Raw video: Tommy Pham on his return to the St. Louis Cardinals

Intro Tell me what were your emotions when you found out and then what's it like coming back to a place where you have so much familiarity? Um I was excited. Um, first thought was, man, I gotta get my number from Nolan. We have to just play. Um, but, uh, no, um, me and Fetty actually walked into the, the locker room around the same time and, um, we both got the news right there and we're like, 02 Vegas boys going, going to Saint Louis and, um, like, oh my whole stomping ground. So, um, a lot of familiarity here for me with, uh, the coaches, the training staff and some of my teammates. So, um, good to be back. Just gotta help the team win to Tommy was returning Was Tommy returning as a possibility like something that had crossed your mind at all is a possibility over the last few years. No, this wasn't, uh, um, thrown at me by gets, um, I, I was kind of thinking other teams from, from talking but, um, anything could happen, I guess, uh, last year, I didn't think I was gonna go to the D Backs because, uh, I was told other teams and you know, there's always, uh, a wild card in there but those guys in Arizona said they wouldn't have made the World Series without you. How hard is it to transition How, how hard is it to transition when you get dealt at the deadline or is it something that you're kind of familiar with? No, it's tough. Um, you know, I'll, anytime you have to pack up your place and, and, you know, relocate to another city, it's, um, it's a little tough, you know, I still have, um, stuff in Chicago so I just try to get here as quick as possible, um, to be active for today. Why did the Cardinals want him back I mean, what are your view that they wanted to hear? They, they talked a lot yesterday about how you work out, they identify. Yeah. Um, um, it's good to hear, um, that, you know, there's some guys that pushed for me here. Um, just kind of proves the people wrong on Twitter. So that's a, that's a good thing for me. Has your view of this organization changed over the years from when you left to His view of the organization having played for a different organization now? Uh, yeah. Um, from playing with several teams, um, seeing how the Cardinals run the organization is definitely first class. What do you hope to do? What do you think you can, your role will be? His role Um, Ali said, play against lefties and, you know, give me in there some righties. You guys know me, I'm gonna try to play my way in there in the lineup every day to hear when this team is winning down the stretch, getting into a playoff race, the His excitement atmosphere. Yeah, this is definitely a special place when, um, when, when you're playing winning baseball in, in your, in the postseason. So, you know, we could bring that back, the fans deserve it. So let me, let me try to help out, tell me all they had a line yesterday. He said you're not just a right handed bat. You're a guy who lives and dies with every at bat. His intensity Can you just describe your intensity how it matters to you? Just a tough out. Um You know, um trying to, trying to win the battle within the battle out there. That's really all it is. What does it mean to you when you look over and see Lance over here and yeah, I'm, I'm waiting, I'm waiting to run in the Lance a lot, so many faces. Have you seen a lot of faces that you here, Willie? We're bringing the game back, bringing the gang back, Tommy when you kind of look at in your career? I mean, how much was kind of the start here? His influence Uh Kind of a foundation for some of the things you've been with huge influence here, you know, um I, I learned the game from, you know, everyone down from rookie ball all the way up. So, um there's a lot of appreciation within this organization that um that I have for uh a lot of people here, you know, um Pop was with me and the Miners Willie. Uh uh everyone pretty much so. Um There's a lot to it, man, even, even shy. Um So I, I probably wouldn't be the player. I am today without, you know, a lot of their uh instruction. Tell me, what did you learn last year about what it takes for like an 385 win team Last year to put it all together in October and leave with a ring. There's a togetherness for sure. And um uh there's a players definitely need to like, understand what they bring and, and kind of bring that every day. Um because WW whatever that is, whether, you know, it's speed, you know, defense, I, I, you know, whatever it is, um it's, it's important. Um It's an important piece of the puzzle to, you know, get to the, the World Series and it's even more important when you're trying to win it to when you were out there. Just not walking around with Willie. Walking around with Willie How quick do like the instincts and the memories come back, you know, the walls, you know, the angles snap back immediately. Yeah. Yeah. Willie brought that up. He was like, yeah, you know, the corners here, I was like, of course, um um and we were just going through um positioning and some questions I had. So, um it's always good to talk with Willie Man. Willie I learned a lot from him, Tommy. What can you share about, uh, Eric Fetty, uh, as a pitcher, as a teammate, Thoughts on Mike Leake things like that, man. He was, he was bawling, uh, for the white Sox sneaky sneaky guy. Um, he, um, throws a ton of strikes, uh, mixes up his pitches really well. Um, he's that guy who just always seems to give you a quality start, which is, you know, and the consistency of it is you bring that you're a really good player. I, I was joking with him that I thought he was an all star. I voted for him. Um You know, I just a lot of politics regarding the all-star game. But, but yeah, I, I thought he was an all-star. Carp said yesterday you're on a short list of hardest working players he'd ever played with. Key to longevity Has that been AAA key to your longevity is how much you, that's just who I am and I care. Um I, I told myself when I stopped working hard then I'm, I'm done because I don't, I don't want to take any owner's money like that. I wouldn't feel right. So the day I stopped working hard on time, tell me you've been a leader in just about every clubhouse you've been in, Leadership you have history here, but you're new to the clubhouse. Now, how long does it take to develop that leadership within a club? There's a lot of familiarity. I know a lot of guys, I know, I know Goldie, me and Goldie. Uh we would run into each other in the off season hitting in uh LA. I know Nolan. Um I played with K Kittridge. Um Then of course, everybody, you guys know, uh there's a ton of familiarity for me when you look around this clubhouse, what excites you by just kind of jumping into the mix here and contributing. Opportunities We have a chance to uh do some special still. Um I believe we're seven games out of um the division. Um And we, we play a lot of good teams in front of us. So, um the opportunity to kind of control our destiny and, and you know, make shake things up, I guess in baseball is, is exciting to me. How would you describe the communication you had with the club during the off season? It's been reported, you had talked to them a little bit. Uh um I was in uh Jupiter um going to uh um and what uh Cressy s facility to, to get live at bats. I was flying, flying in town every weekend to get live A BS. Um And Nolan reached out to me um about coming here and there was some other guys that wanted me here. So when the injuries started piling up, you know, I I thought I thought personally there there would be a fit but um they chose to stay internal. So just I kept pushing the needle but, you know, you just got to respect their decision. So, um that's kind of how it evolved. I was in town um trying to get some work to stay prepared because I, you know, I was unsigned and um I reached out to Claiborne to go see him. So I showed up to a game to see my, see my friend and that's kind of how everything uh materialized. So I there were reports but it just kind of, it was kind of off. I said there were multiple players who went into his office and mentioned you by name. Hey, we go get this guy if you can. What does that make you feel like to know that? Uh that's cool. But I don't know, maybe they're trying to take my money in fantasy. So let's see. No one does that their lesson.