# 1951 St. Louis Cardinals season

The 1951 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 70th season in St. Louis, Missouri and the 60th season in the National League. The Cardinals went 81–73 during the season and finished third in the National League.

## Offseason

* Prior to 1951 season: Larry Jackson was signed as an amateur free agent by the Cardinals.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteNational League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Giants | 98 | 59 | .624 | — | 50‍–‍28 | 48‍–‍31 |
| Brooklyn Dodgers | 97 | 60 | .618 | 1 | 49‍–‍29 | 48‍–‍31 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 81 | 73 | .526 | 15½ | 44‍–‍34 | 37‍–‍39 |
| Boston Braves | 76 | 78 | .494 | 20½ | 42‍–‍35 | 34‍–‍43 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 73 | 81 | .474 | 23½ | 38‍–‍39 | 35‍–‍42 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 68 | 86 | .442 | 28½ | 35‍–‍42 | 33‍–‍44 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 64 | 90 | .416 | 32½ | 32‍–‍45 | 32‍–‍45 |
| Chicago Cubs | 62 | 92 | .403 | 34½ | 32‍–‍45 | 30‍–‍47 |

### Record vs. opponents

1951 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | BR | CHC | CIN | NYG | PHI | PIT | STL |
| Boston | — | 10–12–1 | 10–12 | 10–12 | 8–14 | 12–10 | 13–9 | 13–9 |
| Brooklyn | 12–10–1 | — | 14–8 | 14–8 | 14–11 | 15–7 | 10–12 | 18–4 |
| Chicago | 12–10 | 8–14 | — | 10–12 | 7–15 | 7–15 | 9–13 | 9–13–1 |
| Cincinnati | 12–10 | 8–14 | 12–10 | — | 5–17 | 11–11 | 12–10–1 | 8–14 |
| New York | 14–8 | 11–14 | 15–7 | 17–5 | — | 16–6 | 14–8 | 11–11 |
| Philadelphia | 10–12 | 7–15 | 15–7 | 11–11 | 6–16 | — | 15–7 | 9–13 |
| Pittsburgh | 9–13 | 12–10 | 13–9 | 10–12–1 | 8–14 | 7–15 | — | 5–17 |
| St. Louis | 9–13 | 4–18 | 13–9–1 | 14–8 | 11–11 | 13–9 | 17–5 | — |

### Notable transactions

* May 14, 1951: Don Bollweg and $15,000 were traded by the Cardinals to the New York Yankees for Billy Johnson.
* June 15, 1951: Joe Garagiola, Dick Cole, Bill Howerton, Howie Pollet, and Ted Wilks were traded by the Cardinals to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Cliff Chambers and Wally Westlake.

### 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 | Del Rice | 122 | 374 | 94 | .251 | 9 | 47 |
| 1B | Nippy Jones | 80 | 300 | 79 | .263 | 3 | 41 |
| 2B | Red Schoendienst | 135 | 553 | 160 | .289 | 6 | 54 |
| SS | Solly Hemus | 120 | 420 | 118 | .281 | 2 | 32 |
| 3B | Billy Johnson | 124 | 442 | 116 | .262 | 14 | 64 |
| OF | Stan Musial | 152 | 578 | 205 | .355 | 32 | 108 |
| OF | Peanuts Lowrey | 114 | 370 | 112 | .303 | 5 | 40 |
| OF | Enos Slaughter | 123 | 409 | 115 | .281 | 4 | 64 |

