Cardinals hero declines election into team Hall of Fame

David Freese. Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY

Cardinals World Series hero declines election into team Hall of Fame

By Adam Gretz | Last updated 6/18/23

David Freese helped the St. Louis Cardinals reach two World Series during his time with the team, while also putting together a historic postseason performance on their way to the 2011 crown.

Those accomplishments prompted the team to try to put him in the Cardinals Hall of Fame among the other franchise greats.

Freese has declined that opportunity and notified the team that he would like to be withdrawn from consideration. Here is his statement on the matter.

Here’s David Freese’s statement on his decision to decline his election into the Cardinals Hall of Fame. Freese was set to enter this August. pic.twitter.com/gJEdyaEBE4
— Katie Woo (@katiejwoo) June 17, 2023

On one hand, respect to Freese for having his reasons for the decision. If he does not feel he is worthy of that honor or want to deal with it, more power to him. It is his choice.

Maybe Freese is not on the level of a Stan Musial, Ozzie Smith, Albert Pujols or Yadier Molina in terms of all-time ability or big-name appeal. But he does still have a huge place in the history of the franchise that is deserving of honor — including this honor.

His performance during the 2011 postseason resulted in him winning the NLCS and World Series MVPs, while he set a major league record for most RBI (21) in a single postseason. He also hit one of the most important home runs in franchise history (and World Series history) when he walked off Game 6 in the bottom of the 11th inning to force the decisive Game 7 of the series.

He was not some random passenger on that championship train. He was an engineer.

Then he played a key role on the 2013 Cardinals team that lost the World Series.

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