# 1923 St. Louis Cardinals season

The 1923 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 42nd season in St. Louis, Missouri and its 32nd season in the National League. The Cardinals went 79–74 during the season and finished fifth in the National League. This is the first season that the Cardinals wore numbers on their uniforms but only on the left sleeve and only for home games. By the next season the numbers were abandoned and wouldn't return, this time permanently, until 1932.

## Regular season

Rogers Hornsby set a major league record of 13 consecutive games with two or more base hits, accomplished July 5 through July 18, 1923.

### Season standings

vteNational League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Giants | 95 | 58 | .621 | — | 47‍–‍30 | 48‍–‍28 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 91 | 63 | .591 | 4½ | 46‍–‍32 | 45‍–‍31 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 87 | 67 | .565 | 8½ | 47‍–‍30 | 40‍–‍37 |
| Chicago Cubs | 83 | 71 | .539 | 12½ | 46‍–‍31 | 37‍–‍40 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 79 | 74 | .516 | 16 | 42‍–‍35 | 37‍–‍39 |
| Brooklyn Robins | 76 | 78 | .494 | 19½ | 37‍–‍40 | 39‍–‍38 |
| Boston Braves | 54 | 100 | .351 | 41½ | 22‍–‍55 | 32‍–‍45 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 50 | 104 | .325 | 45½ | 20‍–‍55 | 30‍–‍49 |

### Record vs. opponents

1923 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | BR | CHC | CIN | NYG | PHI | PIT | STL |
| Boston | — | 8–14 | 6–16 | 7–15 | 6–16 | 13–9 | 5–17 | 9–13–1 |
| Brooklyn | 14–8 | — | 10–12 | 8–14 | 11–11 | 12–10–1 | 11–11 | 10–12 |
| Chicago | 16–6 | 12–10 | — | 9–13 | 10–12 | 13–9 | 11–11 | 12–10 |
| Cincinnati | 15–7 | 14–8 | 13–9 | — | 12–10 | 19–3 | 8–14 | 10–12 |
| New York | 16–6 | 11–11 | 12–10 | 10–12 | — | 19–3 | 13–9 | 14–7 |
| Philadelphia | 9–13 | 10–12–1 | 9–13 | 3–19 | 3–19 | — | 9–13 | 7–15 |
| Pittsburgh | 17–5 | 11–11 | 11–11 | 14–8 | 9–13 | 13–9 | — | 12–10 |
| St. Louis | 13–9–1 | 12–10 | 10–12 | 12–10 | 7–14 | 15–7 | 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 | Eddie Ainsmith | 82 | 263 | 56 | .213 | 3 | 34 |
| 1B | Jim Bottomley | 134 | 523 | 194 | .371 | 8 | 94 |
| 2B | Rogers Hornsby | 107 | 424 | 163 | .384 | 17 | 83 |
| SS | Howard Freigau | 113 | 358 | 94 | .263 | 1 | 35 |
| 3B | Milt Stock | 151 | 603 | 174 | .289 | 2 | 96 |
| OF | Hy Myers | 96 | 330 | 99 | .300 | 2 | 48 |
| OF | Jack Smith | 124 | 407 | 126 | .310 | 5 | 41 |
| OF | Max Flack | 128 | 505 | 147 | .291 | 3 | 28 |

#### 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 |
| Ray Blades | 98 | 317 | 78 | .246 | 5 | 44 |
| Specs Toporcer | 97 | 303 | 77 | .254 | 3 | 35 |
| Heinie Mueller | 78 | 265 | 91 | .343 | 5 | 41 |
| Harry McCurdy | 67 | 185 | 49 | .265 | 0 | 15 |
| Verne Clemons | 57 | 130 | 37 | .285 | 0 | 13 |
| Doc Lavan | 50 | 111 | 22 | .198 | 1 | 12 |
| Leslie Mann | 38 | 89 | 33 | .371 | 5 | 11 |
| Les Bell | 15 | 51 | 19 | .373 | 0 | 9 |
| Eddie Dyer | 35 | 45 | 12 | .267 | 2 | 5 |
| Jake Flowers | 13 | 32 | 3 | .094 | 0 | 2 |
| Charlie Niebergall | 9 | 28 | 3 | .107 | 0 | 1 |
| Taylor Douthit | 9 | 27 | 5 | .185 | 0 | 0 |
| Jimmy Hudgens | 6 | 12 | 3 | .250 | 0 | 0 |
| Joe Schultz | 2 | 7 | 2 | .286 | 0 | 1 |
| Speed Walker | 2 | 7 | 2 | .286 | 0 | 1 |
| George Kopshaw | 2 | 5 | 1 | .200 | 0 | 0 |
| Tige Stone | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 |
| Burt Shotton | 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 |
| Jesse Haines | 37 | 266.0 | 20 | 13 | 3.11 | 73 |
| Bill Sherdel | 39 | 225.0 | 15 | 13 | 4.32 | 78 |
| Fred Toney | 29 | 196.2 | 11 | 12 | 3.84 | 48 |
| Bill Doak | 30 | 185.0 | 8 | 13 | 3.26 | 53 |
| Jeff Pfeffer | 26 | 152.1 | 8 | 9 | 4.02 | 32 |
| Eddie Dyer | 4 | 22.0 | 2 | 1 | 4.09 | 7 |
| Bill Pertica | 1 | 2.1 | 0 | 0 | 3.86 | 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 |
| Johnny Stuart | 37 | 149.2 | 9 | 5 | 4.27 | 55 |
| Epp Sell | 5 | 15.0 | 0 | 1 | 6.00 | 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 |
| Lou North | 34 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 5.15 | 24 |
| Clyde Barfoot | 33 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3.73 | 23 |
| Fred Wigington | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.24 | 2 |
| Tige Stone | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12.00 | 1 |

## Awards and honors
### League leaders

* Rogers Hornsby, National League batting champion

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AA | Syracuse Stars | International League | Frank Shaughnessy |
| A | Houston Buffaloes | Texas League | Hunter Hill |
| B | Petersburg Trunkmakers | Virginia League | George Block and Baldy Altermatt |
| C | Fort Smith Twins | Western Association | Fred Hunter and Mickey Doolan |
| D | Vicksburg Hill Billies | Cotton States League | Cy Slapnicka and Ollie Mills |