Inductees

He grew up on the frontier plains of Oklahoma, where the game of football pulls on the back of all letter jackets and where he himself emerged as a big-time quarterback recruit.

It seemed as if every college football coach in America wanted Matt Holliday and, at one point, then-Kansas City Chiefs General Manager Carl Peterson (MSHOF 2005) reportedly mailed him a note that read, “Saw you on film, keep up the good work, see you in the NFL draft in three years. Whatever you do, keep the Kansas City Chiefs in mind.”

However, the thought of becoming a big-league baseball player always intrigued Holliday. And so, in the summer before what was to be his freshman season at Oklahoma State University, he chose the baseball path.

Turned out, Holliday eventually became one of the more feared sluggers of his generation, including eight memorable seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals. That’s why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame proudly inducted Holliday with the Class of 2022.

Overall, Holliday’s Cardinals tenure (2009-2016) was part of 15 big-league seasons. He helped fuel six postseason berths for the Redbirds, helping them become the 2011 World Series champions, the 2013 National League pennant winners, two NL Championship Series runners-up (2012, 2014) and reach two NL Division Series (2009, 2015).

Roughly half of his career numbers came while playing for the Cardinals – 1,048 of his 2,096 hits, 156 of 316 home runs, 616 of 1,220 RBI and 237 of 468 doubles. Fans truly respected him.

“I just really appreciate it,” Holliday told The Sporting News after his final game in St. Louis. “I’ve given everything I’ve had. It does feel good for people to appreciate who I am.”

Holliday was simply a pure athlete, with a rocket arm on a 6-foot-4, 215-pound frame. At Stillwater High School, he threw for more than 6,000 career yards and 68 touchdowns, and became a prep legend when rallying the Pioneers to a 43-42 victory against powerhouse Tulsa Union in the Class 6 playoffs. He led the comeback from 42-21 in the final six minutes of a game that The Daily Oklahoman newspaper ranked among the state’s 100 greatest sports events.

Tennessee, Miami and others tried to recruit Holliday, considered Oklahoma’s best high school quarterback since Troy Aikman.

However, baseball had a hold on him, too. You see, his dad, Tom, was the longtime pitching coach and recruiting coordinator for Oklahoma State before becoming head coach in 1997. Matt’s his brother, Josh, was a freshman on the Cowboys’ 1996 College World Series team.

So in June 1998, the Colorado Rockies – his Uncle Dave was a scout – drafted him in the seventh round.

Weeks later, Holliday chose to sign. According to Sports Illustrated, he and the Rockies agreed to a nearly $1 million signing bonus and a deal in which he could choose college football, without penalty, after three seasons.

Ultimately, his career zoomed after moving from third base to the outfield in the Rockies’ farm system.

In five seasons with the Rockies, he finished fifth in NL Rookie of the Year balloting and then won the batting title (.340 average) in 1997. That year, the Rockies won the pennant after Holliday led the league in hits (216), doubles (50), RBI (137) and total bases (386).

He was traded twice over the next two seasons, first to the Oakland Athletics, and then to the Cardinals in July 2009.

In his first five full seasons in St. Louis, he averaged 161.4 hits, including an average of nearly 24 home runs a season. He also twice had two 100-RBI seasons, in 2010 and 2012. He hit .312 in 2010 and .300 in 2013.

In the 2011 playoffs, Holliday’s performance in the NL Championship Series was pretty remarkable. He was 10-for-23 against the Milwaukee Brewers, hitting a home run, two doubles and driving in five runs. He batted .435. He also threw out a runner at the plate in Game 3 of the World Series, a 16-7 Cardinals victory.

In 2013, his two-run home run in the third inning of Game 4 of the NLCS propelled St. Louis to a 4-2 win, with the Cardinals winning the pennant two nights later.

Overall, Holliday was a seven-time All-Star, including four times in St. Louis, and eight times finished in the top 23 of balloting for the league’s MVP Award (second in 2007).

It was a special ride, made sweeter by the support of his dad, brother, teammates, coaches and wife and children.