Carpenter retirement caps off a standout career

By COREY NOLES

When St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Chris Carpenter retired Wednesday afternoon, it was an afterthought of the press conference.

Most likely, that's how Carpenter wanted it to be.

When on the mound he couldn't help but be the center of attention. Off the mound, however, he's a more modest, soft-spoken guy.

I'll never forget how one day prior to a game I was waiting for the players to come off the field so I could grab a quick quote for a story from someone (I can't recall who,) when I saw Carpenter sprinting in from the outfield toward home plate.

He wasn't coming to take any swings; he was coming to see some kids who were on the field before the game. He spent at least 10 minutes signing autographs and posing for photos with this small group of kids.

A few minutes into it, though, he told the kids to hang on and then ran to get David Freese. He knew the kids wanted to meet Freese and instead of basking in himself, he went to get his teammate to make the day of a few kids.

When he was done, he went straight back to the field. For him, it was nothing big to do that. For those kids, however, it meant the world.

Acts like his are what grow new baseball fans.

Now with that said, his bulldog mentality still showed through on occasion when he was dealing with the media. I think of it more as a cautious kindness.

With Carpenter, it was always important to think before speaking. On more than one occasion, I can recall him refusing to answer a question (not from me, thankfully) in a way that just screamed, "that was a stupid question--try again."

At the same time, he was also extremely candid in most cases. He's not one to beat around the bush.

In July 2013, Carpenter made his final start in professional baseball. It was a warm, sunny evening at Auto Zone Park in downtown Memphis.

At the start of the game -- and at the beginning of each subsequent inning that he pitched -- he was the first player on the field. It wasn't a casual baseball trot or trudging out to the mound, it was a full-on sprint every time.

He wanted to play again and it was obvious. He labored through the start, which wasn't quite as bad as some made it out to be. However, it wasn't vintage Carpenter either.

He wanted -- needed -- to come back. His body just couldn't handle it.

He didn't sprint off of the mound that night. He hung his head after Pop Warner took the baseball from him and walked back to the dugout.

After the game, he met with a small group us in the underbelly of Auto Zone Park. He was cautiously optimistic at the time, but didn't hesitate to share his opinion.

He was rather blunt about the fact that he had no intention of being "that guy" who doesn't know when to hang up his cleats and call it a career.

"If I'm not gonna help them, I'm not going to go out there and embarrass myself," he said.

He meant it -- and no one doubted it.

"Vintage" Carpenter might not have stepped to the mound, but he did step into that room that night.

He knew he wanted to return, but he also had a firm grasp on the reality of the situation and the likelihood that it would never happen. He even seemed to have come to terms with it.

Never was there a time that Chris Carpenter stepped to the mound in St. Louis and didn't give it his all. As of this week, there never will be.

In October 2011, Chris Carpenter showed the greatness that set him apart from the competition for the last time. He left it all on the field.

From his complete game shutout domination of the Philadelphia Phillies to move the Cardinals out of the 2011 NLDS to his head-first dive into first base for an out in the first inning of World Series Game 1, there is no doubting his fight.

It's quite possible that the ring the Cardinals' own bulldog gave his all to win is the same run that ended his playing career. He gave it all and couldn't get it back.

Kudos to Carpenter for a great career and for being a key player in some of my fondest baseball memories.

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Corey Noles is a Cardinals Writer and Columnist for The Daily Statesman. He is also a regular contributor to StLSportsPage.com, KSDK.com, Gammons Daily and Bleacher Report. Contact him at cnoles@dailystatesman.com or on Twitter @coreynoles.