Tweet
Re: 122 Franchises Ranked Bottom to Top:
5. St. Louis Cardinals
Why? So sick of their media telling everybody how they play the right way.
The Good. 11 World Series Championships (1926, 1931, 1934, 1942, 1944, 1946, 1964, 1967, 1982, 2006, 2011) 19 National League Pennants (1928, 1930, 1931, 1943, 1968, 1985, 1987, 2004, 2013)
The Bad. Last National League team to win the pennant. Played rather dead ball in the dead ball era. Last place finish in 1990 was first since 1913.
The Ugly: Again, this is a reach and I don’t consider what happened to be Darryl Kile, ugly. Tragic, yes. The Mark McGwire era? No, because the ugliness occurred after the fact.
Before Bill Veeck, Charlie Finney, and George Steinbrenner, there was Chris van der Ahe. Von der Ahe was the first of many owners who knew nothing about baseball, but meddled in team affairs and kept a very vocal personality. He would always announce “I am der poss bresident of der Prowns!” With his bushy mustache and showmanship, von der Ahe was just as much a spectacle.
Von der Ahe bought the scandal ridden St. Louis Brown Stockings in 1882 and joined the American Association. He hired Charles Comiskey to manage (yes the same guy who would own the White Sox later on). The Browns would dominate in the mid-1880s winning four pennants in a row. He set ticket prices low so that the fans would buy the beer he owned, this led to record attendance figures. In 1885, von der Ahe erected a statue of…himself outside the field that would be known as Sportsman’s Park. In 1892, the Browns joined the National League when the American Association folded. By then Comiskey lost patience with van der Awe’s antics and left. After his departure the Browns went into a tailspin.
Von der Ahe tried to buy a new stadium, complete with amusement park, beer garden, and horse racing track in the outfield. Since the league prohibited gambling, they were not in favor of the horse track in the outfield. The facility was called “Von der Ha Ha”. As the Browns kept losing, von der Ahe started selling players. Part of the ballpark burned down during a ballgame. In a highly publicized trial, von der Ahe was broke and lost the team. Later on, von der Ahe finished his life as a bartender and passed on in 1913.
To prevent confusion, the Browns became the Perfectos in 1899, since they wore Cardinal Red, the name was changed to Cardinals in 1900. The American League St. Louis Browns have no connection to von der Ahe, other than naming the team the Brown to invoke their successes in the mid-1880’s.
Where they play. Busch Stadium, its third incarnation was built in 2006. It replaced the second Busch Stadium which was built in 1966. The original Busch Stadium, was originally Sportsman’s Park. Sportsman’s Park was actually the St. Louis Browns playing field but when the Busch Family bought the park, the Browns relocated to Baltimore. It was renamed Busch Stadium in 1953. The Busch Family originally wanted to call it Budweiser Stadium but that was vetoed by commissioner Ford Frick.
Owner: William DeWitt Jr. became majority owner in 1995, investor who bought the team from Anheuser-Busch for $150 million. It should be noted that the last Busch Stadium was built entirely from private funds, a rarity in the modern day.
Manager: Mike Matheny, a catcher with four gold gloves, just finished his sixth season managing the Cardinals.
Top Current Players: Adam Wainwright, Yadier Molina, and Paul DeJong
Hall of Famers: Lou Brock, Dizzy Dean, Bob Gibson, Whitey Herzog, Stan Musial, Red Schoendienst, Enos Slaughter, Ozzie Smith, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Jake Beckley, Jim Bottomley, Roger Bresnahan, Mordecai Brown, Frankie Frisch, Chick Hafey, Jesse Haines, Joe Medwick, Johnny Mize, Kid Nichols and Rogers Hornsby
5. St. Louis Cardinals
Why? So sick of their media telling everybody how they play the right way.
The Good. 11 World Series Championships (1926, 1931, 1934, 1942, 1944, 1946, 1964, 1967, 1982, 2006, 2011) 19 National League Pennants (1928, 1930, 1931, 1943, 1968, 1985, 1987, 2004, 2013)
The Bad. Last National League team to win the pennant. Played rather dead ball in the dead ball era. Last place finish in 1990 was first since 1913.
The Ugly: Again, this is a reach and I don’t consider what happened to be Darryl Kile, ugly. Tragic, yes. The Mark McGwire era? No, because the ugliness occurred after the fact.
Before Bill Veeck, Charlie Finney, and George Steinbrenner, there was Chris van der Ahe. Von der Ahe was the first of many owners who knew nothing about baseball, but meddled in team affairs and kept a very vocal personality. He would always announce “I am der poss bresident of der Prowns!” With his bushy mustache and showmanship, von der Ahe was just as much a spectacle.
Von der Ahe bought the scandal ridden St. Louis Brown Stockings in 1882 and joined the American Association. He hired Charles Comiskey to manage (yes the same guy who would own the White Sox later on). The Browns would dominate in the mid-1880s winning four pennants in a row. He set ticket prices low so that the fans would buy the beer he owned, this led to record attendance figures. In 1885, von der Ahe erected a statue of…himself outside the field that would be known as Sportsman’s Park. In 1892, the Browns joined the National League when the American Association folded. By then Comiskey lost patience with van der Awe’s antics and left. After his departure the Browns went into a tailspin.
Von der Ahe tried to buy a new stadium, complete with amusement park, beer garden, and horse racing track in the outfield. Since the league prohibited gambling, they were not in favor of the horse track in the outfield. The facility was called “Von der Ha Ha”. As the Browns kept losing, von der Ahe started selling players. Part of the ballpark burned down during a ballgame. In a highly publicized trial, von der Ahe was broke and lost the team. Later on, von der Ahe finished his life as a bartender and passed on in 1913.
To prevent confusion, the Browns became the Perfectos in 1899, since they wore Cardinal Red, the name was changed to Cardinals in 1900. The American League St. Louis Browns have no connection to von der Ahe, other than naming the team the Brown to invoke their successes in the mid-1880’s.
Where they play. Busch Stadium, its third incarnation was built in 2006. It replaced the second Busch Stadium which was built in 1966. The original Busch Stadium, was originally Sportsman’s Park. Sportsman’s Park was actually the St. Louis Browns playing field but when the Busch Family bought the park, the Browns relocated to Baltimore. It was renamed Busch Stadium in 1953. The Busch Family originally wanted to call it Budweiser Stadium but that was vetoed by commissioner Ford Frick.
Owner: William DeWitt Jr. became majority owner in 1995, investor who bought the team from Anheuser-Busch for $150 million. It should be noted that the last Busch Stadium was built entirely from private funds, a rarity in the modern day.
Manager: Mike Matheny, a catcher with four gold gloves, just finished his sixth season managing the Cardinals.
Top Current Players: Adam Wainwright, Yadier Molina, and Paul DeJong
Hall of Famers: Lou Brock, Dizzy Dean, Bob Gibson, Whitey Herzog, Stan Musial, Red Schoendienst, Enos Slaughter, Ozzie Smith, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Jake Beckley, Jim Bottomley, Roger Bresnahan, Mordecai Brown, Frankie Frisch, Chick Hafey, Jesse Haines, Joe Medwick, Johnny Mize, Kid Nichols and Rogers Hornsby
Comment