History


 
Cardinals Timeline
CARDINALS TIMELINE
1892-1900 | 1901-1925 | 1926-1950 | 1951-1975 | 1976-2000 | 2001-Present
Timeline
1926  - In their first World Series appearance, the Cardinals, led by player-manager Hornsby, edged the Yankees in a seven games. The team led the N.L. in eight offensive categories. Their 90 home runs led the league, while their 82 triples placed them second. They were not caught stealing once (83 SB). Veteran 39-year-old righthander Grover Cleveland Alexander, obtained by the Redbirds in a midseason trade with the Chicago Cubs, won the second and sixth games of the Series, then came on to save the seventh game.
1928  - The Cardinals won the pennant behind Jim Bottomley's 93 extra base hits and a staff that completed 83 games, but they were swept by the Yankees in the Series. Babe Ruth batted .625 for the Series and hit three home runs in one game, and Lou Gehrig batted .545 with nine RBI. Four of Gehrig's six hits were home runs.
1930  - On September 28, the last game of the season, 19-year-old Jay Hanna "Dizzy" Dean made his big league debut, pitching a complete game three-hitter in a Cardinals win. The team won the pennant but dropped the Series to Philadelphia that year, 4-2. Cardinal victories were pitched by Bill Hallahan, 5-0 in the third game, and Jesse Haines, 3-1 in the fourth.
1931  - In Pepper Martin's (the "Wild Horse of the Osage") rookie season the Cardinals avenged their loss to Philadelphia, taking the Series in seven games. Martin stole five bases, collected 12 hits and batter .500. Bill Hallahan and Burleigh Grimes each pitched two victories for the Cardinals.
1932  - Dizzy Dean won 18 games in his rookie campaign after spending all of 1931 in Houston, in the Texas League. He led the league in strikeouts (191), shutouts(4) and innings pitched (286).
1933  - Leo (the Lip) Durocher's first year with the club and Joe Medwick's rookie season. Frankie (Fordham Flash) Frisch, at 34, played 2B while co-managing with Gabby Street.
1934  - The "Gas House Gang" won the National League pennant on the final day of the season, then defeated Detroit in the Series. Four games to three. Dizzy Dean predicted 45 wins between himself and his brother, Paul, a rookie. Dizzy won 30, his brother 19, for a total of 49 and each won two games in the Series. The final game of the Series, won by the Cardinals 11-0, was marked by Commissioner Kenesaw Landis' order to eject Joe "Muscles" Medwick from the game. Medwick had slid hard into Tigers third baseman, Marv Owen, in the sixth inning, so infuriating Detroit fans that they bombarded him with fruit, vegetables and debris when he took his position in left field in the bottom of the inning. Landis removed Medwick to halt the disturbance.
1937  -

Joe Medwick won the Triple Crown with 31 home runs, 154 RBI and a .374 batting average. He remains the last National Leaguer to accomplish the feat.
1940  - After years of wrangling, the Browns and the Cardinals finally agreed to split the $150,000 cost of installing lights at the park. The Browns were given the honor of hosting the first night game in St. Louis on May 24th.The Cardinals first night game was on June 4. Medwick went 5-for-5, but the Birds were trounced by the Dodgers, 10-1. The All-Star Game was hosted by the Cardinals at Sportsman's Park on July 9th and a sellout crowd of 32,373 saw the National League win, 4-0. Johnny Mize hit a then club-record 43 home runs.
1942  - Winning 43 out of their last 51 games, St. Louis erased a 10.5 game deficit and passed Brooklyn on September 13th on their way to a world championship. The 106-48 Cardinals are considered won of baseball's all-time greatest teams; the average player age was under 27. Home-grown talents Enos (Country) Slaughter and Stan (The Man) Musial, a 21-year-old rookie, were products of Branch Rickey's farm system. Mort Cooper was N.L. MVP, posting 22 wins, seven losses and a 1.77 ERA. In the Series, the Cardinals lost the first game to the Yankees, then roared back to win four straight. Rookie pitcher Johnny Beazley won two games, lefthander Ernie White shut out the Yankees in the third game, and third baseman Whitey Kurowski belted an RBI-triple in the second game and a two-run, ninth-inning homer to clinch the finale.
1943  - N.L. MVP Musial led the league in batting average (.357); hits (220); doubles (48); triples (20); total bases (347); on-base average (.425); and slugging percentage (.562). The Cardinals dropped four of five to the Yankees in the World Series.
1944  - TThe Cardinals felled the St. Louis Browns in the cross-town champion's only World Series appearance. In this only all-St. Louis World Series, pitching dominated as the Cardinals defeated the Browns, four games to two. The two teams combined to strike out a six-game Series-record 92 batters, 49 by Cardinal pitchers and 43 by Browns hurlers. Emil Verban topped Cardinal hitters with a .412 average. The Series was dubbed the "Streetcar Series" as many fans used that mode of travel to and from the ballpark.
1946  - Home paid attendance topped 1 million for the first time. The Cardinals and Dodgers finished the season in a tie for first in the N.L., the first time that occurred in the major leagues. Stan Musial won the N.L. MVP award, leading the league in nearly every offensive category. Enos Slaughter led the league with 130 RBIs. The Cardinals took a three-game series with the Dodgers to decide the N.L., then defeated Boston in a seven-game World Series. Harry "the Cat" Brecheen won three games for the Redbirds. In the bottom of the eighth inning of the seventh game, with the score tied at 3 to 3, Enos Slaughter singled, then scored all the way from first on Harry Walker's double to left-center. Slaughter's "Mad Dash" surprised Red Sox relay man Johnny Pesky, whose moment's hesitation allowed Slaughter to score the winning run.
1947  - At the end of the season, Breadon, his health failing, sold out to Robert E. Hannegan (then Postmaster General of the United States) and Fred Saigh. Hannegan served as president until 1949, selling his share to Saigh.
1948  -

Stan Musial won his third N.L. Most Valuable Player award and led the league in nearly every batting department - average (.376); runs (135); hits (230); total bases (429); doubles (46); triples (18); runs batted in (131); and slugging percentage (.702). The St. Louis Browns hosted the All-Star Game at Sportsman's Park on July 13.
1950  - The Cardinals played their first night opener in St. Louis.
1892-1900 | 1901-1925 | 1926-1950 | 1951-1975 | 1976-2000 | 2001-Present