TAMPA – You don’t hear much from Cardinals owner Bill Bidwill.

His son Michael is now the face of the franchise from an ownership standpoint. And all signs point to him doing an excellent job of revitalizing the Arizona organization, with a commitment to making winning personnel moves and keen public-relations skills.

But back to the elder Bidwill. He never was known as much of a talker. Jerry Jones he is not. Bidwill has generally kept a fairly low profile.

Such a low profile that back when the team still called St. Louis home, an editor at the Post-Dispatch realized that the paper had never done a feature on the Cardinals’ owner. So the editor assigned one of his writers to write up a big piece for the front page of the Sunday features section, then known as "Everyday," one of the most-read parts of the paper. He also dispatched a photographer to shoot pictures of Bidwill in his Cardinals office. The plan called for running a large lead photo, spanning nearly the entire width of the paper.

That’s where the story gets interesting. Bidwill has long been known for wearing bow ties. But on the day the photog from the Post-Dispatch showed, Bidwill was wearing a traditional necktie with what appeared to be an almost paisley pattern on it. Lots of squiggles.

The picture was taken. The story was written. Everything was proceeding nicely. But a little glitch popped up as deadline approached. Someone took a closer look at the photo. He turned the photo 90 degrees to eye that tie a little harder. Instead of a just a random pattern, when the picture was viewed sideways, almost plain as day, words jumped out.

And they are not fit for print.

Let’s just say the first word started with “F” and rhymed with muck. The second word was “you.”

Let me repeat this: Bill Bidwill wore a “F You” tie for a scheduled photo shoot with one of this nation’s most respected newspapers.

The person who shared this story with me chalked it up to Bidwill trying to be funny, noting that he had a kind of perverse sense of humor. The first time I heard this story, years ago, I busted a gut. And every time I’ve heard it since, it’s been as funny as the first time. So I guess that me and old Bill have similar senses of humor.

But, of course, the paper couldn’t run the photo as is. In fact, they dodged a bullet. Can you imagine the level of outrage had the paper not noticed Bidwill’s attempt at an inside joke?

The story has a happy ending, though. Since this occurred well before the invention of Photoshop, the Post-Dispatch art department was called into action and airbrushed the naughty phrase off the tie, and the feature ran as planned

And that’s the Bill Bidwill “F You” tie story. I wonder what kind of tie Bill will be wearing come Sunday. Photo editors, you’ve been warned.