# 1948 St. Louis Cardinals season

The 1948 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 67th season in St. Louis, Missouri and the 57th season in the National League. The Cardinals went 85–69 during the season and finished second in the National League.

## Regular season

Outfielder Stan Musial won the MVP Award this year, batting .376, with 39 home runs and 131 RBIs. Musial became the first player to win three National League MVP Awards.

### Season standings

vteNational League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Boston Braves | 91 | 62 | .595 | — | 45‍–‍31 | 46‍–‍31 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 85 | 69 | .552 | 6½ | 44‍–‍33 | 41‍–‍36 |
| Brooklyn Dodgers | 84 | 70 | .545 | 7½ | 36‍–‍41 | 48‍–‍29 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 83 | 71 | .539 | 8½ | 47‍–‍31 | 36‍–‍40 |
| New York Giants | 78 | 76 | .506 | 13½ | 37‍–‍40 | 41‍–‍36 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 66 | 88 | .429 | 25½ | 32‍–‍44 | 34‍–‍44 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 64 | 89 | .418 | 27 | 32‍–‍45 | 32‍–‍44 |
| Chicago Cubs | 64 | 90 | .416 | 27½ | 35‍–‍42 | 29‍–‍48 |

### Record vs. opponents

1948 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | BR | CHC | CIN | NYG | PHI | PIT | STL |
| Boston | — | 14–8 | 16–6–1 | 13–8 | 11–11 | 14–8 | 12–10 | 11–11 |
| Brooklyn | 8–14 | — | 11–11 | 18–4 | 11–11–1 | 15–7 | 9–13 | 12–10 |
| Chicago | 6–16–1 | 11–11 | — | 10–12 | 11–11 | 7–15 | 8–14 | 11–11 |
| Cincinnati | 8–13 | 4–18 | 12–10 | — | 10–12 | 11–11 | 9–13 | 10–12 |
| New York | 11–11 | 11–11–1 | 11–11 | 12–10 | — | 14–8 | 12–10 | 7–15 |
| Philadelphia | 8–14 | 7–15 | 15–7 | 11–11 | 8–14 | — | 12–10–1 | 5–17 |
| Pittsburgh | 10–12 | 13–9 | 14–8 | 13–9 | 10–12 | 10–12–1 | — | 13–9–1 |
| St. Louis | 11–11 | 10–12 | 11–11 | 12–10 | 15–7 | 17–5 | 9–13–1 | — |

### Notable transactions

* April 7, 1948: Dick Sisler was traded by the Cardinals to the Philadelphia Phillies for Ralph LaPointe and $30,000.

### 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 | 100 | 290 | 57 | .197 | 4 | 34 |
| 1B | Nippy Jones | 132 | 481 | 122 | .254 | 10 | 81 |
| 2B | Red Schoendienst | 119 | 408 | 111 | .272 | 4 | 36 |
| SS | Marty Marion | 144 | 567 | 143 | .252 | 4 | 43 |
| 3B | Don Lang | 117 | 323 | 87 | .269 | 4 | 31 |
| OF | Stan Musial | 155 | 611 | 230 | .376 | 39 | 131 |
| OF | Enos Slaughter | 146 | 549 | 176 | .321 | 11 | 90 |
| OF | Terry Moore | 91 | 207 | 48 | .232 | 4 | 18 |

#### 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 |
| Erv Dusak | 114 | 311 | 65 | .209 | 6 | 19 |
| Ron Northey | 96 | 246 | 79 | .321 | 13 | 64 |
| Ralph LaPointe | 87 | 222 | 50 | .225 | 0 | 15 |
| Whitey Kurowski | 77 | 220 | 47 | .214 | 2 | 33 |
| Bill Baker | 45 | 119 | 35 | .294 | 0 | 15 |
| Babe Young | 41 | 111 | 27 | .243 | 1 | 13 |
| Del Wilber | 27 | 58 | 11 | .190 | 0 | 10 |
| Joe Garagiola | 24 | 56 | 6 | .107 | 2 | 7 |
| Hal Rice | 8 | 31 | 10 | .323 | 0 | 3 |
| Eddie Kazak | 6 | 22 | 6 | .273 | 0 | 2 |
| Joe Medwick | 20 | 19 | 4 | .211 | 0 | 2 |
| Chuck Diering | 7 | 7 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Johnny Bucha | 2 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Bobby Young | 3 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Larry Miggins | 1 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Jeff Cross | 2 | 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 |
| Murry Dickson | 42 | 252.1 | 12 | 16 | 4.14 | 113 |
| Harry Brecheen | 33 | 233.1 | 20 | 7 | 2.24 | 149 |
| Howie Pollet | 36 | 186.1 | 13 | 8 | 4.54 | 80 |

#### 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 | 39 | 166.0 | 10 | 11 | 4.50 | 72 |
| Al Brazle | 42 | 156.1 | 10 | 6 | 3.80 | 55 |
| Jim Hearn | 34 | 89.2 | 8 | 6 | 4.22 | 27 |
| Ken Johnson | 13 | 45.1 | 2 | 4 | 4.76 | 20 |

#### 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 |
| Ted Wilks | 57 | 6 | 6 | 13 | 2.62 | 71 |
| Gerry Staley | 31 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 6.92 | 23 |
| Ken Burkhart | 20 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5.54 | 16 |
| Al Papai | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5.06 | 8 |
| Erv Dusak | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 |
| Ray Yochim | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 |
| Clarence Beers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13.50 | 0 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Columbus Red Birds | American Association | Hal Anderson |
| AAA | Rochester Red Wings | International League | Cedric Durst |
| AA | Houston Buffaloes | Texas League | Johnny Keane |
| A | Columbus Cardinals | Sally League | Kemp Wicker |
| A | Omaha Cardinals | Western League | Ollie Vanek |
| B | Allentown Cardinals | Interstate League | Al Hollingsworth |
| B | Lynchburg Cardinals | Piedmont League | Vernon Mackie |
| C | Fresno Cardinals | California League | Stan Benjamin |
| C | Winston-Salem Cardinals | Carolina League | Zip Payne |
| C | Duluth Dukes | Northern League | George Treadwell and Ed Madjeski |
| C | Pocatello Cardinals | Pioneer League | Roland LeBlanc |
| C | St. Joseph Cardinals | Western Association | Harold Olt |
| D | Johnson City Cardinals | Appalachian League | Specs Garbee |
| D | Salisbury Cardinals | Eastern Shore League | Gene Corbett |
| D | Willows Cardinals | Far West League | Jim Tyack and Bill Krueger |
| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| D | Tallassee Indians | Georgia–Alabama League | Hugh East and Bob Comiskey |
| D | Albany Cardinals | Georgia–Florida League | Bob Stanton |
| D | West Frankfort Cardinals | Illinois State League | Harold Contini |
| D | Carthage Cardinals | Kansas–Oklahoma–Missouri League | Alvin Kluttz |
| D | Hamilton Red Birds | PONY League | George Kissell |
| D | Lawrenceville Cardinals | Virginia League | Bob Comiskey, George Shearin and John Pruett |