It’s Still Farm to Table in St. Louis

The St. Louis Cardinals secured the right to play for their 12th World Championship on Friday night, beating the Los Angeles Dodgers four games out of six. It was not exactly David and Goliath although the Dodger salaries are almost double those of the Redbirds. More important is the standing of the city itself. The City of St. Louis is no longer among the top 50 cities in population. As a metro area it ranks 19th and as a media market it ranks below Tampa-St. Pete at 22nd. For all of its seemingly small market cred, the St. Louis Cardinals are one of the storied franchises in Major League baseball with a winning tradition that dates to 1882. And they are still cranking out winners the old fashioned way, raising talent down on the farm and trucking it straight to the table from Memphis and Springfield, a short distance away.

St. Louis has won 11 World Series Champions and 23 National League Pennants, second only to the New York Yankees. They have done it over the years by cultivating one of the best farm systems in the game dating to the days of Branch Rickey, who was the first to build a baseball dynasty using a vast system of farm-raised talent.

The Redbirds still grow their own like no one else.  There have been famous infield combinations in the Gateway City before. Marty Marion and Red Schoendienst come to mind. Then there was Bill White, Julian Javier, Dick Groat, and Ken Boyer who were the starting infield for the National League All-Star team in 1963. But Groat and White were brought over from other organizations. The 2013 Cardinal infield may not be as good. They are young so it remains to be seen. But they do have a uniquely distinctive flavor because it is all home cooking. At every position they were drafted by St. Louis with the exception of David Freese who grew up in the suburbs just outside the St. Louis beltway and spent two crucial years in the Cardinal organization polishing his skills.

Of the 13 position players on the 25-man playoff roster, only three—Matt Holliday, Carlos Beltran, and Freese—were drafted by other teams.  It is an unheard of situation within the game for a team as good as the Cardinals to be able to say that so many of their players were selected and developed locally. And like those teams of yesterday, there are numerous players with a chance to make the Hall of Fame. Yadier Molina—a fourth round selection in 2000—is probably the best defensive catcher in the game. His unique combination of offensive production and defensive excellence will likely earn him substantial consideration for the HOF when his playing days are over. Beltran is almost certain to make it and Matt Holiday will also warrant consideration. If Holliday does, he will give serious consideration to going in as a Cardinal since his championship years have been in St. Louis.

The pitching staff has a similar consistency. Five of the twelve pitchers are from other organizations, but one of the most important members of the staff, Adam Wainwright—drafted by the Braves in 2000—actually honed his skills in Memphis and made his name from the start as a Cardinal. Lance Lynn, Shelby Miller, Michael Wacha, and Joe Kelly were all drafted by the Cardinals and made their way to the majors through the Cardinal organization. There is no other franchise playing today that has had the kind of success as the Redbirds using talent that was drafted and developed from within. As good as they are, only on the pitching staff is there any preponderance of first round selections. Although Wacha and Miller were both selected in the first round, no player was taken higher than 19th overall. Somewhere in St. Louis there is a scouting and development team that is second to none.

Regardless who St. Louis faces in the World Series—Detroit or Boston—it will be a historic match-up. The Cards first played the Tigers for all the marbles in 1934, when the Redbirds led by Paul and Dizzy Dean beat Schoolboy Rowe’s Detroit team. They played again in 1968 when Detroit’s Mickey Lolich out-dueled Bob Gibson in a memorable Game Seven. In 2006 St. Louis won the rubber match, beating the Tigers in five games.

St. Louis first first played the Red Sox for the World Championship in 1946. It was a memorable contest that pitted against one another two of the greatest hitters perhaps in the game: Stan Musial and Ted Williams. Both were in their prime playing years and it was the only World Series Williams would see and Musial’s last. The Cardinals won in ’46 and again when the Red Sox and Cards met in 1967. And that is what makes the 2004 Series such a memorable one for the Red Sox.

Facing off against St. Louis in 2004, Boston had not won the whole shebang since 1918 when they featured a pitching staff of Carl Mays, Bullet Joe Bush, Sad Sam Jones and, of course, the Babe. It was almost a century later—86 years to be exact—that they finally put to bed the “Curse of the Bambino” by sweeping the Cardinals in four straight games and setting off a celebration in Beantown that some would tell you is still going on.

Whomever wins the right to play St. Louis, they have secured the right to play one of baseball’s best teams, and the chance for another great and historic contest. But they will have their hands full. St. Louis has one of the greatest October sluggers since Reggie Jackson in Carlos Beltran. They have a defensive team that tied for first in the NL in fielding percentage and is built around the rock solid presence of Yadier Molina. Their pitching is better than either the Red Sox or Tigers, at least in the postseason so far. The emergence of Michael Wacha in the post-season to complement Adam Wainwright and a solid bullpen has to make them the favorites.

Whether you agree or not with that handicapping, there is a smorgasbord of October baseball waiting to happen next week in St. Louis. It doesn’t get any better than this. The Cards are ready to “Play ball!!”