1946_St._Louis_Cardinals_season
1946 St. Louis Cardinals season
Major League Baseball team season
The 1946 St. Louis Cardinals season was a season in American baseball. It was the team's 65th season in St. Louis, Missouri and their 55th season in the National League. The Cardinals went 96–58 during the championship season and finished tied with the Brooklyn Dodgers for first in the National League. St. Louis then won a best-of-three playoff for the pennant, two games to none. In the World Series, they won in seven games over the Boston Red Sox. They won on Enos Slaughter's "mad dash" that gave them a 4–3 lead in the eighth inning of game 7.
| 1946 St. Louis Cardinals | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| World Series Champions National League Champions | ||||
| League | National League | |||
| Ballpark | Sportsman's Park | |||
| City | St. Louis, Missouri | |||
| Record | 96–58 (.628) | |||
| League place | 1st | |||
| Owners | Sam Breadon | |||
| General managers | William Walsingham Jr. | |||
| Managers | Eddie Dyer | |||
| Radio | WIL (Dizzy Dean, Johnny O'Hara) WTMV/WEW (Harry Caray, Gabby Street) | |||
| Stats | ESPN.com BB-reference | |||
| ||||
- Prior to 1946 season: Solly Hemus was signed as an amateur free agent by the Cardinals.[1]
First baseman Stan Musial won the MVP Award this year, batting .365, with 16 home runs and 103 RBIs.
Season standings
| National League | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Louis Cardinals | 98 | 58 | 0.628 | — | 49–29 | 49–29 |
| Brooklyn Dodgers | 96 | 60 | 0.615 | 2 | 56–22 | 40–38 |
| Chicago Cubs | 82 | 71 | 0.536 | 14½ | 44–33 | 38–38 |
| Boston Braves | 81 | 72 | 0.529 | 15½ | 45–31 | 36–41 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 69 | 85 | 0.448 | 28 | 41–36 | 28–49 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 67 | 87 | 0.435 | 30 | 35–42 | 32–45 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 63 | 91 | 0.409 | 34 | 37–40 | 26–51 |
| New York Giants | 61 | 93 | 0.396 | 36 | 38–39 | 23–54 |
Record vs. opponents
Sources: | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | BOS | BR | CHC | CIN | NYG | PHI | PIT | STL | |||||
| Boston | — | 5–17 | 12–9–1 | 15–7 | 13–9 | 14–8 | 15–7 | 7–15 | |||||
| Brooklyn | 17–5 | — | 11–11 | 14–8–1 | 15–7 | 17–5 | 14–8 | 8–16 | |||||
| Chicago | 9–12–1 | 11–11 | — | 13–9 | 17–5 | 12–10 | 12–10–1 | 8–14 | |||||
| Cincinnati | 7–15 | 8–14–1 | 9–13 | — | 14–8 | 8–14–1 | 13–9 | 8–14 | |||||
| New York | 9–13 | 7–15 | 5–17 | 8–14 | — | 12–10 | 10–12 | 10–12 | |||||
| Philadelphia | 8–14 | 5–17 | 10–12 | 14–8–1 | 10–12 | — | 14–8 | 8–14 | |||||
| Pittsburgh | 7–15 | 8–14 | 10–12–1 | 9–13 | 12–10 | 8–14 | — | 9–13 | |||||
| St. Louis | 15–7 | 16–8 | 14–8 | 14–8 | 12–10 | 14–8 | 13–9 | — | |||||
Notable transactions
- July 1946: Jim Gleeson was traded by the Cardinals to the Boston Red Sox for Don Lang and Bill Howerton.[2]
Roster
| 1946 St. Louis Cardinals | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roster | |||||||||
Pitchers
|
Catchers
Infielders
|
Outfielders
Other batters
|
Manager
Coaches
| ||||||
Batting
Starters by position
Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | Joe Garagiola | 74 | 211 | 50 | .237 | 3 | 22 |
| 1B | Stan Musial | 156 | 624 | 228 | .365 | 16 | 103 |
| 2B | Red Schoendienst | 142 | 606 | 170 | .281 | 0 | 34 |
| 3B | Whitey Kurowski | 142 | 519 | 156 | .301 | 14 | 89 |
| SS | Marty Marion | 146 | 498 | 116 | .233 | 3 | 46 |
| OF | Harry Walker | 112 | 346 | 82 | .237 | 3 | 27 |
| OF | Erv Dusak | 100 | 275 | 66 | .240 | 9 | 42 |
| OF | Enos Slaughter | 156 | 609 | 183 | .300 | 18 | 130 |
Other batters
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Terry Moore | 91 | 278 | 73 | .263 | 3 | 2 |
| Dick Sisler | 83 | 235 | 61 | .260 | 3 | 42 |
| Buster Adams | 81 | 173 | 32 | .185 | 5 | 22 |
| Del Rice | 55 | 139 | 38 | .273 | 1 | 12 |
| Clyde Kluttz | 52 | 136 | 36 | .265 | 0 | 14 |
| Lou Klein | 23 | 93 | 18 | .194 | 1 | 4 |
| Jeff Cross | 49 | 69 | 15 | .217 | 0 | 6 |
| Ken O'Dea | 22 | 57 | 7 | .123 | 1 | 3 |
| Bill Endicott | 20 | 20 | 4 | .200 | 0 | 3 |
| Walter Sessi | 15 | 14 | 2 | .143 | 1 | 2 |
| Nippy Jones | 16 | 12 | 4 | .333 | 0 | 1 |
| Danny Litwhiler | 6 | 5 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Del Wilber | 4 | 4 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Emil Verban | 1 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
Pitching
Starting pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Howie Pollet | 40 | 266.0 | 21 | 10 | 2.10 | 107 |
| Harry Brecheen | 36 | 231.0 | 15 | 15 | 2.49 | 117 |
| Johnny Beazley | 19 | 103.0 | 7 | 5 | 4.46 | 36 |
| Ken Burkhart | 25 | 100.0 | 6 | 3 | 2.88 | 32 |
Other pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red Barrett | 23 | 67.0 | 3 | 2 | 4.03 | 22 |
| Max Lanier | 6 | 56.0 | 6 | 0 | 1.93 | 36 |
| Red Munger | 10 | 48.2 | 2 | 2 | 3.33 | 28 |
| Fred Martin | 6 | 28.2 | 2 | 1 | 4.08 | 19 |
| Freddy Schmidt | 16 | 27.1 | 1 | 0 | 3.29 | 14 |
Relief pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Murry Dickson | 47 | 15 | 6 | 1 | 2.88 | 82 |
| Al Brazle | 37 | 11 | 10 | 1 | 3.29 | 58 |
| Ted Wilks | 40 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 3.41 | 40 |
| Howie Krist | 15 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6.75 | 3 |
| Blix Donnelly | 13 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3.95 | 11 |
| Johnny Grodzicki | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.00 | 2 |
NL St. Louis Cardinals (4) vs. AL Boston Red Sox (3)
| Game | Score | Date | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boston 3, St. Louis 2 (10 innings) | October 6 | 36,218 |
| 2 | St. Louis 3, Boston 0 | October 7 | 35,815 |
| 3 | Boston 4, St. Louis 0 | October 9 | 34,500 |
| 4 | St. Louis 12, Boston 3 | October 10 | 35,645 |
| 5 | Boston 6, St. Louis 3 | October 11 | 35,982 |
| 6 | St. Louis 4, Boston 1 | October 13 | 35,768 |
| 7 | St. Louis 4, Boston 3 | October 15 | 36,143 |
- Stan Musial, National League leader, Triples, (20).[3]
- Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 95, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
- Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007