Picking the five best St. Louis Cardinals third basemen since 1967

1. Scott Rolen

This was a no-brainer for me. Scott Rolen is the best third baseman I’ve ever seen in a Cardinal uniform. He brought to St. Louis not only his Gold Glove-caliber defensive skills but a middle-of-the-order offensive aptitude for a third baseman the Cardinals haven’t seen, well…since Scott Rolen left in 2008.

The right-handed Rolen won four of his eight Gold Gloves, earned four All-Star spots, a Silver Slugger Award, and had a six-year slash line of .286/.370/.510 while in St. Louis. Additionally, he had a 25.9 WAR and a 127 OPS+ during that time.

While in St. Louis, Rolen had his career year in 2004 as a member of the MV3. Along with Albert Pujols and Jim Edmonds, Rolen helped lead an offensive juggernaut that won 105 games, captured the NL Pennant, and was a part of, arguably, one of the greatest teams in St. Louis Cardinals history.

Rolen’s contribution to this team was a slash line of .314/.409/.598 with 34 homers and 124 RBI. Defensively, he led the league in dWAR (3.3), assists at third (325), and second in range factor at third (2.96).

Finally, during game seven of the 2004 NLCS against the Houston Astros, Rolen hit a 6th inning two-run homer which led the Cardinals to the World Series.

Others to consider

First of all, I’m not mad at Matt Carpenter. I did give him serious consideration for the top five. But the issue I ran up on was, ‘what is Matt Carpenter?’ A third baseman? A first baseman? Or a second baseman? Carpenter has played more games at third (665) than first (319) or second (212). However, some of his best years as a hitter were actually at second, which included a Silver Slugger Award in 2013. In the end, I just didn’t feel like Carpenter was in the top five.

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Most only remember Mike Shannon as a Cardinal broadcaster, but he was also played third base for the 1967 World Series Champs and the 1968 NL Pennant Champs. Shannon was converted from right field to third base in 1967 when Roger Maris arrived, playing 478 games at third for the Cardinals between ’67 and ’70. Personally, I always felt Shannon was much better in right than third.

Todd Zeile came up as catcher in 1989 but took over third base in 1991 when Terry Pendleton left for Atlanta. Zeile was the Cardinals’ primary third baseman through 1994, with 1993 being his best year when he hit 17 homers and 103 RBI with a .277 BA. However, defensively, he never led in any category except errors at third base.

I didn’t forget about David Freese. Who could? The 2011 postseason and GAME SIX. But if it wasn’t for the 2011 postseason and Game Six, where would David Freese fit in Cardinal lore? His best season was in 2012 when he hit a slash line of .293/.372/.467 with 20 homers and 79 RBI in 144 games. Freese was a capable third baseman, but I couldn’t put him in my top five.

Some final thoughts

This is list isn’t meant to be the final word on the top five. After all, Ann Rogers has Matt Carpenter third in the top five third baseman in Cardinal history. She only names Terry Pendleton as an honorable mention and says nothing of Joe Torre and Ken Reitz.

I just wonder if Torre and Reitz would be more remembered by Cardinal fans if they had played for a championship team, instead of playing in the drought era of the 70s? Of course, the same could be said of Todd Zeile in the 90s.

As I stated earlier in this piece, I tried to balance offense and defense, along with the overall impact on the teams they played for, in putting this list together. In the end, it was basically a judgment call on my part. With that, I understand opinions will vary.