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St.Louis stops Brewers
Cards to meet Texas in World Series
MILWAUKEE – On stage stood the architect, the puppeteer and the star.
John Mozeliak, Tony La Russa and David Freese(notes), as they are
better known, wore matching grins. They are the general manager,
manager and third baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals, who minutes
earlier won the National League pennant, and they had their arms around
one another, finally intertwined literally after spending so much time
figuratively.
Around them, a couple dozen ballplayers hugged and poured beer on one
another and acted like overgrown children given the run of the room,
and nobody was stopping them. Because, really, who or what could stop
the Cardinals? Certainly not the Milwaukee Brewers, whose home-field
mastery proved no deterrent in the Cardinals’ 12-6 victory Sunday night
at Miller Park that capped a little more than two weeks during which
they’ve gone from afterthoughts to the World Series.
Of all the places to start, of course it was at a Burger King in Los
Angeles in December 2007, because all great stories start at Burger
King. David Freese was eating lunch. His phone rang. He didn’t
recognize the number so he let it roll to voicemail. He listened to it.
The voice on the other end said it was John Mozeliak, who had taken the
Cardinals GM job six weeks earlier. Mozeliak said he had made a trade
for Freese and wanted to talk with him.
Freese laughed. Must’ve been one of his friends. They all dreamed about
him playing for the Cardinals, as he grew up 45 minutes from Busch
Stadium in Wildwood, Mo. Ever since the San Diego Padres had drafted
Freese, they liked to mess with him.
“Then I got a call from Grady Fuson from San Diego,” Freese said, “and
was like, ‘All right. This is really happening.’ So I called Mo back.”
The Cardinals were in a period of transition. GM Walt Jocketty had been
fired, and Mozeliak, his assistant, took over. The Cardinals were on
the verge of trading Scott Rolen(notes), the popular All-Star third
baseman, though before that they wanted to ensure they had an ample
replacement. Mozeliak knew he was going to trade another fan favorite,
Jim Edmonds(notes), and scoured the possibilities. San Diego needed a
center fielder, and the trade – Mozeliak’s first – came together
quickly.
Of all the places to start, of course it was at a Burger King in Los
Angeles in December 2007, because all great stories start at Burger
King. David Freese was eating lunch. His phone rang. He didn’t
recognize the number so he let it roll to voicemail. He listened to it.
The voice on the other end said it was John Mozeliak, who had taken the
Cardinals GM job six weeks earlier. Mozeliak said he had made a trade
for Freese and wanted to talk with him.
Freese laughed. Must’ve been one of his friends. They all dreamed about
him playing for the Cardinals, as he grew up 45 minutes from Busch
Stadium in Wildwood, Mo. Ever since the San Diego Padres had drafted
Freese, they liked to mess with him.
“Then I got a call from Grady Fuson from San Diego,” Freese said, “and
was like, ‘All right. This is really happening.’ So I called Mo back.”
The Cardinals were in a period of transition. GM Walt Jocketty had been
fired, and Mozeliak, his assistant, took over. The Cardinals were on
the verge of trading Scott Rolen(notes), the popular All-Star third
baseman, though before that they wanted to ensure they had an ample
replacement. Mozeliak knew he was going to trade another fan favorite,
Jim Edmonds(notes), and scoured the possibilities. San Diego needed a
center fielder, and the trade – Mozeliak’s first – came together
quickly.
“The first thing I asked him was who I got traded for,” Freese said.
“He said Edmonds. I was kind of bummed.”
So were his friends, who didn’t think an Edmonds-for-Freese deal
sounded quite right. After all, Freese was a 24-year-old at Class A,
not exactly the sort of prospect who excites teams. The Cardinals knew
Freese’s background, though, knew that more than a decade of baseball
as a kid left him burned out, sour toward the game, enough so that he
turned down a baseball scholarship to the University of Missouri and
instead matriculated as David Freese, regular kid.
He took classes in computer science and business. He made friends
outside of baseball. Freese thought he was happy until two weeks before
his sophomore year, when he felt the pangs. He missed the competition
and camaraderie. So he enrolled at a junior college, then played his
final two years at South Alabama before entering the draft as a
23-year-old senior, the unlikeliest sort not just to get drafted but to
make it.
“It’s just one of those things I had to do,” Freese said. “If I didn’t
quit, if I continued to play, I wouldn’t be here.”
Here happened to be the stage on which a dozen teammates formed a mosh
pit around Freese, drenched him with beer and chanted M-V-P loud and
long enough for him to need a hearing A-I-D. His three-run home run in
the first inning of Game 6 helped chase Milwaukee starter Shaun
Marcum(notes), and for the series he hit .545 with three home runs and
nine RBIs. He managed to outslug Pujols, who only turned in his best
postseason series since 2002.
Once Freese escaped, he was dragged outside in front of a camera. He
wore a headset and smiled his way through an interview as Miller Park
closed down for the season around him. Blowers took care of trash.
Workers went double-time to make the place spic and span. It was going
into hibernation just as St. Louis was readying Busch Stadium for Game
1 of the World Series on Wednesday.
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