Editor’s note:The Athletic is marking 2025 by naming an MLB All-Quarter Century Team, selected by Jayson Stark. We’re inviting readers to take our survey and make their picks for the best players at each position since 2000, with the results announced in an upcoming story. Some of our beat writers are picking All-Quarter Century Teams for the teams they cover. Check this page to find all of our All-Quarter Century Team coverage.

Full disclosure: This last quarter-century of baseball is all I’ve ever known. As a baseball writer still grasping to her late-20s, I grew up in an era when the St. Louis Cardinals set the standard in drafting and development. It wasn’t until much later, when I took over as The Athletic’s Cardinals beat writer in 2021, that I started to understand just how imperative that era was for this franchise.

The Cardinals have made the playoffs in 16 of their past 25 seasons, including two World Series championships. Even during their current down stretch, they remain one of baseball’s most prestigious and respected franchises. That’s partly what made this exercise so hard (the other part being that I was a pre-teen/early teenager during the Cardinals’ most dominant stretches).

But if I know how to do one thing, it’s how to annoy people with relentless questions. And that’s exactly what I did as I surveyed various people around the ballpark over the past week, taking as many different opinions on players before my final submission.

Below is The Athletic’s official St. Louis Cardinals All-Quarter Century team. I look forward to you all agreeing with me. In the case that you don’t, I’ll try to do better when we do this again in 2050.

Catcher — Yadier Molina

Wow, who saw this one coming? I mean, he’s only a two-time World Series champion, a 10-time All-Star, a nine-time Gold Glove Award winner, a future Hall of Famer and one of the best defensive catchers the game will ever see.

Enough said.

First base — Albert Pujols

OK, I promise these get less obvious as we go on. But the resume of Mr. 703 speaks for itself.

A World Series winner, twice. A three-time National League MVP, all with St. Louis. An 11-time All-Star. A six-time Silver Slugger and a two-time Gold Glove Award winner. He should be a first-ballot Hall of Fame selection when he’s eligible in 2028.

No disrespect to his 10-year stint with the Los Angeles Angels, but when you think Albert Pujols, you think the St. Louis Cardinals. Some of his most magical swings came wearing the Birds on the Bat. The memorable moments range from his first career homer on April 6, 2001 (when he would later go on to win the National League Rookie of the Year), to his monstrous homer off Brad Lidge in the 2005 NLCS, to his first home run back in a Cardinals uniform in 2022 — the beginning of a truly storybook final season.

And of course, there were career home runs No. 699 and No. 700 on the same night at Dodger Stadium. Who’s forgetting that?

In a franchise rich with legends and heroes, Pujols stands among the very top. There will simply never be another No. 5.

Second base — Matt Carpenter

Carpenter, who spent 12 of his 14 MLB seasons with St. Louis, debuted with the Cardinals when St. Louis was on a roll. His gritty, hard-nosed style captured the hearts of Cardinals fans, who certainly had plenty to cheer about from 2011-2015.

Those times coincided with the start of Carpenter’s career. He was a back-to-back All-Star in 2013 and 2014, and notched his third selection in 2016. In 2013, he led the National League in hits (199) and doubles (55) and won a Silver Slugger at second base.

There has been no shortage of tenacious middle infielders in St. Louis (seriously, it’s like a factory out here). But Carpenter’s time with the Cardinals was special. He announced his retirement earlier in the month and is all but a lock for the Cardinals Hall of Fame.

Shortstop — Edgar Renteria

Renteria spent six seasons with the Cardinals, winning two Gold Gloves, two Silver Sluggers and a National League pennant in that time. He was also a two-time All-Star selection, so not too shabby.

Rentería is the only player in Cardinals history to win Silver Slugger and Gold Glove awards in the same season twice. He ranks second in shortstops in franchise history in home runs (71) and stolen bases (148) and third in batting average (.290, with a minimum of 1,500 plate appearances), hits (973) and RBIs (415).

Rentería was named to the team’s 2025 Hall of Fame class in early April and will be inducted this September.

