# 1942 St. Louis Cardinals season

The 1942 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 61st season in St. Louis, Missouri and its 51st season in the National League. The Cardinals won 106 games, the most in team history. They finished first in the National League, and met the New York Yankees in the World Series. They won the series in 5 games to capture their fourth title of National League and fourth World Series title.
Pitcher Mort Cooper won the MVP Award this year, with a 1.78 ERA, 22 wins, and 152 strikeouts.
This was Branch Rickey's 24th and final year with the Cardinals, the next year, he left to become the general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers.

## Offseason

* December 1, 1941: Hank Gornicki was selected off waivers from the Cardinals by the Pittsburgh Pirates.
* Prior to 1942 season (exact date unknown)
** Del Rice was signed as an amateur free agent by the Cardinals.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteNational League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 106 | 48 | .688 | — | 60‍–‍17 | 46‍–‍31 |
| Brooklyn Dodgers | 104 | 50 | .675 | 2 | 57‍–‍22 | 47‍–‍28 |
| New York Giants | 85 | 67 | .559 | 20 | 47‍–‍31 | 38‍–‍36 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 76 | 76 | .500 | 29 | 38‍–‍39 | 38‍–‍37 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 66 | 81 | .449 | 36½ | 41‍–‍34 | 25‍–‍47 |
| Chicago Cubs | 68 | 86 | .442 | 38 | 36‍–‍41 | 32‍–‍45 |
| Boston Braves | 59 | 89 | .399 | 44 | 33‍–‍36 | 26‍–‍53 |
| Philadelphia Phils | 42 | 109 | .278 | 62½ | 23‍–‍51 | 19‍–‍58 |

### Record vs. opponents

1942 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | BR | CHC | CIN | NYG | PHI | PIT | STL |
| Boston | — | 6–16 | 13–9 | 5–16–1 | 8–12 | 14–8 | 7–12–1 | 6–16 |
| Brooklyn | 16–6 | — | 16–6 | 15–7 | 14–8–1 | 18–4 | 16–6 | 9–13 |
| Chicago | 9–13 | 6–16 | — | 13–9 | 9–13–1 | 14–8 | 11–11 | 6–16 |
| Cincinnati | 16–5–1 | 7–15 | 9–13 | — | 9–13 | 16–6 | 12–9–1 | 7–15 |
| New York | 12–8 | 8–14–1 | 13–9–1 | 13–9 | — | 17–5 | 15–7 | 7–15 |
| Philadelphia | 8–14 | 4–18 | 8–14 | 6–16 | 5–17 | — | 6–13 | 5–17 |
| Pittsburgh | 12–7–1 | 6–16 | 11–11 | 9–12–1 | 7–15 | 13–6 | — | 8–14–2 |
| St. Louis | 16–6 | 13–9 | 16–6 | 15–7 | 15–7 | 17–5 | 14–8–2 | — |

### Roster
## Player stats

* = Indicates team leader

### 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 | Walker Cooper | 125 | 438 | 123 | .281 | 7 | 65 |
| 1B | Johnny Hopp | 95 | 314 | 81 | .258 | 3 | 37 |
| 2B | Jimmy Brown | 145 | 606 | 155 | .256 | 1 | 71 |
| 3B | Whitey Kurowski | 115 | 366 | 93 | .254 | 9 | 42 |
| SS | Marty Marion | 147 | 485 | 134 | .276 | 0 | 54 |
| OF | Stan Musial | 140 | 467 | 147 | .315 | 10 | 72 |
| OF | Enos Slaughter | 152 | 591 | 188 | .318 | 13 | 98 |
| OF | Terry Moore | 130 | 489 | 141 | .288 | 6 | 49 |

