Renteria Warms To Cards After Initial Doubt
Rick Hummel
Post-Dispatch
February 26, 1999
New shortstop still misses Miami but says he is adjusting well to new surroundings.
Now that he is here, new Cardinals shortstop Edgar Renteria is at peace with his trade from the Florida Marlins. But on Dec. 14 the pain was very real.
"At first I felt like 'Damn.' Angry. I was 23 years old, and it was my first trade," said Renteria, who was acquired for three top prospects, including reliever Braden Looper.
"I was not expecting it. I feel like I play for the Marlins for a long time. I am still young. I feel like I grow up with the Marlins. Now I try to forget everything."
Renteria, who singled home the winning run in the seventh game of the 1997 World Series, was a beloved Latin American star in a city in which half the population is Spanish-speaking.
"I had played a long time (three seasons) with the Florida Marlins," Renteria said. "I'm going to miss Miami. The fans in Miami there love me. I think I might have a little problem in St. Louis because I think they don't have Latin food over there. Colombia (his native country) is close to Miami."
Renteria has the tape of his Series-winning hit. "I feel the same thing over again when I watch it," he said. "I want that moment to come back. Maybe this year it will come back."
Looking around the clubhouse, Renteria said, "I've waited for this moment. I feel real happy. Good team. Good organization.
"This is like when you go to the first day at a new high school. That's how I feel now.
"Last year, we knew we didn't have a good team. We've got a better chance. I know something good is coming. I feel like spring training '97. Everybody is together."
A teammate of Mark McGwire's at last year's All-Star Game, Renteria will be his teammate every day now.
"Everybody watches him. My mother, at home, watches him. It will be exciting to play there," said Renteria.
Renteria admits his heart wasn't into last season after Florida broke up its championship team of 1997.
"I felt like I was playing in Double-A. That's real. It was a Double-A team," he said.
"You go late to the stadium. That was my mind. I play the best I can do. But I know we cannot win too many games.
"We had young players, and we made a lot of mistakes. That's what happens when you have young players. Everybody knows that. I was a 22-year-old veteran. Unbelievable."
Renteria, who hit .282 last year, has a .288 lifetime average. "He gets hits against good pitchers," said manager Tony La Russa.
"He really has a feel for the game. He's one of those guys who understands that this game is different than the next one. Some guys never get that feeling because they don't pay that kind of attention."
Renteria, largely a No. 2 hitter for Florida, will bat first for the Cardinals. "It's tough because you have to take more pitches," Renteria said.
"I don't know what's going on, but I can do the job."
Renteria never has led off in the big leagues. But he figures he can add to his 41 stolen-base total of last year.
"We've got a better team," he said. "Guys will get pitched more curveballs and sliders, and I'll steal more bases."
Several weeks ago, Renteria appeared in St. Louis at a Cardinals function. "When I went, I said, 'Nobody will want my autograph because I am a new guy.' But when I got there, I signed 2,000."
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