Which Cardinals were ranked as the top hitters of all time?

The St. Louis Cardinals are known to have a storied franchise, but often people don’t realize how elite. Recently, I created a list of the top hitters of all time. Just hitting prowess — nothing else. 

I created one list for a career and one list based off a player’s best 5 years.  There is a lengthy criterion used if you are interested.

The Top 15 Hitters for a career:

1. Ted Williams
2. Babe Ruth
3. Hank Aaron
4. Stan Musial
5. Lou Gehrig
6. Willie Mays
7. Barry Bonds
8. Ty Cobb
9. Mickey Mantle
10. Rogers Hornsby
11. Frank Robinson
12. Tris Speaker
13. Frank Thomas
14. Mel Ott
15. Albert Pujols

Notable Cardinals:

Stan Musial (4th) – For a career, there aren’t many that are as prolific as Stan the Man. Musial’s prolonged success is very similar to Aaron’s – incredible consistency over a long time! The 7-time batting champion strangely never led the league in homers, but led multiple times in every other important statistical category.

Rogers Hornsby (10th) – Rajah would be higher had he not fallen off a cliff in his mid-30s. After hitting .380 in 1929 and winning the MVP, Hornsby had fewer than 1,000 plate appearances in the 1930s.

Albert Pujols (15th) – Similarly to Rogers but much more pronounced, Albert’s hitting dropped off significantly after leaving St. Louis. Pujols had 5 productive offensive seasons before having 5 unproductive ones as an Angel.

Top 15 "Peak" Hitters (based off their five best years):

1. Babe Ruth
2. Lou Gehrig
3. Ted Williams
4. Rogers Hornsby
5. Mickey Mantle
6. Barry Bonds
7. Jimmie Foxx
8. Albert Pujols
9. Aaron Judge
10. Frank Thomas
11. Mike Trout
12. Stan Musial
13. Hank Aaron
14. Willie Mays
15. Edgar Martinez

Notable Cardinals:

Rogers Hornsby (4th) – There are a LOT of great years for Hornsby, but some of his best offensive years were with the Cardinals when he hit over .400. In 1922, 1924 and 1925, Hornsby hit .401, .424, and .403, respectively.

Albert Pujols (8th) – Albert’s years in St. Louis were his most productive by far. 2003-2010 was an incredible stretch for The Machine with 2003 standing out as his best year offensively. Pujols hit 43 homers but had a career best, and league-leading, .359 average!

Stan Musial (12th) – It hurts me that Stan ranked outside the top 10 here, but his very best years are a notch below some of those above him on this list. Here were Musial’s five highest-ranked years – fantastic, no doubt:

1948 - .376 with 39 homers and 131 RBI

1949 - .338 with 36 homers and 123 RBI

1951 - .355 with 32 homers and 108 RBI

1946 - .365 with 16 homers and 103 RBI

1953 - .337 with 30 homers and 113 RBI

Like any list that ranks players going back almost 150 years, there is no way to know for sure! The players from today really can't be compared to players who played before gloves were used. Or before leagues were fully integrated. But if you did jumble them all together, the Cardinals hold up pretty well! The only other franchise that did better (and only slightly) was the dreaded New York Yankees...