Page 4 of 4
Re: Before honoring Mo they must honor Devine
Posted: 31 Dec 2025 18:35 pm
by OldRed
Banner29 wrote: ↑31 Dec 2025 18:08 pm
Cranny wrote: ↑31 Dec 2025 17:12 pm
zuck698 wrote: ↑31 Dec 2025 17:02 pm
Goldfan wrote: ↑31 Dec 2025 16:42 pm
Goldfan wrote: ↑31 Dec 2025 16:31 pm
Cranny wrote: ↑31 Dec 2025 15:12 pm
Cardinals4Life wrote: ↑31 Dec 2025 14:15 pm
Cranny wrote: ↑31 Dec 2025 14:01 pm
Cardinals4Life wrote: ↑31 Dec 2025 12:11 pm
Goldfan wrote: ↑31 Dec 2025 12:00 pm
Cardinals4Life wrote: ↑31 Dec 2025 10:17 am
Goldfan wrote: ↑31 Dec 2025 09:53 am
Whatever success you wish to attribute to him….the gigantic historic hole he left the org will be his lasting legacy. This team might not avg over 20K in attendance next season…..the ultimate barometer
And it’s an undeniable fact that when he and BDW decided they were going to exclusively captain the ship it slowly took on water and has now finally sunk
GF,
I think you and Cranny both have valid points. Though the organization is in a rough spot right now, Mo also oversaw one of the finest eras of Cardinals baseball. Sure you ascribe some of that success to Jocketty, LaRussa, etc. (no argument here), but he was still the head of the organization and will be attributed those achievements. As much as I hate where we are today, I still recognize our great decade plus long run.
I think with time Mo will be recognized/received better than he is today. The current state is too fresh, but with time (and a return to prominence), I think Cards fans will look back more favorably on his tenure.
TLR strong armed him to get the players he wanted. Luhnow developed the system that produced those good to very good internal fellas in the teens. When Mo was left on his own he was terrible. If you want to give him credit for having the title…..have at it. Do you think this chitshow was cultivated through Great leadership???
I am well aware of TLR's pull within the organization (and glad he had it!!). But at the end of the day, Mo had a pretty good run. Compare his tenure with any of his contemporaries and you will see that overall, he did a fantastic job. Again, I too am as disappointed as the next guy in how it ended, but being rational and looking at the entire era, I would say he should be recognized one day. Nothing wrong with that.
Pujols, a sure fire HOFer, isnt going to be penalized fpr his lackluster years in Anaheim is he?
Nobody is perfect, but his overall legacy has been very good!
And again, I am no Mo apologist. Should he be recognized right away? Of course not. But in due time, he will be. You'll be surprised what time can do (and what a turnaround to greatness for the Cards will do) to people and theur feelings.
A rational post. Thank you, Cardinals4Life. Too bad there's so much hate from others.
Thanks.
I understand the hate and frustration. The past several years have been frustrating to go through. However, we also witnessed perhaps the greatest era in Cards history with Mo at the helm. He had a really good run that ended poorly. Overall, though, a very successful tenure. Again, "the passage of time" (sorry, tried to not laugh when I typed that

....some of you will get that...) will likely soften the negativity a lot are feeling right now.
Some don't understand the breadth and depth of the duties of the POBO/GM. I remember Gary Laroque at Winter Warm Up
telling Mo stories. One was about a player Mo was promoting from AAA to the majors to fill the spot of an injured ML player. He called Gary at 3am to ask him who should be promoted from AA to AAA to fill the player's spot. Gary said he would think about it and call Mo back. Mo called him again at 4am to ask him if he had made a decision yet.
