1954 St. Louis Cardinals season

Major League Baseball season

Major League Baseball team season

1954 St. Louis Cardinals

League| National League
Ballpark| Busch Stadium I
City| St. Louis, Missouri
Record| 72–82 (.468)
League place| 6th
Owners| August "Gussie" Busch
General managers| Richard A. Meyer
Managers| Eddie Stanky
Television| WTVI
Radio| KXOK
(Harry Caray, Jack Buck, Milo Hamilton)
Stats| ESPN.com
Baseball Reference
| <- 1953 | Seasons | 1955 ->

|
|

The 1954 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 73rd season in St. Louis, Missouri and its 63rd season in the National League. The Cardinals went 72–82 during the season and finished sixth in the National League.

## Offseason

[edit]

* December 1, 1953: 1953 minor league draft
* Brooks Lawrence was drafted by the Cardinals from the Cincinnati Reds.[1]
* December 1, 1953: Sonny Senerchia was drafted by the Cardinals from the Pittsburgh Pirates.[2]
* January 26, 1954: Dick Sisler, Eddie Erautt and $100,000 were traded by the Cardinals to the San Diego Padres for Tom Alston.[3]

## Regular season

[edit]

In his first four major league games, first baseman Joe Cunningham became the first Cardinals player to hit at least two home runs. On April 6, 2016, Jeremy Hazelbaker matched him for this feat.[4]

Outfielder Wally Moon won the Rookie of the Year Award this year, batting .304, with 12 home runs and 76 RBIs. Along the way, on April 13 Moon hit a home run in his first major league at-bat.[5]

During the season, Tom Alston became the first black player in the history of the Cardinals.[6]

### Season standings

[edit]

* v
* t
* e

National League Team  | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road

|
|
|
|
|
|

New York Giants | 97 | 57  | .630  | —  | 53‍–‍23  | 44‍–‍34
Brooklyn Dodgers | 92 | 62  | .597  | 5  | 45‍–‍32  | 47‍–‍30
Milwaukee Braves | 89 | 65  | .578  | 8  | 43‍–‍34  | 46‍–‍31
Philadelphia Phillies | 75 | 79  | .487  | 22  | 39‍–‍39  | 36‍–‍40
Cincinnati Redlegs | 74 | 80  | .481  | 23  | 41‍–‍36  | 33‍–‍44
St. Louis Cardinals | 72 | 82  | .468  | 25  | 33‍–‍44  | 39‍–‍38
Chicago Cubs | 64 | 90  | .416  | 33  | 40‍–‍37  | 24‍–‍53
Pittsburgh Pirates | 53 | 101  | .344  | 44  | 31‍–‍46  | 22‍–‍55

### Record vs. opponents

[edit]

1954 National League record

* v
* t
* e

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

Team  | BKN  | CHC  | CIN  | MIL  | NYG  | PHP  | PIT  | STL
Brooklyn | — | 15–7 | 16–6 | 10–12 | 9–13 | 13–9 | 15–7 | 14–8
Chicago | 7–15 | — | 8–14 | 6–16 | 7–15 | 7–15 | 15–7 | 14–8
Cincinnati | 6–16 | 14–8 | — | 10–12 | 7–15 | 14–8 | 15–7 | 8–14
Milwaukee | 12–10 | 16–6 | 12–10 | — | 10–12 | 13–9 | 14–8 | 12–10
New York | 13–9 | 15–7 | 15–7 | 12–10 | — | 16–6 | 14–8 | 12–10
Philadelphia | 9–13 | 15–7 | 8–14 | 9–13 | 6–16 | — | 16–6 | 12–10
Pittsburgh | 7–15 | 7–15 | 7–15 | 8–14 | 8–14 | 6–16 | — | 10–12
St. Louis | 8–14 | 8–14 | 14–8 | 10–12 | 10–12 | 10–12 | 12–10 | —

### Notable transactions

[edit]

