Redbirds

Not a lot of time to be spent on a decade that can only be classified as one of the worst for this storied franchise.  St. Louis exited the 60's by breaking up the core that won 3 pennants and 2 World Championships during the latter half of the decade.  We all know the Curt Flood story.  Pundits say he had "old legs" and by the dawn of a new decade the Cardinals were smart to jettison him.  Cardinal fans think otherwise. Many think that he still had another 3-4 years left if he stayed in the Gateway city.  Statistically the 1969 trade that brought Joe Torre to St. Louis for Orlando Cepeda, was a great deal.  Leadership-wise it wasn't.  Torre, who would go on to become one of the greatest managers in MLB history had to replace Cepeda who was already a charismatic leader, especially for the Latin contingent on the team.  Torre would go on to have stellar seasons in St. Louis, including his NL MVP year in 1971, but by that point the franchise was beginning to unravel.

Throughout the decade Lou Brock racked up hit after hit and stolen base after stolen base including his single season record breaker in 1974.  Young bats like Ted Simmons, Bake McBride and Keith Hernandez began to surround the fleet footed Brock in a better than average every day lineup.  While the lineup was making a positive transition the pitching staff was not.  Bob Gibson entered the decade as one of the dominant figures on the mound as evidenced by his winning the 1970 NL Cy Young Award.  As the years went on the physical tolls of pitching began to erode Gibson's great skills rather quickly.  By 1974 he was a sub .500 pitcher and by mid 1975 he was out of baseball.  By that point the Cardinals were heading further south in the standings.  Steve Carlton, who logically would have been Gibson's successor as the staff ace was banished to Philadelphia in exchange for Rick Wise due to contractual woes.  St. Louis could not find many live arms in their farm system, other than a young Bob Forsch.  Pitchers like Pete Falcone, John Urrea and Buddy Schultz will round out an un-impressive staff in their 1970's All-Franchise offering.  Reliever Al "Mad Hungarian" Hrabosky's antics and ability to close will be heavily tested as well.