How to replace a legend (on a rival team): ‘When you have those shoes to fill, it becomes pretty big’
FOR NEARLY TWO DECADES, St. Louis Cardinals catching great Yadier Molina was a fixture in an organization known for churning out pitchers and throwing out runners. Over a Hall-of-Fame worthy career, Molina was the most respected player on his team every time he donned the uniform.
For the final seven years of that career, Molina shared the space behind home plate 19 times a season with a younger, brasher and extremely talented fellow catcher on the other side of one of baseball’s most heated rivalries, Willson Contreras.
Despite the intense rivalry between the Cardinals and Chicago Cubs, a mutual respect grew between the catchers.
“In 2021, we had a really nice talk at Busch Stadium,” Contreras told ESPN recently. “The advice he gave me was ‘Don’t change who you are.’ That’s what makes you really good. You have to know who you’re catching and understand those days you can play at 100 percent and those days where you can play at 80 percent.”
That interaction would stay with Contreras over the years, and particularly as both catchers approached the next chapter of their baseball careers. After 19 years in a Cardinals uniform, Molina had declared 2022 to be his last, while 300 miles north, Contreras was about to become a free agent for the first time.
When their teams met near the end of last season, Contreras and Molina met again, and Molina brought a gift — one that might have changed the course of Contreras’ career. “When the season ended, Yadi gave me a jersey,” Contreras said with a smile this spring. “I put it on, and I really liked the fit.”
The timing lined up perfectly, but the Cardinals weren’t going to take the decision on who followed Molina lightly. Ultimately, it was Contreras’ own words, after getting career advice directly from the St. Louis icon, that helped make the decision for them.
“It was two-pronged,” president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said of their conversation with Contreras. “One, ‘We like you as a player, so be you.’ But No. 2, ‘Do you understand what you’re stepping into?’ The interesting way of how he answered it — and it caught [manager Oliver Marmol] and I — was he was welcoming that. There’s a lot of people that prefer not to have to be that guy. In Willson’s case, it shows you, he does have self-confidence.”
That swagger was earned. At the time of his first free agency, Contreras had already won a World Series, produced four 20-home run seasons and appeared in three All-Star Games. The mindset and résumé won the Cardinals over, and on Dec. 7, 2022, Contreras agreed to a five-year, $87.5 contract to take over catching duties for Molina in St. Louis.
“I wouldn’t call it replacing him,” Contreras said. “I would say I’m succeeding the best catcher in the game over the last two decades.”
WHEN IT COMES to replacing a legend, it’s much easier to say all the right things in the offseason than to do it on the field from April through October. According to others who have been tasked with following a franchise icon, the pressure that comes from player, fan and media expectations can become difficult to manage.
Like Contreras in St. Louis, Matt Olson had previous major league success when he took over at first base in Atlanta after Freddie Freeman left for the Los Angeles Dodgers last season. The new Braves first baseman hit 34 home runs and compiled a .802 OPS in 2022 after being traded by the Oakland Athletics.
“I’ve been in that situation, but I had my own career going in,” Olson said. “It can be easy to put unneeded pressure on yourself. You can’t let yourself do that. If you’re confident, it won’t be a huge factor. Once you transition to your new team, then you can get back to being yourself.”
Current Cubs third baseman Patrick Wisdom knows that the task of replacing an icon while still trying to establish yourself as a young player can be exponentially tougher. His first season as a Texas Ranger, in 2019, was the organization’s first after future Hall of Famer Adrian Beltre retired.
“There’s a lot to live up to, for sure,” Wisdom said. “I felt the weight of that. It was definitely a huge weight on my shoulders. …When you have those shoes to fill, it becomes pretty big.
“You have to stay true to the player who you are.”
Wisdom hit just .154 during his brief time in Texas — which makes what Houston Astros shortstop Jeremy Pena was able to do in the first season following Carlos Correa‘s seven-year run in Houston even more impressive.
As a rookie, Pena replaced a two-time All-Star, former Rookie of the Year and World Series champ — and was named MVP of both the ALCS and in a World Series win of his own. He also won the Gold Glove at shortstop — the same award Correa had won as an Astro in 2021.
