# 1987 St. Louis Cardinals season

The 1987 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 106th season in St. Louis, Missouri and the 96th season in the National League. The Cardinals went 95–67 during the season and finished first in the National League East for the third and last time before moving to the National League Central in 1994. They went on to win the NLCS in seven games over the San Francisco Giants. In the World Series against the Minnesota Twins, after having fallen behind 2-0 at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, they won their next three games at home. However, back at the Metrodome, they lost the last two and fell one game short of a World Series title. It would be the Cardinals' last World Series appearance until 2004.

## Offseason

* October 31, 1986: Alan Knicely was released by the Cardinals.
* December 19, 1986: Bob Forsch was signed as a free agent by the Cardinals.
* January 26, 1987: Skeeter Barnes was signed as a free agent by the Cardinals.

## Regular season

September highlights included a Terry Pendleton home run during a September 11 game against the contending Mets as well as a Tom Herr walk-off grand slam against the Mets on Seat Cushion Night. As St. Louis proceeded into the post-season, they found themselves without clean-up hitter Jack Clark, the team's number-one offensive threat. He damaged his ankle when he caught a cleat in the artificial turf at Montreal's Olympic Stadium. Nonetheless, the Redbirds won 95 games to capture the NL East title.

### Season standings

vteNL East :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 95 | 67 | .586 | — | 49‍–‍32 | 46‍–‍35 |
| New York Mets | 92 | 70 | .568 | 3 | 49‍–‍32 | 43‍–‍38 |
| Montreal Expos | 91 | 71 | .562 | 4 | 48‍–‍33 | 43‍–‍38 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 80 | 82 | .494 | 15 | 43‍–‍38 | 37‍–‍44 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 80 | 82 | .494 | 15 | 47‍–‍34 | 33‍–‍48 |
| Chicago Cubs | 76 | 85 | .472 | 18½ | 40‍–‍40 | 36‍–‍45 |

### Record vs. opponents

1987 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | ATL | CHC | CIN | HOU | LAD | MON | NYM | PHI | PIT | SD | SF | STL |
| Atlanta | — | 6–5 | 8–10 | 8–10 | 6–12 | 3–9 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 6–12 | 8–10 | 3–9 |
| Chicago | 5–6 | — | 6–6 | 8–4 | 6–6 | 10–8 | 9–9 | 8–10 | 4–14 | 9–3 | 5–7 | 6–12 |
| Cincinnati | 10–8 | 6–6 | — | 13–5 | 10–8 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 5–7 | 4–8 | 12–6 | 7–11 | 4–8 |
| Houston | 10–8 | 4–8 | 5–13 | — | 12–6 | 7–5 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 5–13 | 10–8 | 5–7 |
| Los Angeles | 12–6 | 6–6 | 8–10 | 6–12 | — | 3–9 | 6–6 | 2–10 | 6–6 | 11–7 | 10–8 | 3–9 |
| Montreal | 9–3 | 8–10 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 9–3 | — | 8–10 | 10–8 | 11–7 | 9–3 | 5–7 | 11–7 |
| New York | 5–7 | 9–9 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 10–8 | — | 13–5 | 12–6 | 8–4 | 9–3 | 9–9 |
| Philadelphia | 5-7 | 10–8 | 7–5 | 6–6 | 10–2 | 8–10 | 5–13 | — | 11–7 | 8–4 | 2–10 | 8–10 |
| Pittsburgh | 5–7 | 14–4 | 8–4 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 7–11 | 6–12 | 7–11 | — | 8–4 | 6–6 | 7–11 |
| San Diego | 12–6 | 3–9 | 6–12 | 13–5 | 7–11 | 3–9 | 4–8 | 4–8 | 4–8 | — | 5–13 | 4–8 |
| San Francisco | 10–8 | 7–5 | 11–7 | 8–10 | 8–10 | 7–5 | 3–9 | 10–2 | 6–6 | 13–5 | — | 7–5 |
| St. Louis | 9–3 | 12–6 | 8–4 | 7–5 | 9–3 | 7–11 | 9–9 | 10–8 | 11–7 | 8–4 | 5–7 | — |

### Notable transactions

* April 1, 1987: Mike LaValliere, Mike Dunne and Andy Van Slyke were traded by the Cardinals to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Tony Peña.
* April 6, 1987: Lee Tunnell was purchased by the Cardinals from the Pittsburgh Pirates.
* June 2, 1987: Jeremy Hernandez was drafted by the Cardinals in the 2nd round of the 1987 Major League Baseball draft.
* July 16, 1987: Skeeter Barnes was purchased from the Cardinals by the Milwaukee Brewers.
* July 25, 1987: Joe Boever was traded by the Cardinals to the Atlanta Braves for Randy O'Neal.
* August 31, 1987: Pat Perry was traded to the Cincinnati Reds for a player to be named later. On September 3, 1987 the Cincinnati Reds sent Scott Terry to the St. Louis Cardinals to complete the deal.
* September 29, 1987: Doug DeCinces was signed as a free agent with the St. Louis Cardinals.

