“It was a little bit frustrating because I wasn’t there,” Flaherty said. “It was right after I got sent down. I watched it. I enjoyed it. I’ve seen bits and pieces of it. But there’s nothing like actually being there. I just wanted to be up there. It wasn’t, ‘I want to be there for the home opener.’ I was, ‘I want to be up there. I want to be part of that.’”
While Flaherty readies for his second start of the season, the Clydesdales will lead a parade of trucks onto the field that will feature the current Cardinals and, for the first time in club history, all of the living Cardinals Hall of Famers, from Lou Brock to Ray Lankford, Bob Gibson to Chris Carpenter, Tony La Russa to Ted Simmons, and Mark McGwire to Joe Torre.