1937 St. Louis Cardinals season

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)
← 1936 Seasons 1938 →

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
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Giants 95 57 .625 — 50‍–‍25 45‍–‍32
Chicago Cubs 93 61 .604 3 46‍–‍32 47‍–‍29
Pittsburgh Pirates 86 68 .558 10 46‍–‍32 40‍–‍36
St. Louis Cardinals 81 73 .526 15 45‍–‍33 36‍–‍40
Boston Bees 79 73 .520 16 43‍–‍33 36‍–‍40
Brooklyn Dodgers 62 91 .405 33½ 36‍–‍39 26‍–‍52
Philadelphia Phillies 61 92 .399 34½ 29‍–‍45 32‍–‍47
Cincinnati Reds 56 98 .364 40 28‍–‍51 28‍–‍47

Record vs. opponents

1937 National League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team BOS BR CHC CIN NYG PHI PIT STL
Boston — 15–7 9–13 11–11 10–10 14–8 11–11 9–13
Brooklyn 7–15 — 8–14 12–10–1 6–16 10–11 12–10 7–15–1
Chicago 13–9 14–8 — 14–8 12–10 14–8 9–13 17–5
Cincinnati 11–11 10–12–1 8–14 — 8–14 11–11 1–21 7–15
New York 10–10 16–6 10–12 14–8 — 15–7 16–6 14–8
Philadelphia 8–14 11–10 8–14 11–11 7–15 — 11–11 5–17–2
Pittsburgh 11–11 10–12 13–9 21–1 6–16 11–11 — 14–8
St. Louis 13–9 15–7–1 5–17 15–7 8–14 17–5–2 8–14 —


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
C Bruce Ogrodowski 90 279 65 .233 3 31
1B Johnny Mize 145 560 204 .364 25 113
2B Jimmy Brown 138 525 145 .276 2 53
SS Leo Durocher 135 477 97 .203 1 47
3B Don Gutteridge 119 447 121 .271 7 61
OF Joe Medwick 156 633 237 .374 31 154
OF Don Padgett 123 446 140 .314 10 74
OF Terry Moore 115 461 123 .267 5 43

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 Martin 98 339 103 .304 5 38
Frenchy Bordagaray 96 300 88 .293 1 37
Mickey Owen 80 234 54 .231 0 20
Stu Martin 90 223 58 .260 1 17
Dick Siebert 22 38 7 .184 0 2
Herb Bremer 11 33 7 .212 0 3
Frankie Frisch 17 32 7 .219 0 4
Randy Moore 8 7 0 .000 0 0

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 Weiland 41 264.1 15 14 3.54 105
Lon Warneke 36 238.2 18 11 4.53 87
Dizzy Dean 27 197.1 13 10 2.69 120

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 Johnson 38 192.1 12 12 3.32 64
Mike Ryba 38 135.0 9 6 4.13 57
Ray Harrell 35 96.2 3 7 5.87 41
Jesse Haines 16 65.2 3 3 4.52 18
Jim Winford 16 46.1 2 4 5.83 17
Howie Krist 6 27.2 3 1 4.23 6
Nub Kleinke 5 20.2 1 1 4.79 9
Bill McGee 4 14.0 1 0 2.57 9

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 Blake 14 0 3 0 3.71 20
Tom Sunkel 9 0 0 1 2.76 9
Abe White 5 0 1 0 6.75 2
Nate Andrews 4 0 0 0 4.00 6
Johnnie Chambers 2 0 0 0 18.00 1
Paul Dean 1 0 0 0 inf 0

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

References

  1. ^ "Rickey Names Finch Cardinal Official". Los Angeles Times. January 3, 1937. p. A7.
  2. ^ a b "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