# 1937 St. Louis Cardinals season

The 1937 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 56th season in St. Louis, Missouri and the 46th season in the National League. The Cardinals went 81–73 during the season and finished fourth in the National League.

## Offseason

At the start of January 1937, general manager Branch Rickey named Robert L. Finch vice president of all Cardinals minor league baseball teams. Their star pitcher, Dizzy Dean, spent the preseason in a contract dispute, even threatening to quit baseball. He finally signed for an estimated $24,000 and a lifetime supply of Cracker Jack and hot wings on March 19.

## Regular season

As the season was set to begin, the Cardinals were considered the favorites to win the National League and face the New York Yankees in the 1937 World Series.
Outfielder Joe Medwick won the MVP Award this year, batting .374, with 31 home runs and 154 RBIs. He also won the Triple Crown, the last National League player to do so. Conversely, Dizzy Dean battled injuries, staged a mid-game strike, engaged in multiple fights and was even suspended for a time. Dean finished with a 13–10 record and only one win after the All-Star Break and was named the "biggest bust of the year" by an Associated Press poll after the season.

### Season summary

The Cardinals started their season strongly, winning seven of their first eight games and jumping out to a 1½-game lead by the end of April. They were in second place as late as June 27, just half a game out of first place with a record of 35–24. However, they never rose any higher, spending the rest of the year in either third or fourth place, ending the season by losing six of eight and with their largest deficit of the year of 15 games out of first place.

### Season standings

vteNational League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Giants | 95 | 57 | .625 | — | 50‍–‍25 | 45‍–‍32 |
| Chicago Cubs | 93 | 61 | .604 | 3 | 46‍–‍32 | 47‍–‍29 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 86 | 68 | .558 | 10 | 46‍–‍32 | 40‍–‍36 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 81 | 73 | .526 | 15 | 45‍–‍33 | 36‍–‍40 |
| Boston Bees | 79 | 73 | .520 | 16 | 43‍–‍33 | 36‍–‍40 |
| Brooklyn Dodgers | 62 | 91 | .405 | 33½ | 36‍–‍39 | 26‍–‍52 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 61 | 92 | .399 | 34½ | 29‍–‍45 | 32‍–‍47 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 56 | 98 | .364 | 40 | 28‍–‍51 | 28‍–‍47 |

### Record vs. opponents

1937 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | BR | CHC | CIN | NYG | PHI | PIT | STL |
| Boston | — | 15–7 | 9–13 | 11–11 | 10–10 | 14–8 | 11–11 | 9–13 |
| Brooklyn | 7–15 | — | 8–14 | 12–10–1 | 6–16 | 10–11 | 12–10 | 7–15–1 |
| Chicago | 13–9 | 14–8 | — | 14–8 | 12–10 | 14–8 | 9–13 | 17–5 |
| Cincinnati | 11–11 | 10–12–1 | 8–14 | — | 8–14 | 11–11 | 1–21 | 7–15 |
| New York | 10–10 | 16–6 | 10–12 | 14–8 | — | 15–7 | 16–6 | 14–8 |
| Philadelphia | 8–14 | 11–10 | 8–14 | 11–11 | 7–15 | — | 11–11 | 5–17–2 |
| Pittsburgh | 11–11 | 10–12 | 13–9 | 21–1 | 6–16 | 11–11 | — | 14–8 |
| St. Louis | 13–9 | 15–7–1 | 5–17 | 15–7 | 8–14 | 17–5–2 | 8–14 | — |

### 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 | Bruce Ogrodowski | 90 | 279 | 65 | .233 | 3 | 31 |
| 1B | Johnny Mize | 145 | 560 | 204 | .364 | 25 | 113 |
| 2B | Jimmy Brown | 138 | 525 | 145 | .276 | 2 | 53 |
| SS | Leo Durocher | 135 | 477 | 97 | .203 | 1 | 47 |
| 3B | Don Gutteridge | 119 | 447 | 121 | .271 | 7 | 61 |
| OF | Joe Medwick | 156 | 633 | 237 | .374 | 31 | 154 |
| OF | Don Padgett | 123 | 446 | 140 | .314 | 10 | 74 |
| OF | Terry Moore | 115 | 461 | 123 | .267 | 5 | 43 |

