Twelve Days of Christmas 2009: Day 8
On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
eight WAR achieving,
seven triples tripping,
six wins off-walking,
five All-Star Games;
four expected fielding-independent runs,
three MVPs,
two Gold Gloves,
and a Cooperstown inductee.
- In December, the Veterans Committee elected longtime Cardinal manager Whitey Herzog to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
- Catcher Yadier Molina and pitcher Adam Wainwright won their second and first Gold Gloves, respectively.
- Albert Pujols won the third MVP award of his career, surpassing Rogers Hornsby and tying Stan Musial.
- The Cardinal pitching staff posted a 4.05 expected Fielding-Independent Pitching run average, fourth in the National League and their best since 2005 (3.96).
- On July 15, the Cardinals hosted the fifth major-league All-Star Game to be held in St. Louis, tied for the third-most of any city.
- The Cardinals had six walk-off wins in 2009, with their final two coming back-to-back against the Cubs:
- Brendan Ryan led the team with seven triples, the most since David Eckstein in 2005 (7).
- Albert Pujols led the league with 8.4 Wins Above Replacement, the third time in his career he eclipsed the eight-WAR mark. 8.4 WAR means that his value as a free agent would’ve been around $38 million.