Nolan Arenado’s Homer considers days of big steps in return to normality

ST. LOUIS – Traveling back to normalcy – or whatever the new normal will look like in a world where vaccines are available and our ability as a society to reduce the impact of COVID-19 has increased – everyone Is slightly different. There are small steps and big steps along the way.

For me, Thursday represents two big phases. Huge step. Long, long-awaited move.

After dropping off our kiddo at daycare, I spent a few hours down Interstate 44. At a drive-through vaccination site at a Phelps Health Center parking lot in Rolla, Mo., I received a second dose of the Pfizer vaccine at 9:53 pm. time

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Two words kept popping into my head while waiting for the 15-minute recommendation before heading back to St. Louis: “Almost there. Almost there.”

Complete immunity – or close to it – between one and two weeks after the second dose from the Pfizer vaccine. My wife has her first dose, and her second is scheduled for a few weeks from now. We have a long list of travel plans for this summer. Almost reached there

The second big step happened at 12:21 in the afternoon

When I first stepped into an MLB ballpark on October 30, 2019, when I left Houston’s Minute Med Park a few hours after the last pitch of the exciting 7 games of the World Series. Apparently, I had no idea that it would be so long between visits to a big league ballpark. Heck, a month before Game 7, I moved back to St. Louis with my wife and daughter, mainly so I can cover MLB from Busch Stadium on a daily basis in 2020.

It looks like a decade ago.

I can’t tell you how good it was to be back at the ballpark for regular season games. I was in Florida for spring training in early March of last year and Rudy Gobert tested positive and returned home a few days before the NBA closed. For the next several months, the “normalcy” did not exist. As a company, we did not cover the incidents individually as it became clear how the epidemic would affect 2020. I completely agreed to choose security over everything.

One of my favorite things about being at a ballpark – or a basketball field or football stadium – is filling the stand as game time approaches. That apparently did not happen today. Busch Stadium is currently running at 32 percent capacity; The announced attendance of 13,328 was officially considered a sale.

Watching the stands during the home opener ceremonies – honoring veterans like Bob Gibson and Lou Brock who were in the presence of fans last time – was strange. It is strange to see 13,328 fans socially disturbed and outcasted.

And yet, it was wonderful to see any fan in the stand. The same two words struck me: “Almost there. Almost there.”

I brought packs of baseball cards to the game. Baseball cards, diving back into the collection, helped in 2020. It was just right to bring him into the game, to the fans following me in the press box and on Twitter.

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It was a bit chilly in St. Louis in the mid-50s. And it felt a little colder than that, temps have been in the 70s for the last few days. But every window in the press box at Busch Stadium was open, as baseball voices were being heard there. Everything felt familiar, promising. Even the roar of a fly ball that had no real chance of clearing the outfield fence? I loved every time.

And then, Nolan Arenado happened.

It was his first game in the Cardinals’ uniform at Busch Stadium. The Cardinals traded for the All-Star third baseman this offseason, in a deal that some called an heir in favor of the team. The Rockies are paying a large portion of Arenado’s salary, and the return to Colorado was seen as a light by most talent evaluators. And rumors have linked Arendo to the Cardinals for a long time, so it’s a fan base that was very excited to welcome his new superstar, after all, to his home ballpark.

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Arenado stepped into the plate with the game tied at 1–1 in the eighth inning. Austin Dean was on first base, with one out. Arenado hit the first pitch on the wall in left field from Drew Rasmussen, the sound of the bat joining the baseball leaving little doubt where the ball was headed.

In a similar fashion, the Cardinals took a 3–1 lead.

The roar of 13,328 fans was screaming with joy, like at least 26,656 fans. Hopefully soon, the ballpark will have 25,000 fans. By then the higher and higher capacity, maybe, at some point this time, we reach 100 percent.

Almost reached there Almost reached there