|
All-Century Roster: Cardinals
By Gary Brooks
SportsLine Baseball Editor
|
Though the Dodgers might argue, the Cardinals were the elite team of the
National League in the 20th century. St. Louis made 15 World Series
appearances, winning nine.
 | | | Ozzie "The Wizard" Smith is easily the best shortstop in franchise history.(Allsport) | |
St. Louis players in their heyday, competing in nine World Series from
1926-46, developed their own flashy brand of baseball and some became known
as much for their character as there skills. The Cardinals knew the game
was a show and turned it into an entertaining performance developing a
loyal fan following.
The Cardinals had a link of some of the best hitters in history from
Rogers Hornsby to "Ducky" Medwick and on to Stan Musial. Their great teams
in the '60s were built more on pitching, speed and defense, as were their
three World Series teams of the '80s.
Now, in the late '90s and on into the next century, St. Louis baseball
is defined by the tape-measure home runs of Mark McGwire. McGwire is
revolutionizing the game in a completely different sense than the "Gas
House Gang" Cardinals of the first half of the century.
But unlike with the team's first 50 years of the 1900s, the final decade
did not bring great success and even with McGwire's home run exploits making the
Cardinals a must-see attraction in St. Louis, the team doesn't appear on
the verge of returning to consistent-contender status in 2000.
Lineup
| Ted Simmons, C, 1968-80 |
| Simmons was 19 when he caught his first of 1,440 games for St. Louis. He
went on to become one of the best switch-hitters of his time, being
selected to the All-Star Game six times. He batted better than .300 seven
times and led the Cardinals in hits in 1975 and '76. From 1971-80 when he
had ascended to the full-time catcher spot, Simmons averaged 24 homers and
90 RBI. His 172 homers are sixth most in team history as are his 929 RBI. |
| Mark McGwire, 1B, 1997-99 |
| Not that he set out to, but McGwire turned baseball upside down upon his
arrival in St. Louis. After a decade of somewhat down seasons, Big Mac
brought life back under the Arch with his devastating power. In less than
three seasons he hit 159 home runs. He cleared the bleachers and dented
scoreboards in parks all around the country hitting 246 homers in a
four-year span from 1996-99. His 70 homers in 1998 and 66 in '99 have him
rapidly climbing every home run chart kept. Heading into 2000, there seems
to be a realistic chance for McGwire to catch Hank Aaron's record 755. |
| Rogers Hornsby, 2B, 1915-26, '33 |
| If you want to make an argument that Hornsby was the greatest hitter ever,
look at his statistics from 1920-25. The nearly unfathomable bold numbers
make for debatably the most impressive stretch of hitting ever. Hornsby led
the National League for six consecutive seasons in batting average, on-base
percentage and slugging percentage. Over that span, he hit .397 with three
.400 seasons, including .424 in 1924. He also led the league in RBI four
times, homers twice and runs three times. Amazingly, in only one of those
seasons (1925) was Hornsby selected as the Most Valuable Player. In 1,580
games with St. Louis, he had 2,110 hits. His .359 average as a Cardinal is
23 points better than anyone else. |
| Ozzie Smith, SS, 1982-96 |
| The "Wizard" played the finest defense of his era without question and was
awarded 11 Gold Gloves. He set numerous records for assists, chances,
double plays and so on and saved Cardinals pitchers an uncountable number
of runs. His offense, though without much power, was solid. He is among the
Cards' career top 10 in hits, runs, doubles, walks, RBI and steals.
|
| Ken Boyer, 3B, 1955-65 |
| Boyer, who was originally signed as a pitcher, was an outstanding fielder
who won five Gold Gloves and led the league in double plays a record five
times. His offense was very consistent as well and in 1964 he combined the
two to be named NL Most Valuable Player. He drove in a career-best 119 runs
that season, leading the majors, as the Cardinals went to the World Series.
Over his 11-year Cardinals career, he was an All-Star seven times and
averaged 23 home runs and 91 RBI. His 255 homers are second best in team
history. |
| Stan Musial, OF, 1941-44, '46-63 |
| Everyone recognizes Musial as the greatest Cardinal but he tends to be left
out of the loftier group he belongs in. The greatest hitter ever debates
involve Williams, Aaron and Ruth and DiMaggio, Cobb and Hornsby, but rarely
Musial who in one way can be called the most valuable player to his team of
all-time. Stats Inc. keeps a statistic called Awards Share, compiling the
percentage of the vote a player received in his career. Musial is the
career leader in percentage of MVP vote. In addition to winning three times
('43, '46, '48), he finished second four times ('49, '50, '51, '57). He's
second in career total bases (6,134) and extra-base hits (1,377), fourth in
RBI (1,951), third in doubles (725), fourth in hits (3,630) and sixth in
runs (1,949). He hit .331 with 475 homers over 22 seasons. |
| Joe Medwick, OF, 1932-40, '47-48 |
| Medwick was an ornery man and overly aggressive player who was an
exceptional athlete and the last National League player to win the Triple
Crown (1937). After turning down an opportunity to play football at Notre
Dame, Medwick became an instant pro baseball success hitting over .300 each
season as a Cardinal. His '37 season with a .374 average, 154 RBI and 31
homers was the middle of three consecutive seasons in which he led the NL
in RBI and doubles. His 64 doubles in 1936 set a still-standing league
record. His .335 career average is third best in team history. |
| Lou Brock, OF, 1964-79 |
| Speed made Brock a Hall of Famer but he had a good enough bat to allow the
speed to be put to use on the base paths. He hit .293 over 16 seasons in
St. Louis and is second to Musial in career hits, runs and total bases in
Cardinals history. Brock was a quality postseason player as well and has
more hits, runs, RBI, homers and steals than any other Cardinal in World
Series play. His 938 steals, including 118 in 1974 were both records before
Rickey Henderson came along. |
Pitchers
| Dizzy Dean, SP, 1930, '32-37 |
| In just five seasons of 30 starts or more, Dean became a legend for his
pitching and his odd character. Dean brought more flavor to the already
colorful "Gas House Gang" when he won 18 games and led the NL in strikeouts
and shutouts in his first full season, 1932. He won 120 games from 1932-36,
led the league in strikeouts four times and complete games three times. In
1934 he backed up his claim that he and his brother Paul would combine for
45 wins by winning 30 himself to go along with Paul's 19. He was the NL MVP
that year. The following season he won 28 but was edged in MVP voting by
Cubs catcher Gabby Hartnett. His career faded fast though. At age 26, in
the 1937 All-Star Game, he had a toe broken by an Earl Averill line drive.
