Tracing the Steps of the St. Louis Cardinals from the AA to the NL

The St. Louis Cardinals began as a team that was part of the American Association, the major league association that existed from 1882 up to 1891. The St. Louis Cardinals is a team that did pretty well in the American Association before the National League became the obviously stronger major league association around. Before the St. Louis Cardinals moved to the NL however, they were able to bag a few AA Pennant titles. In fact, the St. Louis Cardinals have four back-to-back AA Pennant wins from 1885 up to 1888, a few years before the association got dissolved.

The St. Louis Cardinals also began to prove their worth once they were ensconced in the National League's lineup. They began making waves in the league in the 1920s and proved their prowess on the field with a 1926 National League Pennant. They continued to win in the succeeding years and decades with an astounding 17 pennants under their wings. The St. Louis Cardinals also won a few Eastern and Central division titles in the early to late 80s and then again in the late nineties till the new millennium.

The most notable wins of the St. Louis Cardinals are their wins in the World Series. They won an impressive 10 World Series Championships from 1926 up to the latest World Series win in 2006. The 2006 win was long overdue since the last time the team enjoyed a World Series title before that was in 1982 making it a 24 year gap between such wins. The St. Louis Cardinals was not able to defend their latest win the following year due to a huge number of injuries on the team as well as the death of one of the team's relief pitchers, Josh Hancock, due to a vehicular accident that was said to have been the result of drunk driving.