ST. LOUIS — If you’ve been to any Blues game since 1990, you’ve seen him and—hopefully—counted along with him.
His name is Ron Baechle, but Blues fans know him as Towel Man (not Towel Guy, as a lot of people say).
Baechle is arguably the biggest Blues fan around. He bleeds blue at every home game, and every time the Blues score, fans wait to count along with him.
With the wave of his arm and a towel in his hand, he gets the whole crowd to cheer while standing near his seats in section 314.
The Towel Man gets thousands of people to cheer with him now, but 29 years ago it started with just a dozen people in his section.
“I just told myself as long as I’m having fun with it, I’m going to keep doing it. And here we are 29 years later, and I’m still having fun doing it. It’s a blast,” Baechle told 5 On Your Side’s Rene Knott.
Baechle said it took three seasons for the whole crowd to get on board.
But the goal counting tradition hit some bumps along the way. These days he throws out small rally towels, but back then, he was throwing actual bath towels into the crowd.
“Which were too big because I was hitting people in the head when I was starting it,” he said laughing. “It was trial and error.”
Now, the Enterprise Center spotlight shines on Baechle as he counts with the crowd. He even said he’s heard the tradition is one of the top things fans do that annoy visiting teams.
“Number one was the cannon in Columbus and number two was us counting goals. So, that’s doing your job if you can get under their skin,” Baechle said.
He isn’t employed by the Blues. Baechle said his role as The Towel Man is all in fun, but he takes the position seriously.
“Because it’s our team,” he added. “I want the fans to know that we matter to the players.”
Baechle said watching the Blues go on this historical run has been magical.
“This is as close to heaven as I’ve felt, and now I’ll tell you what heaven looks like in one more win. One more win. It’s exhilarating,” he said.
When asked whether the Blues can win it all in Game 7, he responded: “I know we can do this.”
Baechle said he plans to watch the game in the same seat at the Enterprise Center where he always cheers on the Note.
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