The St. Louis Cardinals’ 50 greatest players

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#2 Stan Musial OF

This was the hardest decision to make on this whole list, putting the player that most people consider the best at #2 on this list of all time best players. However, my reasoning lies in that Stan played in almost double the amount of games that our #1 guy played in, only posting a fWAR that is 33.3 wins better.

However, enough knocking on Stan. Let’s get into what makes him great. Musial slashed .331/417/.559, with a wRC+ of 158 for his career. Musial was worth 901.2 runs above average on offense, a number that only Pujols and our #1 guy can claim to even come close to in Cardinals’ history.

Musial played in four World Series’ winning three out of the four, but posting an interestingly pedestrian 105 wRC+ over his his 99 plate appearances. In his career, Musial posted four seasons with a fWAR above 9.2, with his best season coming in his 1948 MVP season.

That year Musial slashed .376/.450/.702, with a career best 201 wRC+. Musial also hit a career high 103 extra base-hits that year (46 doubles, 39 homers, and 18 triples).

While he never had the 50 home run seasons of Albert Pujols, he posted 50 doubles or more three times in his career with several seasons in the 40s, which ultimately puts his 725 doubles as the team’s highest double total.

If we are nitpicking at anything of Musial’s outstanding career it is his defense. In his career Musial was worth -77.1 runs above average on defense, but his offense and his 3 MVP awards, more than makes up for that for the 1969 Hall of Fame inductee.

Musial was one of the best to ever play the game and is revered by many as the Cardinal of all Cardinals, a true legend.

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