### Roster
## 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 | Tony Peña | 116 | 384 | 82 | .214 | 5 | 44 |
| 1B | Jack Clark | 131 | 419 | 120 | .286 | 35 | 106 |
| 2B | Tom Herr | 141 | 510 | 134 | .263 | 2 | 83 |
| 3B | Terry Pendleton | 159 | 583 | 167 | .286 | 12 | 96 |
| SS | Ozzie Smith | 158 | 600 | 182 | .303 | 0 | 75 |
| LF | Vince Coleman | 151 | 623 | 180 | .289 | 3 | 43 |
| CF | Willie McGee | 153 | 620 | 177 | .285 | 11 | 105 |
| RF | Curt Ford | 89 | 228 | 65 | .285 | 3 | 26 |

#### 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 |
| José Oquendo | 116 | 248 | 71 | .286 | 1 | 24 |
| Jim Lindeman | 75 | 207 | 43 | .208 | 8 | 28 |
| Steve Lake | 74 | 179 | 45 | .251 | 2 | 19 |
| John Morris | 101 | 157 | 41 | .261 | 3 | 23 |
| Dan Driessen | 24 | 60 | 14 | .233 | 1 | 11 |
| Lance Johnson | 63 | 59 | 13 | .220 | 0 | 7 |
| Tito Landrum | 30 | 50 | 10 | .200 | 0 | 6 |
| Tom Pagnozzi | 27 | 48 | 9 | .188 | 2 | 9 |
| Rod Booker | 44 | 47 | 13 | .277 | 0 | 8 |
| David Green | 14 | 30 | 8 | .267 | 1 | 1 |
| Mike Laga | 17 | 29 | 4 | .138 | 1 | 4 |
| Tom Lawless | 19 | 25 | 2 | .080 | 0 | 0 |
| Doug DeCinces | 4 | 9 | 2 | .222 | 0 | 1 |
| Skeeter Barnes | 4 | 4 | 1 | .250 | 1 | 3 |

### 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 |
| Danny Cox | 31 | 199.1 | 11 | 9 | 3.88 | 101 |
| Greg Mathews | 32 | 197.2 | 11 | 11 | 3.73 | 108 |
| Bob Forsch | 33 | 179.0 | 11 | 7 | 4.32 | 89 |
| Joe Magrane | 27 | 170.1 | 9 | 7 | 3.54 | 101 |
| John Tudor | 16 | 96.0 | 10 | 2 | 3.84 | 54 |

#### 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 |
| Ricky Horton | 67 | 125.0 | 8 | 3 | 3.82 | 55 |
| Lee Tunnell | 32 | 74.1 | 4 | 4 | 4.84 | 49 |
| Tim Conroy | 10 | 40.2 | 3 | 2 | 5.53 | 22 |
| Dave LaPoint | 6 | 16.0 | 1 | 1 | 6.75 | 8 |

#### 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 |
| Todd Worrell | 75 | 8 | 6 | 33 | 2.66 | 92 |
| Bill Dawley | 60 | 5 | 8 | 2 | 4.47 | 65 |
| Ken Dayley | 53 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 2.66 | 63 |
| Pat Perry | 45 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 4.39 | 33 |
| Ray Soff | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6.46 | 9 |
| Steve Peters | 12 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1.80 | 11 |
| Scott Terry | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.38 | 9 |
| Randy O'Neal | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.80 | 4 |
| José Oquendo | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27.00 | 0 |

## Postseason
### NLCS

Despite the Cardinals prevailing over the San Francisco Giants in 7 games, it was the Giants' Jeffrey Leonard who won the NLCS MVP award.

