photo: 2004 National League champions (Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)
Editor’s note: This begins a special series by Michael Roberts, aka “Bike Mike” or “bicyclemike” on The Cardinal Nation’s forums, where he serves as a moderator. The long-time fan, financial expert and simulation game aficionado uses the latter to identify the best St. Louis Cardinals team of all time. Here, he sets up the participants in the first round.
The history of baseball runs deep in St. Louis. The first professional team was formed in 1874, and for a couple of years thereafter, two professional clubs called St. Louis home, the Brown Stockings and Maroons. These were independent teams, but St. Louis had a representative in inaugural National League season of 1876, the Brown Stockings. They were good too, finishing at 45-19, in third place in the eight-team league. They fell to fourth (of six teams) in 1877 at 28-32, and folded. This ended professional baseball in St. Louis until 1882 and the formation of the American Association.
Those 1880s teams, retaining the “Browns” moniker, started the tradition of excellence in St. Louis professional baseball, winning four consecutive league titles from 1885 through 1888. Those Browns featured player manager and recent St. Louis Hall of Fame inductee Charley Comiskey, and hard-hitting pitching ace Bob Caruthers. Caruthers was an early-era Babe Ruth and Shohei Ohtani, sporting a career batting mark of .282 and twice winning 40 games as a pitcher. He is still in the top 20 all-time among Cardinals WAR leaders, checking in at #19. In the earliest example of the rivalry with the Cubs, those Browns gave St. Louis it’s first “World Championship” in 1886, defeating Cap Anson’s powerful Chicago White Stockings (predecessor to the current Cubs) in seven games.
Any discussion of great St. Louis baseball teams starts with those 1880s Browns and covers 23 pennant winners in total, not to mention some excellent also-rans. But which team is best? We could probably poll a dozen readers of The Cardinal Nation and get 10 different answers. And all would be “right”, as anyone’s “greatest” team might be the one that is closest to their heart, or provided vivid memories.
I put this to the test, forming a tournament using a popular stat based computer sim game, “Action PC”. The game platform is like the old card and dice games some of us might be familiar with such as APBA and Strat-O-Matic. As a long-time APBA player going back to childhood and into my 30s, I put together many relays and tournaments. APBA was an obsession for me as a youngster, often interfering with my studies more than my parents would have liked.
I had long envisioned setting up a bracket-style tourney with all the Cardinals’ pennant winners. This year, I finally made it a reality, constructing a “best of” tournament with a bit of a twist.
In a bracket-style tournament, a field that is divisible by four is best. With 23 Cardinals pennant winners and the 1944 Browns, this would seem to make a nice base for a tournament. However, despite the four St. Louis powerhouse teams of the 1880s being some of the best clubs St. Louis has witnessed, playing them against the modern era teams would be impractical. The rules of the game we have known for 125 years now were still evolving then. In the 1880s, a walk took anywhere from eight to five balls, and a foul ball caught on one bounce was an out. Foul balls not caught were not strikes and batters could select a preference from the “hurler” high (above the waist) or low pitches.
While I consider the 1880s St. Louis Browns teams the true “grandparents” of the Cardinals teams of today and certainly in the discussion of our greatest teams, with the rule variations and style of play changes I chose to use only “modern era” (post 1900) teams for this tournament.
That leaves 19 Cardinals pennant winners to send to battle, 11 World Champions and eight that did not quite attain the final prize. “Eight” is a nice number to work with in a tournament, but “eleven” not so much. But wait, what about the American League Browns? There is not much to choose from there, but they did win a pennant in 1944. They also had a truly great second place team in 1922.
Going back to my APBA board days, the company issued “Great Teams of the Past” as part of their catalog of teams other than the most recent season set. One of those teams was the 1922 Browns, which I played a lot back in the card and dice days. It was a fun team with a lot of offense, and good pitching.
To quote advertising from APBA about those Browns, “They didn’t win the pennant. They finished second, a game behind the Yankees, but they were easily the greatest Brownie team in the league’s history. Led by peerless George Sisler, who batted .420 and stole 51 bases, this club had an aggregate team batting average of .313! Ken Williams led the league with 39 home runs and Urban Shocker was the club’s top hurler.”
