1954 St. Louis Cardinals

St. Louis's Lone Baseball Team
1954 marked the first year that the city of St. Louis only had one major league baseball team, with the Browns moving to Baltimore and becoming the Orioles. The Cardinals had finished in 3rd place the previous three seasons, but with the town to themselves, they fell to 6th place in 1954. Before the season, they traded away a hall-of-famer to the Yankees, Enos Slaughter, but replaced him with the 1954 NL Rookie of the Year, Wally Moon. They also picked up shortstop Alex Grammas from the Reds. Stan Musial was the offensive leader on this team, leading the team in all of the triple crown categories. He led the team in home runs, nearly doubling the 2nd best home run hitter, Rip Repulski 35 to 19. Harvey Haddix leading the pitching staff, leading the team in wins and strikeouts.

Starter and Hall-of-Fame/All-Star Scores
Exclusive players to a set are in italics

Topps Regulars (11): Bill Sarni, Ray Jablonski, Alex Grammas, Rip Repulski, Wally Moon, Solly Hemus, Harvey Haddix, Tom Poholsky, Stu Miller, Joe Presko, Cot Deal

Bowman Regulars (8): Red Schoendienst, Rip Repulski, Solly Hemus, Vic Raschi (shown with Yankees), Al Brazle, Jerry Staley, Stu Miller, Joe Presko

Topps All-Stars & Hall-of-Famers (2): Ray Jablonski, Harvey Haddix

Bowman All-Stars & Hall-of-Famers (1): Red Schoendienst

The Cardinals give an advantage to Topps. The only key player on a card in 1954 missing in the Topps set is hall-of-famer Red Schoendiest. There are actually several regulars who are missing in both sets: 1st baseman Joe Cunningham, 1st baseman Tom Alston, pitchers Brook Lawrence, Gordon Jones, Royce Lint, and Ralph Beard. Also missing in both of these sets of course is the biggest Cardinal omission of all...Stan Musial. But you could get a 1954 card of Stan Musial, you just had to look at the Red Heart set in 1954. More on that set below.



Red Heart
The Red Heart set consisted of 33 cards. They were distributed nationally with dog food. Yes dog food, although, this isn't the only time I have seen this happen. I am covering 1984 (well at least slowly), and there was a 33 card set distributed with dog food by Ralston Purina. I specifically remember getting those cards in bags of dog food. Anyway, to see the complete set of 1954 Red Heart cards, check out this website which has a scan of all 33 cards in the set.

This, of course is the only set to get a Stan Musial card in 1954. Supposedly, the big guns (Topps and Bowman) didn't pay him what he thought he was worth, but Red Heart had no problem. They also had a Mickey Mantle card in the set. How these cards were obtained was by sending in labels of dog food to get one set of 11 cards. This explains why the cards have three different background colors (blue, green, red). Rumour has it that these cards may have been available to order as late as the 1970s.

Starters

__	TO	194	C	Bill Sarni	STL
__			1B	Joe Cunningham
__	BO	110	2B	Red Schoendienst	STL
__	TO	26	3B	Ray Jablonski	STL
__	TO	151	SS	Alex Grammas	STL
__	TO	115	LF	Rip Repulski	STL
__	TO	137	CF	Wally Moon	STL
__	RH	23	RF	Stan Musial	STL
__	TO	117	SS	Solly Hemus	STL
__			1B	Tom Alston

Starting Pitchers

__	TO	9	SP	Harvey Haddix	STL
__			SP	Brooks Lawrence
__	TO	142	SP	Tom Poholsky	STL
__			SP	Gordon Jones
__	BO	33	SP	Vic Raschi	NYY

Relief Pitchers

__	BO	142	CL	Al Brazle	STL
__	BO	14	RP	Jerry Staley	STL
__			RP	Royce Lint
__			SP	Ralph Beard
__	TO	164	RP	Stu Miller	STL
__	TO	135	RP	Joe Presko	STL
__	TO	192	RP	Cot Deal	STL

