The Greatest Cardinals Lineup I’ve Ever Seen – From the Many Laptops of Will Saulsbery

As the air turns to Autumn my mind turns to nostalgia. The teams of years gone by. The players, the fans in the stands, the sound of the roar from Clark echoing through the canyons of downtown. There were times of joy, despair, jubilation, and confetti below fireworks. I want to remember. I want to think back to the best players I’ve ever seen with these green eyes wearing the birds on the bat.

So, here it is, the greatest Cardinals lineup I have ever seen play live.

*To qualify the player had to be a Cardinal, and had to play in a game I attended at either of the two Busch Stadiums downtown.

The Outfield

• Ray Lankford: The most tragically underrated baseball player of the 1990s and my childhood hero, Ray Lankford, was an absolute beast. A pure athlete that would find a way every night to put his stamp on a game offensively or defensively. He is in the top-ten in Cardinals history in runs, doubles, home runs, runs batted in, walks, stolen bases, and extra base hits. Plus he hit two home runs into the upper deck in one game at the old Cincinnati Riverfront Stadium.
• Willie McGee: Perhaps the most beloved Cardinal this side of Stan Musial, Willie won three gold gloves, two batting titles, a Silver Slugger, and an MVP, plus a little thing called a World Series Ring. I saw him play the second to last game of the 1997 season where he went 4-5 with 4 RBI, and 2 steals at the age of 38.
• Jimmy “Ballgame” Edmonds: He physically may have the largest dome I have ever seen in person. I swear his shoulders are the height of a guy that should be 5’7”, but he somehow clocks in at 6’1”. On the diamond there have been few better in all of baseball in this century. He won 6 Gold Gloves as a Cardinal, one Silver Slugger, and a ring in 2006.
  • Honorable mentions: That one season of Ryan Ludwick, Brian Jordan, Bernard Gilkey, Ron Gant, Reggie Sanders, and Larry Walker.

The Infield

• Catcher: Yadier Molina: There is not a close second here. 10 All Star games, 9 Gold Gloves, 2 rings, a Silver Slugger, and was THE heartbeat of the franchise for almost two decades. Honestly it feels like the franchise has not recovered since he hung ‘em up.
  • Honorable mention: Tom Pagnozzi: 3 Gold Gloves, put some respect on Pags name!
• 1B: Albert Pujols: We were spoiled. Absolutely spoiled, and didn’t appreciate what we had. The first 11 years, and the final season in 2022 don’t seem real looking back on them. From 2001 through 2011 Albert AVERAGED a .328 BA, 40.5 HRs, 120.8 RBIs, and an OPS of 1.037. Every single one of those numbers are better than Goldschmidt’s 2022 MVP season. In Mike Trout’s first full 11 seasons he averaged 9 less home runs, 40 less RBIs, and a batting average that was .23 lower. *Cries into my afternoon ice coffee.
  • Honorable mention: Paul Goldschmidt
• 2B: Delino DeShields: I know you all love Wong, Viña, Edman, Donovan, and probably even Mark Grudzielanek, but Delino was my guy. Have you forgotten what an absolute monster of a player this guy was? In 1997 he led the NL in triples with 14, stole 55 bags, while hitting .295 with 51 extra base hits. That all equated to a WAR of 4.2, to go with enough swagger to fill the lodge boxes at Busch.
  • Honorable mention: Kolten Wong
• 3B: Scott Rolen: As a Redbird, few have been as great at the hot corner as the Jasper Jackrabbit (A nickname I just made up). He spent parts of 7 seasons in the Gateway and made the most of his time collecting 4 All-Star nods, 3 Gold Gloves, a 4th place MVP finish in 2004 (behind Bonds, Beltre, and Pujols), and took home a ring in 2006, in a World Series he should have been the MVP of. In that fall classic he hit .421, with a home run, 3 doubles, 2 RBI, 8 hits in 5 games for an OPS of 1.213. Yet he lost to Mr. Scraptastic David Eckstein’s .891 OPS?  ROBBERY!
  • Honorable Mention: Nolan Arenado
• SS: Ozzie Smith: He is the greatest defensive player to ever play the game. EVER. He owns the highest career defensive WAR in the history of MLB at 44.2. No one else has cracked 40 and the highest of any active player is Nolan Arenado at 20.7. Plus, the man was just magical on the field. The back flip, the leaping double plays, “GO CRAZY FOLKS!!!” He was Cardinal baseball for 15 years.
• DH: Mark McGwire: Big Mac was only here for a little over four seasons, but WOW. He hit 220 home runs in 545 games as a Cardinal. That’s one jack every 2.5 games. Basically, come in for a three game set and you’re gonna see McGwire go yard. I have no idea what the MVP voters were thinking in 1998 and 1999. In 1998, sure give it to Sammy with his less home runs and lower OPS? But, in 1999 McGwire led the league in home runs and RBI’s with 65 and 147 and was second in the league in OPS at 1.120 (behind only Larry Walker) and he finished 5th. FIFTH? Are you out of your toasted rav and gooey butter cake loving minds?  He had 20 more home runs, 37 more RBI’s and a higher OPS than winner Chipper Jones. I like Chipper as much as the next guy, but who would you rather pitch to in 1999? I rest my case.

