The price of money

     First of all, I want to preface this blog, by saying those of you who are tuning in to see my top 5 Cardinal memories, will have to tune in next week.  I apologize for the week delay, however I have had a really busy week and I could do one....but I wouldn't have the time to put into it, to make it really good and worth your time reading.  So, again....I apologize.


     I will not, however, stray from the main topic which is usually the topic of most of my blogs, and that's the St. Louis Cardinals.  Specifically, the best player on the team....Albert Pujols.  Last night was game 2 of the World Series.  The Cardinals were winning in the top of the 9th inning by the score of 1-0.  The Texas Rangers (who the Cardinals are playing) manage to get a couple of runners on base, 1st  and 3rd.  A Rangers batter hits a deep fly ball to the outfield.  The centerfielder fields the ball and makes a strong, but not entirely accurate throw to the infield.  Pujols, who is standing in the infield, twiddling his fingers, all of a sudden decides to lunge and attempts to cut the throw off.  The ball glances off of his glove, and rolls to the catcher.  The runner on 3rd had already scored, and since Pujols didn't field the ball cleanly, the runner who was on 1st, moves up to 2nd and puts himself in scoring position.  Needless to say, this was not good.  Long story short, the Cardinals give up another run and aren't able to do anything in the bottom half of the inning and lose the game, 2-1.  Now, as frustrated as I was in Pujols, I was willing to give him a pass, because he is such a good ballplayer, I have every bit of confidence he will make up for it, and them some, later in the series.  What really frustrated me, was this morning when I wake up, and hear that Pujols, Matt Holliday, and Lance Berkman, left the game without talking to the media.  Now, Holliday and Berkman should have stayed and supported their team and the sportswriters in St. Louis by giving them a few minutes of their time, but that said....what were they going to say?  Nothing other than the same ol reterict that is uttered by every professional athlete after a loss.  "We'll try to do better next game."  Tough loss, but we'll bounce back next game."  "You win some, you lose some...give credit to the other team."  But, when you're Alber Pujols, and you are the best player in the game, sport even....and you have a significant role in whether or not your team won the game, by botching that relay throw, AND you want to be the highest paid player in the history of the game.....you have to talk to the reporters covering that game, and answer their questions.  I'm sorry, but you have to.

     What was the reason he left, you ask.  We will probably never know.  I'm sure the Cardinals PR staff will issue a public statement, stating some b.s. reason.  Truth be told, deep down inside, we all know.  Albert Pujols is rich, and he doesn't have to do anything he doesn't want to do.  I have a big problem with this.  Albert Pujols wouldn't have made half of the money he has made in his life, if it weren't for the fans going to the games, and the reporters getting his name out there, or the broadcasters who tell the touching stories about what a nice guy he is, and how much he does for charity in the off season.  Truth be told, we have made Albert Pujols a millionaire.  Do you think, if you met him on the street and asked him for an autograph, he would give it to you?  No, he doesn't have time for that.  You have to go to one of the team sponsored autograph sessions and put down close to $300 dollars for that honor. 

     I know I come off as a Pujols basher.  I'm really not.  I hope the Cardinals find a way to keep him, and that he retires a Cardinal.  And Pujols, isn't the only professional athlete who thinks they are above everyone else.  That's the price of money.  If you were to travel back in time, and go up to Pujols when he was playing legion baseball, on the outskirts of Kansas City....and you were to go up to him (and his pudgy frame), and ask him for his autograph, he would have gotten a kick out of it.  I'm sure he would have talked to you for a good half an hour about baseball, life in Missouri, whatever.  It's not until these athletes bank accounts become bloated, that they don't have time for the little people.  I don't know....maybe I was born a few decades too late, but I don't think it's unreasonable for the people in this world, that don't have to worry about the things we have to worry about on a daily basis, to give a few minutes to the people in this world that do.