ST. LOUIS -- During batting practice ahead of Friday night’s series opener between the Cardinals and Dodgers at Busch Stadium, a large black banner hanging on the outfield wall in left-center field conspicuously covered one of the worst-kept secrets of this summer in St. Louis.
The words “Hall of Fame” were visible, but whatever identifying imagery sat beneath it remained a mystery -- well, sort of.
Once we saw two titans of Cardinals history on the team’s Hall of Fame ballot for the first time, in the same year, one didn’t exactly have to be an ace clairvoyant to see this one coming. But now, it’s official.
The Cardinals announced Friday that, after the conclusion of the fan vote, Yadier Molina and Albert Pujols will be inducted, together, into the Cardinals Hall of Fame in a pregame ceremony on Sept. 12 -- a dream realized for a city and a fanbase that has adored the duo for decades. Bill Sherdel, who pitched for the Cardinals for 14 seasons in the early 20th century, will be inducted as the third member of the class.
Yadi will forever be remembered as the one who stayed, playing all 19 of his big league seasons with the Cardinals from 2004-22, going down as the one of the greatest defensive stalwarts at the catcher position that baseball has ever seen.
His 10 All-Star appearances, nine Gold Gloves and two World Series championships -- all of his career accomplishments -- came with the Cardinals.
The acknowledgement of a red jacket for Molina, who is with the team on the current homestand as part of his duties as special assistant to president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom, is a long time coming.
This moment was always Pujols’ destiny, too. But the sentiment behind it is more poignant than it might have otherwise been given what transpired four years ago. By returning to redeem a decision that changed the course of Cardinals history, Pujols supercharged his legacy for a fanbase that was invariably going to welcome No. 5 with open arms, regardless.
“I was actually looking at the picture of Albert underneath the tunnel when he hit 700,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “It was just him by himself sitting, almost kneeling on one of those little medicine balls. And it's one of my favorite pictures, because it just depicts ... all the work, sacrifice that goes into that moment, right? So, for him to be honored with being a red jacket -- I mean, that's amazing.”
Marmol, of course, recalls fondly his involvement in the process that led to that element of a thrilling chapter of his own career in baseball -- managing two future Cardinals Hall of Famers and presumably Cooperstown shoo-ins in the same season.
His conversations and communication with Pujols leading up to the decision to return to St. Louis for one final season culminated in “The Machine” showing up to Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium in Jupiter, Fla., during a Spring Training game in March 2022.
It was confirmation of the swirling rumors that something special was on the way. Pujols, of course, delivered with his torrid late-summer push across the milestone of 700 career home runs, becoming the fourth member of the exclusive club -- and doing it while wearing the same birds on the bat that he donned at the beginning of it all.
The Cardinals’ manager’s sentiment was deeply sincere Friday as he described hearing Pujols put those same events into his own words at a dinner this past offseason.
“Hearing him tell the story at the table was a cool moment, for sure,” Marmol said. “The way he kind of went through the details from his side of it, what he was experiencing with each one of those conversations and then being able to play through the year the way he did, that was pretty neat.”
Interestingly enough, the third inductee into the 2026 class of the Cardinals Hall of Fame also enjoyed a swan song with St. Louis in the final season of his career. Sherdel, a left-handed pitcher, spent 12 years with the Cardinals before he was traded to the Boston Braves in a package for Hall of Fame pitcher Burleigh Grimes in 1930.
Sherdel spent parts of three seasons with the Braves before his release in 1932, after which he returned to the Cardinals to round out his career. Sherdel is the winningest lefty in Cardinals history with 153 wins (fifth overall), posting a 3.64 ERA across 465 games (fourth most). His best season came in 1928 when he tallied 21 wins with a 2.86 ERA.