With Wil Myers, the prize prospect of the Kansas City Royals organization, much-anticipated promotion to Omaha last week, conversations began swirling about his future with the franchise.

An injury-plagued scuffle at Northwest Arkansas last season knocked Myers a bit off schedule. Instead of starting the season at Triple-A, he returned to Double-A to prove himself. Prove himself he did.

After a torrid 35-game start in Northwest Arkansas in which he hit .343 with 13 homers, he got the call to Omaha. There wasn’t much more to prove at Double-A. Myers had more homers in 35 games than he had in 99 last year, and he was driving in nearly a run per game.

But here is where his path grows uncertain.

Going into this season, the Royals’ corner outfield spots were settled. Those positions are currently manned by young but experienced team-leaders who hit with power, run well and play Gold-Glove caliber defense.

Might Myers’ future be in centerfield? Perhaps, but that’s where a position battle is shaping up between Jerrod Dyson and Lorenzo Cain.

And to further confuse matters, the Royals tried Myers at third base before his most recent promotion, and some even speculate it might be his most natural position. The Royals justified the experiment by saying proven versatility would benefit Myers in the future.

Myers made the transition from catcher to outfield just last year. Would another position change be in his best interest? Or might the constant shuffling hamper his growth, as it might have Mark Teahen’s a few years ago? Some would argue a top prospect should just be settled into one position to simplify the matriculation process.

Developing Myers at third base would only make sense for one reason – to set up a trade.

It is absolutely no secret that the Royals are desperate for pitching help. If Myers proves a capable third baseman, would the Royals consider trading Mike Moustakas?

Or are they trying to put a little more shine on Myers in order to shop him around for pitching?

There are no sure things in baseball. But Myers’ bat appears to about as close to a sure thing as you can get.

The way Royals pitchers are breaking down, however, it appears that developing pitchers couldn’t be any further from a sure thing.

I personally would prefer the team not deal Myers (or Moustakas) for pitching help. Developing pitchers is too much of a crapshoot. There are just too many questions marks regarding the outfield, and Myers brings too upside to the table to justify the risk.

Myers is definitely on the move, but it’s up to the Royals to make the right moves on his behalf.

The St. Louis Cardinals’ front office finds itself in a very tough spot heading into the offseason. In his first 11 seasons with the Cardinals, first baseman Albert Pujols has by most accounts already established himself as one of the top 2 players in franchise history, with Stan Musial being the other. In that sense, it’s really hard for management to let Pujols finish out his career in another uniform. We’re talking about one of the two best players in 120 years of Cardinals baseball. Then again, the Cardinals and their fans are accustomed to winning. It’s hard to believe the Cardinals can pay Pujols the type of money he’s reportedly asking for (more than $200 million for a contract of 8-10 years) and continue to field a competitive ball club. I think it’s fair to say that most Cardinals fans want Albert Pujols to stay, but Cardinal Nation better be careful what it wishes for.

Albert Pujols is past his prime – This is not an opinion, it’s simply fact. Pujols is going to turn 32 years old heading into next season, and his average has gradually declined each of the past 3 years. He hit .357 in 2008, and that has fallen all the way to .299 this season. His home run total and RBIs have also fallen each of the past 2 years, from 47/135 in 2009 to 37/99 in 2011.

But those numbers are just the tip of the iceberg. The best indicator that Pujols is in decline is the simple fact that opposing pitchers no longer fear him the way they used to. From 2005 through 2010, Pujols average more than 100 walks per season, with more than 30 per season coming intentionally. In 2011, Pujols drew only 61 walks (just 15 intentional). Pujols also set a career high for groundballs… which mean fewer line drives, fewer fly balls, and fewer home runs. All those groundballs led to a career high 29 double plays, which nearly set a National League record.

So Cardinals management and fans have to ask themselves: If Pujols is putting up these kind of numbers when he was 31, what will his numbers look like when he’s 35… 37… 40? Will those numbers be worth roughly 23-30 million dollars per season? One thing to consider is that the Cardinals offered (and Pujols agreed to) a contract of $100 million for the past 8 seasons. Was he underpaid? Maybe, but that’s not really anyone’s problem other than Pujols. He agreed to it, and he gave the Cardinals some great production in his prime. Do the Cardinals owe it to him to pay him more while he’s in decline?

