Cardinal Nation, or Redbird Nation, is a term sometimes used to describe, in aggregate, the fans of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball franchise. The term takes after the popular phrase "Red Sox Nation" originally coined by Boston Globe feature writer Nathan Cobb in an October 20, 1986, article about split allegiances among fans in Connecticut during the 1986 World Series. Cardinal Nation encompasses not just the area around St. Louis, but also a large portion of the Midwest and South. The team is traditionally popular in these regions and Cardinals games are broadcast on radio and television affiliates in ten states: Oklahoma, southern and central Illinois, southwest Indiana, Iowa, western Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, west Tennessee and parts of northern Mississippi and Alabama.
In addition, the team is also popular in other major league markets, most notably in Colorado, where the Cardinals were the team of choice until the creation of the Rockies franchise in 1993. To this day, the Cardinals have many fans in attendance at games on the road in Denver, as well as every other major league venue.
Read more about Cardinal Nation: Historical Background, In St. Louis, Winter Warm Up
Famous quotes containing the words cardinal and/or nation:
“The Cardinal is at his wit’s end—it is true that he had not far to go.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)
“If a nation’s literature declines, the nation atrophies and decays.”
—Ezra Pound (1885–1972)