“I just didn’t look at it that way,” Pena said. “I just saw it as I’m going to be the shortstop for the Houston Astros. The goal was just to come in, do my job and win baseball games.
“Be yourself. Let everything else take care of itself.”
While it won’t take a trophy case full of new hardware like Pena collected for Contreras’ first season with the Cardinals to be deemed a success, taking the shortstop’s advice — which sounds a lot like the wisdom he got from Molina himself — could be the key to unlocking the best version of himself in his new home.
“I like a challenge,” Contreras said. “He left huge shoes to fill. The way I look at it, I have to be myself. It’s impossible for me to think I’m the second Molina.”
FROM THE OPPOSING DUGOUT, the Cardinals had seen Contreras as a catcher who played with his emotions on display and enjoyed getting under the skin of his opponent — the kind of player who rival teams hated to face, but teammates loved to have on their side. In fact, his style reminded some in the St. Louis organization of another star catcher — Molina.
“They both are ultracompetitive and you don’t want to cross them,” Marmol said. “That’s a great trait to have as a catcher. They both put a little bit of fear into the opposition and when we were looking to fill that position, it was a matter of finding someone that could offensively produce but also someone that had that competitive nature that will come across and kill you. He has a little of that in him.”
Despite the similarities, the odds of Contreras following Molina in St. Louis seemed slim. First, the catcher had to be sure that the door on a return to the Cubs was shut.
After all, he had first burst onto the scene during the team’s 2016 title run — playing alongside veteran catchers Miguel Montero and his eventual manager, David Ross — and the converted infielder quickly became a fan favorite at Wrigley Field thanks to a rocket arm, quick bat and an outwardly emotional style.
But this offseason, the front office had to make a decision on a player who had been with the organization since 2009, when he was signed as a 17-year-old. His last contract offer had come in 2018 for about $35 million over six years with two options, which could grow the deal to $64 million over eight — but the team clearly wasn’t prioritizing a long-term deal during his final four years in Chicago.
“He did great things for the organization. I’m really happy for him”. Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer said about not pursuing a long-term contract this offseason. “I’m not going to say anything about why not. I don’t think it serves anyone.”
Contreras, though, wanted to stay and expressed that to both his manager and pitching coach midway through the 2022 season.
“I got to the ballpark early and went to the manager’s office,” Contreras recalled. “I said ‘Hey, I think this is where I deserve to be. I want to be here. I want to be a guy that helps the younger guys get to the big leagues and guide them the right way.’
“Then I went to [pitching coach] Tommy [Hottovy] and I said the same thing. Tommy got emotional because I said it with my heart. That was it. I said that and the year went on and I was never approached by anyone. I was hoping for that but it was almost like when they saw me, they were looking in a different direction.”
With a younger team, they wanted a clean break, and that is when a rival team emerged.
“I was intrigued by the Cardinals because I heard a lot of good stuff,” Contreras said. “The chances of me coming back to the Cubs was like 10 percent at that time [late in 2022].”
Contreras met with the Cardinals in Orlando, Florida, early in the offseason, and St. Louis became convinced that Contreras’ intensity would be a positive addition to the team’s clubhouse.
“Meeting him made a difference,” Marmol said. “You see someone across the diamond and sometimes you get a different impression.”
By the end of the winter meetings, Contreras’ move across the National League Central was complete — and even the newest Cardinal was surprised by the fallout.
“To be honest, when I was on the other side [with the Cubs], I didn’t know it was this big,” Contreras said. “When I signed, that’s when I noticed how big the rivalry is because I read some things on the internet about Cubs fans towards me, which is really tough to read. But at the same time, it’s hard to make everyone happy.”
Since signing, Contreras has inflamed the rivalry — calling the Cardinals “a better organization” than the Cubs — but those that know him claim he’s trying to endear himself to his new team more than criticize his old franchise.
“I want the fans to know I did the best to remain with the Cubs,” Contreras said. “I understand they aren’t going to like me when I play against them but I’m always going to be there for them.”
While Cubs fans are still coming to terms with seeing Contreras in a different uniform, his new franchise is focused on the player they gained — and not who he is trying to replace.
“The Cardinals signed him to be Willson. Not Yadi or anyone else,” Mozeliak said.” He’s a darn good player himself.”
