Cardinals caravan comes to SEMO basketball game

This is a big weekend for St. Louis Cardinals fans.

The organization will hold its annual Winter Warmup Saturday through Monday at the Hyatt Regency St. Louis at the Arch. Players will be on hand to sign autographs and participate in festivities.

The 57th annual dinner hosted by the St. Louis Baseball Writers Association is set for 6 p.m. Sunday in St. Louis.

But closer to home, for our readers, is the Cardinals Caravan. Each year the team sends groups of players, broadcasters and Cardinal alumni to several cities in the Midwest. This year the Cape Girardeau stop will be Saturday night at the Southeast Missouri State University vs. Tennessee Tech basketball game at 5 p.m. in the Show Me Center. The team of players includes Michael Wacha, Tommy Pham, Tyler Lyons and Marco Gonzales. Former players Danny Cox and Tom Lawless are to be at the stop, along with emcee Tom Ackerman.

Along with the caravan and game, the new members of the Southeast Missouri State University Athletic Hall of Fame will be recognized.

Spring training will kick off in one month, and there will be plenty of topics to discuss. Will the Cardinals have another starting pitcher? How will new outfielder Jason Heyward, traded from Atlanta to St. Louis along with Jordan Walden in the offseason, help the club? How will the team respond after losing outfielder Oscar Taveras in a wreck during the offseason? We got a preview on a few topics when Mike Matheny spoke at the Arrow Leadership and Success Summit last fall. But the conversation continues, and there will be much to read and talk about with the 2015 season.

If you're a Cardinals fan, the Cardinals Caravan is a great place to get your fix of baseball this weekend.