St. Louis Cardinals

Carpenter's 20th homer nets him a purple golf cart

Published Aug. 31, 2015 1:04 p.m. ET

foxsports

Matt Carpenter hit his 20th home run of the season on Sunday and the lead-off blast brought back some conversations during spring training when the third baseman openly talked about how he thought he could reach the big 2-0.

Some St. Louis Cardinals teammates didn't believe him, in particular, pitcher Adam Wainwright.

Wainwright told Carpenter, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "If you hit 20 home runs, I’ll buy you a golf cart."

For Carpenter, it's the first time he's hit 20 home runs in a season at any level. He hit 19 combined the last two seasons.

Wainwright said he'll keep his end of the bargain and buy Carpenter the golf cart decked out in TCU purple, the color of Carpenter's alma mater.

"It’s not like I was selling out all season for a golf cart," Carpenter, who has five leadoff homers this season, told the Post-Dispatch. "It just happened to happen. I don’t want to sound like I’m doing it on purpose or that I have control of these things, because I certainly don’t. But missing guys like Matt Adams and Matt Holliday — guys who hit home runs and drive in runs — and it’s nice that I’ve been able to do that."

(h/t St. Louis Post-Dispatch)