# 1926 St. Louis Cardinals season

The 1926 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 45th season in St. Louis, Missouri and their 35th in the National League. The Cardinals went 89–65 during the season and finished first in the National League, winning their first National League pennant. In the World Series, they defeated the New York Yankees in 7 games, ending it by throwing out Babe Ruth at second base in the ninth inning of Game 7 to preserve a 3–2 victory. This was Rogers Hornsby's only full season as manager for the team.
Catcher Bob O'Farrell won the MVP Award this year, batting .293, with 7 home runs and 68 RBIs. Led by RBI champion Jim Bottomley, the offense scored the most runs in the NL.

## Regular season

* September 22, 1926: Tommy Thevenow hit the second and last home run of the season, and of his career. Thevenow would play for another 12 seasons and set a major league record by not hitting a home run in 3,347 at-bats.

### Season standings

vteNational League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 89 | 65 | .578 | — | 47‍–‍30 | 42‍–‍35 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 87 | 67 | .565 | 2 | 53‍–‍23 | 34‍–‍44 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 84 | 69 | .549 | 4½ | 49‍–‍28 | 35‍–‍41 |
| Chicago Cubs | 82 | 72 | .532 | 7 | 49‍–‍28 | 33‍–‍44 |
| New York Giants | 74 | 77 | .490 | 13½ | 43‍–‍33 | 31‍–‍44 |
| Brooklyn Robins | 71 | 82 | .464 | 17½ | 38‍–‍38 | 33‍–‍44 |
| Boston Braves | 66 | 86 | .434 | 22 | 43‍–‍34 | 23‍–‍52 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 58 | 93 | .384 | 29½ | 33‍–‍42 | 25‍–‍51 |

### Record vs. opponents

1926 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | BR | CHC | CIN | NYG | PHI | PIT | STL |
| Boston | — | 6–15 | 12–10 | 12–10–1 | 12–10 | 7–15 | 10–11 | 7–15 |
| Brooklyn | 15–6 | — | 14–8 | 4–18 | 9–13 | 13–9 | 9–13–2 | 7–15 |
| Chicago | 10–12 | 8–14 | — | 13–9–1 | 14–8 | 16–6 | 10–12 | 11–11 |
| Cincinnati | 10–12–1 | 18–4 | 9–13–1 | — | 7–15 | 16–6–1 | 13–9 | 14–8 |
| New York | 10–12 | 13–9 | 8–14 | 15–7 | — | 12–7 | 6–16 | 10–12 |
| Philadelphia | 15–7 | 9–13 | 6–16 | 6–16–1 | 7–12 | — | 8–14 | 7–15 |
| Pittsburgh | 11–10 | 13–9–2 | 12–10 | 9–13 | 16–6 | 14–8 | — | 9–13–2 |
| St. Louis | 15–7 | 15–7 | 11–11 | 8–14 | 12–10 | 15–7 | 13–9–2 | — |

### Notable transactions

* June 14, 1926: Heinie Mueller was traded by the Cardinals to the New York Giants for Billy Southworth.

### Roster
## Player stats

* = Indicates team leader

### 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 | Bob O'Farrell | 147 | 492 | 144 | .293 | 7 | 68 |
| 1B | Jim Bottomley | 154 | 603 | 180 | .299 | 19 | 120 |
| 2B | Rogers Hornsby | 134 | 527 | 167 | .317 | 11 | 93 |
| 3B | Les Bell | 155 | 581 | 189 | .325 | 17 | 100 |
| SS | Tommy Thevenow | 156 | 563 | 144 | .256 | 2 | 63 |
| RF | Billy Southworth | 99 | 391 | 124 | .317 | 11 | 69 |
| LF | Ray Blades | 107 | 416 | 127 | .305 | 8 | 43 |
| CF | Taylor Douthit | 139 | 530 | 163 | .308 | 3 | 52 |

#### Other batters

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 |
| OF | Chick Hafey | 78 | 225 | 61 | .271 | 4 | 38 |
| OF | Heinie Mueller | 52 | 191 | 51 | .267 | 3 | 28 |
| OF | Wattie Holm | 55 | 144 | 41 | .285 | 0 | 21 |
| 2B | Specs Toporcer | 64 | 88 | 22 | .250 | 0 | 9 |
| IF | Jake Flowers | 40 | 74 | 20 | .270 | 3 | 9 |
| C | Ernie Vick | 24 | 51 | 10 | .196 | 0 | 4 |
| C | Bill Warwick | 9 | 14 | 5 | .357 | 0 | 2 |
| PH | Jack Smith | 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 |
| Flint Rhem | 34 | 258.0 | 20 | 7 | 3.21 | 72 |
| Bill Sherdel | 34 | 234.2 | 16 | 12 | 3.49 | 59 |
| Jesse Haines | 32 | 183.0 | 13 | 4 | 3.25 | 46 |
| Vic Keen | 26 | 152.0 | 10 | 9 | 4.56 | 29 |
| Pete Alexander | 23 | 148.1 | 9 | 7 | 2.91 | 35 |

#### 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 |
| Art Reinhart | 27 | 143.0 | 10 | 5 | 4.22 | 26 |
| Hi Bell | 27 | 85.0 | 6 | 6 | 3.18 | 27 |
| Bill Hallahan | 19 | 56.2 | 1 | 4 | 3.65 | 28 |
| Syl Johnson | 19 | 49.0 | 0 | 3 | 4.22 | 10 |

#### 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 |
| Allan Sothoron | 15 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4.22 | 19 |
| Walt Huntzinger | 9 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4.24 | 9 |
| Eddie Dyer | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 11.57 | 4 |
| Ed Clough | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22.50 | 0 |
| Duster Mails | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 |

## Awards and honors
### League top five finishers

Les Bell
* #3 in NL in RBI (100)
* #4 in NL in home runs (17)
Ray Blades
* #4 in NL in on-base percentage (.409)
Jim Bottomley
* NL leader in RBI (120)
* #2 in NL in home runs (19)
Taylor Douthit
* #3 in NL in stolen bases (23)
Flint Rhem
* NL leader in wins (20)

## 1926 World Series

| Game | Date | Visitor | Score | Home | Score | Record (NYY-STL) | Attendance |
| 1 | October 2 | St. Louis Cardinals | 1 | New York Yankees | 2 | 1–0 | 61,658 |
| 2 | October 3 | St. Louis Cardinals | 6 | New York Yankees | 2 | 1–1 | 63,600 |
| 3 | October 4 | New York Yankees | 0 | St. Louis Cardinals | 4 | 1–2 | 37,708 |
| 4 | October 6 | New York Yankees | 10 | St. Louis Cardinals | 5 | 2–2 | 38,825 |
| 5 | October 7 | New York Yankees | 3 | St. Louis Cardinals | 2 | 3–2 | 39,552 |
| 6 | October 9 | St.Louis Cardinals | 10 | New York Yankees | 2 | 3–3 | 48,615 |
| 7 | October 10 | St. Louis Cardinals | 3 | New York Yankees | 2 | 3-4 | 38,093 |
| St. Louis Cardinals win 4–3 ||||||||

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AA | Syracuse Stars | International League | Burt Shotton |
| A | Houston Buffaloes | Texas League | Joe Mathes |
| C | Fort Smith Twins | Western Association | Everitt Booe |
| D | Austin Senators | Texas Association | Chuck Miller |