St. Louis Cardinals

Catchers & Infielders:

• C – Ted Simmons (LF)
• C – Yadier Molina
• 1B – Johnny Mize
• 2B – Rogers Hornsby
• SS – Ozzie Smith
• 3B – Albert Pujols (1B/RF)
• MI – Frankie Frisch (2B/SS/3B)
• CI – Ken Boyer (3B)

Outfielders:

• LF – Stan Musial (1B/CF/RF)
• CF – Ray Lankford (LF)
• RF – Jack Clark (1B)
• OF – Chick Hafey (LF/CF/RF)
• OF – Joe Medwick (LF)
• LF – Lou Brock

Starting Pitchers:

• SP – Bob Gibson
• SP – Slim Sallee
• SP – Bill Doak
• SP – Adam Wainwright
• SP – Dizzy Dean
• SP – Silver King

With every team, we started building their all-time 25-man and 40-man rosters by using the Hall of Fame as a starting point, figuring that a player enshrined in baseball’s immortal Hall would certainly qualify to make his team’s all-time roster.

Almost all the Hall of Fame members are easily identifiable with one team so it’s a simple way to start every roster with near-inarguable selections. There are a few brilliant players who made significant contributions to multiple teams, and it’s our job to decide where they made the biggest impact.

St. Louis has to fight for Frankie Frisch, Mark McGwire, Jim Edmonds, Scott Rolen, Keith Hernandez, and Albert Pujols:

Frankie Frisch

N.Y. Giants: 8 seasons, 0 All-Star, 0 MVPs, 37.6 WAR, .321 AVG, 701 Runs, 524 RBI, 54 HR, 224 SB + 2 World Series Titles

St. Louis: 11 seasons, 3-time All-Star, 1 MVP, 33.2 WAR, .312 AVG, 831 Runs, 720 RBI, 51 HR, 195 SB + 2 World Series Titles

Mark McGwire

Oakland: 12 seasons, 9-time All-Star, 0 MVPs, 42.9 WAR, .260 AVG, 773 Runs, 941 RBI, 363 HR, 12 SB + 1 World Series Title

St. Louis: 5 seasons, 3-time All-Star, 0 MVPs, 19.3 WAR, .270 AVG, 394 Runs, 473 RBI, 220 HR, 4 SB

Jim Edmonds

L.A. Angels: 7 seasons, 1 All-Star, 0 MVPs, 20.5 WAR, .290 AVG, 464 Runs, 408 RBI, 26 SB

St. Louis: 8 seasons, 3-time All-Star, 0 MVPs, 37.9 WAR, .285 AVG, 690 Runs, 713 RBI, 37 SB + 1 World Series Title

Scott Rolen

Philadelphia: 7 seasons, 1 All-Star, 0 MVPs, 29.2 WAR, .282 AVG, 533 Runs, 559 RBI, 150 HR, 71 SB

St. Louis: 6 seasons, 4-time All-Star, 0 MVPs, 25.9 WAR, .286 AVG, 421 Runs, 453 RBI, 111 HR, 33 SB + 1 World Series Title

Keith Hernandez

St. Louis: 10 seasons, 2-time All-Star, 1 MVP, 34.4 WAR, .299 AVG, 662 Runs, 595 RBI, 81 HR, 81 SB + 1 World Series Title

N.Y. Mets: 7 seasons, 3-time All-Star, 0 MVPs, 26.6 WAR, .297 AVG, 455 Runs, 468 RBI, 80 HR, 17 SB + 1 World Series Title

Albert Pujols

St. Louis: 11 seasons, 9-time All-Star, 3-time MVP, 86.6 WAR, 1291 Runs, 1329 RBI, 445 HR, 84 SB + 1 World Series Title

L.A. Angels: 8 seasons, 1 All-Star, 0 MVPs, 14.2 WAR, 537 Runs, 746 RBI, 211 HR, 30 SB

Two of these are extremely clear – Mark McGwire belongs to Oakland, while Albert Pujols is definitely a Cardinal.

It’s closer, but Scott Rolen’s numbers in Philadelphia are stronger than his stats in St. Louis.

Frankie Frisch is harder to place – his three All-Star berths as a Cardinal are somewhat unfair criteria as the first all-Star game was in 1933, seven years after he left the Giants. It’s really close, but the extra seasons and the MVP (and the fact he wouldn’t have made the Giants’ active roster) deliver Frankie to St. Louis.

Keith Hernandez and Jim Edmonds have the exact same story – both of their numbers are stronger with St. Louis, but they wouldn’t make the Cardinals’ active roster.

The Mets and Angels are both expansion teams with decades less talent to draw from, so they get Edmonds and Hernandez as they have active roster spots for them both.

