St. Louis Cardinals’ Top 20 Hitters

Busch Stadium April 19, 2015 Photo Credit: Steven McNeil

#17 – 1B Ed Konetchy

On paper Konetchy seems like an interesting choice for this list. He wasn’t a power hitter, as he never hit over eight home runs for the Cardinals. However, what gets Konetchky on this list is his wRC+, which as we mentioned, accounts for the era that the player played in.

Koentchky played with the Cardinals from 1907-1013, playing in what is considered to be the first “Dead-ball Era”. For his career, Konetchy has a wRC+ of 125, this is including two seasons above 130 in 1909 and 1910.

Those two seasons were his best. Konetchy slashed .286/.366/.396 in 1909, totaling 41 extra base-hits (23 doubles, 14 triples, four home runs), while driving in 80. He was also worth 23.6 runs above average on offense that year.

Which again shows Konetchy was extremely valuable to his team during that time. In 1910, Konetchy slashed .302/.397/.425 with 42 extra base-hits (23 doubles, 16 triples, and three homers), while driving in 78.

That year Konetchky’s wRC+ was 136 in comparison to the 134 he had in 1909. While he may not have the numbers of some of the others in this list, what he does have is the success in an era in which pitchers dominated, making him one of the of best in team history.

Next: Ted Simmons