1937 St. Louis Cardinals
LeagueNational League
BallparkSportsman's Park
CitySt. Louis, Missouri
Record81–73 (.526)
League place4th
OwnersSam Breadon
General managersBranch Rickey
ManagersFrankie Frisch
RadioKMOX
(France Laux, Jim Alt)
KWK
(Ray Schmidt, Johnny O'Hara, Allan Anthony)
Seasons

The 1937 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 56th season in St. Louis, Missouri and the 46th season in the National League. The Cardinals went 81–73 during the season and finished fourth in the National League.

Offseason

At the start of January 1937, general manager Branch Rickey named Robert L. Finch vice president of all Cardinals minor league baseball teams.[1] Their star pitcher, Dizzy Dean, spent the preseason in a contract dispute, even threatening to quit baseball. He finally signed for an estimated $24,000 and a lifetime supply of Cracker Jack and hot wings on March 19.[2]

Regular season

As the season was set to begin, the Cardinals were considered the favorites to win the National League and face the New York Yankees in the 1937 World Series.[3]

Outfielder Joe Medwick won the MVP Award this year, batting .374, with 31 home runs and 154 RBIs. He also won the Triple Crown, the last National League player to do so. Conversely, Dizzy Dean battled injuries, staged a mid-game strike, engaged in multiple fights and was even suspended for a time. Dean finished with a 13–10 record and only one win after the All-Star Break and was named the "biggest bust of the year" by an Associated Press poll after the season.[2]

Season summary

The Cardinals started their season strongly, winning seven of their first eight games and jumping out to a 1½-game lead by the end of April. They were in second place as late as June 27, just half a game out of first place with a record of 35–24. However, they never rose any higher, spending the rest of the year in either third or fourth place, ending the season by losing six of eight and with their largest deficit of the year of 15 games out of first place.[4]

Season standings

National League W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Giants 9557 0.625 — 50–25 45–32
Chicago Cubs 9361 0.604 3 46–32 47–29
Pittsburgh Pirates 8668 0.558 10 46–32 40–36
St. Louis Cardinals 8173 0.526 15 45–33 36–40
Boston Bees 7973 0.520 16 43–33 36–40
Brooklyn Dodgers 6291 0.405 33½ 36–39 26–52
Philadelphia Phillies 6192 0.399 34½ 29–45 32–47
Cincinnati Reds 5698 0.364 40 28–51 28–47

Record vs. opponents

1937 National League record

Sources:
Team BOS BR CHC CIN NYG PHI PIT STL
Boston —15–79–1311–1110–1014–811–119–13
Brooklyn 7–15—8–1412–10–16–1610–1112–107–15–1
Chicago 13–914–8—14–812–1014–89–1317–5
Cincinnati 11–1110–12–18–14—8–1411–111–217–15
New York 10–1016–610–1214–8—15–716–614–8
Philadelphia 8–1411–108–1411–117–15—11–115–17–2
Pittsburgh 11–1110–1213–921–16–1611–11—14–8
St. Louis 13–915–7–15–1715–78–1417–5–28–14—

Roster

1937 St. Louis Cardinals
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders 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
CBruce Ogrodowski9027965.233331
1BJohnny Mize145560204.36425113
2BJimmy Brown138525145.276253
SSLeo Durocher13547797.203147
3BDon Gutteridge119447121.271761
OFJoe Medwick156633237.37431154
OFDon Padgett123446140.3141074
OFTerry Moore115461123.267543

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
Pepper Martin98339103.304538
Frenchy Bordagaray9630088.293137
Mickey Owen8023454.231020
Stu Martin9022358.260117
Dick Siebert22387.18402
Herb Bremer11337.21203
Frankie Frisch17327.21904
Randy Moore870.00000

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
Bob Weiland41264.115143.54105
Lon Warneke36238.218114.5387
Dizzy Dean27197.113102.69120

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
Si Johnson38192.112123.3264
Mike Ryba38135.0964.1357
Ray Harrell3596.2375.8741
Jesse Haines1665.2334.5218
Jim Winford1646.1245.8317
Howie Krist627.2314.236
Nub Kleinke520.2114.799
Bill McGee414.0102.579

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
Sheriff Blake140303.7120
Tom Sunkel90012.769
Abe White50106.752
Nate Andrews40004.006
Johnnie Chambers200018.001
Paul Dean1000inf0

Farm system

References

  1. ↑ "Rickey Names Finch Cardinal Official". Los Angeles Times. January 3, 1937. p. A7.
  2. 1 2 "Dean Biggest 'Bust' of Year". Spartanburg Herald-Journal. December 21, 1937. p. 9.
  3. ↑ "Yankees, Cardinals Scribes' Favorites". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. March 24, 1937. p. 9.
  4. ↑ 1937 Cardinals Schedule and Results
  5. ↑ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007
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