ST. LOUIS  In the St. Louis Cardinals' final homestand before the All-Star break, San Francisco Giants pitcher Randy Johnson received a standing ovation from the Busch Stadium crowd as he walked off the mound en route to his 303rd career victory.

"It's something that happens here, and it's not surprising," an appreciative Johnson says of the warm applause.

This is St. Louis baseball.

Three-and-a-half hours before first pitch, Red Schoendienst, 86, is in full uniform as he walks through the team's clubhouse area, sharing his wisdom from 45 seasons as a Cardinals player, coach and manager.

This is St. Louis baseball.

In Stan Musial Plaza (off Musial Drive by the Musial statue) at Gate 3, several hundred fans wearing Cardinals jerseys, T-shirts, hats — even earrings — line up in an orderly queue to enter the park. By the time God Bless America and The Star-Spangled Banner are sung, the stands are filled in a sea of red to rival a Nebraska football game.

This is St. Louis baseball.

When sports magazines and personalities dub St. Louis "America's Best Baseball Town," they aren't judging it on the toasted ravioli, the Budweiser or the new retro ballpark. It's the fans and tradition.

Perhaps it's the time-honored Midwestern values of community and civility. St. Louis fans have earned a reputation for their loyalty to any player wearing a bird and bat on his chest and appreciation for the accomplishments of the men in road grays. The undiluted baseball atmosphere will be on display today in MLB's 80th All-Star Game, the fifth in the city and the first in 43 years.

"They're the best fans in baseball," Cardinals All-Star first baseman Albert Pujols says. "As long as you play the game the right way, it doesn't matter what you're hitting, the fans are going to support you."

Fox Sports' Joe Buck, who will call the game with former Cardinals catcher Tim McCarver, knows the tradition. He grew up in St. Louis as his father, Jack, was carving his name among the legendary Cardinals broadcasters.

"There's something that's instilled in you as a young person in St. Louis that you respect the game and you respect the opposition," says Buck, whose father died in 2002.

Fans in East Coast hotbeds such as Boston and New York are every bit as passionate, but they work hard to make sure visiting players never feel comfortable. That's not on the agenda here.

"We come to see baseball," Cardinals fan Arlen White, 75, of Nashville, Ill., says at a recent game with his wife, daughter and grandson. "We're not New York fans. They come to harass."

Yankees fan David Curry, 41, a St. Louis native who lives in Stratham, N.H., attended the Futures Game on Sunday wearing a Mickey Mantle road jersey and New York cap.

He agrees most New York fans would find St. Louisans too timid. Not only do the Yankee Stadium faithful get on opposing players, "They intimidate fans, they intimidate our players," he says. But, he adds, "Every other city should take example of how fans are here. I haven't had anybody hassle me."

For years, Chicago's Wrigley Field matched Busch in its combination of passion and patience with the home team. But Cubs fans have taken a harder edge in recent years, a phenomenon Chicago Tribune baseball writer Paul Sullivan described in 2006 as the "Phillyization" of Chicago.

The Cardinals' home has gained a reputation as a boo-free zone, though that has begun to change, particularly with the 2006 move to the new Busch and its higher ticket prices.

"They don't just boo for booing's sake," says former Cardinal Mike Shannon, in his 38th year in the team's broadcast booth. "They want to see a guy down and dirty and playing hard."

Roots run deep

The support is rooted in the city's rich baseball history. The Cardinals joined the National League in 1892 as the Browns (their name from American Association days) and adopted their current nickname in 1900. For 52 seasons, the city was home to two major league teams before the American League Browns moved to Baltimore to become the Orioles in 1954.

Schoendienst, who broke in with the Cardinals in 1945, says, "It was an American League town when the Browns were here, but the Cardinals drew more because they had people come from out of town."

The regional appeal was the product of a broad radio network led by 50,000-watt giant KMOX, which could be heard in more than 40 states at night, and the organization's farm system, which had more than two dozen minor league affiliates at its peak.

"They had 500 minor league players in those days, and they had clubs in Arkansas, Oklahoma, all over," Schoendienst says.

Fans would go to St. Louis to see players they'd been following from their days in the minors.

"They have a lot of knowledge of the game. They've always had good broadcasters," says Schoendienst, who managed the Cardinals to the 1967 World Series title and now is special assistant to the general manager.

The list of men behind the mike includes Harry Caray for 25 years, Buck for nearly 50, Joe Garagiola and now Shannon and John Rooney.

Love and respect for the game, nurtured by the iconic radio broadcasters, were handed down from generation to generation.

White and his wife, Deloris, came to the last home game before the break with their daughter Teresa Miller of St. Charles, Mo., and her son Nick, 24, on his second day home from civilian duty in Iraq. "He was 6 weeks old when he came to his first game," Teresa says of her son.

Stan Atchison, 50, of Warrenton, Mo., was at the game the previous night with his son, daughter and her son.

Each member of the two families, like most, was dressed either in red or a Cardinals white home jersey. Atchison wouldn't think of attending a game in anything else. "It's sacrilegious," he says, laughing.

Small market, big crowds

Not only do they come in red, they also come in numbers.

Playing in the nation's 18th-largest metropolitan area, the Cardinals are again in the top five in major league attendance, averaging 40,229 fans, 90% of regular capacity and a 3.25 million pace.

They have drawn 3 million fans in 10 of the last 11 seasons (missing by 90,000 in 2003), a feat surpassed only by the Los Angeles Dodgers (12 of 13) and matched only by the New York Yankees.

The Cardinals first passed the 3 million mark in 1987. Before that, only the Dodgers had drawn 3 million. (The defending world champion New York Mets reached the magic mark the same year as St. Louis.)

The large, appreciative crowds in an environment away from the glare of a major media market make St. Louis appealing.

Slugger Mark McGwire passed up free agency to re-sign with the Cardinals less than two months after he was acquired from the Oakland Athletics in midseason 1997.

When the Cardinals acquired outfielder Jim Edmonds in spring training of 2000, McGwire greeted him by saying, "Welcome to Baseball Heaven." Six weeks later, Edmonds re-upped.

"I've talked to guys who have been on, like, eight different teams, and they say that's the best place they ever played," says Chicago White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle, who is from nearby St. Charles, Mo., and a member of the AL All-Star team.

Young Cardinals are surprised at how quickly the populace recognizes them. "From the time I showed up — and I wasn't even healthy that first year — everybody knew who I was," pitcher Chris Carpenter says. "People are super nice and not overbearing."

The affection builds with time and is reciprocated, as many former Cardinals settle into the community.

"There's a long line of royalty there that comes back and always wants to be a part of what's going on," Buck says.

The Giants' Johnson recalls warm receptions for accomplishments in other cities but says St. Louis is probably No. 1 "when it comes to all-around appreciation of their players, the history of the game and opposing players. ... It's a fun city to come to because you know it's all baseball here."

Educated fans. Tradition. A baseball town to its core.