The trade of Ryan Ludwick from the Cardinals to the Padres is understandable if it gives St. Louis the financial flexibility to eventually sign Albert Pujols to an extension. Still, it’s a downer.
Ludwick represented himself and the team with class. He was supposed to be just a fill-in outfielder and pinch hitter when he joined the Cardinals in 2007. Instead, he developed into a blue-collar all-star who played aggressively and enthusiastically. He will be missed.
What often went unappreciated with Ludwick was his potent slugging. He ranks 12th in Cardinals history for highest career slugging percentage (a player’s total number of bases reached on hits divided by official times at bat).
Here are the top dozen career slugging percentage leaders as a Cardinal (minimum 1,500 plate appearances):
Mark McGwire, .683
Albert Pujols, .622
Johnny Mize, .600
Rogers Hornsby, .568
Chick Hafey, .568
Stan Musial, .559
Jim Edmonds, .555
Joe Medwick, .545
Jim Bottomley, .537
Rip Collins, .517
Scott Rolen, .510
Ryan Ludwick, .507
To put that in perspective, here are just some of the players with lower slugging percentage’s than Ludwick’s as a Cardinal: Ken Boyer (.475), Bill White (.472), George Hendrick (.470), Enos Slaughter (.463), Ted Simmons (.459), Joe Torre (.458), Orlando Cepeda (.454) and Keith Hernandez (.448).
RetroSimba 
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