Other Players

__	BO	30	C	Del Rice	STL
__			UT	Joe Frazier
__	TO	158	OF	Peanuts Lowrey	STL
__	BO	78	C	Sal Yvars	STL
__			RF	Tom Burgess
__			1B	Steve Bilko
__	TO	191	SS	Dick Schofield	STL
__	BO	174	3B	Pete Castiglione	STL
__			RP	Ben Wade
__			RP	Mel Wright
__			RP	Hal White
__	TO	118	RP	Carl Scheib	PHA
__			SP	Bill Greason
__	BO	222	SP	Memo Luna	STL

Manager/Coaches

__	TO	38	MG	Eddie Stanky	STL
__	TO	147	CO	Johnny Riddle	STL
__	TO	237	CO	Mike Ryba	STL

1983 St. Louis Cardinals

The defending World Series champs in 1983, fell to 79-83 and 4th place in the NL East. The biggest news out of the Cardinals was the trade of Keith Hernandez in mid-season to the division rival Mets.

Best Player: George Hendrick

Best Pitcher: John Stuper...this was very difficult, no one stands out. I give it to Stuper as he pitched the second most innings on the team and had the best ERA among the starters. Here is my chart:

	Wins	ERA	Saves	Strikeouts	WHIP	Total
Stuper	5	1	1	3	0	10
Lahti	0	5	0	0	5	10
Andujar	0	0	1	5	4	10
LaPoint	5	0	0	4	0	9
Sutter	1	0	5	1	1	8
Forsch	3	0	0	0	2	5
Allen	3	0	0	2	0	5
Von Ohlen	0	3	2	0	0	5
Martin	0	2	0	0	3	5
Cox	0	4	0	0	0	4
Bair	0	0	1	0	0	1
Rasmussen	0	0	1	0	0	1

All-Stars: George Hendrick, Willie McGee, Ozzie Smith

Hall-of-Famers: Ozzie Smith, Bruce Sutter

Rookie Card of the Year: Willie McGee, 1985 MVP and 2 time batting champ, including the odd title in 1990 when he won the NL Batting Title, but had been traded to Oakland for the stretch drive. Came back and finished his career with the Cardinals in 1999 after playing with the A's, Giants, and Red Sox, ending his career with over 2200 hits. A very solid career, but his rookie card gets lost behind the three hall-of-fame rookie cards in the 1983 sets.

Other rookies: Glenn Brummer, Jeff Lahti, Dave LaPoint

First Cardinal cards: Neil Allen, Jamie Quirk, Eric Rasmussen (listed under Kansas City Royals)

Most interesting non-Topps card: For the second year in a row, this goes to Gene Roof. He is the only Cardinal on a card outside of Topps. At least his name is correct on his Fleer card this year.

Other notes: One of the odder player transactions in the 1980s took place between the Cardinals and Orioles, Floyd Rayford and Tito Landrum were traded for each other in mid-1983. By 1984, Rayford was sold back to the Orioles and the Cardinals traded with the Orioles to get Landrum back. Rayford's card with the Orioles is listed here, as he had no traded card.

Dave Rucker was traded by the Tigers for Doug Bair. According to baseball-reference.com, on June 22, 1983, Doug Bair went to the Tigers for a player to be named later. Bair has a card in the traded set. Dave Rucker was the player to be named later and went to the Cardinals on July 5, he is not included in the traded set. Probably gives us a clue when the traded set for Topps was created in 1983.

Jimmy Sexton had cards in the 1979 and 1980 set, showing him as an Astro. He did not appear again in a set until 1983 with the Athletics. He only played for the Cardinals in 1983 and did not have a card in the traded set, so his Athletic card is listed here.

Starters

__	TO	103	C	Darrell Porter	STL
__	TO	650	1B	George Hendrick	STL
__	TO	489	2B	Tom Herr	STL
__	TO	540	SS	Ozzie Smith	STL
__	TO	206	3B	Ken Oberkfell	STL
__	TO	465	LF	Lonnie Smith	STL
__	TO	49	CF	Willie McGee	STL
__	TO	578	RF	David Green	STL
__			UT	Andy Van Slyke
__	TO	700	1B	Keith Hernandez	STL

Starting Pitchers

__	TO	228	SP	Joaquin Andujar	STL
__	TO	363	SP	John Stuper	STL
__	TO	438	SP	Dave LaPoint	STL
__	TO	415	SP	Bob Forsch	STL
__	TT	1	SP	Neil Allen	STL
__			SP	Danny Cox

