The Giants and Cardinals are two of the world's oldest and most successful baseball franchises. Since 1883, the two have battled each other in the National League. Since 1952, Carol and Warren Reckmeyer have battled in their household.
The Reckmeyers gained fame Monday night with viral photo of the Mt. Morris, Ill., couple in their jerseys at Busch Stadium.
My friend posted this pic from outside tonight's @Cardinals game against the Giants: pic.twitter.com/sC3r7WJB2n
— Benjamin Hochman (@hochman) August 18, 2015
The Reckmeyers love baseball, but they actually met through art. Both were music teachers, and Warren, 92, retired this summer after 59 years as the director of Mt. Morris' Kable Concert Band. Carol and Warren served as teachers in Mt. Morris schools from their arrival in the city in 1955 to their teaching retirement in 1985.
Carol's father turned her into a Giants' fan going all the way back to the team's days in New York. Warren spent the 1930s glued to the radio, and remembers when the 1934 Gashouse Gang won the Cardinals their first World Series.
The Reckmeyers were at Busch on Monday for a pitcher's duel the Cardinals claimed 2-1. For the past few seasons, Carol and Warren have had a lot to cheer about. The last five pennants have been won by either the Giants or the Cardinals. The Giants have won three World Series and the Cardinals one. Last year's National League Championship Series featured both teams. The Giants won the series 4-1.
Carol, also in her 90s, told Rockford, Ill., local television she and Warren have a "truce" when their teams play each other. As seen by their uniforms, the couple, married since 1952, will not let baseball fandom get in the way of their love.
Carol jokes Warren's last words in a conversation are always "yes, dear" anyway.
In the local news story, Carol and Warren say they attend a few Rockford Aviators (Frontier League) games each year. The Rockford Peaches, the real franchise fictitiously depicted in the 1992 film A League of Their Own, played their final season of a 12-year run in 1954, one year before the Reckmeyers moved in. The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League shut down in 1954.
Rockford is objectively Cubs country, but these two fans do not seem to care. They will support their team's colors through and through, even if their spouse disapproves.
