Klitzing receives gifts from the Cardinals

By Editor | April 29, 2015 |

Shirley Klitzing is known for being a loyal St. Louis Cardinals fan all of her life – “Since I was 8 years old and Enos Slaughter hit a home run and they (Cardinals) won the World Series.
“I think it was 1946,” she said.

Bob Gibson is, her favorite pitcher of all time, but she also has favorite Cardinal players now.
She began taking her son, Chris, to see Cardinals games in St. Louis when he was about 10 years old. “And we saw one of the first games played in the (Busch) No. 2 stadium,” she said.
She tells about one of the more memorable trips for a game that they actually did not get to see.
“Bob Gibson was pitching that day in St. Louis. I was taking Chris to see him,” she said. “I had car trouble near Highland. We blew a freeze plug, so we listened to the game in the filling station while the man worked on the car.
He worked on the car all day, trying to get it in condition, so we could drive it back home.” He charged her only $10 for all day’s work.
“He said he used to drive a truck and he sometimes pulled in at Dycus in Brownstown. The Dycus owner was always good to let him work on his truck at the garage.
“I worked in McCoy’s Restaurant next to Dycus, and he associated it with Dycus,” she said. The man appreciated the kindness shown to him in the area and, thus, responded in kind to Shirley.
Shirley said that Chris still says the biggest thrill of his life was going to Cardinals games.
A Little About Shirley
Shirley walks with the aid of a walker now, and she is on oxygen.
However, she is always doing for others and always does more than her share for benefit dinners, often preparing her crowd-pleasers such as her delicious onion pie and brownies.
As it is more difficult for her to get around, she volunteers to sit and work at the registration and ticket tables throughout the events.
She makes beautiful quilts and has probably lost count of the many baby quilts she has made. She has also donated baby quilts for fundraisers for various organizations, very popular items for raffles.
She belongs to, and is a faithful member of, the seniors’ Golden Years Club and to Fayette County Home & Community Education, formerly known as the Home Extension).
She serves as treasurer of an HCE club unit as well as a board member.
And a Cardinals Fan
Shirley watches every game on TV in her modest home, cheers them on when they are playing great (which is most of the time), but gets upset with them when she thinks they could do better (like most of us).
She has an older cardinal that she often wears to Golden Years Club meetings.
She can discuss the Cardinal games and individual players knowledgably, and she is now afraid to voice her opinion of a game or a player she thinks could have done better, but is always ready to defend her team.
She would probably attempt to walk a mile just to see Mike Matheney.
‘A Little Bird Told Fredbird …
… about Shirley when Al Hrabosky and Fredbird visited Brownstown Elementry School recently. Fredbird was so impressed with Shirley’s story that he told former Cardinals All-Star ”Smokin’ Joe” Cunningham about her, and Joe sent her a Cardinal packet, which included an autographed picture of him as an All-Star player, along with a note.
This packet was presented to Shirley at a Golden Years Club meeting, much to her surprise, delight and gratitude. She was thrilled and wanted to contact the Cardinals to thank them properly.