From humble beginnings, there always has been something special about the Blues hockey franchise and its connection to St. Louis, something about the Blue Note on the sweater, the names who have worn it and the narrative they have created … something that has resonated over 50 years.
If you were there at the start, you still feel it, the organ thumping, the building trembling, the passion exploding. You can see men and women, dressed to the nines, dancing in the aisles. You can picture Saturday nights at The Arena, when a new religion took hold, when the St. Louis Blues came marching In.
It was the start of a romance that never fades, a love affair that embraces sports fans in this Midwestern town and never lets go. Those first nights have been decorated in so many nights since, so many memories, so many hearts that bleed blue. You can still feel it, 50 years later, covered in vintage jerseys and "Towel Man" tosses. It still reverberates.
When the Blues Go Marching In: An Illustrated Timeline of St. Louis Blues Hockey captures that magic - the color, the characters and the excitement. It takes you through the first 50 years of the St. Louis Blues, through those early expansion-team nights, through dramatic ups and downs, through the on-going quest to capture a Stanley Cup championship.
The Blues have been much more than a piece of the St. Louis landscape. From the outset, they have been equal partners in the city's soul, an extension of its hard-working personality. They have left an indelible cultural imprint, an ever-lasting impression that is captured in the images and stories on these pages.
When the Blues Go Marching In is a book St. Louis sports fans will cherish for years to come.
Meet Dan O'Neill on Tuesday, Sept. 26 at 7 p.m. at St. Louis County Library Headquarters (1640 S. Lindbergh, St. Louis, MO 63131)
