Whether they end up winning or losing the World Series, the St. Louis Cardinals are one of Major League Baseballs model franchises. They have an outstanding farm system that keeps grinding out prospects year after year and the fan base is one of the most rabid and loyal in all of baseball. It wasnt always so, though. In the late 40s and early 50s, the team went through a financial crisis that almost resulted in the team moving out of town. Though successful on the field in the 40s (four World Series appearances and three victories), Cards owner Sam Breadon was determined to build his own ballpark. Since 1920, the Redbirds had been renting Sportsmans Park from St. Louiss other team, the Browns. Breadon had set aside $5 million to construct his own facility. However, there was a five year limit for him to get this done before he would be facing some severe tax ramifications. Unable to find the land for a new ballpark, he wound up selling the Cardinals to Fred Saigh and his partner Robert Hannegan. Things continued to deteriorate under this duo, though, and by 1949 and in poor health; Hannegan was forced to sell his share of the team back to Saigh. The Cardinals slide on field went on unabated and by 1953, Saigh had to put the club up for sale. There were no local buyers stepping forward to purchase the club, so Saigh listened to offers from Houston and Milwaukee interests. He ultimately struck a deal with a Milwaukee group for $4 million to buy the team. That wasnt the end of it, though. A group of owners got together and vetoed the Milwaukee deal, instead pressuring Saigh to sell the club to beer baron "Gussie" Busch of Anheuser-Busch fame who vowed to keep the team in St. Louis. Saighs take was $3.75 million - less than he would have made had the team gone to Milwaukee. The Busch owned Cardinals ended up buying Sportsmans Park from the cash strapped Browns and they ended up moving themselves to Baltimore in 1954. After winning the World Series in 1946, the Cards did not win again until 1964, when they defeated the Yankees. As for Fred Saigh, he wound up going to prison for five months of a15 months sentence for Federal income tax evasion. After he was released from prison, Saigh went back into private business and amassed a large block of Anheuser-Busch stock. In fact, he became the second-largest stock holder in the company next to the Busch family itself. By the time he passed away at age 94, Fred Saigh was worth $500 million. He left $70 million of that to charity, establishing the Fred Saigh Foundation. Though Fred Saigh may have been the Cardinals worst owner, in a way he helped ensure the Cardinals would win the battle for the fans affections with the Browns and helped make St. Louis a one team town by selling the team even if somewhat reluctantly to Gussie Busch. A few weeks ago, I wrote about next year being the 100th anniversary of Wrigley Field. I wondered if anyone was still alive from the last time the Cubs appeared in the World Series. It turns out there is one player left. That mans name is Lenny Merullo. He is 96 years old and played in three of the games of 45 Series. Lenny Merullo went on to become head scout with the Cubs from 1950 to 1972 and one of his grandsons Matt played for six years in the Majors, mainly with the White Sox. Heres hoping hes still around for the Cubs big celebration next year and is well enough to make an appearance at Wrigley. Wholesale Basketball Shoes . - The Detroit Lions have 13 takeaways this season — three less than all of last season — and the defence isnt the only unit pleased with the performance. Wholesalle Basketball Shoes China . She was a pioneer. She did things on skis that made the birds take notice. http://www.wholesalebasketballshoes.us/ .Y. -- Syracuses streak lives on -- barely. Discount Basketball Shoes . The club was unable to retain hitting coach Kevin Seitzer, who is bound for Atlanta. Seitzer replaces Greg Walker, who was assisted by Scott Fletcher this season as the Braves finished 79-83. Clearance Basketball Shoes .C. -- The Carolina Panthers announced Thursday theyve signed free agent wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery to a two-year contract, helping rebuild a depleted wide receiving corps. MIAMI -- LeBron James couldnt wake up Sunday. He was sluggish when his alarm went off at 8 a.m. and still in a funk when the Miami Heat and New York Knicks tipped off five hours later. He eventually got into form, just in time to perhaps doom the Knicks playoff chances. James scored 