Top 50 St. Louis Cardinals

In terms of the World Series, there is no team more successful than the St. Louis Cardinals.  This is an 11 time World Series winner who would compete for Baseball’s elite 19 times and it has resulted in one of the best baseball fan bases in the country.

It may have always been this way.

Professional Baseball began in 1875 with the St. Louis Brown Stockings in the National Association.  The league folded and they would join the National League as charter members but that too would be short-lived as they were expelled for a game-fixing scandal and they would barnstorm over the next few years until they were purchased by a German entrepreneur and would join the American Association.  This is where the history of the team becomes official as MLB does not recognize the previous accomplishments of the franchise.

Now named the Browns, the team would become one of the elite organizations of the AA where they won the pennant four times before the league folded in 1891 and they would join the National League, but they would not have the same level of success as they were relatively mediocre until the 1920s.

With one of the game’s most memorable stars in Rogers Hornsby won the 1926 World Series and in the 1930s they would field the famous “Gashouse Gang” that would win the 1931 and 1934 World Series.  The 1940s were even better as they won it all in 1942, 1944 & 1946 when they were led by the most consistent hitter in baseball history, Stan Musial. 

The Redbirds would continue their high level of success in the 1960s with expert pitching (led by Bob Gibson) and a combination of speed and defense, they won the title in 1964 and 1967, and in the Ozzie Smith era of the 80s, they won again in 1982.  With a power game led by Albert Pujols, they would win the World Series in 2006 and 2011.

This list is up to the end of the 2024 season.

Note: Baseball lists are based on an amalgamation of tenure, traditional statistics, advanced statistics, playoff statistics, and post-season accolades.