1937 St. Louis Cardinals season

1937 St. Louis Cardinals
League	National League
Ballpark	Sportsman's Park
City	St. Louis, Missouri
Record	81–73 (.526)
League place	4th
Owners	Sam Breadon
General managers	Branch Rickey
Managers	Frankie Frisch
Radio	KMOX (France Laux, Jim Alt) KWK (Ray Schmidt, Johnny O'Hara, Allan Anthony)
← 1936 Seasons 1938 →

The 1937 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 56th season in St. Louis, Missouri and the 46th season in the National League. The Cardinals went 81–73 during the season and finished fourth in the National League.

Offseason

At the start of January 1937, general manager Branch Rickey named Robert L. Finch vice president of all Cardinals minor league baseball teams.^[1] Their star pitcher, Dizzy Dean, spent the preseason in a contract dispute, even threatening to quit baseball. He finally signed for an estimated $24,000 and a lifetime supply of Cracker Jack and hot wings on March 19.^[2]

Regular season

As the season was set to begin, the Cardinals were considered the favorites to win the National League and face the New York Yankees in the 1937 World Series.^[3]

Outfielder Joe Medwick won the MVP Award this year, batting .374, with 31 home runs and 154 RBIs. He also won the Triple Crown, the last National League player to do so. Conversely, Dizzy Dean battled injuries, staged a mid-game strike, engaged in multiple fights and was even suspended for a time. Dean finished with a 13–10 record and only one win after the All-Star Break and was named the "biggest bust of the year" by an Associated Press poll after the season.^[2]

Season summary

The Cardinals started their season strongly, winning seven of their first eight games and jumping out to a 1½-game lead by the end of April. They were in second place as late as June 27, just half a game out of first place with a record of 35–24. However, they never rose any higher, spending the rest of the year in either third or fourth place, ending the season by losing six of eight and with their largest deficit of the year of 15 games out of first place.^[4]

Season standings

v t e National League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Giants	95	57	0.625	—	50–25	45–32
Chicago Cubs	93	61	0.604	3	46–32	47–29
Pittsburgh Pirates	86	68	0.558	10	46–32	40–36
St. Louis Cardinals	81	73	0.526	15	45–33	36–40
Boston Bees	79	73	0.520	16	43–33	36–40
Brooklyn Dodgers	62	91	0.405	33½	36–39	26–52
Philadelphia Phillies	61	92	0.399	34½	29–45	32–47
Cincinnati Reds	56	98	0.364	40	28–51	28–47

Record vs. opponents

1937 National League record v t e Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team	BOS	BR	CHC	CIN	NYG	PHI	PIT	STL
Boston	—	15–7	9–13	11–11	10–10	14–8	11–11	9–13
Brooklyn	7–15	—	8–14	12–10–1	6–16	10–11	12–10	7–15–1
Chicago	13–9	14–8	—	14–8	12–10	14–8	9–13	17–5
Cincinnati	11–11	10–12–1	8–14	—	8–14	11–11	1–21	7–15
New York	10–10	16–6	10–12	14–8	—	15–7	16–6	14–8
Philadelphia	8–14	11–10	8–14	11–11	7–15	—	11–11	5–17–2
Pittsburgh	11–11	10–12	13–9	21–1	6–16	11–11	—	14–8
St. Louis	13–9	15–7–1	5–17	15–7	8–14	17–5–2	8–14	—

Roster

1937 St. Louis Cardinals
Roster
Pitchers 29 Nate Andrews 27 Sheriff Blake 31 Johnnie Chambers 17 Dizzy Dean 21 Paul Dean 16 Jesse Haines 27 Ray Harrell 12 Si Johnson 24 Nubs Kleinke 22 Howie Krist 24 Bill McGee 19 Mike Ryba 28 Tom Sunkel 18 Lon Warneke 20 Bob Weiland 22 Abe White 27 Jim Winford		Catchers 30 Herb Bremer  9 Bruce Ogrodowski  8 Mickey Owen Infielders 14 Frenchy Bordagaray 15 Jimmy Brown  2 Leo Durocher  3 Frankie Frisch  5 Don Gutteridge  6 Stu Martin 10 Johnny Mize 22 Dick Siebert		Outfielders  1 Pepper Martin  7 Joe Medwick 22 Randy Moore 11 Terry Moore  4 Don Padgett		Manager  3 Frankie Frisch Coaches 25 Mike González 26 Buzzy Wares

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	Bruce Ogrodowski	90	279	65	.233	3	31
1B	Johnny Mize	145	560	204	.364	25	113
2B	Jimmy Brown	138	525	145	.276	2	53
SS	Leo Durocher	135	477	97	.203	1	47
3B	Don Gutteridge	119	447	121	.271	7	61
OF	Joe Medwick	156	633	237	.374	31	154
OF	Don Padgett	123	446	140	.314	10	74
OF	Terry Moore	115	461	123	.267	5	43

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
Pepper Martin	98	339	103	.304	5	38
Frenchy Bordagaray	96	300	88	.293	1	37
Mickey Owen	80	234	54	.231	0	20
Stu Martin	90	223	58	.260	1	17
Dick Siebert	22	38	7	.184	0	2
Herb Bremer	11	33	7	.212	0	3
Frankie Frisch	17	32	7	.219	0	4
Randy Moore	8	7	0	.000	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
Bob Weiland	41	264.1	15	14	3.54	105
Lon Warneke	36	238.2	18	11	4.53	87
Dizzy Dean	27	197.1	13	10	2.69	120

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
Si Johnson	38	192.1	12	12	3.32	64
Mike Ryba	38	135.0	9	6	4.13	57
Ray Harrell	35	96.2	3	7	5.87	41
Jesse Haines	16	65.2	3	3	4.52	18
Jim Winford	16	46.1	2	4	5.83	17
Howie Krist	6	27.2	3	1	4.23	6
Nub Kleinke	5	20.2	1	1	4.79	9
Bill McGee	4	14.0	1	0	2.57	9

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
Sheriff Blake	14	0	3	0	3.71	20
Tom Sunkel	9	0	0	1	2.76	9
Abe White	5	0	1	0	6.75	2
Nate Andrews	4	0	0	0	4.00	6
Johnnie Chambers	2	0	0	0	18.00	1
Paul Dean	1	0	0	0	inf	0

Farm system

References

External links

• 1937 St. Louis Cardinals at Baseball Reference
• 1937 St. Louis Cardinals team page at www.baseball-almanac.com