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Magic in 11 for Cardinals and others

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Oct. 28, 2011 - A catchy phrase or destiny: 11 in 11.

Destiny. After David Freese belted a homer in the bottom of the 11th inning (there's that number again) to send the World Series to a Game 7, the joy of Cardinal Nation seemed ordained.

Even before the Cardinals magical run, 11 was coming up big.

33 on 11/11/11

Amanda Tinnin isn't sure how she'll spend her birthday, but she knows it will be special this year.

The St. Louis Science Center employee who lives in Alhambra, Ill., about 35 miles northeast of downtown, will celebrate the day of her birth on 11/11/11. It's not the first time the duplicative nature of the date has struck her.

This is, after all, her 33rd birthday. Another double.

"I remember when I turned 22 and I thought that was cool because I was 11/11 and if you add them together it makes 22," said Tinnin, a self-proclaimed "science nerd" who can proudly translate her birthday from binary numbers into decimal (111,111 converts to 63 in a base-ten system). "I don't think it's had any significance. I don't think it's made it easier for my boyfriend or parents to remember."

Tinnin doesn't believe in numerology or superstition but for many St. Louisans, the upcoming triplicate date will indeed herald at least a moment's pause, particularly for those who are scheduling a major life event or who simply find the numerical significance interesting.

Planning by the Numbers

Double numbers can mean crowded appointment books in some fields.

"It is a huge thing in the wedding industry because this is their anniversary so it makes it easier for them to remember it," said Stephanie Zettl, a Central West End wedding photographer who runs Zettl Photography with her husband, Peter. "A lot of times they'll create a theme around it."

One of Zettl's clients, the McNeils, native St. Louisans who live in Los Angeles, didn't quite know what they'd lucked into when they scheduled their wedding on July 7, 2007.

"We didn't really have the 7-7-7 in mind, didn't really realize it because we'd gotten engaged two years earlier," recalled Jodi Rosenthal McNeil.

But she and husband Nathan, both 34, ran with it, even incorporating the "lucky, 7-7-7" theme into a few aspects of the event.

Jodi said that numerology doesn't play a big part in her life but she felt numbers could have some meaning. In fact, the couple later noticed that their 7/7/07 wedding date was very close to seven years, seven months and seven days after they first found each other.

"We actually met a couple of days prior so you could throw in seven years, seven months, seven days and 77 hours," she chuckled. "That might be it."

Jodi Rosenthal McNeil, who married on 7/7/07, doesn't have a strong belief in numerology but does think it might make a difference. She laughingly says people often ask if the couple wants seven children. She is several months pregnant with her first child.

The baby is due on her husband's birthday.

"I do believe in certain numbers having significance, especially to an individual," she said. "It's just what day you believe or make special in your own life."

So is seven her lucky number?

"It is now," she chuckles.

Doubles on Hiatus

But this time the double-duty day means something else. Nov. 11 will mark not only a duplicative date but the end of an era replete with such calendarial oddities. Without counting zeroes in front of days, months or years, the bumper crop of such duplicative dates began in January 2001 occurring four times that year (two times in January and two times in November) and twice in February of the following year, with a once-annual occurrence every year thereafter except 2010, at regular 13-month intervals.

But that bounty of numerical multiplicity will come to a screeching halt Nov. 11, with no more occurrences until February 2022 when two such dates will pass on the second and 22nd of the month before the oddity returns to its usual 11-year cycle. Like 2001, this year contains four such dates 1/1/11, 1/11/11, 11/1/11 and 11/11/11.

Still, for true doubled-digit purists Nov. 11 will be the holy grail of dates. Only once a century does a date align all six digits with no pesky zeros to ruin the fun. One is the sole number for which such a feat is possible.

Ellen Gutierrez, owner of local planner Bride's Vision Weddings and Events, said that the day a particular date falls on can make a significant difference with weekends being more popular event dates than weekdays.

"St. Louis is a spring, summer, fall wedding market," she said. "That's not to say we don't have winter weddings because we certainly do but 1/1/11 was probably less popular."

Gutierrez found a significant date for her own wedding. By pure happenstance, it took place on the birthday of both of her grandmothers. She notes that both her husband and her cousin's husband have the same birthday.

"My cousins always laugh at me because I'm the keeper of the family coincidences," she said.

Orderly Numbers

People sometimes schedule weddings on interesting dates and it's not just doubled numbers that can create a perfect event environment. Last month, the orderly 9/10/11 date fell on a weekend. It's a Saturday that Heather and Corey O'Brien, a Lake St. Louis couple will remember for the rest of their lives.

"When we got engaged, we knew we wanted to do a date in the fall, sometime in September and when we were looking at the dates, we just happened to pick that one," said Heather, 24. "When I found out it was 9/10/11, I definitely wanted to stick with it."

She said people often comment on the sequential nature of the choice.

"I'm not superstitious at all. I don't really believe in that," she said. "It was just something I thought was cute and, hopefully, he'll remember our anniversary."

What's in a Number?

For some, the upcoming festival of oneness can have significance for their business, even if they didn't plan it that way.

"Several have already tried to buy the restaurant out for different events they wanted to do," said Paul Hamilton, owner of 1111 Mississippi. "We didn't allow them to do it because we wanted to leave it open to our regular guests."

Hamilton said his Lafayette Square bistro will spend the week of 11/11 offering a variety of original menu items as specials as well as giving away a mimosa drink to anyone in the restaurant at 11:11 a.m. and champagne to patrons at 11:11 p.m. On the preceding Thursday, the restaurant will decide on a bottle of wine to give away for $11.11. Gift certificate drawings will be available on 11/11 itself.

Gift certificates have sometimes been given away in the past for those whose check totals $111.11.

"It's happened twice before that I know of," Hamilton said.

Like Tinnin, south St. Louis resident Mary McFarland will be celebrating her birthday on the 11th as well - her 50th. The Rolla native recalled that she was one of three girls born on 11/11/61 on her small dead end street.

"What are the odds of that?" she said.

McFarland plans a large party for her birthday at a local bar and grill.

"People have always said that 1 is kind of a powerful number so I'm looking hopefully to have good things coming with this birthday," she said.

The 11 Vibration

Do numbers have deeper meaning? Kathy Berg, a numerology, astrology and Tarot consultant at the Center for Mind Body and Spirit in University City thinks so. She believes they can help indicate personality traits and said the number 11 has to do with mental realms and the transmission and understanding of universal truths as well as implying contact with higher dimensions.

"It's a very spiritual, transformative, lovely number," she said. "It's wonderful if you use it. A lot of people might have the 11 vibration in them but not use it."

Numerology.com pinpoints 11 as the most intuitive of all numbers, often associated with faith and physics. By contrast, the number 1 is described by the site as individualistic and independent displaying leadership and drive.

Though Berg said that opinions vary, she feels that doubled numbers do have special numerological meaning to some individuals who have a predominance of them in their lives. However, she also notes that technically numerologists add up the digits for the entire year meaning 2011 would actually equal four, not 11.

Looking at what Berg had to say and thinking about the Cardinals, one sees the Tony La Russa reputation in the mental realms, transmitting universal truths. But its that 11 vibration, flowing through the bat onto a blazing fastball, sending it far into the St. Louis night that St. Louisans are interested in.

David Baugher is a freelance writer. 

David Baugher
David Baugher is a freelance writer in St. Louis who contributed to several stories for the STL Beacon.