Evaluating the St. Louis Cardinals’ draft classes (1965-1984)

Here’s a look at the St. Louis Cardinals top signed pick and career bWAR leader in every draft from 1965 to 1984.

When one looks at the years immediately following the implementation of the MLB draft, it’s easy to see that scouting wasn’t quite up to snuff. Sabermetrics were decades away, and even the most analytical of scouts could only go off of surface-level stats such as batting average, earned run average, and, yes, wins and losses. Because of the limited stats available to them, the St. Louis Cardinals and other teams were lucky if even three players in their drafts ever made it to the major leagues. While baseball drafts today are still seen as more of a guessing game than other sports’ drafts, this was even more true in the draft’s early years.

While nobody’s quite sure what the famous “Cardinal Way” precisely entails, it appears that a part of it comes from drafting and developing successfully. With that in mind, I’m going to attempt a massive undertaking: I’m going to take a look at every Cardinals draft since its inception in 1965 until 2014 (to make a nice, even 50 years) and see how each one turned out regarding its first selection and the bWAR leader in picks the Cardinals signed each year. The first article will cover the first 20 years of Cardinals drafts.

1965 MLB draft

Top pick: Joe DiFabio, RHP (N/A)

(Round 1, Pick 20)

Joe DiFabio had a 7-0 record and an 0.55 ERA at Delta State University in 1965, and he spent six seasons in the Cardinals’ system. His high mark was a 2.17 ERA with Double-A Arkansas in 1968, a year where he led the Texas League in ERA. His performance in Triple-A with the Cardinals and later the Cincinnati Reds didn’t go well, and he was out of baseball by 1971.

WAR leader: Harry Parker, RHP (2.3)

(Round 4, Pick 73)

Harry Parker pitched 27.1 innings for the Cardinals before being dealt to the New York Mets in 1971. 1973 was Parker’s best season, as he helped the Mets win the National League pennant and had a 3.35 ERA in 96.2 innings. The Cardinals reacquired him off waivers in 1975, but they flipped him to the Cleveland Indians after 18.2 innings. Parker retired in 1976 and then attended the University of Tulsa.

Other signed draftees who made the major leagues

Jerry Robertson, RHP (1.1)

1966 MLB draft

Top pick: Leron Lee, OF (2.1)

(Round 1, Pick 7)

The uncle of former Chicago Cubs All-Star Derrek Lee, Leron Lee hit .222 in parts of three years with the Cardinals, but he had his best years in the major leagues with the San Diego Padres, where he hit .271 over three years.

Lee’s real fame came across the Pacific Ocean, where he played in Japan for 11 seasons and set the Nippon Professional Baseball record for batting average for players with more than 4,000 at-bats, hitting .320. The record stood from 1987 to 2018, when it was broken by Norichika Aoki.

WAR leader: Clay Kirby, RHP (7.0)

(Round 3, Pick 47)

While the Cardinals drafted and signed Clay Kirby, the San Diego Padres snagged him in the 1968 expansion draft. What was likely his most well-known moment was in 1970 when Padres manager Preston Gomez removed him for a pinch-hitter after Kirby had thrown eight no-hit innings but was down 1-0. The Padres then surrendered three hits and lost the game. While this is common today, it was almost unfathomable at the time to replace a pitcher throwing a no-hitter.

Despite this, Kirby had a solid albeit brief career, going 12-9 with the Cincinnati Reds in 1974 and winning 10 games for the “Big Red Machine” World Series winners the next year. But he never recovered from a shoulder injury sustained in early 1976, and after a troublesome year with the Montreal Expos, he retired after an unsuccessful Spring Training tryout with the Minnesota Twins in 1978.

Other signed draftees who made the major leagues

N/A

1967 MLB draft

Top pick/WAR leader: Ted Simmons, C/1B (50.3)

(Round 1, Pick 10)

One of the greatest catchers in Cardinals history, Ted Simmons holds a career batting average of .285, which ties him with another legendary backstop, Yogi Berra. The eight-time All-Star hit over .300 seven times in his career and won the Silver Slugger Award in 1980. New general manager Whitey Herzog wanted to reconstruct the team, and he dealt Simmons to the Milwaukee Brewers in a blockbuster deal after the 1980 season. Simmons continued to excel during much of his time in Milwaukee, where he played for five seasons. He wrapped up his career with the Atlanta Braves.

