Winning the starting Shortstop job as a rookie in 1996, Edgar Renteria was second in Rookie of the Year voting, losing to Los Angeles’s Todd Hollandsworth.

Renteria, who batted .309 as a rookie, followed it with years of .277 and .282, and though he had no power, he was quick and stole a combined 73 Bases in 1997 1998.  An All-Star in 1998, Renteria was part of the 1997 World Series Championship team, scoring eight runs in the playoffs. 

Renteria was traded to St. Louis after his third season, where he made three more All-Star Teams.  With Florida, Renteria batted .290 with 450 Hits.

The St. Louis Cardinals have announced the five former players who fans can vote for to enter their franchise Hall of Fame.

Those players are:

Steve Carlton, Pitcher: 1965-71, 77-62, 3.10 ERA, 1.28 WHIP. Carlton’s career began in St. Louis, where he debuted in 1965, and became a full-time member of the starting rotation in 1967.  He would be named to the All-Star Team in 1968, 1969 and 1971, the last of which saw “Lefty” win 20 Games.  Carlton entered the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994.

Keith Hernandez, First Base:  1974-83, .299/.385/.448, 1,217 H, 81 HR, 595 RBI.  Hernandez was the co-winner of the 1979 MVP in a year that he won the Batting Title (.344), and led the NL in Doubles (48) and Runs Scored (116).  A two-time All-Star as a Cardinal, Hernandez would also earn six Gold Gloves and one Silver Slugger in St. Louis.

Matt Morris, Pitcher:  1977-2005, 101-62, 3.61 ERA, 1.27 WHIP.  Morris went to two All-Star Games in St. Louis, and he was 14 shy of 1,000 Strikeouts with the team.  Morris led the NL in Wins in 2001, and was third in Cy Young voting that year.

Edgar Renteria, Shortstop:  1999-2004, .290/.347/.420, 973 H, 71 HR, 451 RBI.  Renteria went to three All-Star Games in St. Louis, and in 2002 and 2003 won both the Silver Slugger and Gold Glove.  

Lee Smith, Pitcher:  1990-93, 160 Saves, 2.90 ERA, 1.15 WHIP.  Smith was not with the Cardinals for long, but he led the league in Saves twice.  A three-time All-Star in St. Louis, Smith was the runner-up for the Cy Young in 1991.  Smith was chosen for the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2019.

The leading vote-getter will be the lone inductee for the Class of 2021.  That person will be honored on April 17, along with 2020 inductees, Tom Herr, John Tudor and Bill White.

You can vote for this year’s class here.

The Cardinals Hall of Fame was created in 2014, and had s quickly become one of our favorite franchise halls.  

Yes we know this is taking a long time!

Regular visitors to Notinhalloffame.com know that we are slowly (or glacier like) working on our top 50 players for each major North American Franchise.  After that is done, our intention is to look at how each one of those teams honor their past players and executives. 

As such, it is news to us that the St. Louis Cardinals have announced seven finalists for their franchise Hall of Fame Class of 2017.

To become eligible for the Cardinals HOF, a player must have at least played for the team for three seasons and have been retired for three years. 


Here are this year’s nominees:

Steve Carlton, Pitcher.

Carlton is far better known for winning the Cy Young Award four times with the Philadelphia Phillies it was in St. Louis where “Lefty” first became a star.  Carlton rose to prominence in 1967, joining a rotation that would take the Cards to back-to-back World Series appearances in ’67 and ’68.  As a Cardinal, Carlton would post a 77 and 62 record with a 3.10 ERA and 951 Strikeouts.  The Hall of Fame Pitcher would be traded from St. Louis following a salary dispute, which was a deal that did not exactly fall in the Cardinals favor.

Keith Hernandez, First Base.

Hernandez would with the National League co-MVP in 1979 in a season where he also won the NL Batting Title.  Hernandez was thought of us as the best defensive First Baseman in his era and overall would have 1,217 Hits with a Slash Line of .299/.385/.448 over 1,165 games as a Cardinal.  Hernandez would be traded to the New York Mets in 1983 after falling out of favor with St. Louis Manager, Whitey Herzog.  Still, Hernandez did help the Cards win the 1982 World Series.

Jason Isringhausen, Pitcher.

The Cardinals closer from 2002 to 2008, Isringhausen recorded 217 Saves with a 2.98 ERA.  The Cards closer was an All Star in 2005 and led the NL in Saves in 2004.  He would help St. Louis win the World Series in 2006.

Tim McCarver, Catcher.

Playing 1,181 Games for St. Louis, the Catcher turned broadcaster was a two time All Star for the Cardinals.  McCarver would finish 2nd in MVP voting in 1967, the same season he helped St. Louis win the World Series.  He would smack 1,029 Hits as a Cardinal. 

Mark McGwire, First Base.

McGwire famously chased (and took) the single season home run record as a Cardinal.  He was only with the Cardinals for four and a half seasons but he belted 220 Home Runs with a .420 On Base Percentage while he played there.  He was also named to three All Star Games, earned a Silver Slugger and had two top five finishes in National League MVP voting while he was a Cardinal.

Edgar Renteria, Shortstop.

A member of the St. Louis Cardinals from 1999 to 2004, Renteria was skilled with his bat (973 Hits with a .290 Batting Average) and with his glove (two Gold Gloves).  The fleet footed infielder would also swipe 148 bases and earn two Silver Sluggers in St. Louis.

Scott Rolen, Third Base.

Rolen was traded to the Cardinals during the 200 season and from 2003 to 2006 was named a National League All Star.  Rolen dominated third base, winning three Gold Gloves and also producing good power numbers, belting 111 Home Runs as a Cardinal.  He would help St. Louis win the 2006 World Series.


Voting is available online at cardinals.com/HOF.  The top two vote getters (voting concludes on April, 14) will be officially inducted into the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame this August.

We would like to congratulate the St. Louis Cardinals who in a short time has made their franchise’s Hall of Fame one of the most respected in team sports.

Other teams, take note!

You know how hard it is to get into the Baseball Hall of Fame? In 2013, with a ballot brimming with qualified candidates, not one player received the 75 percent of the votes needed for admission. (I identified 14 likely Hall of Famers on the 2013 ballot.)

Granted, 2013 was the first year of eligibility for Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, both poster boys for performance-enhancing drugs (PED), bringing to a head the contentious debate about "cheaters" and their admission into the Hall. But there were certainly several "clean" players on that ballot, and a few of those, such as 3000-hit-club member Craig Biggio, would have been uncontroversial picks in any previous year.

And although 2014 saw the election of three players—Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, and Frank Thomas—it was merely the tip of a talent-heavy iceberg (I identified 18 likely Hall of Famers for that ballot), while providing a burn to Biggio yet again as not only did he miss election by one vote (he garnered 74.8 percent of the vote), but three first-time candidates leapfrogged him into Cooperstown.