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)
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