OPENING DAY BERNIE BITS!
I thought I’d hit some fungoes in advance of the 2025 season-opener at our baseball cathedral. On these occasions I usually try to engage in a romantic, overly dramatic piece of scene-setting writing.
I think I will do that at the start of this particular masterpiece (ahem). But then I’ll offer a mix of stuff after that. Who knows what words will emerge from my cerebrum? Come along for the ride...
MY FAVORITE OPENING DAY MEMORY
It involves Stan Musial and Albert Pujols. I was stunned in 2001 when Stan the Man unexpectedly appeared at Coors Field in Denver before the Cardinals-Rockies launch of the new baseball year. I’ve told this story a few times, so I hope you don’t mind if I share it again. (This is what old-goat sportswriters do.) Anyway, The Man was in Denver for an autograph show. He showed up at a ticket window at Coors and said, “Hi, I’m Stan Musial and I’m wondering if I could come in and watch the ballgame.”
A startled Rockies’ staffer noticed Musial and escorted him inside. He was asked to make the ceremonial first pitch and happily agreed. So there he was, standing out there in a suit and tie, all waves and smiles, lobbing a baseball to home plate to get 2001 rolling. It was just a stunning visual, at least for me.
This, of course, was Pujols’ first regular-season MLB game. He started in left field and batted sixth in Tony La Russa’s lineup, hitting between Placido Polanco and Mike Matheny. With the Cardinals losing 6-0 in the top of the seventh inning, Pujols smashed a Mike Hampton pitch for a ground-ball single through the left side of the infield. That was the first hit of Pujols’ major-league career. He would go on to crank 3,383 more hits in the regular season, with another 97 in the postseason, for a career total of 3,483. Including the postseason (all World Series games) Musial stroked 3,652 hits.
Both legends played 22 major-league seasons. Both won three National League MVP awards. Stan and Albert became good friends. Musial would light up when he saw Pujols on visits to Busch Stadium. Pujols would dote on Musial, and his fondness and admiration for the greatest Cardinal of them all was obvious and beautiful.
One of my favorite photos, taken by Chris Lee of the Post-Dispatch, showed Pujols lovingly straightening the collar of Stan’s Cardinals-issued jacket on a cold day at the previous Busch Stadium. Musial was seated in a golf cart, waiting to be driven out to the field. As Pujols smoothed Musial’s collar, the photo showed Stan resting his left hand on Albert’s right leg, just above the knee.
And then they were on their way. My goodness. In the history of the planet, has there ever been more baseball talent seated in the same golf cart? In their combined 44 MLB regular seasons, Musial and Pujols played on 6,106 games, produced 7,014 hits, whammed 1,178 home runs, drove in 4,169 runs, scored 3,863 runs, produced 2,782 extra-base hits, accumulated 12,345 total bases, won six MVPs, were chosen for 35 All-Star games, and were the No. 1 players on Cardinals teams that won five World Series championships and seven NL pennants.
Pujols was able to reach The Man on the phone two hours before Musial died at age 92 on Jan. 19, 2013.
“I love you,” Pujols told the dying Stan. .
(I must briefly pause to reach for a tissue. Thank you.)
"It was such a sad day,'' Pujols told USA Today back then. “But I am so blessed to have spent time with him the last 12 years. He blessed my life, and many, many lives in baseball during his career, and after his career. He touched so many lives. Thank God I had the opportunity to know him."
Pujols made his major-league debut exactly 21,748 days after Musial went 2 for 4 with a double and two RBIs in a win over the Boston Braves on Sept. 17, 1941.
And as Pujols loosened up to play in his first big-league game, Musial just came out of nowhere, 850 miles from St. Louis, to be part of what would become a historical day of note for the Cardinals. Simply because The Great Pujols had arrived, and he would ascend to such an extraordinary level of greatness in our national pastime.
I tend to get all misty and sappy over these types of things, so I believe in the baseball gods, and I believe that Musial was there in Denver that day for a reason.
