I recently had a debate with a friend over who was the greatest hitter in Cardinal history. I maintained it was Stan the Man while he pushed for Rogers Hornsby.  Well, to muddle it up another friend came in and picked Albert Pujols.  Man, all three are great and we had a great chat about them all.

So, I thought I would just post here asking your opinion.  Here are some stats to compare the three.

Yrs.   Player  total yrs.  H      HR      RBI      BA      SLG    OBP   OPS     OPS+

41-63  Musial   24      3630   475   1951    .331   .559    .417    .976    159

15-37   Hornsby 23     2930  301    1584   .358   .577    .434    1.011  175

01-08    Pujols      8     1531  319     977     .334   .624    .415   1.049  170

I included quite a few different stats to compare and to add to the comparisons. Also for some stats mean more to one person than another. RBI's don't mean that much to me, but to some it does mean a lot. The numbers of these three are stunning and I am impressed.   The thing that struck me is that if Pujols continues on this pace and plays 23 to 24 years like Musial and Hornsby his numbers are going to be unbelieveable.  Of course, along the way he will inevitably have a off year, slow down due to age or (and lets hope it never happens) have an injury. So, it is all projections right now.

I was struck that for a few years Hornsby played in the deadball era and I wonder if he had played his entire career with the livelier ball that came in the 20's how much better his numbers may have been, especially in Home Runs.   

Some of the numbers surprised me such as the OPS and OPS+ stat totals for the three players.  Stan the Man finished third!   Hornsby also wins the OBP and BA. 

Hornsby did put up some incredible numbers, Pujols is doing so and Stan the Man numbers are incredible as well.  So, vote, comment and share your thoughts.

The numbers and stats come from baseball reference.com  just ot give them credit.

in each league since 1901?  Well, Brandon Isleib on the Hard Ball Times has tackled this question in two articles on the site. He works on the scheduling splits and projects the winners for each year in each division.  I found the two articles interesting and hope you do too. 

To read them go here and then read this page.  

It is interesting to see how some teams would've fared in such a set-up.

A big thank you to my friend Steve who sent these links to me for we have had some great conversations today about them.   Your thoughts?

in each league since 1901?  Well, Brandon Isleib on the Hard Ball Times has tackled this question in two articles on the site. He works on the scheduling splits and projects the winners for each year in each division.  I found the two articles interesting and hope you do too. 

To read them go here and then read this page.  It is interesting to see how the Pirates did in a two division set up. 

A big thank you to my friend Steve who sent these links to me for we have had some great conversations today about them.   Your thoughts?

in each league since 1901?  Well, Brandon Isleib on the Hard Ball Times has tackled this question in two articles on the site. He works on the scheduling splits and projects the winners for each year in each division.  I found the two articles interesting and hope you do too. 

To read them go here and then read this page.  It is interesting to see how the Tigers did in a two division set up. 

A big thank you to my friend Steve who sent these links to me for we have had some great conversations today about them.   Your thoughts?

in each league since 1901?  Well, Brandon Isleib on the Hard Ball Times has tackled this question in two articles on the site. He works on the scheduling splits and projects the winners for each year in each division.  I found the two articles interesting and hope you do too. 

To read them go here and then read this page.  It is interesting to see how the A's did in a two division set up. 

A big thank you to my friend Steve who sent these links to me for we have had some great conversations today about them.   Your thoughts?

in each league since 1901?  Well, Brandon Isleib on the Hard Ball Times has tackled this question in two articles on the site. He works on the scheduling splits and projects the winners for each year in each division.  I found the two articles interesting and hope you do too. 

To read them go here and then read this page.  It is interesting to see how the Reds did in a two division set up. 

A big thank you to my friend Steve who sent these links to me for we have had some great conversations today about them.   Your thoughts?

in each league since 1901?  Well, Brandon Isleib on the Hard Ball Times has tackled this question in two articles on the site. He works on the scheduling splits and projects the winners for each year in each division.  I found the two articles interesting and hope you do too. 

To read them go here and then read this page.  It is interesting to see how the Cardinals did in a two division set up. Of course this is all speculation, but what else is there during the off season?

A big thank you to my friend Steve who sent these links to me for we have had some great conversations today about them.   Your thoughts?

