Former Cardinals outfielder honored with Lou Gehrig Memorial Award

Former St Louis Cardinals outfielder Stephen Piscotty, who is now with the Oakland A’s, has been named the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award Recipient. He will receive the award on June 8, which is also ALS Awareness Day.

Piscotty’s mother, Gretchen, was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease) in May 2017. He spent the offseason before joining the A’s taking care of her in Pleasanton, Calif. and the two formed an inseparable bond. She passed away a year later.

Piscotty, 30, eventually left the A’s and was placed on the bereavement list. He quickly rejoined the team and in 107 games, hit .235/.342/.367 with nine home runs and 39 RBI. In four seasons with the team, he is hitting .251/.312/.437 with 49 home runs and 172 RBI in 334 games.

When he was with the Cardinals, Piscotty looked like a potential building block. He hit .268/.346/.438 with 38 home runs and 163 RBI in three seasons in St. Louis, but was traded to go to Oakland – and be in Pleasanton, which is only 30 miles away from the city.

The return, infield prospects Yairo Muñoz and Max Schrock, have not made much of an impact. Munoz, 26, is now with the Boston Red Sox after two down seasons with the Cardinals. Schrock, 26, is now with the Cincinnati Reds and is hitting just over .200 in only 48 career plate appearances.

But the biggest impact of that trade was getting Piscotty close to his mother. Now, he is continuing to honor her legacy and raise awareness for ALS, with the ALS CURE Project hosting its first-ever golf tournament early next week, via Martin Gallegos of MLB.com.

“We hoped to have a tournament last year, but with COVID, we had to shut a lot of things down,” Piscotty said, via Gallegos. “So we’re making this the first inaugural. Really awesome to get the support from my teammates. That itself is a really special thing for me.”