The St. Louis Cardinals rank with the San Francisco Giants as the most successful franchises in the National League. Whether by pennants or World Series championships or Hall-of-Famers, both franchises have been more successful than their competitors in the league. Which Cardinal, however, with at least 100 at-bats against the Giants, has done the best batting against them since 1914? It’s Mark McGwire, the most prolific home-run hitter in the history of the major leagues. In five years with the Cardinals, McGwire had 159 plate appearances against Giant pitchers, and he hit .295/.497/.732, for an OPS of 1.229, 149 points more than runner-up Ron Northey. Northey has the biggest gap between his OPS against the Giants and his OPS against the National League as a whole during his years with the Cardinals (1.080 against the Giants, compared to .862 against the NL).
Others on the list include Johnny Mize (#4), Rogers Hornsby (#6), Al Dark (#10), Billy Southworth (#13), Joe Medwick (#15) and Walker Cooper (#22).
The complete list is here.