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How would you rank the two and why?
What if you had to decide between two of the greatest players in #STLCards history? Pujols vs. Molina or is that Molina vs. Pujols? https://t.co/TyiKUEzVMi pic.twitter.com/gldj1yjGsR
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) January 20, 2026
I would vote Pujols ahead of Molina. I understand that Molina spent more years in the Cardinal uniform but Pujols was one of the top two or three Cardinal players in history in my opinion. Molina probably cracks the top 10.
Its easy. Pujols put up historic numbers for ten years before injuries took their toll. Still had some solid seasons after. Molina was a great defensive catcher, all time so,but offensively he was pretty bad. Was also great with pitchers. Pujols 1,molina a far behind 2.
I’m not at all sure Molina gets 1st year enshrinement. In fact, I’ll be a bit surprised if he does. The great Pujols is a slam dunk. I’m surprised he didn’t get in as soon as game 2 of the ’22 NLWC ended…Also, that photo in TCN article of Pujols and Molina gathered arond the HP area is an all-time classic Cardinal image. Godzilla and his HOF little brother buddy celebrating a tater…Those were the days!
Molina featured an incredibly dangerous bat in high leverage situations. In fact, for several seasons there was no Cardinal other than Albert Pujols that I’d rather see standing in with the outcome of the game on the line than Yadier Molina. He was a tough, tough out when all the money was pushed to the center of the table.
1tough said:
I’m not at all sure Molina gets 1st year enshrinement. In fact, I’ll be a bit surprised if he does.
Please share your view why you don’t think Yadi will get into the Cardinals Hall of Fame this year. And while you’re at it, please tell us who will get more votes than Yadi for the second Modern Era spot (along with Albert). Thanks.
If we were picking rosters I’d have to take Albert first. Tho, I enjoyed watching Yadi more, on the infield. He made 90′ seem small.
I was referring to the baseball HOF, BW. Heck, Burleson could probably sneak in to the Cardinal HOF someday…
Regarding Cooperstown, Posey will be eligible next year, the year before Yadi. He is expected to be a first balloter. Yadi and Albert will be at the top of the new group for 2028. Albert is a lock, but I think both could go in. My early guess is Albert 95%, Yadi 75% of the vote. (And don’t get me started about the stupid voters who won’t vote for Albert the first time…)
For Cardinals HOF I would vote Yadi in and tell Albert he can come back in 10 years and I will happily vote for him.
Hey fellow posters – not sure what the deal is but I have tried to add to this thread several times, both yesterday and this morning and get this every time:
Error: Your reply cannot be created at this time.
Anyone else get this? Seems to be just this thread as others work fine. And obviously this post went through, but when I write about Albert and Yadi I get an error – and I did not swear or anything. 🙂
Okay, trying again. My general thoughts on Albert and Yadi. Both are great Cardinals and no doubt will be elected to the Redbird Hall this year. In comparing them, Albert is clearly had the more impactful Cardinal career. His 88.6 WAR ranks fourth all-time in club history.
Yadi is not even our top catcher, with Ted Simmons checking in at 45 WAR and 9th all-time in the Cardinal lineup. Yadi comes in at 41.6, 13th best among our greats.
Still Yadi did things to impact a game that are hard to quantify. His handling of the pitching staff, leadership, and club presence were all top tier.
No doubt both will don red jackets later this summer, and deservedly so.
I don’t get too excited about halls of fame one way or another. Seems like there are more and more “above average” guys getting in these days rather than truly great ballplayers. I guess “fame” is a slippery term to deal with in our era.
BikeMike, I don’t know for sure what happened, but you might have run up against the maximum post size, which I think is 3000 characters (going from my memory). Another problem could be if more than one external link was in the post. Both limits were set to throttle spammers, who never seem to go away.
I dont like that they put pujols and molina on the same ballot. Seems silly.should have put one this year, the other the next. You can only vote for one. And my boy george gets screwed again. They should have let him in when freese gave up his choice which he didnt deserve.
I voted for Albert over Yadi but I agree with 1982willie that Silent George must get inducted at some point.
All four for sure. Silent George was the best performer on some really exciting teams. Had a great career and was great here…not just good.
Brian Jordan was just good not great here but went on to have a great career. I say great simply because of his All-Pro NFL career. He was arguably the NFL’s most physical player for multipple seasons and showed up here and never disappointed. Jordan really was pivotal in establishing interest in the minor league system after being taken in the first round. We collected his Falcon cards while awaiting this power-hitting wunderkind.
The other two are probably worthy of serious consideration.I vote for Yadi over Pujols. Yadi controlled the whole field, not just the bat. He has peripheral vision like none I’ve ever seen or ever expect to see again. I don’t believe that there is an umpire, a manager, a coach, or any other baseball professional that didn’t hold him in the highest esteem.
I am torn between the 2. I think Yadi spending his whole career as a Cardinal is important, but Pujols is one of the very best to ever play the game and his 10 year run to start his career was worthy of a hall of fame induction. I think I have to vote Pujols, but there are arguments to be made for Yadi for sure and I wouldn’t disagree with anyone who voted Yadi over Pujols.
I’m to young to remember George Hendrick but heard my dad talk of him on the early 80’s teams.
Brian Jordan was very underrated, but not a Cardinals Hall of Fame good, hes a hall of very good for 3 of his seasons with the Cardinals. I will say though, I met him during spring training one year of my late elementary or early middle school aged years and he was super nice and stood and had a conversation with me for at least 10-15 minutes, way longer than I ever expected and he took a photo with me. The following Cardinals Caravan when it came to Evansville he was part of it and I went and got him to sign the photo and he and had a conversation with me and laughed about the photo. So he definitely goes into my hall of fame for being good guy and cool memories for me.
It’s my view that Silent George ought to be ushered into the Cardinals HOF prior to either Pujols or Molina for the simple fact that he’s “Silent” and only others can intercede and speak on his behalf…And he also gunned down Yount with a cannonball from RF to nail Robin as the HOF SS foolishly attempted to go 1B to 3B in WS game 7. I can still see Oberkfell applying the tag.
Well ill be voting for silent george regardless just because i vote for those that have been retired longer. They gave generally a shorter time to enjoy it
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