ST. LOUIS — Ideally we'd be seeing Jack Flaherty light up radar guns and Adam Wainwright buckle knees right about now.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we don't get to. At least not for a while.
So in the meantime, we're looking back at 5 On Your Side. Specifically right now, on the best individual pitches in Cardinals history.
Recently on Twitter, there were some cool debates flying around about who's pitches you'd take to form an all-time arsenal. Flaherty and Wainwright even chimed in with their picks.
So we thought we'd do that Cardinals style. Who has the best pitches in Cardinals history? Let's debate.
We're naming a lot of pitches here. More than any normal starter would have. So imagine you have to pick five of these to assemble the ultimate Cardinals arsenal.
Here's our picks in the 5 On Your Side sports office between myself, sports director Frank Cusumano and executive sports producer Andy Mohler.
Fastball - Bob Gibson
Oh, you were expecting someone else?
Spoiler: You're going to see Gibson again on this list, but his good old number one was better than most.
With his trademark snarl and violent delivery, you would be wise to stay away from the plate, or risk being brushed back. Or if you weren't so lucky, you'd be left with a nasty bruise as you limped down to first base.
Honorable mention: Trevor Rosenthal
Sinker - Jordan Hicks
The hardest thrower in Cardinals history is one of the hardest throwers in the history of baseball.
Hicks' sinker accounted for the 21 fastest pitches thrown in the Major Leagues in 2019.
He tied the all-time fastest pitch record in 2018 with a 105-mph sinker.
At his best he is the definition of unhittable.
Curveball - Adam Wainwright
He's not nicknamed "Uncle Charlie" for nothing, folks.
For 14 years, Wainwright has ridden his signature pitch to Cardinals legend status. When it's right, a well-executed curveball for strike three is one of the most beautiful things in baseball. Wainwright is an artist.
Carlos Beltran is still looking for the last pitch of the 2006 NLCS.
Honorable mention: Darryl Kile and Rick Ankiel
Slider - Bob Gibson
Told you we'd come back to Gibson again. If any pitcher deserves two of his pitches mentioned in this article, it's Gibby.
While Gibson's intimidation and fastball were key to his dominance, his slider was his most devastating pitch.
5 On Your Side executive sports producer Andy Mohler has a few good stories about that Gibson slider:
"Gibson’s slider was never better than Game 1 in the ’68 World Series. He said the Tigers’ scouting report on him was that his fastball was his best pitch. He did an interview with us and said Tiger hitters were looking for “high smoke” and so they were no match for his slider."
"McCarver tells the story of talking to a group of people the year Carlton went into the Hall of Fame, and saying Carlton had the best slider he’d ever seen. When he was done McCarver said he was chatting with a smaller group of people when he saw Gibson swim through the audience to get to him. When he got there, his pointed a finger at McCarver and said, “Best LEFTHANDED slider.”
If Carlton had played more years with the Cardinals, perhaps he actually would have taken ownership of best slider in franchise history.
Honorable mention: Steve Carlton
Cutter - Chris Carpenter
Carpenter is one of the greatest pitchers in Cardinals history, thanks in part to his trusty cutter.
Need more proof? Adam Wainwright puts Carp's cutter up there with Roy Halladay and Mariano Rivera for the best he's seen
Changeup - John Tudor
The owner of the lowest WHIP and third highest winning percentage in Cardinals history had one of the best changeups we've seen in St. Louis
Hall of famer Mike Schmidt summed up Tudor's changeup best in this Sports Illustrated article:
"How many times a game do you see a batter swing at what he thinks is a fastball away, only to be halfway into the swing and realize that it's a changeup that's not due to arrive for a few more minutes?"
A special shout out goes to Michael Wacha in our honorable mention here. His changeup when he first got to the Major Leagues was truly one of the nastiest pitches in the entire league.
Honorable mention: Michael Wacha
Split Finger - Bruce Sutter
The man and the pitch are pretty much synonymous.
Sutter rode his splitter to 300 saves, a Cy Young Award, a World Series and a plaque in Cooperstown.
Sutter made the split finger famous, and you can't mention the pitch without bringing up the hall of famer's name.
Knuckleball - Hoyt Wilhelm
The hall of famer only played 40 games for the Cardinals in 1957, but his knuckleball is legendary.
Wilhelm played for nine different teams in his career, racking up 143 wins, a 2.52 ERA and 1,610 strikeouts while employing his signature pitch.
Spit Ball - Burleigh Grimes
Ok, technically you can't throw a spit ball in the Major Leagues anymore, we know. But Burleigh Grimes was the last guy to throw it.
The spit ball was banned in 1920, but teams were allowed to select players to be grandfathered into still being allowed to throw a spitter.
Grimes pitched in 49 games for the Cardinals in parts of four seasons to the tune of a 3.45 ERA.
He and his spit ball were inducted into the hall of fame in 1964.
Related Stories
RELATED: Former Cardinals first baseman uses baseball lessons to prepare for front lines battling COVID-19
