It started as an ordinary baseball game in St. Louis between the home team Cardinals and the Kansas City Royals. There was the close score, points on the line, a roaring crowd of over 44,000 fans that filled Busch Stadium.
But suddenly the game was interrupted as a striped gray bolt of lightning raced across the field. A player noticed the game's newcomer and pointed him out to the umpires.
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The intruder was a tiny kitten who quickly trotted out to center field in the middle of the 6th inning during a tight game between the two teams. The little fur ball didn't even pause as he scampered past player Lorenzo Cain, who watched the cat run by in amusement.
The kitten was an instant hit with the fans in the crowd who cheered the newest member of their team.
And yet the game must go on, which meant that the kitten needed to be safely removed from the field before the game could continue. So Lucas Hackmann, a groundskeeper, was assigned the task of chasing down the kitten and catching him. Hackmann finally wrangled the kitten, but not without earning a few war wounds along the way.
"I guess I am supposed to grab him by the scruff of the neck, but I didn't have my cat training before so I learned my lesson," said Hackmann.
The Cardinals ended up winning the game, and fans attributed the team's success to the mysterious kitten whom they affectionately named "Rally Cat." But the cat escaped from the stadium personnel and took off, worrying everyone.
As word spread of Rally Cat's disappearance, a local trap-neuter-return group, the St. Louis Feral Cat Outreach, volunteered to assist in catching the kitten. They set up humane traps around the stadium, and hours later, they spotted him!
After finding Rally Cat, the STLFCO took him to a veterinarian for a thorough checkup. He is approximately 12 weeks old and is in relatively good health except for being so thin for his age. The STLFCO recently updated Rally Cat's condition on their Facebook page:
"Rally cat has officially been cleared of quarantine by our vet! He still only weighs a little more than a pound so he is currently on prescription high calorie food to help him gain some weight.
Rally Cat is still too small to receive his vaccinations / neuter and he is being monitored closely in a foster home. Our vet will continue keeping a close eye on him over the next couple weeks."
Rally Cat is still too small to receive his vaccinations / neuter and he is being monitored closely in a foster home. Our vet will continue keeping a close eye on him over the next couple weeks."
In the meantime, Rally Cat has become the most recognizable cat in St. Louis, and his impromptu debut in the public eye has brought up an important dialogue about homeless, stray, and feral cats in the city's communities.
Rally Cat has been made an honorary member of the STLFCO's board, and he is already hard at work educating the public about how to help the homeless cats of St. Louis.
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Rally Cat's baseball career might be over, but his antics have won over the city of St. Louis and are helping other cats in need in his hometown. So many people and organizations are lined up to adopt Rally Cat that there's no doubt he will have a forever home sooner rather than later.