St. Louis Cardinals History: All the Cardinal rookies to make the All Star team

With the 2024 All Star game fast approaching, we start to get more of an idea of who we will see at Globe Life Field in mid July.

The St. Louis Cardinals have one of the most storied histories in sports, they have been privileged to have had some of the greatest players the game of baseball has ever seen, and the new era of Cardinal players are looking to write the next chapter.

This Midsummer Classic, we could see the Cardinals phenom Masyn Winn representing the Redbirds at the All-Star game this July. Winn is in his rookie season and has shown massive strides after he had a painful couple of months in the big leagues in 2023. As of June 8, Winn has a .310/.361/.446 slash line with 3 home runs, 17 extra-base hits, and 21 RBI in 56 games. He has been one of the best two-strike hitters in baseball and has consistently been barreling up the ball as he has a 34.2% line drive rate.

If Winn can just stay consistent for the next month, he should definitely be voted into the 2024 All-Star Game in his rookie season. So how rare is that in Cardinals history? How many others have achieved this rare feat? The first one to do so did it almost 90 years ago.

Stu Martin - 1936

The first player in Cardinals history to make the All-Star team in his rookie season was a player who was platooning with a Hall of Famer when he got to the big leagues.

Born Stuart McGuire Martin, he made his big league debut in 1936 at the age of 23 and he got off to a dazzling start. In his first 64 big league games, Martin hit .338 with 6 home runs, 36 RBI, and 16 stolen bases, taking playing time away from his manager Frankie Frisch.

The 1936 All-Star Game, the fourth annual All-Star Game was played at Braves Field, the home of the then Boston Braves but Martin did not appear in the game. His second half was not as productive as the first half, as he hit just .200 in only 28 games to conclude the 1936 season. Martin would play four more seasons with the Cardinals before he was sold to the Pirates.

His rookie season was the only time "Stu" was an All-Star, his first season was where he had his career highs in runs (63), home runs (6), RBI ( 41), steals (17), on-base percentage (.356), SLG (.440), and OPS+ (114).

Eddie Kazak -1949

1949 was Kazak's rookie season because he only had 22 at-bats in 1948. He played third base for the Cardinals in 1949 and hit .302 with 4 home runs and 38 RBI in the first half earning him a starting spot on the National League All-Star team, the only rookie to be named an All-Star that year.

On July 12, 1949, Kazak batted 7th and played 3B for the NL at Ebbets Field, then the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers. The National Leagues lineup had 6 Hall of Famers including current Cardinal Stan Musial. In the game, Kazak went 2 for 2 at the plate, recording a single off of starter Mel Parnell, and then an RBI single in the 3rd off of Virgil Trucks to give the National League a 5-4 lead. He was then replaced in the following inning with Sid Gordon. The AL won the game 11-7.

Kazak would only play 15 games in the second half of 1949, he finished the season with a .304 average with 6 home runs and 42 RBI. He never found the same success he had in his rookie season, mainly due to injuries that likely can be directed back to an injury sustained in Normandy during World War 2, as he would only play 120 games the rest of his career and hit just .233 in those games.

In 1952, he along with Wally Westlake, was traded to the Reds for Dick Sisler and Virgil Stallcup, less than 2 months after the trade he was out of major league baseball. After his big league career, he would go on to play until his 40s in the Texas League.

Harvey Haddix - 1953

Haddix was the first rookie pitcher to be named an All-Star in Cardinals history. He was 8 innings shy of losing his rookie status in 1952 after appearing in 7 games for the Cardinals. In 1953, the 27-year-old rookie became a mainstay in the Cardinals rotation, earning an All-Star bid in his first full season, despite a 4.10 ERA, which is pretty high for an All-Star. He did not play in the game that was played at Crosley Field.

Unlike the first two rookie All-Stars for the Cardinals, Haddix was able to have a productive career after being an All-Star for the first time. He finished the 1953 season with a 20-9 record in 36 appearances ( 33 starts) with a 3.06 ERA ( he had a 2.08 ERA in the second half) in 253 innings pitched. That year he led the league in shutouts with 6, finished 2nd to Jim Gilliam of the Dodgers in the Rookie of the Year voting, and he even received some MVP votes.

He would be an All-Star in the next two seasons with the Cardinals, then after 4 starts with the team in 1956, he was traded to the Phillies along with Ben Flowers and Stu Miller in exchange for Murry Dickson and Herm Wehmeier. His Cardinal career finished with a 53-40 record and a 3.65 ERA in 127 games, and he made the All-Star team every full season he was in St.Louis.

Luis Arroyo - 1955

The Cardinals drafted Arroyo out of the Minor League draft in 1949, and 6 years later the Puerto Rican-born left-hander was voted an All-Star in his first season in the big leagues.

In Arroyo's first 18 appearances in the big leagues, he won 7 games and had a 3.19 ERA in 87+ innings. Arroyo did not appear in the All-Star game in which ended up being one of the best All-Star games in history. Played at County Stadium, the home of the Milwaukee Braves, the National League was trailing 5-0 going into the bottom of the 7th, they tied the game in the 8th, then won the game 6-5 on a 12th-inning walk-off home run by Stan Musial.

Arroyo struggled in the second half in 1955, having a 5.40 ERA in 12 starts, finishing his first full season with an 11-8 record and a 4.19 ERA. The Cardinals did not keep him around past his first season, right after the 1956 season started, they traded Arroyo to the Pirates for pitcher Max Surkont. After a few seasons with the Pirates and Reds, spending most of his time transitioning to a reliever, he ended up with the Yankees where he became a late-inning threat.

In 1960, Arroyo ended up with the Yankees and he became their closer, helping them win 3 straight AL pennants, and 2 straight World Series championships in 1961 and 1962, recording 43 saves in those three seasons combined.

Aledmys Diaz - 2016

Diaz with his bat put himself in a similar situation that Albert Pujols did, they both forced themselves onto the team and into the lineup every day. The Cardinals were invested with Johnny Peralta at shortstop as he was going into year 3 of his free agent contract, but Diaz started his big league career on a torrid run, hitting .423 in the month of April.

His bat continued to play as the season went on as he was consistently able to produce. In the first half of 2016 Diaz hit .315 with 13 home runs and 48 RBI in 81 games, and for the guy who was signed as an amateur free agent two years prior, was going to the MLB All-Star Game, which was in San Diego that season.

Diaz appeared in the All Star Game in the top of the 8th ( the American League was officially the home team even though the game was played in a National League ballpark), pinch hitting for Corey Seager, and he struck out looking against Will Harris then played the final inning at shortstop. The American League won the game 4-2.

The second half wasn't as strong as the first or Diaz, but he still ended his rookie campaign with strong numbers, having a .300/.369/.510 slash line with 17 home runs, 48 extra-base hits, and 65 RBI. After a down year in 2017 and the emergence of Paul DeJong, the Cardinals decided to trade Diaz to Toronto for minor leaguer J.B. Woodman. Since Diaz's time ended in St.Louis, he's never found the success he had his rookie season. Despite that he has become a valuable role/depth player, helping the Astros win the World Series in 2022.