St. Louis Cardinals worst lineup of all-time by WAR

It is well documented by this point that the season the St. Louis Cardinals are currently having is without question one of the worst seasons they have had in recent memory. It isn't just their record which currently sits at 15 games below .500 a week into August. It isn't just the record because every franchise has rough seasons. It is that the expectation was that the Cardinals would be a clear playoff contender coming into the season and they have been anything but that in 2023.

Some of it has been a roster construction problem that many saw coming a mile away as there just wasn't a proper focus on the starting rotation. Some of it has been underperformance from some key players at the worst possible time. The rest of it, well, has been plain crummy luck as the Cardinals have underperformed their expected W-L record by a full five games.

However, one does wonder how much worse it could have been. For help there, we look back into the annals of Cardinals history for some of the worst position players to ever play in a St. Louis uniform.

Here is the Cardinals' all-time worst lineup by WAR

For the sake of clarity, here are the qualifications. First and foremost, this list is going strictly by Baseball-Reference's WAR measure. This isn't a value judgment as to which WAR calculation is better, but an acknowledgment that B-Ref's database is really powerful and easy to search for this sort of thing. Also, the WAR accumulated by each player is only the WAR they earned while playing for St. Louis.

Finally, to filter out guys that only played for a little while in the big leagues, only players that put up 1,000 or more plate appearances are eligible and they had to play 50% of the time or more at each given position. The goal is to find lineup staples that truly stunk it up, not just to identify a bunch of bad one-and-dones. Without further delay, let's take a look at the all-time worst Cardinals lineup by WAR.

Catcher - Jack Boyle: 1.2 WAR

Taking the top/bottom spot at the catcher position is Jack Boyle who played for St. Louis from 1887-1889. You are forgiven if you don't remember his illustrious -0.4 rWAR 13 year MLB career. He hit a total of 11 home runs for the Cardinals with a .618 OPS in 1510 plate appearances. "Honest Jack" was actually pretty well regarded for his fielding, so one wonders if he would be appreciated more if there was better data available for him.

Mike Matheny actually made a real run at the catcher spot for his tenure with the Cardinals from 2000-2004 as he managed just 1.6 rWAR to come in second place. Hal Smith and Bill Sarni tied for third with 2.0 rWAR and both of them caught for the Cardinals in the 1950's.

First Base - Nippy Jones: -1.3 WAR

Getting the "honor" at first base is Nippy Jones with his -1.3 rWAR from 1946 to 1951. Despite having a very funny name for a baseball player, Nippy was decidedly unproductive player with just 22 homers and four stolen bases across over 1,300 plate appearances for St. Louis. To the surprise of no one, Jones did not play much in the big leagues after he left St. Louis, although he did work his way back to the big leagues and managed to help the Braves win a World Series game after successfully showing the home plate umpire shoe polish on the ball that he argued hit him in the foot.

Gene Paulette took home third place, who was a Cardinals' first baseman from 1917-1919 and barely qualified for this list at 1022 plate appearances, with 1.7 rWAR Tino Martinez and Matt Adams rounded out the top/bottom five which is somewhat surprising.

Third Base - Hector Cruz: -3.4 WAR

It is tough to still around long enough in baseball to put up -3.4 rWAR, but Hector Cruz pulled it off in 1,032 plate appearances from 1973-1977. During his time in St. Louis, Crus slashed just .224/.294/.338 and his defensive marks were somehow worse than that. Cruz would manage to stick in the big leagues with a few different teams until 1982.

In second place, we have another negative WAR recipient in Ken Reitz with -1.8 rWAR from 1972-1980 which is a reminder that third base was a truly terrible place on the Cardinals' roster for most of the 1970's. Fred Hartman returns the rankings to the positive WAR column with 0.6 rWAR during the turn of the century.

Left Field - George Barclay: -1.6 WAR

The negative WAR parade continues with George Barclay who posted -1.6 rWAR from 1902-1904. While his .603 OPS in 1434 plate appearances is obviously not great, he did at least steal 56 base for the Cardinals to go along with his four total home runs. One can only assume that the modern day Athletics would trade one of their better players for him if Barclay was playing today.

The silver medal goes to Charlie James for his -1.1 rWAR from 1960-1964 thanks in large part to his inability to draw walks. Joe Delahanty comes in third place with 1.0 rWAR from 1907-1909 while he slashed .238/.301/.315. Fun fact: Chris Duncan did get into the top/bottom five in left field at 2.8 rWAR from 2005 to 2009.

Center Field - Luis Melendez: -0.9 WAR

Things are looking pretty rough for the outfield as Luis Melendez easily takes home first place in center field at -0.9 rWAR from 1970-1976. Based on this list, it is not that surprising that the Cardinals did not win a division title in the 1970's. In almost 1,500 plate appearances for St. Louis, Melendez managed just nine home runs and 17 stolen bases.

For the rest of the podium of shame, one has to go way back in Cardinals history again. Rebel Oakes comes in second with 1.4 rWAR from 1910 to 1913 despite stealing 91 bases for St. Louis. Steve Brodie take home third with 2.6 rWAR from 1892-1893 even though he hit .282 in his time with the Cardinals. Rick Ankiel is a modern player in the top/bottom 10 with his 4.1 rWAR.

Right Field - Charlie James: -1.1 WAR

Finally, we come to right field and again we find another negative number with Charlie James and his -1.1 rWAR from 1960 to 1964. James did at least hit 29 homers for the Cardinals, but his 47 walks in 1438 plate appearances was too much to overcome. At least James got a World Series ring after St. Louis traded for Lou Brock and promptly gave James' job to him.

Max Flack takes home second place here with his miniscule 0.3 rWAR in four season in the 1920's. We finally have another modern example of ineptitude as Dexter Fowler's 1.8 rWAR during his 2017-2020 run with the Cardinals took home the bronze. It is probably best not to think about how much the Cardinals paid Fowler for that production.

More Cardinals News from Redbird Rants