1954 St. Louis Cardinals season explained

St. Louis Cardinals
Season:	1954
League:	National League
Ballpark:	Busch Stadium I
City:	St. Louis, Missouri
Record:	72–82 (.468)
League Place:	6th
Owners:	August "Gussie" Busch
General Managers:	Richard A. Meyer
Managers:	Eddie Stanky
Television:	WTVI
Radio:	KXOK (Harry Caray, Jack Buck, Milo Hamilton)
Espntn:	stl
Brtn:	stl

The 1954 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 73rd season in St. Louis, Missouri and its 63rd season in the National League. The Cardinals went 72–82 during the season and finished sixth in the National League.

Offseason

• December 1, 1953: 1953 minor league draft
  • Brooks Lawrence was drafted by the Cardinals from the Cincinnati Reds.^[1]
• December 1, 1953: Sonny Senerchia was drafted by the Cardinals from the Pittsburgh Pirates.^[2]
• January 26, 1954: Dick Sisler, Eddie Erautt and $100,000 were traded by the Cardinals to the San Diego Padres for Tom Alston.^[3]

Regular season

In his first four major league games, first baseman Joe Cunningham became the first Cardinals player to hit at least two home runs. On April 6, 2016, Jeremy Hazelbaker matched him for this feat.^[4]

Outfielder Wally Moon won the Rookie of the Year Award this year, batting .304, with 12 home runs and 76 RBIs. Along the way, on April 13 Moon hit a home run in his first major league at-bat.^[5]

During the season, Tom Alston became the first black player in the history of the Cardinals.^[6]

Notable transactions

• April 11, 1954: Enos Slaughter was traded by the Cardinals to the New York Yankees for Bill Virdon, Mel Wright, and Emil Tellinger (minors).^[7]
• April 30, 1954: Steve Bilko was purchased from the Cardinals by the Chicago Cubs for $12,500.^[8]

Roster

1954 St. Louis Cardinals
Roster
Pitchers		CatchersInfielders		Outfielders		ManagerCoaches

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		123	380	114	.300	9	70
1B		85	310	88	.284	11	50
2B		148	610	192	.315	5	79
SS		142	401	106	.264	2	29
3B		152	611	181	.296	12	104
LF		152	619	175	.283	19	79
CF		151	635	193	.304	12	76
RF		153	591	195	.330	35	126

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
	66	244	60	.246	4	34
	124	214	65	.304	2	27
	56	147	37	.252	2	16
	81	88	26	.295	3	18
	74	61	7	.115	0	5
	38	57	14	.246	2	8
	17	21	1	.048	0	1
	8	14	2	.143	0	1
	43	7	1	.143	0	1
	5	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
	43	259.2	18	13	3.57	184
	30	179.0	8	9	4.73	73
	11	81.0	4	4	2.00	48
	13	58.0	0	4	3.72	17
	1	0.2	0	1	27.00	0

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
	35	158.2	15	6	3.74	72
	48	155.2	7	13	5.26	50
	25	106.0	5	7	3.06	55
	19	46.2	2	3	5.79	22
	3	4.2	0	1	11.57	5
	3	4.0	0	1	13.50	2

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
	58	5	4	8	4.16	30
	37	4	9	0	6.91	36
	33	2	3	1	6.28	25
	30	2	3	0	4.86	36
	13	0	0	0	5.48	19
	9	0	0	0	10.45	4
	4	0	0	0	19.80	2

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball. LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Houston^[9]

External links

• 1954 St. Louis Cardinals at Baseball Reference
• 1954 St. Louis Cardinals team page at www.baseball-almanac.com

Notes and References

1. https://www.baseball-reference.com/l/lawrebr01.shtml Brooks Lawrence
2. https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/senerso01.shtml Sonny Senerchia
3. https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/sisledi01.shtml Dick Sisler
4. Web site: Diaz's pinch-hit HR blasts Cards over Braves . MLB.com . April 9, 2016 . April 17, 2016 . April 21, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160421211804/http://m.mlb.com/news/article/171232816/diazs-pinch-hit-hr-blasts-cards-over-braves?game_pk=446924 . dead .
5. http://www.baseball-almanac.com/feats/feats5.shtml Home Run During First At-Bat by Baseball Almanac
6. Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 199, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York,
7. https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/slaugen01.shtml Enos Slaughter
8. https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/bilkost01.shtml Steve Bilko
9. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007