Albert: Your Jersey is Reduced to Just Five Bucks

Stop by any Marshalls stores these days, Albert Pujols No. 5 tee shirts are marked down to just $5. Soon, they will be two for $7.50. You can have dinner in West Port but not at Pujols 5. In fear of losing all the business, ownership wisely and quietly changed the name over the door to the St. Louis Hall of Fame Sports Bar & Grill.

Post-Dispatch wordsmith Bryan Burwell took the St. Louis fans to task for cracking jokes about Albert’s inability to catch fire in California. In fact, until yesterday, he had not hit  a single home in the entire season, and his batting average is under .200. If he was a house, he’d be “under water.”

Fans are p-oohed in Anaheim and booing vociferously every time he steps into the batters box, and rightfully so.

Shed no tears in St. Loo. I for one thing the Cards got a good deal out of Albert leaving. Sure, he was the greatest hitter in all of baseball, and destined for the hall of fame. But, Albert might have fibbed about his age, somewhere down the line. Teams should pay more for potential than past performances. It’s about “what have you done for me lately?”

Any engine, that strong and fine tuned is likely to break down, somewhere down the line. It probably has. Try as he might, he may struggle to the finish line to give the Angels 10 good years for his $240 million contract.

The Cardinals, on the other hand have the opportunity to spread the wealth. They can use the excess cash available to develop future stars like Matt Carpenter, John Jay and Tyler Greene. Greene gave us a sneak preview of what the future might look like with his multiple home run performance yesterday in the Dome in Houston. Jay is crushing the ball at a .400 clip. That’s your Cardinals future.

There is no “I” in team. The Cardinal ownership was wise enough to know when to say when. Adore him or not, everyone has a limit on their self worth.

Besides, Deidra Pujols said it wasn’t about the money? I’ll always wonder then, what was it all about?

El Hombre used to mix the metaphor “respect” into the conversation every chance he got a chance. The Pujols truly felt they were not being respected by ownership. I guess I just don’t get it?

When Hall of Famers like Stan the Man and Red Schoendienst were in the park, Albert was usually the first to pump their hands. Maybe the first base slugger could have picked up a cue about respect from two heroes who spent nearly their entire careers under contract in St. Louis. (Schoendienst was shipped off to Milwaukee for a brief stint).

Sure we love Albert and his family. They support the important local charitable causes. Too bad his mother never told him the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence.

Yes, the season is still very young. But the Cards are 17-11, playing almost .600 ball under new skipper Mike Matheny. They will possibly run away with the division, barring any changes in the order. Pujols is not forgotten, he’s just not really missed.

Those tee shirts at Marshalls are still hanging on the racks.

Editor’s note: As a footnote to history. Rick Ankiel, the guy who was going to get a statue his rookie season here is playing right field for the Boston Red Sox.