#### 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 |
| Creepy Crespi | 93 | 292 | 71 | .243 | 0 | 35 |
| Ray Sanders | 95 | 282 | 71 | .252 | 5 | 39 |
| Ken O'Dea | 58 | 192 | 45 | .234 | 5 | 32 |
| Harry Walker | 74 | 191 | 60 | .314 | 0 | 16 |
| Coaker Triplett | 64 | 154 | 42 | .273 | 1 | 23 |
| Erv Dusak | 12 | 27 | 5 | .185 | 0 | 3 |
| Buddy Blattner | 19 | 23 | 1 | .043 | 0 | 1 |
| Gus Mancuso | 5 | 13 | 1 | .077 | 0 | 1 |
| Sam Narron | 10 | 10 | 4 | .400 | 0 | 1 |
| Estel Crabtree | 10 | 9 | 3 | .333 | 0 | 2 |
| Jeff Cross | 1 | 4 | 1 | .250 | 0 | 1 |

### 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 |
| Mort Cooper | 37 | 278.2 | 22 | 7 | 1.78 | 152 |
| Johnny Beazley | 43 | 215.1 | 21 | 6 | 2.13 | 91 |
| Ernie White | 26 | 128.1 | 7 | 5 | 2.52 | 67 |
| Lon Warneke | 12 | 82.0 | 6 | 4 | 3.29 | 31 |

#### 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 |
| Harry Gumbert | 38 | 163.0 | 9 | 5 | 3.26 | 52 |
| Max Lanier | 34 | 161.0 | 13 | 8 | 2.96 | 93 |
| Howie Pollet | 27 | 109.1 | 7 | 5 | 2.88 | 42 |
Note: Harry Gumbert was the team leader in saves with 5.

#### 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 |
| Murry Dickson | 36 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 2.91 | 66 |
| Howie Krist | 34 | 13 | 3 | 1 | 2.51 | 47 |
| Whitey Moore | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4.38 | 1 |
| Bill Lohrman | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1.42 | 6 |
| Bill Beckmann | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 3 |
| Clyde Shoun | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 |

## 1942 World Series

NL St. Louis Cardinals (4) vs. AL New York Yankees (1)
| Game | Score | Date | Location | Attendance |
| 1 | Yankees – 7, Cardinals – 4 | September 30 | Sportsman's Park | 34,769 |
| 2 | Yankees – 3, Cardinals – 4 | October 1 | Sportsman's Park | 34,255 |
| 3 | Cardinals – 2, Yankees – 0 | October 3 | Yankee Stadium | 69,123 |
| 4 | Cardinals – 9, Yankees – 6 | October 4 | Yankee Stadium | 69,902 |
| 5 | Cardinals – 4, Yankees – 2 | October 5 | Yankee Stadium | 69,052 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AA | Columbus Red Birds | American Association | Eddie Dyer |
| AA | Rochester Red Wings | International League | Tony Kaufmann, Estel Crabtree and Ray Hayworth |
| AA | Sacramento Solons | Pacific Coast League | Pepper Martin |
| A1 | New Orleans Pelicans | Southern Association | Pat Ankenman |
| A1 | Houston Buffaloes | Texas League | Clay Hopper |
| B | Decatur Commodores | Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League | Adel White and Tony Kaufmann |
| B | Allentown Wings | Interstate League | Benny Borgmann |
| B | Asheville Tourists | Piedmont League | Bill DeLancey |
| B | Columbus Red Birds | Sally League | Harrison Wickel |
| B | Mobile Shippers | Southeastern League | Tommy West and Adel White |
| C | Fresno Cardinals | California League | Lou Scoffic |
| C | Springfield Cardinals | Middle Atlantic League | Walter Alston |
| C | Duluth Dukes | Northern League | Eddie Malone |
| C | Pocatello Cardinals | Pioneer League | Nick Cullop |
| C | Springfield Cardinals | Western Association | Runt Marr |
| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| D | Johnson City Cardinals | Appalachian League | Mercer Harris |
| D | Albany Cardinals | Georgia–Florida League | Joe Cusick |
| D | Union City Greyhounds | KITTY League | Everett Johnston |
| D | Williamson Red Birds | Mountain State League | Ollie Vanek |
| D | Washington Red Birds | Pennsylvania State Association | George Jenkins and Moose Fralick |
| D | Hamilton Red Wings | PONY League | Roy Pfleger, Ken Blackman and Joe Sugden |
| D | LaCrosse Blackhawks | Wisconsin State League | Ed Konetchy and Lou Scoffic |