1959 St. Louis Cardinals | ||
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League | National League | |
Ballpark | Busch Stadium I | |
City | St. Louis, Missouri | |
Record | 71–83 (.461) | |
League place | 7th | |
Owners | August "Gussie" Busch | |
General managers | Bing Devine | |
Managers | Solly Hemus | |
Television | KPLR | |
Radio | KMOX (Harry Caray, Jack Buck, Joe Garagiola) | |
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The 1959 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 78th season in St. Louis, Missouri and its 68th season in the National League. The Cardinals went 71–83 during the season and finished seventh in the National League, 16 games behind the NL pennant winner and World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers. They attracted 929,953 paying fans to Busch Stadium, fifth in the eight-team league.[1]
The Cardinals played the league's best baseball from early May into late July, during which time they went 40–30. In the end, pitching failed the Redbirds. Their 4.34 ERA was ranked worst in the National League.
There were some bright spots to the season. Larry Jackson and Lindy McDaniel, who found success and saved 15 games after an early-season move to the bullpen, each won a team-high 14 games. Also, third baseman Ken Boyer won a Gold Glove this year.
Right fielder Joe Cunningham led the National League in on-base percentage at .453 and batted .345 to finish second to Hank Aaron for the National League batting title.
Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Los Angeles Dodgers | 88 | 68 | .564 | — | 46–32 | 42–36 |
Milwaukee Braves | 86 | 70 | .551 | 2 | 49–29 | 37–41 |
San Francisco Giants | 83 | 71 | .539 | 4 | 42–35 | 41–36 |
Pittsburgh Pirates | 78 | 76 | .506 | 9 | 47–30 | 31–46 |
Chicago Cubs | 74 | 80 | .481 | 13 | 38–39 | 36–41 |
Cincinnati Reds | 74 | 80 | .481 | 13 | 43–34 | 31–46 |
St. Louis Cardinals | 71 | 83 | .461 | 16 | 42–35 | 29–48 |
Philadelphia Phillies | 64 | 90 | .416 | 23 | 37–40 | 27–50 |
Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] | |||||||||||||
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Team | CHC | CIN | LA | MIL | PHI | PIT | SF | STL | |||||
Chicago | — | 9–13 | 11–11 | 10–12 | 10–12–1 | 12–10 | 12–10 | 10–12 | |||||
Cincinnati | 13–9 | — | 13–9 | 11–11 | 9–13 | 9–13 | 8–14 | 11–11 | |||||
Los Angeles | 11–11 | 9–13 | — | 14–10 | 17–5 | 11–11 | 14–8 | 12–10 | |||||
Milwaukee | 12–10 | 11–11 | 10–14 | — | 13–9 | 15–7–1 | 12–10 | 13–9 | |||||
Philadelphia | 12–10–1 | 13–9 | 5–17 | 9–13 | — | 9–13 | 9–13 | 7–15 | |||||
Pittsburgh | 10–12 | 13–9 | 11–11 | 7–15–1 | 13–9 | — | 10–12 | 14–8 | |||||
San Francisco | 10–12 | 14–8 | 8–14 | 10–12 | 13–9 | 12–10 | — | 16–6 | |||||
St. Louis | 12–10 | 11–11 | 10–12 | 9–13 | 15–7 | 8–14 | 6–16 | — |
1959 St. Louis Cardinals | |||||||||
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Roster | |||||||||
Pitchers
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Catchers
Infielders
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Outfielders
Other batters |
Manager
Coaches
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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 |
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C | Hal R. Smith | 142 | 452 | 122 | .270 | 13 | 50 |
1B | Stan Musial | 115 | 341 | 87 | .255 | 14 | 44 |
2B | Don Blasingame | 150 | 615 | 178 | .289 | 1 | 24 |
SS | Alex Grammas | 131 | 368 | 99 | .269 | 3 | 30 |
3B | Ken Boyer | 149 | 563 | 174 | .309 | 28 | 94 |
LF | Bill White | 138 | 517 | 156 | .302 | 12 | 72 |
CF | Gino Cimoli | 143 | 519 | 145 | .279 | 8 | 72 |
RF | Joe Cunningham | 144 | 458 | 158 | .345 | 7 | 60 |
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 |
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Curt Flood | 121 | 208 | 53 | .255 | 7 | 26 |
Gene Oliver | 68 | 172 | 42 | .244 | 6 | 28 |
George Crowe | 77 | 103 | 31 | .301 | 8 | 29 |
Wally Shannon | 47 | 95 | 27 | .284 | 0 | 5 |
Ray Jablonski | 60 | 87 | 22 | .253 | 3 | 14 |
Gene Green | 30 | 74 | 14 | .189 | 1 | 3 |
Bobby Smith | 43 | 60 | 13 | .217 | 1 | 7 |
Dick Gray | 36 | 51 | 16 | .314 | 1 | 6 |
Lee Tate | 41 | 50 | 7 | .140 | 1 | 4 |
Chuck Essegian | 17 | 39 | 7 | .179 | 0 | 5 |
Jay Porter | 23 | 33 | 7 | .212 | 1 | 2 |
Tim McCarver | 8 | 24 | 4 | .167 | 0 | 0 |
Ray Katt | 15 | 24 | 7 | .292 | 0 | 2 |
Duke Carmel | 10 | 23 | 3 | .130 | 0 | 3 |
Solly Hemus | 24 | 17 | 4 | .235 | 0 | 1 |
Irv Noren | 8 | 8 | 1 | .125 | 0 | 0 |
Chick King | 5 | 7 | 3 | .429 | 0 | 1 |
Joe Durham | 6 | 5 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
Charlie O'Rourke | 2 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
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Larry Jackson | 40 | 256.0 | 14 | 13 | 3.30 | 145 |
Vinegar Bend Mizell | 31 | 201.1 | 13 | 10 | 4.20 | 108 |
Ernie Broglio | 35 | 181.1 | 7 | 12 | 4.72 | 133 |
Bob Gibson | 13 | 75.2 | 3 | 5 | 3.33 | 48 |
Bob Miller | 11 | 70.2 | 4 | 3 | 3.31 | 43 |
Tom Hughes | 2 | 4.0 | 0 | 2 | 15.75 | 2 |
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
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Gary Blaylock | 26 | 100.0 | 4 | 5 | 5.13 | 61 |
Dick Ricketts | 12 | 55.2 | 1 | 6 | 5.82 | 25 |
Alex Kellner | 12 | 37.0 | 2 | 1 | 3.16 | 19 |
Tom Cheney | 11 | 11.2 | 0 | 1 | 6.94 | 8 |
Bob Blaylock | 3 | 9.0 | 0 | 1 | 4.00 | 3 |
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
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Lindy McDaniel | 62 | 14 | 12 | 16 | 3.82 | 86 |
Marshall Bridges | 27 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 4.26 | 76 |
Jim Brosnan | 20 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4.91 | 18 |
Dean Stone | 18 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4.20 | 17 |
Howie Nunn | 16 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 7.59 | 20 |
Bob Duliba | 11 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2.78 | 14 |
Hal Jeffcoat | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9.17 | 7 |
Jack Urban | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.28 | 4 |
Phil Clark | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 12.86 | 5 |
Bill Smith | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1.08 | 4 |
Marv Grissom | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22.50 | 0 |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Winnipeg, Billings[14]