The 5 most inspiring St. Louis Cardinals of the decade

These five St. Louis Cardinals have the most captivating and inspirational stories of any who have played in the past 10 years.

The St. Louis Cardinals have a deep and rich history going back to 1882, and there are countless tales to tell about any number of players.

Every baseball player has a story. Some are linear: A player dominates in high school, may or may not attend college and continue to dominate, gets drafted and plays professionally.

Some are more winding and arduous: A player is drafted low and toils in the minor leagues for years, bouncing around organizations before finally getting his shot.

This is one of the wonderful aspects of baseball. Many fans love the Cinderella stories of players who scrape and claw their ways to the big club despite not being highly touted, and others love keeping a meticulous eye on the phenoms and watching them rise though the ranks .

But there are those few players who are able to stand out in other ways, and while this article will cover a couple of players who have exceptional stories between the white lines, there will also be players whose backgrounds took them to foreign lands and players who overcame adversity off the diamond.

These are players whose stories truly set them apart. Their stories range from ones of triumph to ones of hope. While they weren’t all Cardinals when their stories were unfolding or had started or finished, their presence in the game and outside of it goes beyond the teams they played with.