Even though he has been one of the most
humble superstars of his generation,
Albert Pools his career
has been filled with drama.
It's been mainly his heart stopping homers,
but there was a lot of drama
when he left town 11 years ago.
And tonight in our sports
Plus spotlight story,
with the help of editor Randy Schwenker,
we go back in time to the day left
to the statue which still stands.
As big and beautiful as the statue is,
not many know it still exist.
It's bold, 10 feet high
and 1100 pounds of bronze,
sculpted by Harry Webber and owned
by the Pujols Family Foundation.
But because of 1 announcement 11 years ago,
it has languished in obscurity in
the shadows of Westport Plaza.
Good evening, California.
Here he comes. A disappointing.
Pay for Cardinal Nation as
the best player of his era,
Albert Poole signed a free agent
contract with the Los Angeles Angels.
They almost felt like sick physically,
and so I immediately got on the phone with
a few of the guys that worked with me,
told them to pack up. We're leaving now.
December 8th, 2011, about 10:30
in the morning and we were just
in shock. Albert Pools left town on a 10 year
deal worth $240 million from the Angels.
A moment which evoked
in affluence of emotion.
I was bitter and angry. Pulse of the
city, that moment,
you know it. It ran the gamut of
being disappointed, of being angry.
Angry at the Cardinals, angry at Albert's.
People were just really upset because
they knew what they were losing.
There was a lot of pain there, to be honest.
My immediate reaction, like anything
that you're so involved in you,
it's like almost like immediate failure
or or you're you're like a depression.
It's just like such a let down.
Perhaps the family let down.
Most were the hannans,
from left to right, Pat senior,
Pat Junior and Dave 50 years
in the restaurant business,
including Pujols, 5 at Westport,
a wildly popular 12,000 square foot
restaurant which opened in 2006 and
served as many as 700 in a single night.
But after Albert opted for Anaheim
killed me, it was hard getting
hundreds of hate emails every day.
They were throwing stuff at it.
They we had to put a guard on the statue.
We were the only place that the
public could take it out on.
The abandoned restaurant with a picture
still hanging still exist in Westport.
But two months after the announcement,
they had to change the
name of the restaurant,
and with a dramatically declining business,
they shut the doors in 2017.
However, no hard feelings with
Albert from the Hannon family.
What would you say to Albert
if you saw him on the street?
Well, I'd wish him continued
success and sorry, it didn't work
out. A swing. And there it goes.
Left field, way back. That's Palm run #7.
Obviously, his return to Saint Louis
has worked out the man who lost him
brought him back 11 years later to show
you how much he really wants to be back here.
He took a red eye.
And so when you think about like,
the timing of all this,
it's it's 9:10 o'clock at night,
East Coast time, and he's planning on
jumping on a plane four or five hours
from now to fly to West Palm that night.
And that's, of course when,
you know, we had him walk in.
Through the back gates.
Gotta get settled.
It's one attack Albert settled
into a scintillating season.
In terms of storylines,
it's this and Kurt Warner, right?
It's got to be those two.
And with the statue still in
place and the milestone achieved,
the Hannon family has one
last idea for a restaurant.
Yeah, we'll call it Albert 700.
Every cardinal is out of the dugout
congratulating Albert pool holes.