The St. Louis Cardinals have lost Bob Gibson. They can’t lose Wainwright and Molina, too

I planned to go through the St. Louis Cardinals season and early exit from the playoffs in this episode of View From the Cheap Seats. But that doesn’t seem right since it’s the first post since the death of legendary Cardinals pitcher Bob Gibson.

I’m sure any Cardinals fan knows what a fierce competitor Gibson was on the field and what a performer he was when the games counted most. If you didn’t know those things before, I’m sure you do after two days of reading all about it. Still, I couldn’t let the occasion pass without paying my respects. So, here’s just a little bit about what Bob Gibson meant to me.

Of course, Stan Musial is the all-time St. Louis legend. Stan, to me, was always something of a cartoon. I never saw him play and, criminally, there is very little video of him playing. All we know is what we have heard from the players who played with him and against him about how truly great The Man was. Gibson, on the other hand, pitched during my lifetime. He seems much more real to me. Although I’ve had the honor of meeting both Musial and Gibson — as well as Lou Brock, who passed away in September — Gibson was someone I knew about firsthand. He wasn’t an old man when I became aware of him. Sure, Brock was of the same era — in fact, he was a little bit younger. But I pitched when I played baseball, and Gibson was the gold standard of pitchers when I was a little kid.

Needless to say, I was in awe of Gibson’s abilities and his legend. The first time I met him at an autograph show, I gushed to the famously stand-offish hurler that he was my baseball idol. The greatest pitcher who ever lived, in my book. I’m sure he was oh, so impressed to hear these pronoucements from a teenager. He was polite and said “thanks, kid.” But I could tell I was probably the 8,000th person to tell him the same thing that day and that he was working hard to suppress the urge to say “eh, what do you know.” Oddly, I was tickled to death by it. I think I would have been disappointed if he dropped his pen and shook my hand vigorously, saying “do you really think so?” The legend would have been tarnished.

So, needless to say, my thunder about blowing a four-run lead to lose game two of the playoffs and then getting completely shut down by a bullpen game from the opposition in the deciding contest didn’t seem quite so important. I was pretty much been in a fog since half an hour after the Cardinals were eliminated and I heard the news about Gibson’s passing.

It’s time for the Cardinals to move on to 2021

Instead of dwelling on the bizarre season that was 2020, I am more interested in 2021 at this point. Specifically, that when the Cardinals take the field on opening day next season with Brock’s number 20 on one sleeve and Gibson’s number 45 on the other that the starting battery is Adam Wainwright on the mound and Yadier Molina behind the plate.

I have said before that nothing makes sense other than extending those players. First things first, there is no doubt that Adam Wainwright was the Cardinals’ best starter in 2020 and Yadier Molina was one of the club’s top position players. They have earned the right as players, not as a nostalgia act.

That being said, the Cardinals have lost Musial, Red Schoendienst, Brock and Gibson over the past few years. If there is such a thing as the Cardinals Way — and I think there was way before Mike Matheny made a joke out of it — that it involves the greats of the past indoctrinating the players of the future with the ethic and the knowledge they need to be a step better than the opposition. Molina tearfully pointed that fact out during his post-game press conference after playoff elimination. If you didn’t believe leadership and loyalty is a real thing, you certainly should after watching that revealing moment.

Molina and Wainwright are the guys who need to teach future Cardinals Nolan Gorman and Matthew Liberatore what it takes to bring future World Series games to Busch Stadium. It’s more than riding around the warning track in a convertible on opening day. It’s about dedication, work ethic and shared experience. One area the Cardinals have fallen short over the past 30 years is bringing in former stars to lead the players of the future. Maybe it’s because former manager Tony La Russa brought in his own people and alienated the likes of Ozzie Smith. But whatever the cause of the disconnect, it’s time to put it aside and make sure Molina, Wainwright, Jim Edmonds, Chris Carpenter and Ozzie are there to build the next generation of great Cardinals.

I don’t want to hear any excuses about the budget, roster churn or any other bull. The Cardinals must make sure Molina and Wainwright spend their entire career in St. Louis. Don’t screw it up.

Scott Wuerz

Belleville News-Democrat

Scott Wuerz has written “Cheap Seats,” a St. Louis Cardinals fan blog for the Belleville News-Democrat, since 2007. He is a former BND reporter who covered breaking news and education.