#### Game 1

October 6, Busch Stadium
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| San Francisco | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 0 |
| St. Louis | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | X | 5 | 10 | 1 |
| W: Greg Mathews (1-0) L: Rick Reuschel (0-1) SV: Ken Dayley (1) |||||||||||||
| HRs: SFG – Jeffrey Leonard (1) STL – None |||||||||||||

#### Game 2

October 7, Busch Stadium
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| San Francisco | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 0 |
| St. Louis | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| W: Dave Dravecky (1-0) L: John Tudor (0-1) SV: None |||||||||||||
| HRs: SFG – Will Clark (1) Jeffrey Leonard (2) STL – None |||||||||||||

#### Game 3

October 9, Candlestick Park
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| St. Louis | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 11 | 1 |
| San Francisco | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 1 |
| W: Bob Forsch (1-0) L: Don Robinson (0-1) SV: Todd Worrell (1) |||||||||||||
| HRs: SFG – Jeffrey Leonard (3) Harry Spilman (1) STL – Jim Lindeman (1) |||||||||||||

#### Game 4

October 10, Candlestick Park
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| St. Louis | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 0 |
| San Francisco | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | X | 4 | 9 | 2 |
| W: Mike Krukow (1-0) L: Danny Cox (0-1) SV: None |||||||||||||
| HRs: SFG – Robby Thompson (1) Jeffrey Leonard (4) STL – None |||||||||||||

#### Game 5

October 11, Candlestick Park
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| St. Louis | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 0 |
| San Francisco | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | 6 | 7 | 1 |
| W: Joe Price (1-0) L: Bob Forsch (1-1) SV: None |||||||||||||
| HRs: SFG – Kevin Mitchell (1) STL – None |||||||||||||

#### Game 6

October 13, Busch Stadium
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| San Francisco | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| St. Louis | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| W: John Tudor (1-1) L: Dave Dravecky (1-1) SV: Ken Dayley (2) |||||||||||||
| HRs: SFG – None STL – None |||||||||||||

#### Game 7

October 14, Busch Stadium
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| San Francisco | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 1 |
| St. Louis | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | X | 6 | 12 | 0 |
| W: Danny Cox (1-1) L: Atlee Hammaker (0-1) SV: None |||||||||||||
| HRs: SFG – None STL – José Oquendo (1) |||||||||||||

### World Series

The Minnesota Twins defeated the Cardinals in seven games. This Series was the first in which the home team won each of the seven games. The Cardinals held their own at Busch Stadium, but the crowd noise and the "Homer Hankys" in the Metrodome appeared to give the Twins an edge. The booming bats of the Twins were too much for the Cardinals' "inside baseball" style of offense in Games 1, 2, and 6. In Game 7 it was the Twins' pitching that shut down the Cardinals.
AL Minnesota Twins (4) vs. NL St. Louis Cardinals (3)
| Game | Score | Date | Location | Attendance | Time of Game |
| 1 | Cardinals – 1, Twins – 10 | October 17 | Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (Minnesota) | 55,171 | 3:36 |
| 2 | Cardinals – 4, Twins – 8 | October 18 | Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (Minnesota) | 55,257 | 2:42 |
| 3 | Twins – 1, Cardinals – 3 | October 20 | Busch Stadium (St. Louis) | 55,347 | 2:45 |
| 4 | Twins – 2, Cardinals – 7 | October 21 | Busch Stadium (St. Louis) | 55,347 | 3:11 |
| 5 | Twins – 2, Cardinals – 4 | October 22 | Busch Stadium (St. Louis) | 55,347 | 3:21 |
| 6 | Cardinals – 5, Twins – 11 | October 24 | Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (Minnesota) | 55,293 | 3:22 |
| 7 | Cardinals – 2, Twins – 4 | October 25 | Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (Minnesota) | 55,376 | 3:04 |

## Awards and honors

* Terry Pendleton, Third Base, National League Gold Glove
* Ozzie Smith, Shortstop, National League Gold Glove, Silver Slugger
* Jack Clark, First Base, National League Silver Slugger

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Louisville Redbirds | American Association | Mike Jorgensen |
| AA | Arkansas Travelers | Texas League | Jim Riggleman |
| A | St. Petersburg Cardinals | Florida State League | Dave Bialas |
| A | Springfield Cardinals | Midwest League | Gaylen Pitts |
| A | Savannah Cardinals | South Atlantic League | Mark DeJohn |
| A-Short Season | Erie Cardinals | New York–Penn League | Joe Rigoli |
| Rookie | Johnson City Cardinals | Appalachian League | Dan Radison |