5 best St. Louis Cardinals starting pitchers since 1967

Who are the five best St. Louis Cardinals starting pitchers since 1967? In my opinion, here are the five best.

Let me start out by explaining why this list is the best St. Louis Cardinals pitchers since1967, and not in team history. It’s because 1967 was the year I first started watching Cardinals baseball. Since then, I have had the opportunity to watch, either on TV or in person, almost every starting pitcher.

Consequently, this list won’t include any starting pitchers before 1967. It doesn’t include Dizzy Dean, Jesse Haines, Harry Brecheen, or Mort Cooper. All great pitchers, but before 1967.

In picking the five best, I primarily looked at their achievements and their impact on the team while in a Cardinals uniform. I didn’t take into consideration what they did before or after their time in St. Louis.

Finally, let me say this: I understand this list is somewhat subjective. There is certainly room for differences of opinion for my Top 5.

So let’s get started, and see who in my opinion, are the five best starting pitchers who wore a Cardinal uniform since 1967.

5. John Tudor

John Tudor will always be remembered in Cardinals lore as having one of the best seasons a pitcher ever had … and still not win a Cy Young.

Tudor came to St. Louis before the 1985 season in a trade with the Pirates, which sent veteran outfielder George Hendrick to Pittsburgh. The Massachusetts native spent five seasons in a Cardinals uniform.

It was in 1985, the left-hander had one of the great seasons in Cardinals history. Starting the season 1-7, Tudor went on a 20-1 run and finished the year with a 1.93 ERA. He also had a  league leading 10 shutouts and WHIP of 0.938. Additionally, he threw for 275 innings and had 14 shutouts.

However, he finished second to Doc Gooden of the New York Mets in the Cy Young Award balloting. Nevertheless, he helped propel the Cardinals to 101 wins and into the 1985 World Series.

While Tudor was never able to come close to matching his 1985 performance, he was still a steady presence in the Cardinals rotation by maintaining low ERAs, and helped lead the Cardinals to another NL Pennant in 1987. Nonetheless, injuries ended up limiting his playing time during his later years in St. Louis.

When Tudor’s Cardinal career ended, he had an impressive 62-26 record, a 2.52 ERA, and a ERA+ of 146. His ERA and .705 winning percentage leads all Cardinals pitchers with minimum 750 innings pitched.

4. Steve Carlton

It was in Philadelphia that Steve Carlton won three Cy Young Awards and became a baseball legend. Before his infamous trade to the Phillies on February 26, 1972, he was a pretty good doggone pitcher for the Cardinals.

The Cardinals signed the lefty in 1963 and he quickly advanced through their minor-league system. Carlton made his major-league debut in 1965, but he really started to come on his own during the 1967 World Championship season when he went 14-9 with a 2.98 ERA in 193 innings. While he didn’t win his one start in the 1967 World Series, he pitched 6 strong innings and gave up one unearned run.

In 1968, Carlton pitched 232 innings, posting a 13-11 record, a 2.99 ERA and made his first All-Star appearance. In 1969, he went 17-11 with a 2.19 ERA, pitched 236 innings and made his second All-Star appearance.

However, Carlton’s best year in St. Louis turned out to be his last. In 1971, he went 20-9 in 273 innings with a 3.56 ERA and made a third All-Star appearance.

In his seven seasons with the Cardinals, Carlton had a 77-62 record with a 3.10 ERA and a 114 ERA+. During his tenure in St. Louis, he also had 66 complete games and 16 shutouts.

Oh, what could’ve been.

3. Chris Carpenter

If there ever was a player who turned his career around after coming to St. Louis, it was Chris Carpenter. Injury issues plagued the 6-6 right hander during his time with the Toronto Blue Jays, and in 2002, found himself removed from their 40-man roster.

Cardinals general manager Walt Jocketty took a chance, and signed Carpenter, who was still recovering from surgery. By 2004, the move was paying big dividends for St. Louis.

