ST. LOUIS–Faced with the prospect of holding an event that’s designed to connect fans with players in an environment where current players would not be allowed to participate, the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday announced the cancellation of the 2022 Winter Warm Up.
The event was scheduled to begin January 15, but with Major League Baseball locking out players while the league and the players association negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement, staging it now was just untenable.
“The Winter Warm-Up is all about the fans interacting with the players, and unfortunately the current circumstances are keeping us from planning the event as usual,” Bill DeWitt III, President of the St. Louis Cardinals and Chairman of the Board said in a statement.
Players on 40-man rosters would not have been allowed to participate at the event, which has included fan seminars, question and answer sessions, and autographs. It would have been the first opportunity for Oliver Marmol to meet in person with fans since being named as the team’s new manager
The 2021 event was forced into a virtual setting due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Fans will get tickets refunded.
The team also confirmed that it would not be holding an annual caravan, which in previous years featured groups of ambassadors, including broadcasters, players, and others who travel to cities across the southeast and midwest reached by the club’s radio network and or minor league system.
