ST. LOUIS -- As he sat on the back of the bench in the visitors’ dugout at Busch Stadium -- a place he hadn’t had reason to visit in seven years -- one of his former teammates hollered down at Paul Goldschmidt from the field.
“Don’t do it,” Cardinals outfielder Lars Nootbaar teased. “Don’t talk to them!”
Ever a professional, the first baseman finished his previous answer and then cracked, with his standard dryness, “I don’t miss that.”
In his return to St. Louis after six seasons as a Cardinal, a stretch that included winning the 2022 NL MVP, Goldschmidt was as reflective as the typically stoic slugger tends to be, focusing on the task at hand and working through the frustration of being out of the Yankees' series-opening lineup Friday at Busch Stadium with a mild sprain in his right knee.
“I knew we were coming here, and I would love to play,” Goldschmidt said. “But if that wasn’t going to be possible, or it was going to be an injury risk, I understand the big picture. I was not going to try to push it any more than I would against anyone else. I don’t want to try to be selfish. I wanted to try to be here to help us, and it would’ve been the same if it was another place, as well.”
Goldschmidt planned to work through his regular pregame routine and determine whether and to what extent he would be available off the bench for the Yankees on Friday night, but both he and manager Aaron Boone sounded confident that he would be able to stay off the injured list.
“It does seem to be moving in a good direction,” Boone said. “Kind of feared the worst the night before he got tested out the next day, and then we thought maybe it might still be a short IL, and it looks like we’ll be able to avoid that.”
In addition to his regular pregame work, Goldschmidt and his son, Jake, were out in left field early on Friday, with the father hitting grounders to the son with a fungo bat. Former teammates of Goldschmidt’s stopped by to say hello and compliment Jake’s fielding work -- being conducted with a thoroughly broken-in glove that once belonged to Cardinals infielder Brendan Donovan, with “DONNIE” stitched in bright red letters down the index finger.
“Driving in today, this was my drive every day for six years,” Goldschmidt said. “It’s pretty cool. Probably just a lot of positive memories to try to block out the bad ones. Just all the great memories, the great games, the relationships I have with all the guys over there.”
“I know this is a meaningful place for him,” Boone added. “Any time you’re a player of his caliber and [with] his career, you’re revered in a place like this. I’ve seen over the years how they’ve welcomed back players here, and you know that’s going to be meaningful.”
Whether Goldschmidt makes an appearance in Friday’s game, or in any of the three games this weekend, fans in St. Louis will have an opportunity to both remember and honor a player who made an indelible impact on franchise history over the past decade. And with that in store, not even Goldschmidt -- the perpetual avatar of calm, cool focus -- will be able to avoid the significance of the moment.
“I have so many fond memories, so many lifelong friends over there in that dugout,” Goldschmidt acknowledged. “That’s gonna be fun, but once the game starts, you know how serious I am. [I] want to always go out there and, number one, try to win. I’ll say hi to people before or after the games, but I’ve got a job to do.”