FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT

Pictured to the left are two uniforms of the Carbuilders, MTV's professional baseball team from the early '50's, I believe. A farm club of the St. Louis Cardinals, this Class D franchise played at a field where East Side Lumber currently is located. They were named after MTV's biggest industry at the time the Car Shops which constructed train cars, not automobiles as some have thought. My father-in-law worked there.

And that's about all the facts I have. They were before my time, but I heard people talk about them. Jimmy McLaughlin was the star player, but as I understand it he never got a whiff of the major leagues. I think he was a politician later on. Where MTV's Ray Blades fit in, I don't know. A former Cardinal himself and former St. Louis manager just might have had nothing to do with the Carbuilders. Although he lived close to me one time, he had nothing to do with me when he'd show up at our Little League games. Everybody knew him, of course, but as players we acted normal. I don't know if he was a scout then or not. He never approached me after I had had a pretty good pitching performance once when he was there. So that in itself showed he knew talent when it wasn't there.

I guess had MTV gotten the minor league team that Marion got (the Miners), they would have been known as the Tire Builders, again named after the biggest industry. Or maybe the Fast Food Eateries.