Bernie: Ray Lankford — most underrated Cardinal? - STLtoday.com
You're probably wondering: Why the heck is this guy writing about Ray Lankford , who played his final year with the Cardinals in 2004. . It's a good question. Today is Lankford's 48th birthday — so happy birthday, Ray. By the way, if you love Cardinals history and nostalgia, you should check out Tomasik's site, RetroSimba. When Lankford's name popped up on Twitter, some fans jumped in to say that Ray was underrated. But Ray Lankford just might be the most underrated position player in franchise history. And if Lankford isn't the most underrated, then he's in the photo. And when when researching the St. Louis careers of so many intriguing candidates, I've been struck by Lankford's impressive if unheralded body of work. And the opinion is reinforced by measuring his performance against some of the best hitters in Cardinals history. And he played here for such a long time that he ranks high on the chart of the Cardinals' all-time leaders in many pertinent offensive categories. We'll get to that in a moment, but to put a sabermetric value on Lankford's St. Louis career, here's the Top 10 leaders in Wins Above Replacement (WAR) in franchise history:. Source: www.stltoday.com
