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1939 St. Louis Cardinals season

Major League Baseball season

Field	Value
name	St. Louis Cardinals
season	1939
league	National League
ballpark	Sportsman's Park
city	St. Louis, Missouri
record	92–61 (.601)
league_place	2nd
owners	Sam Breadon
general_managers	Branch Rickey
managers	Ray Blades
radio	KMOX
(France Laux, Cy Casper)
KWK
(Johnny O'Hara, Jim Bottomley)
espntn	stl
brtn	stl

(France Laux, Cy Casper) KWK (Johnny O'Hara, Jim Bottomley)

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

Record vs. opponents

Roster

1939 St. Louis Cardinals
Roster
Pitchers

Player stats

	= Indicates team leader

	= Indicates league leader

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	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	131	344	89	.259	3	35
1B	153	564	197	.349	28	108
2B	120	425	114	.268	3	30
SS	147	645	192	.298	3	51
3B	148	524	141	.269	7	54
OF	150	606	201	.332	14	117
OF	149	604	193	.320	12	86
OF	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

G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
88	281	86	.306	3	37
92	233	93	.399	5	53
74	117	28	.239	0	10
89	85	20	.235	0	11
34	75	14	.187	0	9
15	29	5	.172	0	6
17	17	1	.059	0	3
9	9	1	.111	0	1
3	6	2	.333	0	1
2	4	1	.250	0	0
6	4	2	.500	0	2
7	3	0	.000	0	0
2	1	0	.000	0	0
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

G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
49	248.0	22	16	3.63	70
45	210.2	12	6	3.25	130
34	162.0	13	7	3.78	59
32	146.1	10	12	3.57	63
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

G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
51	169.1	13	5	2.60	78
43	156.0	12	5	3.81	56
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

G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
53	3	1	9	3.76	50
16	0	1	0	6.07	16
11	1	2	0	6.75	6
1	0	0	0	0.00	2
1	0	1	0	5.40	3
1	0	0	0	0.00	1
1	0	0	0	0.00	1

Awards and honors

Cardinals in the 1939 All-Star Game

Pitcher Curt Davis
Outfielder Joe Medwick
First baseman Johnny Mize
Outfielder Terry Moore
Pitcher Lon Warneke

Farm system

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Rochester, Sacramento, Asheville, Kilgore, Springfield, Albuquerque, Cambridge, Albany, Washington, Gastonia

Notes

References

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

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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