Do Cardinals fans want historic moments or championships? – To be clear, I do think the Cardinals can continue to contend with Pujols in the short term. His contract will not hinder the team’s chances at a title in 2012 especially, considering they’ll have basically all the critical players returning from the 2011 squad plus starting pitcher Adam Wainwright, who will return after missing all of last season with an elbow injury. But once the Cardinals get into the middle to late part of the decade, it could get ugly. If Pujols is re-signed, the Cardinals will have him and Matt Holliday making a combined $45-50 million dollars in their late 30s. That’s nearly half of the team’s payroll (the Cardinals’ ownership group likes to stay in the $110 million range) for those 2 players, and you’d still need 23 more (including 6 starting fielders and 5 starting pitchers). Fans will likely have to revert back to the late 1990s mentality of heading to the ballpark to see history… as Pujols will likely be chasing his 600^th… and perhaps 700^th home runs. Maybe fans would be ok with that, maybe they wouldn’t be, but it’s likely what they’ll get if Pujols stays a Cardinal for an astronomical amount.

What Happens to the “Next” Great Cardinals First baseman? – I don’t think it’s a stretch to make this blanket statement on behalf of Cardinals fans: For 7 years, $120 million, Matt Holliday has thus far not been worth it. Well, they’re just going to have to deal with it, because for the next 5 years, like it or not, he will be the everyday left fielder, and make roughly $17 million dollars per season doing so. Now consider that Allen Craig is not due a significant pay raise for at least 3 more years, and made all of $414,000 dollars last year. That’s it. While it’s still unclear whether or not Craig can make it as an everyday player in the big leagues, it would be a shame to lose such a great, young, and affordable player because there’s no room for him in the Cardinals’ lineup. The same could be said for the first base position down the road.

The Cardinals have already shipped away one of their most promising young first base prospects in Brett Wallace. Wallace was part of the trade that brought Matt Holliday to the Cardinals back in 2009. In limited action with the Astros, Wallace has not quite found his comfort zone in the big leagues, hitting just .248 with 7 home runs. Maybe he never will find it, who knows. The Cardinals current top prospect at first base is Matt Adams, who hit .300 with 32 HRs and 101 RBIs in just 115 games for Class AA Springfield last season. Is he the next great first base prospect? Who knows. What we do know is he’ll never make it to St. Louis if Pujols re-signs. Now, if you asked me right now whether in 2017 whether I’d prefer a 37 year old Albert Pujols making $30 million or a 28 year old Matt Adams (or someone else) making less than $5 million, in the interest of fielding a competitive team I’d probably take Adams or another up and coming player. BUT… that would mean the Cardinals wouldn’t have Pujols in 2012-2015 when he’d likely still be doing quite a bit of damage at the plate.

In a perfect world, the Cardinals would sign Pujols for 5 years, $150 million. Pujols would get the $30 million a year he’s reportedly after, and the Cardinals could revisit things in the 2016 offseason and resign Pujols for a less expensive contract. That contract would still likely be a massive overpayment on the Cardinals’ part, but it wouldn’t be quite as bad as it could be at the same rate for the 2017-2021 seasons.

But unfortunately, it’s not a perfect world. The Cardinals will likely either grossly overpay for Pujols, giving him a contract of 7-10 years and $200-$300 million… or… Pujols will leave and finish his career somewhere other than St. Louis. Neither of those two choices is ideal, but if you had to take one of them, which would you choose? It’s really a matter of your head versus your heart. Your head says “we’re overpaying him, it won’t be worth it” while your heart says “I’d hate to see him in Cubs blue.”

Only time will tell how Pujols contract will saga will play out, but until it does, be careful what you wish for.

Well that didn’t last too long. Not even a week into their off season as World Series champions and the St. Louis Cardinals are forced to move on. Now I am not faulting Tony LaRussa for announcing his retirement when he did. It is actually a refreshing change from his usual post season melodrama of should I stay or should I go.

The timing of his decision is actually in the best interest of the team. By waiting until after the season he kept the focus on the players and their historic post season run, not offering himself up as a distraction. And in turn by letting it be known to the world as soon as he did he gave the organization a head start on finding his successor.

Who Bill Dewitt and John Mozeliak chose to take the reigns as skipper of the Cardinals will have an immediate impact on the look and feel of the 2012 club.

With TLR leaving, and throwing a wrench into my post-Pujols plans (I think he’s gone) the Cardinals could end up with a manager running the same lineup out there day in and day out. How boring and predictable would that be? Over the last 16 years I have grown accustomed to LaRussa using players all over the field and within various rotations and platoons.

