For Your Consideration: Brian Jordan

The fault will not be in the stars - but in ourselves - if Brian Jordan is not elected to the Cardinals HOF

Voting opens today for the Cardinal Hall of Fame with Edgar Renteria; Steve Carlton; George Hendrick; and Brian Jordan on the ballot for enshrinement. Long have I been a proponent for Brian Jordan to be elected based on his time in Cardinal Red. As you prepare to cast your ballot HERE, please consider voting for Brian Jordan the football/baseball star who powered the Cardinals into the 1996 NLCS.

Friends, Cardinal Nation, countrymen, lend me your ears! I come here to praise Brian Jordan – the most underappreciated Cardinal of the last 30 years. The good he did should not be forgotten; it needs to be laid out and admired. And we shouldn’t need any Marc Antony reverse psychology to trick us either.

For the decade of the 1990s, Brian Jordan ranked in the Top 5 of almost every major statistical category for the Cardinals: WAR (2nd); Batting Average – min. 250 games (4th); OPS (3rd); Home Runs (3rd); RBIs (3rd); Hits (4th); Doubles (6th); Triples (2nd); Stolen Bases (3rd). His three seasons of 5.0+ WAR as a Cardinal is a feat that only four other Cardinals accomplished since 1980.

Jordan’s accolades have seemingly been forgotten as the years have passed, which should not come as a surprise as they weren’t honored as they were happening. He came up with the Cardinals during the doldrums of the early 90s, so that his sublime 1995 season, where he posted a 5.2 WAR, good for ninth in the National League, was ignored as Jordan did not receive a single MVP vote or an invitation to the All Star Game. In the late 90s, he was but a footnote to McGwire-mania and even though he led the National League in batting average at the all-star break, he was again snubbed from the 1998 Mid-Summer Classic. He finished that 1998 season with a 7.0 WAR (again good enough for ninth in the league) but still didn’t receive a MVP vote. It is somehow both a travesty and completely in line with his career as a Cardinal that this is the first time he has made the final ballot for the Cardinals hall of fame.

There may be no better illustration of Jordan’s greatness than the 1996 season. Jordan had a typically stellar regular season, leading the team in not only most of the back of the baseball card stats (batting average, RBIs and doubles), but also the sabremetric stats as well (WAR, Runs Created, Weighted Runs Above Average). But it was the postseason where he proved, the 1996 Cardinals were his team - especially Game 3 of the NLDS against the San Diego Padres.

The Cardinals had won the first two games in St. Louis and headed west to complete the sweep. The good guys fell behind 4-1 early, but clawed their way back to tie and eventually take a 5-4 lead in the seventh inning. The Padres would not go quietly, however, and with their season on the line, Padre third baseman, Ken Caminiti homered to lead off the bottom of the eighth inning. Tie game. The San Diego crowd erupted, hoping their cheers would will their team to victory and to extend the series.

For a split second, it appeared it may work. With two outs and the go ahead run on second base, Padre catcher Jody Reed blasted a 1-1 pitch into the gap in right. It was destined to give the Padres the lead.

Until it wasn’t.

Jordan timed his dive perfectly, catching the ball with his body still perpendicular to the ground. He triumphantly extended his glove in the air to show the world that the game was still tied.

Or at least it was until Jordan came to the plate in the top of the ninth. Facing future hall of famer Trevor Hoffman, Jordan hammered a 3-2 breaking ball into the palm trees behind the wall in left field. It was, as Bob Costas described at the time, “a dagger through the heart” of the Padres. The San Diego crowd was deathly silent as Jordan rounded the bases. Dennis Eckersley would shut the door in the ninth and the Cardinals were headed to Atlanta, four wins away from the World Series.

“I’ve always wanted to play in pressure situations,” Jordan said after the game. “I’ve always wanted to step up to the challenge. I just want to win so bad. To see that ball come down over the fence, it was satisfying. This is what I’ve worked for.”

The day after Game 3, Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz described Jordan’s performance not in sports terms, but as a mythical experience. “This wasn’t just a game, or another step up the postseason ladder for the Cardinals,” he wrote after the game. “This was something deeply symbolic.” Miklasz meant it then as Jordan’s ascent to throne as the next face of the Cardinals. Ozzie was leaving and Jordan’s performance in Game 3 proved the franchise would be left in good hands.

It didn’t happen that way though. He spent the 1997 injured and the 1998 season in the shadow of McGwire’s historic home run chase. With his contract up at the end of the 1998 season, the team made him a half hearted offer to stay, tying his compensation to games played. He would sign with the Braves before the 1999 season. Like many of the players we have profiled for this issue, he was booed on his return to St. Louis.

We can make up for those boos now though. Brian Jordan loved St. Louis, he loved the fans, he loved the team. Let us prove that we have not lost our reason and vote Brian Jordan to the Cardinal Hall of Fame!