ALTON – In the late 1800s, kids who did not have the money for a baseball game ticket gathered around knotholes in the wooden fences surrounding professional baseball stadiums so they could watch for free. In 1917, the Cardinal Knot Hole Gang began, and boys (just boys) could sign up to “see the [St. Louis] Cardinals play free and have good pavilion seats, too, without having to peek through a knothole as dad used to do.” Boys were enrolled through qualified agencies such as the Boy Scouts, the Y.M.C.A., and schools. George A. Rieder was an authorized agent in Alton for the Cardinal Knot Hole Gang during the 1925 season. Sign in to hide this notification. Get The Latest News! Don’t miss our top