The 5 most inspiring St. Louis Cardinals of the decade

These five St. Louis Cardinals have the most captivating and inspirational stories of any who have played in the past 10 years.

The St. Louis Cardinals have a deep and rich history going back to 1882, and there are countless tales to tell about any number of players.

Every baseball player has a story. Some are linear: A player dominates in high school, may or may not attend college and continue to dominate, gets drafted and plays professionally.

Some are more winding and arduous: A player is drafted low and toils in the minor leagues for years, bouncing around organizations before finally getting his shot.

This is one of the wonderful aspects of baseball. Many fans love the Cinderella stories of players who scrape and claw their ways to the big club despite not being highly touted, and others love keeping a meticulous eye on the phenoms and watching them rise though the ranks .

But there are those few players who are able to stand out in other ways, and while this article will cover a couple of players who have exceptional stories between the white lines, there will also be players whose backgrounds took them to foreign lands and players who overcame adversity off the diamond.

These are players whose stories truly set them apart. Their stories range from ones of triumph to ones of hope. While they weren’t all Cardinals when their stories were unfolding or had started or finished, their presence in the game and outside of it goes beyond the teams they played with.

Mitch Harris

The first graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy to play major league baseball since 1921, pitcher Mitch Harris served in the U.S. Navy from 2008 to 2013, attaining the rank of lieutenant.

Harris was required to spend five years in the Navy after graduating from the academy in 2008. During that time, he served as a weapons officer, a combat information officer and a training officer, and he sailed all over the world, including areas in the Middle East, the Baltic states and Russia.

The Cardinals took Harris in the 13th round of the 2008 draft and waited for him to complete his time in the Navy. While there, Harris still stayed busy with baseball, taking his glove and a bag of baseballs with him on his journeys.

After Harris’ time in the Navy ended, he worked to develop on the mound, as his fastball had dwindled in velocity to the mid-80s. After he resurrected his fastball, Harris climbed the ladder quickly and debuted with the Cardinals on April 25, 2015, at age 29. He didn’t allow a run in his first seven appearances and ended up with a record of 2-1 and a 3.67 ERA. He was given the Tony Conigliaro Award after the season, which is given to players who have overcome adversity.

Harris missed the 2016 season after recovering from UCL surgery, and the Cardinals released him in 2017. Despite his short stint with the team, Harris’ time in the major leagues shows that it’s never too late to achieve one’s dreams, no matter where the world takes them.

John Brebbia

John Brebbia‘s odds to rise to the major leagues were not good. He came out of a smaller college in Elon University and was picked by the New York Yankees in the 30th round in the 2011 draft. Expectations for a 30th-round pick are minuscule, and after he performed poorly in the Yankees’ farm system, they released him in 2013. Undeterred, Brebbia signed with the Sioux Falls Canaries of the American Association of Independent Baseball.

After almost two years in the AAIB, the Arizona Diamondbacks signed Brebbia to a minor league contract. The Cardinals plucked him in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 Draft in December 2015, and they elevated him to the major leagues in 2017.

Brebbia became a solid piece in the Cardinals’ bullpen from 2017 to 2019, and his unique personality endeared him to teammates and fans. He missed the shortened 2020 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery, and the Cardinals nontendered him. Brebbia signed with the San Francisco Giants on Dec. 21, 2020.

Brebbia’s long and winding road to the major leagues is a display of what even players with no hype can accomplish if they provide results, regardless of where they are.

Adam Wainwright

By far the most successful player on this list regarding his major league career, Adam Wainwright is not yet finished wearing the birds on the bat. That is a testament to his ability to adjust and adapt with age and overcome tempered expectations.

When Wainwright debuted with the Cardinals in 2005, he pitched out of the bullpen and was your standard reliever of the time in terms of velocity, hitting the mid-90s with his fastball. He entered the rotation in 2007 and became a star in 2009.

In early 2015, Wainwright tore his Achilles tendon, and when he returned, he struggled for the next few years. In 2016, he led the National League in hits allowed and earned runs allowed, and fans started calling for him to retire. From 2017 to 2019, it appeared that the once-dominant Wainwright was cooked.

But in 2020, Wainwright was a revelation. His 3.15 ERA was his lowest since 2014, and he said in interviews that he was having more fun than ever before. 2021 was an even better year for Wainwright, as he finished seventh in Cy Young voting and reduced his ERA even further, to 3.05.

This dramatic uptick in results could be credited to Wainwright’s changing up of his arsenal, relying on his lethal curveball more than ever. He realized that he couldn’t blow hitters away anymore, and he did what so many players can’t do: He successfully changed his approach.

This late-career renaissance began when Wainwright was 38 years old, an age where most players have hung up their cleats. Just two years after it seemed Wainwright would be forced into retirement, he has shown that he will go out on his own terms. His remarkable career turnaround displays that even an old dog can learn new tricks.

Mark Hamilton

The brief career of Mark Hamilton was nothing special. A career .197 batting average and no home runs in 66 plate appearances isn’t going to get you any awards in the game. But Hamilton’s actions after his career have been monumental in saving the lives of people affected by COVID-19.

After Hamilton closed out his baseball career in 2014, he enrolled at Tulane University to finish his degree in neuroscience. Originally planning to work in orthopedics, Hamilton turned to interventional radiology in his second year at Hofstra, where he was receiving his medical training.

A pandemic was not on Hamilton’s radar when he took the job, but in an article from former Cardinals writer Anne Rogers, Hamilton said watching players like Yadier Molina dedicate hours to their training affected Hamilton’s resolve to continually improve himself in the medical profession.

Hamilton made the most out of his time playing baseball when it comes to utilizing its lessons outside the game. His time in the medical field and his dedication to hone his craft in the field shows that players can use what they learned in the game to make a difference outside of it.