Relief Pitchers

__	TO	150	CL	Bruce Sutter	STL
__	TO	284	RP	Jeff Lahti	STL
__			RP	Dave Von Ohlen
__	TO	721	RP	John Martin	STL

Other Players

__	TO	128	2B	Mike Ramsey	STL
__	TO	788	UT	Dane Iorg	STL
__	TO	192	3B	Floyd Rayford	BAL
__	TO	734	UT	Steve Braun	STL
__	TO	311	C	Glenn Brummer	STL
__	TT	90	C	Jamie Quirk	STL
__			IF	Bill Lyons
__			2B	Jeff Doyle
__			UT	Jim Adduci
__			IF	Rafael Santana
__	TO	709	IF	Jimmy Sexton	OAK
__			OF	Tito Landrum
__			C	Orlando Sanchez
__	FL	20	LF	Gene Roof	STL
__	TO	304	RP	Dave Rucker	DET
__	TO	672	RP	Jim Kaat	STL
__	TO	627	RP	Doug Bair	STL
__			RP	Kevin Hagen
__			RP	Ralph Citarella
__			RP	Steve Baker
__			RP	Eric Rasmussen
__			RP	Jeff Keener

Manager

__

TO

186

MG

Whitey Herzog

STL

1982 St. Louis Cardinals

Moving on to the actual team checklists, we begin with the 1982 World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals. I am going to try something a little different with the teams in 1982, I am going to name the MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, and Most interesting non-Topps card for each team. This will save me from trying to think of something to write about the Indians or Rangers or some other team that was largely uninteresting in 1982.

MVP
I am going with Lonnie Smith here. Everybody likes to give credit for acquiring Ozzie Smith as being the final puzzle piece for this title, but Lonnie Smith was acquired in a three team trade in November 1981, and led the entire NL in runs scored, and led the Cardinals in stolen bases and batting average. He was also third on the team in RBI. The Cardinals in 1982 were a team built on speed and Lonnie Smith was the speediest, so I am giving him the MVP title.

Honorable mention goes to George Hendrick who led the team in home runs and RBIs.

Cy Young
I was debating between Joaquin Andujar and Bruce Sutter. Andujar had a much lower ERA and pitched more than twice as many innings, so I am going with him.

Rookie of the Year
No question, Willie McGee. The future MVP and batting champion played his first season as the starting center fielder for a World Series champ. Unfortunately we have to wait until 1983 for McGee cards.

Most interesting non-Topps card
Gene Roof, listed as Phil Roof on his 1982 Donruss card, got the least amount of plate appearances by a non-pitcher for this team. He had cups of coffee with the Cardinals and Expos from 1981-1983. He is currently a coach in the Tigers farm system.

I wonder where Donruss got the idea to put the name "Phil Roof" on this card. Gene's full name isn't even remotely tied to "Phil". There was a Phil Roof who played. Phil Roof is probably the only player to play for both the Milwaukee Braves and the Toronto Blue Jays, so he had a long career, but 1977 was his last season. According to baseball-reference Gene and Phil are related.

Starters (at least 240 PA or majority time playing a position, this eliminates deciding who to list for platoon situations and shows importance of super-subs on teams)

__	TO	447	C	Darrell Porter	STL
__	TO	210	1B	Keith Hernandez	STL
__	TO	27	2B	Tom Herr	STL
__	TO	474	3B	Ken Oberkfell	STL
__	TT	109	SS	Ozzie Smith	STL
__	TT	108	LF	Lonnie Smith	STL
__			CF	Willie McGee
__	TO	420	RF	George Hendrick	STL
__	TO	574	MI	Mike Ramsey	STL
__	TO	86	LF	Dane Iorg	STL

Starting Pitchers (majority of games started and at least 80 IP...this is roughly 10-12 starts at least)

__	TO	533	SP	Joaquin Andujar	STL
__	TO	775	SP	Bob Forsch	STL
__	TT	79	SP	Steve Mura	STL
__			SP	Dave LaPoint
__			SP	John Stuper

Relief Pitchers (at least 48 IP, some starters get listed here occasionally)

