Eight months after striking out in their efforts to acquire Matt Holliday from the Rockies, the Cardinals got him from the Athletics, completing a series of transactions designed to boost their offense and bolster their chances of returning to the postseason after a two-year absence.
On July 24, 2009, the Athletics dealt Holliday to the Cardinals for three prospects: corner infielder Brett Wallace, pitcher Clayton Mortensen and outfielder Shane Peterson.
Cardinals manager Tony La Russa put Holliday in left field and batted him in the cleanup spot between Albert Pujols and Ryan Ludwick.
Holliday was the third prominent position player acquired by the Cardinals in a span of one month. On June 27, 2009, they got third baseman Mark DeRosa from the Indians for pitchers Chris Perez and Jess Todd, and on July 22, 2009, they acquired infielder Julio Lugo from the Red Sox for outfielder Chris Duncan.
“Tony pushes these guys to be successful,” Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “My job is to make sure he has the right players to do so.”
Aggressive suitor
The Cardinals’ pursuit of Holliday intensified in November 2008 at the general managers meetings at Dana Point, Calif.
Holliday won a National League batting title in 2007, hitting .340, and led the league in hits (216), doubles (50), RBI (137) and total bases (386) for the pennant-winning Rockies. He became expendable after the 2008 season because the Rockies couldn’t get him to commit to a long-term contract and he was eligible to become a free agent a year later.
“The Rockies arrived at the meetings intent on building momentum for a deal involving Holliday,” the Post-Dispatch reported, and the Cardinals were an “aggressive suitor.”
Mozeliak, who worked for the Rockies before joining the Cardinals after the 1995 season, acknowledged the pursuit of Holliday. “For me to say there were not serious discussions would be inaccurate,” he said to the Post-Dispatch.
The Cardinals offered Ludwick for Holliday, the Post-Dispatch reported, but the Rockies also wanted utility player Skip Schumaker and pitcher Mitchell Boggs included in the deal.
According to the Post-Dispatch, “misgivings existed within some quarters of the organization about committing multiple players for Holliday” because he could depart as a free agent after the 2009 season.
Unable to come to terms with the Cardinals, the Rockies traded Holliday to the Athletics on Nov. 10, 2008, for outfielder Carlos Gonzalez and pitchers Huston Street and Greg Smith.
Big deal
The Athletics posted losing records in each of the first three months of the 2009 season and entered July in last place in the American League West. Out of contention and facing the likelihood Holliday could walk away after the season, the Athletics shopped him and the Cardinals made the best offer.
Wallace, the Cardinals’ 2008 first-round draft pick, was the “keystone of the deal” for the Athletics, Mozeliak told the Post-Dispatch.
“Wallace is not the type of hitter you’re going to replace easily,” Mozeliak said.
Wallace hit a combined .337 for two Cardinals farm clubs in 2008 and .293 for Class AAA Memphis in 2009.
The Cardinals, who were 52-46 and in first place in the National League Central, 1.5 games ahead of both the Astros and Cubs, were willing to give up prospects for the opportunity to qualify for the postseason for the first time since 2006.
Asked whether he was concerned Holiday would depart as a free agent, Mozeliak responded, “Let him get a taste of St. Louis.”
How big a deal was it for the Cardinals to get Holliday? “It’s as big as his biceps,” pitcher Adam Wainwright told the Post-Dispatch.
Loaded lineup
Holliday was informed of the trade the morning of July 24, 2009, by text at a hotel in New York, where the Athletics were staying for a series with the Yankees.
Accompanied by his wife and two sons, Holliday took a train from Manhattan to Philadelphia and joined the Cardinals in time for their night game against the Phillies.
La Russa posted a revamped batting order of Lugo at second base, DeRosa at third, Pujols at first, Holliday in left, Ludwick in right, Yadier Molina at catcher, Rick Ankiel in center, Brendan Ryan at short and pitcher Joel Pineiro.
At the time of the trade, Pujols had received 34 intentional walks on the season, or 21 more than any other major-league batter, according to Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz.
“By getting Holliday to follow Albert Pujols in the lineup, the Cardinals clearly raised their profile as a National League contender,” the Philadelphia Inquirer observed.
Pujols called Holliday “a professional hitter” and said, “He’d make any lineup better.”
Holliday went 4-for-5 in his Cardinals debut, producing three singles and a double, with one RBI and a run scored in an 8-1 triumph over the Phillies. Boxscore
“I can’t imagine being a pitcher and having to pitch to Pujols and looking on deck and seeing Holliday,” Athletics infielder Mark Ellis said to the New York Daily News. “That’s incredible.”
Dodgers manager Joe Torre, taking a good-natured jab at La Russa, said to the Post-Dispatch, “That lineup is pretty deep now. Tony won’t have to bat the pitcher eighth anymore.”
Happy Holliday
After batting .286 with 54 RBI in 93 games for the 2009 Athletics, Holliday hit .353 with 55 RBI in 63 games for the 2009 Cardinals.
With Holliday, the Cardinals were 39-25 and won the 2009 division title with an overall mark of 91-71, finishing 7.5 games ahead of the second-place Cubs.
Holliday, 29, became a free agent after the season, but returned to the Cardinals. In 2010, he hit .312 with 45 doubles, 28 home runs and 103 RBI.
He played in the postseason in six of his eight years with the Cardinals, missing only in 2010 and 2016, and helped them to two National League pennants and a World Series title.
Holliday’s numbers as a Cardinal: .293 batting average, 1,048 hits, .380 on-base percentage.
RetroSimba 
I think the A’s got fleeced in that deal. :)
Yep, Cardinals have had good success rate trading prospects to the A’s for veterans. In addition to getting Matt Holliday, they got Dennis Eckersley, Todd Stottlemyre and Mark McGwire, to name a few.
You also gave us that mutt Daric Barton. hahaha!
We sure are spoiled here in St.Louis. Not only have we had a lot of great players were the Cardinal’s jersey, but a good number of those same players are great individuals off the field. Matt Holliday is one of them. The mishap that he had in the 2009 nlds was a devasting way to end what had been up till that point, a superb season. But 2011 was sweet. From what I understand Matt is one of only five players to have eight consecutive seasons of at least 20 hr’s, 30 D’s, 75 rbi’s, and 80 runs scored. John Mozeliak is not the most popular guy in town right now. But back in ’09, his acquisition of Holliday was one of his best moves.
Good points. I see parallels between baseball and newspapers. Editors of newspapers used to be bold, powerful forces. Publishers felt threatened by them and got corporations to diminish the role of editors. I believe that is a significant and often overlooked factor in the relentless decline of the newspaper industry. Baseball has followed a similar model. I believe a big reason why John Mozeliak acted to acquire Matt Holliday is because Tony La Russa applied constant pressure on him to get those kinds of players. La Russa was not adverse to confronting or disagreeing with the front office. Today, baseball no longer wants the bold, powerful managers like La Russa, Whitey Herzog, Earl Weaver, Sparky Anderson and the like. Instead, the general managers, or presidents of baseball operations, want organizational yes men, like Mike Schildt, who won’t threaten or challenge their authority.
You mention a couple of things that I would have loved to talk about. Also, I could have wrote a thesis on what Mr. Mozeliak said for the reason he signed Holliday, which you quoted in the fifth paragraph. I held back because I did not want to come off as being too controversial. But while I’m at, let me just say this. In 2006 when we stunned the basball world by beating the Tigers in the WS, that ended a WS drought of 24 years. It might take another long famine before the current philosophy changes.