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Who are the top St. Louis Cardinals of all time? Here is our top 10 countdown:
10. Ken Boyer: the 1964 NL MVP, Boyer was skilled with both his bat and his glove at third base – an 11x All-Star and 5x Gold Glover, he hit 20+ home runs 8x and led the team to the World Series during his MVP season.
9. Yadier Molina: the greatest defensive catcher of his generation, Molina has spent his entire career with St. Louis, winning nine Gold Gloves and making 10 All-Star teams as part of a pair of championship teams.
8. Joe Medwick: the last NL hitter to win the Triple Crown (in 1937), Medwick spent the first decade plus of his career with St. Louis, making seven straight All-Star appearances and guiding the team to a World Series championship.
7. Dizzy Dean: the leader of the Cardinals’ “Gashouse Gang”, Dean was dominant from 1932 to 1937 before injuries shortened his career: four straight All-Star selections, four consecutive years leading the league in strikeouts, back-to-back years as wins leader, the 1934 NL MVP (followed by a pair of runner-up finishes), and a World Series title.
6. Ozzie Smith: perhaps the greatest defensive shortstop ever, Smith won 11 straight Gold Gloves in his prime with the Cardinals (13 straight overall); the 15x All-Star was no slouch at the plate either, accumulating nearly 2,500 career hits and stealing 580 career bases.
5. Lou Brock: MLB’s career leader in stolen bases upon his retirement (938), Brock had over 3,000 career hits and led the league in stolen bases 8x as a Cardinal, including a then single-season record of 118 in 1974, en route to six All-Star Games; moreover, he was one of the greatest postseason players ever, hitting .391 across three World Series appearances, winning two championships.
4. Albert Pujols: the best hitter in baseball during the 2000s, Pujols began his career with NL Rookie of the Year honors and hit .300+ with 30+ home runs and 100+ runs batted in for a decade straight, winning three MVPs, a pair of World Series titles, and six Silver Sluggers with nine All-Star appearances during his 11 seasons in St. Louis.
3. Bob Gibson: perhaps the most feared pitcher of his era, Gibson was a 9x All-Star selection and won 20+ games 5x, most notably winning both NL Cy Young and MVP honors in 1968 while setting a modern-day record for lowest single-season ERA (1.12); he also led the Cardinals to World Series titles in 1964 and 1967, and was named World Series MVP both times.
2. Rogers Hornsby: one of the greatest pure hitters in baseball history, Hornsby is second all-time only to Ty Cobb with a career .358 batting average; in 13 seasons with the Cardinals, he hit .359 overall with six batting titles (including a post-1900 NL-best .424 batting average in 1924), a pair of Triple Crowns, an MVP award, and a World Series title.
1. Stan Musial: one of the most consistently great players ever, Musial spent 22 seasons with the Cardinals and made 24 All-Star Games while winning seven batting titles, three MVPs, and three World Series titles; moreover, his 3,630 career hits are fourth-most all-time and split exactly evenly between home and away games.
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Note: All statistics as of time of publication.
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