St. Louis Cardinals removes Mike Shildt interim tag, makes him full time manager

The St. Louis Cardinals announced Tuesday that Mike Shildt had the interim tag removed, making him the team's full-time manager.

Shildt received a three-year deal that will cover the remainder of this season and the 2019 and 2020 campaigns.

Shildt, 50, took over the team on July 15, one game before the All-Star break, when the previous skipper Mike Matheny was fired. The team announced at the time that it would begin a search at the end of the season for its next manager, but the Cardinals' second-half surge sparked a change in plans.

St. Louis was 47-46 when Shildt took over, 7 1/2 games out of the National League Central lead and behind a jumble of teams fighting for wild-card spots. Since then, they were an NL-best 26-12 entering Tuesday. Through Monday, they held a half-game lead for the first wild card while sitting 4 1/2 games back of the Chicago Cubs for the division lead.

The Cardinals have won nine consecutive series.

"Why now? It made sense to do it now. Everything is going well, and more importantly, momentum is building behind our players," Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said. "Having Mike Shildt as a manager is a tremendous story. I hope the next chapter is even better."

Shildt, the only current manager who did not play professionally, has been in the Cardinals' organization since joining the team as an area scout in 2004. He became the Cardinals' third base coach midway through the 2017 season and moved to bench coach to open 2018.

"This is not something I take lightly," Shildt said at a press conference. "I'm very grateful for my family. I grew up in a clubhouse around baseball. I got my ABCs of baseball at an early age. ... I have been given a lot of credit for what's happened in the past six weeks. I appreciate it, but I cannot accept it."

Discussions about making him the permanent manager began last week and wrapped up quickly, with Mozeliak calling Shildt on Monday to inform him of the club's decision.

"To think about when we were here six weeks ago, we talked about what we thought Mike could do as a new voice and ... really everything we could've hoped for has occurred," Cardinals chairman and principal owner Bill DeWitt Jr. said. "He's just, in our view, done an excellent job, and it's not surprising."

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