Simmons spent most of his years as a star for mediocre Cardinals teams, and he played in an era with three other outstanding catchers in Johnny Bench, Thurman Munson and Carlton Fisk, which likely contributed to his name dropping off the Hall of Fame ballot in his first year of eligibility. The Veterans Committee finally elected Simmons to the Hall in 2019.

Other signed draftees who made the major leagues

Jerry Reuss, LHP (35.1)

1968 MLB draft

Top pick: Butch Hairston, OF (N/A)

(Round 1, Pick 19)

Butch Hairston never made it past A-ball for the Cardinals in five seasons. He hit .323 in his first season, but he never matched that success in his next four years. He had almost no power, hitting seven home runs in 927 at-bats in his minor league career.

WAR leader: Bob Forsch, RHP (24.6)

(Round 26, Pick 594)

Bob Forsch pitched in the major leagues for 16 years and threw two no-hitters. He was a stalwart in the Cardinals’ rotation from 1975 to 1988, although manager Whitey Herzog opted to use him out of the bullpen and as a spot starter for much of 1985. Forsch was a 20-game winner in 1977 and has the fourth-most wins of any pitcher in Cardinals history, with 168. Forsch was also a solid hitter, winning two Silver Slugger Awards and owning a career average of .213.

Forsch pitched in three World Series, but apart from a brilliant outing in the 1982 NLCS where he pitched a three-hit shutout, he struggled in most postseason appearances, holding a playoff ERA of 5.79.

Forsch was traded to the Houston Astros at the end of his career but performed poorly. He retired in 1989, and he was inducted into the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame in 2015, four years after his death.

Other signed draftees who made the major leagues

Tom Heintzelman, 2B/3B (0.7); Tim Plodinec, RHP (-0.1)

1969 MLB draft

Top pick: Charles Minott, LHP/OF/1B (N/A)

(Round 1, Pick 20)

Charles Minott accumulated a 4.31 ERA in 48 innings between Rookie and Low-A ball. He showed more promise at the plate, hitting .304 over two seasons. However, Minott became ill with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in Spring Training of 1972. He retired from baseball and died in 1979 at age 27.

WAR leader: Bill Stein, 3B/2B/1B (5.4)

(Round 4, Pick 90)

A utility man who spent time at every position except pitcher, catcher and center field, Bill Stein served mostly as a pinch-hitter in his two seasons with the Cardinals. He stayed in that role for much of his career and amassed a pinch-hitting average of .282. The Seattle Mariners took him in their expansion draft in 1976, and Stein found the bulk of his starting time in his three years with Seattle. He retired in 1985 with an average of .267. Stein later managed for the Little Falls Mets and the Columbia Mets in the minor leagues.

Other signed draftees who made the major leagues

Mick Kelleher, SS/3B/2B (-2.4); Ken Reitz, 3B (-3.1)

1975 MLB draft

Top pick: David Johnson, LHP (N/A)

(Round 1, Pick 16)

David Johnson had an ERA of 3.93 in Double-A, his highest point in the minor leagues. He was traded to the Houston Astros’ farm system in 1981, where he concluded his career that year after pitching six innings and surrendering seven runs.

WAR leader: Al Olmsted, LHP (0.8)

(Round 13, Pick 304)

A September promotion, Al Olmsted came on strong, pitching 9.1 shutout innings in his first major league appearance in 1980. He would pitch in only four more games after that and was traded to the San Diego Padres after the season. A few months after that, the Padres returned him to the Cardinals in the Ozzie Smith deal, and Olmsted played for Triple-A Louisville for a year before retiring.

Other signed draftees who made the major leagues

Andy Replogle, RHP (0.7); Jim Lentine, OF (0.3); Kelly Paris, 3B/1B/2B (-1.0); Mike Ramsey, 2B/SS/3B (-1.3)

1976 MLB draft

Top pick/WAR leader: Leon Durham, 1B/OF (16.3)

(Round 1, Pick 15)

Leon Durham debuted with the Cardinals and hit .271 but was traded after his rookie year in 1980 to the Chicago Cubs in a deal bringing Bruce Sutter to St. Louis. The two-time All-Star had his best year in 1982, hitting .312 with 22 home runs and winning the Silver Slugger Award. The Cubs traded him to the Cincinnati Reds in 1988, but he missed much of that season while in drug rehabilitation treatment. The Cardinals signed Durham as a free agent in 1989, but a drug suspension caused him to miss much of that season, his final year, as well.

