As far back as I can remember, I’ve always been an Atlanta Braves fan.

I would watch them every night when they came on TBS and listen to them on the radio next to my bed with the sound turned down low when they played games on the west coast that ended well past my bedtime.

I lived through the ecstasy of them winning 14 straight division championships and the agony of falling short of a World Series championship 13 of those times.

Game 4 of the 1996 World Series against the Yankees still haunts my memory as does Game 4 of the 2005 NLDS against the Astros.

However, as big a Braves fan as I am, starting last Wednesday, I started closely following another team in the National League; the St. Louis Cardinals.

I fanatically check their box scores every few minutes to see how the Cardinals are doing. And all because of a rookie who has played in two games and is 1-for-3 in his career.

Of course, when that rookie is a local kid who has been patiently waiting in the minor leagues for five years, it’s not hard to cheer for the team that gave him a shot.

Yes, Jarrett Hoffpauir has turned me into a big-time Cardinals fan. I’m even considering going out and buying a hat or a shirt.

Hoffpauir is living the Major League dream one game at a time since being called up from AAA Memphis last Wednesday.

Hoffpauir might be a rookie, but he sure didn’t show it on Friday, when, in his first official Major League at bat, he laced a single to left field that drove in what turned out to be the game-winning runs in the top of the ninth inning.

He got to experience the rookie initiation proceedings when catcher Yadier Molina gave him a shaving cream pie in the face during a postgame television interview Friday.

“That was pretty cool,” Hoffpauir said of the prank. “You see that on TV all the time, but when it’s done to you, it’s pretty cool.”

I’ve never met Jarrett in person —he left the Miss-Lou before I moved here — but have talked with him on the phone numerous times, and he seems like a down-to-earth, humble guy.

He twice described his game-winning hit as “lucky,” when, if you watched the highlight, it was anything but.

Many local fans have followed his career since he graduated from Vidalia High School in 2001.

He was an All-American at Southern Miss and helped the Golden Eagles host their first ever regional in 2003.

And after being drafted by the Cardinals in 2004, he’s had a steady climb up through the minors.

Sure, he was in AAA a little longer than he wanted to be, but the wait was worth it when he stepped into the box in the ninth inning on Friday and delivered with the game-winning hit.

“It’s pretty surreal,” Hoffpauir said of his Major League experience so far. “It’s one of those things you wait for all your life, to get the call (to the majors).”

Hoffpauir’s game-winning single Friday might be the start of a long and successful career in the majors. Or it might be just a small spark of success.

Either way, it did accomplish two things. It gave Miss-Lou residents something in which to take pride.

And it turned The Natchez Democrat sports editor into a St. Louis Cardinals fan.

Now that’s a rookie who’s making a pretty big impact.

Jeff Edwards is the sports editor for The Democrat. He can be reached at sports@natchezdemocrat.com.