The options that present themselves are pretty obvious. Lance Berkman slides in to first base and Allen Craig begins his assault on the National League by becoming the everyday right fielder. There is the possibility of moving Freese over to first and mixing and matching some form of Schumaker, Craig, Berkman, Descalso rotation between right and third-base. I pray that does not happen.

It is because of options such as these that my choice for TLR’s replacement would be someone with an extensive back ground in the National League. Terry Francona is a good manager and I’m sure would do a fine job. But in my opinion he is not the choice here. It has been a while since Tito has had to strategize in a ball game for a 162 games.

The National League game requires anticipating moves innings before they happen and playing the match-ups more so than the game in that other league. Without the abomination that is the DH a manager has to find more creative ways to get his bench players at bats game in and game out.

Terry Francona has not had to think like that in quite a while. You have been growing the replacement for years. He knows the organization, the Cardinal way and most importantly he know the players and the coaches.

Ushering in the Oquendo era is the right move here. Doing so allows the team, most likely, to keep pitching guru Dave Duncan around for at least another year. This would be most helpful while looking for a suitable replacement. Two other reasons; Oquendo is cheaper and you don’t have to trade for him (Maddon).

And finally, failing with Oquendo is much easier to look past than failing with Francona or Maddon. Oquendo is the organization guy who earned his chops under one of the best ever. It is Secret Weapon time.

Heading into Tuesday night’s matchup with the Brewers the Cardinals had 28 games remaining. There is a menu of options for how this club can approach the rest of the schedule. Whichever approach is taken will say a lot about this club and the direction management is looking to go in 2012.

Tony LaRussa and John Mozeliak can stick with the status quo and finish out the season. Management can field the offers that are already coming and will come their way, shipping off performing veterans for young talent and draft picks. TLR can play up the idea that he is smarter than everyone mixing and matching lineups to his hearts delight. Or Mo can convince him that what’s in the best interest of the club is to put out the young talent after the September call ups and see what the future holds.

These are only a handful of I’m sure the endless number of possibilities being talked about behind closed doors. But my best guess is these are the ones most seriously being considered. At some point Mozeliak is going to have to step out from Tony’s shadow and show himself to be in charge of the future of the Cardinals roster. Mozeliak’s future with the Cardinals is directly tied to the 2011 off season so why not get an early start and make your move.

If you are Mo pick your best option or put together a combo off the menu and pull the trigger. Either way, make a decision and stick to it. The Cardinals are out of the playoff hunt but the season is not lost. To not use these last five or so weeks to its fullest would be a disservice to the team and Cardinal Nation.

The approach is to take these 28 games and set up your off season shopping list. To start…assume Albert Pujols is not going to be a Cardinal in 2012…cue gasp. I know, I know…but I think the Cardinals are set up better for the future without Pujols taking roughly 30% of the payroll. Now if he decides seven years and $23 million per is enough then I might change my tune. But neither his agent Dan Lozano nor Pujols himself has indicated a willingness to do this.

First step is not trading Lance Berkman. As Derrick Goold points out in Tuesday’s column Berkman is potentially going be a Type A free agent this winter. Keeping him around for 2012 gives the Cardinals a potential 1B and part time outfielder for 2012. Losing him to another team brings you back at least one high draft pick, potentially two. Trading him now more than likely brings much less.

Step two is inserting Jason Motte as your closer for the rest of the season. If the 2011 season taught us one thing it is that the Cardinals are not set at closer. Franklin, Boggs, Sanchez and now Salas have had their chances and well…Salas has held on admirably but it is apparent he is not the long term answer. Give Motte the chances and knowledge that it is his role and his alone until October. See you have and maybe that is one item that can be crossed off the winter wish list.

Next is to get Allen Craig and Daniel Descalso as many innings and At Bat’s as possible. If this means putting them into a rotation with Freese, Schumaker, Furcal, Jay and Berkman then so be it. Freese and Jay are safely on the 2012 roster as is Berkman if he wants to stay. Schumaker is in limbo but the next 28 games are not going to change managements mind one way or another. And Furcal, while a nice pickup is a health risk and will not be back next season. And by not giving up much to get him you are not “wasting” him if he sits from time to time.

Craig and Descalso will be around in 2012 but their roles are not yet defined as are the expectations. Get them out there, move them around and see what you have. Try Craig at 2B and RF, move Descalso all around the left side of the infield.
Wherever you plug them in, do so, and gather the data for the off season.

