With the Cardinals sliding back into our lives with the season opener this week, let鈥檚 have some fun and rank the 25 greatest slides in Cardinals history. These slides were chosen based on a combination of importance, history made, unique elements to the slide and actual intensity and flair provided by the slider.

We鈥檙e only ranking actual slides while running on the base paths, so we won鈥檛 include Chris Carpenter鈥檚 head-first defensive dive into first base in the 2011 World Series. Meanwhile, a Cardinals pitcher will make the list (Dizzy Dean), even though he lives in slide infamy for, as a broadcaster later in life, popularizing the word 鈥渟lud.鈥�

And these slides on the list will only be made by Cardinals themselves. See, you could actually make a case that the most-significant slide in Cardinals history was in Game 7 of the 1926 World Series ... when a sliding Babe Ruth was thrown out trying to steal second with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.

OK, here we go!

1. The greatest hit in Cardinals history fittingly provided the greatest slide. In the 2011 World Series, the Cardinals trailed Texas 7-5 in Game 6 at Busch Stadium. The Rangers were one strike away from their first title. There were two outs, two on and two strikes on St. Louisan David Freese, who drove in two with his miraculous triple. And as he slid heroically head first into third base, he instantly and triumphantly popped up onto his knees (one upon the bag) and stared like a stoic statue. It would鈥檝e been the coolest slide if it was in a June game against Pittsburgh, let alone after a season-saving World Series triple.

2. This slide actually did become a statue. Enos 鈥淐ountry鈥� Slaughter鈥檚 鈥淢ad Dash鈥� is immortalized outside Busch Stadium. In Game 7 of the 1946 World Series, Slaughter was on first in the bottom of the eighth. Tie game. Two outs. With Slaughter running on the pitch, Harry Walker swatted a line drive to left-center. And Slaughter just kept running. He daringly rounded third and rumbled home, sliding for the go-ahead run.

3. Entering 1974, the most bases Lou Brock ever stole was 74. But National League officials, hoping to grow excitement in the game (and in the year of Hank Aaron鈥檚 715th homer), suggested Brock go for the record. Could be captivating. But Brock was 35. And the record was ... 104! Yet the great Cardinal pulled it off. On Sept. 10, 1974, he chugged toward second, sliding hard into the base for his 105th burglary. He finished with 118.

4. Opposing fans were so mad about a slide in 1934 that they threw fruit at the Cardinal. In Game 7 of the 1934 World Series, the Cards took a 9-0 lead as Joe 鈥淒ucky鈥� Medwick slid viciously into third base, feet first. As dust flew, a dust-up occurred between 鈥淒ucky鈥� and the Detroit third baseman, Marv Owen. When Medwick went out to left field the next inning, fans pelted him with fruit and insults. It got so wild, the commissioner of baseball actually removed Medwick from the game. St. Louis won 11-0.

5. Who? Did what? Cardinals backup catcher Glenn Brummer, sliding head first, stole home in the 12th inning to win a 1982 game 鈥� with two outs. Mike Shannon鈥檚 radio call from August of that World Series season became part of local lore: 鈥淏RUMMER鈥橲 STEALING HOME! He is SAAAAFE! ... You wouldn鈥檛 believe it! Glenn Brummer!鈥�

6. Does this count as a slide? Yeah. Let鈥檚 count it. In 1991, rookie Ray Lankford 鈥� who played football at Modesto Junior College 鈥� was on second base in the bottom of the 10th. A teammate was on first. With one out, the Phillies鈥� first baseman fielded a grounder and threw to second. Lankford rounded third and kept going. An infielder鈥檚 throw came home in time 鈥� caught by catcher Darren Daulton 鈥� but Lankford leveled him like a linebacker would. Daulton fell back hard and dropped the ball. The Cards won the game.

7. He slid twice on the play, but the second slide, officially, never happened. Allen Craig was on second, Yadier Molina on third. Game 3 of the 2013 World Series. Bottom of the ninth, tie game. On a grounder to second, 鈥淵adi鈥� was thrown out at home. But Craig scurried and slid safely into third. The ball got away, and third baseman Will Middlebrooks鈥� feet got tangled with Craig鈥檚. A stumbling Craig regained his footing, slid into home and was tagged by the catcher. But 鈥� Middlebrooks was called for obstruction, so Craig officially was granted home ... thus earning the game-winning run. And 3,802 days later, it鈥檚 the last World Series game won by St. Louis.

8. They called him 鈥淭he Wild Horse of the Osage.鈥� Pepper Martin stole two bases in Game 2 of the 1931 World Series, but his triumphant slide was that of the hook variety on a squeeze play. With St. Louis up 1-0 in the seventh, Martin hustled home and eluded Mickey Cochrane鈥檚 reaching tag in a pivotal play. The Cards went on to win the game and the title.