The Bench

Daniel Descalso, So Taguchi, Skip Schumaker, and Dmitri Young. How about that for a group! So much scrap, so much hard work, so much “first guy there, last guy to leave,” so much “high baseball IQ.” Just so much for the folks outside the 270 loop to love. I still remember that Dimitri Young triple in the 1996 playoffs, man, what a moment! FYI, we traded him at 24 years old straight up for a 34 year old Jeff Brantley who went 0-5, with 14 saves and a 4.44 ERA in his lone season in St. Louis. But, we did flip Brantley with Ron Gant for Ricky Bottalico and Garrett Stephenson. So, I guess that’s a win? Wait, just checked the results, no, definitely not a win.

The Rotation

Remember, these are guys I SAW play in person. Caveat, I did once see Bob Gibson throw out a first pitch, but, I didn’t count that here.

1. Chris Carpenter: The definition of an Ace and stopper. Two rings, one Cy Young and should have won a second.
2. Matt Morris: Won 101 games as a Cardinal, 22 of those in 2001 when he finished 3rd in the Cy Young voting for a team that lost to the eventual WS champion Diamondbacks in a 5 game first round series. In the deciding game five he went 8 innings throwing 130 pitches, giving up a lone solo home run to Reggie Sanders in the 4th.
3. Adam Wainwright: Who doesn’t love Waino! 200 game winner, closed out both the 2006 NLCS and the Fall Classic.  Five top-ten Cy Young finishes, and a couple Gold Gloves and a Silver Slugger on top!
4. Kyle Lohse: What an underrated Redbird. Lohse was 55-35 as a Cardinal and finished 7th in the Cy Young in 2012 after putting together a 16-3 record with a 2.83 ERA in 211 innings.
5. Carlos Martinez: From 2015-2017 Carlos Martinez was one of the 5 best right-handed SP’s in the game. You don’t believe me? Check the stats buddy! In that stretch he made 2 All-Star teams, went 42-27 with an ERA of 3.24 averaging 193 innings and nearly 192 Ks a season. Put him at the front of this year’s rotation and the Cards are in the playoffs. He hasn’t pitched in the bigs since 2021 and is still only 33. Dude should still be in the rotation, but, ya know…Google him.

The Bullpen

I expect some blow back here.

• Trevor Rosenthal: Saved over 45 games twice, threw over 100, and his 2013 playoff run needs to be studied for historical purposes. 11.2 innings, ZERO runs allowed, 4 hits, 4 saves and 18 strike outs. Maybe some have been as good for a single post season, but there is no way any have been better.
• Jason Motte: Can you still see it? Yadi jumping into his arms. I can.
• Ryan Helsley: Pure smoke. I wish we hadn’t wasted this prime of his career the way the Rams wasted Steven Jackson.
• Octavio Dotel: I’ll just say this, I could watch Dotel carve up Ryan Braun all day everyday and never get tired of it.

So that’s it. The best I’ve ever seen in person with my own eyes! Who is yours?

Appendix: For the record, here is how the line-up would go.

1. Delino Deshields, 2B
2. Willie McGee, CF
3. Mark McGwire, DH
4. Albert Pujols, 1B
5. Ray Lankford, LF
6. Scott Rolen, 3B
7. Jim Edmonds, RF
8. Yadier Molina, C
9. Ozzie Smith, SS

Rotation as listed above. Bullpen, Dotel first out, then Helsley, Motte, and Rosenthal to put the nail in the coffin.