Tim McCarver - Few and Chosen Cardinals: Defining Cardinal Greatness Across the Eras

Copyright 2003 by Tim McCarver and Phil Pepe

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher, Triumph Books, 601 S. LaSalle St., Suite 500, Chicago, Illinois 60605.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

McCarver, Tim.

Few and chosen : defining Cardinal greatness across the eras / Tim McCarver and Phil Pepe.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 1-57243-483-X (hc)

1. St. Louis Cardinals (Baseball team)History 2. Baseball playersRating ofUnited States. I. Pepe, Phil. II. Title.

GV875.S3 M39 2003

796.357640977866dc21

2002514115

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Printed in the United States of America

ISBN 1-57243-483-X

Interior design by Nick Panos

This book is dedicated to the more than 1,800 players, coaches, and managers who have worn the Cardinals uniform from 1892 to the present, and to the many voices who broadcast Cardinals games throughout the years, especially the late, great Hall of Famer, Jack Buck.

I KNOW THAT IF I WAS strolling through my local bookstore and ran across a book of the best of the best Cardinals to ever play, I would put it down immediately and walk directly to the magazine rack. If I was in the right mood, however, and I did pick it up and realized that these choices were made by this guy McCarver, who has seen every Cardinal play all the way back to Jake Beckley and was a teammate of most of them, I might let my fingers do the walking.

My nature is to think of my favorite players and then see where they rank in the history of the organization. If you are like me, then lets be honest; it doesnt matter how many players are covered in this book. If you are just looking for your favorites, there is a chance that you will finish it unsatisfied and maybe a little angry.

How can I say this about a book written by a baseball historian like Tim? I say it because my list of favorite Cardinals is not at all like yours, or hers, or his. I bet without reading an advance copy of this piece of work that Dave LaPoint is not mentioned. I would also assume that Doug Rader did not make the index either. If I made a list of my all-time top ten birds on bat wearers, those names, as well as the names of such immortals as Tony Scott and Roger Freed, would be there.

Want to know something else? Tim McCarvers name wouldnt make the cut. It couldnt. He doesnt qualify. Stan Musial? Dizzy Dean? Rogers Hornsby? No chance. This doesnt mean that I dont respect their accomplishments. God knows I have to hear from Tim over and over every Saturday during the summer about how underrated he was, or how Bob Gibson was nothing without him. Thats just a joke. Tim would never say that about Gibson. Steve Carlton, maybe, but not Gibson.

The point is, I cannot consider anyone who played before I was born a favorite Cardinal of mine.

My list starts around 1974 (I was five years old then) and, in a way, ends in the late eighties. How can it end? How come Tino Martinez will never be on my list even though he is a terrific player and person? Well, to me, the players I idolized as a kid will always hold a special place in my heart.

No matter how much I think I know about the game these days, those days hanging around the park were different. My guys, no matter how irrelevant they are in the overall history of the game, were front and center in my world as a kid. They became like extended members of my family. Even though I had a privileged youth because of the position my father, Jack, had with the club, I would imagine this holds true for most fans.

I grew up hearing about the Gashouse Gang, Terry Moore, Stan the Man, and so on. Although I am proud that these players were Cardinals and are considered among the best in the games rich history, I really cant rank their abilities compared to others during their time; or other generations, for that matter. I am jealous of those who grew up in the fifties and sixties. They got to call Stan and Red and Gibby boyhood idols. That was an era of baseball I wish I could have witnessed. Instead, I got the seventies. What do they say about timing? We got Ted Simmons and not much else. Then came the eighties, with Keith, Willie, and Ozzie.

The latest generation enjoyed Big Mac and the home run chase of 1998. A lot of people will claim those memories as life changing and unforgettable, but again, to me its the kids who lived through that season and through all that McGwire did in a Cardinals uniform who really got the most from those summer nights.

Maybe Im wrong, but when you are a kid, the game just seems pure. I never heard of one kid bothering to figure out how much McGwire made per home run. They didnt care how the cash-strapped Oakland Athletics had to trade him to the Cardinals in 1997 because the As couldnt afford to compete with the multimillion-dollar offers he was sure to get in the open market. They just knew he was a larger-than-life figure who represented their favorite team by belting gargantuan home runs with a wink to his own son and an eye on history.

Those of us in St. Louis consider ourselves the best baseball fans in the country. I dont know if we are. I do know that, as a whole, Cardinals fans seem to appreciate baseball played the right way more than most. Cardinals fans can be found all across the map. Geography and baseballs slow expansion to the west have a lot to do with that, as does the strength of the Cardinals radio network.

I have seen the power of Cardinals baseball my whole life, trailing around after my dad. He was at least one of the Cardinals voices from 1954 to 2001. The power of Cardinals baseball to affect lives throughout the Midwest and beyond is truly awesome. From one spring to the next, from one generation to the other, the Cardinals link what was to what is. Through the years, the names and personalities change, but the people that line up on that first-base line in early April star in one long show that runs from spring through the end of summer.

So, what is the best baseball franchise in history? Well, I do believe that there is as much pride for Cardinals history among their faithful as there is for the vaunted Yankees by their followers. There is no debating that the New York franchise is the most successful in professional sports history. But thats New York, the biggest city in the world, the city that never sleeps. In the Midwest, we sleep. We go to work, we come home, and we go to bed. When baseball season is in full swing, however, that changes. The Cardinal Nation is alive and the city hops when the ball is flying around Busch. No, the Cardinals dont have as many world championships as the Yankees, but so what? I have always contended that the Cardinals are like the NFLs Green Bay Packers a small-market team with wide national appeal built on success and the classy way the organization has been run.

Its fun for all of us Cardinals fans to argue who is the best at each position. But, if you are not a Cardinals fan, know this: if you start yappin about how Williams, Mays, or A-Rod is the best ever and you ignore the Cardinals greats, beware! Youre messin with family.