By Adam Allington, St. Louis Public Radio
St. Louis, MO – The players and fans of Redbird Nation filled Busch Stadium on Monday to mark the home opener of the 2010 baseball Season.
Unlike last year, fans have a perfect day, with clear skies, low humidity and temperatures in the low 80's
Don Munie and his friend are from Freeburg, Illinois. He says southern Illinois is definitely Cardinals territory.
"Springfield, Illinois it the halfway part, below there are Cardinal fans, above there they have to just suck up to the Cubs," claims Munie. Most people he says aren't White Sox fans, "even from Chicago."
Fans milled about Busch Stadium for most of the day, taking in a variety of activities both in and outside of the park.
Amanda Keller of Kirkwood says she always attends opening day.
Fully clad in Cardinals red, Keller and her friend aren't subtle about their fan allegiance.
"Oh we have the full duds," says Keller, "we have Cardinals socks, red shoe laces, Cardinal earrings, lots of pins, number one fan and baseball pin, and our Cardinal Nation shirts."
Pregame ceremonies included a parade of current Cardinals Hall of Famers, including Red Schoendienst, Stan Musial, Bob Gibson, Lou Brock Ozzie Smith and Bruce Sutter.
Monday's game also marks the return of former Cardinals slugger Mark McGwire, who was hired in the offseason to be the Redbird's new hitting coach.