2001 St. Louis Cardinals season explained

St. Louis Cardinals
Season:	2001
Misc:	National League Wild Card Winners
League:	National League
Record:	93–69 (.574)
Divisional Place:	2nd
Owners:	William DeWitt, Jr.
General Managers:	Walt Jocketty
Managers:	Tony La Russa
Television:	Fox Sports Midwest KPLR (Al Hrabosky, Bob Carpenter, Dan McLaughlin, Joe Buck)
Radio:	KMOX (Jack Buck, Mike Shannon, Joe Buck, Dan McLaughlin)

The St. Louis Cardinals 2001 season was the team's 120th season in St. Louis, Missouri and the 110th season in the National League. The Cardinals went 93–69 during the season and finished tied for first in the National League Central with the Houston Astros. Because the Cardinals and Astros were best two teams in the National League, both from the Central, and both finished five games ahead of the third-place Chicago Cubs, the Astros were awarded the NL Central champion and the number 1 seed in the playoffs due to winning the season series 9–7, and the Cardinals were awarded the wild-card.^[1]

In the playoffs the Cardinals lost to the eventual World Champion Arizona Diamondbacks 3 games to 2 in the NLDS.^[2]

Third baseman/Outfielder Albert Pujols won the Rookie of the Year Award this year, batting .329, with 37 home runs and 130 RBIs. Second baseman Fernando Viña and outfielder Jim Edmonds won Gold Gloves in 2001.^[3]

This was also Jack Buck's final season as the team's broadcaster.^[4]

Offseason

December 22, 2000: Quinton McCracken was signed as a free agent with the St. Louis Cardinals.^[5]
January 5, 2001: Bobby Bonilla was signed as a free agent with the St. Louis Cardinals.^[6]
January 5, 2001: John Mabry was signed as a free agent with the St. Louis Cardinals.^[7]
March 28, 2001: Quinton McCracken was released by the St. Louis Cardinals.

Regular season

Albert Pujols made his major league debut on April 2 against the Colorado Rockies.^[8] He appeared in three at-bats and collected one hit.^[9]

On September 3, Bud Smith became the ninth Cardinal and eighteenth rookie to hurl a no-hitter.

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Transactions

April 9, 2001: John Mabry was sent to the Florida Marlins by the St. Louis Cardinals as part of a conditional deal.
June 5, 2001: Dan Haren was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2nd round of the 2001 amateur draft. Player signed June 20, 2001.^[10]
June 5, 2001: Joe Mather was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 3rd round of the 2001 amateur draft.
June 5, 2001: Skip Schumaker was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 5th round of the 2001 amateur draft.

Roster

2001 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	121	381	83	.218	7	42
1B	97	299	56	.187	29	64
2B	154	631	191	.303	9	56
SS	141	493	128	.260	10	57
3B	144	564	173	.307	3	38
LF	91	264	62	.235	15	39
CF	150	500	152	.304	30	110
RF	109	375	121	.323	27	73

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
161	590	194	.329	37	130
123	340	96	.282	15	64
86	203	54	.266	6	23
114	186	53	.285	1	15
93	174	37	.213	5	21
33	42	5	.119	1	3
27	33	11	.333	1	7
23	25	5	.200	0	1
5	7	0	.000	0	0
13	5	1	.200	0	1
5	5	1	.200	0	0
2	2	0	.000	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	227.1	16	11	3.09	179
34	216.1	22	8	3.16	185
33	192.1	14	13	4.45	123
16	84.2	6	3	3.83	59
11	75.0	7	1	2.28	52
6	24.0	1	2	7.13	27

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
	27	107.1	7	7	7.38	78
	51	89.0	3	4	3.24	72

Relief pitchers

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

G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
71	3	2	15	3.70	61
89	3	3	9	1.80	54
67	4	5	3	4.09	47
67	1	5	6	3.86	51
40	1	2	0	5.21	26
35	1	2	1	4.29	24
30	1	1	3	4.66	19
10	1	0	0	3.07	10
9	2	0	0	7.36	10
8	0	0	0	7.36	3
4	0	0	0	1.80	1
3	0	0	0	24.75	2
1	0	0	0	18.00	0

NLDS

See main article: 2001 National League Division Series. Arizona wins the series, 3-2

Game	Home	Score	Visitor	Score	Date	Series
1	Arizona	1	St. Louis	0	October	1-0 (AZ)
2	Arizona	1	St. Louis	4	October 10	1-1
3	St. Louis	3	Arizona	5	October 12	2-1 (AZ)
4	St. Louis	4	Arizona	1	October 13	2-2
5	Arizona	2	St. Louis	1	October 14	3-2 (AZ)

Awards and honors

Jim Edmonds, OF, Gold Glove Award
Albert Pujols, 3B, National League Rookie of the Year Award
Fernando Viña, 2B, Gold Glove Award

All-Star Game

Matt Morris, P, reserve
Albert Pujols, 3B, reserve

Farm system

References

News: Ankiel throws two hitless innings. September 19, 2004. ESPN.com. https://web.archive.org/web/20130927215444/http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=240919124. September 27, 2013. dead. Associated Press. There may be another reason for La Russa's stance. St. Louis finished tied with Houston in 2001, but the Astros won the division based on head-to-head record while the Cardinals won the wild-card berth. Still, St. Louis tried to claim it was division co-champion, a position the commissioner's office rejected.. mdy.
Web site: 2022-10-05 . A look back at the St. Louis Cardinals Wild Card postseason history . 2024-06-01 . ksdk.com . en-US.
Web site: admin . 2001-11-07 . Two Redbirds Win Gold Glove . 2024-06-01 . Missourinet . en-US.
Web site: Jack Buck . 2024-06-01 . baseballvoices.com.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/m/mccraqu01.shtml Quinton McCracken Statistics
https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/bonilbo01.shtml Bobby Bonilla Statistics
https://www.baseball-reference.com/m/mabryjo01.shtml John Mabry Statistics
Web site: Albert Pujols Stats.
Web site: Box Score of Game played on Monday, April 2, 2001 at Coors Field.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/h/harenda01.shtml Danny Haren Statistics
Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007