1961 St. Louis Cardinals season

1961 St. Louis Cardinals
LeagueNational League
BallparkBusch Stadium I
CitySt. Louis, Missouri
Record80–74 (.519)
League place5th
OwnersAugust "Gussie" Busch
General managersBing Devine
ManagersSolly Hemus, Johnny Keane
TelevisionKPLR
(Buddy Blattner, Jerry Gross, Joe Garagiola)
RadioKMOX
(Harry Caray, Jack Buck, Joe Garagiola)
← 1960 Seasons 1962 →

The 1961 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 80th season in St. Louis, Missouri and its 70th season in the National League. The Cardinals went 80–74 during the season and finished fifth in the National League. It was the last season before the NL went to a 162-game schedule the following season to adjust for the new ten-team league.

Offseason

Regular season

On July 6, with the Cardinals at 33–41, manager Solly Hemus was fired and replaced by Johnny Keane. The team went 47–33 under Keane.

First baseman Bill White and third baseman Ken Boyer won Gold Gloves this year.

Season standings

National League
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Cincinnati Reds 93 61 .604 47‍–‍30 46‍–‍31
Los Angeles Dodgers 89 65 .578 4 45‍–‍32 44‍–‍33
San Francisco Giants 85 69 .552 8 45‍–‍32 40‍–‍37
Milwaukee Braves 83 71 .539 10 45‍–‍32 38‍–‍39
St. Louis Cardinals 80 74 .519 13 48‍–‍29 32‍–‍45
Pittsburgh Pirates 75 79 .487 18 38‍–‍39 37‍–‍40
Chicago Cubs 64 90 .416 29 40‍–‍37 24‍–‍53
Philadelphia Phillies 47 107 .305 46 22‍–‍55 25‍–‍52

Record vs. opponents


Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team CHC CIN LAD MIL PHI PIT SF STL
Chicago 12–10 7–15 9–13–1 13–9 11–11 5–17 7–15–1
Cincinnati 10–12 12–10 15–7 19–3 11–11 12–10 14–8
Los Angeles 15–7 10–12 12–10 17–5 13–9 10–12 12–10
Milwaukee 13–9–1 7–15 10–12 16–6 12–10 11–11 14–8
Philadelphia 9–13 3–19 5–17 6–16 7–15 8–14–1 9–13
Pittsburgh 11–11 11–11 9–13 10–12 15–7 10–12 9–13
San Francisco 17–5 10–12 12–10 11–11 14–8–1 12–10 9–13
St. Louis 15–7–1 8–14 10–12 8–14 13–9 13–9 13–9


Notable transactions

Roster

1961 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 Jimmie Schaffer 68 153 39 .255 1 16
1B Bill White 153 591 169 .286 20 90
2B Julián Javier 113 445 124 .279 2 41
SS Bob Lillis 86 230 50 .217 0 21
3B Ken Boyer 153 589 194 .329 24 95
LF Stan Musial 123 372 107 .288 15 70
CF Curt Flood 132 335 108 .322 2 21
RF Joe Cunningham 113 322 92 .286 7 40

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
Charlie James 108 349 89 .255 4 44
Don Taussig 98 188 54 .287 2 25
Carl Sawatski 86 174 52 .299 10 33
Alex Grammas 89 170 36 .212 0 21
Carl Warwick 55 152 38 .250 4 16
Daryl Spencer 37 130 33 .254 4 21
Hal Smith 45 125 31 .248 0 10
Red Schoendienst 72 120 36 .300 1 12
Jerry Buchek 31 90 12 .133 0 9
Tim McCarver 22 67 16 .239 1 6
Don Landrum 28 66 11 .167 1 3
Gene Oliver 22 52 14 .269 4 9
Julio Gotay 10 45 11 .244 0 5
Walt Moryn 17 32 4 .125 0 2
Ed Olivares 21 30 5 .167 0 1
Bob Nieman 6 17 8 .471 0 2
Doug Clemens 6 12 2 .167 0 0
George Crowe 7 7 1 .143 0 0
Chris Cannizzaro 6 2 1 .500 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
Ray Sadecki 31 222.2 14 10 3.72 114
Bob Gibson 35 211.1 13 12 3.24 166
Larry Jackson 33 211.0 14 11 3.75 113
Curt Simmons 30 195.2 9 10 3.13 99
Ernie Broglio 29 174.2 9 12 4.12 113

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
Al Cicotte 29 75.0 2 6 5.28 51
Bob Miller 34 74.1 1 3 4.24 39
Ray Washburn 3 20.1 1 1 1.77 12

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
Lindy McDaniel 55 10 6 9 4.87 65
Craig Anderson 25 4 3 1 3.26 21
Mickey McDermott 19 1 0 4 3.67 15
Ed Bauta 13 2 0 5 1.40 12
Bobby Tiefenauer 3 0 0 0 6.23 3

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA San Juan/Charleston Marlins International League Joe Schultz
AAA Portland Beavers Pacific Coast League Vern Benson and Ray Katt
AA Tulsa Oilers Texas League Whitey Kurowski
A Lancaster Red Roses Eastern League Chase Riddle
C Winnipeg Goldeyes Northern League Grover Resinger and Owen Friend
C Billings Mustangs Pioneer League Owen Friend and Grover Resinger
D Johnson City Cardinals Appalachian League Ed Lyons, George Kissell, Charlie Frey,
Mo Mozzali and Johnny Grodzicki
D Keokuk Cardinals Midwest League Al Unser

San Juan franchise moved to Charleston (WV), May 19, 1961[8]

References