Roughly 13 times each season, Nolan Arenado returned from a road trip and settled into his place downtown located within walking distance of Coors Field.
When arriving for the next day’s game, he’d walk beneath the cavernous tunnels of the ballpark and take a right turn to the home clubhouse.
On Thursday, for the first time, he turned left.
“It’s definitely weird,” he said of the return to Colorado as a vistor. “It’ll be weird when I step on the field for BP, being the second group or hitting after the home team.”
During a pandemic-shortened 2020, he seemed to struggle to reach his typical heights following an AC joint injury suffered during the first week of the season, spending his final days with the Rockies on the injured list.
“You know, my last glimpse of Coors is with no fans. So it was kind of not the most fun time in 2020,” confessed the 30-year-old. “It’ll be a lot better to see a lot of fans. I think those will bring back the good memories of 2013 to 2019.”
Since being traded to the St. Louis Cardinals this offseason for a package of five players led by LHP Austin Gomber, the greatest player in franchise history returned to the place he had called home since his Major League debut on April 28, 2013.
After eight seasons in purple pinstripes, former General Manager Jeff Bridich sent the superstar and $51 million to the Redbirds for what owner Dick Monfort said was related to the fear of an opt-out clause Arenado never actually wanted.
Then, just weeks into the 2021 season, Bridich resigned and Monfort was without both key figures once at the center of the organization’s friction.
“I don’t know what the plan would have been regardless if I was still here,” Arenado surmised had Bridich been the one out the door first. “If Bill Schmidt was GM… they could easily want to trade me still. Or I would have stayed. I don’t know how it would have really turned out. I guess that’s a tough question. I really have no idea.”
To some fans, Arenado was not an entirely innocent party in what transpired the past two years. As such, there was an expectation that the boo-birds would be loudest. Though no on recognized Arenado the patron at dinner on the eve of his return, thousands will easily identify him as the player when he arrives in Cardinals’ red.
“(Boos) are part of the game. I am on the road team now and I am the enemy. So, I understand that those are going to come regardless. It could be because I’m on the other team or because of how it all ended.” He’d eventually end his thought, “It is what it is.”
Arenado won eight consecutive Gold Glove Awards with the Rockies, including four-straight Rawlings Platinum Glove Awards, the first player to accomplish such a feat since the honor’s creation in 2011.
May 9, 2021; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado (28) runs the bases after hitting a solo home run off of Colorado Rockies starting pitcher German Marquez (48) during the second inning against the at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
Seconds before he stepped into the batter’s box to uproarious cheer, MLB announced that Arenado was named to his sixth All-Star Game and fourth as the National League’s starting third baseman. He joins Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt (6, 1979-84) and Scott Rolen (4, 2002-05) as the only NL with at least four consecutive fan-elected starting assignments at the hot corner.
The 30-year-old talked at length about the legacy he left behind in LoDo for fans of the franchise that adored him and for those people within the organization working behind the scenes:
“I feel like I showed up every day. And I gave (fans) everything I could. I really feel like I could look at my past and have really no regrets when it comes to what I did here. And how I performed. I feel like I did some great things…. The relationships I’ve built with a lot of the people here that I’ll cherish for the rest of my life. And I feel like the one thing I was always focused on is making sure I treat everyone the same regardless of their stature: clubbies, the security guards, everyone. Make sure I treat all them good because they’re all trying to take care of me. And I’ve always appreciated that.”
Arenado also shed some light playing 466ft above sea level near the banks of the Mississippi River versus 5,280ft and a few hours drive from the Continental Divide.
“It’s been a big difference,” Arenado admitted. “As far as like adjusting to break and curveballs and all that stuff, it hasn’t been that drastic. St. Louis gets pretty hot and humid, so it’s a lot more humid than Colorado… The soreness doesn’t last as long. I’m waking up a little more energy.”
Despite a 58-minute rain delay that only helped build anticipation, it ended precisely as a storybook script: the homecoming hero received the ovation of a lifetime and the hometown nine won with a walk-off home run.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