Cranny,
Mo was paid handsomely to wake up at 3AM. Heck he could’ve been in time zone where it wasn’t 3am when calling…..at any rate Nothing which you’ve written has contradicted the extremely poor job he has done the last decade. An ENTIRE DECADE. He and BDW let the minor league development system ROT. People in the industry were astounded how behind other MLB orgs they had become. WHO is responsible for that??? And this is after TLR left and BDW/MO stressed the path forward was developing from within. It boggles the mind just thinking about that. We can rehash ALL the terrible FA signings and Contracts he passed out. And finally destroyed the fanbase……in ST. LOUIS….almost impossible but he did it.
There is a point which is reached where celebrating any success has been way surpassed by the complete collapse he presided over.
Agreed Goldfan. Imagine the Cards as an airplane. Mo may have been the "pilot" of the plane for many years, but once the "pilot" crashes the plane, you don't celebrate the pilot! Mo was able to keep the plane in the air for a while after Walt, Jeff, and Tony, had left the cockpit. But when Mo was left alone in the cockpit for the last 10-15 years, he was slowly crashing the plane into the ground during that timeframe. In the airline world, no one celebrates the pilot who crashed the plane. And certainly, no one puts a pilot who crashed a perfectly good flying plane, into any Hall of Fame! Get Mo a parting Rolex and a plaque for his years of service, but then lets call it a day!
I'll take the opinion of another POBO in the Central Division who told me "Mo is one of the most respected men in
all of MLB". A peer over a bunch of hateful folks on a faceless anonymous forum.
Just when I thought you might be done making sh*t up……
[/quote
I know he is not able to read my posts . . . . LOL But you are so right.
Re: Before honoring Mo they must honor Devine
Posted: 31 Dec 2025 19:00 pm
by Ronnie Dobbs
OldRed wrote: ↑31 Dec 2025 18:30 pm
Question: are you old enough have been around at this time?
Doesn’t matter in the slightest.
Re: Before honoring Mo they must honor Devine
Posted: 31 Dec 2025 19:23 pm
by OldRed
Ronnie Dobbs wrote: ↑31 Dec 2025 19:00 pm
OldRed wrote: ↑31 Dec 2025 18:30 pm
Question: are you old enough have been around at this time?
Doesn’t matter in the slightest.
First, Happy New Year. But I do think it matters if you didn't witness the occurrence of events.
Re: Before honoring Mo they must honor Devine
Posted: 31 Dec 2025 19:33 pm
by AnExParrot
OldRed wrote: ↑31 Dec 2025 19:23 pm
Ronnie Dobbs wrote: ↑31 Dec 2025 19:00 pm
OldRed wrote: ↑31 Dec 2025 18:30 pm
Question: are you old enough have been around at this time?
Doesn’t matter in the slightest.
First, Happy New Year. But I do think it matters if you didn't witness the occurrence of events.
You're old enough to have witnessed the events, but you didn't
witness the events. The events are history for anyone to read, whether it be accounts from the time period or modern re-tellings.
Re: Before honoring Mo they must honor Devine
Posted: 31 Dec 2025 21:10 pm
by riff raff
They need to honor Mike Shannon.
Re: Before honoring Mo they must honor Devine
Posted: 31 Dec 2025 22:20 pm
by Ozziesfan41
I was a supporter of mo early on the problem came when he let his ego poison him and once that happened I couldn’t stand him. Early on he trusted the baseball people and there was a mutual cooperation. Larussa and Duncan would tell him what players to keep what players needed to go what they needed for the team and it worked once mo started believing in his own brilliance everything started going down hill. He pushed out the baseball people started hiring yes men he gutted the system which lead to a destruction of the major league team. If mo had never let his ego poison him he could have had a much better legacy but instead his legacy is he was playing the fiddle while Rome burned.
Re: Before honoring Mo they must honor Devine
Posted: 31 Dec 2025 22:56 pm
by Cranny
Mo was around for 30 years in various positions at different levels. Anyone who doesn't recognize that he had at least a hand in some of the successes is both naive and hateful.
