The Teams Of MY LIFETIME: The St. Louis Cardinals Edition

I Had A Recent Conversation In Which The Other Person Told Me About Having Made-Out A Lineup Card Based Solely On The Players He Had Actually SEEN PLAY LIVE During His Young Lifetime.

I Found The Subject FASCINATING, As I’d Been Considering Doing A Blog Posting On That Very Topic.

I Can’t Emphasize Enough That This Listing Isn’t Necessarily THE BEST PLAYERS At Their Positions From Their Era…

…But It’s A List Of MY FAVORITE PLAYERS At Their Positions During The Era Of My Young Lifetime.

I Was Born In 1980…

…But Truly Began To Embrace Professional Baseball In 1985.

I’ve Split It Into TWO Lineups.

My “A-SQUAD” And My “B-SQUAD” If You So Choose To See It That Way.

And…

…Since I Know My ST. LOUIS CARDINALS Better Than Any Other Major League Team…

…I Felt They Were THE Place To Begin This Little Romp For Me.

So…

…Here We Go.

LINEUP #1

*** *** ***

1B

JACK “The Ripper” CLARK

*** *** ***

2B

TOMMY HERR

*** *** ***

3B

TODD ZEILE

*** *** ***

SS

OZZIE “The Wizard” SMITH

*** *** ***

C

DARRELL PORTER

*** *** ***

LF

RAY LANKFORD

*** *** ***

CF

JIM “Jimmy Baseball” EDMONDS

*** *** ***

RF

LARRY WALKER

*** *** ***

***<><><>***<><><>***<><><>***

*** *** ***

LINEUP #2

*** *** ***

1B

JOHN MABRY

*** *** ***

2B

FERNANDO VINA

*** *** ***

3B

TERRY PENDLETON

*** *** ***

SS

DAVID ECKSTEIN

*** *** ***

C

MIKE MATHENY

*** *** ***

LF

VINCE COLEMAN

*** *** ***

CF

WILLIE McGEE

*** *** ***

RF

“Hard Hittin'” MARK WHITTEN

(Aka "The Tragedy That Was Mark Whitten"

*** *** ***

***<><><>***<><><>***<><><>***

*** *** ***

Since Any True Baseball Person Knows…

…The Team Doesn’t Function Without…

THE BULLPEN CATCHER

.Period.

So, In This Role, I’m Gonna Go Ahead And Slot In:

C

TOM PAGNOZZI

*** *** ***

***<><><>***<><><>***<><><>***

*** *** ***

As For PITCHERS, I’ve Made It A Short-List.

*** *** ***

SP

JOHN TUDOR

*** *** ***

SP

CHRIS CARPENTER

*** *** ***

SP

ADAM WAINWRIGHT

*** *** ***

SP

MATT MORRIS

*** *** ***

SP

BOB TEWKSBURY

*** *** ***

RP

TODD WORRELL

*** *** ***

CLOSER

LEE SMITH

*** *** ***

***<><><>***<><><>***<><><>***

How’s THAT For A Little List Of Personal Favorites?

I Can’t Tell You How Much Fun I Had Putting This Little Number Together.

I Simply Didn’t Know Any Other Way Of Doing It Up Than To Just DO IT UP, Ya Know!?!

I’m Sure There Will Be Comments…

…Concerns…

…Arguments…

…Pats-On-The-Back…

…Finger-Wags Of ALL Sorts…

etc etc etc

JUST REMEMBER, Kiddies…

…These Are The Heroes Of My Youth.

When Going To The Ballpark Was The Biggest Deal EVER!

The 1980s AND 1990s Were HUGE For Baseball AND Bradley.

And It’s Carried On.

It’s Been A Long-Term Love-Affair…

…That’s Continued On And On And On…

…Right To This Very Day.

And I’m VERY SURE It’s Going To Continue For A Long-Time To Come!!!

Hope Ya Liked This One, My Peeps!!!

I SURE DID!!!

(hehehehehehehe)

😀

Yeah… You’ve Seen It Here Before… But It’s STILL My FAVORITE BASEBALL PHOTOGRAPH EVER EVER EVER!!!

Every-Single-Time I See This Photo, I'm A Combo of HAPPYHAPPYHAPPY (because it's a great photo of a great moment with a personal-favorite-player) and SADSADSAD (because I miss Darrell). Still... That Combo DOES Remind Me Of How Powerful A Photograph Can Truly Be.

“My Favorite (now deceased) Position-Player, Is…”

Darrell Porter (1952-2002)

Darrell Porter was named Most Valuable Player of the 1982 NLCS and 1982 World Series.

Darrell Porter played for BOTH My St. Louis Cardinals AND My Kansas City Royals.

"Darrell always played like it was the seventh game of the World Series." - George Brett

Where’s Darrell When We Need Him???

 

As Long As I'm Alive, So Shall Be Darrell Porter. Our Glasses Were Our Bond. His 1982 World Series MVP'ness Would Help A BUNCH, also.

 

Oh…

Right…

The ’80s didn’t last forever 😦

And Neither Did Darrell :*(

I’d LOVE to have a drink in his honor…

… and so would Darrell.