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Assembling an All-World Cardinals Team

By Patrick Karraker

Aug 24, 2016; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher Seung Hwan Oh (26) pitches to a New York Mets batter during the ninth inning at Busch Stadium. The Cardinals won 8-1. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 24, 2016; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher Seung Hwan Oh (26) pitches to a New York Mets batter during the ninth inning at Busch Stadium. The Cardinals won 8-1. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports /
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Jul 1, 2016; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina (4) is congratulated by shortstop Aledmys Diaz (36) after scoring a run against the Milwaukee Brewers during the fourth inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 1, 2016; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina (4) is congratulated by shortstop Aledmys Diaz (36) after scoring a run against the Milwaukee Brewers during the fourth inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports /

With the World Baseball Classic getting underway next week, we put together the best possible roster of St. Louis Cardinals players from different countries.

MLB’s fourth World Baseball Classic gets underway next week, with players leaving spring training camps this week to prepare. The event has served as an increasingly effective avenue for promoting globalism in baseball since its inception in 2006, as it showcases superstar players from countries like Japan, Cuba, and South Korea to the world while also generating interest in the sport in non-traditional baseball countries like Israel, South Africa, Spain, and Brazil.

Inspired by a tweet yesterday from @PresidentPunto which attempted to put together the best possible 25-man roster of current or recent major-leaguers from different countries–with no nation being represented twice–I decided to put a Cardinals spin on the concept. Obviously, it’s not possible to do with current players, but I went through the Cardinals’ all-time roster with help from great resources including Baseball Reference, Baseball Almanac, and Wikipedia (I cross-checked the info, Wikipedia haters) and put together a 23-man roster (13 position players, 10 pitchers) of historical Cardinals players from different nations.

I was prepared to work with the loose qualifications of the WBC and utilize guys like Jason Marquis, who is playing for Team Israel this season because of his Jewish heritage, and Gary Gaetti, who is a member of the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame. Surprisingly, though, I was able to find quite a few pre-World War II Cardinals from European nations that are no longer represented around Major League Baseball.

We’ll get started with the infield, which is probably the biggest area of strength on this roster:

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