St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina. (Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports)
Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina notched his 1,000th hit at Busch Stadium, joining Yogi Bera on a unique perch in MLB history.
Busch Stadium III has been one of the primary characters in the story of Yadier Molina’s career.
Now the connection between the catcher and the Cardinals’ ballpark is a piece of MLB history.
On Sunday, Molina produced his 1,000th hit at Busch Stadium. He is only the second catcher next to Yogi Berra to reach that benchmark at a single park. Berra did it at Yankee Stadium.
Yadier Molina makes unique MLB history to join Yogi Berra
Molina is the all-time hits leader at Busch Stadium III and he is only adding to his total this season as he finishes out his career.
The long-time catcher is set to retire at the end of 2022 after 19 years of service to St. Louis.
When he started his career, the Cardinals were in their penultimate season of playing at Busch Stadium II. That park was demolished at the conclusion of Molina’s second year in the big leagues.
Since then, he has made the current iteration of Busch Stadium his home, earning 10 All-Star nods and winning two World Series.
It’s been quite the ride for Molina, who continues to chase other MLB honors. He and batterymate Adam Wainwright started their 318th game together on Sunday as the Cardinals swept the Yankees. They are seven starts away from surpassing the record of 324 battery starts by two teammates set by Mickey Lolich and Bill Freehan of the Detroit Tigers from 1963 to 1975.
The win over the Yankees kept the Cardinals two games ahead of the Brewers in the NL Central. No doubt Molina wants to grab as many records and unique MLB stats as possible before his retirement, but the ultimate prize would be winning another World Series on the way out.