ST. LOUIS — How do you say goodbye to two of the greatest sports legends St. Louis has ever seen? The Cardinals made sure to create an event that lived up to the moment on Sunday at Busch Stadium.
The club held a special ceremony for Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina ahead of the final regular season home game of their illustrious careers.
Before the game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Cardinals honored their retiring legends in style, complete with moving speeches and impressive gifts.
The Cardinals gave Pujols and Molina each a set of custom golf clubs, an engraved plaque from Tiffany's and a specially commissioned painting of each of them.
In addition to the gifts, St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones was on hand to deliver official proclamations to the pair. Oct. 4 will now be known as "Yadier Molina Day" in the City of St. Louis, with Oct. 5 earning the honor of "Albert Pujols Day" in the City of St. Louis.
Cardinals ownership Bill DeWitt Sr. and Bill DeWitt III, Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak and current Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright spoke at the ceremony.
Wainwright, who started on the mound on Sunday, got especially emotional when talking about his long-time batterymate Molina. The pair recently set the all-time mark for starts as a battery in baseball history, a record likely to never be broken again.
Pujols and Molina also addressed the crowd, with Molina giving a moving tribute to his mother in Spanish, and Pujols telling the crowd the next step this season is "to bring a championship back to St. Louis."
The Cardinals have wrapped up the NL Central and will host an NL Wild Card series at Busch Stadium next weekend. They have a three-game series remaining in the regular season this upcoming week in Pittsburgh.