The latest stop on his yearslong quest to return to the majors took Matt Adams abroad to Mexico this past summer, and before each home game, he’d commute from San Diego, across the border and into Tijuana to join his team, the Toros.
While there, he reached a crossroads.
“There were days when I was in middle of the desert in Mexico, and I was like: If I finish this season and don’t make it back to the big leagues, maybe it might be time,†Adams said this past week over lunch at a sandwich shop on The Hill.
“I just turned 36. I know I’m not getting any younger, but I still feel like I could do that. There were days I weighed the pros and cons of trying to grind through it or be like: I had a great career. I can look back with zero regrets because I went to indie ball, I went to Mexico and I went to the minors for the first time in 10 years. I really gave myself the best opportunity. And I didn’t get the chance to make it back.â€
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Adams put down his sandwich before sharing his conclusion.
It wasn’t an end that he reached — just an alternate route.
“Then I was like, ‘I can still make it back to the big leagues,’†he said. “As a coach.â€
A small-town boy who became “Big City†in ºüÀêÊÓƵ, Adams will sign a one-day contract with the Cardinals this week as a ceremonial agreement so he can retire with the club that drafted him and do so in the place he now calls home.
On Wednesday, the Cardinals have events planned at Busch Stadium to celebrate Adams’ career and welcome him back to the ballpark where he provided one of its shining October highlights. Expect to see his playoff home run against Clayton Kershaw replayed a few times — or several dozen.
After 1,501 games as a pro that included a National League pennant in 2013, a World Series championship in 2019 and 122 major league homers, including that October stunner against the Dodgers, .
He spoke late this past week with the Post-Dispatch about his pending decision — and beginning a second act in a game that already took him so many places “chasing a dream.â€
“I love the game,†Adams said. “I feel like I still have a lot to offer this game. It’s going to be in a different capacity. I know that I could have a voice in coaching and managing and being able to be a mentor and help these guys reach whatever level they're meant to reach.â€
He has a plan to begin as a coach and an intent to become a manager.
It’s a goal that he found while pursuing his recent goals as a player.
Adams, who turned 36 on Aug. 31, spent the past summer playing for Toros de Tijuana, and he batted .272 with a .491 slugging percentage, 12 homers and 53 RBIs. The Toros finished the season on a six-game winning streak to reach the playoffs. When the run ended a month ago, Adams was back where he’s spent recent offseasons: on the open market.
Adams last played in the majors in 2021 with Colorado. Since, he’s chased the game to independent ball with the Kansas City Monarchs, a strong spring for the Washington Nationals and then 102 games and 17 homers in 2023 with their Class AAA affiliate in Rochester, New York.
Even then, no offers came from MLB clubs. The Mexican League called.
“Where the game is going nowadays — it’s going super-young,†Adams said. “I keep performing, year in and year out, but I also keep getting older. That was the quote (from my agent). He was super-light about it. And he’s 100% right. It’s not that I’m going out there and making a fool of myself. I’m still playing good baseball. It’s just I’m getting older. Really started to think about what I want my future to look like, and I know coaching is what I want to do. I feel like I could be really good at it.â€
Within a week of winning the World Series as a bat off the bench with Washington in 2019, Adams had surgery to repair a separated shoulder he played through during the season. A free agent at the time, Adams began then what was an annual process — his representatives would seek offers, and he’d email front office executives with offers to try out.
Give him the time and a place to prove himself.
That was how Adams landed with Atlanta for 16 games in 2020 and the Rockies for 22 games in 2021. It’s also what took him to Kansas City and the Monarchs of the American Association, a partner league for MLB. Adams explained how he “didn’t want to be done†and “still felt like I had a lot left in the tank.†The Monarchs went 64-35 in 2022, and Adams led them with 27 homers and 85 RBIs in 80 games.
The only player older than Adams on the team was former Cardinal Pete Kozma, and while Adams believed he showed he could still contribute to a big league club in his late 30s that summer in KC revealed another possible position, one he was aging into.