Fred McAlister who had been the Scouting Director with the Cardinals for many years died on Sunday.  To read about Fred McAlister go here.  Fred McAlister first joined the Cardinals as a minor leaguer in 1945.  He served the Cardinals minor leagues in many roles and was also assistant farm director, special assignment coach and several other roles in his long service to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Our family sends its deepest condolences to the McAlister family.

I have been reading this and  other blogs of teams for months on SBN. About a month ago I joined SBN and this is my first fan post here.  I searched this topic in the search engine but found no fan posts on this here on Bless You Boys, but if this has been posted before please let me know and I will pull this fan post.

I am wondering which Tigers team you all think is the greatest in Detroit's history? Which is the best team in your lifetime, your favorite team and which team do you think deserves an honorable mention for it will never be considered great for it lost in the playoffs or World Series?

I hope this generates some comments and I look forward to reading your opinions.

I have been reading this and several other blogs of teams I like for months on SBN. About a month ago I joined SBN and this is my first fan post here.  I searched this topic in the search engine but found no fan posts on this, but if this has been posted before please let me know and I will pull this fan post.

I am wondering which Pirates team you all think is the greatest in Pittsburgh's history? Which is the best team in your lifetime, your favorite team and which team do you think deserves an honorable mention for it will never be considered great for it lost in the playoffs or World Series?

I hope this generates some comments and I look forward to reading your opinions for I want to learn more about the Pirates and who better to ask than the Pirates fans?

*Note-I included the 1901 and 1902 teams because they put up great seasonal records and had no chance to play in the modern World Series since it did not start till 1903.*

Which is the greatest Reds team of all-time and more.  I searched under best greatest reds team ever all-time and found nothing, but if this topic has been covered before in a fan post please let me know and I will pull this post.

The Reds have had some excellent teams in their history so I am posting this question for discussion and a poll to vote on here.  Which year's Reds team is the greatest in your opinion?  Also, which Reds team is your favorite, the best one you've seen in your lifetime and which team deserves honorable mention as near-great  because they lost in the playoffs or series and thus are not considered "great."? 

Hope this generates some good discussion for I am interested in learning what you all think and reading your insights. Thanks in advance for sharing and discussing. :)

If this has been posted before please let me know. I searched under greatest, best , cardinals, cards, redbird, team all-time and didn't find a fan post with this topic which is which Cardinals team do you think is the best ever.... and more.

I have several questions, which team do you think is the greatest is Cardinals history? Which one is the best you've seen in your lifetime.  Which team was your favorite and which year's team do you think gets honorable mention for being near great, but because they lost in the playoffs or series will never be looked at as great?

Below is a poll for which team in the history of the Cardinals do you consider the greatest?

This is my first fan post here so I hope it generates some conversation and comments. I look forward to seeing what you all think!

I've been reading AN for a few months now and joined SBN last month after following the blogs of the teams I like for months.  I grew up watching baseball as a kid in the 60's but in 1972 I really fell in love with baseball and have been a fan ever since.

My memories of the A's goes back to those great 72, 73, 74 teams that won it all and were the last 3 in a row winner till the Yankees of the late 90's.  I remember Rudi, Blue, Hunter, Jackson and the others and that is when I started liking the A's.  Admittedly, they are not my all-time favorite team for I became a fan of two teams that my first memories of baseball came from.

Having said that, I am admittedly not a blind rabid supporter of these two teams for I like baseball and love to meet and share with the fans of other teams for I love to learn about all the MLB teams and who better to do so from than the fans of the team they support.

I also enjoy baseball history and the A's are rich in some great teams and history.  I looked through the blog here and never did find any fan posts on the greatest A's team in history.  If I missed it please let me know an I will pull this post down for I don't want to repeat something already covered.

So, there have been some great teams in the history of the A's, both in Philadelphia and in Oakland.  What is your favorite team you remember?  What is the greatest team in Oakland and the greatest team in Philadelphia in your opinion. Which team is the greatest in all of the A's history in your opinion?  What team gets a honorable mention but didn't quite make it to greatness by not winning the series?