Diving a little deeper, those Browns had a .604 winning percentage, better than 10 of the pennant-winning Cardinals clubs. Their run differential of +223 is exceeded only by the 1942 and 1944 Cardinal pennant-winning teams. The ’44 Browns were relatively pedestrian in comparison, playing at a .578 clip with a +97 run differential. The Pythagorean, or “expected” won-loss record for the ’22 bunch was seven games better than the Yankees. Based on run differential, they were the best team in baseball in 1922, exceeding both New York pennant winners.
St. Louis fans were treated to historically great offensive seasons in 1922. The Browns boasted Sisler and Williams, who amassed 8.7 and 7.9 bWAR, respectively. Sisler’s OPS+ was 170 and Williams’ 164. With 37 stolen bases in addition to the 39 homers, Williams also christened the “30-30 club”, as the first player in history to hit 30 or more homers and steal 30 or more bases. He was the only member for another 34 years until Willie Mays turned the trick in 1956.
Meanwhile, Rogers Hornsby had an incredible season for the St. Louis National League club, hitting .401 with 42 homers and logging an incredible 207 OPS+. He contributed 10.1 bWAR. Unfortunately, that club did not have enough of a supporting cast to push them to a pennant, ending up eight games behind the Giants and not earning a berth in the “Best of St. Louis” tourney.
So now the tournament field is set. 20 teams, 19 Cardinals clubs and the 1922 Browns. The eight teams that lost the World Series will be seeded into a “Losers Bracket”, while the 11 pennant winners and our lone Brownie team will receive a bye. The four winners in the losers bracket round will advance and be seeded with the 12 “Winners Bracket” teams to form a 16-team playoff.
All series will be best of seven, with the higher seeded team receiving home field in games 1, 2, 6 and 7. Let’s start by previewing the eight non-pennant winners competing for Bike Mike’s “Best of St. Louis” championship, in order of seeding.
The Losers Bracket
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Stan Musial 1943 Cardinals (.682 winning percentage, +204 run differential). The second of Billy Southworth’s three consecutive pennant winners featured great pitching, good team speed and defense.
Gone from the ’42 powerhouse was future Hall-of-Famer Enos Slaughter, but this team still had the talent to win. Stan Musial, in his second full season, had a breakout campaign, hitting .357 with a .987 OPS. His 220 hits included 48 doubles, 20 triples and 13 home runs, 108 runs scored and 81 driven in. Catcher Walker Cooper hit .318, and outfielder Harry Walker .294.
Pitching was the team’s biggest strength, with three hurlers sporting ERAs under 2.00, and another four under 3.00. As in 1942, Walker Cooper’s brother Mort led the staff with a 21-8 record and 2.30 ERA. In modern parlance, he also sported a 1.12 WHIP. Lefty Max Lanier was 15-7 with a sparkling 1.90 ERA. And that did not even lead the club. Lefty Al Brazle, in limited duty, had a 1.53 ERA and yet another southpaw, Howie Pollet, checked in at 1.75 in 118 innings.
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Albert Pujols (USA TODAY Sports Images) 2004 Cardinals (.648 winning percentage, +196 run differential). The best of the modern era Cardinal teams, the only thing keeping this stellar group from serious contention for the greatest of all Cardinal teams is their collapse at the hands of the Red Sox in the four game World Series sweep. That sudden ineptitude in the biggest games of the year waters down an epic season.
Let’s start with the offense – it was the highlight year for the “MV3”, Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds. Each OPS’d over 1.000, led by Pujols at 1.072. Albert hit .331, slugged 46 homers and added 51 doubles for good measure, driving in 123. Edmonds was right behind with 42 homers, 111 RBI and a 1.061 OPS. Rolen chipped in with 34 long balls, a .314 average and 1.007 OPS. It was almost unfair when they added Larry Walker during the season. In 44 games, the future Hall of Famer OPSed .953, launching 11 home runs and getting on base at a .393 clip. Reggie Sanders chipped in with 22 homers in 135 games.
