For those who hold the great American pastime close to their hearts, winter can be a mighty long season.

But Sunday, baseball fans got to experience a brief respite from the winter doldrums as Cardinal affiliate KBDZ 93.1 FM welcomed the St. Louis Cardinals Caravan to Ste. Genevieve.

Close to 500 red-clad fans packed into the MRV Banks conference center as Cardinals players—past and present--spoke about the upcoming 2010 season and the expectations placed upon the defending National League Central Division champions.

The doors opened to the public at 10am for those anxious fans to have some light lunch and preferred seating. A VIP session shortly followed for radio station sponsors to meet and greet current Cardinals, Blake Hawksworth, Nick Stavinoha, Daryl Jones, Pete Kozma; alumni players John Mabry, Alan Benes, Cal Eldred and Emcee Al Hrabosky.

The Cardinal players were introduced to the excited wall-to-wall fans. Hrabosky gave a brief bio of each player and moderated a question and answer session. Afterwards, everyone had the chance to have photos and autographs of the players.

The Cardinal Camp brought autographed memorabilia, tickets and the like to give-away to participants.

For the youngsters, the world-class players went unnoticed as soon as Fredbird came into the room with his silent antics—a real crowd pleaser.

The Cardinals organization was very cordial and warm and stated, "They love coming to small towns and getting to know fans one-on-one.”

Donze Communications, KBDZ 93.1FM, and Suntimesnews would like to thank MRV Banks for hosting the Cardinal Caravan, our fine sponsors and Roziers Country Mart and SMTS for shuttle transportation. We would like to especially thank our St. Louis Cardinal fans for their support and enthusiasm and coming out to the Cardinals Caravan.