# 1949 St. Louis Cardinals season

The 1949 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 68th season in St. Louis, Missouri, and its 58th season in the National League (NL). The Cardinals went 96–58 during the season and finished second, one game back in the National League. The team set an NL record for fewest stolen bases in a season, 17, which still stands.

## Offseason

* November 24, 1948: Ray Jablonski was drafted by the Cardinals from the Boston Red Sox in the 1948 minor league draft.
* Prior to 1949 season (exact date unknown)
** Dick Rand was signed as an amateur free agent by the Cardinals.
** Neal Hertweck 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 | 97 | 57 | .630 | — | 48‍–‍29 | 49‍–‍28 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 96 | 58 | .623 | 1 | 51‍–‍26 | 45‍–‍32 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 81 | 73 | .526 | 16 | 40‍–‍37 | 41‍–‍36 |
| Boston Braves | 75 | 79 | .487 | 22 | 43‍–‍34 | 32‍–‍45 |
| New York Giants | 73 | 81 | .474 | 24 | 43‍–‍34 | 30‍–‍47 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 71 | 83 | .461 | 26 | 36‍–‍41 | 35‍–‍42 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 62 | 92 | .403 | 35 | 35‍–‍42 | 27‍–‍50 |
| Chicago Cubs | 61 | 93 | .396 | 36 | 33‍–‍44 | 28‍–‍49 |

### Record vs. opponents

1949 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | BR | CHC | CIN | NYG | PHI | PIT | STL |
| Boston | — | 10–12 | 12–10 | 12–10–1 | 12–10–2 | 11–11 | 12–10 | 6–16 |
| Brooklyn | 12–10 | — | 17–5 | 17–5 | 14–8 | 11–11 | 16–6 | 10–12–1 |
| Chicago | 10–12 | 5–17 | — | 9–13 | 12–10 | 6–16 | 11–11 | 8–14 |
| Cincinnati | 10–12–1 | 5–17 | 13–9 | — | 7–15 | 13–9 | 9–13 | 5–17–1 |
| New York | 10–12–2 | 8–14 | 10–12 | 15–7 | — | 11–11 | 12–10 | 7–15 |
| Philadelphia | 11–11 | 11–11 | 16–6 | 9–13 | 11–11 | — | 13–9 | 10–12 |
| Pittsburgh | 10–12 | 6–16 | 11–11 | 13–9 | 10–12 | 9–13 | — | 12–10 |
| St. Louis | 16–6 | 12–10–1 | 14–8 | 17–5–1 | 15–7 | 12–10 | 10–12 | — |

### 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 | 92 | 284 | 67 | .236 | 4 | 29 |
| 1B | Nippy Jones | 110 | 380 | 114 | .300 | 8 | 62 |
| 2B | Red Schoendienst | 151 | 640 | 190 | .297 | 3 | 54 |
| SS | Marty Marion | 134 | 515 | 140 | .272 | 5 | 70 |
| 3B | Eddie Kazak | 92 | 326 | 99 | .304 | 6 | 42 |
| OF | Stan Musial | 157 | 612 | 207 | .338 | 36 | 123 |
| OF | Chuck Diering | 131 | 369 | 97 | .263 | 3 | 38 |
| OF | Enos Slaughter | 151 | 568 | 191 | .336 | 13 | 96 |

#### 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 |
| Ron Northey | 90 | 265 | 69 | .260 | 7 | 50 |
| Tommy Glaviano | 87 | 258 | 69 | .267 | 6 | 36 |
| Rocky Nelson | 82 | 244 | 54 | .221 | 4 | 32 |
| Joe Garagiola | 81 | 241 | 63 | .261 | 3 | 26 |
| Lou Klein | 58 | 114 | 25 | .219 | 2 | 12 |
| Hal Rice | 40 | 46 | 9 | .196 | 1 | 9 |
| Ed Sauer | 24 | 45 | 10 | .222 | 0 | 1 |
| Solly Hemus | 20 | 33 | 11 | .333 | 0 | 2 |
| Bill Baker | 20 | 30 | 4 | .133 | 0 | 4 |
| Steve Bilko | 6 | 17 | 5 | .294 | 0 | 2 |
| Whitey Kurowski | 10 | 14 | 2 | .143 | 0 | 0 |
| Bill Howerton | 9 | 13 | 4 | .308 | 0 | 1 |
| Del Wilber | 2 | 4 | 1 | .250 | 0 | 0 |
| Russ Derry | 2 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Erv Dusak | 1 | 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 |
| Howie Pollet | 39 | 230.2 | 20 | 9 | 2.77 | 108 |
| Harry Brecheen | 32 | 214.2 | 13 | 11 | 3.35 | 88 |
| Red Munger | 35 | 188.1 | 15 | 8 | 3.87 | 82 |
| Max Lanier | 15 | 92.0 | 5 | 4 | 3.82 | 37 |

#### 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 Brazle | 39 | 206.1 | 14 | 8 | 3.18 | 75 |
| Gerry Staley | 45 | 171.1 | 10 | 10 | 2.73 | 55 |
| Fred Martin | 21 | 70.0 | 6 | 0 | 2.44 | 30 |
| Jim Hearn | 17 | 42.0 | 1 | 3 | 5.14 | 18 |
| Cloyd Boyer | 4 | 3.1 | 0 | 0 | 10.80 | 0 |

#### 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 | 59 | 10 | 3 | 9 | 3.73 | 71 |
| Bill Reeder | 21 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5.08 | 21 |
| Ken Johnson | 14 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6.42 | 18 |
| Ray Yochim | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15.43 | 3 |
| Kurt Krieger | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Columbus Red Birds | American Association | Hal Anderson |
| AAA | Rochester Red Wings | International League | Johnny Keane |
| AA | Houston Buffaloes | Texas League | Del Wilber |
| A | Columbus Cardinals | Sally League | Kemp Wicker |
| A | Omaha Cardinals | Western League | Cedric Durst |
| B | Winston-Salem Cardinals | Carolina League | Willie Duke, George Ferrell and Roland LeBlanc |
| B | Allentown Cardinals | Interstate League | Al Hollingsworth |
| B | Lynchburg Cardinals | Piedmont League | Pug Griffin and Vernon Mackie |
| C | Fresno Cardinals | California League | Frenchy Uhalt |
| C | Duluth Dukes | Northern League | Ed Madjeski and Russ Rolandson |
| C | Pocatello Cardinals | Pioneer League | Walter Lowe |
| C | St. Joseph Cardinals | Western Association | Harold Olt |
| D | Johnson City Cardinals | Appalachian League | Ben Catchings |
| D | Salisbury Cardinals | Eastern Shore League | Gene Corbett |
| D | Willows Cardinals | Far West League | Bert Bonomi and Fred Fass |
| D | Tallassee Cardinals | Georgia–Alabama League | Bob Comiskey and Bill Blackwell |
| D | Albany Cardinals | Georgia–Florida League | Sheldon "Chief" Bender |
| D | West Frankfort Cardinals | Mississippi–Ohio Valley League | Bob Stanton |
| D | Lebanon Chicks | North Atlantic League | Harold Contini |
| D | Hamilton Cardinals | PONY League | George Kissell |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Lynchburg, Pocatello