The starting pitching was good; the bullpen was great. In an era when relief pitching is vital to winning, this club excelled with manager Tony La Russa turning to lefties Steve Kline and Ray King, and righties Julian Taveras, Kiko Calero and Cal Eldred setting up closer Jason Isrighhausen. “Izzy” matched Lee Smith’s Cardinals save record, since broken, with 47. Four starters won at least 15 games – Matt Morris, Jason Marquis, Jeff Suppan and Chris Carpenter.
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Willie McGee 1985 Cardinals (.623 winning percentage, +175 run differential). A much-discussed bad call in the ninth inning of Game 6 of the World Series might have cost this club a World Championship. The second of Whitey Herzog’s three pennant winners, and arguably the best of the bunch, this team epitomized “Whitey Ball” with speed, defense, and pitching. They were especially tough at home, going 54-27 while taking advantage of spacious Busch Stadium.
Vince Coleman exploded onto the scene with 110 stolen bases in his rookie year. As a team they stole 314 bags, with Willie McGee swiping 56, Andy Van Slyke 34, and keystone mates Tommy Herr and Ozzie Smith 31 each. Only one player hit as many as 20 homers, as Jack Clark hit his uniform number of 22. McGee batted .353 and added 13 homers, 18 triples, and was awarded the league’s Most Valuable Player award. Herr’s 110 RBI led the club, despite him homering just eight times.
The pitching was good as well, with John Tudor earning a memorable 21-8 win-loss record and 1.93 ERA. The enigmatic Joaquin Andujar matched Tudor’s 21 wins, and Danny Cox put 18 games in the “W” column. The loss of closer Bruce Sutter was supposed to be the death knell for this club, but Whitey had a versatile bullpen and called on righties Jeff Lahti (a club leading 19 saves along with a 1.84 ERA), Bill Campbell and August call-up Todd Worrell from the right side. Rick Horton (2.91 ERA) and Ken Dayley (2.76 ERA, 11 saves) were clutch from the left side.
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Jim Bottomley 1928 Cardinals (.617 winning percentage, +171 run differential). The second Cardinal pennant winner and one of four NL champions for Hall of Fame manager Bill McKechnie, this team recaptured the pennant after winning in 1926, but finishing a game and a half off the pace in ’27. A sweep by the mighty Ruth-and-Gehrig Yankees makes this club more of a footnote today, but their numbers are almost identical to the ’85 team featured above.
Hall of Famer Jim Bottomley won the NL MVP award with a standout season in which he had a “triple twenty”; 42 doubles, 20 triples and 31 homers. He OPSed 1.030, hitting .325 and driving in 136. Chick Hafey blossomed into a star, with a .337 average and a .990 OPS. He was also an extra-base hit machine, slamming 46 doubles, six triples and 27 round trippers to drive in 111 runs.
Pitching was good as well, led by lefty Bill Sherdel (21-10, 2.86), veteran Grover Cleveland “Pete” Alexander (16-9, 3.36), and Jesse “Pop” Haines (20-8, 3.18).
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Adam Wainwright (Steve Mitchell/USA TODAY Sports) 2013 Cardinals (.599 winning percentage, +187 run differential). The most recent Cardinal pennant winner, and a team that is perhaps a bit underrated. Manager Mike Matheny had a nice balance on offense and some very good pitching, much of it from sources somewhat surprising.
Like some early day players mentioned, Matt Carpenter blossomed into a star in his second full season, hitting .318 and slamming a club record 55 doubles. This team featured three other regulars topping the .300 mark, and another just under – Yadier Molina (.319), Allen Craig (.315), Matt Holliday (.300) and Carlos Beltran (.296).
Adam Wainwright led the pitching staff with 19 wins and a 2.94 ERA, with Lance Lynn and Shelby Miller winning 15 apiece and Joe Kelly notching 10 wins. Fireballer Trevor Rosenthal set up for Edward Mujica, who saved 37 games.
This club will square off against the fourth-seeded 1928 team to see who earns a shot at competing in the field of 16.
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Bob Gibson (AP photo) 1968 Cardinals (.599 winning percentage, +111 run differential). This team was at the apex of the 1960s Cardinals surge, riding high after the 1967 Championship and taking charge of the NL again, more-or-less coasting through the season. They finished April with a 13-5 record, and after a slide in May during which they fell to only a single game above .500, they went on a nine-game winning streak and never looked back, winning by nine lengths over the second place Giants.
