# 1972 St. Louis Cardinals season

The 1972 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 91st season in St. Louis, Missouri and its 81st season in the National League. The Cardinals went 75–81 during the season and finished fourth in the National League East, 21+1⁄2 games behind the Pittsburgh Pirates.

## Offseason

* February 25, 1972: Steve Carlton was traded by the Cardinals to the Philadelphia Phillies for Rick Wise.

## Regular season

Pitcher Bob Gibson won a Gold Glove this year.

### Season standings

vteNL East :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 96 | 59 | .619 | — | 49‍–‍29 | 47‍–‍30 |
| Chicago Cubs | 85 | 70 | .548 | 11 | 46‍–‍31 | 39‍–‍39 |
| New York Mets | 83 | 73 | .532 | 13½ | 41‍–‍37 | 42‍–‍36 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 75 | 81 | .481 | 21½ | 40‍–‍37 | 35‍–‍44 |
| Montreal Expos | 70 | 86 | .449 | 26½ | 35‍–‍43 | 35‍–‍43 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 59 | 97 | .378 | 37½ | 28‍–‍51 | 31‍–‍46 |

### Record vs. opponents

1972 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | ATL | CHC | CIN | HOU | LAD | MON | NYM | PHI | PIT | SD | SF | STL |
| Atlanta | — | 5–7–1 | 9–9 | 7–7 | 7–8 | 4–8 | 7–5 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 6–11 | 7–11 | 6–6 |
| Chicago | 7–5–1 | — | 8–4 | 3–9 | 8–4 | 10–5 | 10–8 | 10–7 | 3–12 | 9–3 | 7–5 | 10–8 |
| Cincinnati | 9–9 | 4–8 | — | 11–6 | 9–5 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 10–2 | 8–4 | 8–10 | 10–5 | 10–2 |
| Houston | 7–7 | 9–3 | 6–11 | — | 7–11 | 8–4 | 6–6 | 9–3 | 3–9 | 12–2 | 13–5 | 4–8 |
| Los Angeles | 8–7 | 4–8 | 5–9 | 11–7 | — | 6–6 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 13–5 | 9–9 | 8–4 |
| Montreal | 8–4 | 5–10 | 4–8 | 4–8 | 6–6 | — | 6–12 | 10–6 | 6–12 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 9–8 |
| New York | 5–7 | 8–10 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 12–6 | — | 13–5 | 8–6 | 7–5 | 8–4 | 7–9 |
| Philadelphia | 6-6 | 7–10 | 2–10 | 3–9 | 5–7 | 6–10 | 5–13 | — | 5–13 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 8–7 |
| Pittsburgh | 6–6 | 12–3 | 4–8 | 9–3 | 5–7 | 12–6 | 6–8 | 13–5 | — | 10–2 | 9–3 | 10–8 |
| San Diego | 11–6 | 3–9 | 10–8 | 2–12 | 5–13 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 2–10 | — | 4–10 | 4–8 |
| San Francisco | 11–7 | 5–7 | 5–10 | 5–13 | 9–9 | 6–6 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 3–9 | 10–4 | — | 5–7 |
| St. Louis | 6–6 | 8–10 | 2–10 | 8–4 | 4–8 | 8–9 | 9–7 | 7–8 | 8–10 | 8–4 | 7–5 | — |

### Opening Day starters

* Matty Alou
* Lou Brock
* José Cruz
* Bob Gibson
* Joe Hague
* Dal Maxvill
* Ted Simmons
* Ted Sizemore
* Joe Torre

### Notable transactions

* May 15, 1972: Don Shaw was traded by the Cardinals to the Oakland Athletics for Dwain Anderson.
* May 16, 1972: Lowell Palmer was signed as a free agent by the Cardinals.
* May 18, 1972: Marty Martínez was traded by the Cardinals to the Oakland Athletics for Brant Alyea.
* June 6, 1972: Dan Larson was drafted by the Cardinals in the 1st round (21st pick) of the 1972 Major League Baseball Draft.
* June 7, 1972: Diego Seguí was sent to the Cardinals by the Oakland Athletics as part of a conditional deal.
* July 23, 1972: Brant Alyea was returned to the Oakland Athletics by the Cardinals.
* August 30, 1972: Dal Maxvill was traded by the Cardinals to the Oakland Athletics for a player to be named later and Joe Lindsey (minors). The Athletics completed the deal by sending Gene Dusen (minors) to the Cardinals on October 27.
* September 18, 1972: Lowell Palmer was selected off waivers from the Cardinals by the Cleveland Indians.

