Where Baseball Is Bigger Than God

In St. Louis, baseball has always been serious. But for Jan Daniels, it’s practically divine. “Opening Day,” says the 88 year old, her eyes beaming, “Is a Holy Day of Obligation. You don’t miss it!” Beginning in 1958, “Super Fan Jan” has attended 69 consecutive St. Louis Cardinals home openers. The first 60 were with Dan, her late husband. Today, she makes the pilgrimage with Stephen, her son, and he’s as devout as his mother. As the middle-aged cancer survivor explains, the Cardinals, alongside a splash of Jan’s holy water, may even have saved his life. “I always think,” he says of his time in the bleachers, “that it could have been one of the reasons I made it.”