I believe the baseball gods knew that Pujols was going to become one of the best players that ever lived. In fact, the baseball gods probably scripted it this way: Pujols would become the only hitter in major-league history with a combination of at least 3,000 hits, 2,000 RBIs, 700 home runs, and multiple MVP awards.
I believe the baseball gods sent Musial to stand in the same ballpark, right down there on the field, when the young Prince Albert, age 21, began a journey that will lead him to Cooperstown.
I do not believe – not for a minute – that Musial’s appearance was random. I believe the benevolent baseball gods sent Stan the Man to Denver to pass the torch … and indeed that torch was passed. The greatest Cardinal hitter of them all, handed off his legacy to the second-greatest Cardinal hitter of them all.
Destiny, man.
Destiny.
If you can’t believe in destiny every now and then, well, that's your call. Me? I’m hanging with the baseball gods on Opening Day.
THREE CARDINALS I’M ROOTING FOR IN 2025
1. Willson Contreras: He may not be an industry-wide star, but I love his intensity, competitiveness, pride, and joy for playing the game. And he’s a helluva hitter, a fact that is bizarrely and sadly underappreciated by at least a percentage of folks who claim to be Cardinals fans – and none of their reasons make any rational sense. This man is an imposing physical presence, and he can have a fierce demeanor. But he is a thoughtful person with a deep soul, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Cardinal react with such grace as Contreras when he was scapegoated by gutless, no-account pitchers who wanted to blame their awful performances on the new catcher who wasn’t Yadier Molina. And manager Oli Marmol went along with it until he realized the injustice of it all.
Through two turbulent seasons as a Cardinal, Contreras has performed 33 percent above league average offensively. And when he was given a wide open opportunity to move on, Contreras told Cards president of baseball operations John Mozeliak that he had no desire to waive his no-trade clause – because St. Louis was where he wanted to be. Give this man a standing ovation.
2. Victor Scott II: What’s not to love? Because of injuries to outfielders, he was rushed to the big leagues at the start of the 2024 season and wasn’t ready. And then he struggled for a long time at Triple A Memphis. The overall experience was overwhelming, negative and humbling. So what does a young prospect do after his first knockdown punch of failure? Work harder than any player in the St. Louis organization – and we’re talking every day, or at least most days, during the entire offseason. Fielding drills in Jupiter with coach Jon Jay. A relentless determination and sessions with coaches to modify and improve his batting stance – better hand placement and more leg drive – to have a quicker bat and more power. If Scott gets off to a slow start, the dunghill locations on unsocial media will rage-tweet. Compared to last year, I think V. Scott has the strength of mind and confidence to avoid being poisoned by the unsocial-media reptile house that’s contaminated by bacteria and parasites … and yes, many some really good people as well. Shout out to the good people.
3. Nolan Arenado: He’s had the chance to bolt St. Louis several times but said NO to each getaway opportunity. He actually likes it here. OK, we can’t hate a Los Angeles dude for living in his home base. But the Dodgers didn’t want him, and hitting the replay button on Kendrick’s Lamar “Dodger Blue” didn’t help. Maybe it’s time to go with some old-school “Midwest Swing” by the St. Lunatics. But seriously, I’d like to see Arenado hit 20+ home runs and slug .430. Then he can play Kendrick’s “Reincarnated.” And now this old-goat sportswriter will stop making a fool of himself by citing rap artists – though I wonder if ‘Nado has sampled music from the STL talent pool. We got some choppers here.
Random thought and a quick cheap shot: I would say I’m rooting for young starting-pitcher prospects Michael McGreevy and Quin Mathews … but hey, the front office has made its ruling, and according to the roster reveal, those young dudes aren’t as good as Miles Mikolas and Steven Matz. And as we all know, this front office sure knows a helluva lot about starting pitching, so here is my nod of appreciation for their expertise.
REASONS TO BE HAPPY, CARDINALS FANS
– It’s Mozeliak’s final season.
– It’s Miles Mikolas’ final season.
– On the secondary market, tickets are cheap and plentiful.
– Chaim Bloom and Rob Cerfolio have done an impressive job in the initial phase of rebuilding an outdated and woefully inadequate in the development/farm system that was the equivalent of a 1975 Ford Pinto that I drove for a while in high school. Many new hires. Many more smart people. The latest in technology. A change from the dumbness that has made the Cardinals so mediocre.
