When the Cardinals headed to California to woo Giancarlo Stanton and try to convince him, in person, to waive his no-trade clause and accept the trade the Marlins had to St. Louis, they had an advocate already in the room, one who already had the ear of the reigning NL MVP.
His agent, Joel Wolfe, had spent his final season in the pros playing in the Cardinals’ minor-league system. He appeared in 72 games in 1996 for the same Class AA A-Travs team that had Joe McEwing, Eli Marrero, and future Cardinals’ No. 1 starter Matt Morris. That time, coupled with his time as an agent, had given Wolfe a feel for the Cardinals’ message that he wanted his client, Stanton, to understand.