# 1955 St. Louis Cardinals season

The 1955 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 74th season in St. Louis, Missouri and the 64th season in the National League. The Cardinals went 68–86 during the season and finished seventh in the National League, 30+1⁄2 games behind the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Outfielder Bill Virdon won the Rookie of the Year Award this year, batting .281, with 17 home runs and 68 RBIs. This was the second consecutive year a Cardinal won the Rookie of the Year Award, with Wally Moon winning the previous season. The Cardinals would have this occur again in 1985 and 1986, with Vince Coleman and Todd Worrell, respectively.

## Offseason

* October 19, 1954: Peanuts Lowrey was released by the Cardinals.
* November 22, 1954: Jim King was drafted from the Cardinals by the Chicago Cubs in the 1954 rule 5 draft.
* November 30, 1954: Benny Valenzuela was drafted by the Cardinals from the Bisbee-Douglas Copper Kings in the 1954 minor league draft.
* December 8, 1954: Ray Jablonski and Gerry Staley were traded by the Cardinals to the Cincinnati Redlegs for Frank Smith.
* Prior to 1955 season: Duke Carmel was signed as an amateur free agent by the Cardinals.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteNational League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Brooklyn Dodgers | 98 | 55 | .641 | — | 56‍–‍21 | 42‍–‍34 |
| Milwaukee Braves | 85 | 69 | .552 | 13½ | 46‍–‍31 | 39‍–‍38 |
| New York Giants | 80 | 74 | .519 | 18½ | 44‍–‍35 | 36‍–‍39 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 77 | 77 | .500 | 21½ | 46‍–‍31 | 31‍–‍46 |
| Cincinnati Redlegs | 75 | 79 | .487 | 23½ | 46‍–‍31 | 29‍–‍48 |
| Chicago Cubs | 72 | 81 | .471 | 26 | 43‍–‍33 | 29‍–‍48 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 68 | 86 | .442 | 30½ | 41‍–‍36 | 27‍–‍50 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 60 | 94 | .390 | 38½ | 36‍–‍39 | 24‍–‍55 |

### Record vs. opponents

1955 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BR | CHC | CIN | MIL | NYG | PHI | PIT | STL |
| Brooklyn | — | 14–7–1 | 12–10 | 15–7 | 13–9 | 16–6 | 14–8 | 14–8 |
| Chicago | 7–14–1 | — | 11–11 | 7–15 | 12–10 | 10–12 | 11–11 | 14–8 |
| Cincinnati | 10–12 | 11–11 | — | 9–13 | 9–13 | 11–11 | 14–8 | 11–11 |
| Milwaukee | 7–15 | 15–7 | 13–9 | — | 14–8 | 14–8 | 11–11 | 11–11 |
| New York | 9–13 | 10–12 | 13–9 | 8–14 | — | 10–12 | 17–5 | 13–9 |
| Philadelphia | 6–16 | 12–10 | 11–11 | 8–14 | 12–10 | — | 15–7 | 13–9 |
| Pittsburgh | 8–14 | 11–11 | 8–14 | 11–11 | 5–17 | 7–15 | — | 10–12 |
| St. Louis | 8–14 | 8–14 | 11–11 | 11–11 | 9–13 | 9–13 | 12–10 | — |

### Notable transactions

* June 3, 1955: Del Rice was traded by the Cardinals to the Milwaukee Braves for Pete Whisenant.

### 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 | Bill Sarni | 107 | 325 | 83 | .255 | 3 | 34 |
| 1B | Stan Musial | 154 | 562 | 179 | .319 | 33 | 108 |
| 2B | Red Schoendienst | 145 | 553 | 148 | .268 | 11 | 51 |
| SS | Alex Grammas | 128 | 366 | 88 | .240 | 3 | 25 |
| 3B | Ken Boyer | 147 | 530 | 140 | .264 | 18 | 62 |
| LF | Rip Repulski | 147 | 512 | 138 | .270 | 23 | 73 |
| CF | Bill Virdon | 144 | 534 | 150 | .281 | 17 | 68 |
| RF | Wally Moon | 152 | 593 | 175 | .295 | 19 | 76 |