For me, my favorite A's team I remember was the 1972  A's.  Its because it was the first World Championship in Oakland and I was impressed by the club when they smacked Detroit around (literally) in the playoffs.  The best team I remember in Oakland was hard to pick for the 73 was a good ballclub, but I think the 1989 team was the best I ever saw come out of Oakland. With Henderson, McGwire and Canseco the offense was great and a great pitching staff led by Stewart.  My vote for the greatest team in Philadelphia is for the 1929 A's.  The 1910 team was great, but that '29 team I feel was unbelieveable.  My honorable mention team is the 1988 A's.  This could've been the all-time greatest A's team but they lost the Series. To me, the 1929 A's was the greatest A's team ever.... look at the number of Hall of Fame players on the roster. A great team!

Well, I look forward to your opinions and votes.  If you differ please present the reasons why for I would love to learn more about your insights and knowledge of the A's.   I hope this is good for discussion and I look forward to learning more from you all. Thank you for sharing.

Hi!

I've been reading the blog here for months till I finally decided to join SBN and to start participating.   As you can see the Rangers aren't my favorite team, but that doesn't mean I don't like them. I just happened to become a baseball fan before they existed.

I was very impressed by them this year for the offense is incredible!!!  That is how I found this blog for I wanted to see what the fans of the Rangers were thinking about it all.

My memories of baseball goes back to the 60's and by the early 70's I was a rabid baseball fan. I remember when the 2nd version of the Senators moved to Texas.  Those were some lean days in Arlington, but things have changed for the better since then thankfully.

So, this brings me to my question.  I would like to learn a lot more about the history of the Rangers and am wondering if there are any books you all would recommend for me to read.  Thank you all for your time and any information you can send my way.  Know I greatly appreciate it!

MLB Trade Rumors has updated yesterday and today about the Yankees and Manny, Texiera and Mussina. 

Here is the link to the two stories.

It will be interesting to see how this off-season plays out.  I find Hank on Manny to be very interesting.   What about CC and Peavy also?  Should be a update soon I would think.   Burnett would also be a nice pickup also.

Any thoughts, comments or new information on any of this out there I may have missed?

According to MLB Trade Rumors one of the teams named as a "suitor" for Burnetts is the Washington Nationals.  Several other teams are listed. 

If you want to read the article, here is the link to it.

I see Cordero has also chosen free angency.   You can see that article right below the one listed above by following the same link.

I hope this is interesting to you all and I want to say I enjoy reading FEDERAL BASEBALl.  Nice blog and it seems full of nice, knowledgeable baseball fans.  Hope you all don't mind a Cardinals fan posting here.  I'm glad baseball is back in the nation's capitol and please know I'm rooting for you all to have some great teams in the future.  The Nats are one of my other teams I root for. 

God Bless You All!

according to MLB trade rumors.com 

Here is the link

Other updates on Reds news there also.

Hope this is interesting to you all.  Not sure about Mulder being healthy enough for the Reds to consider....  with his history I am not sure he is worth considering.  

I see that Griffey's buyout is going to cost the Sox and Reds about $2 million each. This could be the end of Griffey in MLB.  Unless, someone like Detroit decides to pick him up.  Can't imagine too many teams wanting him.

This was brought to my attention over on VEB by one of the members there.  On Gammons blog he brings up the idea of having the Series at neutral sites, instead of in one of the participating teams home town. 

What are your thoughts on this? 

Here is the  link

Personally, I think this is one of the worst ideas I have ever heard.  I hope he is joking. However, knowing Selig, he may give it a try.

So, are you for it, or against it? 

Gammons also brings up the idea of shortening the season, perhaps to 148 games if the neutral site is not picked. I'm against this also.  Perhaps back to the 154 game schedule, but 148 seems a bit extreme.   But, those are just my thoughts. What are yours?

God Bless You All!

need to do to get this team to reach .500?   I've read some of the posts here of what people would like to do over the winter to the reds.  However, I'd like to get your input as to what is the weakest spot on the Reds.  What is the next weakest spot and so on.  

I really was impressed by the Reds young pitching staff during the year and was equally impressed by Bruce.  Lincoln seemed to show flashes of very good relief.

However, my knowledge about the Reds is limited so I'm really interested in what you all think the Reds need to fix first, how to get to .500, then to the mid-80's in wins and then how you would finally get the divisional title. 

Please excuse my ignorance about the Reds, but I am here to learn and I think I have the amount of words needed to post this, I hope. :)  Thank you for your time, your input and please know I am reading and learning and thankful that you have taken the time to share.

God Bless You All