At some point in their first month together as teammates, Albert Pujols told Paul Goldschmidt, first baseman to first baseman, how thrilled he was to return to St. Louis to finish his career, how “thankful” he was to have this coda with the Cardinals. He used the word “joy” to describe how he felt, and Goldschmidt took that word and added what he could do more, too.
Enjoy.
“I think that definitely rubbed off on me,” Goldschmidt said. “He affected me in that way, and he helped me in that way, and I think that joy of playing the game — it led me to play better and also have more fun doing it.