The St. Louis Cardinals is one of the oldest franchises of the professional baseball based in Saint Louis, Missouri. They introduced themselves as St. Louis Brown Stockings in 1892 as a member of the American Association and established a dynasty of their and sustained it for four good years under Chris von der Ahe. The joined the National League as St. Louis Browns in 1892. For a brief time they became the St. Luis Perfectos in 1899 to be eventually named St. Louis Cardinals a year later. The team is placed in the Central Division of the National League and has won nine Fall Classic titles, fifteen National League flags and eight division champions with an exception in 2001. The Cardinals and the Hoston Astros finished with the same record. Since there was a tie and it was mandatory to decide the division champions. As, Houston had win the season series against the Cardinals, they took home the division title and St. Louis, a wild card berth. The Cardinals their very first season made an incredible World Series appearance. McGee, a 23 year old rookie assisted the team to mark this victory. The Cardinals dominating era initiated in 1930s when Dizzy Dean, Joe Medwick, Pepper Martin and Enos Slaughter performed their best and delivered magnificent scores in every game they played. In 1947, the Cardinals became an unpleasant team to play with since they strongly favored the racial discrimination. They avoided the playoffs to be played against the Brooklyn Dodgers and strictly objected the Dodgers procurement of a Negro player, Jackie Robinson. It is supposed that the leader of the agitation was Enos Slaughter. But the protest never took place.

Lou Brock, Bob Gibson, Steve Carlton and Orlando Cepeda formed the nucleus of the team in 1960s and led it to a pair of World Series title in the particular decade. The Cardinals were adequate enough in 1970s but not brilliant as they were assumed to be. They really required a prompt upliftment. At that time Cardinals new manager Whitey Herzog sparked a new enthusiasm in them. His strategic planning featured speed on the base paths, sparkling defense, and irregular roster moves. In his tenure of 11 years, he assisted the team to win three National League championships and a 1982 World Series title. His active line-up featured Ozzie Smith, Willie McGee, John Tudor, Tom Herr, Jack Clark, Bruce Sutter, Keith Hernandez, Terry Pendleton and Joaquin Andujar.

The 1985 World Series proved to be the most controversial in the history of Cardinals since it baptized ?I-70 Series?. In that series the Cardinals competed against the Kansa City. Cardinals in order to seize the winning title unfortunately went on to lose Game 6 and then Game 7 the following night. 1998, Cardinals' first baseman Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs competed against each other to set the record for scoring most home runs in single season. The Cardinals won the Central Division title after defeating the Diamondbacks in 2002. The year 2004 proved to be one of the fruitful seasons. They delivered the best record in the National League, though they failed to bring home the Fall Classic title.

Currently there are 36 Hall of Famers who played a part of their career or all of their careers with the St. Louis Cardinals. Stan "The Man" Musial remains the most notably remembered Hall of Fame and who played for 22 years (1941-44, 46-63), earning seven N.L. Batting Titles, 3 MVP's and a .331 career batting average. He is known as one of the best hitters of all time. In 1970, his sculpture was erected outside the Busch Stadium. Lou Brock, Bob Gibson, and Ozzie Smith are the other worth mentioning players. Brock established himself as of the speediest players in the history of baseball and set all-time stolen base record during the peak of his career. Gibson was an intense and threatening right-handed pitcher who set a record in wins, complete games, shutouts, innings pitched and strikeouts. Ozzie Smith became one of the finest defensive shortstops of all time. Overnight he became the Cardinals celebrity star.

The team?s biggest central division rival is the Chicago Cubs. The team is also nicknamed as ?Redbirds?. Their official ballpark is the Busch Stadium. Their logo has a Cardinal bird balanced on a baseball bat. Their mascot has a Fredbird which has been depicted as a striding Redbird wearing the club?s uniform. Last but not the least; the Cardinals account is unfinished without the mention of Cool Papa Bell and the St. Louis Stars Negro National League team.

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