My personal All-Star team

The United Cardinal Bloggers had this up last week...or at least were supposed to. I slacked off, I'm sorry, due to other committments. Anyway, here is who is named to my personal All-Star all-Cardinals team.

C: Ted Simmons
It was close choosing between Ted Simmons and Yadier Molina but I have to go with Ted on this one. Simmons was an eight-time All-Star, batting over .300 in eight of his 21 seasons. Add in the fact that Simmons had more RBIs then Johnny Bench, more runs that Gary Carter, and more hits then either Yogi Berra or Carlton Fisk one has to wonder why he isn't in the Hall of Fame yet.

1B: Albert Pujols
This is tough because the Cardinals are wealthy with great first basemen like Mark McGwire, Orlando Cepeda, Jim Bottomley, Keith Hernandez, Stan Musial, and Albert Pujols. I choose Pujols because he is one of the greatest players of all time. He's had over 30 home runs, 100 runs, 100 RBI, and a batting average over .300 in each of his first six seasons. He came close in 2007 to accomplishing the same feat but was a run shy of 100. Pujols is in the same league as Stan, Ozzie, Bob, and Lou. He'll be around for many more seasons to come and will go down as one of the greatest players to have ever played the game.

2B: Rogers Hornsby
Again, this is another tough choice. Do I choose Red Schoendienst or do I go with Tommy Herr? What about Rogers Hornsby? Or Frankie Fisch? Red Schoendienst made ten All-Star appearances, only one of which he was not a member of the Cardinals. A Hall of Fame inductee, Red had almost 2,500 hits while finishing with a career average of .289 with batting over .300 in ten of his nineteen seasons as a player. Hornsby, on the other hand, tore up opponents with his hitting. He was a two-time MVP (1925, 1929) although the last MVP came while playing for the Chicago Cubs. From 1920-1925, Hornsby led the league in batting average, hitting as high as .424 in 1924. Add in the two Triple Crowns in 1922 and 1925 and Hornsby is most definitely your man for this team. No offense to Red but I know just the place for him in this team.

3B: Scott Rolen
This is clearly a choice down to Ken Boyer and Scott Rolen. Boyer was selected to 11 All-Star games but this was back when they had two games for a few seasons. Boyer also came through big in the 1964 season and came home with that season's MVP. Boyer also took home five Gold Glove awards, too. Rolen, on the other hand, only played for a few seasons with the Cardinals. He was a key member of the 2006 World Series team and came through big. A member of the MV3 with Pujols and Jim Edmonds, Scott was a fan favorite. Rolen was selected to five all-star games but only played in three of them. In addition, he has seven gold gloves, five of which were in consecutive seasons and four in which he was a Cardinals ballplayer. When it comes to the nuts and bolts, Rolen is your man at third base.

SS: Ozzie Smith
Enough said. One could make the argument for Marty Marion but honestly, who are you kidding? St. Louis fans love Ozzie Smith. The guy got into the Hall of Fame on defense alone; okay, so he hit for average. Smith was named to 15 All-Star games, one of which while a member of the San Diego Padres, and he brought home 13 Gold Gloves. He's a guy that you want on your team.

LF: Lou Brock
I was arguing to myself about choosing Lou or Stan here but I ended up with Lou Brock playing left field. He's a fan favorite and speed-wise, you want him in the line up every day. He has over 3,000 hits so he will get on base. As a Cardinal, he was named to six All-Star games.

CF: Jim Edmonds
This was tough between Edmonds and Curt Flood, both fan favorites. While Edmonds power has been on the decline as of late, Edmonds in his prime is the guy that you want manning center field and making all those unbelievable catches. As a Cardinal, Edmonds was the starting CF for three of his four All-Star games. With his eight gold gloves, Edmonds makes a great choice for CF.

RF: Stan Musial
Having started a few seasons in right, Stan qualifies for this position. Stan finished his career with over 3,000 hits and 25 home runs shy of 500. Musial also went to 24 All-Star games, some of which were multiple games per season. Musial took home three MVP awards and led the league in batting average a number of times (seven).

Bench
C: Yadier Molina
1B: Mark McGwire
2B: Tommy Herr
3B: Ken Boyer
SS: David Eckstein
OF: Curt Flood
OF: Enos Slaughter

Starting Rotation (No commentary)
Bob Gibson
Dizzy Dean
Chris Carpenter
Matt Morris
Steve Carlton

Bullpen
Steve Kline
Bruce Sutter
Lee Smith

Closer
Jason Isringhausen

Coaches
Manager: Red Schoendienst
Bench Coach: Tony La Russa
Pitching Coach: Dave Duncan
First base: Whitey Herzog
Third base: Jose Oquendo