1970 St. Louis Cardinals season explained

St. Louis Cardinals
Season:	1970
League:	National League
Division:	East
Ballpark:	Busch Memorial Stadium
City:	St. Louis, Missouri
Record:	76–86 (.469)
Divisional Place:	4th
Owners:	August "Gussie" Busch
General Managers:	Bing Devine
Managers:	Red Schoendienst
Television:	KSD-TV
Radio:	KMOX (Jack Buck, Jim Woods)

The 1970 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 89th season in St. Louis, Missouri, and the 79th season in the National League. The Cardinals went 76–86 during the season and finished fourth in the National League East, 13 games behind the Pittsburgh Pirates. The season was also the first of 26 seasons for AstroTurf at Busch Memorial Stadium.

Offseason

October 7, 1969: Curt Flood, Byron Browne, Joe Hoerner, and Tim McCarver were traded by the Cardinals to the Philadelphia Phillies for Jerry Johnson, Dick Allen, and Cookie Rojas. Curt Flood refused to report to his new team. The Cardinals sent Willie Montañez to the Phillies on April 8, 1970, and Bob Browning (minors) to the Phillies on August 30, 1970, as compensation.^[1]
January 17, 1970: Mike Tyson was drafted by the Cardinals in the 3rd round of the 1970 Major League Baseball Draft.^[2]
March 31, 1970: Ramón Hernández was released by the Cardinals.^[3]

Curt Flood

Curt Flood, because of a salary dispute with Gussie Busch, was traded after the 1969 season but refused to go to the Philadelphia Phillies and on January 16, 1970, filed a civil lawsuit to challenge baseball's reserve clause. The case eventually reached the Supreme Court and, though he lost, paved the way for free agency to change the game.

Regular season

Bob Gibson won a Gold Glove and the Cy Young Award this year, with a 3.12 ERA, 23 wins, and 274 strikeouts. The Cardinals won only 76 games, their lowest total since the days of the 154-game schedule. Vic Davalillo had 24 pinch hits, breaking the National League record, and tying the Major League record set by Dave Philley in 1961.^[4] ^[5] ^[6] ^[7]

Steve Carlton posted one game where he struck out 16 batters.^[8]

Third baseman Mike Shannon was limited to 52 games and soon would retire because of a kidney disease that threatened his life.

Opening Day starters

Notable transactions

May 19, 1970: Don Shaw was purchased by the Cardinals from the Montreal Expos.^[10]
May 29, 1970: Phil Gagliano was traded by the Cardinals to the Chicago Cubs for Ted Abernathy.^[11]
June 4, 1970: Bake McBride was drafted by the Cardinals in the 37th round of the 1970 Major League Baseball Draft.^[12]
June 22, 1970: Chuck Hartenstein was selected off waivers by the Cardinals from the Pittsburgh Pirates.^[13]
July 14, 1970: Chuck Hartenstein was sent by the Cardinals to the Boston Red Sox as part of a conditional deal.^[13]

Roster

1970 St. Louis Cardinals
Roster
Pitchers		CatchersInfielders		OutfieldersOther batters		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	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	161	624	203	.325	21	100
1B	122	459	128	.279	34	101
2B	139	513	129	.251	2	42
3B	55	174	37	.213	0	22
SS	152	399	80	.201	0	28
LF	155	664	202	.304	13	57
CF	148	552	162	.293	10	74
RF	121	264	60	.227	6	23

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
139	451	122	.271	14	68
82	284	69	.243	3	24
104	245	61	.249	6	45
111	183	57	.311	1	33
38	95	24	.253	0	6
62	79	15	.190	0	3
21	70	21	.300	0	8
44	58	15	.259	1	6
23	47	5	.106	0	2
18	32	6	.188	0	2
12	24	3	.125	0	0
11	18	2	.111	0	0
6	17	6	.353	0	1
13	13	3	.231	0	1
5	1	0	.000	0	0
1	1	0	.000	0	0
1	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
34	294.0	23	7	3.12	274
34	253.2	10	19	3.73	193
30	179.1	8	10	4.22	100
20	127.1	7	8	4.10	74

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
56	124.1	6	7	3.11	64
30	106.2	6	7	6.24	59
11	56.2	3	3	4.61	23
8	31.1	1	2	3.16	14
7	22.1	1	1	3.22	9
8	13.2	1	1	7.24	9

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
37	2	2	4	2.92	26
47	3	5	2	3.67	19
23	0	4	3	3.92	13
18	0	3	1	6.23	12
16	0	4	0	7.62	22
16	2	1	0	4.74	12
14	0	2	0	8.82	10
11	1	0	1	2.95	8
7	2	0	1	3.18	5
6	0	0	0	8.78	9
6	0	0	0	4.50	5
1	0	0	0	0.00	0

Awards and honors

1970 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

Team award winners

Joe Torre and Bob Gibson, co-winners, St. Louis Baseball Man of the Year
Jerry Reuss, St. Louis Cardinals Rookie of the Year

Farm system

External links

Notes and References

https://www.baseball-reference.com/f/floodcu01.shtml Curt Flood page at Baseball Reference
https://www.baseball-reference.com/t/tysonmi01.shtml Mike Tyson page at Baseball Reference
https://www.baseball-reference.com/h/hernara01.shtml Ramón Hernández page at Baseball Reference
https://books.google.com/books?id=vy0DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA30 George Vass, Baseball Digest
https://books.google.com/books?id=2SoDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA16 Baseball Digest
https://web.archive.org/web/20121025094806/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1091598/index.htm http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com
Web site: www.howstuffworks.com . November 17, 2009 . June 7, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110607024606/http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/1970-baseball-season3.htm . dead .
Web site: Langosch . Jenifer . Garcia's pitch movement on display in near no-no . https://web.archive.org/web/20160418085932/http://m.cardinals.mlb.com/news/article/172382178/cards-garcia-flirts-with-no-no-vs-brewers . dead . April 18, 2016 . MLB.com . April 14, 2016.
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/roster.php?y=1970&t=SLN 1970 St. Louis Cardinals Roster by Baseball Almanac
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/shawdo01.shtml Don Shaw page at Baseball Reference
https://www.baseball-reference.com/g/gagliph01.shtml Phil Gagliano page at Baseball Reference
https://www.baseball-reference.com/m/mcbriba01.shtml Bake McBride page at Baseball Reference
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hartech01.shtml Chuck Hartenstein page at Baseball-Reference
Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007