Historical Player Profiles: Curt Flood

Curt Flood was a polarizing figure in baseball to say the very least. On the field, Flood was a great defensive center fielder with some pop in his bat as well. He came up with the Reds in 1956 at the age of 18, and was quickly traded to the Cardinals in 1958. With the Cards, he was a strong contributor to their 3 World Series appearances and 2 wins during the 60s. A consistent hitter (.293 with the Cardinals), he was known for his glove work in center field. From a fielding perspective, he was considered in the same breath with Willie Mays and Roberto Clemente (his co-gold glove winners from 1963-1969).

The Worth of Greatness: Pujols

Albert Pujols is the greatest player in baseball right now... we can all agree on that.  In his first 10 seasons, Albert has earned rookie of the year honors, he's won 6 silver sluggers, 3 NL MVP's (finished second 4 more times), 2 gold gloves and is currently one of 6 players in ML history with a combined +.300 BA, +.400 OBP and +.600 SLG (the other guys you might have heard of - Ruth, Williams, Gehrig, Foxx and Greenberg).  He's on his way towards overtaking Lou Gehrig as the greatest first baseman of all time.

This much is true but the tougher question is what is this once in a generation player really worth?

All-Time Cardinals Team

Time for another best of team, and this week, we're going with the Red Birds. We're picking 8 position players, 2 starting pitchers, and a closer. Give us your thoughts on where we whiffed or where you'd go in a different direction. Thanks for visiting, and here's the Cards...

C - Ted Simmons
1B - Albert Pujols
2B - Rogers Hornsby
SS - Ozzie Smith
3B - Ken Boyer
OF - Stan Musial
OF - Lou Brock
OF - Joe Medwick
SP - Bob Gibson
SP - Dizzy Dean
CL - Bruce Sutter