re-establish the Wall of Cards as it fits into our new vision. And as always, we'll continue to bring the Cardinal Sauce!