DOWNTOWN — Back in my early days at the P-D covering hockey, the selection of the “Three Stars” at each game was, loosely, my responsibility. Toward the end of the game, a quick straw poll was taken of the other writers in the box. Sometimes the selections were obvious. Sometimes they weren’t. Sometimes they drew compliments. A few times they sparked debate. My name was on the box score, so I took it seriously.

(Ask Chris Kerber about Jean-Sebastien Giguere sometime.)

Tonight ESPN takes hockey’s “Three Star” tradition and applies it to baseball, with a broader, historic range of candidates.

According to a paragraph in Saturday’s Cardinals’ games notes, ESPN’s Baseball Tonight’s panel of experts will begin a monthlong debate on the “top three players all-time for each francise.” The discussion begins tonight and as prelude to the Cardinals-Phillies telecast from Busch Stadium, the Cardinals are the first to get the three-star treatment.

A poll of fans conducted at ESPN.com will help augment the experts’ selections.

But why wait?

During Saturday’s game, we kicked around the three-star concept. Would Evan Longoria already rank in Tampa Bay’s Fab 3? Certainly Carl Crawford is No. 1. How do you pick three New York Yankees? I mean after Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, that is. Is there a modern player who will crack the top-three lists of the historic franchises — the 18 who were around in 1961, for example? Two candidates: Barry Bonds, obviously, and, in LA, Mike Piazza.

To settle on a Cardinals’ “Three Stars”, we started on the wall.

Out in left field at Busch Stadium, there’s a good shortlist of candidates for the top-three list: They are the retired numbers. With Ducky Medwick and Albert Pujols as, arguably, the only exceptions, the retired numbers will provide the Cardinals’ top three. They are:

1 — Ozzie Smith … 2 — Red Schoendienst … 6 — Stan Musial … 9 — Enos Slaughter … 14 — Ken Boyer … 17 — Dizzy Dean … 20 — Lou Brock … 42 — Bruce Sutter … 45 — Bob Gibson. … STL — Rogers Hornsby.

This is the starting place for any ranking of the top three all-time players in Cardinals history. The online poll is likely to reflect its times, heavily weighing toward modern players or living legends. That said, as Hall of Famer  Rick Hummel and I discussed the “Three Stars” from Cardinals’ history and wondered who should skate away with those honors, there appeared to be two locks and a few candidates for No. 3.

Offer up yours in the comment area below. Mine? Mine:

1. Musial
2. Gibson
3. Hornsby

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