Orioles fans tear a page from Cardinals supporters' "best fans in baseball" playbook

St. Louis Cardinals fans know a thing or two about how to treat former Cardinals who return to Busch Stadium as members of opposing teams. Regardless of the quality of play that the player provided the team, Cardinals Nation brings the enthusiasm and appreciation. A moment that transpired in Baltimore on Sept. 3 when the Baltimore Orioles were hosting the Boston Red Sox attracted attention and respect online, but for Cardinals fans, it was simply par for the course.

When Red Sox catcher Adley Rutschman stepped up to the dish against the Orioles, the team with whom he had spent four and a half seasons, he received an admirable ovation. Rutschman smiled, acknowledged the crowd and tipped his helmet — and then proceeded to blast a solo home run. Orioles fans remained standing and applauded Rutschman for his accomplishment, and baseball podcaster Jared Carrabis took note of Baltimore's reception to the home run.

Clearly, Carrabis was not aware of the spectacle that took place in St. Louis on June 22, 2019, when Albert Pujols, who was dressed in Los Angeles Angels garb and had already earned one game's worth of ovations from the Cardinals faithful, pummeled a ball over the left field fence and not only earned a boisterous ovation but was also forced out of the dugout for a curtain call.

It took eight seasons for Pujols to return to Busch Stadium for the first time, and the home run was the cherry on top of the celebration that had been nearly a decade in the making. There was no guarantee that the reception would have been nearly as grand had Pujols returned earlier, as when he signed with the Angels after the Cardinals' 2011 championship, St. Louis fans felt hurt and betrayed. But the phrase "Time heals all wounds" proved apt, and Pujols' arrival turned what may have been a chorus of boos in a hypothetical return in 2012 to overwhelming cheers when the return and subsequent home run took place.

Even during lean years, Cardinals fans must continue welcoming players back to Busch Stadium

Pujols' first game back in St. Louis saw the second-largest attendance turnout in the history of Busch Stadium III, as 48,423 fans packed the stadium. Fast forward seven years, and the turnout at Cardinals games is far more modest. In 2024 and 2025, it reached depths never seen before, and opposing teams' broadcasts widely took note of the lackluster turnout.

But even if fewer fans are showing up to Cardinals games these days, there's no reason that Busch Stadium can't continue to be one of the most welcoming atmospheres in all of sports for former members of the home team. Recently, Cardinals fans welcomed Willson Contreras, Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt back to St. Louis with open arms and hearty ovations, and had Brendan Donovan been healthy when the Seattle Mariners came to town in late April, he surely would have earned a raucous reaction as well.

The "best fans in baseball" nickname wasn't something that Cardinals supporters placed on themselves; it was a moniker that members of the Cardinals and even opposing teams bestowed on the St. Louis faithful. St. Louis remains a city where baseball isn't a side dish, but rather the main course and a place where fans are expected to know the ins and outs of their hometown squad.

Even though a player of Pujols' magnitude only blesses a team once every few generations, Cardinals fans of today and tomorrow remain responsible for upholding a long-standing reputation of appreciating and supporting every former Cardinal who steps in the box or toes the rubber against the fanbase's beloved St. Louis nine. So far, they're doing a bang-up job.

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