– The elite infield prospect JJ Wetherholt is starting the season at Double A Springfield, so he’s getting closer to St. Louis, and with a smarter minor-league operation in place, no one will be doing anything stupid to ruin him.
– We will have many, many trade rumors popping up to occupy our thoughts, and the gossip may be more exciting than the baseball.
– Sorta some Cardinals hope from baseball analyst Joe Sheehan, and please check out his newsletter by going to JoeSheehan.com
– Here’s what Sheehan wrote near the conclusion of his Cardinals 2025 preview: “John Mozeliak, it’s fair to say, hasn’t been as good at his job in the 2020s as he was in the 2010s,” Sheehan wrote recently. “With all that has gone wrong, though, the Cardinals maintain a high floor. They’re one of three teams with a claim to #2 in the NL Central behind the Cubs. Projections have them under .500; I think they look a lot like they did at the end of last year, with .500 as a floor and some wild-card upside, especially if they turn over the back of the rotation to the kids quickly.”
– The NL Central is still filled with ne'er-do-well teams. The Cubs are the only team spending money above the loose-change level, but even then the North Siders could have done so much more to seize this division before the season even started. This could be the year where all five teams go 81-81.
STAT BOY STRIKES AGAIN
That would be me. And I am down there in the mines at all hours, chipping away at the jagged rocks, and sifting through the dirt, to uncover potential gems. With that in mind, I have something to offer: for those of you already have made up your minds about Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman (“busts!” … then please pipe down, just a little. Young hitters struggle. Young hitters are also judged, too often, on their worst stretches of offense – the dreadful stuff – instead of a larger body of work.
Jordan Walker: The big man had a lost season in 2024, batting .201 with a .603 OPS at age 22. Really bad, right? Well, that settles it then.
No, not really.
Stat Boy has a dose of perspective. Here are the names of eventual Hall of Fame players who were terrible or below-average offensively (per OPS+) as big-leaguers in their age-22 seasons: Roberto Clemente, Adrian Beltre, Rod Carew, Ryne Sandberg, Willie McCovey, Ron Santo, Brooks Robinson, Craig Biggio, Red Schoendienst, and Frankie Frisch.
There are others. I’m not saying Walker will be a Hall of Famer. But with only 584 big-league at-bats on his resume, Walker has a .255 average, .317 onbase percentage, .423 slugging rate, and a .740 OPS in his two seasons. His 101 OPS+ is slightly above the league average offensively. Is that what we want to see? No, not really, because Walker has the talent to smash baseballs and do formidable damage.
OK, more about his early-career 101 OPS+ … keep in mind that 100 is average. Here’s a sampling of some OPS+ by prominent players after their first two big-league seasons:
+ Adrian Beltre 94 OPS+
+ Roberto Clemente, 92 OPS+
+ Ryne Sandberg, 86 OPS+
+ B. Robinson, 77 OPS+
+ Cardinals’ outfielder Chick Hafey, a Cooperstown Hall of Famer, had an 87 OPS+ through his first two seasons.
There are other examples. The point? Patience. I’d really like to see Walker put it together in 2025, because the Cardinals desperately need him to become a star.
Nolan Gorman: In his first 1,085 major-league plate appearances – covering 2022, 2023, and the first two-plus months of 2024 – Gorman was tied for 5th among left-handed NL hitters with 58 homers. He was 12th among LH batters with a .454 slugging percentage. That’s based on a decent sample size of 1,000 plate appearances over that time.
In Gorman’s next 196 plate appearances – before the Cardinals demoted him to Memphis on Aug. 21 of last season – he hit .170 with a 40 percent strikeout rate. Good grief that 40% strikeout rate made Adam Dunn look like Tony Gwynn at the plate. Mr. Gorman, I’d like to introduce you to some new friends: Joey Gallo, Chris Davis, and Russell Branyan. Dunn is wandering around in the club, too.