“I tell everybody I’m grateful and thankful that I went and had that experience because it allowed me to fall back in love with the game of baseball,†Adams said. “Leading up to that, I got caught up in the business side and kind of lost the joy of playing the game with the guys, my teammates, and going out to battle. It also allowed me to fall in love with that mentor-leadership role and, through it, fall in love with a new part of the game.
“I don’t think I would have had that experience in 2023 with the Nationals if I didn’t go the year before an experience independent ball,†he added. “It really, really was a turning point.â€
And yet there was something familiar about where it took him.
Way back in 2009, the Cardinals brought Adams to a pre-draft workout at Busch Stadium. Their deep dives into the analytics of small colleges had revealed a slugger from Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania. They even had him don the gear and catch a bit. With a 23rd-round pick, the Cardinals selected Adams two rounds after Trevor Rosenthal, 10 after Matt Carpenter. The Cardinals’ first-round pick that year, Shelby Miller, would start the National League Division Series playoff game against LA that Adams’ highlight homer effectively ended.
He made his pro debut in 2009 and played for both Mike Shildt and Mark DeJohn. The influences that later inspired the idea of coaching had begun.
“Out of college and to be taught like that,†Adams said. “To have (Jose) Oquendo around in spring training working with the infielders. To have Albert Pujols pop over and talk to the minor leaguers. Just as a small, country boy, I never thought I would have those moments. I was able to be the ballplayer I was because I learned under those guys.â€
Adams debuted in 2012, became a regular for the Cardinals with the NL-winning 2013 club and was part of a generation that is now producing major league coaches: Daniel Descalso in ºüÀêÊÓƵ, Skip Schumaker and Jon Jay in Miami, Joe Mather in Arizona among others, and that's not to mention front office members like Allen Craig or aspiring managers like Yadier Molina, Albert Pujols, and Matt Holliday.
While Adams played his last game for the Cardinals in 2017, he’s watched what’s happened with the club since as a ºüÀêÊÓƵan. Married with two stepchildren, Adams has called ºüÀêÊÓƵ home since 2016.
Those roots, plus how they were nourished as a Cardinal and where he wants to grow next, prompted a text message to John Mozeliak a few weeks ago. Adams wanted to tell the Cardinals’ president of baseball operations his intent to retire and see if he could as a Cardinal. Mozeliak contacted MLB and found a way to make the one-day contract possible. It will be suitable for framing.
“Matt was a key part of an exciting time for the ºüÀêÊÓƵ Cardinals,†Mozeliak said. “He was a power threat and had some impactful home runs for us. Happy he chose to retire as a ºüÀêÊÓƵ Cardinal.â€
Adams spent a total of seven years with the Cardinals, batting .266 and slugging .449 in 513 games. Of his 118 regular-season home runs, 59 came as a Cardinal, and all four of his postseason home runs did. None were bigger than a three-run homer off lefty Kershaw, the league’s MVP and Cy Young Award winner that season.
One swing, and Adams vaporized the Dodgers’ 2-0 lead to send the Cardinals to their fourth consecutive National League Championship Series. It’s the home run that gets him recognized as he walks his dogs, Phoebe and Turtle, through his ºüÀêÊÓƵ neighborhood.
It's why a Cardinal texted him this past month as the club readied to face Kershaw at Busch and said they could use Adams in the lineup.
He had just packed up his bats in Mexico for the last time.
“Those are tucked away,†he said.
The sandwiches and interview on The Hill nearly complete, two people approached Adams separately — one to say hello, make sure he is the former Cardinal he looks exactly like, and the other to ask for a photo, a selfie if possible. Adams engaged both in conversation before turning back to finish a thought. He was listing all the Cardinals coaches, managers and executives who shaped his career and why he wants to do the same. But first he wants to return, even if it’s only for a day.
“I could go on and on and keep naming names and talk about being led by those guys and learning what it means to wear that uniform and what it means to play winning baseball in the city of ºüÀêÊÓƵ,†Adams said. “This is home now. It means being able to retire from a playing career with the team that gave me the opportunity to chase my dream — and it’s at home. Very full circle moment for me.
“Let’s see what this next chapter holds.â€