# 1945 St. Louis Cardinals season

The 1945 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 64th season in St. Louis, Missouri and the 54th season in the National League. The Cardinals went 95–59 during the season and finished second in the National League. The Cardinals set a Major League record which still stands, for the fewest double plays grounded into during a season, with only 75.

## Offseason

* Prior to 1945 season: Steve Bilko was signed by the Cardinals as an amateur free agent.

## Regular season

An almost incredible place in baseball history was at stake. Billy Southworth and his Cardinals had a chance to become only the second ball club after the 1921-24 Giants to win four consecutive NL pennants.
However, the war finally drained the Redbirds of the talent needed to win a championship.
Stan Musial, Walker Cooper, Max Lanier and pitcher Mort Cooper, who experienced elbow problems later in the season, got into a contract squabble with Harry Breadon during the spring. They signed contracts for $12,000 apiece, then balked at reporting for opening day after learning Marion had been upped to $15,000.
On May 23, the Cards sent Mort Cooper to the Boston Braves for pitcher Red Barrett, who compiled a league-high total of 23 wins, and $60,000. However, the Redbirds did not have enough pitching depth to keep up with the faster pace of a Chicago Cubs team filled with veteran pitchers such as Paul Derringer.
The Cardinals actually won 16 of their 22 meetings with The Cubs.
Only Whitey Kurowski batted over .300 among the regulars. He was one of the few Cardinals were able to keep their jobs once the boys marched home from Europe and the Pacific.
Red Schoendienst stole 26 bases but batted just .278 and drove in only 47 runs.

### Season standings

vteNational League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Chicago Cubs | 98 | 56 | .636 | — | 49‍–‍26 | 49‍–‍30 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 95 | 59 | .617 | 3 | 48‍–‍29 | 47‍–‍30 |
| Brooklyn Dodgers | 87 | 67 | .565 | 11 | 48‍–‍30 | 39‍–‍37 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 82 | 72 | .532 | 16 | 45‍–‍34 | 37‍–‍38 |
| New York Giants | 78 | 74 | .513 | 19 | 47‍–‍30 | 31‍–‍44 |
| Boston Braves | 67 | 85 | .441 | 30 | 36‍–‍38 | 31‍–‍47 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 61 | 93 | .396 | 37 | 36‍–‍41 | 25‍–‍52 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 46 | 108 | .299 | 52 | 22‍–‍55 | 24‍–‍53 |

### Record vs. opponents

1945 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | BR | CHC | CIN | NYG | PHI | PIT | STL |
| Boston | — | 9–13–1 | 7–15 | 10–12 | 10–10–2 | 14–8 | 7–15 | 10–12 |
| Brooklyn | 13–9–1 | — | 8–14–1 | 11–11 | 15–7 | 19–3 | 12–10 | 9–13 |
| Chicago | 15–7 | 14–8–1 | — | 21–1 | 11–11 | 17–5 | 14–8 | 6–16 |
| Cincinnati | 12–10 | 11–11 | 1–21 | — | 6–16 | 12–10 | 10–12 | 9–13 |
| New York | 10–10–2 | 7–15 | 11–11 | 16–6 | — | 17–5 | 11–11 | 6–16 |
| Philadelphia | 8–14 | 3–19 | 5–17 | 10–12 | 5–17 | — | 6–16 | 9–13 |
| Pittsburgh | 15–7 | 10–12 | 8–14 | 12–10 | 11–11 | 16–6 | — | 10–12–1 |
| St. Louis | 12–10 | 13–9 | 16–6 | 13–9 | 16–6 | 13–9 | 12–10–1 | — |

### Notable transactions

* May 8, 1945: Glenn Crawford and John Antonelli were traded by the Cardinals to the Philadelphia Phillies for Buster Adams.

### 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 | Ken O'Dea | 100 | 307 | 78 | .254 | 4 | 43 |
| 1B | Ray Sanders | 143 | 537 | 148 | .276 | 8 | 78 |
| 2B | Emil Verban | 155 | 597 | 166 | .278 | 0 | 72 |
| SS | Marty Marion | 123 | 430 | 119 | .277 | 1 | 59 |
| 3B | Whitey Kurowski | 133 | 511 | 165 | .323 | 21 | 102 |
| OF | Buster Adams | 140 | 578 | 169 | .292 | 20 | 101 |
| OF | Johnny Hopp | 124 | 446 | 129 | .289 | 3 | 44 |
| OF | Red Schoendienst | 137 | 565 | 157 | .278 | 1 | 47 |

#### 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 |
| Augie Bergamo | 94 | 304 | 96 | .316 | 3 | 44 |
| Del Rice | 83 | 253 | 66 | .261 | 1 | 28 |
| Debs Garms | 74 | 146 | 49 | .336 | 0 | 18 |
| Art Rebel | 26 | 72 | 25 | .347 | 0 | 5 |
| Lou Klein | 19 | 57 | 13 | .228 | 1 | 6 |
| George Fallon | 24 | 55 | 13 | .236 | 0 | 7 |
| Dave Bartosch | 24 | 47 | 12 | .255 | 0 | 1 |
| Pep Young | 27 | 47 | 7 | .149 | 1 | 4 |
| Jim Mallory | 13 | 43 | 10 | .233 | 0 | 5 |
| Walker Cooper | 4 | 18 | 7 | .389 | 0 | 1 |
| Gene Crumling | 6 | 12 | 1 | .083 | 0 | 1 |
| Glenn Crawford | 4 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| John Antonelli | 2 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Bob Keely | 1 | 1 | 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 |
| Red Barrett | 36 | 246.2 | 21 | 9 | 2.74 | 63 |
| Blix Donnelly | 31 | 166.1 | 8 | 10 | 3.52 | 76 |
| Harry Brecheen | 24 | 157.1 | 15 | 4 | 2.52 | 63 |
| Ted Wilks | 18 | 98.1 | 4 | 7 | 2.93 | 28 |
| Max Lanier | 4 | 26.0 | 2 | 2 | 1.73 | 16 |
| Mort Cooper | 4 | 23.2 | 2 | 0 | 1.52 | 14 |

#### 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 |
| Ken Burkhart | 42 | 217.1 | 18 | 8 | 2.90 | 67 |
| George Dockins | 31 | 126.1 | 8 | 6 | 3.21 | 33 |
| Bud Byerly | 33 | 95.0 | 4 | 5 | 4.74 | 39 |
| Jack Creel | 26 | 87.0 | 5 | 4 | 4.14 | 34 |
| Al Jurisich | 27 | 71.2 | 3 | 3 | 5.15 | 42 |
| Glenn Gardner | 17 | 54.2 | 3 | 1 | 3.29 | 20 |
| Stan Partenheimer | 8 | 13.1 | 0 | 0 | 6.08 | 6 |
| Art Lopatka | 4 | 11.2 | 1 | 0 | 1.54 | 5 |

#### 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 |
| Bill Crouch | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3.38 | 4 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AA | Columbus Red Birds | American Association | Charlie Root |
| AA | Rochester Red Wings | International League | Burleigh Grimes |
| B | Allentown Cardinals | Interstate League | Ollie Vanek |
| B | Lynchburg Cardinals | Piedmont League | George Ferrell and Zip Payne |
| C | Winston-Salem Cardinals | Carolina League | George Smith and George Ferrell |
| D | Johnson City Cardinals | Appalachian League | Fred Hawn and Runt Marr |
| D | Marion Cardinals | Ohio State League | Grover Hartley and Wally Schang |