# 1961 St. Louis Cardinals season

The 1961 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 80th season in St. Louis, Missouri and its 70th season in the National League. The Cardinals went 80–74 during the season and finished fifth in the National League. It was the last season before the NL went to a 162-game schedule the following season to adjust for the new ten-team league.

## Offseason

* October 11, 1960: Leon Wagner, Cal Browning, a player to be named later, and cash were traded by the Cardinals to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Al Cicotte. The Cardinals completed the deal by sending Ellis Burton to the Maple Leafs on January 26, 1961.
* December 29, 1960: Marv Grissom was released by the Cardinals.
* March 15, 1961: Red Schoendienst was signed as a free agent by the Cardinals.
* Prior to 1961 season: Don Taussig was acquired by the Cardinals from the Portland Beavers as part of a minor league working agreement.

## Regular season

On July 6, with the Cardinals at 33–41, manager Solly Hemus was fired and replaced by Johnny Keane. The team went 47–33 under Keane.
First baseman Bill White and third baseman Ken Boyer won Gold Gloves this year.

### Season standings

vteNational League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Cincinnati Reds | 93 | 61 | .604 | — | 47‍–‍30 | 46‍–‍31 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 89 | 65 | .578 | 4 | 45‍–‍32 | 44‍–‍33 |
| San Francisco Giants | 85 | 69 | .552 | 8 | 45‍–‍32 | 40‍–‍37 |
| Milwaukee Braves | 83 | 71 | .539 | 10 | 45‍–‍32 | 38‍–‍39 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 80 | 74 | .519 | 13 | 48‍–‍29 | 32‍–‍45 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 75 | 79 | .487 | 18 | 38‍–‍39 | 37‍–‍40 |
| Chicago Cubs | 64 | 90 | .416 | 29 | 40‍–‍37 | 24‍–‍53 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 47 | 107 | .305 | 46 | 22‍–‍55 | 25‍–‍52 |

### Record vs. opponents

1961 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | CHC | CIN | LAD | MIL | PHI | PIT | SF | STL |
| Chicago | — | 12–10 | 7–15 | 9–13–1 | 13–9 | 11–11 | 5–17 | 7–15–1 |
| Cincinnati | 10–12 | — | 12–10 | 15–7 | 19–3 | 11–11 | 12–10 | 14–8 |
| Los Angeles | 15–7 | 10–12 | — | 12–10 | 17–5 | 13–9 | 10–12 | 12–10 |
| Milwaukee | 13–9–1 | 7–15 | 10–12 | — | 16–6 | 12–10 | 11–11 | 14–8 |
| Philadelphia | 9–13 | 3–19 | 5–17 | 6–16 | — | 7–15 | 8–14–1 | 9–13 |
| Pittsburgh | 11–11 | 11–11 | 9–13 | 10–12 | 15–7 | — | 10–12 | 9–13 |
| San Francisco | 17–5 | 10–12 | 12–10 | 11–11 | 14–8–1 | 12–10 | — | 9–13 |
| St. Louis | 15–7–1 | 8–14 | 10–12 | 8–14 | 13–9 | 13–9 | 13–9 | — |

### Notable transactions

* May 10, 1961: Bob Nieman was traded by the Cardinals to the Cleveland Indians for Joe Morgan, a player to be named later, and cash. The Indians sent Mike Lee to the Cardinals on June 1 to complete the trade.
* May 16, 1961: Duke Carmel was traded by the Cardinals to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Joe Koppe.
* May 30, 1961: Daryl Spencer was traded by the Cardinals to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Bob Lillis and Carl Warwick.

