While Joe Torre would become far better known for his career as a Major League Manager, he was a pretty good baseball player in his own right.

An All-Star in five straight seasons (1943-47), Whitey Krukowski was a beneficiary of the glut of talent that went to serve their country in World War II.  Playing at Third Base, Krukowski had 150 Hits in all of his All-Star years where he would have three 20 Home Run Seasons, and in three years of those seasons he batted over .300.  Kurowski was also a good defensive player who twice finished first in Fielding Percentage among National League Third Basemen and was in the top four on four other occasions.  He would notably finish fifth in MVP voting in 1945.  Shoulder issues would cause him to have to prematurely retire but over his nine-year career (all with St. Louis) he would collect 925 Hits with a .286 Batting Average.

The rank here was a struggle for us.

Jesse Haines is a Baseball Hall of Famer (inducted in 1970 by the Veteran’s Committee) and he played all but one of his games for the Cardinals, so when we were doing this list we initially did not expect him to be so low.  Haines recorded 210 Wins for St. Louis, which is second all-time, so how do we come up with a rank in the ’30s?

The accomplishments of Mark McGwire are not as distinguished as they used to be but make no mistake what an impact he had when he was smacking Home Runs at will and chasing the single season Home Run record when he was a St. Louis Cardinal.  For the younger readers, please understand that everybody was paying attention and it was what got many people back into Baseball.