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

Apr 13, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinal former player Ozzie Smith waives to the fans before the game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Milwaukee Brewers at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Shortstop – Ozzie Smith

Here we are with another no contest (this whole roster creation thing is pretty easy). Ozzie was without a doubt one of the greatest defensive shortstops of all time, for a position that has some great ones. He wasn’t an offensive juggernaut by any means, but he did have 402 doubles throughout his career and sported a .262 career batting average.

However, that’s not what makes Ozzie great. It’s the defense that led him to 13 straight gold gloves from 1980-1992. During Ozzie’s prime as a great shortstop from 1980-1989, his lowest fWAR was 3.4, maxing out at 6.7 in the 1989 season, this was the season in which Smith’s defense was worth 32 runs above average leading to a 4.7 dWAR which was the best since Art Fletcher in 1917 until Andrelton Simmons‘ bested him in 2013 with 5.4 dWAR.

Throughout his career, Smith was worth 239 runs on defense, while pitching in 55.2 runs with his base running. This led Smith to being elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2002. While Smith was a “Wizard” on defense, his offense left some to be desired and makes what Smith did attainable and repeatable. In fact, Andrelton Simmons is right on his heels defensively, having posted 68.4 runs above average in four seasons so far.

Next: Third Base - Scott Rolen