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

Apr 13, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinal former player Bob Gibson in attendance for the game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Milwaukee Brewers at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

As we wait for the St. Louis Cardinals’ to make a move in free agency, let’s look at their top ten starters of all time.

This is the next installment in our historical series that we have been doing this offseason, first we talked with you about the top ten free agents in team history, and then we created a super team out of the best players to ever play for the Cardinals. Now, in a kind of different light, we are going to take a look at the ten best starting pitcher’s the Cardinals have ever had.

I am sure you can already guess who is going to make the top spot, you may think you know who makes the second spot, but the rest may surprise you a bit. Surprising as it may be, the Cardinals have not exactly always had this amazing pitching staff, for years it was pieced together with Walt Jocketty and Dave Duncan‘s dumpster dives.

The pitcher’s list is a bit harder to do as opposed to what a hitter’s list would be like, that will be coming next week as we take a look at the top 20 hitters in team history. That will be a fun list to create and will be a different animal from the roster that I put together last week. There are a few statistics that I will be using to base my opinion and ranking on, let me preview two of the main ones for you.

One comes from baseball-reference and is called ERA+ and the other is fWAR from Fangraphs. Fangraphs has a bit of a different formula than baseball reference in calculating WAR for pitchers that I tend to like more. You can read up on these and more advanced statistics in Chris Greene’s post on advanced pitching metrics. So, let’s get started!

Next: Bob Gibson

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#1 Bob Gibson

Taking a look at his career statistics shows us a number of different things about Bob Gibson. The first thing I look at, is his career ERA+ of 127, which is well above average and could have been much higher had it not been for two sub par seasons at the end of his career in 1974-1975. We all know about his extraordinary season in 1968, that ranks as one of the best all time.

Looking at the stats of that season, shows that it very well should be the best all time season of any starting pitcher. Gibson had a fWAR of 8.6 that season, which was the highest of his career at the time and had the seventh best ERA+ (258) season by any starting pitcher. At the time Gibson’s ERA+ stood fourth behind the seasons of Tim Keefe (1880), Dutch Leonard (1914), and Walter Johnson (1913).

Looking into Fangraphs fWAR numbers for Gibson, shows that Gibson had a strong three years from 1968-1970, with his highest fWAR coming in 1970 at 9.8. That was the season in which Gibson went 23-7 with a 3.12 ERA (2.29 FIP), with the best K/9 numbers of his career at 8.39.

Awards wise, Gibson is probably the most recognized Cardinal ever, as he won nine straight Gold Glove awards from 1965-1973, while winning the NL MVP award and Cy Young award in 1968 and winning the Cy Young award again in 1970. Gibson also led the Cardinals’ to three World Series’, where they won two out of three titles in ’64 and ’67. Gibson led the way, making three starts in each series, with an ERA of 1.89 and a 10.2 K/9, while also garnering MVP honors in the ’64 and ’67 series’.

Without a doubt the greatest Cardinals’ pitcher of all time.

Next: Dizzy Dean

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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

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#3 Harry Brecheen

This may surprise some of you, as I didn’t even list Brecheen in my starting rotation the other day. However, upon reexamination of Brecheen’s impressive career. There is no way I can include him in the top five of this list, Brecheen had a career ERA of 2.91 in his 11 years with the Cardinals and kept hitters to an impressive .259 BABIP during his career.

While his numbers may slightly be affected due to his abnormally low BABIP numbers, you cannot discount what he accomplished in his career. He may not have the awards of a Dizzy Dean or Bob Gibson, but Brecheen was consistently good throughout his career.

From 1943-1948, Brecheen finished five out of the six seasons with an ERA under 3.00, including his best season as a Cardinal in 1948, when he went 20-7 with an ERA of 2.24 (2.37 FIP). That season, Brecheen struck out a career high 149 hitters and finished the season with an impressive 7.9 fWAR and ERA+ of 182. Brecheen was without a doubt one of the best pitchers that year as he led the league in four of those categories and finished fifth in the NL MVP voting that year.

Like many other Cardinals’ pitchers before and after him, the lefthanded hurler knew how to pitch when it mattered most. Not having a NLCS or NLDS to pitch in like pitchers today do, Brecheen had an impressive postseason career in his three World Series trips as a Cardinal. Brecheen finished his career with a sparkling 0.45 ERA in seven appearances (four starts), including pitching complete games in three out of his four starts with a complete game shutout and one run complete game performance in the 1946 World Series win over the Red Sox. In the three series combined Brecheen only allowed three runs (one run in each series).

Brecheen was clearly one of the best pitchers to ever put on the Cardinal’s uniform, but as I mentioned before is somehow forgotten about as a great Cardinal.

