THE END OF THE SEASON AND TWO GREAT CAREERS

We are three days from the end of the Major League Baseball season. Our beloved St. Louis Cardinals have won their division (there are six) and will proceed into the complex system of playoffs.

Two of the team's all-time greats are retiring at the end of the season. Albert Pujols has been one of the greatest hitters in the history of the game. He played here for 11 seasons, went to California for the big bucks where his production tailed off with age. He came back here for one final season and, at age 42, is tearing up the field. He will finish the season fourth on the all time home run list, based on records going back to the late 19th Century. Yadier Molina, Yadi to the fans, has played here for 18 years at one of the most physically demanding positions in sports. By general acclaim, he is one of the greatest defensive players ever to put on the catcher's armor. Both are headed to the baseball Hall of Fame after the minimum waiting period.

The team set up these boards in a plaza across from the stadium for the fans to leave personal notes and memories. I got there just as the line was forming on Friday. They will be presented to the players today.                    

The Man

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More downtown B&W. This is the statue of Stan Musial or Stan The Man, regarded by many as the greatest player in the history of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team. They have been around since 1892 so that's saying something. However, Musial may in time be surpassed by Albert Pujols, who has just completed 10 years with the team. In that period he has been selected as an All Star nine times. He won the league's Most Valuable Player award three times and may well win it again for this year's season. After the 2011 season he becomes a free agent - the question is whether the Cardinals can afford to keep him. Maybe some day there will be a pair of statues on 8th Street. There would be symmetry since Musial was a left handed hitter and Pujols bats right.

Baseball Memories (Secrets Revealed)

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Last Sunday, there was an open house at Busch Stadium for St. Louis Cardinals season ticket holders. We buy them for the office and mostly give them to clients but the account is in my name. ShadowyOne and I went (see yesterday's post). There were tours of the clubhouse and dugout. When our new stadium opened in April, 2006, season subscribers were invited to write up their memories of the team. You can search for people by name on a couple of video screens on the premises.

So, here's the beginning of the entry for the Strangetastes family, written by me. That guy on the left is your humble blogger in the Cardinals' dugout, sitting where Albert Pujols might hang out. Below, Strangetastes and ShadowyOne, at the special request of VJ. Secrets revealed.

WHAT I"M DOING AS I WRITE THIS: watching the Obama - McCain debate. I don't think I can take two hours of this.

TOMORROW: teddy at third base, or, sentimentality run wild.