DAILY DIRT: There are some bad holidays this month, but the worst might be …

Welcome to today’s three thoughts that make up Vol. 419 of The Daily Dirt.

1. This month we’re celebrating such holidays as Columbus Day, World Mental Health Day, World Homeless Day, Indigenous Peoples Day and Halloween.

OK, those are legit. But do you know what holidays are not legit this month? Take a look at the following:

• National Hug A Drummer Day, Oct. 10: Yeah, it’s stupid. But out of honor for the likes of Ringo Starr, Keith Moon, Phil Collins, Stewart Copeland, Ginger Baker and many others I can do an appreciative nod. Mot just an entire holiday.
• National No Bra Day, Oct. 13: Just add your own comment here.
• National “I Love Lucy” Day, Oct. 15: Never. I absolutely hated that show.
• National Meatloaf Appreciation Day, Oct. 18: I was going to make another snarky comment here, but the more I think about … yeah, meatloaf IS worthy of a holiday. Meatloaf is great — both the food and the musician.
• National Mole Day, Oct. 23: I’m not sure if this “celebration” is for the little animal that invades backyards, or one of those marks on the skin. Either way, no holiday deserved.
• National Bologna Day, Oct. 24: Granted, some food deserves a holiday. Pizza, potato chips, most pastries, ice cream sundaes and hamburgers — all very deserving. But bologna? The only more ridiculous holiday would be a National Spam Day. (OK, true story here. As soon as I typed that I thought I better check. And yep, there actually is a National Spam Day on July 31.)
• National Candy Corn Day, Oct. 30: No, no, no. Candy corn is the bologna of the candy aisle.

2. Hats off to the St. Louis Cardinals, who drew 3.32 million fans (in the regular season).

Only the Los Angeles Dodgers (3.86 million) lured more fans through the turnstiles.

The Cards also outdrew the mighty New York Yankees, the only other club to top 3 million at 3.14 million.

Only the Texas Rangers and Cincinnati Reds drew fewer fans than they did in 2021.

Overall, MLB’s total attendance of 64.6 million fans is the fewest in a non-COVID-19 season since the sport expanded to 30 teams in 1998. The all-time record came in 2007 when 79.4 million fans attended MLB games.

3. Here are my favorite five license plates spotted over the past week:

• 4 BOYS: You’ll also find this one below.
• GIBBY: … and this one, too.
• TIGERS 2: Reminds me of half a score. Tigers 2, Mets 1?
• JAZ NUT 5: A tribute to Miles Davis, Duke Ellington and/or Thelonius Monk?
• SAX 89: A saxophone enthusiast would be too easy, right? Maybe a tribute to former Dodgers second baseman Steve Sax?

For the year, here are the current hot plates halfway through the 10th month:

Gold Medal: 1 KWIKI. This might wind up as a final medal winner for the year behind the legendary LUV YADI and GOL D LOX plates.

Silver medal: 4 BOYS. There’s probably hundreds of stories behind why this was chosen for a license plate.

Bronze medal: GIBBY. It’s October, it’s the MLB playoffs, it has to be in honor of Cardinals legend Bob Gibson, right? This could actually be shared with another plate spotted around town, GIBBY 45.

Steve Thought O’ The Day — For the record, National Steve Day is Dec. 20. I kid you not.

Steve Eighinger writes daily for Muddy River News. I thought every day was National Steve Day.