As we continue our February thaw, there’s no better time to start talking a little baseball.
With Stan “The Man” Musial scheduled to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom today, his successor as the face of the St. Louis Cardinals promises to steal the headlines all season long.
Albert Pujols has set a deadline of 11 a.m. on Wednesday for discussing an extension to his eight-year, $111 million contract set to expire this year. Pujols is seeking to become the highest-paid player in the major leagues, widely speculated to be asking for $30 million annually for a decade.
Simply put, the Cardinals cannot afford to not sign Pujols, even at a cost of $300 million. If there is a more distinguished athlete currently in the state of Missouri, or even the entire Midwest, please refer me to him.
In 1998, St. Louis stole the national spotlight, as Mark McGwire launched baseballs into the stratosphere en route to a record-breaking 70 home runs. St. Louisans were euphoric, tuning in for every game before examining the box scores and league leaders the following morning.
What they weren’t doing was checking the league standings. The Cardinals finished 19 games behind the division-winning Houston Astros, but you wouldn’t have guessed by looking at Busch Stadium day in and day out.
This “mesmerization,” this power to attract fans from several states away, can only be produced by a handful of players, if that. Of the current Cardinals, only Pujols possesses that capability.
Like McGwire, Pujols represents more than the franchise. He represents the city. He is St. Louis. And if you haven’t noticed, the city doesn’t have much else going for it at the moment. Many buildings remain vacant, and the urban population has declined over the past 30 years. Not to mention a weed-infested softball field/parking lot wasting a full city block right outside the stadium, an empty promise from the Cardinals to build a Ballpark Village of retail and housing development.
The revenue generated for both the Cardinals and the city will far outpace the $30 million owed annually to Pujols, especially as we move further into the 21st century. And for the Cardinals not to realize this, I really don’t know what they’re thinking.
Let’s imagine Pujols leaves St. Louis, for, say, Kansas City. The Royals, who have little to their name at this point (aside from sharing a parking lot with Arrowhead Stadium), are in a better position than many people believe. Pujols and his wife, Dee Dee, met in K.C., and if they have an itch to return home and smell the barbeque, that can outweigh the bright lights of New York, where Albert will get scrutinized and take a back seat to the Steinbrenners.
Watching Pujols spray fastballs around a renovated Kauffman Stadium will only remind St. Louisans of what they had, not what’s in front of them: A Pujols-less Cardinals. Even without Pujols, an inflated payroll leaves the team unable to resign all of their pitching staff in the coming years, and it will likely enter a rebuilding stage. But worst of all, St. Louis won’t have that marquee player to put butts in the seats.
The Cardinals are the heartbeat of St. Louis. Take away the heartbeat of the Cardinals, and watch the excitement slowly fade away. Hindsight is 20/20, and that’s why the Cardinals need the foresight to sign Pujols at all costs.
