1998 St. Louis Cardinals season

The St. Louis Cardinals 1998 season was the team's 117th season in St. Louis, Missouri and the 107th season in the National League. The Cardinals went 83-79 during the season and finished 3rd in the National League Central division, 18 games behind the Houston Astros. First baseman Mark McGwire broke Roger Maris' single-season home run record this season by hitting 70 home runs, battling with the Chicago Cubs' Sammy Sosa, who finished runner-up in the National League with 66.

1998 St. Louis Cardinals
Major League affiliations
Location
Results
Record83–79 (.512)
Divisional place3rd
Other information
Owner(s)William DeWitt, Jr.
General manager(s)Walt Jocketty
Manager(s)Tony La Russa
Local televisionFox Sports Midwest
Joe Buck, (Al Hrabosky, Bob Ramsey)
KPLR
(Bob Carpenter, Bob Ramsey, Rich Gould)
Local radioKMOX
(Jack Buck, Mike Shannon, Joe Buck)
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Offseason

Regular season
  • On May 8, McGwire hit career home run number 400 in his 4,726th at bat, faster than any other player in history who reached 400 home runs.
  • Facing Liván Hernández on May 16, McGwire hit his longest home run of the season, estimated at 545 feet.
  • McGwire hit home run number 50 of the season on August 20, becoming the first Major League ballplayer in history with three consecutive 50-plus home run seasons.
  • McGwire broke Roger Maris' 37-year-old record of 61 home runs on September 8 with a low line drive over Busch Stadium's left field fence. Known for hitting many long home runs, it was ironically the shortest home run McGwire hit that season.

Opening Day Lineup

Season standings
NL Central W L Pct. GB Home Road
Houston Astros 10260 0.630 — 55–26 47–34
Chicago Cubs 9073 0.552 12½ 51–31 39–42
St. Louis Cardinals 8379 0.512 19 48–34 35–45
Cincinnati Reds 7785 0.475 25 39–42 38–43
Milwaukee Brewers 7488 0.457 28 38–43 36–45
Pittsburgh Pirates 6993 0.426 33 40–40 29–53

Record vs. opponents
1998 National League Records

Sources:
Team ARI ATL CHC CIN COL FLA HOU LAD MIL MON NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL AL
Arizona —1–85–74–56–66–24–54–86–32–74–52–76–33–95–72–75–8
Atlanta 8–1—3–67–25–37–54–58–17–26–69–38–47–25–47–26–39–7
Chicago 7–56–3—6–57–27–24–74–56–67–24–53–68–35–47–34–75–8
Cincinnati 5–42–75–6—4–59–03–85–46–58–13–64–55–71–112–78–37-6
Colorado 6–63–52–75–4—6–36–56–64–77–23–65–45–45–77–53–64–8
Florida 2–65–72–70–93–6—3–64–50–95–75–76–63–64–50–94–58–8
Houston 5–45–47–48–35–66-3—3–69–27–25–47–29–25–46–35–710–4
Los Angeles 8–41–85–44–56–65–46–3—5–45–43–55–47–55–76–64–58–5
Milwaukee 3–62–76–65–67–49–02–94–5—6–31–84–56–53–65–43–88–6
Montreal 7–26–62–71–82–77–52–74–53–6—8–45–72–74–43–63–66–10
New York 5–43–95–46–36–37–54–55–38–14–8—8–44–54–54–56–39–7
Philadelphia 7-24–86–35–44–56–62–74–55–47–54–8—8–11–82–63–67–9
Pittsburgh 3–62–73–87–54–56–32–95–75–67–25–41–8—5–42–76–56–7
San Diego 9–34–54–511–17–55–44–57–56–34–45–48–14–5—8–46–36–7
San Francisco 7–52–73–77–25–79–03–66–64–56–35–46–27–24–8—7–58–5
St. Louis 7–23–67–43–86–35-47–55–48–36–33–66–35–63–65–7—4–9