Third base — Scott Rolen

Rolen was an All-Star in four of his six seasons with the Cardinals and was a key piece of their 2006 World Series team — the franchise’s first title in a 24-year span. He was also instrumental in the team’s National League championship season in 2004, where he set career highs in (deep breath) home runs (34), RBIs (124), batting average (.314), on-base percentage (.409), slugging percentage (.598) and OPS (1.007). He finished fourth in MVP voting that year, behind teammates Pujols and Jim Edmonds (who, spoiler, might be on this list as well).

Rolen helped spark the Cardinals to four postseason appearances (including two World Series) and played in 32 playoff games for St. Louis. His booming home run off Roger Clemens in Game 7 of the NLCS that season ultimately sent the Cardinals to the World Series in 2004. While Rolen played for four organizations throughout his 17 MLB seasons, he chose to represent the Cardinals when he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2023.

The Cardinals are no strangers to excellence at the hot corner, and Nolan Arenado is certainly worthy of consideration here. But given Rolen’s extensive postseason experience, it’s his spot for now.

Left field — Matt Holliday

He’s a seven-time All-Star (four with St. Louis), a four-time Silver Slugger, a 2011 World Series champion and a Cardinal Hall of Famer.

After coming to the Cardinals halfway through the 2009 season, the organization inked him to the largest free-agent contract in franchise history at the time. Good thing they did. Holliday led the Cardinals in OPS for three consecutive seasons from 2012-2014 and received MVP votes in five of his eight seasons as a Cardinal. In his 982 games with St. Louis, Holliday hit .293/.380/.494 and tallied 1,048 hits, 237 doubles, 156 homers and 616 RBIs.

Holliday ranks third all time among Cardinals outfielders in home runs (behind Stan Musial and Ray Lankford) and was instrumental in the team’s run in the early 2010s.

Center field — Jim Edmonds

Edmonds was the definition of center-field superiority during his time with St. Louis. After being traded to the Cardinals in 2000, Edmonds won six straight Gold Gloves and was a human highlight reel in the outfield, dazzling fans with his rugged style.

The Cardinals reached the playoffs in all but two of the eight seasons he played in St. Louis. In those eight seasons, Edmonds was an All-Star three times, hit .285 with 241 home runs — ranking fourth all time within the franchise — and won the Silver Slugger Award in 2004. Edmonds was elected into the Cardinals’ inaugural Hall of Fame class in 2014 and remains an organizational favorite amongst Cardinals fans.

Right field — So Taguchi

Taguchi came to St. Louis in 2022, his age-32 season, becoming the Cardinals’ first Japanese-born signing. It wasn’t until 2004 when he started making an impact, but his role in the Cardinals’ 2006 World Series championship turned him into a fan favorite. During the 2006 postseason, Taguchi hit a scorching .400/.438/.867 with two homers, tying his regular-season total.

Other right fielders who played for the Cardinals (J.D. Drew, Lance Berkman, Larry Walker, to name a few) might have more prestigious career resumes. But Taguchi’s impact in a short time in St. Louis matters more, given what it led to.

Rotation — Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright, Matt Morris, Michael Wacha, Lance Lynn

This rotation features 515 Cardinals wins (200 from Wainwright), four World Series championships, 11 All-Star selections and two Cardinals Hall of Fame berths (and two more coming, once Lynn and Wainwright are eligible). Pick your favorite here, you can’t go wrong.

Closer — Jason Isringhausen

Few closers were as effective as Isringhausen in the 2000s. In the seven seasons he spent as the Cardinals’ closer (from 2002 to 2008), Isringhausen made 401 appearances and holds the franchise record for saves (217) and ranks third amongst Cardinals relievers in strikeouts (373). He established the Cardinals’ then-single-season record for saves in 2004 with 47, and followed up that performance with an All-Star selection in 2005.

During Isringhausen’s tenure, the Cardinals won the National League Central Division four times, the National League pennant twice and the World Series in 2006. He logged 408 innings and posted a 2.98 ERA with 217 total saves. Even with other stellar closers that followed behind him (Trevor Rosenthal and Ryan Helsley, both of whom have broken his previous single-season save record), Isringhausen still reigns supreme as the Cardinals’ ninth-inning man.