1984 St. Louis Cardinals season explained

St. Louis Cardinals
Season:	1984
League:	National League
Record:	84–78 (.519)
Divisional Place:	3rd
Owners:	August "Gussie" Busch
General Managers:	Joe McDonald
Managers:	Whitey Herzog
Television:	KSDK (Jack Buck, Mike Shannon, Jay Randolph) Sports Time (Jack Buck, Mike Shannon, Bob Carpenter)
Radio:	KMOX (Jack Buck, Mike Shannon, Dan Kelly, Red Rush)

The St. Louis Cardinals 1984 season was the team's 103rd season in St. Louis, Missouri and the 93rd season in the National League. The Cardinals went 84–78 during the season and finished third in the National League East, 12½ games behind their arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs. It was also the final season of the Columbia blue road uniforms for the Cardinals.

Offseason

Pitcher Joaquín Andújar and shortstop Ozzie Smith won Gold Gloves this year. Bruce Sutter had a then-NL record of 45 saves.

June 23, 1984: What turned out to be a key game for the Cubs occurred at Wrigley, with the Cubs facing the rival Cardinals on the nationally televised "Game of the Week". The Cardinals led throughout the game, and led 9-8 going into the bottom of the ninth with closer Bruce Sutter on the mound. Second baseman Ryne Sandberg led off the ninth with a solo home run into the left-field bleachers, tying the game at nine.^[3] The following inning, St. Louis regained the lead, and Sutter stayed in the game attempting to close out the win. After the first two batters were retired, Bob Dernier walked, bringing up Sandberg again. He promptly hit another game-tying home run into the left-field bleachers, sending the Wrigley fans into a frenzy.^[3] The Cardinals did not score in the top of the 11th, but the Cubs loaded the bases on three walks, then rookie Dave Owen singled in the winning run.^[4] Willie McGee hit for the cycle and had 6 RBI but Ryne Sandberg had 7 RBI in the game. Henceforth, this game has become known as "The Sandberg Game".

April 5, 1984: Gary Rajsich was purchased by the Cardinals from the New York Mets.^[5]
May 10, 1984: Dane Iorg was purchased from the Cardinals by the Kansas City Royals.^[6]
June 15, 1984: Ken Oberkfell was traded by the Cardinals to the Atlanta Braves for Ken Dayley and Mike Jorgensen.^[7]

June 4, 1984: 1984 Major League Baseball Draft
- Lance Johnson was drafted by the Cardinals in the 6th round. Player signed June 13, 1984.^[8]
- Craig Wilson was drafted by the Cardinals in the 20th round.^[9]

1984 St. Louis Cardinals
Roster
Pitchers		CatchersInfielders		Outfielders		ManagerCoaches

= Indicates team leader

= Indicates league leader

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	127	422	98	.232	11	68
1B	126	452	121	.268	15	65
2B	145	558	154	.276	4	49
SS	124	412	106	.257	1	44
3B	67	262	85	.324	1	33
LF	145	504	126	.250	6	49
CF	145	571	166	.291	6	50
RF	120	441	122	.277	9	69

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
137	361	88	.244	7	50
105	173	47	.272	3	26
50	152	47	.309	0	11
89	139	30	.216	2	12
38	118	21	.178	3	8
86	98	27	.276	0	16
59	98	24	.245	1	12
33	86	24	.279	3	12
46	73	16	.219	0	3
28	58	12	.207	1	3
15	28	4	.143	0	3
14	20	2	.100	0	1
8	19	4	.211	0	3
21	15	1	.067	0	0
13	14	2	.143	0	0
7	7	1	.143	0	2

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

G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
36	261.1	20	14	3.34	147
33	193.0	12	10	3.96	130
29	156.1	9	11	4.03	70
17	109.0	6	5	3.30	71
4	19.0	0	3	4.74	11

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

G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
37	125.2	9	4	3.44	76
15	61.1	3	5	5.28	19
16	52.1	2	5	6.02	21
10	22.1	0	1	3.63	15
3	5.0	0	2	18.00	0

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

G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
71	5	7	45	1.54	77
63	4	2	1	3.72	45
57	9	6	3	3.55	66
50	2	3	0	2.10	38
27	1	0	1	3.12	19
4	1	0	0	2.45	2
3	1	0	0	11.57	1