It had to be 2005, or maybe 2004, and the Cardinals were in Houston to face the Astros in the National League Championship Series. The middle games of those best-of-seven series for the pennant were all at Houston’s Minute Maid Park, and there would be another game there that night, so DeWitt let the phone ring. He checked the message eventually — and immediately returned the call. It was from former President George Bush.
“That was an invitation that couldn’t be turned down,” DeWitt recalled Tuesday. “For a couple of hours, we went to their house, and they showed us all around, showed us some of the memorabilia they had, and talked baseball.