Dear Friends,
I am a life long fan of baseball. This began almost as early as my even deeper love of Birds and Nature. Having grown up in St. Louis, my affinity is for the Cardinals. So, I have been caught up in the recent events surrounding the change in allegiance of one of baseballs recent great players- Albert Pujols.
If you don't know, Albert has had 11 years as a Cardinal and those years have been quite remarkable. In fact, if he can continue to do what he has done for let's say 8-10 more years then he is a lock for the Baseball Hall of Fame.
St. Louis has long had a great reputation for being the best place to play baseball. The fans are great and widespread. Even though it is much smaller than many other cities, the surrounding states still have huge bases of Cardinal fans, so you might be sitting next to someone from Texas, Montana or Mississippi - whose grandfather taught them to love the Cardinals. Before 1956 - there were no other teams west of the Mississippi River except St. Louis. It has been referred to as: Baseball Heaven.
In case you missed it the Cardinals won the World Series in 2011- and did so in a totally classic manner. The drama was EPIC. Down to the last strike twice, the Cardinals team rallied in the face of certain defeat to win the team's 11th World Championship.
Against this wonderful storybook end of the year- Albert Pujols became a free agent and left to take $254 Million and move to the Los Angeles area to the Anaheim Angels. With incentives, he could make up to $280 Millions.
The problem came in when He said- "I want to be a Cardinal for life." He also said, " It is not about the Money".
This is only a problem because another of the all time great players was also a Cardinal. His name is Stan Musial. There are not enough words on the planet to sufficiently nor adequately describe Stan. Let's just begin with Loyal and Humble. Stan once rejected an offer of over $100,000 per year (and in those days that was a HUGE amount to pay a baseball player) to stay with the Cardinals. But others have thoroughly written about Stan Musial - and he has been called "Baseball's Perfect Knight". Wow.
There are only a few people in this modern age who have chosen loyalty over money recently. Because we often have negative associations with "the Big Apple", I think it is fair to say that ironically, several of those heroes are New York Yankees. The other great city where baseball is treated rather royally happens to be New York.
Now the biggest difference between the Yankees and the Cardinals happens to be in revenue. The Cardinals are the classic underdog- with about 1/3rd the revenue of the Yankees and it is reflected in the payroll of New York at roughly $300 Million each year versus St. Louis at $100 Million a year. So it in some ways - this discrepancy reflects a David - Goliath situation.
Given all the other complicated stuff involved- here is my response to some comments made by the great Manager of the Cardinals Tony LaRussa- who (by the way)- retired after winning the World Series....
Dear Tony,
Baseball Heaven. The Apple of money. Living in Bliss. Suddenly Cast out into Darkness. The benevolent God (Fans) make this paradise possible. The had seen the perfect Knight in shining armor… and He was called Stan.
Albert Pained? He should be pained. The Fans are pained.
In this time of economic hardship, just like in other hard times, a sport -an entertainment- a diversion from our daily grind of hardship and disillusionment -our own paths of challenge in which we nobly work for good) rakes in the Almighty dollar. But to make it worse it has become the biggest cash Cow of them all.
I work in television production- If I were writing a fictional story for young people, I would want an ending that turned out for the best for everyone. Maybe even the hero would do the right thing over time. But in reality the hero has to go through his own set of stupid errors. He has to overcome the evil owner.. (Oops). He has to be seduced by a greater evil, - his wife has to say stupid things because she is spoiled and lost touch to the point where she thinks athletes "deserve" more than other people. They would leave the garden where life had been good to them, and they were loved by all. They would go to a place where shallowness and illusion surround them. Then the rest of the story would (and will) write itself.
Jesus was not all about the money. So maybe Albert is figuring out where the ego and the spirit each live. Life is a path of learning.
I do not believe Albert is a liar. I only believe he is surrounded by many who want to profit because of and by his talent. Lozano may also be a good person or he may be the Snake. Who knows today? But by the end of this story, where the hero is ejected through his own stupidity from the Garden of Eden…. listening to the whispers of the Snake… He is told "he is an Angel." Only to see his production decline and the God of LaLa land become scornful, He may long to return to the Garden. Perhaps the path is gone, or the gates are closed. Perhaps, a new chosen one has arisen…. ? Well have to see how this story gets written.
Hmm… there may be an Epic story here…. Let's Call it - "The Garden of Albert."
Til then ...
I'll move back to birds on my next post. It is a VERY Birdy Winter!
