Name the Cardinals’ All-Time 3 Stars
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:
- Musial
- Gibson
- Hornsby
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Derrick Goold said he was going to Mizzou for capital-J journalism, but after growing up in the Time Zone Baseball Forgot he was really drawn to MU sitting between two major-league cities. Goold joined the Post-Dispatch in 2001 after working for The Times-Picayune and Rocky Mountain News, covering sports from LSU to NHL and every level of baseball in between. 
1. Musial 2. Slaughter 3. Pujols
A cardinal fan since 1946
anyone who doesn’t see why Hornsby belongs in the top 3 has no sense of history. How about some perspective here. Look up his stats - he might be the best right-handed hitter of all-time. Two triple crowns, folks!
Top three:
1) Musial
2) Hornsby
3) Gibson
1.Stan Musial(Stan “The Man” One of the best ever. For any team.)
2.Bob Gipson(Filthy,Nasty,Winner,& Intimidating come to mind. With a little more run support they may have called the Cy Young award the Bob Gipson award.)
3.Albert Pujols (I think Albert will be #1 on this list when he is done. Albert is on pace to being one of the top ten players of all-time, maybe top five.)
Jim Bottomley
Joe Medwick
Stan the Man
Orlando Cepeda is my #1 star. Have to put Hornsby next [admit that Hornsby was better, but he's at least in my top three]. Gibson is probably the better pitcher [although you have to give Cooper and Brecheen a nod, maybe Tudor, and now Carpenter], but Dean was probably a bigger star, so I’ll go with Dean for #3.
I agree DG. In fact even before reading the article I had them as my top 3. However, as I was growing up Ozzie was who I idolized, being a SS myself in Little League and high school. There was no one else I enjoyed watching play more than “The Wizard.” I wish I had the honor and pleasure to see Stan, Gibby and Rajah play. So, it’s very difficult for me to leave Ozzie off the list. As for Albert, he’s who I enjoy watching these days, so it’s equally hard for me to leave him off. Just imagine, Albert has time to collect more batting titles, HR titles, RBI titles, Gold Gloves, MVPs and rings. Where will he fall in 10 years? He could take over the top spot even. And I hope he does, due to his ring collection. The fact of the matter is, that all these guys we’ve named are and were tremendous players and without a doubt some of the best that ever played.
>Cardinal fan in TX<
“Too early to tell about Albert”
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I feel sorry for you Robert. You have either been in a como or your head has been lodged somewhere for the last 8 years!
Are you still waiting for the sophomore slump?
DG: Can’t fault your three. My hope is that Albert makes it a career with the Cardinals. In three years, he bumps Rajah from the list. Gibby was from my (boyhood) era– so he’ll always belong there for me. Stan is simply “the Man.”
I’d put Wally Moon as no. one, Joe Cunningham as no.2, for those great stretches alone, and Don Blasingame as no. 3. He really knew how to “manufacture” runs.
It’s between Pujols and Lou Brock. Lou really impacted the games he played. Albert is going to be the best with a few more years, but Lou already did it. Every time he got on base, the game was controlled by him. I sure enjoyed listening to him play. He put Carey and Buck in the hall of fame. Just my opinion, but I loved it.