OK, so after putting up strong power numbers in his first (nearly) 1,100 big-league plate appearances, Gorman moved into Whiff City. That was on the edge of the Grand Canyon.
I get that. But what’s the more meaningful sample size? Is it 1,100 plate appearances – or 200 plate appearances? Dude is 24 years at the start of this season. And some want to cast him aside? Answer this: do you see any genuine power hitters in the St. Louis system, majors included?
NATIONAL LEAGUE CENTRAL PREDICTION
1st Place: Cubs. They’ve increased their bullpen depth, and their overall depth, and have more options to lean on during tough times. All of the bullpen additions should boost the late-inning protection. Last season the Cubs ranked 24th in the majors when leading a game through the 7th and 8th innings. After an erratic 83-win season in 2024, The Craig Counsell Effect will set in as he enters his second season as Chicago’s manager. Oh, and hello Kyle Tucker. Keep an eye on second-year outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong, who came on strong after the ‘24 All-Star break, hitting .284 with a .794 OPS in his final 58 games.
2nd Place: Brewers. I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt, only because pundits underestimate the Crew before every season. And Milwaukee has become the “Devil Magic” team the Cardinals used to be. That said, the Brewers have lost a lot of talent over the last two years including No. 1 starter Corbin Burnes, shortstop Willy Adames and ace closer Devin Williams. Milwaukee has been losing potential starting rotation pieces left and right including Tobias Myers, DL Hall, Robert Gasser, Aaron Ashby and Brandon Woodruff. Nestor Cortes – acquired from the Yankees for Williams – should help stabilize the rotation. And while Woodruff is ready to work in real games again after missing 1 and ½ seasons with shoulder problems, his viability has yet to be determined. The Crew will need a special season from phenom outfielder Jackson Chourio, catcher William Contreras and left fielder Christian Yelich. Chourio is an amazing talent; last season as a rookie he overcame a slow start to post a .791 OPS with 21 home runs and 22 steals at the age of 20.
3rd Place: Cincinnati. Why? Because future Hall of Fame manager Terry Francona came out of a brief retirement, feels healthy, and has arrived in Cincy to clean things up. As spring-training camp opened for the Reds, Francona said his priorities were defense, defense, defense and baserunning, baserunning and baserunning. After putting so much emphasis on those areas – the Reds should have no problem improving on their 77-win season in 2024. This team has a good rotation, a lot of talent and athleticism – and lots of questions. Well, so do the other four NL Central entries. But think about this one: last season the Reds finished 28th in defensive runs saved (minus 30), 23rd in outs above average (minus 15) and had more runners thrown out on the bases (66) of any team in the majors. That included getting 39 runners cut down, combined, when trying to advance to third base, or make a dash to home plate. Do you think Francona will let this chaos go on defensively and on the basepaths? Of course not. Beware the Reds.
4th Place: Cardinals. They’re bringing back most of the team that won 83 games last season. But getting to 83 wins required a remarkable performance from the team’s bullpen. Last year the Cardinals were 64-4 when leading through seven innings, and 69-1 when leading through eight innings. That included a 16-2 record when finishing the seventh inning with a one-run lead, and a 15-0 record when having a one-run read through eight innings. Sorry, but I just don’t see anything like that happen again. The Cardinals have an iffy starting rotation, and the offense won’t awaken in a substantial manner unless (A) guys like Walker, Gorman, Lars Nootbaar, Alec Burleson, Brendan Donovan Ivan Herrera have productive seasons; and (B) Contreras gets a lot of damage done with the many extra at-bats he’ll take now have as a first baseman; (C) get a decent if not dramatic rebound season from Arenado; and (D) a surprise emerges to put up good numbers. Victor Scott?
5th Place: Pirates: Paul Skenes. A good rotation if Jarred Jones recovers from elbow inflammation instead of having the issue become more serious. Bullpen should be OK. The offense is dispiriting – projected to rank 26th in runs scored because the Pirates did very little to improve it. The horrendous team owner Bob Nutting doesn’t seem to care about the possibility of wasting the next five seasons with Skenes in place as a big-time ace.
Welcome back, baseball. Missed you.
Thanks for reading …
–Bernie