#### 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 |
| Wally Westlake | 73 | 267 | 68 | .255 | 6 | 39 |
| Hal Rice | 69 | 236 | 60 | .254 | 4 | 38 |
| Stan Rojek | 51 | 186 | 51 | .274 | 0 | 14 |
| Tommy Glaviano | 54 | 104 | 19 | .183 | 1 | 4 |
| Bill Sarni | 36 | 86 | 15 | .174 | 0 | 2 |
| Chuck Diering | 64 | 85 | 22 | .259 | 0 | 8 |
| Joe Garagiola | 27 | 72 | 14 | .194 | 2 | 9 |
| Steve Bilko | 21 | 72 | 16 | .222 | 2 | 12 |
| Bill Howerton | 24 | 65 | 17 | .262 | 1 | 4 |
| Vern Benson | 13 | 46 | 12 | .261 | 1 | 7 |
| Dick Cole | 15 | 36 | 7 | .194 | 0 | 3 |
| Don Richmond | 12 | 34 | 3 | .088 | 1 | 4 |
| Eddie Kazak | 11 | 33 | 6 | .182 | 0 | 4 |
| Harry Walker | 8 | 26 | 8 | .308 | 0 | 2 |
| Bob Scheffing | 12 | 18 | 2 | .111 | 0 | 2 |
| Rocky Nelson | 9 | 18 | 4 | .222 | 0 | 1 |
| Don Bollweg | 6 | 9 | 1 | .111 | 0 | 2 |
| Jay Van Noy | 6 | 7 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Larry Ciaffone | 5 | 5 | 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 |
| Gerry Staley | 42 | 227.0 | 19 | 13 | 3.81 | 67 |
| Tom Poholsky | 38 | 195.0 | 7 | 13 | 4.43 | 70 |
| Max Lanier | 31 | 160.0 | 11 | 9 | 3.26 | 59 |
| Harry Brecheen | 24 | 138.2 | 8 | 4 | 3.25 | 57 |
| Cliff Chambers | 21 | 129.1 | 11 | 6 | 3.83 | 45 |
| Joe Presko | 15 | 88.2 | 7 | 4 | 3.45 | 38 |

#### 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 |
| Red Munger | 23 | 94.2 | 4 | 6 | 5.32 | 44 |
| Cloyd Boyer | 19 | 63.1 | 2 | 5 | 5.26 | 40 |
| Jackie Collum | 3 | 17.0 | 2 | 1 | 1.59 | 5 |
| Howie Pollet | 6 | 12.1 | 0 | 3 | 4.38 | 10 |

#### 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 |
| Al Brazle | 56 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 3.09 | 66 |
| Dick Bokelmann | 20 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3.78 | 22 |
| Ted Wilks | 17 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3.00 | 5 |
| Jack Crimian | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9.00 | 5 |
| Erv Dusak | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.20 | 8 |
| Bob Habenicht | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.20 | 1 |
| Kurt Krieger | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15.75 | 3 |
| Dan Lewandowski | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9.00 | 1 |

## Awards and honors

* Stan Musial, National League leader, triples. It was the fifth time in his career that he would lead the NL in triples.

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Columbus Red Birds | American Association | Harry Walker |
| AAA | Rochester Red Wings | International League | Johnny Keane |
| AA | Houston Buffaloes | Texas League | Al Hollingsworth |
| A | Columbus Cardinals | Sally League | Hal Anderson |
| A | Omaha Cardinals | Western League | George Kissell |
| B | Winston-Salem Cardinals | Carolina League | Harold Olt |
| B | Allentown Cardinals | Interstate League | Whitey Kurowski |
| B | Lynchburg Cardinals | Piedmont League | Skeeter Scalzi |
| B | Tri-City Braves | Western International League | Charles Peterson |
| C | Fresno Cardinals | California League | Larry Barton, Sr. |
| C | Pocatello Cardinals | Pioneer League | Norm Shope and Bob Comiskey |
| C | St. Joseph Cardinals | Western Association | Gene Corbett |
| D | Johnson City Cardinals | Appalachian League | Ben Catchings |
| D | Goldsboro Cardinals | Coastal Plain League | George Ferrell |
| D | Albany Cardinals | Georgia–Florida League | Sheldon "Chief" Bender |
| D | Hamilton Cardinals | PONY League | Vedie Himsl |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Houston, Winston-Salem