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Jake Trotter
MONTHS BEFORE HE glided past the Rose Bowl pylon for Texas‘ first national championship in 35 years, Vince Young scrawled a challenge on the locker room whiteboard:
If you want to beat Ohio State, meet me on the practice field at 7 tonight.
During the 2005 offseason, the Texas quarterback grew tired of watching teammates skip workouts and slouch in meetings. The Longhorns had defeated Michigan in Pasadena to finish the 2004 season with 11 victories. But Young sensed complacency and entitlement ahead of the next season and knew a national title would require winning in Columbus in Week 2.
“Guys were coming in, feeling themselves,” Young said. “But that type of character was going to get your ass whooped by Ohio State. We needed to button it up and get to work.”
After Young’s whiteboard message, nobody missed a summer workout — not even the voluntary practice that night.
“It was a complete turnaround,” said running back Selvin Young, Vince Young’s roommate.
That leadership set the tone for one of the greatest seasons in college football history — spearheaded by one of its greatest players. As Ohio State All-American linebacker A.J. Hawk put it: “That dude was Superman.
Though he finished as the Heisman Trophy runner-up to Reggie Bush, Young produced a season of iconic moments, bookended by winning touchdowns: first at Ohio State, and finally against USC.
To reach the Rose Bowl, Texas had to survive the fourth-ranked Buckeyes, who had title aspirations of their own.
“That Ohio State team was stacked,” said Longhorns safety Michael Griffin, one of 13 future NFL first-round draft picks to appear in the game. “[Texas coach] Mack Brown was basically telling us, whoever wins should make it to the national title game.”
Two decades later, the stakes are high again.
On Aug. 30, Texas returns to Columbus for another showdown of top-five teams that’s sure to carry major College Football Playoff implications.
Once again, the Longhorns boast a hyped quarterback in Arch Manning, who they hope can lead them to their first national championship since Young lined up under center.
“The similarities I see from Arch and Vince, it’s set up the same way,” Selvin Young said. “This is a great stage for him to show what he can do.”
Manning watched from the sidelines last season as Ohio State ended Texas’ playoff run in the CFP semifinals on the way to a national championship. Heading into the 2005 season, Vince Young still hadn’t realized his full potential, either. Against the Buckeyes, that changed.
“With Vince, we were unbeatable,” Longhorns defensive end Brian Orakpo said. “That’s how we all felt after that game.”
Through more than a dozen interviews, ESPN went behind the scenes of the Longhorns’ memorable 25-22 victory over Ohio State and Young’s dash to college football greatness — a journey that included a locker room boxing ring, late-night cartoons and a quarterback who kept his team loose with revolving practice playlists and pregame freestyle rapping.
‘Taking it to the storm’
WEEKS BEFORE LEAVING the note on the whiteboard, Young asked Brown if he could address the team. He’d noticed teammates openly violating small rules, such as wearing hats and earrings to meetings. To win a national title, Young knew the Longhorns had to chase perfection.
“I just start pointing out, ‘Coach, I feel like guys are happy where we’re at,'” Young recalled saying. “We’d just won against Michigan, and everybody felt like we was done. … ‘You guys think we already won a national championship.'”
When Young spoke candidly, everyone listened and responded. The season before, in 2004, the Longhorns trailed Oklahoma State 35-14. Brown opened the locker room doors and was about to give a halftime speech.
“‘You ain’t got to say s—, we know what the f— we got to do,” Griffin remembered Young saying as he cut off Brown. “It’s hilarious now, but in the moment, you’re like, ‘Did he really just say that?'”
In the second half, Texas outscored the Cowboys 42-0.
Once Young challenged them on the whiteboard, the team took on his personality — intense, playful, relentlessly competitive — including in practice.
The Texas defensive backs quickly learned that if they picked off Young, they’d better sprint all the way to the end zone. Dropping the ball early wouldn’t save them, either.
“You weren’t allowed to hit him,” Griffin said. “But if you intercepted him, he was coming with a full head of steam to come hit you. You’d be running the ball back, laughing, giggling, but you’d have to find where No. 10 is — because No. 10 is coming full speed to punish you.”
With the pressure of the Ohio State game looming, practice sometimes turned chippy — not surprising with more than two dozen future NFL starters on the roster. But the players also had a way of policing that. They called it, “Taking it to the storm.”
