On Wednesday night, an adorable kitten wandered onto the Busch Stadium field in St. Louis and quickly became an icon. Immediately after it was removed from the field, the Cardinals hit a grand slam, courtesy of Yadier Molina — but it’s at this point the story gets weird.
The Cardinals’ Rally Cat was stolen and lost, and nothing makes sense
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.
Initial reports said the Cardinals took the cat to the Humane Society, where it would be safe — but on Thursday morning, it denied it had “Rally Cat,” presumably after dozens of people called to adopt it:
Early Thursday afternoon, the Cardinals explained precisely what happened in a statement:
Here is the version of events, as told by the Cardinals:
- Ground crew member retrieves Rally Cat. Gets bitten.
- He drops off Rally Cat outside Gate 3 of Busch Stadium.
- Ushers try to contain the cat.
- A fan walking on the street claims Rally Cat is hers and makes off with it.
- The fan loses Rally Cat on the way home.
So Rally Cat was believed to be at the Humane Society but was actually a victim of attempted catnapping. But it was a stray anyway, so it wasn’t really a catnapping — now the cat is lost and the Cardinals want it back.
This is so strange.
