The 2-run homer that Matt Carpenter hit for the St. Louis Cardinals in the 5th inning of tonight’s 10-2 victory over Milwaukee was a whole lot more than just his 18th of the year. It was a home run for Houston.
“Honestly, for me that was the most meaningful homer I’ve hit in my career,” stated Carpenter in a postgame scrum on FSN. “Just because of what it means for families down in Houston–that was a $30,000 swing with the help of the Cardinals and also Adam Wainwright. It just means so much. Just really cool. Hopefully, it will start and continue and we can keep winning games and keep helping out families.”
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Both Carpenter and his wife, Mackenzie, have lived most of their lives in the Houston area and he announced yesterday on Twitter that they would pledge $10,000 for each home run he hits the rest of this season. Soon after, Adam Wainwright pledged another $10,000 for each Carpenter home run and earlier today the Cardinals announced they would also pledge $10,000 for the homers.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Texas and the entire Gulf Coast,” said Bill DeWitt Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for the St. Louis Cardinals via press release. “We want to do our part to help those in need and were inspired by Matt’s leadership, as well as his and Adam’s spontaneous generosity.”
The realization of what was actually at stake hit Carpenter earlier tonight.
“You feel pretty good in the box when you’re sitting at home on an off-day tweeting out home run pledges,” he admitted. “When I got in that box the first at-bat, the magnitude of it hit me. I mean, it’s like man, I hope I can actually hit one because this would be embarrassing if I go 33 games without one, because it’s very possible–this game’s so hard. It felt really, really good to be able to get one out of the way and do it in the first game. Now I’m just not going to think about it. Just go out and play and continue to help us win, but definitely glad to get one out of the way for sure.”
Besides Carpenter’s home run efforts, the Red Cross (text HARVEY to 90999 to donate $10) and the United Way (text UWFLOOD to 41444 to donate) are two other ways to help the people affected by Harvey.
photo credit: Jeff Hanisch, Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
From now till the rest of the season we will donate 10,000 dollars for every Homerun I hit to help aid the relief efforts in Houston
— Matt Carpenter (@MattCarp13) August 28, 2017
