Arguably the premiere club in the history of the National League, the Cardinals got their start as the most successful club in the NL's only significant 19th century rival league, the American Association.  The team was founded in 1882, the debut year of the AA, by St. Louis saloon owner and real estate investor, Chris Von der Ahe.  The German immigrant, possessed of what one author termed a "comic strip accent, a comic opera physiognomy and a comic wardrobe of diamond stickpins, checkered pants and spats" turned his St. Louis Browns into the cornerstone franchise in the AA almost from the start - the club won consecutive AA pennants from 1885 to 1888 and in 1886 defeated the Cubs in a short-lived experimental "World Series" between the NL and AA.

Von der Ahe brought the Browns to the NL when the AA folded after the 1891 season, and after playing as the "Perfectos" in 1899, a female fan was overheard by a local sportswriter commenting that the team's uniforms sported a "lovely shade of cardinal".  Very quickly, the club became known as the Cardinals.   After initial poor showings, the club rose to prominence in the mid-'20s, and between 1925 and 1934 won 5 pennants and 3 World Series.  During much of this era, they were known by some as "the Gashouse Gang" because of their rough-and-tumble reputation.  Stars like Dizzy Dean, Chick Hafey, Jim Bottomly, Frankie Frisch, Jesse Haines and Leo Durocher defined the club during this era.  Success followed the club into the 1940s with a young Stan Musial leading the way.  

A number of down years were followed by more championships in the 1960s, largely thanks to the arm of the intimidating Bob Gibson, and an almost uninterrupted period of competitiveness starting in the early 1980s.  Playing in one of the greatest baseball cities in the country, the Cardinals have become in their own way as iconic a club as the perhaps more famous Cubs, and the embodiment of the game for middle-America.       

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The main purpose of this page is to illustrate those players, managers and coaches who have been the most prominent in the franchise's history.  Links below will take you to galleries highlighting each, by position.  Generally, an individual is included if he spent at least 2 full seasons (consecutive or cumulative) as a starter, relief pitcher, closer or manager. For coaches, I've generally used 5 years of service as the bar.  None of this is scientific, though, so there are exceptions.  Where possible and practical, I used pictures of actual baseball cards because that it is the medium through which I, and I suppose many others, first discovered the game. Where necessary, I designed my own images.  Images of actual baseball cards were obtained at the Card Cyber Museum, and for my own designs I used photos found at host of different sites, but none moreso than the wonderful forum at Out of the Park Developments.  

I claim no rights to, or ownership of, any of the photographic images I've used on these pages.   You are welcome to use them yourself.  All I ask is that that if you use any of my personal creations, you give credit to this site.