St. Louis Cardinals’ Top Ten Starting Pitchers of All-Time

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Dizzy Dean

If you remember right, in our roster Carpenter was in this spot. However, when not building a roster we are looking for the second best pitcher in all of Cardinals’ history. Not necessarily looking for who would fit best in an attempt to dominate another team. Let’s take a look at what made Dizzy so valuable to this team.

Dean pitched from 1930-1937 with the Cardinals, and had an ERA of 2.99 in his time in St. Louis coupled with an ERA + of 132, which is actually higher than Bob Gibson’s overall ERA+ of 127. As I mentioned the other day, Dean had an unfortunate injury cut his career with the Cardinals short.

While only totaling a 37.8 fWAR with the Cardinals in his career, Dean had an impressively consistent fWAR from 1933-1936 where he totaled a 6.9 in ’33 and a 6.6 in ’34-’36.

Dean’s impressive resume also includes pitching multiple games from the bullpen each season as a Cardinal. Dean like Gibson, started three games in his only World Series with the Cardinals’ “Gashouse Gang” in 1934. Dean had two complete games that series, including one shutout, giving him the win in two out of the three starts and an ERA of 1.73 for the series.

One of the best quotes I found on Dean was from teammate Pepper Martin in the Baseball Hall of Fame‘s piece on the 1953 elect Hall of Famer, ” ‘When ole Diz was out there pitching it was more than just another ballgame,’ said teammate Pepper Martin. ‘It was a regular three-ring circus and everybody was wide awake and enjoying being alive.'” Dean was most certainly one of the best pitchers in Cardinals’ history, which is why he makes number two on our list here.

Next: Harry Brecheen