Cardinals legend's retirement has fans calling for a red jacket

One of the most beloved St. Louis Cardinals in recent memory is officially calling it a career. Infielder Matt Carpenter announced his retirement from baseball on Wednesday afternoon, hanging it up after a sterling 14 years in the Majors.

Carpenter spent 12 of those years in St. Louis, playing for the team that drafted him as an unheralded college bat in the 13th round of the 2009 MLB Draft. He never popped up on prospect lists, but all he did was hit — and keep on hitting once he broke into the big leagues for good in 2012. From 2012-2018, Carpenter was quietly among the better all-around players in the sport: He slashed .275/.377/.471 and led the NL in doubles twice, while averaging 20 homers a year and racking up 26.7 bWAR.

That run also coincided with the franchise's last true golden age. The Cardinals reached the NLCS three straight times from 2012-2014 and won the pennant in 2013, and to no one's surprise, Carpenter was right in the middle of it. His bases-clearing double off of Clayton Kershaw in Game 1 of the 2014 NLDS immediately entered St. Louis lore, propelling the Cards to a 10-9 win

Injuries and age eventually took their toll, and Carpenter wound down his career bouncing between stops with the Yankees and Padres. But he'll always be remembered as a Cardinal, and his retirement has plenty of the Best Fans in Baseball asking the team to reward him with its ultimate honor.

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Cardinals fans want Matt Carpenter in a red jacket

Befitting one of the most storied franchises in the sport, the Cardinals Hall of Fame is rarefied air. Fifty-five members have been enshrined to date, with names like Musial, Gibson, Hornsby and Ozzie. Carpenter may not be an all-time great like those four, but his contributions to St. Louis baseball have plenty of fans arguing that he deserves the red jacket given to the team's most exclusive fraternity.

For Carpenter to get in, he'll have to be selected for a fan vote by the team's Red Ribbon committee, at which point he'll be eligible for election if he can garner enough support. If the reaction to his retirement is any indication, he won't have much trouble. And really, he shouldn't: No one's arguing Carpenter should be headed to Cooperstown, but he was a cornerstone of the team for the better part of a decade, authoring several indelible moments. If that's not worthy of a team's Hall of Fame, what is?