Before letting the injury heal, Dean tried to pitch with a different
delivery and hurt his arm. |
| Bob Gibson, SP, 1959-75 |
| Gibson grew a reputation as one of the fiercest competitors of the '60s and
early '70s by being one of the toughest pitchers to hit and one with a
stone face. He's joins Walter Johnson and Tom Seaver as the only pitchers
ever with 3,000 strikeouts and a career ERA under 3.00. Gibson won 20 games
five times and won Cy Young awards in 1968 and '70. His 1968 season is
often considered the most dominant since the dead-ball era. His 13 shutouts
were the second most ever and most since 1916 and there have only been two
lower ERAs than his 1.12. |
| Mort Cooper, SP, 1938-45 |
| When the Cardinals had their greatest trio of seasons, reaching the World
Series from 1942-44, Cooper was the pitching star, winning 65 games with 23
shutouts. In 1942 he led the NL with 22 wins and with a 1.78 ERA and was
named MVP of the National League. His .677 winning percentage (105-77) is
second only to John Tudor in team history. |
| John Tudor, SP, 1985-88, '90 |
| Tudor is often overlooked because he was not an overpowering pitcher with
any flamboyance. He simply won. As a Cardinal, he went 62-26. His 1985
season, in which the Cards lost the World Series to the Royals, is one of
the most underappreciated seasons of the past 50 years. He pitched 10
shutouts, something that's been done only 30 times and much more rarely by
left-handers. He went 21-8 with a 1.93 ERA and finished second in Cy Young
voting because of Dwight Gooden's awesome 24-4, 1.53 season. |
| Jesse Haines, SP, 1920-37 |
| Haines was part of the Cardinals' first five World Series teams and won 210
games in his 18 seasons. He was a three-time 20-game winner who led the NL
in shutouts twice. |
| Lee Smith, RP, 1990-93 |
| Smith averaged 40 saves in his four seasons in St. Louis, part of a career
that would finish with the most saves in baseball history. He was an
All-Star in 1991, '92 and '93 and his 160 saves are the Cardinals career
record as are his 47 in 1991. |
| Bench |
| Johnny Mize, Frankie Frisch, Jim Bottomley, Red Schoendienst, Enos
Slaughter, Bill White, Pepper Martin, Curt Flood, Joe Torre, Willie McGee,
Orlando Cepeda, Marty Marion, Garry Templeton, Jack Clark, Bob O'Farrell,
Chick Hafey, Vince Coleman, Tom Herr, Keith Hernandez, Terry Pendleton, Ray
Lankford, Gregg Jefferies, Reggie Smith, George Hendrick, Dal Maxvill, Rip
Collins, Julian Javier, Taylor Douhit, Jesse Burkett, Dick Groat |
| Best season |
| The 1942 Cardinals won a club-record 106 games before beating
the New York Yankees in a five-game World Series. Mort Cooper won NL MVP
and teammate Enos Slaughter finished second having hit .318 with 98 RBI. In
a rash of odd superstition, Cooper changed his uniform number for a series
of games to the number of the victory he was seeking. Stan Musial, in his
second season, hit .315 and rookie pitcher Johnny Beazley went 21-6 with a
2.13 ERA. The Cards finished the regular season winning 43 of their final
51. It was the first of three consecutive World Series seasons. |
| |
| Worst season |
| Bugs Raymond and Johnny Lush each had ERAs under 2.15 in 1908
but combined to lose 43 games for an awful team. The Cardinals went 49-105
finishing 50 games back of the Chicago Cubs. |
| Best individual season, player |
| There was rarely a moment of the summer of
1922 when Rogers Hornsby wasn't circling the bases. Hornsby won the Triple
Crown, hitting .401 with 42 homers and 152 RBI, and also led the league in
runs (141), hits (250), doubles (46), on-base percentage (.459) and
slugging percentage (.722). His 450 total bases are second to Babe Ruth's
457 in 1921. |
| |
| Best individual season, pitcher |
| The entire National League ERA in 1968 was
under 3 at 2.99 but Bob Gibson was still far ahead of the norm set by his
peers. His 1.12 ERA is the best since 1914 and the best ever among pitchers
with 300 innings. Gibson went 22-9 but with some more timely offensive
support would have been much closer to 30 wins. Eight of his nine losses
came in one or two-run games. In the first game of the World Series against
Detroit he struck out 17. |
|
|
|