A new look at David Freese and the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame

Why David Freese?

Obviously, he meets the requirements. He was here for three years and you can’t make much more impact on a team than being one of the main reasons they won a World Series.

This is what a couple of the committee members had to say.

On the day after the nominations were released, Bernie Miklasz wrote for ScoopsWithDannyMac.com an article offering his insights on all the nominees. The title of the article was “Bernie On The Voting For The 2023 Cardinals Hall of Fame: David Freese Will Win By A Landslide.” Yes, Bernie is that good.

He started his summary of Freese by saying “Spectacular. The 2011 postseason is enough to earn a coveted red jacket for the hometown hero. “

He added “As the seasons go by without another World Series triumph for the Cardinals – 11 years and counting the more Freese stands out for his massive performance in the 2011 postseason. “

Derrick Goold in his HOF nomination article wrote “Freese, who retired after the 2019 season, would have one of the shortest Cardinals careers of any Hall of Famer. But he had one of the most impactful months in Cardinals history.”

Did he hit over 700 home runs like Albert Pujos? Win 13 gold gloves like Ozzie Smith? Steal 938 bases like Lou Brock? Not even close. However, his stats were much better than he gets credit for.

Comparing his numbers to three players that are already in the Cardinals HOF and one player that was on the ballot with him this year, shows you what I mean.

His batting average was better than Ozzie’s. Freese’s OBP was right there with Boyer, Smith, and Brock. His Slug was better than Smith’s and Brock's. Freese’s OPS was better than Smith’s and better than Lou Brock’s.

In three of the four categories he topped his ballot mate Edgar Renteria and Renteria was only here for one more year.

Addressing his short Cardinal career of only five years, we have two in the HOF already with short careers. John Tudor was here for only five years and Vince Coleman was here for six.

My point is he was not just someone that had a great month.

What he did was carry a team on his back with his heroics. Ozzie Smith’s “Go Crazy” home run was memorable, and it helped get us to the World Series. The performance that David Freese had helped us win the World Series.