The 5 all-time best baseball players from St. Louis

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While St. Louis may be known as a soccer city from the inside, its baseball history is just as storied as its soccer history. There has been a baseball franchise in the city since 1881 when Chris von der Ahe brought the Brown Stockings to St. Louis and renamed them the St. Louis Browns. Since then, the franchise has a record of 11,131 wins to 10,776 losses for a 50.8% winning percentage.

Plenty of success has been had at the team level within St. Louis. What about the player level? Which St. Louis-born Major League Baseball players have had the most success? While St. Louis doesn't have as many natural-born players as cities such as Chicago or Philadelphia, it does rank third in all cities in America with players born in or near the city itself. In the history of baseball in America, 317 players have been able to call St. Louis home.

I'll be using career Baseball-Reference WAR to find which St. Louis natives had the best careers. The surrounding area (St. Charles, Chesterfield, etc.) will also be counted as players from St. Louis. Additionally, players who spent formative years of their lives will be included in the list.

Max Scherzer

Max Scherzer was born in Chesterfield, Missouri, just outside of St. Louis. After a successful career at the University of Missouri, Scherzer was drafted 11th overall by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 2006 MLB draft. Contractual disputes between Scherzer, his agent, Scott Boras, and the Diamondbacks pushed his signing date back to May 30th.

Scherzer made his MLB debut on April 29th, 2008, and he never looked back. He has since pitched for the Detroit Tigers, Washington Nationals, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, and he is now pitching in the playoffs for the Texas Rangers. In his career, Scherzer has accumulated 75 bWAR, has won the Cy Young Award three times, was voted into 8 All-Star Games, and even won a World Series with the 2019 Washington Nationals. Scherzer is the best player to come out of St. Louis, and the Cardinals could have had him as their ace for the last decade.

Ken Boyer

Ken Boyer was born in Liberty, MO, he went to high school in Alba, MO (just outside of Joplin), and he died in St. Louis, MO in 1982. While Boyer isn't directly from St. Louis, he spent his final years there, he played for the Cardinals, and he spent his formative years in a city that has plenty of Cardinal baseball fans.

Boyer spent 11 seasons in St. Louis as a player. In those 11 seasons, he went to 7 All-Star Games, won an MVP award, and won a World Series in 1964. Boyer garnered 62.8 bWAR in his 15-year career, and he surprisingly is not in the Baseball Hall of Fame. The third baseman has the accolades and statistics to make the Hall of Fame, but he is no longer eligible.

Yogi Berra

One of the best catchers ever, Yogi Berra was born in The Hill in St. Louis. Berra is so famous to that area of the city that his family's old house on The Hill has a placard out front that reads "Hall of Fame Place". The first-generation Italian-American played 19 years in MLB, all of which were with the New York Yankees. Yogi made his debut on September 22nd, 1946, and his final game was on May 9th, 1965. He died on September 22nd, 2015, 69 years after his inaugural MLB game.

Berra played in 2,120 games in his career, and he was an All-Star in 18 of his 19 seasons (missed only in his Rookie year, where he was still MVP-15). He won the MVP award three times, and Berra helped the Yankees win 10 World Series titles during his tenure. Yogi racked up 59.5 bWAR in his entire career. He was, and still is, one of the best catchers to have ever played the sport.

Ken Holtzman

Ken Holtzman was a dominant lefty who was born in St. Louis, MO in 1945. Holtzman was drafted in the 4th round of the 1965 draft by the Chicago Cubs. Most of his career was played in Chicago or Oakland, but he did spend some time in Baltimore and New York. He was primarily a starting pitcher, but he made appearances out of the bullpen more frequently towards the end of his career.

Holtzman made two All-Star Games and won 3 World Series titles with the Oakland Athletics. In his career, Holtzman collected 27.3 bWAR. The lefty had a career 174-150 record, and he finished his career with a 105 ERA+. He pitched two no-hitters in his career, and he won 20 games for the Athletics in 1973.

Roy Sievers

Roy Sievers was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1926, and he passed away in 2017 in Spanish Lake, MO. He went to Beaumont High School in St. Louis; Sievers was drafted by the St. Louis Browns, and he played 5 seasons with the Browns before playing for the Washington Senators, Chicago White Sox, and Philadelphia Phillies. Sievers played both left field and first base in his career.

Sievers was the Rookie of the Year in 1949, and he ended up playing in 5 All-Star Games throughout his career. He received MVP votes in 7 of his 17 years in professional baseball. In 1957, Roy led the league in home runs (42) and runs batted in (114). Siever racked up 25.5 bWAR for his career.

Honorable Mentions

Joe Garagiola

Joe Garagiola isn't here because of his on-field performance. Rather, he is on this list for his 50+-year broadcasting career. An iconic St. Louis native, Garagiola grew up on The Hill and was friends with Yogi Berra.

Jake Arrieta

The Farmington, MO native pitched 12 seasons in the majors primarily for the Chicago Cubs. Jake Arrieta has a Cy Young Award, a Silver Slugger Award, and won the 2016 World Series with the Cubs. He amassed 22.8 bWAR in his career.

Ryan Howard

Ryan Howard was born in St. Louis and played high school ball at Lafayette High School in Wildwood, MO. The first half of Howard's career is very strong. He was voted into 3 All-Star Games, he was the Rookie of the Year in 2005, and he won MVP in 2006. The back half of his career is most known for injuries and struggles at the plate. Howard piled up 14.7 bWAR in his career.

Mike Shannon

Mike Shannon was born in St. Louis, played high school baseball in nearby Illinois, played 9 years for the Cardinals, and was a broadcaster for the Cardinals for almost 50 years (1972-2021). During his playing career, Shannon garnered 7.8 bWAR, but he was a stellar announcer for both the Cardinals and national audiences.

David Freese

David Freese is on this list for obvious reasons. He was born in Corpus Christi, TX, but he went to high school in Wildwood and played his best years with the St. Louis Cardinals. Freese accumulated 18.7 bWAR in his career, and he is responsible for some of the best playoff memories in franchise history.

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