* April 11, 1954: Enos Slaughter was traded by the Cardinals to the New York Yankees for Bill Virdon, Mel Wright, and Emil Tellinger (minors).[7]
* April 30, 1954: Steve Bilko was purchased from the Cardinals by the Chicago Cubs for $12,500.[8]

### Roster

[edit]

1954 St. Louis Cardinals

Roster
Pitchers

* 39 Ralph Beard
* 27 Al Brazle
* 22 Cot Deal
* 34 Bill Greason
* 42 Harvey Haddix
* 45 Gordon Jones
* 31 Brooks Lawrence
* 25 Royce Lint
* 40 Memo Luna
* 36 Stu Miller
* 23 Tom Poholsky
* 32 Joe Presko
* 17 Vic Raschi
* 31 Carl Scheib
* 14 Gerry Staley
* 10 Ben Wade
* 26 Hal White
* 39 Mel Wright

|  | Catchers

* 18 Del Rice
* 15 Bill Sarni
* 21 Sal Yvars

Infielders

* 10 Tom Alston
* 5 Steve Bilko
* 1 Pete Castiglione
* 28 Joe Cunningham
* 4 Alex Grammas
* 7 Solly Hemus
* 11 Ray Jablonski
* 2 Red Schoendienst
* 19 Dick Schofield

|  | Outfielders

* 28 Tom Burgess
* 24 Joe Frazier
* 37 Peanuts Lowrey
* 20 Wally Moon
* 6 Stan Musial
* 8 Rip Repulski

|  | Manager

* 12 Eddie Stanky

Coaches

* \-- Lou Kahn
* 33 Bill Posedel
* 29 Johnny Riddle
* 35 Mike Ryba

## Player stats

[edit]

### Batting

[edit]

#### Starters by position

[edit]

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 | Bill Sarni | 123 | 380 | 114 | .300 | 9 | 70
1B | Joe Cunningham | 85 | 310 | 88 | .284 | 11 | 50
2B | Red Schoendienst | 148 | 610 | 192 | .315 | 5 | 79
SS | Alex Grammas | 142 | 401 | 106 | .264 | 2 | 29
3B | Ray Jablonski | 152 | 611 | 181 | .296 | 12 | 104
LF | Rip Repulski | 152 | 619 | 175 | .283 | 19 | 79
CF | Wally Moon | 151 | 635 | 193 | .304 | 12 | 76
RF | Stan Musial | 153 | 591 | 195 | .330 | 35 | 126

#### Other batters

[edit]

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

|
|
|
|
|
|

Tom Alston | 66 | 244 | 60 | .246 | 4 | 34
Solly Hemus | 124 | 214 | 65 | .304 | 2 | 27
Del Rice | 56 | 147 | 37 | .252 | 2 | 16
Joe Frazier | 81 | 88 | 26 | .295 | 3 | 18
Peanuts Lowrey | 74 | 61 | 7 | .115 | 0 | 5
Sal Yvars | 38 | 57 | 14 | .246 | 2 | 8
Tom Burgess | 17 | 21 | 1 | .048 | 0 | 1
Steve Bilko | 8 | 14 | 2 | .143 | 0 | 1
Ducky Schofield | 43 | 7 | 1 | .143 | 0 | 1
Pete Castiglione | 5 | 0 | 0 | \
- | 0 | 0

### Pitching

[edit]

#### Starting pitchers

[edit]

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player  | G  | IP  | W  | L  | ERA  | SO

|
|
|
|
|
|

Harvey Haddix | 43 | 259.2 | 18 | 13 | 3.57 | 184
Vic Raschi | 30 | 179.0 | 8 | 9 | 4.73 | 73
Gordon Jones | 11 | 81.0 | 4 | 4 | 2.00 | 48
Ralph Beard | 13 | 58.0 | 0 | 4 | 3.72 | 17
Memo Luna | 1 | 0.2 | 0 | 1 | 27.00 | 0

