Former Cardinal Dexter Fowler announces his retirement

St. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOV) – A former Cardinal whose wide, winning smile brought many smiles to fans of St. Louis from 2017 to 2020 has decided to hang up the spots.

Dexter Fowler announced his retirement from Major League Baseball on Tuesday after a 14-year career in the big leagues.

The Cardinals signed Fowler as a free agent in the winter after his contributions to the Chicago Cubs ending their 108-year World Series drought in 2016. A trade before the 2021 season sent Fowler to the Angels of Los Angeles, where an unfortunate torn ACL in April. that year cut his career shorter than expected. He did not play during the 2022 season.

Fowler was a spark for the Cubs during his final season in Chicago, but it could be argued that his first year in St. Louis was an even better statistical achievement for the veteran outfielder. Fowler posted a career-high .488 slugging percentage to complement a robust .363 on-base percentage in 2017.

A difficult 2018 campaign saw Fowler post career-low numbers, but still provided some fond memories for fans. His 14th-inning homer that snuck over the outstretched glove of former Cardinal right fielder Jason Heyward was the highlight of a forgettable year in Cardinals baseball.

Fowler rebounded the following year, rebounding to a .751 OPS in 2019 while hitting a career-high 19 homers for a St. Louis who returned to the NLCS for the first time since 2014. Although Fowler spent only four years with the Cardinals, he hit more home runs with the St. Louis (49) than in six years with Colorado (40).

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