The loudest reaction at the Winter Warmup so far came when Albert Pujols stepped through the red-and-white curtains and sat down for his autograph session. Major shouts and screams of wintertime joy. Congrats to anyone who got a scratcher ticket for a Pujols autograph — that, not surprisingly, continues to be the most-demanded line at this event. David Eckstein was a big draw today as well. The most interesting thing I heard today was Eckstein telling the crowd that he gave his World Series MVP yellow Corvette to his brother. Eck said he can’t drive a stick, and he said he still is looking for a new car. He also indicated that it might have been too fast.

This is my fourth consecutive Winter Warmup, and after Day One I can say that has someone pushed the offseason envelope even further. In fact, all attempts to show Redbird Trivia on the main screen at our stlcardinals.com/mlb.com booth have been pretty much hopeless because it is such an overwhelming feeling of World Championship. The main stage is constantly filled, with David Eckstein or some unreal auction. I am basically playing Game 5 of the Wo

ld Series over and over on our giant plasma screen TV, while hundreds stand beside it in line for player/legend autographs. Everyone wants to see Adam Wainwright strike out Brandon Inge again. That’s it. And some NLCS Game 7.

Please stop by if you’re here, just like these fans above did. Let me introduce the only apparent Cardinal Fan triplets at the Winter Warmup. From left to right: Maggie, Abby and Emily Scully from Dana, Ind. That’s their grandma, Carol Sparks of nearby O’Fallon behind them. We’ve been giving away T-shirts all day and will be doing the same Sunday and Monday. Fortunately the ice wasn’t that bad. Obviously no fan stayed at home. This place is very red and very festive. It feels like Parade II.