St. Louis Cardinals Brand Swings South

The St. Louis Cardinals are one of the original teams of Major League Baseball, dating back to 1900 (with incarnations since 1880). They’ve won 11 World Series and have been at the forefront of MLB history (farm system). Forbes recently listed them as the 7th most valuable MLB team. They are one of the most popular teams—in their city, their state, nationwide, and soon worldwide.

Cardinal’s baseball is huge. When Manager Mike Shildt joined the club in 2004, the team’s reach amazed him. “It could be Corpus Christi… Midland, Texas… San Antonio… Salt Lake—it didn’t matter,” he said. “There were always Cardinals fans… sometimes … several hundred to a thousand. It was consistent, wherever we went.” Now, the organization is seeing if that can extend globally.

In 2018, it was announced St. Louis and the Cincinnati Reds would play a series in Mexico. It would be the first time the Cardinals ventured beyond the border in their 119-year history! This past month the series took place with the teams splitting it 1-1, but regardless of the in-game results, for the brand, it was groundbreaking. Playing abroad was a first for the team and playing in Latin America was monumental.

The area is ripe with baseball fandom and many Latin Americans play in the Majors. Baseball is an international sport and for one of the sports’ original teams, an international following is huge not only for their brand, but also baseball as a whole. Additionally, St. Louis added to their Spanish-language coverage. For the first time, their Spanish broadcast team called a road game and will broadcast 53 games this season!

Finally, the Cardinals and Reds tweaked their uniforms for the series. Both featured Ford advertisements on their batting helmets. Unlike the series, it was not celebrated. Still, the St. Louis Cardinals are as iconic as their beer-sponsored ballpark. The series gives their brand confidence as MLB’s future global ambassador.

*Image from the St. Louis Cardinals Twitter feed