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Gotta be Carp. Freese, Holliday and Waino will probably be co-faces of the franchise at some point, but Carp has the hardware (CYA, 2 rings) and national notoriety to give him the recognition. Plus, his energy and presence on the mound really make him stand out as a representative of Cardinal baseball.

I'm a little biased, though. He was my favorite Cardinal well before Albert left.

I wouldn't call him the "franchise" player but when I think of the Cardinals now the first player I think about is Chris Carppenter.

Waino es bueno.

Him being considered still such a huge part of the team and being involved with them every step of the way despite his TJ surgery taking him out of the picture for so long, him even wanting to be able to pitch in the playoffs despite the recent surgery, his cheerleading, and the team still considering him the ace even despite Carp's great playoff efforts, makes him the franchise in my eyes.

Edit: I said Yadi would be a close second, but I'll change that to Carpenter. There's good reason why I own a Chris Carpenter Shirsey and not an Albert Pujols one. Carp is awesome and was such an unexpected prize for the Cardinals to get 7 years ago (Jesus...has it really been 7 years?)

Scrabble

Carp. Has a storied history with us (CYA, rings, been the "Ace" for years), and also fits the "What have you done for me lately?" profile. Game 162. Game 5 Phi. Game 7 on 3 days rest.

Carp is a [expletive] badass.

OmahaCard79 wrote:None of the above at this point. Right now, the Cardinals are really a franchise without a face. Someone will have to step up and take that crown. No one can just be annointed the franchise player. They have to earn it. Waino and Freese are good candidates. Let's see if they can take that step.

The Cardinals have at least 4 guys who have done more to "step up" and "earn it" as any other "franchise player" on almost any other team. Carp, Yadi, Freese, and Wainwright are legitimate postseason and World Series heroes. Matt Holliday is legitimately one of the best players in baseball and has been for years.

The reason why we don't have a single face is that we have a roster full of recognizable faces.

Carp for now. Freese has the potential.

Lance Lynn.

I'm sposed to be the franchise player, and we're sittin here talkin bout practice.

Keeps going through my head now. Thanks maddash.

Fat Strat wrote:

OmahaCard79 wrote:None of the above at this point. Right now, the Cardinals are really a franchise without a face. Someone will have to step up and take that crown. No one can just be annointed the franchise player. They have to earn it. Waino and Freese are good candidates. Let's see if they can take that step.

The Cardinals have at least 4 guys who have done more to "step up" and "earn it" as any other "franchise player" on almost any other team. Carp, Yadi, Freese, and Wainwright are legitimate postseason and World Series heroes. Matt Holliday is legitimately one of the best players in baseball and has been for years.

The reason why we don't have a single face is that we have a roster full of recognizable faces.

There are alot of players with a ton of memorable moments on the Cards roster, sure, but all of their accomplishments were achieved when Pujols was the face of the franchise. It was all done in his shadow.

For some other player to take the mantle of "face of the franchise" someone is going to have to come out from behind his shadow and take that mantle. Right now, the Cardinals just have a team with no face.

These things will come in time.