Free Republic

The grander point was missed then. The most popular athlete in the world wanted to play baseball. If he defied all odds and succeeded, great, then the most popular athlete in the world was playing baseball. And if he failed, he a) brought attention to the game; b) used his very loud megaphone to profess his love for the sport to his millions of fans around the world; and c) accentuated just how tough it is to play major league baseball, because the greatest athlete in the world would have failed at it. But even if it was a publicity...

ST. LOUIS -- The silver lining on the Cardinals' defeat in the 2012 National League Championship Series was that a team that had just fallen one win short of the World Series would return almost all of its key players. This appeared to be a club set up for long-term success.A mostly quiet offseason followed, before injuries foiled many of those seemingly well-laid plans.Starter Chris Carpenter went down first, halting his throwing program in early February due to recurring symptoms from thoracic outlet syndrome. Shortstop Rafael Furcal was lost to a season-ending elbow injury weeks later. Closer Jason Motte would...