Re: Before honoring Mo they must honor Devine
Posted: 01 Jan 2026 00:14 am
by govman
Rojo Johnson wrote: ↑31 Dec 2025 10:15 am
Cranny wrote: ↑31 Dec 2025 09:37 am
Goldfan wrote: ↑31 Dec 2025 09:20 am
MO leaves this org at the absolute bottom of a 30 yr timeline…..and people are seriously thinking of honoring him???
ALL his success was due to TLR, Dunc, Luhnow…..after those fellas were gone and attrition left the team with just MO he guided the St. Louis Cardinals to an embarrassing disaster……
I'm sorry, but that's wrong, Goldfan. Mo had almost 30 years with the Cardinals, and had a hand in a number of the successes over those years. He contributed while performing a number of jobs at different levels. I'm not a fan of what transpired over the past few years, but I'll give a degree of credit where credit is due to a long standing employee.
Benedict Arnold was an excellent officer for the Continental Army before he started giving secrets to the British. He had a hand in a number of successes in the early years, he contributed to several military victories. I’m not a fan of what transpired before he was hanged, but I think we should honor him because we killed him before he could achieve his goals late in his career.
BA was never executed by us, he escaped to England; however his partner in crime was, Major Andre
Re: Before honoring Mo they must honor Devine
Posted: 01 Jan 2026 08:08 am
by Goldfan
Cranny wrote: ↑31 Dec 2025 22:56 pm
Mo was around for 30 years in various positions at different levels. Anyone who doesn't recognize that he had at least a hand in some of the successes is both naive and hateful.
I agree MO was around for 30yrs and had a hand in some success
AND
He presided over the degradation of a once great MLB organization. Both can be true but completely dismissing the last 10yrs and the last few is willful ignorance. Fans don’t want to honor Mo. The guy was heartily Booed every time he was announced in Busch last season.
Re: Before honoring Mo they must honor Devine
Posted: 01 Jan 2026 09:15 am
by WLTFE
Goldfan wrote: ↑01 Jan 2026 08:08 am
Cranny wrote: ↑31 Dec 2025 22:56 pm
Mo was around for 30 years in various positions at different levels. Anyone who doesn't recognize that he had at least a hand in some of the successes is both naive and hateful.
I agree MO was around for 30yrs and had a hand in some success
AND
He presided over the degradation of a once great MLB organization. Both can be true but completely dismissing the last 10yrs and the last few is willful ignorance. Fans don’t want to honor Mo. The guy was heartily Booed every time he was announced in Busch last season.
+1...I was in Section 148 on Opening Day and he did get a lot of boo's...and there was some old guy in the same area yelling that Mo had a beautiful family...it was strange!
Re: Before honoring Mo they must honor Devine
Posted: 01 Jan 2026 09:39 am
by Ronnie Dobbs
OldRed wrote: ↑31 Dec 2025 19:23 pmFirst, Happy New Year. But I do think it matters if you didn't witness the occurrence of events.
Same to you.
It doesn't matter though. I don't need to be witness to see what happened. The results are all right there. It's just an excuse to say, "well, you just can't understand why it wasn't fair for him," because he's a guy you like and you don't like Mo.
So Devine had a tough time with ownership of the team? Too bad. How much (bleep) have I heard about BDW over the decades? How cheap he is and he did raise payroll, but all along he forced Mo to cut costs at the developmental level to make up for it. And he never let Mo go the extra mile when there was a free agent available to sign. How much might Mo's tenure as GM have changed if BDW let him try and sign Max Scherzer? Still, it doesn't matter. Mo had a really rough last half of his career here. He'll be rightly criticized for it.
Devine's last decade as GM was one of the worst periods of Cardinals baseball in modern history. I hear it all the time how the 70s sucked. Well, who was in charge? He should take the hits like Mo is taking his. He was obviously a great GM in his time......until he wasn't. The game can pass you by when you've been in it. That's fine. He should still be honored, I agree, but I'm not getting into some debate that Mo doesn't deserve it as well.
