Chris Carpenter began his career with the Toronto Blue Jays where he was a middle-of-the-road Starting Pitcher.  The Jays essentially gave up on him after the 2002 season offering him a minor league deal, which he refused.  The Cardinals would sign him and after rehabbing his elbow through the entire 2003 season he would make the starting rotation in 2004, but it is safe to say that he exceeded all expectations.

A nine-time All-Star as a St. Louis Cardinal, Red Schoendienst was one of the most consistent players in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s.  While it might be argued that he was not an upper-echelon player he was certainly at the level below and was so for a long time.  He would collect 170 Hits six times with an impressive 1,980 total for St. Louis with a .289 Batting Average.  Defensively speaking he was one of the most versatile and dependable of his day.  He would finish in the top ten in Defensive bWAR eight times as a Cardinal and he was the leader at his position in Range Factor per Game and Fielding Percentage five times.

Curt Flood was very highly regarded for his defensive skills as he was a seven time Gold Glove recipient (1963 to 1969) but slowly his offensive game increased to the point where he was a regular threat to lead the National League in Hits.  He would actually do that in 1964, the season that would see him go to his first All Star Game and World Series (the Cards won) and he would have six seasons where he would bat at least .300.  Flood would again help the Cardinals win the World Series in 1967 and he would have a fourth place finish in MVP voting in 1968.  He would collect 1,853 Hits for St. Louis.

Admittedly when we began this process for the top 50 St. Louis Cardinals we did not think that Bob Caruthers would be this high but after looking some of his dominant pitching performances and the fact he also doubled as an Outfielder and was a really good hitter, his actual value to the team was far greater than we initially thought.