1943 St. Louis Cardinals season

The 1943 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 62nd season in St. Louis, Missouri and the 52nd season in the National League. The Cardinals went 105–49 during the season and finished first in the National League. In the World Series, they met the New York Yankees. They lost the series in 5 games.

1943 St. Louis Cardinals
National League champions
League	National League
Ballpark	Sportsman's Park
City	St. Louis, Missouri
Record	105–49 (.682)
League place	1st
Owners	Sam Breadon
Managers	Billy Southworth
Radio	KWK (Dizzy Dean, Johnny O'Hara) KXOK (France Laux, Ron Rawson)
← 1942 Seasons 1944 →

Offseason

• November 7, 1942: Hal Epps was drafted from the Cardinals by the St. Louis Browns in the 1942 minor league draft.^[1]
• November 24, 1942: Gerry Staley was drafted by the Cardinals from the Boise Pilots in the 1942 minor league draft.^[2]

Regular season

Outfielder Stan Musial won the MVP Award this year, batting .357, with 13 home runs and 81 RBIs. This was the second consecutive year a Cardinal won the MVP award, with Mort Cooper having won the award the previous season.

Season standings

• v
• t
• e

National League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
St. Louis Cardinals	105	49	.682	—	58‍–‍21	47‍–‍28
Cincinnati Reds	87	67	.565	18	48‍–‍29	39‍–‍38
Brooklyn Dodgers	81	72	.529	23½	46‍–‍31	35‍–‍41
Pittsburgh Pirates	80	74	.519	25	47‍–‍30	33‍–‍44
Chicago Cubs	74	79	.484	30½	36‍–‍38	38‍–‍41
Boston Braves	68	85	.444	36½	38‍–‍39	30‍–‍46
Philadelphia Phillies	64	90	.416	41	33‍–‍43	31‍–‍47
New York Giants	55	98	.359	49½	34‍–‍43	21‍–‍55

Record vs. opponents

1943 National League record v t e Sources:
Team	BOS	BR	CHC	CIN	NYG	PHI	PIT	STL
Boston	—	12–9	8–14	11–11	11–11	11–11	12–10	3–19
Brooklyn	9–12	—	10–12	13–9	14–8	17–5	11–11	7–15
Chicago	14–8	12–10	—	9–13	12–9–1	10–12	8–14	9–13
Cincinnati	11–11	9–13	13–9	—	16–6–1	19–3	9–13	10–12
New York	11–11	8–14	9–12–1	6–16–1	—	8–14–1	9–13	4–18
Philadelphia	11–11	5–17	12–10	3–19	14–8–1	—	10–12–1	9–13–1
Pittsburgh	10–12	11–11	14–8	13–9	13–9	12–10–1	—	7–15–2
St. Louis	19–3	15–7	13–9	12–10	18–4	13–9–1	15–7–2	—

Roster

1943 St. Louis Cardinals
Roster
Pitchers 11 Al Brazle 31 Harry Brecheen 27 Bud Byerly 13 Mort Cooper 22 Murry Dickson 19 Harry Gumbert 29 Howie Krist 23,21 Max Lanier 18 Red Munger 11 Howie Pollet 28 Ernie White		Catchers 15 Walker Cooper 32 Sam Narron 16 Ken O'Dea Infielders  3 Jimmy Brown  7 George Fallon  2 Lou Klein  1 Whitey Kurowski  4 Marty Marion  5 Ray Sanders		Outfielders  8 Buster Adams 17 Frank Demaree  9 Debs Garms 12 Johnny Hopp  8 Danny Litwhiler  6 Stan Musial 20 Coaker Triplett 10 Harry Walker		Manager 30 Billy Southworth Coaches 25 Mike González (Third base) 26 Buzzy Wares

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	Walker Cooper	122	449	143	.318	9	81
1B	Ray Sanders	144	478	134	.280	11	73
2B	Lou Klein	154	627	180	.287	7	62
SS	Marty Marion	129	418	117	.280	1	52
3B	Whitey Kurowski	139	522	150	.287	13	70
OF	Stan Musial	157	617	220	.357	13	81
OF	Harry Walker	148	564	166	.294	2	53
OF	Danny Litwhiler	80	258	72	.279	7	31

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
Debs Garms	90	249	64	.257	0	22
Johnny Hopp	91	241	54	.224	2	25
Ken O'Dea	71	203	57	.281	3	25
Jimmy Brown	34	110	20	.182	0	8
Frank Demaree	39	86	25	.291	0	9
George Fallon	36	78	18	.231	0	5
Coaker Triplett	9	25	2	.080	1	4
Buster Adams	8	11	1	.091	0	1
Sam Narron	10	11	1	.091	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
Mort Cooper	37	274.0	21	8	2.30	141
Max Lanier	32	213.1	15	7	1.90	123
Harry Gumbert	21	133.0	10	5	2.84	40
Howie Pollet	16	118.1	8	4	1.75	61
Al Brazle	13	88.0	8	2	1.53	26
Ernie White	14	78.2	5	5	3.78	28
Bud Byerly	2	13.0	1	0	3.46	6

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
Howie Krist	34	164.1	11	5	2.90	57
Harry Brecheen	29	135.1	9	6	2.26	68

Note: Harry Brecheen was the team leader in saves with 4.

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
Red Munger	32	9	5	2	3.95	45
Murry Dickson	31	8	2	0	3.58	44

1943 World Series

Main article: 1943 World Series

AL New York Yankees (4) vs. NL St. Louis Cardinals (1)

Game	Score	Date	Location	Attendance
1	Cardinals – 2, Yankees – 4	October 5	Yankee Stadium	68,676
2	Cardinals – 4, Yankees – 3	October 6	Yankee Stadium	68,578
3	Cardinals – 2, Yankees – 6	October 7	Yankee Stadium	69,990
4	Yankees – 2, Cardinals – 1	October 10	Sportsman's Park	36,196
5	Yankees – 2, Cardinals – 0	October 11	Sportsman's Park	33,872

Awards and records

• Stan Musial, National League leader, Triples, (20).^[3]

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AA	Columbus Red Birds	American Association	Nick Cullop
AA	Rochester Red Wings	International League	Pepper Martin
AA	Sacramento Solons	Pacific Coast League	Ken Penner
B	Allentown Wings	Interstate League	Barney Roth, Herb Brett and Tom Koval
B	Lynchburg Cardinals	Piedmont League	Ollie Vanek
D	Johnson City Cardinals	Appalachian League	Ken Blackman
D	Jamestown Falcons	PONY League	Jack Sanford

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Columbus^[4]