9. Did you know that in the sixth inning of Game 7 in the 1982 World Series, the Cardinals were losing? By two runs, too?聽

But the Cards鈥� Keith Hernandez聽鈥� with his team down, 3-1聽鈥� singled off his former high school teammate Bob McClure of Milwaukee. Ozzie Smith scored! Lonnie Smith scored! And the mustached Mike Ramsey鈥檚 slide into third聽鈥� just beating the tag聽鈥� was more of a belly-flop. His puffy, curly hair went flying every which way.

Covered in caked dirt, Ramsey then scored the go-ahead run on a George Hendrick hit. St. Louis went on to win, 6-3, as Jack Buck announced on KMOX: "That's a winner! That's a winner! A World Series winner for the Cardinals!"

10. In the 1934 World Series, the legendary pitcher Dean was used as a pinch runner in Game 4. His heads-up slide literally broke up a potential double play with his actual head. But 鈥� the star pitcher and beloved bumpkin remained unconscious on the field. A nation awaited the results of his hospital tests. And as the old baseball tale goes, headlines the next day read: 鈥淴-RAY OF DEAN鈥橲 HEAD SHOW NOTHING.鈥�

He proceeded to pitch the next day in Game 5 (losing 3-1). But he threw a shutout in the Game 7 victory.

11. This one earned its status not only because of the slide itself, but also because of the photo capturing it. In Game 6 of the 1967 World Series, Brock lost his helmet and sprinted home on a Curt Flood hit. Lou dove head first on the back side the plate, using his reaching left arm to score. Boston catcher Elston Howard, a St. Louis native, couldn鈥檛 apply the tag in time. And Boston Globe photographer Frank O鈥橞rien took just a wonderful photo聽鈥� Howard holding up his glove, Brock looking at him and the umpire above both screaming: 鈥淪AFE!鈥�

12. In the final month of Ozzie Smith鈥檚 final regular season, 鈥淭he Wizard鈥� transported his 1982 self to St. Louis. He led off at second in the 10th inning of a Sept. 2, 1996 game against Houston聽鈥� the Cards were in a race for the division, trying to return to the postseason for the first time since 1987, when Smith finished second in the MVP voting.

And the batter that 1996 day? Willie McGee.

Smith鈥檚 dear friend chopped a single to center. Ozzie grimaced as he rambled around third. And his feet-first slide beat the throw聽鈥� and the Cards beat the rival Astros.

13. Miguel Mejia, age 21, was a Rule 5 player in 1996 who had to be on the big-league roster or the Cardinals would lose his rights. As a player, Mejia couldn鈥檛, if you will, hit. But he could run. Tony La Russa sometimes used him as a pinch-runner. And such was the case on a Los Angeles night, 11 days after Ozzie鈥檚 walk-off slide (or, perhaps it was a "slide-off"?)

This game in L.A. was scoreless in the ninth. The Cards had two on聽鈥� Mike Gallego on first and pinch-runner Mejia on second. Danny Sheaffer bunted the runners over. Here's how the Post-Dispatch's Rick Hummel captured the scene:

Mejia聽was running with the pitch, on a sign he said he had from Tony La Russa. 鈥� But, like Enos Slaughter in the 1946 World Series,聽Mejia聽didn't stop at third. He roared past coach Tommie Reynolds and slid into catcher Mike Piazza. 鈥�

"My (jaw) sank to my stomach, " Tommie Reynolds said in the aftermath. "I said, `Holy cow, there's no way he can score on that.' " 鈥�

But umpire Gary Darling said聽Mejia聽bounced off Piazza's shin guard with no tag being made. When聽Mejia聽finally touched the plate with his hand, he was called safe and the Dodgers went ballistic, losing manager Bill Russell and two players, who were ejected in the debate.

After Mejia's own mad dash, the Post-Dispatch headline stated: CARDS HEAR THE CALL, WIN 2-0 - `COUNTRY'聽MEJIA聽SCORES IN 9TH.

14. In 1985 game at Wrigley Field, rookie Vince Coleman stole third with a head-first slide 鈥� but overshot the base. Wisely, instead of lunging back toward third and likely getting tagged, Coleman just popped up and started toward home. But he jogged, in efforts to get caught in a run-down and, if anything, buy time for McGee to get to third. But after a couple tosses, the Cubs didn鈥檛 have anyone covering home. 鈥淰incent Van Go鈥� stole home. He finished the year with 110 stolen bases and the rookie of the year honors.

15. A young St. Louisan named David Freese was in the 1996 Busch Stadium stands to witness one of the greatest postseason triples in Cardinals history 鈥� until Freese himself hit the undeniable greatest in 2011. In the 1996 NLCS against Atlanta, the Cardinals took a 3-1 lead in Game 4, thanks in part to rookie Dmitri Young鈥檚 pinch-hit triple, capped off with an epic head-first slide.

