1973 St. Louis Cardinals season explained

St. Louis Cardinals
Season:	1973
League:	National League
Division:	East
Ballpark:	Busch Memorial Stadium
City:	St. Louis, Missouri
Record:	81–81 (.500)
Divisional Place:	2nd
Owners:	August "Gussie" Busch
General Managers:	Bing Devine
Managers:	Red Schoendienst
Television:	KSD-TV (Mike Shannon, Jay Randolph)
Radio:	KMOX (Jack Buck, Mike Shannon, Harry Walker)

The 1973 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 92nd season in St. Louis, Missouri and its 82nd season in the National League. The Cardinals overcame an 8–23 start to finish with an 81–81 record during the season and finished second in the National League East, games behind the NL East and eventual NL pennant winners New York Mets. To date, this is the only season the Cardinals have finished at .500 instead of above or below it.

Offseason

October 27, 1972: Jerry McNertney was released by the Cardinals.^[1]

Regular season

Pitcher Bob Gibson won a Gold Glove this year.

Notable transactions

May 8, 1973: Al Santorini was traded by the Cardinals to the Kansas City Royals for Tom Murphy.^[2]
June 5, 1973: 1973 Major League Baseball Draft
- John Tamargo was drafted by the Cardinals in the 6th round.^[3]
- Eric Rasmussen was drafted by the Cardinals in the 32nd round.^[4]
- Bryn Smith was drafted by the Cardinals in the 49th round, but did not sign.^[5] However, he would pitch for the team from 1990 to 1992.
August 7, 1973: Wayne Granger was traded by the Cardinals to the New York Yankees for a player to be named later and cash. The Yankees completed the deal by sending Ken Crosby to the Cardinals on September 12.^[6]
August 18, 1973: Dave Campbell and cash were traded by the Cardinals to the Houston Astros for Tommie Agee.^[7]
August 29, 1973: Eddie Fisher was purchased by the St. Louis Cardinals from the Chicago White Sox.^[8]

Roster

1973 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	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	161	619	192	.310	13	91
1B	141	519	149	.287	13	69
2B	142	521	147	.282	1	54
SS	144	469	114	.243	1	33
3B	147	426	100	.235	6	42
LF	160	650	193	.297	7	63
CF	132	406	92	.227	10	57
RF	111	308	88	.286	8	40

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
121	341	91	.267	2	35
130	331	88	.266	3	49
24	70	10	.143	2	5
40	63	19	.302	0	5
26	62	11	.177	3	7
28	57	11	.193	0	0
32	55	12	.218	0	2
22	39	5	.128	0	1
43	38	7	.184	0	2
23	29	9	.310	0	0
13	21	0	.000	0	1
18	17	2	.118	0	0
11	14	3	.214	0	1
11	11	0	.000	0	0
11	11	3	.273	0	1
5	6	1	.167	0	1
1	3	0	.000	0	0
2	1	0	.000	0	0
3	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
35	259.0	16	12	3.37	144
32	224.0	14	10	3.01	122
35	203.2	13	9	3.14	106
25	195.0	12	10	2.77	142
19	88.2	3	7	3.76	42
9	40.2	0	2	4.20	14
8	38.2	1	5	4.89	25
2	4.0	0	0	0.00	3

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
34	82.1	4	4	3.61	44
6	16.0	0	2	9.56	12

Relief pitchers

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

G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
65	7	6	17	2.78	93
44	2	4	5	2.09	57
42	4	4	6	2.18	35
33	2	4	5	2.78	93
16	1	1	0	4.42	5
8	0	0	0	2.25	2
6	0	0	0	5.40	2
6	2	1	0	1.29	1
1	0	0	0	0.00	1

Farm system

External links

Notes and References

https://www.baseball-reference.com/m/mcnerje01.shtml Jerry McNertney page at Baseball Reference
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/santoal01.shtml Al Santorini page at Baseball-Reference
https://www.baseball-reference.com/t/tamarjo01.shtml John Tamargo page at Baseball Reference
https://www.baseball-reference.com/r/rasmuer01.shtml Eric Rasmussen page at Baseball Reference
https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/smithbr01.shtml Bryn Smith page at Baseball Reference
https://www.baseball-reference.com/c/crosbke01.shtml Ken Crosby page at Baseball Reference
https://www.baseball-reference.com/a/ageeto01.shtml Tommie Agee page at Baseball Reference
Web site: Eddie Fisher Stats.
Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007