#### 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 |
| Pepper Martin | 98 | 339 | 103 | .304 | 5 | 38 |
| Frenchy Bordagaray | 96 | 300 | 88 | .293 | 1 | 37 |
| Mickey Owen | 80 | 234 | 54 | .231 | 0 | 20 |
| Stu Martin | 90 | 223 | 58 | .260 | 1 | 17 |
| Dick Siebert | 22 | 38 | 7 | .184 | 0 | 2 |
| Herb Bremer | 11 | 33 | 7 | .212 | 0 | 3 |
| Frankie Frisch | 17 | 32 | 7 | .219 | 0 | 4 |
| Randy Moore | 8 | 7 | 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 |
| Bob Weiland | 41 | 264.1 | 15 | 14 | 3.54 | 105 |
| Lon Warneke | 36 | 238.2 | 18 | 11 | 4.53 | 87 |
| Dizzy Dean | 27 | 197.1 | 13 | 10 | 2.69 | 120 |

#### 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 |
| Si Johnson | 38 | 192.1 | 12 | 12 | 3.32 | 64 |
| Mike Ryba | 38 | 135.0 | 9 | 6 | 4.13 | 57 |
| Ray Harrell | 35 | 96.2 | 3 | 7 | 5.87 | 41 |
| Jesse Haines | 16 | 65.2 | 3 | 3 | 4.52 | 18 |
| Jim Winford | 16 | 46.1 | 2 | 4 | 5.83 | 17 |
| Howie Krist | 6 | 27.2 | 3 | 1 | 4.23 | 6 |
| Nub Kleinke | 5 | 20.2 | 1 | 1 | 4.79 | 9 |
| Bill McGee | 4 | 14.0 | 1 | 0 | 2.57 | 9 |

#### 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 |
| Sheriff Blake | 14 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3.71 | 20 |
| Tom Sunkel | 9 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2.76 | 9 |
| Abe White | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6.75 | 2 |
| Nate Andrews | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.00 | 6 |
| Johnnie Chambers | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18.00 | 1 |
| Paul Dean | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | inf | 0 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AA | Columbus Red Birds | American Association | Burt Shotton |
| AA | Rochester Red Wings | International League | Ray Blades |
| AA | Sacramento Solons | Pacific Coast League | Bill Killefer |
| A1 | Houston Buffaloes | Texas League | Johnny Watwood, Mike Cvengros and Ira Smith |
| A | Cedar Rapids Raiders | Western League | Cap Crossley |
| B | Decatur Commodores | Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League | George Payne |
| B | Asheville Tourists | Piedmont League | Hal Anderson |
| B | Columbus Red Birds | Sally League | Fred Hofmann |
| B | Mobile Shippers | Southeastern League | Marty Purtell |
| C | Pine Bluff Judges | Cotton States League | Leroy "Cowboy" Jones |
| C | Jacksonville Jax | East Texas League | Tony Robello |
| C | Portsmouth Red Birds | Middle Atlantic League | Benny Borgmann |
| C | Springfield Cardinals | Western Association | Clay Hopper |
| C | Union City Springers | Alabama–Florida League | Tommy West |
| D | Albuquerque Cardinals | Arizona–Texas League | Bill DeLancey |
| D | Monett Red Birds | Arkansas–Missouri League | Ken Blackman and Joe Davis |
| D | Martinsville Manufacturers | Bi-State League | Bill Rea and Arnold Anderson |
| D | Kinston Eagles | Coastal Plain League | Krim Bess and Vernon Taylor |
| D | Cambridge Cardinals | Eastern Shore League | Fred Lucas |
| D | New Iberia Cardinals | Evangeline League | Don Motlow and Fred Hawn |
| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| D | Daytona Beach Islanders | Florida State League | Jimmie Sanders |
| D | Albany Travelers | Georgia–Florida League | Bob Rice |
| D | Union City Greyhounds | KITTY League | John Antonelli |
| D | Grand Island Red Birds | Nebraska State League | Joe McDermott |
| D | Mitchell Kernels | Nebraska State League | Bud Knox |
| D | Shelby Cardinals | North Carolina State League | George Silvey |
| D | Caruthersville Pilots | Northeast Arkansas League | Harrison Wickel |
| D | Newport Cardinals | Northeast Arkansas League | Thorpe Hamilton |
| D | Crookston Pirates | Northern League | Julian Wera and Erwin Schueren |
| D | Duluth Dukes | Northern League | Dutch Dorman |
| D | Fostoria Red Birds | Ohio State League | John Cavanaugh, Red Jenkins, Rex Bowen and Harry Aldrick |
| D | Monessen Cardinals | Pennsylvania State Association | John Lynch and Ollie Vanek |
| D | Midland Cardinals | West Texas–New Mexico League | Wray Query and Joe Davis |