This season is over, but it is not lost. Preparations for a playoff run in 2012 begin now. Your move Cardinals.

These are just my thoughts…keep on reading and you’ll get up to speed.

Derek is on Twitter @SportsbyWeeze and also writes for the Rams at RamsHerd.com

Also on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/SportsByWeeze

If, and that still is a very big two-letter word, the Cardinals decide to try to trade Colby Rasmus — in the next two weeks, over the winter, or a year from now — there are two things which will have to happen. One, the Cardinals will have to find a team willing to trade for Rasmus, and two, that team must be willing to give the Cardinals players who they consider either equal or of greater value than Rasmus.

The Marlins' Randy Choate may be of great interest to the Cardinals

The first part should be easy. There are at least nine teams in need of a center fielder, and Rasmus, even with his inconsistencies and defensive issues, would provide an immediate upgrade at the position for all nine of those teams. It’s the second part which becomes the tricky issue for the Cardinals. If Rasmus could be convinced that it might be in his best interest long-term to become a leftfielder, the list probably expands to more than nine teams which would be interested in him.

The Cardinals’ biggest need right now appears to be for a left-handed reliever who can retire a left-handed batter at a key moment in the game. With 12 games to play against Milwaukee, and Prince Fielder, and three games left against the Reds, and Joey Votto, that one factor might be the one which decides the pennant race in the NL Central.

That player alone, however, no matter his importance to the current makeup of the Cardinals, would not be sufficient value to obtain in a trade for Rasmus. More than likely, the Cardinals need to pick up a couple of high-level prospects, probably pitchers or a shortstop, if they are going to part with their former number-one draft pick, who people forget, is still only 24 years old.

If the Cardinals want to talk now about a possible trade for Rasmus, it would seem to make the most sense for GM John Mozeliak to be calling his counterpart on these teams, which are listed in alphabetical order:

Atlanta – Through the All-Star break, the Braves had the worst batting average for centerfielders in the NL (.222) and had only four home runs and 18 RBIs combined between Jordan Schaffer and Nate McLouth. The Braves actually have two quality left-handed relief specialists in All-Star Jonny Venters and Eric O’Flaherty. They also have a promising left-handed starter, Mike Minor, in Triple A, and their 2010 No. 1 draft pick, shortstop Matt Lipka, playing in Class A.

Chicago White Sox – The White Sox owe Alex Rios a lot of money, but he is having a terrible year. Their combined centerfielders hit even worse than the Braves, .210, before the All-Star break and Rios was only slightly better with a .213 average with six homers and 21 RBIs. When John Danks comes back off the disabled list, the White Sox will have six starting pitchers. Most observers believe they will trade Edwin Jackson, who threw a shutout on Saturday in front of several scouts, including one from the Cardinals. Another starter might interest the Cardinals more, however. How about left-hander and St. Charles native Mark Buehrle, now 32, who has talked openly about one day wanting to pitch for the Cardinals before he retires. He is a free agent after the season and would have to approve any trade.

Florida – The Marlins traded for veteran Mike Cameron before the All-Star break, but he is not the team’s long-term answer. Putting Rasmus in the middle of Logan Morrison and Mike Stanton would give Florida a talented young outfield for years to come. Combined, the Marlins’ centerfielders hit .234 before the All-Star break and had just seven home runs. The Marlins have pitching to trade, both starters and relievers, and names such as Ricky Nolasco, Annabel Sanchez and Leo Nunez certainly should come up in any discussion about Rasmus.

San Diego – The Padres like Cameron Maybin, which is why they might be included to move Rasmus to left field. Everyone knows about Heath Bell and Mike Adams in their bullpen, but another name to consider is former Cardinal prospect Luke Gregerson, and they also have a young flamethrower in the minors, right-hander Brad Broch, who was just promoted from Double A to Triple A. The Padres actually think they might get more in return for Adams than Bell since he is under contract through next season.

Seattle – The Mariners’ centerfielders had the worst average in the majors before the All-Star break, .196, with five homers and only 21 RBIs. The Mariners don’t really have the pitching depth to trade off the major-league roster, but they do have two young talented shortstops in the minors, Nick Franklin and Marcus Littlewood, who might interest the Cardinals.