“Instead of them hating each other,” Young said, “you take it to the storm, settle it, and that’s it.”
In essence, it was Texas’ version of fight club — and the players never spoke of it, especially to the coaches.
Selvin Young kept a pair of boxing gloves in his locker. If two players ever went too far on the field, they had to box it out beneath a mural of stampeding longhorns inside the locker room.
“We beefed so hard that it spilled over,” he said. “We’d put guys on the doors — you can’t get out. We’d throw gloves on their hands and stood there until they took care of it. And then we made them hug up.”
During one such bout, running back Ramonce Taylor punched cornerback Ryan Palmer so hard, he left him with a knot on his head.
“After that, Palmer couldn’t put his helmet on,” Griffin recalled. “[Secondary coach Duane Akina] said, ‘What happened to you?’ And everybody just started laughing. Everything was handled within the team.”
‘Truly at his best’
IN 2002, TEXAS coach Mack Brown and Ohio State coach Jim Tressel signed the No. 1 and 2 recruiting classes. Together, those classes produced nine All-Americans, plus running back Maurice Clarett, who led Ohio State to the 2002 national title in his only season.
“I remember thinking, ‘Man, we’re going to get to play Texas in the Shoe,'” said linebacker Bobby Carpenter, one of those All-Americans. “And both classes held serve.”
By 2005, that talent had matured. Playboy magazine named Texas offensive tackle Jonathan Scott and defensive tackle Rod Wright along with Hawk and Ohio State receivers Santonio Holmes and Ted Ginn Jr. preseason All-Americans. That summer, they all crossed paths at the magazine’s Arizona photoshoot.
“Santonio was talking a little trash — ‘Y’all are coming to the Shoe, and we’re going to show y’all how we do it,'” recalled Wright, now an assistant with the Houston Texans. “They were confident. It made you take notice.”
To that point, Ohio State was 6-0 at home at night, an occurrence so rare then the school still rolled in portable lights.
The week of the game, Carpenter told reporters that the Buckeye’ goal was to make sure Young would no longer be in the Heisman conversation after leaving Columbus. Brown posted that quote all over the Texas football facility.
“Everywhere I walked,” Young said, “I had to read that.”
But Young had a way of staying relaxed the night before games. He and Selvin Young would watch Cartoon Network and eat cereal (Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Froot Loops). Back home, their fridge had little more than milk for cereal and Earl Campbell sausages — the brand founded by the 1977 Texas Heisman winner, which they cooked on a George Foreman grill.
“That was basically our diet,” Selvin Young said.
To stop Vince Young, Ohio State pulled out its playbook from the 2003 Fiesta Bowl when the Buckeyes faced the speedy Kansas State duo of quarterback Ell Roberson and Darren Sproles. The Buckeyes positioned Carpenter near the line of scrimmage, hoping to contain Young in the pocket and dare him to throw the ball downfield.
But within a quarter, trailing 10-0, the Buckeyes quickly realized that no one on their roster by themselves could bring down the 6-foot-5, 235-pound Young.
“It was like tackling a damn horse,” Carpenter said. “We had to recalibrate.”
On the sidelines, the Ohio State defenders gathered and agreed the only chance they had was to sap Young’s desire to run by hitting him hard and often.
“My jersey was never that dirty,” said Young, acknowledging he never took a punishing the way he did that night.
Gradually, Ohio State retook control, then grabbed the lead. Carpenter collapsed the Texas pocket and smashed into Young, who heaved a wild pass across the field into the chest of Hawk. The interception set up a field goal, giving the Buckeyes a 13-10 lead in the second quarter.
“He was all over the f—ing place,” Texas right tackle Justin Blalock said of Hawk, who would finish with 12 tackles, two sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. “That guy played his butt off that night. It seemed like he made every play.”
Despite the defensive efforts, Ohio State’s offense — still rotating at quarterback between Justin Zwick and Troy Smith (who would later win the job and the Heisman the next season) — couldn’t put away Texas.
