As the old ballplayer walks toward home plate, the Cardinals’ catcher calmly calls time to delay the game. That’s what they do in St. Louis, to give the crowd time to rise and applaud a former Cardinal returning to town. It’s the top of the third inning. The cheering is earsplitting.
“This is louder than Freese,” one fan says.
“This is louder than Pujols,” a second says.
Someone in the press box wonders, half-jokingly, if the intensity and shaking from inside the stadium would register on a Richter Scale.
“Probably a 4,” another scribe says.