Why StanGraphs? Well, that’s a pretty funny story. See, we used to worship Albert Pujols in a quite literal sense. From 2001-2011, it was hard to be a Cardinal fan and imagine life without Albert. Happily, he departed via free agency and ensured we would never have to worry about trying to imagine it; it became a stark reality instead. Here we discovered firmly where our loyalties were: with the city, the team, the organization as a whole and its storied history. And what Cardinal better embodies our beloved franchise than Stan Musial, a great player from an era before such emotional complications were possible?

We felt that StanGraphs was the perfect name because it honors the greatest Cardinal ever, gives a nod to an extremely influential advanced statistics site we frequent regularly (FanGraphs) and most importantly, sends a clear message to Mr. Pujols: you broke our heart and now we’re going to brag about how much better we had it with our ex. Furthermore, we are more confident than ever in the organization’s philosophy and ability to win in the foreseeable future, even without an icon who is the best we’ll ever see play in this lifetime (even if he is not as big of an icon as Stan). We hope you enjoy our work. If not, we’ll grow on you. Read some more and you’ll see.

In December of 2012, StanGraphs was honored as the Best Rookie Blog by the United Cardinal Bloggers group. That’s right; we were the best new blog on the entire internet! We’re setting our sights higher for 2013 as we attempt to take home a number of awards. Among them will likely be Best Team Blog, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, and Pulitzer Prize. You heard it here first.