__	TO	260	CL	Bruce Sutter	STL
__	TO	262	RP	Doug Bair	STL
__	TO	367	RP	Jim Kaat	STL
__			RP	Jeff Lahti
__	TO	236	RP	John Martin	STL

Other Players (everybody else, in order of plate appearances and innings pitched)

__			CF	David Green
__	TO	631	C	Gene Tenace	STL
__	TO	503	3B	Julio Gonzalez	STL
__	TO	658	OF	Tito Landrum	STL
__	TO	316	UT	Steve Braun	STL
__			C	Glenn Brummer
__	TO	604	C	Orlando Sanchez	STL
__			IF	Kelly Paris
__	DO	615	OF	Gene Roof	STL
__	TO	135	SP	Andy Rincon	STL
__			RP	Jeff Keener
__	TO	56	RP	Mark Littell	STL
__			RP	Eric Rasmussen

Manager/Coaches

__

DO

190

MG

Whitey Herzog

STL

1981 St. Louis Cardinals

Two Ships Passing
This team was similar to the Reds in that they had the best record for the season in their division but didn't get to the playoffs. They finished 2nd in both halves of the season. But that is where the similarities end. These two teams were like two ships passing in the night. The Reds were coming off of their 1970s successes, but would be the worst team in the National League in 1982 and take the entire '80s to rebuild into a playoff team. Meanwhile, the Cardinals would go on to win the world series in 1982 and appear in 2 more before the end of the '80s.

Could've Been The Best Bullpen Ever
The Cardinals made 3 trades between December 8, 1980 and December 12, 1980 that are interesting. The Cardinals sent out a bunch of spare parts on 12/8 to the Padres to pick up Rollie Fingers and Gene Tenace. On 12/9 they traded Leon Durham and Ken Reitz to the Cubs for Bruce Sutter. Then on 12/12 they traded Rollie Fingers, Ted Simmons, and Pete Vuckovich to the Brewers for a bunch of spare parts. So for four days in the middle of December 1980, the Cardinals had two future hall of fame relievers on their roster. The Cardinals made the right choice keeping Sutter as he would lead the NL in saves for 3 of the next 4 seasons.

When the dust settles, looking at all these trades from the Cardinals viewpoint, it looks like they sent out Leon Durham, Ted Simmons, and Pete Vuckovich and a whole lot of spare parts out to acquire Bruce Sutter and a whole lot of spare parts.

Starters

__	TT	814	C	Darrell Porter	STL
__	TO	420	1B	Keith Hernandez	STL
__	TO	266	2B	Tom Herr	STL
__	TO	32	3B	Ken Oberkfell	STL
__	TO	485	SS	Garry Templeton	STL
__	TO	334	LF	Dane Iorg	STL
__	TO	165	CF	Tony Scott	STL
__	TO	230	RF	George Hendrick	STL
__	TT	793	OF	Sixto Lezcano	STL
__	TT	842	C	Gene Tenace	STL

Starting Pitchers

__	TO	140	SP	Bob Forsch	STL
__	TT	831	SP	Lary Sorensen	STL
__			SP	John Martin
__	TO	586	SP	Silvio Martinez	STL
__	TT	731	SP	Joaquin Andujar	STL

Relief Pitchers

__	TT	838	CL	Bruce Sutter	STL
__	TO	563	RP	Jim Kaat	STL
__			SP	Andy Rincon
__	TT	829	RP	Bob Shirley	STL
__	TO	255	RP	Mark Littell	STL
__	TO	348	RP	Bob Sykes	STL
__			RP	Jim Otten

Other Players

__	FL	539	OF	Tito Landrum	STL
__	TO	366	SS	Mike Ramsey	STL
__			LF	Gene Roof
__	FL	427	UT	Steve Braun	TOR
__			C	Orlando Sanchez
__			CF	David Green
__			C	Glenn Brummer
__	FL	73	IF	Julio Gonzalez	HOU
__			PH	Neil Fiala
__			RP	Joe Edelen
__			RP	Doug Bair
__			RP	Luis DeLeon
__			SP	Dave LaPoint

Manager/Coaches

__

MG

Whitey Herzog