Harrison Bader pens emotional goodbye to St. Louis Cardinals

Just a week after a shocking trade to the New York Yankees, Harrison Bader penned an emotional goodbye to St. Louis Cardinals.

The St. Louis Cardinals trading Harrison Bader to the New York Yankees sent shockwaves throughout baseball. No one expected Bader, one of the best center fielders in baseball, to be on the move, let alone available in trade talks before the Aug. 2 deadline.

But when the opportunity presented itself to acquire left-hander Jordan Montgomery in exchange for Bader, the Cardinals pounced. We have heard little from Bader since the trade. But now, Bader has written an emotional goodbye to the organization and the city of St. Louis in an essay for The Players’ Tribune:

“First off, from the bottom of my heart: I want to say thank you,” Bader wrote. “St. Louis, I want to tell you – with all the love and respect in the world – how grateful and appreciative I am to have been a part of this community for the past six years.”

The entire story is worthwhile reading and goes into Bader’s tenure with the Cardinals, ranging from not wanting to be considered a one-dimensional player, his strides on offense, the different haircuts he sported, how he wants to be remembered for his smile in St. Louis and what the organization meant to him.

Bader also opened up about his relationship with Yadier Molina and how it changed his mindset from thinking about himself as opposed to the whole team. Molina told him, “We’re all equals. We game plan together. We do this together. We win together. We lose together.”

At that point, Bader said, he realized that “it’s no longer about Harrison Bader. It’s about the St. Louis Cardinals.”

Bader, 28, played in six major-league seasons and hit .246/.320/.409 with a .729 OPS, 52 home runs and 168 RBI. Where he truly made his mark is on defense, as he established himself as an elite defensive center fielder, and won his first Gold Glove Award this past season.