# 1973 St. Louis Cardinals season

The 1973 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 92nd season in St. Louis, Missouri and its 82nd season in the National League. The Cardinals overcame an 8–23 start to finish with an 81–81 record during the season and finished second in the National League East, 1+1⁄2 games behind the NL East and eventual NL pennant winners New York Mets. To date, this is the only season the Cardinals have finished at .500 instead of above or below it.

## Offseason

* October 27, 1972: Jerry McNertney was released by the Cardinals.

## Regular season

Pitcher Bob Gibson won a Gold Glove this year.

### Season standings

vteNL East :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Mets | 82 | 79 | .509 | — | 43‍–‍38 | 39‍–‍41 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 81 | 81 | .500 | 1½ | 43‍–‍38 | 38‍–‍43 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 80 | 82 | .494 | 2½ | 41‍–‍40 | 39‍–‍42 |
| Montreal Expos | 79 | 83 | .488 | 3½ | 43‍–‍38 | 36‍–‍45 |
| Chicago Cubs | 77 | 84 | .478 | 5 | 41‍–‍39 | 36‍–‍45 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 71 | 91 | .438 | 11½ | 38‍–‍43 | 33‍–‍48 |

### Record vs. opponents

1973 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | ATL | CHC | CIN | HOU | LAD | MON | NYM | PHI | PIT | SD | SF | STL |
| Atlanta | — | 7–5 | 5–13 | 11–7 | 2–15–1 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 12–6 | 8–10 | 6–6 |
| Chicago | 5–7 | — | 8–4 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 9–9 | 10–7 | 10–8 | 6–12 | 7–5 | 2–10 | 9–9 |
| Cincinnati | 13–5 | 4–8 | — | 11–7 | 11–7 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 7–5 | 13–5 | 10–8 | 6–6 |
| Houston | 7–11 | 6–6 | 7–11 | — | 11–7 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 6–6 | 10–8 | 11–7 | 5–7 |
| Los Angeles | 15–2–1 | 7–5 | 7–11 | 7–11 | — | 7–5 | 7–5 | 9–3 | 10–2 | 9–9 | 9–9 | 8–4 |
| Montreal | 6–6 | 9–9 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 5–7 | — | 9–9 | 13–5 | 6–12 | 7–5 | 6–6 | 8–10 |
| New York | 6–6 | 7–10 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 9–9 | — | 9–9 | 13–5 | 8–4 | 5–7 | 10–8 |
| Philadelphia | 6-6 | 8–10 | 4–8 | 5–7 | 3–9 | 5–13 | 9–9 | — | 8–10 | 9–3 | 5–7 | 9–9 |
| Pittsburgh | 5–7 | 12–6 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 2–10 | 12–6 | 5–13 | 10–8 | — | 8–4 | 5–7 | 10–8 |
| San Diego | 6–12 | 5–7 | 5–13 | 8–10 | 9–9 | 5–7 | 4–8 | 3–9 | 4–8 | — | 7–11 | 4–8 |
| San Francisco | 10–8 | 10–2 | 8–10 | 7–11 | 9–9 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 11–7 | — | 6–6 |
| St. Louis | 6–6 | 9–9 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 4–8 | 10–8 | 8–10 | 9–9 | 8–10 | 8–4 | 6–6 | — |

### Notable transactions

* May 8, 1973: Al Santorini was traded by the Cardinals to the Kansas City Royals for Tom Murphy.
* June 5, 1973: 1973 Major League Baseball Draft
** John Tamargo was drafted by the Cardinals in the 6th round.
** Eric Rasmussen was drafted by the Cardinals in the 32nd round.
** Bryn Smith was drafted by the Cardinals in the 49th round, but did not sign. However, he would pitch for the team from 1990 to 1992.
* August 7, 1973: Wayne Granger was traded by the Cardinals to the New York Yankees for a player to be named later and cash. The Yankees completed the deal by sending Ken Crosby to the Cardinals on September 12.
* August 18, 1973: Dave Campbell and cash were traded by the Cardinals to the Houston Astros for Tommie Agee.
* August 29, 1973: Eddie Fisher was purchased by the St. Louis Cardinals from the Chicago White Sox.

