WASHINGTON • The most famous White Sox fan saluted the St. Louis Cardinals this afternoon as baseball's greatest comeback team ever.
In a gathering at the White House to recognize the World Series winners, President Barack Obama recalled the Cardinals' historic march to the championship as exciting and rare.
"Every once in a while, something happens that we have never seen before, something unique. And that is why it is my pleasure to stand here with the greatest comeback team in the history of baseball," said Obama, standing in front of 20 Cardinals players and other club personnel.
The ceremony in the chandeliered White House East Room was attended by about 175 Missourians, politicians and local Cardinals fans who swung an invitation. It capped off a day in the Washington area in which the Cardinals visited wounded veterans at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Two key figures from the Cardinals championship season were absent: Albert Pujols, who has since signed with the Los Angeles Angels; and manager Tony La Russa, who retired when the season ended.
Nonetheless, Obama referred to both, recalling Pujols' three-home runs in Game 3 of the Series and quoting La Russa as saying, "sometimes you can't be afraid to make a mistake."
"I will point out, he (La Russa) began with the White Sox," said Obama, an unapologetic Chicago fan who wore his White Sox jacket to the 2009 All-Star game at Busch stadium.
"I won't lie, I'm a little disappointed," the president joked. "I had to leave my White Sox jacket in the closet for another year."
Obama spoke of the improbability of the Cardinals stretch run, noting that they were 10½ games out with only 31 games left to play.
"In Las Vegas, they were 500-to-1 long shots to win the World Series," the president said. "They somehow had the spirit and the determination and the resolve to survive."
He recalled staying up late for Game 6 despite a busy morning ahead of him the next day.
"That had to be one of the best baseball games of all time...Mr. (David) Freese here hits the first walk-off home run of his entire career, to send it into Game 7," Obama said of the Cardinals' celebrated third-baseman, standing behind him.
Obama recalled presenting St. Louis baseball legend Stan Musial with the Presidential Medal of Freedom last year in the East Room.
"You could see Stan from about a mile away because he was wearing that bright red blazer," the president said.
"There is no question that he will always be a Cardinal at heart, and now this team is part of that long line of heroes," the president added.
The Cardinals presented the Obamas with No. 44 baseball jerseys and bats.
"I'm a little worried about giving my wife a bat," Obama joked.
Afterward, Cardinals outfielder Matt Holliday said he enjoyed the ceremony and what preceded it in the nation's capital.
"It was a great day. Hope we can do it again next year," Holliday said.
The Cardinals fans from all over also enjoyed the afternoon, even if some of them had baseballs confiscated by uniformed Secret Service when they arrived.
"Projectiles," said one officer politely, pointing to a basket full of shiny white balls that former owners had hoped to get autographed.
Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Cape Girardeau, managed to get her Game 6 ticket signed by Freese.
"It will get framed," said Emerson, clad in red.
Despite the hard-edged politics of Washington these days, the Cardinals ceremony was a bipartisan affair. The audience also included Missouri Sens. Claire McCaskill (D), Roy Blunt (R), and Reps. William Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis, Russ Carnahan, D-St. Louis, Todd Akin, R-Wildwood, Blaine Leutkemeyer, R-St. Elizabeth and Billy Long, R-Springfield. St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay and St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley, both Democrats, also were on hand.