We all know Bob Gibson’s incredible 1.12 ERA, and how pitching was THE story in ’68. His WHIP was an unheard of .852, and he struck out just under eight batters per nine innings on his way to the Cy Young and MVP awards. Gibby tossed 13 shutouts, while the rest of the staff tacked on 17 more. Nellie Briles won 19 with a 2.81 ERA, and Ray Washburn won 14, including a no-hitter, and a 2.26 ERA. Lefty Steve Carlton won 13.
Red Schoendienst’s bullpen was reliable as well, with Ron Willis, Joe Hoerner (1.47 ERA), Dick Hughes and Wayne Granger (2.25 ERA) getting most of the work. Schoendienst’s crew will take on Whitey Herzog’s 1985 team in the first round.
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Frankie Frisch 1930 Cardinals (.597 winning percentage, +220 run differential). The antithesis of the ’68 crew, this was the “Year of the Hitter” and Gabby Street’s team could really mash. They should probably have been seeded above the ’68 team, but I used winning percentage as the seeding delineator. These guys edged the Cubs by two games in Hack Wilson’s 191 RBI season, hitting .314 as a team to lead the league.
A couple of outfielders lead the way with Showboat Fisher (great nicknames back then) hitting .374 and George Watkins right behind at .373. Watkins also knocked 17 homers and 32 doubles in only 119 games, good for a 1.036 OPS. Frankie Frisch hit .346 and drove in a club leading 114 runs – a bit of a foreshadowing of the team 55 years later where a second baseman drove in over 100 runs without being a power hitter; The Flash homered only 10 times, but he added 46 doubles and nine triples to his ledger.
Every regular hit over .300, and even the supporting cast showed lofty batting records. Backup catcher Gus Mancuso checked in at .366, and veteran Ray Blades sported a .396 batting mark, albeit in only 101 at bats.
Pitching was an adventure in 1930, and it was no different with this team although five Cardinals won in double figures. But only one had an ERA under 4, that being grizzled veteran Burleigh Grimes at 3.10. The team ERA of 4.39 was good enough to place second in the league.
This first round match-up will feature a couple of powerful offenses as these guys square up with Tony La Russa’s 2004 team.
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Ozzie Smith (Getty Images) 1987 Cardinals (.586 winning percentage, +105 run differential). Our final competitor in the Losers Bracket is Whitey Herzog’s final pennant winner. After the Cardinals’ disappointing end to 1985, the New York Mets featured an outstanding team that won 108 games and the World Series in ’86. But the Runnin’ Redbirds came back in ’87 to beat the Mets by three games, then ousted the Giants in the NLCS to return to the World Series. However, in a Series in which the home team won every game, the Cardinals only had three home games.
Like the ’85 group, this team was built on speed and defense. Vince Coleman again ran wild, stealing 109 bases, while Ozzie Smith swiped 43. Tommy Herr and Terry Pendleton took 19 each. Surprisingly Ozzie led the club in hitting at .303. Jack Clark provided the power, hammering 35 homers despite missing 31 games. It was Willie McGee’s turn to be the run producer who did not hit many homers, driving in 105, one behind Clark’s team-leading 106, and homering 11 times. Willie doubled 37 times and added 11 triples as well.
Danny Cox emerged as the staff ace, one of three 11-game winners that included lefty Greg Mathews and veteran Bob Forsch. 1985’s ace John Tudor was injured much of the year, starting only 16 times but he turned in a 10-2 record.
Closer Todd Worrell notched 33 saves, with Rick Horton and Ken Dayley providing their usual good left-handed work in the bullpen. Horton also started six games.
We will see if this squad can score enough runs against the excellent 1943 pitching staff to pull an upset and get into the field of 16.
What is next
Next up will be the results of the Losers Bracket series and a look at the field of 16 matchups. Plus, I will summarize the 11 teams that won World Series titles and take a little deeper look at our lone St. Louis Browns entry.
Also, stop by The Cardinal Nation’s free forum and join the special discussion on this tournament or any of the many other active threads about St. Louis Cardinals baseball!
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