The COVID-era phone call between 13-year-old Rainiel Rodriguez and Albert Pujols is the stuff of legends: a prophetic prologue that proves the baseball god’s cosmic devotion to St. Louis, or another parable of Cardinals’ devil magic, depending on your denomination. As...
Chaim Bloom led off his first Q&A with the Cardinals’ amateur media with a pledge to be candid. As special advisor to John Mozeliak for the past two seasons, Bloom watched his predecessor’s tenure end on sour terms with St. Louis fans weary of front office apathy...
Springfield manager Patrick Anderson, then with the Washington Nationals organization, traveled to Taiwan to help friends run a Nike baseball camp. Anderson scouted several “tall, skinny right-handers”, including one that he’d cross paths with again halfway around the...
Mason Molina learned to slow the speed and increase the spin of his devastating changeup at the University of Arkansas pitching laboratory in 2024. After a dizzying start to his professional career – the 22-year-old was traded twice last year – Molina is back in the...
Hours before he haunted Midland RockHounds pitchers – and with Rockwell’s famous Trick-or-Treat playlist ballad “Somebody’s Watching Me” jamming on the stadium speakers on “Halfway to Halloween” theme night – Springfield outfielder Chase Davis spoke about his approach...
A Texas-size steer horn trophy that runs the length of Patrick Anderson’s desk is a showpiece, but rows of stylish shoes in the Springfield skipper’s office are his favorite collectables. Anderson is tasked with steering the Cardinals to consecutive Texas League...
A poignant scene from the baseball epic *61 shows an injured Mickey Mantle receiving an extended ovation as he steps into the batter’s box, while two semi-fictional Yankees newspapermen watch from the press box above. “I’ve never seen him get a hand like this before,”...
In the wee hours of a damp muggy overnight haze, Luis Gastelum struck out Tulsa Drillers’ shortstop Sean McLain and bedlam ensued as the Springfield Cardinals hugged each other in the infield and a handful of diehard supporters that endured a three-hour rain delay...
A sharp fastball and 12-6 curveball that he’s commanded since he was 12 years old helped Cade Winquest pile up strikeouts at University of Texas-Arlington and persuaded the Cardinals to draft the righthander in the 8th round of the 2022 MLB Draft. But Winquest knew he...
