By Rob Rains
The end of the year is always a time for reflection and at STLSportsPage.com, that includes taking the time to look back at our favorite stories published over the past 12 months.
As has been the case in recent years, this year’s list includes feature stories, profiles of up-and-coming Cardinals prospects and human-interest stories about former and current Cardinals. Collecting these stories at the end of the year provides readers with another chance to catch up on any they might have missed when they were first published.
Spring training brought two new coaches to the Cardinals, assistant hitting coach Daniel Nicolaisen and the new bench coach, Joe McEwing. Nicolaisen had an interesting background, being a native of Denmark who joined the Cardinals organization after coaching college softball. Click Here to read the story, published on March 6.
Nicolaisen later resigned from the Cardinals before the end of the season to return to softball coaching at the University of Mississippi.
McEwing was of course better known to Cardinals fans because of his history playing for the team. In our profile on March 22, he talked about what returning to the organization meant to him and his special relationship with George Kissell. After the season it was announced that McEwing was leaving the coaching staff to become a special assistant to John Mozeliak, president of baseball operations. To read our profile of McEwing, Click Here
The 2023 season marked the 10th anniversary of the Cardinals 2013 NL Championship, bringing many of the players from that team back for a reunion at Busch Stadium in May. One of those players was Brock Peterson, whose life changed after baseball when he was paralyzed in a diving accident. Click Here to read the story, published on May 25.
Nobody in baseball spends more time on the road than scouts as they prepare for the annual amateur draft. On June 22, we asked some of them for their favorite stories about life on the road, which resulted in this story. If you missed it, Click Here
We also make it a point to go see some of the Cardinals’ minor-league affiliates each summer, and in July there was a special bonus to a trip to Springfield. The twin sons of broadcaster Chip Caray were in town as the broadcasters for the Amarillo Sod Poodles and we told their story in an in-depth profile published on July 20. If you missed it Click Here
One of the highlights of our coverage each season is the amateur draft, which always produces good stories. The best story this season, however, was about a player who wasn’t drafted but was signed by the Cardinals as a free agent – out of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. If you missed the story on Ross Friedrick, which ran on July 24, Click Here
We hit the road again in August, heading to Springfield and on to Arkansas, to tell the story of the special relationship between Cardinals’ pitching prospect Tink Hence and his dad Marvin. If you missed that story from Aug. 21, Click Here
One of the top stories of the Cardinals’ season, despite the disappointing performance on the field, was the end of Adam Wainwright’s career. As his final game approached, we asked Wainwright of all of the pitchers he had been teammates over the years, who did he think he influenced the most? “Ask them” he said, so we did. In this long story published on Sept. 29, 10 of Wainwright’s former teammates, in their own words, described the influence Wainwright on their careers and their life outside of baseball. Click Here to read that story if you missed it.
Finally, our year concluded as it usually does with a trip to watch more prospects in the Arizona Fall League. While there we had the chance to tell the story of the special relationship between two of the newest prospects in the organization, Tekoah Roby and Thomas Saggese, in a story published on Oct. 25. If you missed it, Click Here
As always, thanks for reading STLSportsPage.com this season and following along with all of our daily Cardinals’ coverage as well as the special features and stories that you won’t find anywhere else.
The 2024 season will hopefully produce better results on the field for the Cardinals but we know that no matter what happens, there will be interesting stories to write and we can’t wait to bring them to you.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Follow Rob Rains on Twitter @RobRains
Photo of Tink and Marvin Hence and family courtesy of Springfield Cardinals
