MLB

Man Making Terrible Mistake Vows Restaurant Named “Pujols 5″ Will Stay In St. Louis

When you achieve as much as Albert Pujols did during his still-a-little-hard-to-believe-it’s-over tenure with the St. Louis Cardinals, you become a local icon. In Pujols’ case, that included opening a restaurant with his name attached to it (Pujols 5). And just last month, a statue of Pujols (“donated by an anonymous donor”) was unveiled outside the restaurant. Doesn’t get much more local-icon-y than that.

Of course, now he’s not a Cardinal anymore. But the restaurant – and statue – still stand. And just in case any disgruntled fan gets the idea that they should make that statue not stand anymore, as you can see above, the restaurant has taken a bit of a precautionary measure: a lone security guard stationed outside the statue. The photo above, though, indicates the guard’s presence might not be necessary.

Possibly the bigger thing to worry about: what if it gets to be as barren inside the restaurant as it looks outside? Can a restaurant with Albert Pujols’ name on it survive when he skips town for another team, no matter the quality? But David Hanon, son of the restaurant’s owner, said it’s not going anywhere. We’re not loving the place’s chances to begin with, and with details like this, we’re even less optimistic:

Inside the nearby Pujols 5 restaurant, the operators were trying to take the superstar player’s departure in stride, adding angel food cake to the menu in honor of the move to the Angels of Anaheim.

Well…maybe Pujols isn’t a Cardinal anymore, but the restaurant is still in St. Louis. How many people you figure will take advantage of a menu item that pays tribute to the guy leaving the hometown team? Sure, as the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s story notes, not all Cardinals fans blame Pujols for leaving, but that doesn’t mean they’re happy about it. Are they really going to go to a restaurant named for Pujols? We know we wouldn’t, in the same situation. So when David Hanon says:

“It’s a sad day. We’re losing somebody we’ve loved for 11 years. (But) as long as his number stays 5, we’ll stay here.”

For the sake of this place, let’s hope Pujols decides to start his new journal with the Angels with a new number. Either that, or maybe the Hanons can get Chris Carpenter to attach his name to this place, or something.

Photo via Chris Files