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In a couple years or whenever the young man pops onto the radar he will surely get a lot of warm well wishes from Cardinals fans and others.
Brendan Donovan approached MLB•com yesterday to provide an update on his concussion recovery.
On the nausea/vomiting as he ramps up activity, the regret for not wearing a helmet — and his desire to return despite this nearing a lost season…https://t.co/KQeuKFe5xc
— Daniel Kramer (@DKramer_) September 7, 2026
Mark McGwire says the final weekend of the 1998 home run race changed when Sammy Sosa hit number 66 and moved ahead of him 66–65, and says he went to a Tiger Woods/Kobe Bryant place mentally and hit 5 home runs in the next 3 days to finish with 70
“That Friday night, Sammy’s… pic.twitter.com/gWgGUTND27
— Josh Chambers (@JoshChambers) September 8, 2026
Jose Canseco says Tony La Russa was able to successfully manage one of baseball’s most talented and volatile clubhouses with two simple standards, Never be late and when you go between the lines give it 100%, says La Russa’s best skillset was knowing how to communicate… pic.twitter.com/GAnFwLhnol
— Josh Chambers (@JoshChambers) September 10, 2026
A well-deserved Hall of Fame moment for Stubby 👏
Redbirds President & GM Craig Unger and former President Allie Prescott joined Stubby Clapp for a special night celebrating his induction into the Memphis Sports Hall of Fame!#GoBirds pic.twitter.com/Wt2Kk59YKn
— Memphis Redbirds (@memphisredbirds) September 17, 2026
Congratulations to Richard Keith “Stubby” Clapp. Has been with us since being drafted in ’96 as a young pup. One would think that Chaim David Bloom would have made an appearance at this event in Memphis.
On the McGwire 1998 home run finish, I read Felipe Alou’s autobiography recently and Alou talks about that. The Cards faced Alou’s Expos in the final four games and Alou met with his pitchers and pitching coach before the series and said they were going to pitch to him. He said McGwire might beat us, but we are not going to pitch around him – we will go right after him.
The rest is history. After the final game Alou said McGwire saw him on the field and yelled over to him. Alou met him and McGwire said, “Thanks for pitching to me”, and handed him a signed glove.
Alou found McGwire to be a class act, although I know there have been times in public where Mark could be kind of surly. Think he’s mellowed some but am not sure as he is quite private.
although I know there have been times in public where Mark could be kind of surly.
That and add the steroid thing in there and he just wasn’t my favorite player. I saw his 62nd hr. But I hated that year. We kind of sucked and focusing all that attention on one player instead of the team just didn’t sit right with me.
That year seemed to be a fluke. I remember thinking it seemed like a “video game” year. We had two guys reach 60 homers in almost 100 years of baseball, and then out of nowhere two guys in the same season smash the record. Add to that both guys were so much more physically built than they had been in their earlier years.
The whole thing did not pass the smell test. You knew something had to be going on.
Nice bounce back year for Arenado.
Nolan Arenado this season:
27 HR (most since 2022)
78 RBI (most since 2023)
.777 OPS (highest since 2022)
112 wRC+ (highest since 2022)
8.7 BB% (highest since 2019)The 35-year-old has exceeded ALL expectations in his first year in the desert 😤 pic.twitter.com/I61Y0EDrwR
— Just Baseball (@JustBB_Media) September 21, 2026
Along with Arenado, both Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras have been great for Boston. Each has over a 4 WAR. Man, with us needing more production at third base, left field, and the starting rotation, had we kept those guys to mix with the kids we would have likely been a playoff team.
If Burleson could have been at least passable in left field, with Contreras at first and those guys all approaching what they are doing elsewhere this year could have been special. I understand the plan, but just sayin’….
I understand what you’re driving at, Bikemike, but I’m not at all sure any one of those three would have pieced together the type of season they’ve had this year playing in BOS and AZ had they remained in STL. In my estimation, there’s a genuine possibility that each one of those three players have excelled this year because they’re playing for a new organization and under a new manager. I don’t think the current Redbird manager possesses the ability to extract the best possible performance from his players. Especially veteran players, but that’s just how it looks from my seat.
I think Oli has done a very good job of bringing the rookies along. But I’m not confident that he could lead a team of veteran players. I think Yadi’s Cardinals HOF speech was cathartic for him. He let go of his emotional ties to his playing days. He looked really energized when he returned to the dugout after that HOF ceremony. Because of Yadi’s experience, intensity, and prestige, I think he will one day manage a major league team.
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