Next: Chris Carpenter

Oct 22, 2013; Boston, MA, USA; St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Chris Carpenter fields a ground ball during workouts the day before game one of the 2013 World Series Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

Chris Carpenter

I simply could not leave this guy out of the top five, his performance in the 2011 playoffs without a doubt is what puts him up here. However, before we get to that, we will discuss Carpenter’s overall career as a Cardinal. Carpenter’s career started out as Toronto Blue Jay where he pitched along side great pitchers in Roy Halladay and Roger Clemens. Unfortunately injuries and mediocrity plagued Carpenter in Toronto, as he did not have one season with an ERA below 4.09 in his six seasons with the club.

Carpenter signed a deal after the 2002 season with the Cardinals and missed all of the 2003 season with an injury. Then Carpenter went from a pitcher that not many knew about to becoming the ace of the staff in 2004, where he went 15-5 with a 3.41 ERA (3.85 FIP) and posting a career high fWAR of 3.1. Unfortunately for Carpenter and the Cardinals, he went down with an injury in the last month of the season and was unable to pitch for the Cardinals in the 2004 postseason that ended in a World Series defeat at the hands of the Boston Red Sox.

Despite his 3.07 ERA (3.28 FIP) and 133 ERA+ over nine seasons, Carpenter’s career could have been much more than it was. That is saying quite a bit for the two time World Series Champ and 2009 Cy Young Award winner. However, Carpenter missed all of the 2003 season, a portion of the 2004 season, most of the 2007-2008 seasons, as well as the majority of the 2012 season with varying injuries.

If you’re counting, that’s five seasons out of the nine that he played in, where he had some kind of injury problem. Now, the reason I say it could have been more, is given his postseason performances and the Cardinals’ lack of success and sustainability in the ’07-’08 seasons.

Had Carpenter been able to go for those seasons or the 2004 playoffs, things could have been a lot different for the Cardinals and we could be talking about a potential Hall of Fame pitcher here. However, all we have to discuss is Carpenter’s great postseason pedigree and wonder what could have happened. Carpenter pitched for the Cardinals playoffs in five different seasons, capturing the title in two of those five seasons.

In those five seasons, Carpenter was 10-4 with an even 3.00 ERA, including 3-0 with a 2.00 ERA over four starts in the two World Series wins. Carpenter’s best known for his unbelievable run in the 2011 playoffs where he outdeuled former teammate Halladay and pitched a gutty three games in the 2011 World Series to help the Cardinals clinch the title.

Next: John Tudor

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#5 John Tudor

Tudor like Carpenter, doesn’t have a whole lot of seasons as a Cardinals’ starting pitcher to hang his hat on. Like Bob Gibson, Tudor has one of the greatest seasons ever on his resume, which makes him automatic slot in on this list. Tudor was traded to the Cardinals in the offseason of 1984 by the Pittsburgh Pirates, which immediately turned out to be a bad idea.

Tudor pitched phenomenally in 1985, as he went 21-8 with an ERA of 1.93 (2.71 FIP) and an ERA+ of 185. Tudor led the league with 10 shutouts that year, but was remarkably beat out by Dwight Gooden in ERA (1.53) and in the Cy Young race.

Tudor went on to pitch a total of four more seasons with the Cardinals and finished his Cardinals’ career with a 62-26 record and an ERA of 2.52 (3.36 FIP). While Tudor did make it to two World Series’ with the Cardinals. He was unable to help the team secure series victories in either year, despite his complete game shutout in 1985. Despite this and his lack of many years with the club, Tudor still is one of the best Cardinals’ starting pitchers of all time. He stands second on the all time ERA list, although his 12.7 fWAR does not rank as a top career fWAR.

Next: Jesse Haines

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#6 Jesse Haines

Everyone makes a mistake once in a while right? I sure made one last week, as I did not include Haines on my all-time roster. Haines had one heck of a career with the Cardinals that I somehow let slip by me when I was doing my scouting for my roster. However, if you are like me and new to Haines or if you’re simply better than me and know about him already, let’s take a look at what brings Haines to this spot on our list.

Haines pitched all but five innings of his career as a St. Louis Cardinal. In those 18 seasons, Haines was 210-158 with an ERA of 3.64 (3.96 FIP) and an ERA+ of 108. While his career numbers may not be sparkling like some of the guys above him, Haines has the quantity.

Haines also finished with an ERA under three in three separate occasions as a Cardinal and stands second on the Cardinals’ all-time win list with 210 wins in over 600 less innings than the leader Bob Gibson who has 251. Haines’ best season came in 1927 when he finished the season 24-10, with an ERA 0f 2.72 (3.73 FIP) and a 148 ERA+, as well as totaling a career high 4.2 fWAR.

