The St. Louis Cardinals’ 50 greatest players

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#7 Ken Boyer

Here we have another great third baseman and a top five position player in terms of fWAR in Ken Boyer. Boyer was Scott Rolen before Rolen was even alive, and Boyer spent the majority of his career with the Cardinals, unlike Rolen.

Boyer burst onto the scene as a rookie in 1955 with the Cardinals slashing .264/.311/.425, with his lowest fWAR of his Cardinals’ career at 0.9. Despite the low fWAR and wRC+ of only 91 that year, Boyer showed promise with his 47 extra base-hits (27 doubles, 18 homers, and two triples), also stealing a career high 22 stolen bases.

After that season Boyer took off, he hit over 20 homers in every season except two and posted a fWAR total above 5.0 in eight of the next nine seasons. Overall, Boyer slashed .293/.356/.475 with a wRC+ of 119, with a total fWAR of 50.7 for his Cardinals’ career. Boyer finished his career with the third most homers in Cardinals’ history with 255, although he’s a far away from the top two.

Boyer was also really good defensively as a Cardinal as he won five gold gloves at third base and posted 100.5 runs above average on defense, as well as spending a good season as a center fielder in 1957. Boyer’s 1964 season won him the MVP, as he led the NL with 119 RBI, while hitting .295 that year and bringing in 6.0 fWAR.

Boyer was a solid player for the Cardinals and is definitely one of the best ever to play for them.

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