The St. Louis Cardinals’ 50 greatest players

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#30 Red Schoendienst 2B

Here we have another great defensive player in Red. He wasn’t quite at the level of Marion, but Marion also wasn’t at the level of Red offensively. Red was with the Cardinals a total of 15 years, only playing a full season in 11 of those years, as he was traded in 1956 and was traded back to the Cardinals in 1961, never playing a full season in the next three years.

In his Cardinals’ career Red slashed .289/.338/.388 with a wRC+ of 93, Red’s claim to fame offensively is in his doubles, as in his 1,795 games with the team Red is fifth in doubles in team history with 367.

Red’s best season came in 1953, when he finished with a slash of .342/.405/.502 with a 134 wRC+. That year he finished with a career high 15 homers, pitching in 35 doubles as well. This was in the middle of Red’s best three seasons as a Cardinal as he finished with a 5.3 fWAR that year, a 4.5 the year before, and a 4.3 the year after.

These three seasons were a bit of anomaly for him offensively being the only three seasons he posted positive offensive values, as in his career with the Cardinals, Red was worth a total of 29.2 fWAR and -57.0 runs above average on offense.

For most of his career the ten time all-star’s defense provided a good amount of his value, as he was worth 107.9 runs above average defensively in his career, posting seven seasons with a defensive runs above average above 10.0. So, if you’re wondering why Red is so far down on this list, it’s because while Red spent a lot of time with the team, he wasn’t any better than #30 on this list.

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