Yadier Molina and Albert Pujols will go into the Cardinals Hall of Fame together, a reunion that starts on the field and ends in red jackets. Bill DeWitt III announced the inductees before Friday's game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, saying Molina led the fan vote and Pujols finished second.
DeWitt said he could not be happier for Molina and the fans, and called Pujols a legendary Cardinal figure. It is the first time two players have been inducted through the fan vote in the same year, and Bill Sherdel will join them after being selected by the Red Ribbon Veterans Committee.
The class lands with extra weight because Molina and Pujols helped define one of the best stretches in St. Louis Cardinals history from 2003 through 2011, when they were teammates for most of those seasons. Pujols spent the first 11 years of his career with St. Louis, while Molina played all 19 of his seasons with the club and finished with a.277/.327/.399 line, 176 home runs and 1,022 runs batted in.
That is what makes this year’s class feel more like a homecoming than an honor roll. Molina, a 19-year veteran, and Pujols, a 10-time All-Star and nine-time Gold Glove recipient, arrive together after taking different paths to the same place, and the next time the Cardinals game today turns ceremonial, it will be because two of the franchise’s defining players are finally getting their plaques side by side.
