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Chase Heath, then 8 years old, and his father, Scott, of O’Fallon, Missouri, were sitting a handful of rows back down the left field line. Noticing Chase wouldn’t be able to see the final out over a sea of Cardinals fans eagerly on their feet, the usher invited the Heaths down to where both could see the action as the bottom of the ninth inning started. It was an offer the two happily accepted.

Not too long after the Heaths voyaged closer to the field, Allen Craig caught the final out close to where the Heaths were watching. Heath, who also attended Game 5 of the 2006 World Series, had witnessed two World Series-winning games before he was 10.

Heath called the moment “one of the coolest memories of all time,â€� and almost 14 years later, that same kid was selected by the Cardinals in the MLB draft. With their final pick — No. 600 overall in the 20th round — the Cardinals took Heath, a 2021 Veritas Christian High graduate and four-year player at the University of Central Missouri. He had been told he was on ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½â€™ radar by his adviser, and a dream was realized just before the draft’s July 14 conclusion.

“I don’t have many words to describe it,� Heath said of getting drafted by his hometown team. “It’s just unbelievable.�

A right-handed catcher, Heath signed July 19 with the Cardinals and has been assigned to the team’s Florida Complex League team in Jupiter, Florida.

Heath’s Cardinals fandom spans his entire life. Whenever he’d fire up a baseball video game, the Cardinals were his team of choice. When he collected baseball cards as a kid, he’d have one binder for Cardinals cards and another with the other MLB teams. Cards featuring the “big three� — Yadier Molina, Albert Pujols and Adam Wainwright — always got him excited, he said.

While Heath spent most of his early baseball years as an infielder like Pujols, he followed Molina’s path, eventually moving to catcher in middle school. He gained even more time as a catcher after his sophomore year of high school.

“One of the seniors had left, and we needed somebody that was going to be able to catch,� Heath said. “I was like, ‘OK, I can do it.’ I would help more by being behind the plate compared to playing infield because we had more infielders than catchers.�

While the change was stark, Veritas Christian athletics director and head baseball coach Jarrett Reardon knew Heath could handle it based on his early impressions of him.

“He just loved to play,� Reardon said.

“He was a very high IQ kid from the very beginning. I’m not sure how much I could teach him. Honestly, I probably learned more from him than he did from me.�

The road to refinement at catcher hit an unexpected bump in Heath’s junior year when the season was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. That meant Heath, who hoped to play in college, entered his senior year not having played a full high school season as the primary guy behind the plate.

But Heath kept working, and he became an all-state catcher in his senior season of 2021.

“He just picks it up real quick, and I think a big part of that is because he worked really hard and really loves it,� Reardon said. “It always seemed fun for him. Practice, games — it didn’t matter. He was having fun.�

Heath walked on at Central Missouri, historically an excellent NCAA Division II baseball program. After seeing spot action during his freshman and sophomore seasons, he became a regular starter as a junior in 2024.

By the end of his junior season, Heath he was one of the most productive players on the team, tying for second in home runs (16) while finishing second in slugging percentage (.769), fourth in batting average (.378), fifth in RBIs (62) and fifth in on-base percentage (.466).

Heath’s defense earned him numerous accolades, too. He won a Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association Gold Glove and picked up all-MIAA first-team and defensive-team honors.

As a senior this spring, Heath was second on the team in batting average (.368) while tallying nine home runs and 59 RBI. He helped Central Missouri overcome a rash of injuries to reach the NCAA Division II championship series before falling to Tampa in the maximum three games.

“They do such a good job developing us as players and as men that, when those situations arise, the next person who’s there to help and ready to play is going to step up and make an impact,� Chase said of UCM.

“You can be confident that whoever goes out there, they’re there for a reason.�

Heath is in the Cardinals organization for a reason. While he needed help from an usher to get closer to the Busch Stadium outfield in 2011, getting drafted earlier this month was a result of creating his own luck.

When reflecting on the moment, Heath admitted something he called “embarrassing� looking back.

When Craig caught the final out, Heath yelled at the left fielder, asking him for the ball. Understandably, Craig kept the ball tight in his glove, running alongside center fielder Jon Jay toward the dog pile in front of the pitcher’s mound.

Now, Heath won’t have to ask for any more baseballs from professionals. He’s now one of them, playing in the same organization he’s been cheering for all his life.

“I just got goosebumps thinking about it,� Heath said. “It just means the world to me.