5 opposing players who ruffled the feathers of Cardinals fans

St. Louis Cardinals fans are determined to make new arrivals in St. Louis as comfortable as possible. Whether it's a fresh-faced rookie leaving his minor league nest for the big stage of Busch Stadium or a veteran who arrived in the Gateway City via free agency or trade, fans always go out of their way to acknowledge and appreciate the newest member of Cardinal Nation.

The debut of top prospect Masyn Winn on Aug. 18 was a long-awaited event for Cardinals fans, who have been suffering through the team's worst season in decades. Winn was greeted with thunderous applause in his first plate appearance, where he struck out chasing a pitch far below the zone.

Winn, undeterred by his ugly whiff, beat out a chopper down the third-base line in his second time up for his first hit. Undoubtedly awaiting his souvenir, Winn instead saw New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso hurl the ball into the stands. Although Winn eventually received the ball from the fan who caught it and Alonso expressed remorse after the game for his mistake, the incident didn’t help Alonso's reputation as a villain among baseball fans.

Alonso got off relatively easy, as Cardinals fans are often slow to turn on an opposing player. But there have been a few opponents who have managed to get under the skin of Cardinals fans and evoke the rarest of reactions from the St. Louis faithful: the boo.

These five opposing players were not received warmly by Cardinals fans.

Brandon Phillips

Perhaps no opposing player in modern Cardinals history was booed as relentlessly and as frequently as Brandon Phillips. The saga began before a three-game series against the Cincinnati Reds in August of 2010, when the Reds' Phillips made disparaging comments about the Cardinals. On Aug. 10, in the second game of the series, Phillips tapped Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina on the shin guard, and Molina responded with some choice words. A melee ensued, and Phillips created a legacy as the premier baseball villain in St. Louis for the next eight years until his retirement.

Phillips embraced his role as persona non grata among Cardinals fans, and that brawl didn't just mark Phillips as a hated man in St. Louis; it made Molina an enemy in Cincinnati. Just as Cardinals fans showered Phillips with boos every time he came back to Busch Stadium, Reds fans didn't let Molina forget his role in the scuffle either. Now that both players have retired, the drama between the fans of each team has simmered, but people from St. Louis won't soon forget Phillips' quips about their city and the free-for-all brawl that he helped instigate.

Johnny Cueto

During that fateful Cardinals-Reds fight in 2010, Reds pitcher Johnny Cueto was pinned against the wall behind home plate. His solution? Kick his way out. Cueto subsequently drilled Cardinals backup catcher Jason LaRue in the face with his cleat, giving LaRue a concussion. LaRue had dealt with several concussions before, and after the kick, LaRue was unable to be in a moving car or take care of himself.

According to LaRue, Cueto never reached out to apologize for his actions. LaRue had planned to retire after the season, so it wasn't a career cut short, but Cueto's actions linger in the minds of Cardinals fans, who were undoubtedly delighted when Pittsburgh Pirates fans rattled him in the 2013 National League Wild Card game.

Nyjer Morgan

Another scuffle between NL Central rivals, this time the Cardinals and the Milwaukee Brewers, led to another vilified player among Cardinals fans. During a game in September of 2011, Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter struck out Brewers outfielder Nyjer Morgan. Carpenter and Morgan exchanged words, after which Morgan removed chewing tobacco from his mouth and threw it at Carpenter.

Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols came to Carpenter's defense, and after the game, Morgan took to Twitter to insult Pujols while referring to him with feminine pronouns. Another tweet of Morgan's mentioned the Brewers being in first place at the time and that he hoped the Cardinals would enjoy watching them in the playoffs. Cardinals fans clearly had the last laugh on that one.

It wasn't the first time Morgan had gotten into it with another team, as a 2010 Sports Illustrated article indicates. Morgan left the major leagues in 2014 with plenty of detractors in his wake, including those in St. Louis.

Ryan Braun

The face of the Milwaukee Brewers from 2007 to 2015 or so, Ryan Braun became embroiled in a scandal when the results of a 2011 urine test revealed that he had elevated levels of testosterone caused by a performance-enhancing drug. Braun, who is Jewish, fought back on the allegations, saying the person who handled the sample, Dino Laurenzi Jr., was anti-Semitic and a Chicago Cubs fan.

Braun became a widely disliked player after the PED accusations and his remarks about Laurenzi, and he was regularly booed at visiting stadiums, including Busch. Braun eventually came forward during the Biogenesis scandal in 2013 and admitted to his PED use, but the damage was irreversible. Previously thought of as on his way to Cooperstown, Braun became a pariah of the sport.