Other signed draftees who made the major leagues

Ray Searage, LHP (4.6); Gene Roof, OF (0.5); John Littlefield, RHP (-0.1)

1977 MLB draft

Top pick/WAR leader: Terry Kennedy, C (21.6)

(Round 1, Pick 6)

Stuck backing up Ted Simmons during his years with the Cardinals, Terry Kennedy flourished with the San Diego Padres when he was released from Simmons’ shadow. He was an All-Star in his first season with San Diego in 1981, hitting .301, and the following year, he was second in the National League with 42 doubles, making him the first catcher to hit 40 doubles in a season. In 1983, Kennedy won the NL Silver Slugger Award for catchers.

Kennedy was never elite defensively, which was a concern for Padres manager Dick Williams. Kennedy was shipped to the Baltimore Orioles before the 1989 season, where he had one more All-Star year. He retired in 1991.

Other signed draftees who made the major leagues

Jim Gott, RHP (10.5); Andy Rincon, RHP (2.0); Joe DeSa, 1B/OF (0.0); Neil Fiala, 2B (0.0); Jeff Doyle, 2B (-0.3)

1978 MLB draft

Top pick: Bob Hicks, OF (N/A)

(Round 1, Pick 15)

Bob Hicks had trouble achieving anything above A-ball, as he hit only .191 in his brief sniff of Double-A in 1983 with the Texas Rangers organization. He was out of the league a year later.

WAR leader: George Bjorkman, C (0.3)

(Round 4, Pick 93)

George Bjorkman was the only player the Cardinals drafted in 1978 to make it to the major leagues. The San Francisco Giants took him in the 1980 Rule 5 draft, but they returned him to the Cardinals, who traded him three years later to the Houston Astros, where he saw his one year of major league experience. Bjorkman hit .227 in 75 at-bats with the Astros in 1983 and retired in 1985 after time with Houston’s and Baltimore’s Triple-A affiliates.

Other signed draftees who made the major leagues

N/A

1979 MLB draft

Top pick/WAR leader: Andy Van Slyke, OF/1B/3B (41.3)

(Round 1, Pick 6)

While he never lived up to Cardinals fans’ hopes of being the next Willie McGee, Andy Van Slyke nonetheless enjoyed a respectable career. However, most of his success came with the Pittsburgh Pirates after being the main prize in the Tony Pena deal. In Pittsburgh, he was a three-time All-Star, two-time Silver Slugger and five-time Gold Glover. He led the major leagues in triples with 15 in 1988 and topped the senior circuit in hits and doubles in 1992. He won all five of his Gold Gloves in consecutive years, from 1988 to 1992. Van Slyke retired after 1995 and later worked on staff for the Detroit Tigers and Seattle Mariners.

Other signed draftees who made the major leagues

Mark Salas, C (2.0); Tom Dozier, RHP (-0.2); Terry Clark, RHP (-0.3)

1980 MLB draft

Top pick: Don Collins, RHP (N/A)

(Round 1, Pick 15)

Don Collins never rose above Single-A in his four minor league seasons, holding a record of 21-16 in A-ball and an ERA of 3.57. He played in the Milwaukee Brewers organization in his final year.

WAR leader: Ricky Horton, LHP (4.9)

(Round 4, Pick 93)

Ricky Horton had a 3.44 ERA in his rookie year with the Cardinals, where he went 9-4. His ERA was 3.17 in his first go-around with the Cardinals, which lasted four seasons, and he played in the 1985 and 1987 World Series. He also pitched in the 1988 World Series for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Horton returned to the Cardinals in 1989 and played his last major league season with them in 1990. He now works as a Cardinals radio broadcaster.

Other signed draftees who made the major leagues

Jim Adduci, OF/1B (-0.5)

1981 MLB draft

Top pick: Bobby Meacham, SS (3.9)

(Round 1, Pick 8)

Meacham’s poor defense at shortstop in the minor leagues resulted in a trade to the New York Yankees after the 1982 season. He became the Yankees’ starting shorstop in 1985 after a few years serving in a reserve role, but he hit only .218. Meacham’s final year in the major leagues was in 1988. The Yankees traded him to the Texas Rangers after the season, and he bounced around for a few years after that but never reached the majors again.