The Buckeyes had an opportunity to take a two-score lead late in the third quarter. Zwick found tight end Ryan Hamby wide open in the end zone. But he bobbled the ball — and corner Cedric Griffin swooped in and delivered the defensive play of the night, drilling Hamby and forcing an incompletion. Ohio State had to settle for another field goal.
“Just an unbelievable play,” Brown said. “If Cedric doesn’t knock that ball out, we may lose the game.”
When the Buckeyes missed a 50-yard field-goal try late in the fourth quarter, the stage was set for Young.
“In times like that, Vince had a very calming presence,” Blalock said. “And that’s when he was truly at his best. When we really needed a clutch moment, it seemed like he would always deliver. … If it was close in the fourth quarter, we knew he was going to take over.”
Young did just that. With over two minutes to go, he lofted a 24-yard scoring strike to sophomore wideout Limas Sweed down the sidelines between two Ohio State defensive backs, giving the Longhorns a 23-22 lead. A late safety sealed the win.
“The thing that separates great quarterbacks from really good quarterbacks is being able to have those last drives — the Heisman-winning drives at the end of the game,” Brown said. “And the throw that he made to Limas had to be perfect because they had him covered.”
Carpenter had brought a bottle of Crown Royal that night to celebrate. Instead, he kept it tucked away in his travel bag for the rest of the season, waiting for another chance to pop it open.
The aftermath
THE LONGHORNS HADN’T defeated Oklahoma since the turn of the millennium, and Young sensed the team was too tight leading up to kickoff.
“So he just started a random chant in the locker room, started dancing, started singing,” recalled safety Michael Huff. “And obviously we saw what happened after that.”
Texas obliterated Oklahoma 45-12.
Beyond being a captain, Young was also Texas’ unofficial DJ. Houston rap, which Young grew up on — Big Pokey, Lil’ Kiki and DJ Screw — was the soundtrack of the 2005 Longhorns. But Young also had a list on the locker room wall, where anyone — including the head coach — could make requests for that week’s mixtape.
Brown struck a deal with his star quarterback. Young could play music at practice if he edited out the cursing — and included Brown’s favorite song: Lee Ann Womack’s “I Hope You Dance.”
“Yeah, we played that song a lot,” Young said. “But it’s a good song.”
The week following the Oklahoma game, the Longhorns also handled Colorado 42-17. Afterward, Brown walked into the locker room to find his team gathered around the TV watching the finish of USC-Notre Dame. When Bush pushed Trojans quarterback Matt Leinart across the goal line for the winning touchdown, the Texas players exploded in celebration.
“I said, ‘What’s going on, men?'” Brown recalled. “And they said, ‘Coach, we want them to be No. 1. We want to play them in Pasadena.'”
From that moment on — with Ohio State and Oklahoma behind them — the Longhorns focused on USC each week as much as their actual opponent, measuring wins by whether they’d played well enough to beat the Trojans. Brown even read USC’s weekly game stats aloud.
“It didn’t matter who we played,” Huff said. “When we watched our film, we asked, was this performance good enough to beat USC? That was our mindset, regardless of who the opponent was. USC kept us focused and locked in.”
After throttling Colorado again in the Big 12 championship game, the Longhorns got their wish. And in the BCS title game at the Rose Bowl, Young left no doubt who was best.
On fourth-and-5 with 19 seconds left, he dashed right, past the USC defense, for the legendary winning touchdown, giving the Longhorns a thrilling 41-38 victory and a national title.
Back in Ohio, Carpenter was watching with his father, Rob Carpenter, a former Houston Oilers fullback who had blocked for Earl Campbell.
“When Vince got the ball back,” Bobby Carpenter said, “I remember looking at my dad and saying, ‘They’re going to win.'”
Though the Buckeyes didn’t play for the national championship, their season also ended on a magical note: a 25-21 comeback win over the rival Wolverines at the Big House.
Carpenter broke his ankle on his first snap of the game. But he finally found the occasion to open the Crown Royal bottle he’d lugged around all season. In the corner of the visitors locker room, Carpenter poured Gatorade-cup shots for his fellow senior linebackers and Ohio State honorary captain Eddie George, the 1995 Heisman winner.
“It was all supposed to be for that Texas game,” said Carpenter, whose Buckeyes finished ranked fourth. “That was supposed to be the catapult for us. Instead, it became the catapult for them.”
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