After 18 years with the St. Louis Cardinals, where he worked his way up from a scout all the way to becoming the team's manager, Mike Shildt was abruptly fired at the end of the 2021 season. Despite leading the Cardinals to three-straight playoff appearances and a 252-199 record, the Cards decided to part ways with the franchise mainstay. It was as shocking and puzzling a firing as the MLB has seen in recent memory, and still deeply hurts the man affected.
Speaking with Bob Nightengale, Mike Shildt -- now interim third base coach for the San Diego Padres -- shared his still raw and painful emotions over his firing by the Cardinals. Despite his track record, which included a franchise-record 17 consecutive wins in September to make the postseason last year, Shildt was fired over what the organization called "philosophical differences."
"I have a broken heart," Shildt told Nightengale. "It still hurts. It hurts bad. When it first happened, I broke down. I was inconsolable. I got better as time went on. Then I got down here, put on the Padres uniform, and it hit me. Now, it just hit me again."
Shildt lamented being removed from his situation, where he had helped restore the Cardinals' culture and standard of winning, confessing that he feels like it was "stolen" from him. Shildt's firing had come as a complete shock to him, as he had logged onto a Zoom call with Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak following their Wild Card loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers expecting to discuss a contract extension.
Shildt's downfall has been met with a great deal of support and commiseration from across baseball, particularly given how deeply he cared about the Cardinals franchise and organization. In retrospect, Shildt believes he may have offered too much input into other aspects of the organization beyond managing the team.
"I was so loyal to that organization, and cared so much," Shildt said, "I felt an immense weight of being a caretaker of that organization. Ultimately, I put too much pressure on myself. That was my issue, not anybody else's. I didn't want to let [John] Mo[zeliak] down. I didn't want to let my team down. I didn't want to let our fanbase now. I didn't want to let the tradition of players that came before us down. I was very passionate of that, and dedicated to it, and at some level, I probably cared too much."
"There were just some things that I felt could be better, and I thought I was in a safe place to share them. Clearly, I wasn't."
Presently, Shildt is coaching third base for the Padres until Matt Williams returns from hip replacement surgery. At that point, Shildt will move into a role as a player development consultant for the team.
