Probably not 2005, but still cool.
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yeah probably 2007? Anyway........

We deserve better than this club. This effort from everyone connected to the Cardinals organization. Trout deserves to play on a winning team and a great fan base.

Albert Pujols said Mike Trout told him playing in this series feels like the posteason every at-bat, every play.
Pujols said he told Trout, "I lived that for 11 years here."

— Ben Frederickson (@Ben_Fred) June 22, 2019

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Funny how things have changed. St Louis went full Cleveland in 2011, but let's not let facts get in the way of the narrative.


https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/...G43M0uLN42Xqys

A warning to any fans thinking of attacking the statue of Albert Pujols at West Port Plaza and tearing it down เ la Saddam Hussein: Security guards have been posted there.
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Eh that’s the author’s addition (thought don’t doubt fairs) and quotes on the article sound reasonable of disappointed and/dumb fans but little anger. Any jerseys getting lit in streets?
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I dont know what "full Cleveland" means. What am I missing?
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Pujols was my favorite player since Gibson, not just because of the greatness but the competitiveness.

I'm sure you can go to the 2012 thread and find me bitching about the cheap Cardinals not paying him. Then bitching about his leaving for 10% more.

But, 8 years later its obvious that it was the best outcome for the Cardinals and him too. His reputation would be trashed with most fans due to his decline in play and all the injuries. We saw the best 11 years of any baseball player who ever lived wearing the birds on the bat. 2 WS championships. That deserves every loud and long standing ovation.
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Like when Lebron left Cleveland, Cards fans acted the same way about "Pujol$" leaving. It was nasty. It seems everyone is now pretending that never happened.
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I was pretty pissed at the time, mainly because at one point he said he'd stay and obviously had no intention of doing so. That sucked.

But unlike James, he got paid, and that was it. He began to decline almost immediately, and has never even sniffed the success he had in St. Louis. Anaheim is basically a place where superstars go to waste their careers; he's been irrelevant since the day he left, other than the occasional milestone achievements he's reached. And he also never actively participated in a game that hurt the Cardinals. There was no Bronco Neil moment where he gleefully fucked us over. I'm sure he wouldn't have received a standing ovation and curtain call had his first home run in Busch been one that cost us a World Series.

Mainly it's just kind of sad. He could have been like Brett, Rivera or Chipper Jones, but instead he took the money and ran. I'm all sure that extra money is great, but they don't cheer him like that in Anaheim, and there's no way he doesn't miss it.

Oh well. At the end of the day, the Cardinals got the best years of his career, and the Angels paid for them. Thanks for the memories.
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:-)
I just talked about that in my post. I was pissed at both sides. I was probably the norm.

Time heals all wounds. That healing is helped by the 8 years of time. We now know it would have sucked if he had stayed due to his decline and injuries. He was almost a DH from year 1. NL no DH. If he stayed, it would have got ugly.


Seeing the reaction this weekend, if he selects the STL cap for the HOF, he gets a statue at Bush III.
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Yup. In Clevelands case, i get it. The over the top "decision" announcement. The way Lebron strung the team along for months just to build hype around the decision. Most importantly, Lebron didn't finish what he started. He didn't win Cleveland a championship for a city that had the longest championship drought at the time. Plus, he was homegrown in Ohio.

I guess I never got the hate for pujols. He gave 11 years where he was underpaid. He didn't leave in a bad way. I mean, I would be pissed as all hell if mahomes ever leaves kc but if he plays for 10 years and delivers us a super bowl let alone multiple, how can I be mad at that?
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A decade later we see it was good for all sides. pujols left not for money, but more years guaranteed. Cardinals didn't want to give him that and they were right. STL didn't get hamstrung by a bad contract. Albert got to play in a DH league with guarantees that force him into a lineup so he can keep chasing career leaderboards. And Anaheim, let's be real... Nobody gives a shit about baseball there so pujols' brand alone probably has made them a good amount of money. All sides won in the end.
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People were pissed at Albert because he said he was insulted with the Cards $190MM offer or whatever it was. He got more from the Angels but the Cardinals offer would have been over paying him given his drop off.

He also repeatedly claimed it wasn't all about the money then went for the $$.
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I’ve never felt bad about Pujols leaving for that contract and hear little to the contrary. One of the best players in MLB history and also not a complete asshole about it.
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I agree that it worked out well for both sides. Obviously had he returned to play in against the Cards the next year the response would have been very different than in 2019
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Correct. There was definitely some animosity towards him at first, but as others have pointed out, that has faded with time.
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