Position in the Spotlight: St. Louis

Let me start this off with a huge disclaimer, this position in the spotlight stop is by far the hardest one I have attempted so far. We struggled a little with some of our past cities due to a lack of history, but trying to find a position for St. Louis is pretty much the exact opposite situation. It's easy to narrow things down. St. Louis is a baseball town, quite possibly the most dedicated baseball town in the country, so sorry, Rams and Blues, you aren't getting talked about here. Since they first became a serious contender back in 1926, the Cards have won 17 NL Pennants and 10 World Series titles, beating the mighty Yankees in 1926, winning 2 more in the 1930's, being the team of the 40's (or at least the team of World War II), winning 3 more, 2 more in 60's, 1982, and most recently, their improbable 2006 world title after playing so poorly in the regular season compared to their 2004 and 2005 teams.

So the problem I have with picking a position for St. Louis is that they have had too many good players at too many positions. In the Cardinals organization, you can make a strong case for 1B, 2B, SS, LF, SP and manager as the most important position in franchise history. So, I'm going to go with a bit of a cop-out, instead of picking the usual defensive position for the position in the spotlight, I'm going with an offensive position, St. Louis Cardinals #3 Hitter.

Let's head way back in time to 1920's to get this started. The Cardinals #3 hitter from 1916 to 1926 was the legendary hall of famer, Rogers Hornsby. Hornsby was an absolute offensive beast, hitting over .400 3 times (.424 in 1924!) in career, winning 2 MVPs (1 with the Cubs, and probably would have had more if the award existed early in his career), and leading the league in HR twice and RBI 4 times. Hornsby won the triple crown 2 times, hitting .401 with 42 HR and 152 RBI in 1922 and .403 with 39 HR and 143 RBI in 1925. Babe who? Hornsby helped lead the Cardinals to their first world title in 1926. Hornsby was traded to the New York Giants after 1926 after he demanded and was denied a 5-year $50,000 contract. Just think about that....how much would a 2 time triple crown winner that hits over .400 for a world champion team make today?

Hornsby wasn't traded for nothing, as the Cardinals acquired hall of famer Frankie Frisch and immediately inserted him in the #3 spot in the batting order. Frisch brought the Cardinals speed and a high batting average, but not the power numbers that Hornsby had. Frisch helped lead the Cardinals back to the World Series 4 times, winning in 1931 and 1934. He also won the MVP in 1931.

After Frisch retired, the 3rd spot in the lineup was taken over by yet another hall of famer, Enos Slaughter. Slaughter was a 10-time all-star and helped lead the Cardinals to their 4th World Series title in 1942 before leaving for 3 years to go fight in World War II. He returned in 1946 just in time to grab another World Series ring with the Cards.

The man that replaced Slaughter in the 3rd spot in the lineup is quite possibly the most famous Cardinal of all-time, hall of famer Stan Musial. Musial was a 3-time MVP, a 20-time all-star, and led the league in countless statistical categories over his career. He helped lead the Cardinals to 4 World Series, winning 3 of them in 1942, 1944, and 1946.

The 3rd spot in the lineup was a moving position throughout most of the 50's and early 60's, but it was traded off between a bunch of great players. First you had Musial, who was discussed above, and then you had Red Schoendienst, yet another hall of famer who played 2B for the Cards from 1945-1956, and again from 1961-1963, and also Bill White, who played for the Cards from 1959-1965, who was a 5-time all-star and 6-time gold glove winner. Surrounded by other youngsters at the time Lou Brock and Curt Flood, along with recent acquisition Dick Groat, the Cardinals won another world series in 1964, the year after both Musial and Schoendienst retired.

Before the 1967 season, the Cardinals acquired Mr. 61 himself, Roger Maris, who was on his last legs, and inserted him 3rd in the lineup. The solid Cardinals won yet another World Series title in 1967, and went back to the World Series and lost to Detroit in 1968.

Throughout the 70's and early 80's, the #3 spot in the order was tossed around between a few different people, including 1971 MVP Joe Torre, Tim McCarver, and Keith Hernandez. Hernandez was the #3 hitter in 1982, when the Cardinals won another World Series. In the modern dead ball era known as the mid-80s, Tom Herr batted 3rd in the lineup, and the Cardinals went back to the World Series in 1985 and 1987. The Cardinals, who were already experiencing a large power vacuum during this time, resorted to having great players, but not neccesarily the kind of skills you look for in a #3 hitter, hitting 3rd, such as Willie McGee, hall of famer Ozzie Smith, and Terry Pendleton. That all changed half way through 1997.

In the late 90's, the #3 hitter on the Cardinals was America's position in the spotlight, as Mark McGwire blasted a ton of home runs, breaking Roger Maris's record by hitting 70 in 1998, and then again hitting 65 in 1999. McGwire finished his career with 583 HR, and was a 12-time all-star. His numbers today though are seen as tainted by the steroid era.

After McGwire retired, the #3 spot was filled in by J.D. Drew and borderline hall of famer Jim Edmonds, who was another great 5-tool player. The cleanup hitter during those years would eventually ascend to the #3 spot in the order, and become St. Louis's new object of affection, Albert Pujols. So far, at only age 29, Albert Pujols has put up some impressive numbers. He is a 2 time MVP, 8 time all-star, has a career .334 batting average, and 353 HR. He also has a great shot at winning the triple crown this season. Pujols has also led the Cardinals to 2 World Series, winning in 2006.

Pujols looks to be the #3 hitter in St. Louis for quite some time, and it looks like the prestige of this position is now back after some down years in the 70's and 80's.

Honorable Mention: St. Louis Cardinals Manager - The Cards have had some great managers over the years too: player managers Rogers Hornsby and Frankie Frisch, Billy Southworth, Red Schoendienst, Whitey Herzog, Joe Torre, and Tony LaRussa

St. Lous Rams Running Back - The Rams offense has revolved around its running back since moving to St. Louis, from Jerome Bettis to Lawrence Phillips (before he went crazy) to Marshall Faulk and now to Stephen Jackson.