Albert Pujols Gives St. Louis Cardinals Fans Some Kindling Other than His Jersey

After one hot mess of a woman was recorded setting her Albert Pujols jersey on fire in her bathrobe on Thursday, I'm sure many other distraught St. Louis Cardinals fans followed suit. However, the former face of the franchise has given them some new kindling for their burning pleasure: a heartfelt open letter via the newspaper.

Upon leaving the only team he has ever known in favor of sunnier skies and a 10-year, $254 million contract, Pujols (who stated in 2009 that "money isn't everything") demanded the attention of Cardinal Nation one last time. Along with his loving wife Deidre, he took out this full page ad on Friday in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

To the City of St. Louis and Cardinal Nation,

I want to thank each and every one of you sincerely from the bottom of my heart for the love and support you have shown me and my family for the past 11 years. In my time with the Cardinals, I have been fortunate enough to play on championship teams, and in front of championship fans. This community has reached out and embraced me, and for that I am truly humbled and grateful.

My decision to leave has been incredibly difficult, and your support is the biggest reason why. While I am excited about this new chapter in my life, it was very important to me to let you know that St. Louis has been, and will always remain, in my heart. I have been honored to be able to wear the Cardinal uniform the last 11 seasons, and I want to thank the entire Cardinal organization, my teammates, coaches, managers and staff for everything they have given to me as well.

We call St. Louis home and my family and I are so blessed to have made lifelong relationships in St. Louis that we look forward to continuing for many years to come, and words cannot fully express our gratitude to you all.

Thank you and God bless,

Albert and Deidre

No, thank you Albert.

Now prepare yourselves for the most ridiculous press conference in the history of baseball at 2:30pm ET on MLB Network.

P.S. Pujol's wife has all kids of stuff to say.