# 1965 St. Louis Cardinals season

The 1965 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 84th season in St. Louis, Missouri and its 74th season in the National League. The Cardinals went 80–81 during the season and finished seventh in the National League, 16+1⁄2 games behind the eventual World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers. It was also the last full season for the original Busch Stadium.

## Offseason

* October 15, 1964: Pedro Borbón was signed as an amateur free agent by the St. Louis Cardinals.
* November 30, 1964: Chris Krug was drafted from the Cardinals by the Chicago Cubs in the 1964 minor league draft.
* December 7, 1964: Gordie Richardson and Johnny Lewis were traded by the Cardinals to the New York Mets for Tracy Stallard.
* March 1, 1965: Willie Montañez was signed as an amateur free agent by the Cardinals.

## Regular season

The mid-1960s saw changes both on the field and off – all while retaining the core of a remarkable successful franchise and its renewed popularity in St. Louis. Schoendienst's replacement of Keane had been preceded a few weeks earlier by general manager Bing Devine's firing, the redemption of the final pennant drive having come too late to assuage owner August Busch's dwindling patience. Devine was replaced by Bob Howsam, who made a number of moves to shore up a talented but aging team which struggled through the 1965 campaign, finishing mired in 7th place at 80–81. A capable GM if not Devine's equal, Howsam made some moves that worked – and some that did not. Howsam traded aging veterans Bill White, Dick Groat, and utility catcher Bob Uecker to Philadelphia in return for Pat Corrales, Art Mahaffey, and Alex Johnson. Popular third baseman Ken Boyer was dispatched to the Mets in exchange for pitcher Al Jackson. Finally, pitcher Ray Sadecki was traded to the Giants for first baseman Orlando Cepeda in 1966. The latter moves worked better than the former, but the Cardinals still finished in 6th place in 1966, resulting in Howsam's replacement by none other than Cardinals legend Stan Musial. Musial's most notable move was to acquire Yankees' star Roger Maris.
Pitcher Bob Gibson, first baseman Bill White, and outfielder Curt Flood won Gold Gloves this year.

### Season standings

vteNational League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 97 | 65 | .599 | — | 50‍–‍31 | 47‍–‍34 |
| San Francisco Giants | 95 | 67 | .586 | 2 | 51‍–‍30 | 44‍–‍37 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 90 | 72 | .556 | 7 | 49‍–‍32 | 41‍–‍40 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 89 | 73 | .549 | 8 | 49‍–‍32 | 40‍–‍41 |
| Milwaukee Braves | 86 | 76 | .531 | 11 | 44‍–‍37 | 42‍–‍39 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 85 | 76 | .528 | 11½ | 45‍–‍35 | 40‍–‍41 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 80 | 81 | .497 | 16½ | 42‍–‍39 | 38‍–‍42 |
| Chicago Cubs | 72 | 90 | .444 | 25 | 40‍–‍41 | 32‍–‍49 |
| Houston Astros | 65 | 97 | .401 | 32 | 36‍–‍45 | 29‍–‍52 |
| New York Mets | 50 | 112 | .309 | 47 | 29‍–‍52 | 21‍–‍60 |

### Record vs. opponents

1965 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | CHC | CIN | HOU | LAD | MIL | NYM | PHI | PIT | SF | STL |
| Chicago | — | 7–11 | 8–10 | 8–10 | 9–9 | 11–7–1 | 8–10 | 5–13 | 6–12 | 10–8–1 |
| Cincinnati | 11–7 | — | 12–6 | 6–12 | 12–6 | 11–7 | 13–5 | 8–10 | 6–12 | 10–8 |
| Houston | 10–8 | 6–12 | — | 5–13 | 4–14 | 14–4 | 6–12 | 8–10 | 3–15 | 9–9 |
| Los Angeles | 10–8 | 12–6 | 13–5 | — | 10–8 | 12–6 | 9–9 | 9–9 | 10–8 | 12–6 |
| Milwaukee | 9–9 | 6–12 | 14–4 | 8–10 | — | 13–5 | 6–12 | 9–9 | 10–8 | 11–7 |
| New York | 7–11–1 | 7–11 | 4–14 | 6–12 | 5–13 | — | 7–11–1 | 4–14 | 5–13 | 5–13 |
| Philadelphia | 10–8 | 5–13 | 12–6 | 9–9 | 12–6 | 11–7–1 | — | 8–10 | 8–10 | 10–7 |
| Pittsburgh | 13–5 | 10–8 | 10–8 | 9–9 | 9–9 | 14–4 | 10–8 | — | 11–7–1 | 4–14 |
| San Francisco | 12–6 | 12–6 | 15–3 | 8–10 | 8–10 | 13–5 | 10–8 | 7–11–1 | — | 10–8 |
| St. Louis | 8–10–1 | 8–10 | 9–9 | 6–12 | 7–11 | 13–5 | 7–10 | 14–4 | 8–10 | — |