16. Mark Hamilton had only four RBIs in his MLB career. But one drove in the only run of a Chris Carpenter-Johnny Cueto pitchers鈥� duel on the Fourth of July. That 2011 day at Busch, Hamilton came to bat as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the eighth. The lefty-swinging Hamilton his a weird ball the other way to third base. Old friend Scott Rolen, then with Cincinnati, made a vintage Scott Rolen play on the ball. But Hamilton took what the Associated Press called 鈥渁 curious wide turn and belatedly slid head first into the bag.鈥澛燞e was safe, a runner scored and the Cards went on to win, 1-0. They sure needed the 鈥淲.鈥� They made the playoffs on the very last day of the season.

17. On the FOX broadcast of the 2012 NLCS, Tim McCarver pointed out that Matt Holliday was one of the "toughest sliders in the National League." On a Game 2 play at second at San Francisco, Holliday leapt late聽鈥� and his hard slide went past the bag, taking out infielder Marco Scutaro. The play encapsulated the physical impact Holliday would make on games in his great St. Louis career.

But the Giants went on to win Game 2 and the series, while Scutaro, of all players, went on to win the NLCS MVP.

18. The longest game in Cardinals history was capped off by a slide from that season鈥檚 rookie of the year. One September night in 1974, the Cardinals-Mets game went 25 innings聽鈥� and lasted seven hours and four minutes. In the ninth, the Cardinals tied the game at 3-3. Nobody scored a run until the top of the 25th. Bake McBride, who went 4 for 10 on the night (and into the morning), was on first when a pickoff throw went wild. Bake just kept on running, all the way home. His didn鈥檛 see the stop sign from the third base coach聽鈥� or, as the manager Red Schoendienst joked to the Post-Dispatch, 鈥淏ake was running so fast that he couldn't see the sign.鈥�

McBride slid home for the go-ahead run. The Cards would win, 4-3.聽聽

19. In Game 2 of the 2013 World Series, Matt Carpenter ripped a deep sacrifice fly RBI. Sliding Pete Kozma tied the game, 2-2. But the ball got away, so Jon Jay sped over to third from second.

But then, the throw got away and the second error on the play allowed Jay to score. St. Louis took the seventh inning lead, 3-2, and won the game.

20. On April 4, 2017, Cardinals outfielder Stephen Piscotty was hit by a pitch.

On a passed ball, he hustled to second 鈥� but the throw hit Piscotty during his slide.

Then, Piscotty ran to third on an ball hit in the infield 鈥� and after the fielding was botched, Piscotty headed home. His slide was perfect聽鈥� the throw was not.

It hit him right in the head.

Three times in one inning.聽

21. The 1942 season was Stan Musial鈥檚 first full one in the bigs. Sure enough, the Cards made the World Series.

With St. Louis up on the Yankees, two games to one, New York took an early lead in Game 4. But in the fourth, Musial got on, actually via a bunt. And then, 鈥淭he Man鈥� ran from first to third on a Walker Cooper hit, sliding feet-first. It was a close play at third, but Stan was safe.

He鈥檇 score on a Whitey Kurowski single ... and the Cards tallied six聽total runs in the inning. They cruised to a Game 4 win. And won the title in Game 5. 聽

22. On August 29, 1977, Brock slid into history. It was his 893rd stolen base, surpassing Ty Cobb鈥檚 career total for first all-time in the modern era. The Cardinals, in their baby blue V-necks, rushed the field in San Diego to celebrate.

After the fact, historians discovered that Cobb actually had five uncredited steals. But Brock finished his career with 938, thus surpassing Cobb鈥檚 revised total, as well as the total of 1800s player Billy Hamilton (914). Brock鈥檚 total stands as the National League鈥檚 record for most stolen bases.

23. The 1944 World Series was St. Louis vs. St. Louis.

Game 6, as all of the games were, was played at 榴莲视频man鈥檚 Park at the corner of Grand and Dodier. With the score tied 1-1 in the fourth, a Cardinal by the name of Emil Verban hit a sacrifice fly. Teammate Ray Sanders sprinted home and slid in for the go-ahead run. The Cardinals didn鈥檛 relinquish the lead and won the World Series that day.

24. The Cardinals needed to win Game 6 of the 1987 NLCS to stay alive. On a Jose Oquendo sacrifice fly, slow-footed Tony Pena was nearly tagged out by his catching cohort. But Pena eluded a tag and sort of lunged and plopped onto home plate. It was the game鈥檚 only run. St. Louis went on to win the pennant.

25. In August of 2018, hair-raising Harrison Bader slid hair-first into third base. His body whipped around the bag. He was sprawled on his stomach, touching the base without his helmet on, while looking up at the dugout with a huge smile. Just a of sliding glee.