The St. Louis Cardinals’ All-Time 28-Man Roster

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Bench Spot #3 – IF Frankie Frisch

Look, as great as Smith and Hornsby are, they are both going to need someone to take some starts from them and be competent. So, we need a backup 2B who has some experience playing shortstop as well. So, we dig for another “Gashouse Gang” member here in Frankie Frisch.

Frisch spent 11 of his 19 seasons with the Cardinals, after spending his first 8 seasons with the New York Giants. If you are a Cardinals’ fan and don’t know the scenario behind the 1926 trade between the Giants and Cardinals involving two franchise players in Frisch and Hornsby, I highly suggest you read this piece from the Christian Science Monitor.

Frisch came on and immediately proved his worth slashing .337/.387/.472 with 52 extra-base hits (31 doubles, 11 triples, and 10 homers), a wRC+ of 129 (according to Fangraphs), 48 stolen bases, and an fWAR of 9.7 (highest of his career) in 1927. However, this wasn’t even good enough for him to outlast Paul Warner in his quest for the MVP that year. Frisch would eventually win the award in 1931, despite some underwhelming stats, especially in comparison to the second place finisher in Chuck Klein, who beat him out in just about every stat except for stolen bases.

Frisch ended his career with the Cardinals with a slash of .312/.370/.423, 398 extra-base hits (286 doubles, 61 triples, 51 homers), 195 stolen bases, and two World Series titles in his 11 seasons. Without a doubt, one of the better bench options on this team, and had it not been for the guy he was traded for, he would have been the starting second baseman on this team easily.

Next: Bench Spot #4 - 3B Ken Boyer

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