# 1946 St. Louis Cardinals season

The 1946 St. Louis Cardinals season was a season in American baseball. It was the team's 65th season in St. Louis, Missouri and their 55th season in the National League. The Cardinals went 96–58 during the championship season and finished tied with the Brooklyn Dodgers for first in the National League. St. Louis then won a best-of-three playoff for the pennant, two games to none. In the World Series, they won in seven games over the Boston Red Sox. They won on Enos Slaughter's "mad dash" that gave them a 4–3 lead in the eighth inning of game 7.

## Offseason

* Prior to 1946 season: Solly Hemus was signed as an amateur free agent by the Cardinals.

## Regular season

First baseman Stan Musial won the MVP Award this year, batting .365, with 16 home runs and 103 RBIs.

### Season standings

vteNational League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 98 | 58 | .628 | — | 49‍–‍29 | 49‍–‍29 |
| Brooklyn Dodgers | 96 | 60 | .615 | 2 | 56‍–‍22 | 40‍–‍38 |
| Chicago Cubs | 82 | 71 | .536 | 14½ | 44‍–‍33 | 38‍–‍38 |
| Boston Braves | 81 | 72 | .529 | 15½ | 45‍–‍31 | 36‍–‍41 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 69 | 85 | .448 | 28 | 41‍–‍36 | 28‍–‍49 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 67 | 87 | .435 | 30 | 35‍–‍42 | 32‍–‍45 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 63 | 91 | .409 | 34 | 37‍–‍40 | 26‍–‍51 |
| New York Giants | 61 | 93 | .396 | 36 | 38‍–‍39 | 23‍–‍54 |

### Record vs. opponents

1946 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | BR | CHC | CIN | NYG | PHI | PIT | STL |
| Boston | — | 5–17 | 12–9–1 | 15–7 | 13–9 | 14–8 | 15–7 | 7–15 |
| Brooklyn | 17–5 | — | 11–11 | 14–8–1 | 15–7 | 17–5 | 14–8 | 8–16 |
| Chicago | 9–12–1 | 11–11 | — | 13–9 | 17–5 | 12–10 | 12–10–1 | 8–14 |
| Cincinnati | 7–15 | 8–14–1 | 9–13 | — | 14–8 | 8–14–1 | 13–9 | 8–14 |
| New York | 9–13 | 7–15 | 5–17 | 8–14 | — | 12–10 | 10–12 | 10–12 |
| Philadelphia | 8–14 | 5–17 | 10–12 | 14–8–1 | 10–12 | — | 14–8 | 8–14 |
| Pittsburgh | 7–15 | 8–14 | 10–12–1 | 9–13 | 12–10 | 8–14 | — | 9–13 |
| St. Louis | 15–7 | 16–8 | 14–8 | 14–8 | 12–10 | 14–8 | 13–9 | — |

### Notable transactions

* July 1946: Jim Gleeson was traded by the Cardinals to the Boston Red Sox for Don Lang and Bill Howerton.

### 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 | Joe Garagiola | 74 | 211 | 50 | .237 | 3 | 22 |
| 1B | Stan Musial | 156 | 624 | 228 | .365 | 16 | 103 |
| 2B | Red Schoendienst | 142 | 606 | 170 | .281 | 0 | 34 |
| 3B | Whitey Kurowski | 142 | 519 | 156 | .301 | 14 | 89 |
| SS | Marty Marion | 146 | 498 | 116 | .233 | 3 | 46 |
| OF | Harry Walker | 112 | 346 | 82 | .237 | 3 | 27 |
| OF | Erv Dusak | 100 | 275 | 66 | .240 | 9 | 42 |
| OF | Enos Slaughter | 156 | 609 | 183 | .300 | 18 | 130 |

