Cardinals playoff hero David Freese was in University City Wednesday lending a helping hand to Operation Food Search.

Freese helped load frozen turkeys into vans and onto trucks that take the donated turkeys to metro St. Louis charitable organizations during the holiday season.

“I’ve done this before with (Cards trainer) Barry Weinberg, and I had a blast doing it,” Freese said, after spending nearly an hour loading the more than 700 frozen turkeys into nearly a dozen delivery vehicles. “And to see the people’s faces that are getting these turkeys, that’s what it’s all about.”  

The Cardinals third baseman also spent a good part of his morning signing autographs and taking pictures with the loads of Cardinals fans who also volunteered to load turkeys. The group included a popular University City man, who only goes by the name “The Cardinal Cowboy."

“Fans like that are great,” Freese said. “It’s been just awesome. It’s been like a dream come true.”

After the thrilling Game 7 World Series victory, Freese was named Most Valuable Player and appeared on a number of national talk shows including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

• Watch: Part I of David Freese’s Oct. 31 appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
• Watch: Part II of David Freese’s Oct. 31 appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
• Watch: David Freese’s Nov. 1 appearance on The Ellen Degeneres Show

More from Freese

Freese said he has not yet received the 2012 Corvette Mustang he was awarded for being named World Series MVP.

The vehicle driven onto the field that night was just for show, and Freese expects to receive the actual car sometime this winter.

The MVP said the coolest thing he’s gotten to do since his newfound celebrity is meet and hang out with St. Louis rap star Nelly at his recording studio. Nelly has often included St. Louis sports stars in his music videos, including Marshall Faulk, Torry Holt and Fernando Vina. Freese said no one asked him to be in a video.

He also said he’s looking forward to spring training in Florida, and that he might report a couple of weeks early, just to get a head start on the season.

And about Albert Pujols, who signed with the Los Angeles Angels earlier this month?

“I’m going to miss him,” Freese said. “I mean just selfishly, I want to play with Albert Pujols, just like anybody else. But it didn’t work out. But we’ve still got a stellar ballclub. I do know that, and we’ve got ‘Waino’ coming back. But I’m going to miss Albert for sure.”