The Cardinals have a well-stocked farm system for the first time in a while, so soon, perhaps even next year, they’ll be relying on rookies to contribute in big ways. 2008 wasn’t a stellar year for Cardinal rookies, but Kyle McClellan, Joe Mather, Brian Barton, Jason Motte and Chris Perez — the latter two of whom, if we’re not mistaken, still have of whom Motte still has rookie eligibility for next year — combined for 17 Win Shares (for more, DanUpBaby has a fine overview of their season over at VEB).

So the Cardinals didn’t figure in the 2008 RoY voting (by the way, we have to credit the BBWAA for getting the top three right this year), but perhaps they’ll have a contender or two in 2009. At any rate, the club has had some outstanding rookie campaigns (by Win Shares) — can you remember many of them? The best Cardinal rookie season all-time is easy — just go back seven years. The rest may surprise you:

Most fans are familiar with the first several players. But we thought we’d share some details about the lesser-known rookies. After all, once upon a time, they were the future of the franchise.

Lou Klein helped the Cardinals win the pennant with an MVP-type debut (he finished 23rd in the MVP voting) in 1943. He served in the military the next season and when he returned, he lost his second-base spot to a guy named Red Schoendienst, jumped to the Mexican League and was barred from organized baseball.

Ernie White finished sixth in the MVP voting his rookie year. He pitched only 128 1/3 innings his sophomore year and never regained his early form. After pitching for the Cardinals in the 1942 and 1943 World Series, He entered the Army in 1944. He later managed in the minor leagues.

Tom Long only played two seasons after his rookie year in which he put up a remarkable achievement: he led the league with 25 triples (the next-highest total was 17, from Honus Wagner). Only one player since then (Kiki Cuyler) has hit as many triples in a season.

Johnny Beazley was another rookie who proved a valuable pitcher for a Cardinal pennant winner. Splitting time between starting and relieving, he finished 13th in the MVP voting in 1942, and helped win two of the team’s World Series games en route to the championship. The enormously talented Beazley figured to be a rotation fixture for years to come, but he enlisted in the Army Air Corps after the season, and injured his arm pitching for an Army team. He returned with the Cardinals in 1946 but was never the same.

Emmet "Snags" Heidrick had his momentous rookie season playing for the St. Louis Perfectos, so we have a soft spot in our heart for him. Heidrick has the distinction of having played for the Perfectos, Cardinals and Browns.

Bob Bowman finished 30th in the MVP voting in 1939, mostly pitching as a reliever and what is today known as "closer" (he finished 19 games and led the league in Saves before they were Saves). But he pitched only one more year in St. Louis and his major-league career was finished two years later.

The future must’ve looked bright for the Cardinals back in 1902, when they had a trio of rookies who combined for 59 Win Shares (George Barclay, Homer Smoot and Mike O’Neill), and one returning player who had racked up 18 as a rookie the year before (Otto Krueger). Smoot and Barclay were the team’s top home run hitters that year with three each (the team had a total of 10). A retrospective SABR project designated Smoot as the National League’s best rookie. But things turned ugly the next year, and all four players declined and/or were off the team in a couple of years (and a rookie who earned 12 Win Shares in 1903, Mordecai Brown, was traded to the Cubs at the end of the year).

Also, Bill Virdon actually won the RoY in 1955, but had "only" 14 Win Shares, so he didn’t make the list.

This entry was posted by Pip on Wednesday, November 12th, 2008 at 12:54 am and is filed under by the numbers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.