Lankford was a player in the wrong era. If he had started his career in 2010 instead of the early 90s, he'd have been beloved. His biggest downside was that he K'd a lot, but in the era of advanced metrics, we now understand how good of a player he really was, especially on some pretty lousy Cardinals teams.
Indeed. Although the team did make the playoffs twice during his tenure. I don't remember if he was limited by injury, but his at bats in the playoffs was surprisingly low. But to be fair, he started to regress by 2000. As the team continued to win the following years, he was traded away the next year for Williams. And in 2004, he was cut to make room for Walker. I imagine many would be surprised he racked up 38 WAR before he retired. Which isn't that far off from what Molina has. Whom will probably have his number retired someday.
It was a combination of things. The Cardinals did legitimately think a lot of Mabry, but the Front Office's hands were tied by the Brewery ownership. AB would not let the Cardinals spend any significant amount of money, and certainly not the $20MM over four years that Jefferies wound up getting from the Phillies. That seems like a trivial amount of money in 2022, but in 1994, that was a big contract. In addition, the players' strike was still going on, which gave ownership another excuse not to spend money. When Jefferies left, the Cardinals moved Todd Zeile to first base. After the club fired Torre and traded Zeile to the Cubs (on the same day, no less), installed Mabry at first. At the time, losing Jefferies stung, but in hindsight, it worked out nicely. He was never the same player after leaving St. Louis, and if he had been their first baseman for four more seasons starting in 1995, you might not have had Mark McGwire.
Jeffries hit .342 and .325 his only years on the team. Is he the last 1B to steal 40 bases in a season? You make a good point though. Maybe the McGwire trade never happens. And Mabry did hit over .300 the year Jeffries left.
Thanks for posting this
Cincinnati needs to be the first game again.
OMG! I've been wanting to see this game ever since I found out that we had the opening day game back when it was always in Cincinnati.
30 years ago and this is still awesome. One day I want to simulate the rest of the 1994 season to see who could have won the World Series!
Lankford always had a pretty swing. He was an underrated player for a few years.
Lankford was a player in the wrong era. If he had started his career in 2010 instead of the early 90s, he'd have been beloved. His biggest downside was that he K'd a lot, but in the era of advanced metrics, we now understand how good of a player he really was, especially on some pretty lousy Cardinals teams.
Indeed. Although the team did make the playoffs twice during his tenure. I don't remember if he was limited by injury, but his at bats in the playoffs was surprisingly low. But to be fair, he started to regress by 2000. As the team continued to win the following years, he was traded away the next year for Williams. And in 2004, he was cut to make room for Walker. I imagine many would be surprised he racked up 38 WAR before he retired. Which isn't that far off from what Molina has. Whom will probably have his number retired someday.
Agreed, Lankford was always overlooked, kinda reminds me of a Reggie sanders
What we didn't know was that the 1994 season did not crown a champion due to a players strike.
I was disappointed Jeffries wasn't resigned. Was Mabry that highly regarded?
It was a combination of things. The Cardinals did legitimately think a lot of Mabry, but the Front Office's hands were tied by the Brewery ownership. AB would not let the Cardinals spend any significant amount of money, and certainly not the $20MM over four years that Jefferies wound up getting from the Phillies. That seems like a trivial amount of money in 2022, but in 1994, that was a big contract. In addition, the players' strike was still going on, which gave ownership another excuse not to spend money.
When Jefferies left, the Cardinals moved Todd Zeile to first base. After the club fired Torre and traded Zeile to the Cubs (on the same day, no less), installed Mabry at first.
At the time, losing Jefferies stung, but in hindsight, it worked out nicely. He was never the same player after leaving St. Louis, and if he had been their first baseman for four more seasons starting in 1995, you might not have had Mark McGwire.
Jeffries hit .342 and .325 his only years on the team. Is he the last 1B to steal 40 bases in a season? You make a good point though. Maybe the McGwire trade never happens. And Mabry did hit over .300 the year Jeffries left.