FORT MYERS, Fla. • The number on his jersey was too high to recall. He had no name stitched on the back, no real feel for the kind of pitcher he was about to face, and the batting helmet Mike Matheny had grabbed for his Cactus League debut was all, all wrong.
Paul Molitor could at least help with that last part.
“Take that stupid helmet off,” the future Hall of Famer told the farmhand.
Molitor handed his own batting helmet to Matheny. That was only one exchange during the Cardinals manager’s brush with big leaguers one day in spring 1992.