The hardest part about hearing that Albert Pujols was leaving the St. Louis Cardinals was the knowledge that I’d have to break the news to my 8-year-old son.
Like me, Daniel is a big-time fan of Pujols and the Cardinals. Unlike his dad, he’s never known baseball or the Cardinals without Pujols. The Cardinals and Pujols are practically synonymous for him.
So when I called to tell him that Pujols was going to be playing for the Los Angeles Angels and not for the Cardinals anymore, Daniel cried. I was half expecting that, but it was painful nonetheless. I’m sure thousands of other dads in Cardinal Nation had similar encounters with their kids after the news broke Thursday.
Cardinals fans had long feared that this day was coming — a day when Pujols, the greatest player of his generation, would leave behind the only team he had known for richer pastures elsewhere. He could have chosen to stay in St. Louis and become one of the city’s greatest heroes. He could have cemented his legacy forever, regardless of how he performed on the field over the life of his contract.
But in the end, the opportunity offered by the Angels was more important to Pujols. Los Angeles offered him a 10-year contract worth $254 million, compared to the St. Louis offer of about $30-$40 million less.
While it’s easy for St. Louis fans to hurl charges of greed and disloyalty against Pujols, who is a dedicated Christian, the fact remains that the Angels offered him not just a little more, but substantially more than the Cardinals did. Money talks for all of us, and most people in their lives have left one job for another largely because of the cash. I’m guessing that many of us, if faced with a decision similar to Pujols’, would have done exactly as he did, despite our protests to the contrary. Millionaires don’t have a monopoly on the desire for more money than they already have.
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SOURCE: Baptist Press
Tim Ellsworth
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