### 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 | 152 | 594 | 180 | .303 | 16 | 96 |
| 1B | Matty Alou | 108 | 404 | 127 | .314 | 3 | 31 |
| 2B | Ted Sizemore | 120 | 439 | 116 | .264 | 2 | 38 |
| SS | Dal Maxvill | 105 | 276 | 61 | .221 | 1 | 23 |
| 3B | Joe Torre | 149 | 544 | 157 | .289 | 11 | 81 |
| LF | Lou Brock | 153 | 621 | 193 | .311 | 3 | 42 |
| CF | José Cruz | 117 | 332 | 78 | .235 | 2 | 23 |
| RF | Bernie Carbo | 99 | 302 | 78 | .258 | 7 | 34 |

#### 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 | 118 | 332 | 79 | .238 | 5 | 28 |
| Ed Crosby | 101 | 276 | 60 | .217 | 0 | 19 |
| Donn Clendenon | 61 | 136 | 26 | .191 | 4 | 9 |
| Dwain Anderson | 57 | 135 | 36 | .267 | 1 | 8 |
| Ken Reitz | 21 | 78 | 28 | .359 | 0 | 10 |
| Joe Hague | 27 | 76 | 18 | .237 | 3 | 11 |
| Skip Jutze | 21 | 71 | 17 | .239 | 0 | 5 |
| Jorge Roque | 32 | 67 | 7 | .104 | 1 | 5 |
| Mick Kelleher | 23 | 63 | 10 | .159 | 0 | 1 |
| Jerry McNertney | 39 | 48 | 10 | .208 | 0 | 9 |
| Mike Tyson | 13 | 37 | 7 | .189 | 0 | 0 |
| Bill Stein | 14 | 35 | 11 | .314 | 2 | 3 |
| Brant Alyea | 13 | 19 | 3 | .158 | 0 | 1 |
| Bill Voss | 11 | 15 | 4 | .267 | 0 | 3 |
| Ron Allen | 7 | 11 | 1 | .091 | 1 | 1 |
| Mike Fiore | 17 | 10 | 1 | .100 | 0 | 1 |
| Marty Martínez | 9 | 7 | 3 | .429 | 0 | 2 |

### 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 |
| Bob Gibson | 34 | 278.0 | 19 | 11 | 2.46 | 208 |
| Rick Wise | 35 | 269.0 | 16 | 16 | 3.11 | 142 |
| Reggie Cleveland | 33 | 230.2 | 14 | 15 | 3.94 | 153 |
| Scipio Spinks | 16 | 118.0 | 5 | 5 | 2.67 | 93 |
| Don Durham | 10 | 47.2 | 2 | 7 | 4.34 | 35 |
| Jim Bibby | 6 | 40.1 | 1 | 3 | 3.35 | 28 |

#### 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 |
| Al Santorini | 30 | 133.2 | 8 | 11 | 4.11 | 72 |
| Lance Clemons | 3 | 5.1 | 0 | 1 | 10.12 | 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 |
| Diego Seguí | 33 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 3.07 | 54 |
| Joe Grzenda | 30 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5.66 | 15 |
| Moe Drabowski | 30 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2.60 | 22 |
| Tony Cloninger | 17 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5.19 | 11 |
| Lowell Palmer | 16 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3.89 | 25 |
| Dennis Higgins | 15 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3.97 | 20 |
| John Cumberland | 14 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6.65 | 7 |
| Ray Bare | 14 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.54 | 5- |
| Charlie Hudson | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5.11 | 4 |
| Rich Folkers | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3.38 | 7 |
| Don Shaw | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9.00 | 0 |
| Al Hrabosky | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 9 |
| Santiago Guzmán | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.00 | 0 |
| Tim Plodinec | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27.00 | 0 |

## Awards and honors
### League leaders

* Lou Brock, National League leader, stolen bases, 63

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Tulsa Oilers | American Association | Jack Krol |
| AA | Arkansas Travelers | Texas League | Fred Koenig |
| A | Modesto Reds | California League | Tom Burgess |
| A | St. Petersburg Cardinals | Florida State League | Roy Majtyka |
| A | Cedar Rapids Cardinals | Midwest League | Gary Geiger |
| Rookie | GCL Cardinals | Gulf Coast League | Bobby Dews |
| Rookie | GCL Red Birds | Gulf Coast League | Julio Gotay |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Modesto