St Louis Cardinals History

St Louis Cardinals Baseball History

St. Louis Cardinals (baseball), professional baseball team and one of six teams in the Central Division of the National League (NL). Formerly called the Brown Stockings and the Perfectos, the club plays at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri, and wears uniforms of white, red, and yellow.

St. Louis won its first World Series championship in 1926 behind the hitting of infielder Rogers Hornsby, who had twice won the Triple Crown by leading the league in batting average, home runs, and runs batted in (RBIs) in 1922 and 1925. Hornsby’s lifetime batting average of .358 is second only to that of Ty Cobb.

During the 1930s and 1940s the club won seven pennants and five World Series championships with such stars as Dizzy Dean, Leo Durocher, Frankie Frisch, Joe “Ducky” Medwick, Johnny Mize, Stan Musial, and Red Schoendienst. Musial, who played until 1963, collected 3,630 career hits and recorded a .331 lifetime batting average.

The Cardinals compiled three pennants and two World Series championships in the 1960s, led by pitchers Steve Carlton and Bob Gibson, base-stealer Lou Brock, and slugger Orlando Cepeda. Gibson’s 1968 season, which earned him both the Cy Young Award and the NL most valuable player (MVP) award, ranks among the finest pitching performances in modern baseball.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s Ozzie Smith won 13 consecutive Gold Glove Awards. He also played in more games, compiled more assists, and turned more double plays than any shortstop in major league history. The Cardinals won their ninth World Series in 1982. In 1998 first baseman Mark McGwire hit 70 home runs, breaking the single-season record of 61 set by New York Yankees outfielder Roger Maris in 1961.

The Cardinals’ ancestors were the St. Louis Brown Stockings (also known as the Browns), a team that in 1882 became a charter member of the American Association (AA), a league formed to rival the National League. The Browns won four consecutive AA titles from 1885 to 1888, led by two-time batting champion, outfielder Tip O’Neill.

The AA folded in 1891 and the Browns joined the NL the next year. The club changed its name to the Perfectos in 1899, but when team members wore new white and cardinal red uniforms in 1900, they were dubbed Cardinals and the name stuck. The franchise struggled for years, placing no better than third in the league and going through 25 managers from 1892 through 1925.

Hornsby took over as player-manager in 1926 and guided the Cardinals to a World Series championship that year. To the outrage of Cardinals fans, he was traded to the New York Giants in 1927. Yet the Cardinals spent much of the 1930s on top of the NL. Powered by the hitting of outfielder Chick Hafey and first baseman Jim Bottomley, St. Louis won the pennant in 1930 and the World Series in 1931. Second baseman Frankie Frisch was hired as player-manager in 1932 and led the team to a third World Series victory in 1934. In addition to Frisch, the 1934 Cardinals featured home-run king Ripper Collins, 30-game-winner Dizzy Dean, shortstop Leo Durocher, stolen-base champion Pepper Martin, and triples leader Ducky Medwick. The team was dubbed the Gashouse Gang because of its aggressive play and rowdy behavior. During winning streaks, team members refused to change their uniforms, no matter how filthy they became. They also got into fights with other teams and with each other and were sometimes thrown out of hotels.

Much of the Cardinals’ success was due to the innovations of general manager Branch Rickey, who built a system of minor league farm teams that developed talented, young players. With this system and the power hitting of outfielders “Stan the Man” Musial and Enos Slaughter, the Cardinals dominated the NL during the 1940s. From 1942 to 1946 the club won four pennants and three World Series. Musial’s offensive skills won him the NL most valuable player (MVP) award in 1944, 1946, and again in 1948, when he led the major leagues in batting, hits, doubles, and triples.

St. Louis floundered during the 1950s, placing as high as second only once. In 1953 beer industry mogul August Busch, Jr., purchased the franchise and began to rebuild. The addition of outfielders Lou Brock and Curt Flood and pitchers Steve Carlton and Bob Gibson resulted in three World Series appearances and two Series titles in the 1960s. Shoendienst became manager in 1965 and guided the club for 12 years. In 1968 Gibson put together an astonishing 22 wins, 13 shutouts, and a 1.12 earned run average (ERA).