38 points and the Heat survived an NBA-record 22 3-point attempts from New Yorks J.R. Smith in a 102-91 victory that kept Miami atop the Eastern Conference standings. "You do your job and you live with the results," James said. "We lived with the result of J.R. making some of those bombs." Chris Bosh added 14 points and Ray Allen had 12 for the Heat (53-23), who are a full game ahead of Indiana (53-25) and two up in the loss column in the East race. The Pacers lost at home to Atlanta later Sunday night. Smith was 11 for 28 from the floor, 10 for 22 from beyond the arc, and took 10 3s in the fourth quarter alone while Carmelo Anthony didnt attempt a single shot in the period. The single-game mark was previously held by Damon Stoudemire, who hoisted 21 3s on April 15, 2005. "Its not really been a goal of mine," Smith said. "I saw the open 3 and tried to take them. I had to take advantage." Smith finished with 32 for the Knicks, who got 14 from Raymond Felton and 13 from Anthony on 4 for 17 shooting. Anthony has been bothered by a sore right shoulder, but played 44 minutes. "Melo is still hurting," Knicks coach Mike Woodson said. "I couldnt rest him again tonight. That second half, he was giving us what hes got." A bad day got worse for New York when the Hawks-Pacers game went final. The Knicks (33-45) are two games behind the Hawks in the race for the final playoff spot, three in the loss column. And New York has only four games left. "Our fate is almost now in Atlantas hands," Anthony said. "Its tough. ... My fate is in somebody elses hands." The start suggested it would be a great day for the Knicks. James had four turnovers in the opening minutes and New York -- which had its best opening 2 1/2 minutes offensively in at least a decade, according to STATS LLC -- held a 16-3 lead. "Flummoxing," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "It was bizarre. Our turnovers were, no offence to the Knicks, absolutely unforced." It was still 16-3 when Felton was whistled for a second early foul, and everything changed. The Knicks missed six straight shots and the Heat scored niine straight points.dddddddddddd James -- who had one turnover in the final 3 1/2 quarters -- settled down and things started going Miamis way. "I wasnt awake yet," James said. Miami got snippy with one another in plenty of huddles during the game, something that Spoelstra seemed to particularly relish. "Verbally spitting at each other, I like it," Spoelstra said. "Thats what we need to get ready for the second season." Miamis lead was 15 with just under 9 minutes to go before the Knicks made it interesting. Iman Shumpert missed a wide-open 3 with 3:30 left that would have gotten New York within four. James answered a layup at the other end and after Smith made his ninth 3, Mario Chalmers answered with one of his own, making Miamis lead 97-88. So Smith made another, giving the Knicks life. And Miami again answered, this time Bosh doing the long-range honours to restore the nine-point edge. Miami played without Dwyane Wade (hamstring), Greg Oden (back) and Chris Andersen (back, knee). Amare Stoudemire scored 12 and Tyson Chandler finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds for New York. James had four turnovers by the time Miami scored six points. But he settled in before the quarter was over, outmuscling Tim Hardaway Jr. for what became a three-point play. Hardaway tried to wrap James up on a break, but the four-time MVP kept going, scored and then flexed a biceps muscle to the roaring crowd. "Trying to make a play," James said. And after that sizzling 14-point beginning, New York needed more than 13 minutes to score its next 14 points. A 31-10 run helped the Heat take as much as an eight-point lead in the second quarter, before the Knicks went into halftime up 50-48. Miami found some breathing room by scoring the final seven points of the third. James laid it in while getting fouled with 4.1 seconds left -- and as "M-V-P" chants rained down he gave Miami its biggest lead to that point, making the free throw that put the Heat up 73-64 entering the fourth. NOTES: Jeff Van Gundy worked the game for ABC, sitting three chairs away from former Heat coach Stan Van Gundy, working for ESPN Radio. ... Bosh had no rebounds in the first half, then seven in the third quarter. ... A fan clad in Knicks garb caught a T-shirt thrown into the stands by a Heat dancer during the fourth quarter. He threw it back onto the court. ... Hardaway Jr. is 2 for 22 in two games in Miami this season. ' ' '