ST. LOUIS–Albert Pujols swatted career home run 679 Tuesday night in his first at-bat with the Los Angeles Dodgers back at Busch Stadium. Expect another round of nostalgia Wednesday night when he faces former teammate Adam Wainwright on the hill.
While Pujols is far from the player who departed St. Louis after the 2011 World Series championship, his play with the Dodgers following his release by the Angels has given the baseball world plenty of reason to think he could return somewhere in 2022, especially with the expectation that there will be a Universal Designated Hitter rule in place as part of the new collective bargaining agreement.
Could that be in St. Louis? Should it be in St. Louis, especially with longtime teammates Yadier Molina already re-signed for 2022, and Wainwright on board for pitching again next season, although not yet under contract?
We posed the question to our Facebook page, and within just a few hours, we had nearly 900 comments.
Among them:
- Colin McIntyre Only if he’d help us win. We need to put a stronger team around them to make a push for the World Series. One last ride!
- Charlotte Kluth Pujols already chose his final season with the Cardinals. The 2022 season should focus on Waino & Molina. They deserve it!
- John Munton Call me old school but he should’ve never left. That’s why I give Melina (sp) a lot of respect, he could’ve made hundreds of millions of dollars more by selling himself. But he chose to stay true to the game & the team. Lotta respect for Pujols but I wouldn’t do that.
- John McGroarty The only way I would want to see this happen is if it was a one day deal so he could retire as a Cardinal. He actually probably did us a favor by not signing here long term as the last time he hit over .300 was 2010. His best years were as a Cardinal and he was a key component in us winning 2 World Series Championships!!! Will always have fond memories of AP as a Cardinal!!!
There’s no question from a marketing perspective, the business side of the Cardinals organization would profit from a reunion and the promotional opportunities it would offer. Pujols, who achieved so many career benchmarks in relative obscurity on the West Coast, would be in a position to get his 700th home run wearing the ‘birds on the bat’. He’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer as soon as his career ends. We’ll just have to wait and see when and where that happens.
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