#### Other pitchers

[edit]

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player  | G  | IP  | W  | L  | ERA  | SO

|
|
|
|
|
|

Brooks Lawrence | 35 | 158.2 | 15 | 6 | 3.74 | 72
Gerry Staley | 48 | 155.2 | 7 | 13 | 5.26 | 50
Tom Poholsky | 25 | 106.0 | 5 | 7 | 3.06 | 55
Stu Miller | 19 | 46.2 | 2 | 3 | 5.79 | 22
Carl Scheib | 3 | 4.2 | 0 | 1 | 11.57 | 5
Bill Greason | 3 | 4.0 | 0 | 1 | 13.50 | 2

#### Relief pitchers

[edit]

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player  | G  | W  | L  | SV  | ERA  | SO

|
|
|
|
|
|

Al Brazle | 58 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 4.16 | 30
Joe Presko | 37 | 4 | 9 | 0 | 6.91 | 36
Cot Deal | 33 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6.28 | 25
Royce Lint | 30 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 4.86 | 36
Ben Wade | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.48 | 19
Mel Wright | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10.45 | 4
Hal White | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19.80 | 2

## Farm system

[edit]

See also: Minor League Baseball

| Level  | Team  | League  | Manager

|
|
|

AAA | Columbus Red Birds | American Association | Johnny Keane
AAA | Rochester Red Wings | International League | Harry Walker
AA | Houston Buffaloes | Texas League | Dixie Walker
A | Allentown Cardinals | Eastern League | Dutch Dorman and Harold Olt
A | Columbus Cardinals | Sally League | George Kissell
A | Omaha Cardinals | Western League | Ferrell Anderson
B | Peoria Chiefs | Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League | Whitey Kurowski
B | Lynchburg Cardinals | Piedmont League | Roland LeBlanc
C | Mexicali Eagles | Arizona–Texas League | Art Lilly
C | Fresno Cardinals | California League | Jim Hercinger
C | Hot Springs Bathers | Cotton States League | Paul Dean, Jackie Bales and Lou Lucas
C | Winnipeg Goldeyes | Northern League | Mickey O'Neil
C | Joplin Cardinals | Western Association | Bill Kelly
D | Dothan Rebels | Alabama–Florida League | Homer Ray Wilson
D | Johnson City Cardinals | Appalachian League | Lee "Pete" Peterson and Harold Contini
| Level  | Team  | League  | Manager

|
|
|

D  | Daytona Beach Islanders | Florida State League | Ed Levy
D | Hazlehurst-Baxley Cardinals | Georgia State League | Arnie Riesgo and Bill McGhee
D | Albany Cardinals | Georgia–Florida League | Russ McGovern
D | Paducah Chiefs | KITTY League | Harold Contini and Lee "Pete" Peterson
D | Hannibal Cardinals | Mississippi–Ohio Valley League | J. C. Dunn
D | Hamilton Cardinals | PONY League | Jimmy Brown
D | Ardmore Cardinals | Sooner State League | Bennie Warren and Frank Mancuso

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Houston[9]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Brooks Lawrence at Baseball-Reference
2. ^ Sonny Senerchia at Baseball-Reference
3. ^ Dick Sisler at Baseball-Reference
4. ^ "Diaz's pinch-hit HR blasts Cards over Braves". MLB.com. April 9, 2016. Archived from the original on April 21, 2016. Retrieved April 17, 2016.
5. ^ Home Run During First At-Bat by Baseball Almanac
6. ^ Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 199, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
7. ^ Enos Slaughter at Baseball-Reference
8. ^ Steve Bilko at Baseball-Reference
9. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007

## External links

[edit]

* 1954 St. Louis Cardinals at Baseball Reference
* 1954 St. Louis Cardinals team page at www.baseball-almanac.com

* v
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1954 MLB season by team

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* 1954 All-Star Game
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St. Louis Cardinals

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