San Francisco – A lot was said and written before the break about the Giants’ interest in Carlos Beltran, but the asking price for the Mets’ outfielder is going to be very high and will attract interest from a lot of teams. The Giants do need a centerfielder after posting only a .248 average with 3 homers and 24 RBIs before the All-Star break. If the asking price for Beltran gets too high, maybe the Giants would look at Rasmus. They have quality left-handed relief specialist in Javier Lopez, another very good setup reliever in Sergio Romos and two young minor leaguers, a left-handed starter named Eric Suskemp and an outfielder named Francisco Peguero.

Tampa Bay – Like the Beltran talks, the buzz about Rasmus before the break seemed to center on the Rays. Their only interest in Rasmus would seem to be if they could also move B.J. Upton at the same time, either in that or another trade. There would seem to be no incentive for them to trade starter Jeremy Hellickson, although James Shield would appear to be a more likely target for the Cardinals. They also have left-handed reliever Jake McGee, who was just promoted to the majors this week from Triple A.

Toronto – The Blue Jays centerfielders had a combined .244 average before the All-Star break with only four home runs, although Rajah Davis had 24 stolen bases. Toronto has several relievers who are said to be available, but the Cardinals would likely want a higher return for Rasmus.

Washington – The Nationals primary centerfielder before the break was former Cardinal Rick Ankiel, who is struggling and without former Cardinal connection Jim Riggleman there, his playing time could start to diminish, B.J. Upton’s name has been linked to the Nationals for some time, but it isn’t known the actual level of their interest. What would or should interest the Cardinals would be if the Nationals would consider trading All-Star Tyler Clippard, a right-hander who also has been very effective against left-handed batters.

The market for left-handed specialists

With or without bringing up Rasmus, the Cardinals are expected to be exploring the market for a left-handed specialist between now and the July 31 trading deadline. These six would appear to be the best of the lot, and again, at least worthy of a phone conversation:

Jonny Venters, Atlanta – There probably is no way the Braves would consider trading the All-Star, but they do have another lefthanded reliever in Eric O’Flaherty and rookie Craig Kimbrel gets the bulk of the save opportunities. Through Saturday he had allowed only seven hits in 51 at-bats to left-handed batters, a 137 average, and had four walks and 20 strikeouts. For his two-year career, lefthanded batters have only posted a .177 average against Venters.

Randy Choate, Florida — The 35-year-old veteran is a target for several teams, including the Yankees, which figures to bring up the asking price. He has allowed only five hits in 53 at-bats to lefthanded hitters this season before Saturday, a .053 average, with one walk and 23 strikeouts. For his career, Choate has held left-handers to a .205 average.

Marc Rzepczynski, Toronto – The 25-year-old has been outstanding this season for the Blue Jays, holding left-handed batters to a .152 average (10-of-66) with six walks and 21 strikeouts. He has held opposing left-handers to a .209 average for his career.

Eric O’Flaherty, Atlanta – He is the same age as Venters, 26, but has not received the same level of attention. Quietly, however, he has been very effective, holding left-handed batters to a .182 average this season (10-of-55) with two walks and 12 strikeouts. O’Flaherty actually has more experience than Venters and for his career has held left-handed opponents to a .219 average.

Cory Luebke, San Diego – The Padres moved Luebke into their starting rotation in late June, but before then he was very effective against left-handed batters, holding them to a .152 average. For his career, opponents are hitting only .181 against the 26-year-old Luebke.

Javier Lopez, San Francisco – The 34-year-old left-hander has been a key setup man for Brian Wilson with the Giants, holding opponents to a .111 average (7-of-63) while issuing seven walks and 20 strikeouts. Left-handers have a career .220 average against Lopez.

Check out news from around Major League Baseball in this rest of this article over at RobRains.com.

During the offseason I will be taking a look at the past, giving readers a timeline of St. Louis baseball throughout history. The series started last week with “Baseball Beginnings in St. Louis.” This week we will look at the team from 1900-1905.

After Frank and Stanley Robinson bought the St. Louis franchise in 1898, they knew that changes had to occur. Chris Von der Ahe’s shoddy ownership had left the team in shambles, and in order to earn some respect back the new owners took swift action. Some of the changes were cosmetic, the name change, the uniform color, etc. They continued to play in League Park, as the Browns had, but most of the players on the roster were shown the door to make way for most of the Cleveland Spiders’ players. After purchasing the Browns, the Robinsons technically owned both teams, and decided that it would be in the best interest of the St. Louis club to bring talent into town.