Notable Transactions

Scorecard for McGwire's 70th

Entering the game on September 27 against the Montreal Expos, McGwire had 68 Home Runs. In the third inning, McGwire hit a home run off of Mike Thurman, and in the seventh, he got number 70 off of Carl Pavano. The ball was caught by Philip Ozersky.[7] In January 1999, Todd McFarlane purchased Mark McGwire's 70th home run ball from the 1998 season for a record $3 million.[8]

September 27, Busch Stadium, St. Louis, Missouri

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Montreal 002 100 000 391
St. Louis 111 000 30x 692
W: Frascatore (3-4)  L: Pavano (6-9)   SV: Acevedo (15)   HRs: Cabrera (3), Tatis (8), McGwire 2 (69, 70)
Attendance: 46,110 Time:2:33 U-HP–Rich Rieker, 1B–Joe West, 2B–Kerwin Danley, 3B–Brian Gorman

Aftermath of the 1998 home run chase

A section of Interstate 70 running through downtown St. Louis was renamed "The Mark McGwire Highway." His record stood until Barry Bonds hit 73 in 2001. In years following, revelations of the anabolic steroids scandals have possibly tainted these records, but at the time it was great theater and was largely responsible for drawing many fans back to the game after the 1994 players' strike, which had angered and alienated many of them.

Roster
1998 St. Louis Cardinals
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats
= Indicates team leader

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; Avg. = Batting average; SB = Stolen bases

Pos Player G AB R H HR RBI Avg. SB
CEli Marrero832542862420.2446
1BMark McGwire15550913015270147.2991
2BDelino DeShields11742074122744.29026
3BGary Gaetti9130639811143.2651
SSRoyce Clayton903555983429.23419
LFRon Gant12138360922667.2408
CFRay Lankford1545339415631105.29326
RFBrian Jordan1505641001782591.31617

[9]

Other batters
Player G AB R H HR RBI Avg. SB
David Bell490200.2220
J. D. Drew1436915513.4170
Brian Hunter621121123413.2051
Pat Kelly531531833414.2165
Tom Lampkin932162550628.2313
John Mabry1423774194946.2490
Joe McEwing10205401.2000
Willie McGee1202692768334.2537
Tom Pagnozzi51160735110.2190
Plácido Polanco451141029111.2542
Fernando Tatís552022858826.2877

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games played; IP = Innings Pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO. = Strikeouts; BB = Bases on Balls

Player G IP W L ERA SO BB
Matt Morris17113.7752.537942
Kent Mercker30161.711115.077253
Todd Stottlemyre23161.3993.5114751

Other pitchers
Player G IP W L ERA SO BB
Mark Petkovsek48105.7744.775536
Bobby Witt1747.3254.942820

Relief pitchers
Player G IP W L SV ERA SO BB
Juan Acevedo5098.383152.565629
Kent Bottenfield44133.74644.449857
Jeff Brantley4850.705144.444818
John Frascatore6995.73404.144936