In Carpenter’s nine years with the Cardinals, he won the Cy Young Award (2005), finished second in voting (2009), third in voting (2006), had the NL-best ERA (2.28) and ERA+ (182)in 2009. He proved himself to be a workhorse on the mound by leading the NL in innings pitched in 2011 (237), games started in 2010 (35) and 2011 (34).

However, it was in the 11 Cardinals postseason series which he excelled. Carpenter posted a 10-4 record with a 3.00 ERA, and 3-0 in four World Series games.

The only snag to Carpenter’s career in St. Louis was injuries. He spent the better part of 2007, 2008, and 2012 on the Injured List.

Carpenter finished his career in St. Louis with a 95-44 record, 3.07 ERA, a ERA+ of 133, and two World Series rings. Harder to measure was his impact on the Cardinals clubhouse during this tenure in St. Louis. His workhouse mentality and his leadership were instrumental in leading the Cardinals to two World Series Championships.

1. Bob Gibson

I said this piece was about the best starting pitchers since 1967, and Gibson’s career started prior to that year. In fact, Gibson had a pretty impressive career up to 1967. However, I will focus on his career from 1967 on, and still say he was easily the best.

Let’s start with his career year of 1968. Gibson had a 22-9 record, with an MLB-best 1.12 ERA. He  had 28 complete games, threw for 304 innings, led the National League in shutouts (13), strikeouts (268), ERA+ (258), WHIP (.853) and H9 (5.8).

In 1968, he threw 47 consecutive scoreless innings and in the 1968 World Series struck out 17 Detroit Tigers in Game 1. He not only won the NL Cy Young Award, but he also was the NL MVP. Add an All Star appearance and a Gold Glove, and that’s Bob Gibson’s incredible and historic 1968 season.

After 1968, he won 20 games in 1969, 23 games in 1970, and 19 games in 1972. He also threw 28 complete games in 1969, 23 in 1970, 20 in 1971, 23 in 1972, and 13 in 1973. He added another Cy Young Award in 1970, 5 more Gold Gloves, and made three more All Star appearances.

His career stats from 1967 to 1975 was 139-93, a 2.74 ERA, 155 complete games, 33 shutouts, an ERA+ of 129, HR9 of .5, BB9 of 2.8, and SO9 of 7.0.

Gibson was known to be a aggressive competitor on the mound. Even though he had good control, he was known for his brush back pitches. Hank Aaron once said of Gibson, “Don’t dig in against Bob Gibson, he’ll knock you down. He’d knock down his own grandmother if she dared challenge him.”

Bob Gibson retired after the 1975 season and was elected to Baseball’s Hall of Fame in 1981.

Honorable Mentions

Bob Forsch: Leaving Forsch off my Top 5 list was difficult. After all, he is the only Cardinals pitcher in history to throw more than one no-hitter, throwing two in 1978 and 1983, Additionally, he is fourth among Cardinals pitchers in victories (163), won 15 games during the Cardinals World Championship run in 1982, threw over 200 inning six times during his 15 years in St. Louis, won two Gold Glove Awards, and won 20 games in 1977.

Joaquin Adjuar: He is one of the forgotten Cardinals of the 80s. Adujar was a 20-game winner twice, made two All Star appearances, and won a Gold Glove Award. He also won 15 games during the 1982 World Championship run. Finally, he threw for over 200 innings four of five years he wore a Cardinals uniform.

Matt Morris: Morris spent 8 years with the Cardinals, winning 101 games with an a 3.61 ERA. His most notable year was 2001, when he went 22-9 with a 3.16 ERA. Morris made two All-Star appearances and placed 2nd in the Rookie of the Year vote in 1997.

Kyle Lohse: Lohse spent five years in St. Louis and was a part of the 2011 World Championship team. Lohse’s most notable year while wearing a Cardinal uniform was in 2012, when he went 16-3 and led the NL in winning percentage (.842).