### 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 | Jimmie Schaffer | 68 | 153 | 39 | .255 | 1 | 16 |
| 1B | Bill White | 153 | 591 | 169 | .286 | 20 | 90 |
| 2B | Julián Javier | 113 | 445 | 124 | .279 | 2 | 41 |
| SS | Bob Lillis | 86 | 230 | 50 | .217 | 0 | 21 |
| 3B | Ken Boyer | 153 | 589 | 194 | .329 | 24 | 95 |
| LF | Stan Musial | 123 | 372 | 107 | .288 | 15 | 70 |
| CF | Curt Flood | 132 | 335 | 108 | .322 | 2 | 21 |
| RF | Joe Cunningham | 113 | 322 | 92 | .286 | 7 | 40 |

#### 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 |
| Charlie James | 108 | 349 | 89 | .255 | 4 | 44 |
| Don Taussig | 98 | 188 | 54 | .287 | 2 | 25 |
| Carl Sawatski | 86 | 174 | 52 | .299 | 10 | 33 |
| Alex Grammas | 89 | 170 | 36 | .212 | 0 | 21 |
| Carl Warwick | 55 | 152 | 38 | .250 | 4 | 16 |
| Daryl Spencer | 37 | 130 | 33 | .254 | 4 | 21 |
| Hal Smith | 45 | 125 | 31 | .248 | 0 | 10 |
| Red Schoendienst | 72 | 120 | 36 | .300 | 1 | 12 |
| Jerry Buchek | 31 | 90 | 12 | .133 | 0 | 9 |
| Tim McCarver | 22 | 67 | 16 | .239 | 1 | 6 |
| Don Landrum | 28 | 66 | 11 | .167 | 1 | 3 |
| Gene Oliver | 22 | 52 | 14 | .269 | 4 | 9 |
| Julio Gotay | 10 | 45 | 11 | .244 | 0 | 5 |
| Walt Moryn | 17 | 32 | 4 | .125 | 0 | 2 |
| Ed Olivares | 21 | 30 | 5 | .167 | 0 | 1 |
| Bob Nieman | 6 | 17 | 8 | .471 | 0 | 2 |
| Doug Clemens | 6 | 12 | 2 | .167 | 0 | 0 |
| George Crowe | 7 | 7 | 1 | .143 | 0 | 0 |
| Chris Cannizzaro | 6 | 2 | 1 | .500 | 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 |
| Ray Sadecki | 31 | 222.2 | 14 | 10 | 3.72 | 114 |
| Bob Gibson | 35 | 211.1 | 13 | 12 | 3.24 | 166 |
| Larry Jackson | 33 | 211.0 | 14 | 11 | 3.75 | 113 |
| Curt Simmons | 30 | 195.2 | 9 | 10 | 3.13 | 99 |
| Ernie Broglio | 29 | 174.2 | 9 | 12 | 4.12 | 113 |

#### 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 |
| Al Cicotte | 29 | 75.0 | 2 | 6 | 5.28 | 51 |
| Bob Miller | 34 | 74.1 | 1 | 3 | 4.24 | 39 |
| Ray Washburn | 3 | 20.1 | 1 | 1 | 1.77 | 12 |

#### 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 |
| Lindy McDaniel | 55 | 10 | 6 | 9 | 4.87 | 65 |
| Craig Anderson | 25 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 3.26 | 21 |
| Mickey McDermott | 19 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3.67 | 15 |
| Ed Bauta | 13 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 1.40 | 12 |
| Bobby Tiefenauer | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.23 | 3 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | San Juan/Charleston Marlins | International League | Joe Schultz |
| AAA | Portland Beavers | Pacific Coast League | Vern Benson and Ray Katt |
| AA | Tulsa Oilers | Texas League | Whitey Kurowski |
| A | Lancaster Red Roses | Eastern League | Chase Riddle |
| C | Winnipeg Goldeyes | Northern League | Grover Resinger and Owen Friend |
| C | Billings Mustangs | Pioneer League | Owen Friend and Grover Resinger |
| D | Johnson City Cardinals | Appalachian League | Ed Lyons, George Kissell, Charlie Frey, Mo Mozzali and Johnny Grodzicki |
| D | Keokuk Cardinals | Midwest League | Al Unser |
San Juan franchise moved to Charleston (WV), May 19, 1961