Fredbird, the most famous red bird in St. Louis and the forever face of the St. Louis Cardinals, was officially inducted into the online Mascot Hall of Fame on June 17 – beating out dozens of competitors — he joined an elite roster of baseball’s most beloved characters.

And, as we told you last month—you helped make it happen.

This wasn’t just a win for Fredbird. It was a win for Cardinals fans, for readers of the Jewish Light and for anyone who remembers the late, great Marty Hendin, the Cardinals executive who helped hatch Fredbird back in 1979.

It was Hendin who pitched the idea of a team mascot, inspired by the San Diego Chicken but made uniquely St. Louis. Fredbird was born not in a boardroom but in Hendin’s office filled with giveaways, bobbleheads and 1987 World Series trinkets—a place we lovingly called “Trinket City.”

“Everyone wants to credit me with inventing him and I didn’t,” Hendin told me in a 1998 interview. “He was just sort of put under my wing.”

That line? Pure Marty. Self-deprecating. Sharp. And gently winking at the fact that, yeah—he did help invent him.

When the Jewish Light asked readers to vote last month, the response was instant and enthusiastic. Fredbird’s win wasn’t just a fan-fueled moment, it was a St. Louis mitzvah.

Hendin passed away in 2008, but his spirit never left Busch. As Jewish Light Editor Emeritus Bob Cohn once wrote, “If there is a World to Come for baseball, then Busch Stadium was its Garden of Eden… and if anyone deserves to dwell in that Baseball World to Come, it is the Neshama, the great soul of Marty Hendin.”

Now Fredbird has his plaque. But it was this city—and this community—that gave him flight.

And we’re not stopping there. With Fredbird’s well-documented Jewish “family history” (see: Hendin, Marty), it’s time for the next logical step: induction into the J’s Jewish Sports Hall of Fame… in the newly created Mascot Division.

Is it real? No. Is it necessary? Also no. But, wouldn’t be fun to have one?