### 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 | Ted Simmons | 161 | 619 | 192 | .310 | 13 | 91 |
| 1B | Joe Torre | 141 | 519 | 149 | .287 | 13 | 69 |
| 2B | Ted Sizemore | 142 | 521 | 147 | .282 | 1 | 54 |
| SS | Mike Tyson | 144 | 469 | 114 | .243 | 1 | 33 |
| 3B | Ken Reitz | 147 | 426 | 100 | .235 | 6 | 42 |
| LF | Lou Brock | 160 | 650 | 193 | .297 | 7 | 63 |
| CF | José Cruz | 132 | 406 | 92 | .227 | 10 | 57 |
| RF | Bernie Carbo | 111 | 308 | 88 | .286 | 8 | 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 |
| Luis Meléndez | 121 | 341 | 91 | .267 | 2 | 35 |
| Tim McCarver | 130 | 331 | 88 | .266 | 3 | 49 |
| Ray Busse | 24 | 70 | 10 | .143 | 2 | 5 |
| Bake McBride | 40 | 63 | 19 | .302 | 0 | 5 |
| Tommie Agee | 26 | 62 | 11 | .177 | 3 | 7 |
| Jim Dwyer | 28 | 57 | 11 | .193 | 0 | 0 |
| Bill Stein | 32 | 55 | 12 | .218 | 0 | 2 |
| Ed Crosby | 22 | 39 | 5 | .128 | 0 | 1 |
| Mick Kelleher | 43 | 38 | 7 | .184 | 0 | 2 |
| Tom Heintzelman | 23 | 29 | 9 | .310 | 0 | 0 |
| Dave Campbell | 13 | 21 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 1 |
| Dwain Anderson | 18 | 17 | 2 | .118 | 0 | 0 |
| Terry Hughes | 11 | 14 | 3 | .214 | 0 | 1 |
| Hector Cruz | 11 | 11 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Matty Alou | 11 | 11 | 3 | .273 | 0 | 1 |
| Bobby Fenwick | 5 | 6 | 1 | .167 | 0 | 1 |
| Marc Hill | 1 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Larry Haney | 2 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Tommy Cruz | 3 | 0 | 0 | ---- | 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 |
| Rick Wise | 35 | 259.0 | 16 | 12 | 3.37 | 144 |
| Reggie Cleveland | 32 | 224.0 | 14 | 10 | 3.01 | 122 |
| Alan Foster | 35 | 203.2 | 13 | 9 | 3.14 | 106 |
| Bob Gibson | 25 | 195.0 | 12 | 10 | 2.77 | 142 |
| Tom Murphy | 19 | 88.2 | 3 | 7 | 3.76 | 42 |
| Mike Nagy | 9 | 40.2 | 0 | 2 | 4.20 | 14 |
| Scipio Spinks | 8 | 38.2 | 1 | 5 | 4.89 | 25 |
| Mike Thompson | 2 | 4.0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 3 |

#### 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 |
| Rich Folkers | 34 | 82.1 | 4 | 4 | 3.61 | 44 |
| Jim Bibby | 6 | 16.0 | 0 | 2 | 9.56 | 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 |
| Diego Seguí | 65 | 7 | 6 | 17 | 2.78 | 93 |
| Al Hrabosky | 44 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 2.09 | 57 |
| Orlando Peña | 42 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 2.18 | 35 |
| Wayne Granger | 33 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 2.78 | 93 |
| John Andrews | 16 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4.42 | 5 |
| Ed Sprague Sr. | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.25 | 2 |
| Al Santorini | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.40 | 2 |
| Eddie Fisher | 6 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1.29 | 1 |
| Lew Krausse Jr. | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Tulsa Oilers | American Association | Jack Krol |
| AA | Arkansas Travelers | Texas League | Tom Burgess |
| A | Modesto Reds | California League | Bobby Dews |
| A | St. Petersburg Cardinals | Florida State League | Roy Majtyka |
| Rookie | GCL Cardinals | Gulf Coast League | Ken Boyer |
| Rookie | GCL Redbirds | Gulf Coast League | Lee Thomas |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Tulsa, St. Petersburg