1945 St. Louis Cardinals season

The 1945 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 64th season in St. Louis, Missouri and the 54th season in the National League. The Cardinals went 95–59 during the season and finished 2nd in the National League. The Cardinals set a Major League record which still stands, for the fewest double plays grounded into during a season, with only 75.[1]

1945 St. Louis Cardinals
Major League affiliations
Location
Results
Record95–59 (.617)
League place2nd
Other information
Owner(s)Sam Breadon
Manager(s)Billy Southworth
Local radioWIL
(Harry Caray, Gabby Street)
WTMV
(France Laux, Johnny O'Hara)
StatsESPN.com
BB-reference
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Offseason
  • Prior to 1945 season: Steve Bilko was signed by the Cardinals as an amateur free agent.[2]

Regular season

An almost incredible place in baseball history was at stake. Billy Southworth and his Cardinals had a chance to become only the second ball club after the 1921-24 Giants to win four consecutive NL pennants.

However, the war finally drained the Redbirds of the talent needed to win a championship.

Stan Musial, Walker Cooper, Max Lanier and pitcher Mort Cooper, who experienced elbow problems later in the season, got into a contract squabble with Harry Breadon during the spring. They signed contracts for $12,000 apiece, then balked at reporting for opening day after learning Marion had been upped to $15,000.

On May 23, the Cards sent Mort Cooper to the Boston Braves for pitcher Red Barrett, who compiled a league-high total of 23 wins, and $60,000. However, the Redbirds did not have enough pitching depth to keep up with the faster pace of a Chicago Cubs team filled with veteran pitchers such as Paul Derringer.

The Cardinals actually won 16 of their 22 meetings with The Cubs.

Only Whitey Kurowski batted .300 among the regulars. He was one of the few Cardinals were able to keep their jobs once the boys marched home from Europe and the Pacific.

Red Schoendienst stole 26 bases but batted just .278 and drove in only 47 runs.

Season standings
National League W L Pct. GB Home Road
Chicago Cubs 9856 0.636 — 49–26 49–30
St. Louis Cardinals 9559 0.617 3 48–29 47–30
Brooklyn Dodgers 8767 0.565 11 48–30 39–37
Pittsburgh Pirates 8272 0.532 16 45–34 37–38
New York Giants 7874 0.513 19 47–30 31–44
Boston Braves 6785 0.441 30 36–38 31–47
Cincinnati Reds 6193 0.396 37 36–41 25–52
Philadelphia Phillies 46108 0.299 52 22–55 24–53

Record vs. opponents
1945 National League Records

Sources:
Team BOS BR CHC CIN NYG PHI PIT STL
Boston —9–13–17–1510–1210–10–214–87–1510–12
Brooklyn 13–9–1—8–14–111–1115–719–312–109–13
Chicago 15–714–8–1—21–111–1117–514–86–16
Cincinnati 12–1011–111–21—6–1612–1010–129–13
New York 10–10–27–1511–1116–6—17–511–116–16
Philadelphia 8–143–195–1710–125–17—6–169–13
Pittsburgh 15–710–128–1412–1011–1116–6—10–12–1
St. Louis 12–1013–916–613–916–613–912–10–1—

Notable transactions

Roster
1945 St. Louis Cardinals
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders
  • 18 Jim Mallory
 Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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
CKen O'Dea10030778.254443
1BRay Sanders143537148.276878
2BEmil Verban155597166.278072
SSMarty Marion123430119.277159
3BWhitey Kurowski133511165.32321102
OFBuster Adams140578169.29220101
OFJohnny Hopp124446129.289344
OFRed Schoendienst137565157.278147

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
Augie Bergamo9430496.316344
Del Rice8325366.261128
Debs Garms7414649.336018
Art Rebel267225.34705
Lou Klein195713.22816
George Fallon245513.23607
Dave Bartosch244712.25501
Pep Young27477.14914
Jim Mallory134310.23305
Walker Cooper4187.38901
Gene Crumling6121.08301
Glenn Crawford430.00000
John Antonelli230.00000
Bob Keely110.00000

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
Red Barrett36246.22192.7463
Blix Donnelly31166.18103.5276
Harry Brecheen24157.11542.5263
Ted Wilks1898.1472.9328
Max Lanier426221.7316
Mort Cooper423.2201.5214

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
Ken Burkhart42217.11882.9067
George Dockins31126.1863.2133
Bud Byerly3395454.7439
Jack Creel2687544.1434
Al Jurisich2771.2335.1542
Glenn Gardner1754.2313.2920
Stan Partenheimer813.1006.086
Art Lopatka411.2101.545

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
Bill Crouch61003.384

Farm system
Level Team League Manager
AA Columbus Red Birds American Association Charlie Root
AA Rochester Red Wings International League Burleigh Grimes
B Allentown Cardinals Interstate League Ollie Vanek
B Lynchburg Cardinals Piedmont League George Ferrell and Zip Payne
C Winston-Salem Cardinals Carolina League George Smith and George Ferrell
D Johnson City Cardinals Appalachian League Fred Hawn and Runt Marr
D Marion Cardinals Ohio State League Grover Hartley and Wally Schang

[4]

Notes
  1. "Single Season Grounding Into Double Play Records". Baseball-Almanac.com. Retrieved May 14, 2012.
  2. Steve Bilko page at Baseball-Reference
  3. Glenn Crawford page at Baseball Reference
  4. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, N.C.: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007

References


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