# 1952 St. Louis Cardinals season

The 1952 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 71st season in St. Louis, Missouri and the 61st season in the National League. The Cardinals went 88–66 during the season and finished third in the National League.
Following his acquisition during the offseason, Eddie Stanky was named player-manager and eased himself out of the lineup over the course of the season.

## Offseason

* December 11, 1951: Chuck Diering and Max Lanier were traded by the Cardinals to the New York Giants for Eddie Stanky.
* Prior to 1952 season: Bob Smith was signed as an amateur free agent by the Cardinals.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteNational League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Brooklyn Dodgers | 96 | 57 | .627 | — | 45‍–‍33 | 51‍–‍24 |
| New York Giants | 92 | 62 | .597 | 4½ | 50‍–‍27 | 42‍–‍35 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 88 | 66 | .571 | 8½ | 48‍–‍29 | 40‍–‍37 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 87 | 67 | .565 | 9½ | 47‍–‍29 | 40‍–‍38 |
| Chicago Cubs | 77 | 77 | .500 | 19½ | 42‍–‍35 | 35‍–‍42 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 69 | 85 | .448 | 27½ | 38‍–‍39 | 31‍–‍46 |
| Boston Braves | 64 | 89 | .418 | 32 | 31‍–‍45 | 33‍–‍44 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 42 | 112 | .273 | 54½ | 23‍–‍54 | 19‍–‍58 |

### Record vs. opponents

1952 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | BR | CHC | CIN | NYG | PHI | PIT | STL |
| Boston | — | 3–18–1 | 12–10 | 9–13 | 9–13 | 9–13 | 15–7–1 | 7–15 |
| Brooklyn | 18–3–1 | — | 13–9–1 | 17–5 | 8–14 | 10–12 | 19–3 | 11–11 |
| Chicago | 10–12 | 9–13–1 | — | 13–9 | 10–12 | 10–12 | 14–8 | 11–11 |
| Cincinnati | 13–9 | 5–17 | 9–13 | — | 6–16 | 10–12 | 16–6 | 10–12 |
| New York | 13–9 | 14–8 | 12–10 | 16–6 | — | 10–12 | 15–7 | 12–10 |
| Philadelphia | 13–9 | 12–10 | 12–10 | 12–10 | 12–10 | — | 16–6 | 10–12 |
| Pittsburgh | 7–15–1 | 3–19 | 8–14 | 6–16 | 7–15 | 6–16 | — | 5–17 |
| St. Louis | 15–7 | 11–11 | 11–11 | 12–10 | 10–12 | 12–10 | 17–5 | — |

### Notable transactions

* May 13, 1952: Eddie Kazak and Wally Westlake were traded by the Cardinals to the Cincinnati Reds for Dick Sisler and Virgil Stallcup.
* August 30, 1952: Tommy Glaviano was selected off waivers from the Cardinals by the Philadelphia Phillies.

### 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 | 147 | 495 | 128 | .259 | 11 | 65 |
| 1B | Dick Sisler | 119 | 418 | 109 | .261 | 13 | 60 |
| 2B | Red Schoendienst | 152 | 620 | 188 | .303 | 7 | 67 |
| SS | Solly Hemus | 151 | 570 | 153 | .268 | 15 | 52 |
| 3B | Billy Johnson | 94 | 282 | 71 | .252 | 2 | 34 |
| OF | Stan Musial | 154 | 578 | 194 | .336 | 21 | 91 |
| OF | Peanuts Lowrey | 132 | 374 | 107 | .286 | 1 | 48 |
| OF | Enos Slaughter | 140 | 510 | 153 | .300 | 11 | 101 |

#### 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 |
| Hal Rice | 98 | 295 | 85 | .288 | 7 | 45 |
| Tommy Glaviano | 80 | 162 | 39 | .241 | 3 | 19 |
| Larry Miggins | 42 | 96 | 22 | .229 | 2 | 10 |
| Eddie Stanky | 53 | 83 | 19 | .229 | 0 | 7 |
| Wally Westlake | 21 | 74 | 16 | .216 | 0 | 10 |
| Steve Bilko | 20 | 72 | 19 | .264 | 1 | 6 |
| Les Fusselman | 32 | 63 | 10 | .159 | 1 | 3 |
| Vern Benson | 20 | 47 | 9 | .191 | 2 | 5 |
| Virgil Stallcup | 29 | 31 | 4 | .129 | 0 | 1 |
| Neal Hertweck | 2 | 6 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Bill Sarni | 3 | 5 | 1 | .200 | 0 | 0 |
| Gene Mauch | 7 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Eddie Kazak | 3 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Herb Gorman | 1 | 1 | 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 | 35 | 239.2 | 17 | 14 | 3.27 | 93 |
| Vinegar Bend Mizell | 30 | 190.0 | 10 | 8 | 3.65 | 146 |
| Stu Miller | 12 | 88.0 | 6 | 3 | 2.05 | 64 |
| Harvey Haddix | 7 | 42.0 | 2 | 2 | 2.79 | 31 |
| Red Munger | 1 | 4.1 | 0 | 1 | 12.46 | 1 |

#### 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 |
| Joe Presko | 28 | 146.2 | 7 | 10 | 4.05 | 63 |
| Cloyd Boyer | 23 | 110.1 | 6 | 6 | 4.24 | 44 |
| Harry Breechen | 25 | 100.1 | 7 | 5 | 3.32 | 54 |
| Cliff Chambers | 26 | 98.1 | 4 | 4 | 4.12 | 47 |
| Willard Schmidt | 18 | 34.2 | 2 | 3 | 5.19 | 30 |
| Mike Clark | 12 | 25.1 | 2 | 0 | 6.04 | 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 | 46 | 12 | 5 | 16 | 2.72 | 55 |
| Eddie Yuhas | 54 | 12 | 2 | 6 | 2.72 | 39 |
| Bill Werle | 19 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4.85 | 23 |
| Dick Bokelmann | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9.24 | 5 |
| Bob Tiefenauer | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.88 | 3 |
| Jack Crimian | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.72 | 4 |
| Jackie Collum | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 |
| Fred Hahn | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 |
| Stan Musial | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ---- | 0 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Columbus Red Birds | American Association | Johnny Keane |
| AAA | Rochester Red Wings | International League | Harry Walker |
| AA | Houston Buffaloes | Texas League | Al Hollingsworth |
| A | Columbus Cardinals | Sally League | Sheldon "Chief" Bender |
| A | Omaha Cardinals | Western League | George Kissell |
| B | Winston-Salem Cardinals | Carolina League | Harold Olt and Jimmy Brown |
| B | Allentown Cardinals | Interstate League | Whitey Kurowski |
| B | Lynchburg Cardinals | Piedmont League | Jimmy Brown and Harold Olt |
| C | Fresno Cardinals | California League | Roland LeBlanc |
| D | Johnson City Cardinals | Appalachian League | Jim Hercinger |
| D | Goldsboro Jets | Coastal Plain League | Wes Livengood |
| D | Hazlehurst-Baxley Cardinals | Georgia State League | Arnie Riesgo |
| D | Albany Cardinals | Georgia–Florida League | Gene Corbett |
| D | Paducah Chiefs | KITTY League | Bob Stanton and Greg Masson |
| D | Hamilton Cardinals | PONY League | Harold Contini |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Rochester, Fresno, Albany