The Comeback Cards
1942 St. Louis CardinalsHome Field: Sportsman's Park
World ChampionsHit: #1 R, BA
W - 106 L - 48Pitch: #1 OR, ERA
Manager: Billy SouthworthDef: #5 FA

On the strength of a great farm team, the Cardinals built a formidable team by the early 1940s, and remained baseball's best team through the war. The 1942 Cardinals won 106 games, but winning the pennant was anything but easy. Brooklyn, which had won the pennant a year earlier, had a 10 game lead in early August. St. Louis caught fire the last two months, winning 43 of their final 51 games to catch and surpass the Dodgers. When the dust settled, the Cardinals were two games ahead.

Stan Musial was a 21 year old rookie, who made an immediate impact with a .315 batting average. He joined Terry Moore and Enos Slaughter in the outfield. Slaughter batted .318, led the league in hits, and ranked among the league's leaders in RBIs and runs scored.

The Cards boasted as good a pitching duo as you could ask for in Mort Cooper and Johnny Beazley. Cooper, the league's MVP, was 22-7 with a league best 1.77 ERA. Beazley finished 21-6 and had a 2.14 ERA.

St. Louis faced the vaunted Yankees in the World Series. Although they had a better record, the Cardinals were underdogs. After all, the Yankees hadn't lost in the World Series since 1926 and had won their last eight trips to the fall classic. The Yanks took the opener 7-4, but the Cards came back strong, winning the next four games.

Although the United States had already entered World War II, its impact on baseball in 1942 was minimal. Yet during the offseason, a great number of ballplayers were called ot service. Slaughter, Moore, and Beazley missed the next three years, and many others missed at least a season. St. Louis won pennants the next two years and claimed the 1944 World Series title by defeating the Browns.


young Stan Musial


Pos Player Bats AB H R HR RBI BA    NL Rank
C Walker Cooper R 438 123 58 7 65 .281  
1B Johnny Hopp L 314 81 41 3 37 .258  
2B-3B-SS Jimmy Brown B 606 155 75 1 71 .256  
SS Marty Marion R 485 134 66 0 54 .276  
3B Whitey Kurowski R 366 93 51 9 42 .254  
LF Stan Musial L 467 147 87 10 72 .315    #3 BA
CF Terry Moore R 489 141 80 6 49 .288  
RF Enos Slaughter L 591 188 100 13 98 .318    #2 BA, R; #3 RBI
                   
2B Creepy Crespi R 292 71 33 0 35 .243  
1B Ray Sanders L 282 71 37 5 39 .252  
C Ken O'Dea L 192 45 22 5 32 .234  
OF Harry Walker L 191 60 38 0 16 .314  
OF Coaker Triplett R 154 42 18 1 23 .273  
                   
Total: Team   5421 1454 755 60 682 .268  
  League Average   41769 10391 4784 538 4387 .249  
                   


Pitcher Throw G IP W L ERA PCT    NL Rank
  Mort Cooper R 37 279 22 7 1.77 .759    #1 W, ERA; #2 K
  Johnny Beazley R 43 215 21 6 2.14 .778    #2 W, ERA
  Max Lanier L 34 161 13 8 2.96 .619  
  Howie Krist R 34 118 13 3 2.52 .813  
  Harry Gumbert R 38 163 9 5 3.26 .643  
  Ernie White L 26 128 7 5 2.53 .583  
  Murry Dickson R 36 121 6 3 2.90 .667  
  Howie Pollet L 27 109 7 5 2.89 .583  
                   
Total: Team       106 48 2.55    
  League Average           3.31    

Back to the Mike & Maria Home Page

Back to the Greatest Teams of All Time

You are visitor number: .