# 1954 St. Louis Cardinals season

The 1954 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 73rd season in St. Louis, Missouri and its 63rd season in the National League. The Cardinals went 72–82 during the season and finished sixth in the National League.

## Offseason

* December 1, 1953: 1953 minor league draft
** Brooks Lawrence was drafted by the Cardinals from the Cincinnati Reds.
* December 1, 1953: Sonny Senerchia was drafted by the Cardinals from the Pittsburgh Pirates.
* January 26, 1954: Dick Sisler, Eddie Erautt and $100,000 were traded by the Cardinals to the San Diego Padres for Tom Alston.

## Regular season

In his first four major league games, first baseman Joe Cunningham became the first Cardinals player to hit at least two home runs. On April 6, 2016, Jeremy Hazelbaker matched him for this feat.
Outfielder Wally Moon won the Rookie of the Year Award this year, batting .304, with 12 home runs and 76 RBIs. Along the way, on April 13 Moon hit a home run in his first major league at-bat.
During the season, Tom Alston became the first black player in the history of the Cardinals.

### Season standings

vteNational League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Giants | 97 | 57 | .630 | — | 53‍–‍23 | 44‍–‍34 |
| Brooklyn Dodgers | 92 | 62 | .597 | 5 | 45‍–‍32 | 47‍–‍30 |
| Milwaukee Braves | 89 | 65 | .578 | 8 | 43‍–‍34 | 46‍–‍31 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 75 | 79 | .487 | 22 | 39‍–‍39 | 36‍–‍40 |
| Cincinnati Redlegs | 74 | 80 | .481 | 23 | 41‍–‍36 | 33‍–‍44 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 72 | 82 | .468 | 25 | 33‍–‍44 | 39‍–‍38 |
| Chicago Cubs | 64 | 90 | .416 | 33 | 40‍–‍37 | 24‍–‍53 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 53 | 101 | .344 | 44 | 31‍–‍46 | 22‍–‍55 |

### Record vs. opponents

1954 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BKN | CHC | CIN | MIL | NYG | PHP | PIT | STL |
| Brooklyn | — | 15–7 | 16–6 | 10–12 | 9–13 | 13–9 | 15–7 | 14–8 |
| Chicago | 7–15 | — | 8–14 | 6–16 | 7–15 | 7–15 | 15–7 | 14–8 |
| Cincinnati | 6–16 | 14–8 | — | 10–12 | 7–15 | 14–8 | 15–7 | 8–14 |
| Milwaukee | 12–10 | 16–6 | 12–10 | — | 10–12 | 13–9 | 14–8 | 12–10 |
| New York | 13–9 | 15–7 | 15–7 | 12–10 | — | 16–6 | 14–8 | 12–10 |
| Philadelphia | 9–13 | 15–7 | 8–14 | 9–13 | 6–16 | — | 16–6 | 12–10 |
| Pittsburgh | 7–15 | 7–15 | 7–15 | 8–14 | 8–14 | 6–16 | — | 10–12 |
| St. Louis | 8–14 | 8–14 | 14–8 | 10–12 | 10–12 | 10–12 | 12–10 | — |

### Notable transactions

* April 11, 1954: Enos Slaughter was traded by the Cardinals to the New York Yankees for Bill Virdon, Mel Wright, and Emil Tellinger (minors).
* April 30, 1954: Steve Bilko was purchased from the Cardinals by the Chicago Cubs for $12,500.

### 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 | Bill Sarni | 123 | 380 | 114 | .300 | 9 | 70 |
| 1B | Joe Cunningham | 85 | 310 | 88 | .284 | 11 | 50 |
| 2B | Red Schoendienst | 148 | 610 | 192 | .315 | 5 | 79 |
| SS | Alex Grammas | 142 | 401 | 106 | .264 | 2 | 29 |
| 3B | Ray Jablonski | 152 | 611 | 181 | .296 | 12 | 104 |
| LF | Rip Repulski | 152 | 619 | 175 | .283 | 19 | 79 |
| CF | Wally Moon | 151 | 635 | 193 | .304 | 12 | 76 |
| RF | Stan Musial | 153 | 591 | 195 | .330 | 35 | 126 |