The first wave of players that made the jump included future Hall of Famers Cy Young, Jesse Burkett and Bobby Wallace. Unfortunately, while the Spiders had been hugely successful in Cleveland during the early 1890’s (winning the 1895 championship), that success did not transfer to St. Louis, and the team finished in fifth place in both 1899 and 1900. However, to put things in perspective, the previous seven years had found the St. Louis club no higher than ninth out of twelve, finishing twelfth in both of the last two years before the Robinsons came on board. With that information, things did not look so bad!

The Cardinals had a horrible time holding on to the players that had come down from Cleveland, losing Young after just two seasons and Burkett and Wallace after three. Despite playing well in the Gateway City, none of the players seemed comfortable in Cardinal red, and for a time every large name that rolled in to town found a way to jump teams as soon as possible. Burkett and Wallace were so desperate to jump ship that they left after 1901 to join the new Browns team that had been jumpstarted to join the newly formed American League!

John McGraw

Sadly, these were not the only three big names to cycle quickly through the early rosters of Cardinal players. Frank Robinson had worked out a trade with Baltimore for John McGraw and Wilbert Robinson, two more future Hall of Famers (although for very different reasons). Both men were frustrated with the prospect of leaving their hometown, and Robinson had to coerce the two players to come to St. Louis by promising to let them out of their contracts after the 1900 season.

Both McGraw and Robinson hated playing for the Cardinals. They would intentionally get themselves ejected from games so they could leave early and head to the track. Neither could find even a moment of joy playing the game like they had in Baltimore. The Cardinals were not playing well, the city was not particularly interested in the team (their reputation was still too tarnished from the Von der Ahe age), and even when Frank Robinson offered McGraw the manager’s position in the middle of the season, McGraw turned it down, and the two men jumped ship at season’s end and took off for Baltimore. Wilbert Robinson’s playing career would finish two years later, and he then spent nineteen years as manager of the Baltimore Orioles and Brooklyn Robins. McGraw’s story was just getting started.

Had John McGraw been convinced by Frank Robinson to stay on as manager of the Cardinals, it is guaranteed that the team would have been more successful than they were in the early part of the 20^th century. In three years with Baltimore and thirty-one years with the New York Giants, McGraw put together an astounding 2,583-1790 record, which still has him in second place on the all-time managerial wins list. (You might recognize the manager currently sitting 125 wins back of McGraw. He goes by the name LaRussa.) Oh yes, things most assuredly would have looked different for the Cardinals if they had been able to retain someone with the managerial smarts that McGraw possessed.

From the years of 1902 through 1905, the Cardinals put together no winning campaigns and finished no higher than fifth out of eight teams in the National League. To be fair, the teams did have some great names playing for them, such as Chappie McFarland, Doc Smoot, Spike Shannon, and future Hall of Famers Kid Nichols and Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown.

Nichols was actually on the downside of his career by the time he reached the Cardinals, having already pitched ten 20 win seasons before catching on with St. Louis in 1904. Kid had actually been out of professional baseball for two years before the jump to St. Louis, but just to prove that he still had it, his first year with the Cardinals he went 21-13 with a 2.02 ERA over 36 starts and 317(!!!) innings. Just two years later Nichols was out of baseball, but not before setting some records, including being the youngest pitcher to reach 300 wins, doing so by age 32. In need of a record even more intriguing? After baseball Nichols opened several bowling alleys in the Kansas City area, and became such a proficient bowler that he won a Class A bowling championship at age 64.

Mordecai Brown

Mordecai Brown actually had more than three fingers, but lost most of two of them in a farming accident as a teen. Because of his disfigured hand, Brown found that he could create an interesting grip, and had one of the most astounding curveballs of the early 20^th century because of it. The ridiculous amount of topspin he was able to create with his assortment of pitches made him one of the most extreme groundball pitchers in the history of the game (Dave Duncan on line one). Brown actually lasted just one year in St. Louis (his first, going 9-13) before moving on to Chicago, where he spent the next nine years and won 20 plus games six times in a row, solidifying a Hall of Fame career. If that is not an indication of how things went for the Cardinals in the first years of the 20^th century, nothing else will come close.

Check back next week to learn about Rube Waddell, Sportsman’s Park, and how the Browns helped rig a batting title.

Angela Weinhold covers the Cardinals for i70baseball.com, BaseballDigest.com and writes at Cardinal Diamond Diaries. You may follow her on Twitter here or follow Cardinal Diamond Diaries here.