1939 St. Louis Cardinals season

1939 St. Louis Cardinals
LeagueNational League
BallparkSportsman's Park
CitySt. Louis, Missouri
Record92–61 (.601)
League place2nd
OwnersSam Breadon
General managersBranch Rickey
ManagersRay Blades
RadioKMOX
(France Laux, Cy Casper)
KWK
(Johnny O'Hara, Jim Bottomley)
StatsESPN.com
Baseball Reference
← 1938 Seasons 1940 →

The 1939 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 58th season in St. Louis, Missouri and the 48th season in the National League. The Cardinals went 92–61 during the season and finished second in the National League.

Regular season

Season summary

Shortly after the end of the 1938 season, owner Sam Breadon appointed former reserve Cardinals outfielder Ray Blades as manager. He had managed many of the organization's top young players in Columbus, Ohio, and Rochester, New York.

A feisty skipper, Blades guided the Cardinals back into the pennant race. The Cincinnati Reds took over first place on May 26 and never fell back. The Cards seized second place at midseason and played at a .708 clip in the final 65 games-including a 29–6 record at home the second half, but never could catch the Reds.

The Redbirds made Cincinnati work down the stretch, though. They took two games from the Reds with the third of the three-game series washed out as a tie, and that pulled the Cards to only 3 and a half games back. Twice the Cardinals drew a game closer in September.

An old trade haunted the Cards: Paul Derringer, a former St. Louis farmhand, went 25–7 for the Reds. That record included a 5–3 victory in September that clinched the pennant for the Reds.

The best offense in the league was at least partially responsible for the Cardinals' dramatic turn. They led the NL in runs and made the most of their speed to head the league in doubles and triples. Their .294 team batting average was 16 points higher than anyone else's.

The trade that sent Dizzy Dean to the Chicago Cubs actually paid some dividends. Curt Davis, one of the two pitchers picked up in the deal, led the Redbirds' staff in almost every category. Clyde Shoun, the other ex-Cub, worked a team-high 51 games out of the bullpen. With rookie Mort Cooper winning 12 games and working more than 200 innings, the Cards pitchers posted the league's second-best ERA.

Season standings

National League
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Cincinnati Reds 97 57 .630 — 55‍–‍25 42‍–‍32
St. Louis Cardinals 92 61 .601 4½ 51‍–‍27 41‍–‍34
Brooklyn Dodgers 84 69 .549 12½ 51‍–‍27 33‍–‍42
Chicago Cubs 84 70 .545 13 44‍–‍34 40‍–‍36
New York Giants 77 74 .510 18½ 41‍–‍33 36‍–‍41
Pittsburgh Pirates 68 85 .444 28½ 35‍–‍42 33‍–‍43
Boston Bees 63 88 .417 32½ 37‍–‍35 26‍–‍53
Philadelphia Phillies 45 106 .298 50½ 29‍–‍44 16‍–‍62

Record vs. opponents

1939 National League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team BOS BR CHC CIN NYG PHI PIT STL
Boston — 10–12–1 6–16 6–16 10–11 13–8 9–12 9–13
Brooklyn 12–10–1 — 11–11–2 10–12 12–10 17–4–1 13–9 9–13
Chicago 16–6 11–11–2 — 10–12 11–11 12–10 14–8 10–12
Cincinnati 16–6 12–10 12–10 — 11–11 19–3 16–6 11–11–2
New York 11–10 10–12 11–11 11–11 — 14–7 11–11 9–12
Philadelphia 8–13 4–17–1 10–12 3–19 7–14 — 8–14 5–17
Pittsburgh 12–9 9–13 8–14 6–16 11–11 14–8 — 8–14
St. Louis 13–9 13–9 12–10 11–11–2 12–9 17–5 14–8 —


Roster

1939 St. Louis Cardinals
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

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 Mickey Owen 131 344 89 .259 3 35
1B Johnny Mize 153 564 197 .349 28 108
2B Stu Martin 120 425 114 .268 3 30
SS Jimmy Brown 147 645 192 .298 3 51
3B Don Gutteridge 148 524 141 .269 7 54
OF Joe Medwick 150 606 201 .332 14 117
OF Enos Slaughter 149 604 193 .320 12 86
OF Terry Moore 130 417 123 .295 17 77

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 88 281 86 .306 3 37
Don Padgett 92 233 93 .399 5 53
Lynn Myers 74 117 28 .239 0 10
Lynn King 89 85 20 .235 0 11
Lyn Lary 34 75 14 .187 0 9
Creepy Crespi 15 29 5 .172 0 6
Herman Franks 17 17 1 .059 0 3
Herb Bremer 9 9 1 .111 0 1
Bob Repass 3 6 2 .333 0 1
Eddie Lake 2 4 1 .250 0 0
Johnny Hopp 6 4 2 .500 0 2
Joe Orengo 7 3 0 .000 0 0
Buster Adams 2 1 0 .000 0 0
Johnny Echols 2 0 0 ---- 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
Curt Davis 49 248.0 22 16 3.63 70
Mort Cooper 45 210.2 12 6 3.25 130
Lon Warneke 34 162.0 13 7 3.78 59
Bob Weiland 32 146.1 10 12 3.57 63
Max Lanier 7 37.2 2 1 2.39 14

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
Bob Bowman 51 169.1 13 5 2.60 78
Bill McGee 43 156.0 12 5 3.81 56
Tom Sunkel 20 85.1 4 4 4.22 54

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
Clyde Shoun 53 3 1 9 3.76 50
Paul Dean 16 0 1 0 6.07 16
Nate Andrews 11 1 2 0 6.75 6
Murry Dickson 1 0 0 0 0.00 2
Frank Barrett 1 0 1 0 5.40 3
Ken Raffensberger 1 0 0 0 0.00 1
Terry Moore 1 0 0 0 0.00 1

Awards and honors

Cardinals in the 1939 All-Star Game

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Notes

  1. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007

References