#### 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 |
| Solly Hemus | 96 | 206 | 50 | .243 | 5 | 21 |
| Nelson Burbrink | 58 | 170 | 47 | .276 | 0 | 15 |
| Harry Elliott | 68 | 117 | 30 | .256 | 1 | 12 |
| Pete Whisenant | 58 | 115 | 22 | .191 | 2 | 9 |
| Bob Stephenson | 67 | 111 | 27 | .243 | 0 | 6 |
| Joe Frazier | 58 | 70 | 14 | .200 | 4 | 9 |
| Del Rice | 20 | 59 | 12 | .203 | 1 | 7 |
| Don Blasingame | 5 | 16 | 6 | .375 | 0 | 0 |
| Harry Walker | 11 | 14 | 5 | .357 | 0 | 1 |
| Dick Rand | 3 | 10 | 3 | .300 | 1 | 3 |
| Tom Alston | 13 | 8 | 1 | .125 | 0 | 0 |
| Ducky Schofield | 12 | 4 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |

### 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 |
| Harvey Haddix | 37 | 208.0 | 12 | 16 | 4.46 | 150 |
| Larry Jackson | 37 | 177.1 | 9 | 14 | 4.31 | 88 |
| Luis Arroyo | 35 | 159.0 | 11 | 8 | 4.19 | 68 |
| Tom Poholsky | 30 | 151.0 | 9 | 11 | 3.81 | 66 |
| Willard Schmidt | 20 | 129.2 | 7 | 6 | 2.78 | 86 |
| Ben Flowers | 4 | 27.1 | 1 | 0 | 3.62 | 19 |
| Vic Raschi | 1 | 1.2 | 0 | 1 | 21.60 | 1 |

#### 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 |
| Brooks Lawrence | 46 | 96.0 | 3 | 8 | 6.56 | 52 |
| Floyd Wooldridge | 18 | 57.2 | 2 | 4 | 4.84 | 14 |
| Gordon Jones | 15 | 57.0 | 1 | 4 | 5.84 | 46 |
| John Mackinson | 8 | 20.2 | 0 | 1 | 7.84 | 8 |
| Lindy McDaniel | 4 | 19.0 | 0 | 0 | 4.74 | 7 |

#### 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 |
| Paul LaPalme | 56 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2.75 | 39 |
| Mel Wright | 29 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6.19 | 18 |
| Frank Smith | 28 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3.23 | 17 |
| Barney Schultz | 19 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7.89 | 19 |
| Bobby Tiefenauer | 18 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 4.41 | 16 |
| Herb Moford | 14 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7.88 | 8 |
| Al Gettel | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9.00 | 7 |
| Tony Jacobs | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18.00 | 1 |

## Awards and honors

All-Star Game
* Red Schoendienst, second base, starter
* Luis Arroyo, reserve
* Harvey Haddix, reserve
* Stan Musial, reserve

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Omaha Cardinals | American Association | Johnny Keane |
| AAA | Rochester Red Wings | International League | Harry Walker, Lou Kahn and Dixie Walker |
| AA | Houston Buffaloes | Texas League | Mike Ryba |
| A | Allentown Cardinals | Eastern League | Harold Olt |
| A | Columbus Cardinals | Sally League | Ferrell Anderson |
| B | Peoria Chiefs | Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League | Whitey Kurowski |
| B | Lynchburg Cardinals | Piedmont League | George Kissell |
| C | Mexicali Eagles | Arizona–Texas League | Art Lilly |
| C | Fresno Cardinals | California League | Roland LeBlanc |
| C | Winnipeg Goldeyes | Northern League | Al Kubski |
| D | Dothan Cardinals | Alabama–Florida League | Chase Riddle |
| D | Johnson City Cardinals | Appalachian League | Wayne Wallace |
| D | Sanford Cardinals | Florida State League | Dan Keith and Mario Mauriello |
| D | Hazlehurst-Baxley Cardinals | Georgia State League | Samuel Goodsoozian |
| D | Albany Cardinals | Georgia–Florida League | J. C. Dunn |
| D | Paducah Chiefs | KITTY League | Homer Ray Wilson |
| D | Decatur Commodores | Mississippi–Ohio Valley League | Al Unser |
| D | Hamilton Cardinals | PONY League | Ed Lyons |
| D | Ardmore Cardinals | Sooner State League | Frank Mancuso |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Rochester, Fresno, Paducah, Hamilton; LEAGUE CO-CHAMPIONS: Johnson City