St. Louis Cardinals DH Albert Pujols. (Scott Keen/Getty Images)
The St. Louis Cardinals opened their season with a pre-game party specifically honoring Albert Pujols, Adam Wainwright and Yadir Molina.
The Cardinals will spend a large part of the 2022 season bidding farewell to three all-time greats: Albert Pujols, Adam Wainwright and Yadir Molina.
The trio have been reunited this season with the Pujols returning to St. Louis but all three are expected to retire at the end of the year.
So the Cardinals made sure to honor the three future Hall of Fame with all their other assembled greats.
Watch Cardinals Honor Albert Pujols, Adam Wainwright and Yadir Molina
An introduction was made to Pujols, Wainwright and Molina and they came out to the diamond to be welcomed by the 16 Cardinals Hall of Famers.
This is the first time since 2010 that the three are in the starting lineup of the Cardinals, According to Katie Wu of The Athletic.
Pujols returned after a decade in Los Angeles. He starred in St. Louis from 2001 to 2011 before signing a long-term deal with the Angels. Replace Angel red with Dodger blue in 2021.
With a global DH rollout in 2022, it made perfect sense for Pujols to end his career where it began, perhaps even making some history in the process. He started Thursday’s opening match against the Buccaneers at that venue.
Wainwright and Molina made up one of the most prolific batteries in baseball history and their story together will continue into 2022 as well. Wainwright took the mound as a start on Thursday with the confidence hunter behind the plate.
The bowler made his MLB and Cardinals debut when he was 23 years old in 2005. He is now 40 and ready to deliver his 17th season while still giving the team his best.
Molina is about to turn forty and enter his nineteenth year with St. Louis. The Strong Hunter is coming out of his 10th All-Star season.
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