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

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Management Staff

Manager – Tony Larussa

This is a no brainer, Tony is second to only Connie Mack on the all time win list and made the playoffs in 1996, 2000-2002, 2004-2006, 2009, and 2011. He built an amazing tradition of success and led two amazing teams to titles in 2006 and 2011, two teams that every one counted out multiple times. There’s a long list of great managers for this team and Tony without a doubt the best in my opinion.

Pitching Coach – Dave Duncan

Do I have to even prove anything here? Jeff Weaver, Jeff Suppan, Kyle Lohse, Joel Piniero, Chris Carpenter, all on the list of pitchers that Duncan managed to turn around and get the best out of. Duncan also mentored his eventual replacement in Derek Lilliquist who has turned into a solid pitching coach. Duncan can handle this staff of All-Stars and make them into something great.

Hitting Coach – Whitey Herzog

Whitey led the 1980s teams to some amazing feats, he has to make this staff somehow, and the fact that he led the 1982 team to a Championship, definitely puts him on this list. “Whitey Ball” combined with Larussa and Duncan, along with all of these power hitters sure will be fun.

Bench Coach – Red Schoendienst and Mike Matheny

Red has been apart of pretty much everything the Cardinals have done in the last 70 years, as a manager he won the 67 World Series, won two as a player, and has been a part of the coaching staff since 1980. Making him a part of the last three championships, so Red is an easy pick here.

Matheny has his doubters out there, but nobody can discount what he has done the past four seasons as manager of the Cardinals. I looked back a while ago at the multiple issues he has had to deal with as a manager in each season he’s been here and with his most recent season, there’s no doubt on my mind that he is one of the best clubhouse/bench managers in the game.

If Matheny can provide that for this team and unite these stars and Hall of Famers, as well as work together with his mentor Larussa, we’ve got one heck of a staff on our hands.

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