McGwire's 70
Number Date Pitcher Length
1 03-31-1998 Ramón Martínez 364'
2 04-02-1998 Frank Lankford 368'
3 04-03-1998 Mark Langston 364'
4 04-04-1998 Don Wengert 419'
5 04-14-1998 Jeff Suppan 424'
6 04-14-1998 Jeff Suppan 347'
7 04-14-1998 Barry Manuel 462'
8 04-17-1998 Matt Whiteside 419'
9 04-21-1998 Trey Moore 437'
10 04-25-1998 Jerry Spradlin 419'
11 04-30-1998 Marc Pisciotta 371'
12 05-01-1998 Rod Beck 362'
13 05-08-1998 Rick Reed 358'
14 05-12-1998 Paul Wagner 527'
15 05-14-1998 Kevin Millwood 381'
16 05-16-1998 Liván Hernández 545'
17 05-18-1998 Jesus Sanchez 478'
18 05-19-1998 Tyler Green 440'
19 05-19-1998 Tyler Green 471'
20 05-19-1998 Wayne Gomes 451'
21 05-22-1998 Mark Gardner 425'
22 05-23-1998 Rich Rodriguez 366'
23 05-23-1998 John Johnstone 477'
24 05-24-1998 Robb Nen 397'
25 05-25-1998 John Thomson 433'
26 05-29-1998 Dan Miceli 388'
27 05-30-1998 Andy Ashby 423'
28 06-05-1998 Orel Hershiser 409'
29 06-08-1998 Jason Bere 356'
30 06-10-1998 Jim Parque 409'
31 06-12-1998 Andy Benes 438'
32 06-17-1998 José Lima 437'
33 06-18-1998 Shane Reynolds 449'
34 06-24-1998 Jaret Wright 433'
35 06-25-1998 Dave Burba 461'
36 06-27-1998 Mike Trombley 431'
37 06-30-1998 Glendon Rusch 472'
38 07-11-1998 Billy Wagner 485'
39 07-12-1998 Sean Bergman 405'
40 07-12-1998 Scott Elarton 415'
41 07-17-1998 Brian Bohanon 511'
42 07-17-1998 Antonio Osuna 425'
43 07-20-1998 Brian Boehringer 452'
44 07-26-1998 John Thomson 452'
45 07-28-1998 Mike Myers 408'
46 08-08-1998 Mark Clark 374'
47 08-11-1998 Bobby Jones 464'
48 08-19-1998 Matt Karchner 398'
49 08-19-1998 Terry Mulholland 409'
50 08-20-1998 Willie Blair 369'
51 08-20-1998 Rick Reed 393'
52 08-22-1998 Francisco Córdova 477'
53 08-23-1998 Ricardo Rincón 393'
54 08-26-1998 Justin Speier 509'
55 08-30-1998 Dennis Martínez 501'
56 09-01-1998 Liván Hernández 450'
57 09-01-1998 Donn Pall 472'
58 09-02-1998 Brian Edmondson 497'
59 09-02-1998 Rob Stanifer 458'
60 09-05-1998 Dennys Reyes 381'
61 09-07-1998 Mike Morgan 430'
62 09-08-1998 Steve Trachsel 341'
63 09-15-1998 Jason Christiansen 385'
64 09-18-1998 Rafael Roque 423'
65 09-20-1998 Scott Karl 423'
66 09-25-1998 Shayne Bennett 375'
67 09-26-1998 Dustin Hermanson 403'
68 09-26-1998 Kirk Bullinger 435'
69 09-27-1998 Mike Thurman 377'
70 09-27-1998 Carl Pavano 370'

[10]

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Memphis Redbirds Pacific Coast League Gaylen Pitts
AA Arkansas Travelers Texas League Chris Maloney
A Prince William Cannons Carolina League Joe Cunningham, Jr.
A Peoria Chiefs Midwest League Jeff Shireman
A-Short Season New Jersey Cardinals New York–Penn League José Oquendo
Rookie Johnson City Cardinals Appalachian League Steve Turco

[14]

References
  1. Willie McGee Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  2. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/botteke01.shtml
  3. Chip Hale Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  4. J. D. Drew Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  5. https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/bellda01.shtml
  6. https://www.baseball-reference.com/p/pagnoto01.shtml
  7. Sports Illustrated, Volume 109, No. 2, July 14–21, 2008, p.122, Published by Time Inc.
  8. Spawn.Com >> Info >> Todd Mcfarlane Archived 2012-09-15 at WebCite
  9. https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/STL/1990.shtml
  10. Mark McGwire's Seventy Home Run Season by Baseball Almanac
  11. Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p.260, David Nemec and Scott latow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
  12. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on October 7, 2008. Retrieved September 7, 2008.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. Associated Press Athlete of the Year (male)
  14. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
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