As with every team, we are trying to build an active roster with 13 position players and 12 pitchers, and then a 15-player inactive roster of guys who just missed the cut, but remain valuable as callups in case of slumps or injuries.

The 13 active position players are usually two catchers, six infielders, and five outfielders. The stats are built around the average of the player’s best three consecutive seasons.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame gives us a good start to the St. Louis roster. Cooperstown gives the Cardinals Ted Simmons, Johnny Mize, Rogers Hornsby, Ozzie Smith, Frankie Frisch, Stan Musial, Chick Hafey, Joe Medwick, Bob Gibson, Dizzy Dean, Jesse Haines, Jim Bottomley, Enos Slaughter, Lou Brock, and Red Schoendienst.

With 15 players coming from Cooperstown, WAR (Wins Above Replacement), a great stat for looking at the all-around contribution to a team for both hitters and pitchers, can help us find the rest.

We get lots of help here, as in order we find: Albert Pujols, Ken Boyer, Curt Flood, Yadier Molina, Ray Lankford, Marty Marion, Matt Carpenter, Bill White, Ed Konetchy, and Willie McGee.

Because each team should have at least three catchers, Tom Pagnozzi and Frank Snyder merit consideration as well.

Once plugged into the simulation software, we looked at their OPS (on-base + slugging percentage) and their defensive rankings and they break down like this:

CATCHER: Ted Simmons, Yadier Molina
FIRST BASE: Johnny Mize, Albert Pujols (sometimes)
SECOND BASE: Rogers Hornsby, Frankie Frisch (sometimes)
SHORTSTOP: Ozzie Smith, Frankie Frisch (sometimes)
THIRD BASE: Ken Boyer, Albert Pujols (sometimes)
LEFT FIELD: Ray Lankford, Joe Medwick, Chick Hafey (sometimes)
CENTER FIELD: Stan Musial, Chick Hafey (sometimes)
RIGHT FIELD: Jack Clark, Albert Pujols (sometimes)

Albert Pujols is St. Louis’ second-best bat (behind Rogers Hornsby) so he’s going to play a ton, but some people forget how defensively versatile he was early on, so you could see him in right field and at third base too.

That leaves inactive roster options for George Hendrick, Matt Carpenter, Frank Snyder, Jim Bottomley, Enos Slaughter, Lou Brock, Red Schoendienst, Bill White, and Ed Konetchy.

For the pitching staff we’re looking for six starters and six relievers. Bear in mind that across the whole game you will see dynamic, outstanding starting pitchers that can’t crack an all-time rotation but are better served as relievers on a team than sitting inactive.

Hall of Fame pitchers automatically belong on the roster so we have three slots reserved for Bob Gibson, Dizzy Dean, and Jesse Haines. With 29 players on the total roster we have room for 11 more pitchers.

Once we dug into the career WAR rankings (as Athletics) we came up with: Harry Brecheen, Adam Wainwright, Theodore Breitenstein, Max Lanier, Silver King, Mort Cooper, Larry Jackson, Howie Pollet, and Chris Carpenter.

Although their Cardinals careers weren’t that long, John Tudor and Ice Box Chamberlain belong in the discussion as do standout relievers Jason Isringhausen, Trevor Rosenthal, Al Hrabosky, and Todd Worrell.

We looked at their overall numbers in the simulation software and leaned heavily on ERA to come up with these designations:

STARTING ROTATION: Bob Gibson, Adam Wainwright, Silver King, Mort Cooper, Harry Brecheen, John Tudor
RELIEVERS: Dizzy Dean, Al Hrabosky, Bill Doak, Slim Sallee
SET-UP: Todd Worrell
CLOSER: Trevor Rosenthal

I’m excited to unleash Bob Gibson on the rest of the National League, but disappointed that I won’t get to see Silver King and Ice Box Chamberlain challenge for the tag team titles.

The inactive pitcher options are Max Lanier, Jason Isringhausen, Jesse Haines, Larry Jackson, Lee Meadows, and Bill Sherdel.

So how did we do?

Can we leave the 160-some combined steals (from Brock/Coleman) off the active roster?

Where will Albert Pujols get his at-bats?

Is Trevor Rosenthal the best choice as closer?

Let us know in the forums below and if you make a compelling case we will adapt it in-game. We want every squad to be the best they possibly can be and appreciate your help fine-tuning the Cardinals for Eternal Baseball.

Photo Credits:

• Cardinals vs. Cubs by Jonathan Cutrer
• St. Louis Cardinals by Jeff Marquis
• St. Louis Cardinals, Opening Day 2015 by Brian Wibbenmeyer