Re: Before honoring Mo they must honor Devine
Posted: 01 Jan 2026 09:47 am
by OldRed
Ronnie Dobbs wrote: ↑01 Jan 2026 09:39 am
OldRed wrote: ↑31 Dec 2025 19:23 pmFirst, Happy New Year. But I do think it matters if you didn't witness the occurrence of events.
Same to you.
It doesn't matter though. I don't need to be witness to see what happened. The results are all right there. It's just an excuse to say, "well, you just can't understand why it wasn't fair for him," because he's a guy you like and you don't like Mo.
So Devine had a tough time with ownership of the team? Too bad. How much (bleep) have I heard about BDW over the decades? How cheap he is and he did raise payroll, but all along he forced Mo to cut costs at the developmental level to make up for it. And he never let Mo go the extra mile when there was a free agent available to sign. How much might Mo's tenure as GM have changed if BDW let him try and sign Max Scherzer? Still, it doesn't matter. Mo had a really rough last half of his career here. He'll be rightly criticized for it.
Devine's last decade as GM was one of the worst periods of Cardinals baseball in modern history. I hear it all the time how the 70s sucked. Well, who was in charge? He should take the hits like Mo is taking his. He was obviously a great GM in his time......until he wasn't. The game can pass you by when you've been in it. That's fine. He should still be honored, I agree, but I'm not getting into some debate that Mo doesn't deserve it as well.
How successful do you think the Cardinals would have been his second tenure if Busch hadn't ordered Devine to trade star left-handed pitcher Steve Carlton in 1972 after a salary dispute?
My debate was Devine should be honored before Mo. Mo will have his time, but please let's see it done in the proper order.
Re: Before honoring Mo they must honor Devine
Posted: 01 Jan 2026 10:02 am
by Ronnie Dobbs
OldRed wrote: ↑01 Jan 2026 09:47 amHow successful do you think the Cardinals would have been his second tenure if Busch hadn't ordered Devine to trade star left-handed pitcher Steve Carlton in 1972 after a salary dispute?
My debate was Devine should be honored before Mo. Mo will have his time, but please let's see it done in the proper order.
We'll never know. But I agree, he was a St. Louis legend and should be honored. Probably should have happened long ago.
The reality now is that the Cardinals Hall of Fame opened a little over a decade ago and the tendency is to enshrine players who were not just great, but also it's a lot about popularity, and there's just not that many people out there who remember the late 50s through early 60s era.
I'm sure he'll get in like I'm sure Mo will get in. I'm just not getting hung up on who gets in first or why we're suddenly concerned about it now.
Re: Before honoring Mo they must honor Devine
Posted: 01 Jan 2026 12:00 pm
by Rojo Johnson
govman wrote: ↑01 Jan 2026 00:14 am
Rojo Johnson wrote: ↑31 Dec 2025 10:15 am
Cranny wrote: ↑31 Dec 2025 09:37 am
Goldfan wrote: ↑31 Dec 2025 09:20 am
MO leaves this org at the absolute bottom of a 30 yr timeline…..and people are seriously thinking of honoring him???
ALL his success was due to TLR, Dunc, Luhnow…..after those fellas were gone and attrition left the team with just MO he guided the St. Louis Cardinals to an embarrassing disaster……
I'm sorry, but that's wrong, Goldfan. Mo had almost 30 years with the Cardinals, and had a hand in a number of the successes over those years. He contributed while performing a number of jobs at different levels. I'm not a fan of what transpired over the past few years, but I'll give a degree of credit where credit is due to a long standing employee.
Benedict Arnold was an excellent officer for the Continental Army before he started giving secrets to the British. He had a hand in a number of successes in the early years, he contributed to several military victories. I’m not a fan of what transpired before he was hanged, but I think we should honor him because we killed him before he could achieve his goals late in his career.
BA was never executed by us, he escaped to England; however his partner in crime was, Major Andre
Yeah, after I posted that I read where Moe Arnold, along with his simply beautiful family, escaped to London after trying to give the fort at West Point to the British. He never came back.