2015 Cardinals Caravan Review

Earlier today I was in attendance at the annual Cardinals Caravan event in Moberly, Missouri filled with the stars of the past, present, and future. The featured Cardinal in attendance was Trevor Rosenthal with a supporting cast of Sam Freeman, Tim Cooney, and Charlie Tilson. Also in attendance at the event was former Cardinal Andy Benes and the emcee was Rick Horton.

The Cardinals Caravan is an event that I normally attend every year and I can’t lie, this year I was a little skeptical. In years past Moberly has held names like Michael Wacha, Jon Jay, David Freese, Joe Kelly, and Jaime Garcia so at first glance the group for this year seemed a little underwhelming. Luckily for this fan this year did not disappoint. Rick Horton did an awesome job last time he was emcee in Moberly and this year was no different. It also became evident that Sam Freeman is very popular amongst the younger kids.

“When asked about him converting 45 of his 51 save chances last year he bluntly stated that you’d think he’d had a bad year for all the grief he received”

It became evident early that Trevor Rosenthal was very aware of the criticism he received by many last year. When asked about him converting 45 of his 51 save chances last year he bluntly stated that you’d think he’d had a bad year for all the grief he received. All fans can see where he’s coming from as mostly all of us at some point last season gave Rosenthal some kind of grief for his performance, despite his high success rate.

Horton had some fun with reliever Sam Freeman as well. Horton demanded that Freeman tell us where he attended college and despite major reluctance Freeman eventually admitted that he was a Kansas Jayhawk to much jeering from the audience. It came to the point where an MIZ-ZOU chant escalated in the crowd which I personally thought was great.

Of course the Cardinals Caravan wouldn’t be complete without some kind of bashing of those children over in Chicago. On the topic of the NL Central, Horton admitted that the Cubs were a better team and had improved this year. Andy Benes shot in before the Cubs could sound too glorified and stated that it would be hard for them to get much worse. Andy Benes has also been in Moberly before and he always does a good job in playing a positive role in the event.

All in all I had a great time at this event, it definitely exceeded my expectations. The fact that Rosenthal embraced the fact that he receives a lot of grief was nice to see. Horton did not disappoint in being a great emcee in the event and Andy Benes continues to be a main fixture for Cardinal Nation. As was with Stephen Piscotty and Jermaine Curtis last year, I am now interested and excited to see how the careers of Tim Cooney and Charlie Tilson unfold.