Major League Baseball

Bold fashion choice for Cards

Published Apr. 18, 2011 1:00 a.m. ET

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The Cardinals got off the team bus Sunday morning at Dodger Stadium dressed more like a team from the 1970s than the current 2011 edition that had scored 60 runs in their past six games.

In an early season showing of team unity, the Cardinals decided to wear turtleneck sweaters to the ballpark Sunday and again for the team flight back to St. Louis following the game.

"I think everybody is just trying to have fun,” reliever Mitchell Boggs told Jim Hayes on the FOX Sports Midwest pregame show. "We know we're capable of being pretty good and we know that it's a long season. These are some of the types of the things you have to do over the course of a season to kind of keep the mood loose and keep it where it needs to be.

"But we know that when the first pitch is thrown, it's time to play, everybody is taking it serious and playing as hard as they possibly can.”

FOX Sports Midwest cameras showed nearly every player wearing some sort of turtleneck as the players entered Dodger Stadium before Sunday's game. Hunting and outdoors aficionado Trever Miller sported a camouflage turtleneck while others such as Matt Holliday and Skip Schumaker went for the more classy look.

Jon Jay and Dan Descalso arrived wearing matching fashionable white hats, white shoes and white sport coats over their turtlenecks. Pitcher Jake Westbrook found a grey and back striped turtleneck to wear under his jacket.

Boggs went to great lengths to find his authentic 1970s yellow turtleneck with rainbow trim, eventually finding it on a vintage 70s clothes website.

"This has been a brain thinking process for me," Boggs said. "I was meticulous about this. I scoured the internet for hours, trying to find the perfect thread and I think I did it … I think my first search topic was outlandish turtlenecks and I went from there and found the appropriate one. I was pleased with my choice.

"I've never been confused as a man with impeccable style but today I brought it and I thought I looked pretty good. It was love at first sight, unquestionably.”

Lance Berkman, who was apparently the first to bring the idea up to his teammates, may have started something. According to Al Hrabosky on Sunday's telecast, other themed days are already in the works, including a leather pants day and a vest day.

"I don't necessarily want to take credit for it, but I was involved in the conversation," Lance Berkman told MLB.com. "When you have some success, it makes it easier to goof around. It is not too easy to find one (a turtleneck) though."

Kyle Lohse told MLB.com: "I don't think anyone really resisted, which is the scary thing. No city we have been to has any turtlenecks left thanks to us."

Skip Schumaker, who appeared to inspire the idea by wearing a mock turtleneck in San Francisco, appears to be leading the fashion stakes.

"Skip's is tough to beat, sort of a Jacques Cousteau look," Berkman said jokingly. "We have a couple that are bad/good."

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