Two All-Star starting players for the St. Louis Cardinals, Paul Goldschmidt, and Nolan Arenado, will be unable to attend the team’s series against the Toronto Blue Jays this week because they refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
A third player, Austin Romine, is also unable to enter Canada due to his COVID vaccination status.
Goldschmidt, the team’s starting First Baseman, explained in an interview how he refused to take the COVID-19 vaccine because of potential risks: “I talked to as many doctors and medical professionals as I could to try to gather as much info on what they know, what they don’t know and all of that type of stuff. For me, I just determined that the potential risks of taking the vaccine outweigh the potential benefits.”
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“It’s obviously not an easy decision; there’s a lot of stuff going on. The last thing I want to do is what’s going to affect the team. But I just felt that the risks outweigh the benefits for me, and (I’m) just trying to make the best medical decision I can for myself,” the All-Star Goldschmidt added.
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Arenado, the Cardinal’s Third Baseman, said he had “personal reasons” behind his vaccination refusal, and hopes Canada will ease their restrictions soon.
“It’s my own personal reasons why. I don’t really want to get into too much detail about it. It’s unfortunate because I don’t want to miss games, especially when I’m healthy. I was just kind of hopeful that Canada was going to turn,” Arenado stated.
Since the players are missing the two-game series, they will lose out on thousands of dollars. While Arenado will lose $384,416 of his contract, Goldschmidt will forfeit $241,758, and Romine will miss out on #10,989.
Goldschmidt and Arenado are leading the team in batting average, hitting .335 and .296 respectively.
The Cardinals are currently second in the National League Central with a record of 51-46.
Stay tuned to National File for any updates.