Like those before him on this list, Haines had a solid postseason career. He pitched in four different World Series’ as a Cardinals’ pitcher, totaling six appearances, with four of them being starts. Haines had a career 1.67 ERA in the World Series and pitched two complete games, with one of them being a shutout in the 1926 series win over the New York Yankees.

Next: Adam Wainwright

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#8 Steve Carlton

Carlton was most certainly “the one that got away” for the Cardinals. Even though Carlton only had five years as a full time starter and seven total seasons with the Cardinals, before being traded to Philadelphia, he is still one of the Cardinals’ all-time greats for the seasons that he put up before the trade. Had that trade not been made, it could have made the Cardinals’ great history even greater.

In Carlton’s seven seasons he totaled a record of 77-62, with an ERA of 3.10 (3.02 FIP) and an ERA+ of 114, while accumulating a fWAR of 21.1. Unlike the previous pitchers, Carlton did not have the postseason success with the Cardinals as he lost his only start (didn’t allow an earned run) in the two World Series’ he appeared in as a Cardinal and gave up three runs in four innings as a reliever in 1968.

What makes Carlton stand out are his individual seasons, in his first three seasons as a full time starter, Carlton posted an ERA and FIP under three each season. With his best season coming in 1969, the same year MLB decided to lower the pitching mounds, as he went 17-11 with an ERA of 2.17 (2.79 FIP) and an ERA+ of 164. He was worth 4.9 fWAR that season for the Cardinals, but unfortunately things went down hill from there.

In the next two seasons, Carlton was rather pedestrian, posting ERAs of 3.90 and 3.22 and ERA+ of 97 and 118. Despite winning 20 games for the Cardinals in 1970, the Cardinals made one of the worst trades in team history sending Carlton to the Phillies, where he put up a solid career and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1994.

Next: Bob Forsch

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#9 Bob Forsch

This leads us to the second to last guy on the list, who is no slouch in terms of his career. Bob was a lot like Jesse Haines without the playoff success. He was Mr. Reliable for the Cardinals over his 15 years with the club, as he finished with a respectable record of 168-127 and an ERA of 3.67 (3.82). While Forsch’s numbers don’t jump off the screen at you like some of these others do, He was a reliable member of the Cardinals’ staff in the 70s and 80s.

Forsch’s best season came in just his second big league season and first full season as a starting pitcher. That year he went 15-10 with an ERA of 2.86 (3.39 FIP) and an ERA+ of 132. With his peripherals being where they were, this is where I would prefer the WAR formula of Baseball Reference instead of Fangraphs. As the fWAR formula as him at a 3.0 behind his 1980 season of a 3.5f fWAR, whereas B-R’s formula has him rated at 5.7 WAR in 1975, a number he never came close to again in his career.

One could make the argument that without his 1975 season, this is a rather lackluster career, as Forsch never once posted a FIP under 3.19. When you couple that with his disappointing postseason line of 3-4 with an ERA of 5.79, which includes his poor World Series’ performances in 1982, 1985, and 1987 where he went 1-3 in his seven appearances (three starts) and had an ERA of 7.36. Had Bob had a little better numbers, we could have seen him a little higher on this list, but his consistency is what gets him here as he didn’t post an ERA over 3.94 until his tenth big league season in 1983.

Next: Bill Doak

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#10 Bill Doak

Here we have another one that I missed for my all-time roster. Doak pitched in a different time than most of these guys did, as he pitched from 1913-1924 with the Cardinals. In that time period Doak went 144-136 with an ERA of 2.93 (3.09 FIP) and an ERA+ of 105.

Despite not knowing much about Doak, it is easy to see how Doak was one of the best pitchers in Cardinals’ history. In 1914, in what was his first full year as a starter, Doak went 19-6 with fantastic ERA of 1.72 (2.72 FIP) and a 162 ERA+, while posting a 3.4 fWAR. This was without a doubt his best season of his career. This started an impressive run for Doak where he finished a total of six straight seasons with a FIP under 3.00.

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He eventually would total 26.7 fWAR for the Cardinals in his career, but unlike the others on this list would not ever make it to a World Series with the Cardinals as he left the team two years before they would win the title in 1926 and did not return to play his final season until 1929.

Review

While there may have been some snubs and surprises here. This is one solid list. The Cardinals have a rich tradition and this only adds to it. There are some guys here that I didn’t think would make the list, and some guys that I thought would make this list. As a fan, it makes me appreciate the history a little bit more, as we have guys sprinkled in here from pretty much every era of baseball and that is really neat.

Next: St. Louis Cardinals' All-Time 28-Man Roster

It also makes me want to look at the history myself instead of just taking for granted what the guys on TV and the radio say during the games, as I can’t tell you how many times I have heard Joaquin Andujar‘s (nothing against “One tough Dominican”) name mentioned on the telecasts, but I am pretty sure I have never heard Brecheen, Haines, or Doak’s name mentioned.