### Opening Day starters

* Ken Boyer
* Lou Brock
* Curt Flood
* Dick Groat
* Julián Javier
* Bob Purkey
* Dave Ricketts
* Bob Skinner
* Bill White

### Notable transactions

* June 8, 1965: Rich Hacker was drafted by the Cardinals in the 39th round of the 1965 Major League Baseball Draft, but did not sign.

### 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 | Tim McCarver | 113 | 409 | 113 | .276 | 11 | 48 |
| 1B | Bill White | 148 | 543 | 157 | .289 | 24 | 73 |
| 2B | Julián Javier | 77 | 229 | 52 | .227 | 2 | 23 |
| SS | Dick Groat | 153 | 587 | 149 | .254 | 0 | 52 |
| 3B | Ken Boyer | 144 | 535 | 139 | .260 | 13 | 75 |
| LF | Lou Brock | 155 | 631 | 182 | .288 | 16 | 69 |
| CF | Curt Flood | 156 | 617 | 191 | .310 | 11 | 83 |
| RF | Mike Shannon | 124 | 244 | 54 | .221 | 3 | 25 |

#### 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 |
| Phil Gagliano | 122 | 363 | 87 | .240 | 8 | 53 |
| Tito Francona | 81 | 174 | 45 | .259 | 5 | 19 |
| Jerry Buchek | 55 | 166 | 41 | .247 | 3 | 21 |
| Bob Skinner | 80 | 152 | 47 | .309 | 5 | 26 |
| Bob Uecker | 53 | 145 | 33 | .228 | 2 | 10 |
| Dal Maxvill | 68 | 89 | 12 | .135 | 0 | 10 |
| Carl Warwick | 50 | 77 | 12 | .156 | 0 | 6 |
| Bobby Tolan | 17 | 69 | 13 | .188 | 0 | 6 |
| Ted Savage | 30 | 63 | 10 | .159 | 1 | 4 |
| George Kernek | 10 | 31 | 9 | .290 | 0 | 3 |
| Dave Ricketts | 11 | 29 | 7 | .241 | 0 | 0 |
| Ed Spiezio | 10 | 18 | 3 | .167 | 0 | 5 |

### 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 Gibson | 38 | 299.0 | 20 | 12 | 3.07 | 270 |
| Curt Simmons | 34 | 203.0 | 9 | 15 | 4.08 | 96 |
| Ray Sadecki | 36 | 172.2 | 6 | 15 | 5.21 | 122 |
| Larry Jaster | 4 | 28.0 | 3 | 0 | 1.61 | 10 |

#### 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 |
| Tracy Stallard | 40 | 194.1 | 11 | 8 | 3.38 | 99 |
| Bob Purkey | 32 | 124.1 | 10 | 9 | 5.79 | 39 |
| Ray Washburn | 28 | 119.1 | 9 | 11 | 3.62 | 67 |

#### 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 |
| Hal Woodeshick | 51 | 3 | 2 | 15 | 1.81 | 37 |
| Don Dennis | 41 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 2.29 | 29 |
| Nelson Briles | 37 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3.50 | 52 |
| Barney Schultz | 34 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3.83 | 38 |
| Ron Taylor | 25 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4.53 | 26 |
| Steve Carlton | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.52 | 21 |
| Dennis Aust | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4.91 | 7 |
| Earl Francis | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.06 | 3 |

## Awards and honors
### League leaders

* Lou Brock, National League leader, stolen bases, 63

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Jacksonville Suns | International League | Grover Resinger |
| AA | Tulsa Oilers | Texas League | Vern Rapp |
| A | Raleigh Cardinals | Carolina League | Ray Hathaway |
| A | Cedar Rapids Cardinals | Midwest League | Ron Plaza |
| A | Rock Hill Cardinals | Western Carolinas League | Sparky Anderson |
| Rookie | FRL Cardinals | Florida Rookie League | George Kissell |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Rock Hill