Well before ESPN provided instant updates for every Major League Baseball game, there was Mel Allen calling New York Yankees’ games over the radio.

Before satellite TV services offered every MLB game — that’s 2,430 games — there was Harry Caray giving play-by-play from old St. Louis Sportsman’s Park.

The game, and how it is marketed and delivered to audiences, has changed drastically, but many remember the days when baseball scores were found in tiny newspaper type and over the airwaves.

In Mississippi, the choices of catching any live baseball were slim. Picking a favorite team here usually followed whom was most familiar. In 1950, the Braves were still playing in Milwaukee. Atlanta had no team. Texas had no team. The St. Louis Cardinals were the closest team to Mississippi. Catching live games took time and effort.

It also made it pretty easy to pick a favorite team. Many in Mississippi gravitated to the one or two teams that had live games available to hear on the radio — usually the Cardinals.

As technology eventually brought televisions into homes nationwide in the 1950s, the game could be seen instead of heard, but usually it was one game per week that featured the Cardinals or the Yankees.

Local radio station owner Mark Jones said it was past generations’ love affair with the Cardinals, and many inquiries, that led him to land the Cardinals for the entire 2012 season. The Cardinals opened the season on Wednesday with a 4-1 win over the Miami Marlins. The game was broadcast on 1490 AM, like every game will be this year.

Few exceptions — Ole Miss baseball and, in the fall, Rebels football and high school baseball — will pre-empt the Cardinals. But in the dog days of summer, local baseball fans and nostalgics will be able to relive the golden era of baseball.

The true beauty in listening to a baseball game is the ability to paint your own picture of the action. Good broadcasters can make listeners feel as if they have front-row seats. When the imagination is allowed to run wild, without the 17 camera angles per play and constant shots of fans eating hot dogs, the game comes alive in the brain.

The Cards open a series against the Reds on Monday. Tune in to 1490 and be taken to a bygone era. And you won’t have to hang out of a window to listen.