46. Chick Hafey

Chick Hafey's story stands out as one of the most distinctive and hard-won tales of the 1920s and 30s. A natural, line-drive hitter, he had an offensive potential rivaling anyone in the National League. Yet, his career was marred by chronic sinus problems and deteriorating eyesight. To adapt, Hafey became one of the earliest major league players to wear glasses while on the field. This change did not hinder his batting; instead, it sparked a period of dominance that struck fear into opposing pitchers for over five years.

Arriving in St. Louis full-time in the mid-1920s, Hafey transformed into an elite offensive threat by 1927. That summer, he captured the National League slugging title with a blistering .590 mark, pairing it with 18 home runs and a .329 batting average. It marked an astonishing five-year stretch during which he simply refused to drop below the .329 threshold in any single season. From 1928 to 1930, he functioned as a middle-of-the-order run producer, delivering three consecutive seasons with at least 26 home runs and over 100 runs batted in.

The peak of his regular-season brilliance arrived in 1931 during one of the most dramatic batting title races in baseball history. Hafey went down to the final day of the schedule alongside teammate Jim Bottomley and New York’s Bill Terry. On the strength of a clutch hit in his very last at-bat, Hafey secured the crown with a magnificent .349 average, edging Terry by a mere .0002. That individual crown served as the catalyst for a team success story, as Hafey helped anchor a Cardinals squad that went on to win the 1931 World Series—the second championship banner he helped bring to St. Louis, alongside the 1926 title.

However, a fierce contract dispute with team executive Branch Rickey ahead of the 1932 season abruptly ended his time in Missouri, resulting in a trade to the Cincinnati Reds. His counting totals in St. Louis remain somewhat compressed because of his constant health setbacks and the brief eight-year window he spent with the team. Consequently, his raw volume doesn't match the standard multi-decade icons on the franchise leaderboard, but the sheer concentration of his peak value remains undeniably historic.

He logged 963 hits, 127 home runs, and 618 RBIs with a .326/.379/.568 slash line as a Cardinal. Hafey was chosen for the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971 when he was selected by the Veterans Committee, and he was also named to the Cardinals’ inaugural Hall of Fame class in 2014.