Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch took a look at who he would include in next year's class on Saturday morning, offering that Ted Simmons and Curt Flood should win the next upcoming fan vote for 2015. While Bernie's choice are certainly good ones, I would like to make a case for another center fielder to join Edmonds and McGee in next year's class. That man, is Ray Lankford.
Lankford is one of the most underrated Cardinals players of all time and it is baffling as to why. He was an excellent defensive center fielder, covering a ton of ground. He had a good arm. He stole a bunch of bases and clubbed a ton of home runs. He was easily the best and most consistent player on the team in the early 90's as the organization struggled before Tony La Russa was hired and the organization resurrected itself in to its current state.
Here is a look at where Lankford's numbers rank in all-time franchise history and what he was able to accomplish in a Cardinals uniform.
- Lankford is ranked 16th in Cardinals history with a career 37 WAR in a St. Louis uniform, just behind Edmonds. This includes hitters and pitchers. That is some pretty fine company.
- Lankford is ninth all-time in franchise history with 928 runs scored.
- Lankford had 339 career doubles in St. Louis, more than the Wizard, Flood, McGee and a whole bunch of other prominent and more popular names.
- Lankford blasted 228 career bombs with the Cardinals. Only Musial, Pujols, Boyer and Edmonds had more.
- Surprisingly, Lankford ranks fifth all-time in walks drawn as well, collecting 780 free passes in his career. Only Musial, Pujols, Smith and Slaughter walked more.
- Lankford ranks eighth in franchise history with 250 career stolen bases
- In the Power/Speed #, created by Bill James, Lankford is No. 1 in franchise history, with Lou Brock, Rogers Hornsby and Pujols behind him.
- Lankford's career .840 OPS is pretty darn good too.
- In 1997, Lankford blasted 31 HRs, stole 21 bags and posted a .996 OPS. That is some serious production.
- In 1998, Lankford was almost as good, hitting 31 HRs again, swiping 26 bags, but his OPS sagged to just .932. Of course, I am being sarcastic, that is another great season while hitting behind McGwire and providing him protection as he went after the home run record.
Here is my point. Miklasz likely picked the next two fan voted Cardinals Hall of Famers, but I hope that Lankford receives some serious consideration because he had a damn good career.
Thanks for reading... @CoreyRudd
Comments
Post a Comment