The 5 youngest players to play for the Cardinals in each of the past 3 centuries

5. Catcher Frank Snyder (1912) 18 years, 83 days

Snyder was brought in late in the season as a backup catcher in his first two seasons before becoming a regular. He played parts of nine seasons with St. Louis where he hit .251 with a .611 OPS.

After the Cardinals traded Snyder in the middle of the 1919 season to the New York Giants, he appeared in 4 consecutive World Series with the Giants, winning two of them.

4. Pitcher Von McDaniel (1957) 18 years, 56 days

The young right-hander spent most of the second half of the 1957 season in the Cardinal rotation and he was very productive. In 17 games (13 of them starts) he went 7-5 with a 3.22 ERA in what was his age 18 season, headlined by his first major league start, when he tossed a complete game 2 hit shutout against the juggernaut Dodgers.

His career wasn't as lengthy as you would expect with how his first season went. McDaniel would only make 2 appearances with the Cardinals in 1958 he gave up 5 walks and 3 earned runs in 2 innings and it ended up being his last season in the big leagues, just a few months after turning 19. His control became a severe problem that could not be corrected. He ended up playing out the rest of his professional career attempting to come back as a position player.

McDaniel was the younger brother of Lindy, who also pitched for the Cardinals in the late 50's and also made his MLB debut with the Cardinals as a teenager.

3. Catcher Tim McCarver (1959) 17 years, 329 days

McCarver had one of the greatest playing and announcing careers ever. His time in Major League Baseball began early on as he was called up by the Cardinals late in 1959 at just the age of 17. He only played 40 games total in his first 4 seasons with the Cardinals, but then he became the starting catcher in 1963.

In his 11-plus seasons with St. Louis (1959-1961, 1963-1969,1973-1974) he played over a thousand games and had over a thousand hits. He was a two-time All-Star, and MVP runner-up in 1967, and won 2 World Series titles.

Cardinal fans got to listen to McCarver for over 2 decades after his playing career calling games on FOX with Joe Buck, and then from time to time calling Cardinal games on Fox Sports Midwest. We sadly lost the great Tim McCarver earlier this year.

2. Outfielder/Pitcher Ed Clough (1924) 17 years, 305 days

Clough played 7 games for the Cardinals at the end of the 1924 season, getting one hit in 14 at-bats. In the next two seasons, Clough was used as a pitcher for just four games but was still on the roster for the 1926 World Series against the Yankees (he did not pitch in the series).

1926 was his final season in the MLB, and just like with McDaniel, his major league career started and ended as a teenager. He finished his career with a .071 batting average and a 10.50 ERA.

1. Catcher Coonie Blank (1909) 16 years, 301 days

Blank appeared in a game for the 1909 Cardinals 2 months before his 17th birthday. He replaced Jack Bliss at the catcher position, went 0 for 2 at the plate, and also committed an error behind the plate.

He is a member of the " Cups of Coffee Club" because that was the only major league game that Blank played in. And despite only playing one game, he is the youngest player to appear in a game in Cardinals history. Now who are the five youngest players to appear in a game for the Cardinals in this current century?