The Cardinals failed to win a pennant during the 1970s, although Brock broke the major league record for the most steals in a single season with 118 and the all-time career steals record with 938. (Both records were later broken by Rickey Henderson of the Oakland Athletics). During that time Gibson also became only the second pitcher in baseball history to amass more than 3,000 career strikeouts. (Walter Johnson was the first.)

A new Cardinal era began in 1980 when Whitey Herzog was hired to manage the club. The team won three NL pennants and one World Series in the 1980s. Herzog’s many stars included first basemen Jack Clark and Keith Hernandez; outfielders Vince Coleman, Willie McGee, Andy Van Slyke, and Lonnie Smith; shortstop Ozzie Smith; and pitchers Joaquin Andujar and John Tudor. The speed of McGee, Ozzie Smith, and Lonnie Smith made the Cardinals one of the fastest teams in the NL.

Former Cardinal Joe Torre became manager in 1990. After three consecutive third-place finishes from 1992 through 1994, Torre was replaced in 1995 by Mike Jorgensen. Tony LaRussa, former manager of the Oakland Athletics, became manager before the 1996 season. The following year St. Louis bolstered its lineup by acquiring slugger Mark McGwire in a mid-season trade with the Athletics. McGwire quickly adjusted to the shift from the American League to the NL and hit 24 home runs for the Cardinals (totaling 58 for the entire season).

During the 1998 season McGwire and Chicago Cubs outfielder Sammy Sosa both threatened to surpass Maris’s 37-year-old single-season home run record. McGwire broke the record on September 8, 1998, with his 62nd home run, off Cubs pitcher Steve Trachsel. McGwire finished the season with a total of 70 home runs and Sosa finished with 66. In 1999 McGwire hit 65 home runs but the Cardinals finished with a losing record. In 2000 St. Louis won the NL Central Division to earn a postseason berth, but the team lost in the NL Championship Series to the New York Mets.
St. Louis made the postseason in 2000, 2001, and 2002 but lost in the playoffs each year. In 2004 the Cardinals won 105 games during the regular season, the most in baseball, and reached the World Series before being swept there by the Boston Red Sox.

CHAMPIONSHIPS

1926 - d. NY Cardinals in 7 games
1931 - d. Philadelphia in 7 games
1934 - d. Detroit in 7 games
1942 - d. NY Cardinals in 5 games
1944 - d. St. Louis Browns in 6 games
1946 - d. Boston in 7 games
1964 - d. NY Cardinals in 7 games
1967 - d. Boston in 7 games
1982 - d. Milwaukee in 7 games
AA Pennant - 1885, 1886, 1887, 1888.
NL Pennant - 1926, 1928, 1930, 1931, 1934, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1946, 1964, 1967, 1968, 1982, 1985, 1987
TOP MANAGER
Red Schoendienst managed the team from 1965-1976, 1980 and 1990 and finished with a 1041-955 record and a World Series championship in 1967. Whitey Herzog managed the Cardinals in 1980, 1981-1990 and finished with an 822-728 record. He was named NL Manager of the Year in 1985. Tony La Russa has served as manager since 1996 and had a 414-395 record entering the 2001 season.

MVPS
Frank Frisch (1931), Dizzy Dean (1934), Joe Medwick (1937), Mort Cooper (1942), Stan Musial (1943), Marty Marion (1944), Stan Musial (1946, 1948), Ken Boyer (1964), Orlando Cepeda (1967), Bob Gibson (1968), Joe Torre (1971), Keith Hernandez (co-winner in 1979), Willie McGee (1985)

CY YOUNG
Bob Gibson (1968, 1970)

ROOKIE OF YEAR
Wally Moon (1954), Bill Virdon (1955), Bake McBride (1974), Vince Coleman (1985), Todd Worrell (1986), Albert Pujols (2001)

RETIRED NUMBERS
1 - Ozzie Smith (SS)
2 - Red Schoendienst (2B)
6 - Stan Musial (OF, 1B)
9 - Enos Slaughter (OF)
14 - Ken Boyer (3B)
17 - Dizzy Dean (P)
20 - Lou Brock (OF)
45 - Bob Gibson (P)