WAR leader: Danny Cox, RHP (9.3)

(Round 13, Pick 319)

Danny Cox played a major role in helping the Cardinals win the 1985 National League pennant, pitching 241 innings with an ERA of 2.88. He was remarkably durable, as he pitched 220 and 199.1 innings in 1986 and 1987. He pitched well in the World Series in the same year, allowing two runs in 14 innings, although the Cardinals lost the series to the Kansas City Royals in seven games.

Cox played for the Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates and Toronto Blue Jays later in his career and won a ring with the Blue Jays, but most of his success was with the Cardinals. While not in the Cardinals Hall of Fame, Cox was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2022.

Other signed draftees who made the major leagues

Curt Ford, OF (1.6); Jeff Keener, RHP (0.1); Tom Nieto, C (-2.3)

1982 MLB draft

Top pick: Todd Worrell, RHP (10.9)

(Round 1, Pick 21)

While initially a starter in the minor leagues, Todd Worrell failed to gain traction in the role, and Triple-A manager Jim Fregosi moved him to the bullpen. That proved to be a good decision, as Worrell served as a top-notch closer for the Cardinals from 1986 to 1989. He won the 1986 NL Rookie of the Year Award after a league-leading 36 saves.

Worrell was an All-Star in 1988, but near the end of the 1989 season, he tore his rotator cuff and missed the 1990 and 1991 seasons. The Cardinals released Worrell after the 1992 season, and he signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He pitched there for five more seasons and made two more All-Star teams before retiring.

WAR leader: Terry Pendleton, 3B (28.4)

(Round 7, Pick 179)

Terry Pendleton played well in seven seasons with the Cardinals, especially defensively at the hot corner. He hit .259 with 44 home runs with St. Louis, but the bat didn’t really catch up to the glove until the Cardinals traded him to the Atlanta Braves to make room at third base for the young Todd Zeile.

In 1991, Pendleton’s first season with Atlanta, he won the NL MVP Award after leading the league with a .319 average. He won his third Gold Glove and made his only All-Star appearance the following year, where he led the National League with 199 hits. Pendleton retired in 1998, having played in five World Series but losing them all.

Other signed draftees who made the major leagues

Vince Coleman, OF (12.5)

1983 MLB draft

Top pick: Jim Lindeman, OF/1B (-0.2)

(Round 1, Pick 24)

Jim Lindeman’s career highlight was probably the 1987 postseason, where he batted .321 while filling in for an injured Jack Clark despite hitting only .208 in the regular season. The Cardinals traded Lindeman to the Detroit Tigers after the 1989 season, and the most success he found outside the postseason was with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1991, where he hit .337 in 95 at-bats.

WAR leader: Tom Pagnozzi, C/1B (7.7)

(Round 8, Pick 208)

A strong defender behind the plate who could also handle the bat a bit, Tom Pagnozzi played his entire career with the Cardinals, winning three Gold Gloves and earning an All-Star berth in 1992. Pagnozzi replaced catching prospect Todd Zeile in 1990, and he was the Cardinals’ starting catcher until 1996, hitting .259 over that span. The Cardinals released him two years later after he hit only .219 in 1997 and 1998, and Pagnozzi subsequently retired.

Other signed draftees who made the major leagues

John Costello, RHP (0.9)

1984 MLB draft

Top pick: Mike Dunne, RHP (0.1)

(Round 1, Pick 7)

Mike Dunne pitched in the minor leagues for the Cardinals until 1987, when he was included in the Andy Van Slyke package sent to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Tony Pena. Dunne’s rookie season showed promise, as his 3.03 ERA and second-place finish in Rookie of the Year voting indicated. But he couldn’t shake off injuries for the rest of his career, hurting his effectiveness. Dunne ended his career in 1992, holding a 4.08 ERA.

WAR leader: Lance Johnson, OF (30.2)

(Round 6, Pick 139)

Lance Johnson was a burner on the basepaths, but Willie McGee had center field occupied for the Cardinals, so they traded Johnson to the Chicago White Sox before the 1988 season. He proceeded to lead the major leagues in triples three times, and he made the All-Star team in 1996 with the New York Mets, a year where he hit .333 and led the major leagues with 227 hits.

Johnson retired in 2000 after three and a half more years, playing for the Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees. He finished his career with a .291 average and 327 stolen bases.

Other signed draftees who made the major leagues

Jeff Fassero, LHP (23.7); Greg Mathews, LHP (3.4); Scott Arnold, RHP (-0.1); Craig Wilson, 3B/2B (-0.6); Matt Kinzer, RHP (-1.5)