Goldschmidt Off the Diamond

In his 12th major league season and the fourth with the St. Louis Cardinals, the stats speak for themselves for former Texas State standout Paul Goldschmidt.

A seven-time all-star, four times winning the gold glove and silver slugger awards at first base and thrice finishing in the top three of the MVP voting. He has crushed over 300 home runs and driven in more than 1,000 RBI in his career.

Heading into the final weekend of July, Goldschmidt leads Major League Baseball with a .335 batting average and .417 on-base percentage while ranking second in OPS (1.036) and third in slugging percentage (.619). The ex-Bobcat was picked by multiple writers as the favorite to claim the National League MVP award at the all-star break.

Off the field he is involved with multiple charities in the St. Louis area along with a few in Arizona.

Since getting traded to the Cardinals in 2019, Goldschmidt has gotten involved with Adam Wainwright’s charity Big League Impact. The organization helps people in St. Louis, across the country and across the world with a focus on providing basic needs like water, food, shelter, etc. to people that do not have access to them. The first baseman primary raises money for the organization to aid the people in need.

“After being traded to St. Louis, I needed some places to get involved and Big League Impact was the perfect spot,” said Goldschmidt. “I love that they are helping people in need and helping a lot of kids, which is something my wife [Amy] and I are passionate about.”

Along with working with Big League Impact, Goldschmidt is putting on a charity event in August for Water Mission that will raise money to build fresh wells in Third World countries to supply clean and fresh water to drink. He also has a free baseball clinic in St. Louis, which is looking at expand it to other cities, where the focus is on teaching kids and, more specifically and importantly, teaching parents and coaches to use sports as a way to teach life lessons rather than “win at all costs” youth sports.

In 2021, Goldschmidt’s charitable work saw him get recognized as the Cardinals’ Roberto Clement Award nominee. It was the sixth time in his career to have been nominated for baseball’s prestigious honor.

Acts of giving through his platform to earn the nomination included:

• Donating to faith-based nonprofit Convoy of Hope in 2020 in the form of a full tractor-trailer of food and supplies that were distributed in St. Louis.
• Supporting Athletes for Justice nonprofit, donating to a project in Chicago that opened a food market in a “food desert” neighborhood.
• Committing $500 per win and $5,000 per postseason win to build a community center in the Dominican Republic with Food for the Hungry nonprofit.

Goldschmidt began working with charities while playing for the Arizona Diamondbacks. He was mostly involved with the Arizona Cancer Foundation for Kids, Phoenix Children’s Hospital and his own charity Goldy’s Fund 4 Kids.

Despite playing over 1,200 miles away Goldschmidt is still involved with the Arizona Cancer Foundation for Kids. Currently, he is helping the organization raise money to build a stand along cancer play center named Ava’s Tree House.

“It will be a place where kids going through cancer and their families can go and be normal kids in a safe environment that they normally wouldn’t be able to while going through treatment,” said Goldschmidt.

The biggest joy for Goldschmidt while working with charities has been seeing the joy on people’s faces and being able to change their lives for the better.