St. Louis Cardinals Gameday – June 2018

22 CARDINALS MAGAZINE

The most outrageous thing I’ve ever eaten:

Uni – it’s part of a sea urchin (the urchin’s egg-

producing reproductive organs), and you eat it raw.

It’s really creamy and really weird-looking. But I ate it.

I’ll try anything once.

• Gerald Laird, Issue 1, 2011

Kangaroo. I can’t remember where I ate it, but I think

I had a buddy who killed one while hunting. It tasted

like chicken. – Matt Carpenter, Issue 4, 2012

If I could travel back in time, I’d visit:

The dinosaurs – who doesn’t want to go

back and see them? Maybe I’d get to slay

a dinosaur and eat him. Then all the cave

women would think I’m pretty rad.

• Brendan Ryan, Issue 5, 2010

1985, to play for the Cardinals in the World

Series against the Royals.

• Nick Punto, Issue 3, 2011

My first car was:

A 1985 Yugo, for $100. My dad has been in the car

business for a long time, and my family wasn’t going

to spend a lot of money on a 14-year-old kid – you can

drive at 14 in South Dakota. It was about as big as a

table. My friends would pick it up and move it in the

parking lot in high school. It was a good car, though;

got around in the snow. – Mark Ellis, Issue 2, 2014

F

or 10 seasons, we’ve been asking Cardinals players to field

an assortment of get-to-know-you questions for our popular

department, Expanding the Zone. Some participants turned out to be

franchise mainstays (hey, Waino!); with others, their stays may have

been short, but their answers were memorable. By playing along,

the players have provided a unique chronicle of Cardinals baseball

over the past decade – and more than a few good laughs. Revived

here for your enjoyment is a “Zone” Hall of Fame, a collection that

aims to elicit a few chuckles, moments of reflection, and good old

nostalgia (we’re looking at you, David Freese in Cardinal red).

EXPANDING

THE ZONE

Best of

My hidden talent:

I hunt wild boars. From January to spring training, I’ll go three or four times a week. You

start by letting your bay dogs (he has six) find the hog. After you hear them barking and

you start to get close – I use a Garmin Alpha tracking system – you send in the catch dogs

(he has three) to get control of the hog. Then you’ve got to move in quickly. At first you

have no idea if the hog is 80 pounds or 300 – that’s where the intensity and adrenaline

kick in. You use your bare hands on the hog and you’ve got a knife. It can be dangerous.

I’ve had a hog break loose before, and you’ve got to be able to climb a tree – at least get

off the ground about thigh-high. – Jonathan Broxton, Issue 3, 2016

Demonstrating the grip test (a device used to measure hand-grip strength).

• Matt Holliday, Issue 5, 2009

I gave haircuts to teammates last year when I was on the disabled list. I had to find

something to contribute to the team. – Kyle Lohse, Issue 1, 2010

I like to think I’m all right in my entertainment. I’m what you might call a Justin

Timberlake-type who can sing, dance and do it all. – Luke Weaver, Issue 5, 2016

Jonathan Broxton

Brendan Ryan

Mark Ellis