Time to bring the Albert Pujols jersey out of the closet

It took a little digging in the closet, but I knew it was in there.

The No. 5 Cardinals jersey was largely untouched the past decade since Albert Pujols left the Cardinals after they won the 2011 World Series. The only time I’ve worn it was in attendance when the legendary Cardinal finally made a return to Busch Stadium in 2019.

Was I upset that Pujols took the money and ran off for the riches with the Angels? Absolutely.

It was the best thing that could have happened to the Cardinals. They would have had to back up the Brinks truck to keep Pujols in St. Louis and that money went to keeping stars like Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina, who remain with the team 11 years later.

Pujols’ skills continued to decline the past decade to the point the Angels released him last year, despite owing him millions.

Do I expect the Albert of old? I wish, but at 42, he’s become just old Albert.

I do look for him to be a productive batter as he was with the Dodgers last year, playing the same role against left-handed pitching as the Cardinals new right-handed DH.

He appears to be in much better playing shape having shed some offseason pounds. You put him back where he started in the heat of a pennant race, in what will be his last season, and I think you’re going to find ol’ Albert reenergized.

He’s also going to create a buzz in the stadium, not to mention more seats filling out to see the Pujols and Molina and probable Wainwright swan song.

With Albert back where he belongs, I will be wearing the No. 5 uniform at Thursday’s season opener in St. Louis and keep it front and center in my closet again.

• Happ on hold: I reached out to St. Bede alum J.A. Happ, 39, this week about his future as he remains an unsigned free agent. He returned my text, saying he really didn’t have anything to offer, but he seemed hopeful to reach a decision soon.

Maybe he’ll retire, I don’t know. He could walk away with a great career with 133 wins and 1,661 strikeouts.

Like Pujols, I wouldn’t rule out another Redbird reunion for him. The Cardinals could use another starting pitcher with injuries to Jack Flaherty and Alex Reyes in camp.

Happ was solid after coming over to the Cardinals, his eighth big league team, at the trade deadline last year. The 2001 BCR Athlete of the Year went 5-2 with a 4.00 ERA in 11 starts for the Redbirds with one bad outing (7 runs in 1 inning vs. the Reds) bumping up his ERA.

• March Madness: How did you like the new IHSA March Madness format? I thought having all four classes play in a single weekend was OK, but I didn’t think the state tournament format over two weekends was broke.

A tweak needs to be made somewhere. Having all four third-place games in prime time (1-2A Thursday, 3-4A Friday) was kind of a bust. Many posters said to just drop the third-place games all together. That’s not the answer. Look what it meant to Bureau Valley when it had its third-place 3-Peat and making lasting memories.

I’ve seen many takes, and the one I like the most is playing all semifinals on Thursday, all four third-place games on Friday and keep the four championship games on Saturday.

This prevents the losing teams in the semifinals from having to turn around and play a second game that day on little rest and allows those kids and communities to enjoy a two-day experience rather than a quick one-day affair. You could move the evening sessions up an hour or two so they’re not so late.

I believe the IHSA will make an adjustment. We’ll just have to see what it is.

• New coaches for hire: Two new head coaches with ties to their schools have filled area vacancies with another one opening up.

Carolyn Bryant, a 1999 Hall grad, is taking over as the Hall volleyball coach. Bryant was the 1998 co-BCR Player of the Year and follows her sister, Bernadette, as coach at Hall. Bryant succeeds Darcy Early, who resigned in February due to health reasons after two years as head coach and 19 in the program.

Mike LeMay is also finding out he can come home. The Newman alum returns as the Comets new head football coach, succeeding Brandon Krezcmer, who departed in January to become an assistant coach at Western Illinois University. LeMay was an assistant coach at Newman in 2011 and spent the past 10 years at crosstown Sterling.

He was a junior on Newman’s 2004 Class 2A state champions.

Hollis Vickery resigned after 12 years as varsity girls basketball coach at L-P, his alma mater. He led the Cavs to a school record 18 wins (18-11) last season, finishing with an overall 140-175 record.

• Eastern makes a pass to Davis: PHS junior Teegan Davis has announced he has received an offer from Eastern Illinois University, his first collegiate offer. His oldest brother, Drake, got an offer from Eastern, opted to go to the U of I and now is the starting QB at Div. 2 Northern Michigan. Another brother, Wyatt, is on the receiving end of passes there.

Eastern is known as QB University with the likes of famous alums Jimmy Garapolo of the San Francisco 49ers, retired Cowboys QB/turned announcer Tony Romo and newly retired Saints coach Sean Payton, who was an one-time QB for the Bears. Legendary NFL coach Mike Shanahan also launched his career at EIU when an injury knocked him out of the game.

This should be the first of many offers to come Davis’ way. He is the most athletic QB I’ve seen at PHS in my 3 1/2 decades covering the Tigers and there’s certainly been a lot of good ones.

• Hall of Fame Night: Mark your calendars for the 2022 Illinois Valley Sports Hall of Fame on Thursday, June 2, put on by our sister paper, the La Salle NewsTribune. Last year’s event was a big hit after a pause for COVID-19 and there is another great lineup of honorees to be inducted.

Also, keep an eye out for this year’s BCR Bureau County Sports Hall of Fame class, which will be announced this summer. Our Hall of Fame dates back to 1995.

Kevin Hieronymus is the BCR Sports Editor. Contact him at khieronymus@bcrnews.com.