When Tony La Russa penciled rookie David Freese into the opening-day starting lineup, he wrote history. That is, he broke his own record for opening-day third baseman obscurity. (What, that’s not an official record?) Last year at the hot corner, the Cardinals fielded the unheralded Brian Barden, with 84 career games to his credit (76 as a Cardinal). Now, to be fair, Barden is still an active major leaguer (with the Marlins), and Freese will likely play most of the 2010 season with the Cardinals and has a shot at a productive big-league career. But for now, with 18 career games, he’s the most obscure the team has ever had to open a season at third.

Who else is on the all-obscure team? Glad you asked:

Honorable mentions: Brian Barden-3B (2009), Manny Lee-2B (1995), Donovan Osborne-P (1999), Mike Ramsey-2B (1983), Geronimo Pena-2B (1993), Rex Hudler-CF (1991), Tito Landrum-CF (1987), Dane Iorg-LF (1982), Felix Jose-RF (1991), Lee Richard-SS (1976), Joe Hague-1B (1972), Bob Uecker-CF (1964, 65),
Tom Alston-1B (1954)

Did you know? Manny Lee played 992 major-league games, but only one for the Cardinals. The team’s first game of the 1995 season was Lee’s last of his career.

This entry was posted by Pip on Wednesday, April 7th, 2010 at 5:00 pm and is filed under all-time team. 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.