ST. LOUIS -- Beloved actor Jon Hamm knows the St. Louis mantra of "the best fans in baseball" can seem a little hokey to many, especially critics of the Cardinals.
But during a press conference at Busch Stadium prior to Monday's game against the Reds, Hamm defended the pride of his fellow fans, and he would know. The acclaimed movie and television star grew up in North County and always supported the Cards, from the lean years of the 1970s, to the dominant teams of the '80s, all the way up through their recent success.
"Some stereotypes are true," said Hamm, who was wearing a button-down, red-plaid shirt with a white St. Louis cap featuring a logo old enough to prove his loyalty. "We have really good fans and it's a good place to see a ballgame and it's been a consistently good organization for a long time."
The Cardinals honored him with a special edition bobblehead Monday night, and he said he'd gotten plenty of requests from friends hoping to get their own miniature Jon Hamm. Surely many others would have been interested in owning the likeness of a man who became one of America's most popular sex symbols during his seven-year run in the AMC drama "Mad Men."
His character, Don Draper, terrorized subordinates and frequently seduced women as the creative director of an ad agency in the 1960s. But Hamm said the brash, savvy executive probably wouldn't have counted himself among the special fraternity of Cardinals fans.
"Maybe at a certain point, and then I think he probably wisely played no favorites," Hamm said. "I know he hated the Mets."
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