#### 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 |
| Tom Alston | 66 | 244 | 60 | .246 | 4 | 34 |
| Solly Hemus | 124 | 214 | 65 | .304 | 2 | 27 |
| Del Rice | 56 | 147 | 37 | .252 | 2 | 16 |
| Joe Frazier | 81 | 88 | 26 | .295 | 3 | 18 |
| Peanuts Lowrey | 74 | 61 | 7 | .115 | 0 | 5 |
| Sal Yvars | 38 | 57 | 14 | .246 | 2 | 8 |
| Tom Burgess | 17 | 21 | 1 | .048 | 0 | 1 |
| Steve Bilko | 8 | 14 | 2 | .143 | 0 | 1 |
| Ducky Schofield | 43 | 7 | 1 | .143 | 0 | 1 |
| Pete Castiglione | 5 | 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 |
| Harvey Haddix | 43 | 259.2 | 18 | 13 | 3.57 | 184 |
| Vic Raschi | 30 | 179.0 | 8 | 9 | 4.73 | 73 |
| Gordon Jones | 11 | 81.0 | 4 | 4 | 2.00 | 48 |
| Ralph Beard | 13 | 58.0 | 0 | 4 | 3.72 | 17 |
| Memo Luna | 1 | 0.2 | 0 | 1 | 27.00 | 0 |

#### 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 |
| Brooks Lawrence | 35 | 158.2 | 15 | 6 | 3.74 | 72 |
| Gerry Staley | 48 | 155.2 | 7 | 13 | 5.26 | 50 |
| Tom Poholsky | 25 | 106.0 | 5 | 7 | 3.06 | 55 |
| Stu Miller | 19 | 46.2 | 2 | 3 | 5.79 | 22 |
| Carl Scheib | 3 | 4.2 | 0 | 1 | 11.57 | 5 |
| Bill Greason | 3 | 4.0 | 0 | 1 | 13.50 | 2 |

#### 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 | 58 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 4.16 | 30 |
| Joe Presko | 37 | 4 | 9 | 0 | 6.91 | 36 |
| Cot Deal | 33 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6.28 | 25 |
| Royce Lint | 30 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 4.86 | 36 |
| Ben Wade | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.48 | 19 |
| Mel Wright | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10.45 | 4 |
| Hal White | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19.80 | 2 |

## 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 | Dixie Walker |
| A | Allentown Cardinals | Eastern League | Dutch Dorman and Harold Olt |
| A | Columbus Cardinals | Sally League | George Kissell |
| A | Omaha Cardinals | Western League | Ferrell Anderson |
| B | Peoria Chiefs | Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League | Whitey Kurowski |
| B | Lynchburg Cardinals | Piedmont League | Roland LeBlanc |
| C | Mexicali Eagles | Arizona–Texas League | Art Lilly |
| C | Fresno Cardinals | California League | Jim Hercinger |
| C | Hot Springs Bathers | Cotton States League | Paul Dean, Jackie Bales and Lou Lucas |
| C | Winnipeg Goldeyes | Northern League | Mickey O'Neil |
| C | Joplin Cardinals | Western Association | Bill Kelly |
| D | Dothan Rebels | Alabama–Florida League | Homer Ray Wilson |
| D | Johnson City Cardinals | Appalachian League | Lee "Pete" Peterson and Harold Contini |
| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| D | Daytona Beach Islanders | Florida State League | Ed Levy |
| D | Hazlehurst-Baxley Cardinals | Georgia State League | Arnie Riesgo and Bill McGhee |
| D | Albany Cardinals | Georgia–Florida League | Russ McGovern |
| D | Paducah Chiefs | KITTY League | Harold Contini and Lee "Pete" Peterson |
| D | Hannibal Cardinals | Mississippi–Ohio Valley League | J. C. Dunn |
| D | Hamilton Cardinals | PONY League | Jimmy Brown |
| D | Ardmore Cardinals | Sooner State League | Bennie Warren and Frank Mancuso |