Ozzie Smith influenced Fowler's decision to sign with Cardinals

When Dexter Fowler agreed to a five-year, $82.5-million contract this past December, he signed one of the richest contracts of the offseason.

The 30-year-old, who was being reportedly courted by the Toronto Blue Jays, Washington Nationals, and Los Angeles Angels, according to USA Today's Bob Nightengale, did have his doubts about signing in St. Louis because of racial turmoil, but legendary Cardinals player Ozzie Smith convinced him it was the right choice.

"I just wanted some background information before I went anywhere,’’ Fowler said, according to Nightengale, "and Ozzie was real with me. I asked. He answered. And I definitely appreciated that."

Fowler, one of a shrinking list of African-American players in Major League Baseball, was concerned by the unrest created by the killing of African-American teenager Michael Brown - in St. Louis suburb Ferguson - by white police officer Darren Wilson in August of 2014, but Smith insured him things weren't as bad as they may have seemed.

"I explained to him that I don’t think there’s any finer baseball town than in St. Louis," Smith said. "It’s going to be a very special opportunity. You play the game the right way, play it hard, keep your nose clean, the fans will love you.

"His concern with Ferguson was very real," Smith added. "I told him that Ferguson was a microcosm of what was going on around the country. It didn’t just happen overnight. It had been building. St. Louis was just the place that jumped out. Those are the problems that all big cities have, and as a city, we were dealing with it, just like everyone else."

Fowler, who won a World Series title with the Chicago Cubs last season, was also recently in the news for expressing his feelings about President Donald Trump's travel ban, which affected travel plans he had with his Iranian wife to visit her family.