Official State Team??

(Jupiter, FL) Should the St. Louis Cardinals be designated as the official baseball team for the state of Missouri? According to State Representative Courtney Allen Curtis of the 73rd District, the answer is yes–and he’s proposed a bill to make that a reality.

Bill No. 2831 reads “The St. Louis Cardinals, which can trace its history in Missouri back to 1882, are selected for and shall be known as the official baseball team of the state of Missouri.”

As one might imagine, the reaction–in particular from those who are fans of the Kansas City Royals, has not been positive.

“I’ve gotten a lot of reaction from the western side of the state, not so much from the eastern side,” said Curtis, who was keeping good humor about the feedback. “Someone said I actually erred in filing the bill and they said I should’ve made the Cardinals ‘America’s Team’ so I think I’ll have to look at that legislation next year.”

But even Cardinals fans are raising the question of why such an official designation is necessary.

“It’s not that it’s needed,” explained Curtis. “But it could be used as an economic development tool in the sense that it’ll stoke the fires of the intra-state rivalry and hopefully, both of the teams will make it to the World Series this year and we can truly bring all of the attention that Missouri needs and can use to grow.”

The bill has been read twice, but currently does not have a hearing scheduled and is not on the House calendar. To become a reality, it must be referred to a committee and then arguments for and against would be made before a vote to present it to the floor would take place. If it made it to the floor, a full debate would take place and then if passed would go to the Senate for a vote. And of course, the Governor would then have the ability to veto the bill–if it were to get that far.

Besides the debate over which team or any team being designated to represent the state, the question has also been raised if this is a waste of time and resources.

“It took ten seconds,” said Curtis, who is the Chairman of the Special Committee on Urban Issues and also serves on the Appropriations, Government Oversight and Accountability, Joint Committee on Education, and Ways and Means committees.

“There’s not a lot of time or effort, I think it’s two sentences long so it takes no time or anything at all,” he continued. “I think I filed over 38 bills this year and one of those bills passed and is in the Senate now, which is set up to improve the state of education here and everywhere else in the country. This is just something I did to let the Cardinals know that since we lost the Rams, we don’t want to lose them. We do appreciate them and if this is one way to show that we appreciate them then I’m happy to do it.”

The House session ends on May 13th, which would serve as a deadline for the bill to advance. It currently has been read twice but no hearings are scheduled and it is not on the House calendar.

photo credit: Scott Kane-USA TODAY Sports