#### 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 |
| Terry Moore | 91 | 278 | 73 | .263 | 3 | 2 |
| Dick Sisler | 83 | 235 | 61 | .260 | 3 | 42 |
| Buster Adams | 81 | 173 | 32 | .185 | 5 | 22 |
| Del Rice | 55 | 139 | 38 | .273 | 1 | 12 |
| Clyde Kluttz | 52 | 136 | 36 | .265 | 0 | 14 |
| Lou Klein | 23 | 93 | 18 | .194 | 1 | 4 |
| Jeff Cross | 49 | 69 | 15 | .217 | 0 | 6 |
| Ken O'Dea | 22 | 57 | 7 | .123 | 1 | 3 |
| Bill Endicott | 20 | 20 | 4 | .200 | 0 | 3 |
| Walter Sessi | 15 | 14 | 2 | .143 | 1 | 2 |
| Nippy Jones | 16 | 12 | 4 | .333 | 0 | 1 |
| Danny Litwhiler | 6 | 5 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Del Wilber | 4 | 4 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Emil Verban | 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 |
| Howie Pollet | 40 | 266.0 | 21 | 10 | 2.10 | 107 |
| Harry Brecheen | 36 | 231.0 | 15 | 15 | 2.49 | 117 |
| Johnny Beazley | 19 | 103.0 | 7 | 5 | 4.46 | 36 |
| Ken Burkhart | 25 | 100.0 | 6 | 3 | 2.88 | 32 |

#### 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 |
| Red Barrett | 23 | 67.0 | 3 | 2 | 4.03 | 22 |
| Max Lanier | 6 | 56.0 | 6 | 0 | 1.93 | 36 |
| Red Munger | 10 | 48.2 | 2 | 2 | 3.33 | 28 |
| Fred Martin | 6 | 28.2 | 2 | 1 | 4.08 | 19 |
| Freddy Schmidt | 16 | 27.1 | 1 | 0 | 3.29 | 14 |

#### 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 |
| Murry Dickson | 47 | 15 | 6 | 1 | 2.88 | 82 |
| Al Brazle | 37 | 11 | 10 | 1 | 3.29 | 58 |
| Ted Wilks | 40 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 3.41 | 40 |
| Howie Krist | 15 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6.75 | 3 |
| Blix Donnelly | 13 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3.95 | 11 |
| Johnny Grodzicki | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.00 | 2 |

## 1946 World Series

NL St. Louis Cardinals (4) vs. AL Boston Red Sox (3)
| Game | Score | Date | Attendance |
| 1 | Boston 3, St. Louis 2 (10 innings) | October 6 | 36,218 |
| 2 | St. Louis 3, Boston 0 | October 7 | 35,815 |
| 3 | Boston 4, St. Louis 0 | October 9 | 34,500 |
| 4 | St. Louis 12, Boston 3 | October 10 | 35,645 |
| 5 | Boston 6, St. Louis 3 | October 11 | 35,982 |
| 6 | St. Louis 4, Boston 1 | October 13 | 35,768 |
| 7 | St. Louis 4, Boston 3 | October 15 | 36,143 |

## Awards and honors

* Stan Musial, National League leader, Triples, (20).

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Columbus Red Birds | American Association | Charlie Root |
| AAA | Rochester Red Wings | International League | Burleigh Grimes and Benny Borgmann |
| AA | Houston Buffaloes | Texas League | Johnny Keane |
| A | Columbus Cardinals | Sally League | Kemp Wicker |
| B | Decatur Commodores | Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League | Harrison Wickel |
| B | Allentown Cardinals | Interstate League | Ollie Vanek |
| B | Lynchburg Cardinals | Piedmont League | Wes Ferrell |
| C | Fresno Cardinals | California League | Everett Johnston and Paul Bowa |
| C | Winston-Salem Cardinals | Carolina League | Zip Payne |
| C | Duluth Dukes | Northern League | Mercer Harris and Gene Sack |
| C | Pocatello Cardinals | Pioneer League | Bill Brenzel |
| C | St. Joseph Cardinals | Western Association | Bob Stanton |
| D | Johnson City Cardinals | Appalachian League | Specs Garbee |
| D | Salisbury Cardinals | Eastern Shore League | Harold Contini |
| D | Albany Cardinals | Georgia–Florida League | Herb Moore |
| D | Carthage Cardinals | Kansas–Oklahoma–Missouri League | Buzz Arlitt |
| D | Marion Cardinals | Ohio State League | Wally Schang and Bob Kline |
| D | Hamilton Cardinals | PONY League | John Newman |