St. Louis Cardinals Friday Morning Roundup

Happy Friday and have a great weekend, St. Louis Cardinals fans! Here’s some news and notes that you might have missed.

RetroSimba looks at how the Cardinals missed out on Hall of Fame slugger Frank Thomas with the 6th pick of the 1989 Major League Baseball draft by selecting Paul Coleman. Just as how they missed out on signing Ernie Banks, it’s interesting to think what could have been. Had the Cards had Frank Thomas covering 1st base in the 1990s, there’s no way that Mark McGwire comes over via trade in 1997.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch beat writer Derrick Goold looks at the sin of being second to some of the best that have the played the game. This isn’t just about Tim Raines not having been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame but also Cardinals/Brewers catcher Ted Simmons, who was one and done on the BBWAA Hall of Fame ballot. Simmons was considered by the Expansion Era Committee but received six or fewer votes. He played during the same era as Johnny Bench and Carlton Fisk but finished with the most hits of any of them.

Prior to the Winter Warm-Up, the Cardinals Caravan will hit up 18 cities.

Shelby Miller joined elite company this season.

Grantland‘s Bryan Curtis takes a look at what the baseball writers did during the steroid era.

Up for consideration during the 2014 Winter Meetings will be the Hall of Fame consideration for the Golden Era Committee. They will consider those players, managers, umpires and executives during the 1947-1972 seasons. Ken Boyer should be considered. In 2011, Ron Santo was voted in from a ballot of ten that included former Cardinals Boyer and Jim Kaat. It’s possible that Gil Hodges finally gets his long overdue induction from the electorate although Kaat was 2 votes shy of having joined Ron Santo and Barry Larkin in the Class of 2012.