1951 St. Louis Cardinals season

The 1951 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 70th season in St. Louis, Missouri and the 60th season in the National League. The Cardinals went 81–73 during the season and finished third in the National League.

1951 St. Louis Cardinals
League	National League
Ballpark	Sportsman's Park
City	St. Louis, Missouri
Record	81–73 (.526)
League place	3rd
Owners	Fred Saigh
General managers	William Walsingham Jr.
Managers	Marty Marion
Television	KSD
Radio	WIL (Harry Caray, Gus Mancuso, Stretch Miller)
← 1950 Seasons 1952 →

Offseason

• Prior to 1951 season: Larry Jackson was signed as an amateur free agent by the Cardinals.^[1]

Regular season

Season standings

• v
• t
• e

National League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Giants	98	59	.624	—	50‍–‍28	48‍–‍31
Brooklyn Dodgers	97	60	.618	1	49‍–‍29	48‍–‍31
St. Louis Cardinals	81	73	.526	15½	44‍–‍34	37‍–‍39
Boston Braves	76	78	.494	20½	42‍–‍35	34‍–‍43
Philadelphia Phillies	73	81	.474	23½	38‍–‍39	35‍–‍42
Cincinnati Reds	68	86	.442	28½	35‍–‍42	33‍–‍44
Pittsburgh Pirates	64	90	.416	32½	32‍–‍45	32‍–‍45
Chicago Cubs	62	92	.403	34½	32‍–‍45	30‍–‍47

Record vs. opponents

1951 National League record v t e Sources:
Team	BOS	BR	CHC	CIN	NYG	PHI	PIT	STL
Boston	—	10–12–1	10–12	10–12	8–14	12–10	13–9	13–9
Brooklyn	12–10–1	—	14–8	14–8	14–11	15–7	10–12	18–4
Chicago	12–10	8–14	—	10–12	7–15	7–15	9–13	9–13–1
Cincinnati	12–10	8–14	12–10	—	5–17	11–11	12–10–1	8–14
New York	14–8	11–14	15–7	17–5	—	16–6	14–8	11–11
Philadelphia	10–12	7–15	15–7	11–11	6–16	—	15–7	9–13
Pittsburgh	9–13	12–10	13–9	10–12–1	8–14	7–15	—	5–17
St. Louis	9–13	4–18	13–9–1	14–8	11–11	13–9	17–5	—

Notable transactions

• May 14, 1951: Don Bollweg and $15,000 were traded by the Cardinals to the New York Yankees for Billy Johnson.^[2]
• June 15, 1951: Joe Garagiola, Dick Cole, Bill Howerton, Howie Pollet, and Ted Wilks were traded by the Cardinals to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Cliff Chambers and Wally Westlake.^[3]

Roster

1951 St. Louis Cardinals
Roster
Pitchers 25 Dick Bokelmann 24 Cloyd Boyer 27 Al Brazle 31 Harry Brecheen 28 Cliff Chambers 32 Jackie Collum 25,26 Jack Crimian 25 Erv Dusak 22 Bob Habenicht 30 Kurt Krieger 23 Max Lanier 34 Dan Lewandowski 20 Red Munger 29 Tom Poholsky 11 Howie Pollet 21 Joe Presko 14 Gerry Staley 28 Ted Wilks		Catchers 17 Joe Garagiola 18 Del Rice 16 Bill Sarni 30 Bob Scheffing Infielders 36 Vern Benson  5 Steve Bilko 40 Don Bollweg 15 Dick Cole  7 Solly Hemus  1 Billy Johnson  3 Nippy Jones  1 Eddie Kazak 19 Rocky Nelson 38 Don Richmond 19 Stan Rojek  2 Red Schoendienst		Outfielders 34 Larry Ciaffone 32 Chuck Diering 12 Tommy Glaviano 36 Bill Howerton 37 Peanuts Lowrey  6 Stan Musial 39 Hal Rice  9 Enos Slaughter 36 Jay Van Noy 38 Harry Walker 17 Wally Westlake		Manager  4 Marty Marion Coaches 33 Ray Blades  8 Terry Moore 35 Mike Ryba 26 Buzzy Wares

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	Del Rice	122	374	94	.251	9	47
1B	Nippy Jones	80	300	79	.263	3	41
2B	Red Schoendienst	135	553	160	.289	6	54
SS	Solly Hemus	120	420	118	.281	2	32
3B	Billy Johnson	124	442	116	.262	14	64
OF	Stan Musial	152	578	205	.355	32	108
OF	Peanuts Lowrey	114	370	112	.303	5	40
OF	Enos Slaughter	123	409	115	.281	4	64

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
Wally Westlake	73	267	68	.255	6	39
Hal Rice	69	236	60	.254	4	38
Stan Rojek	51	186	51	.274	0	14
Tommy Glaviano	54	104	19	.183	1	4
Bill Sarni	36	86	15	.174	0	2
Chuck Diering	64	85	22	.259	0	8
Joe Garagiola	27	72	14	.194	2	9
Steve Bilko	21	72	16	.222	2	12
Bill Howerton	24	65	17	.262	1	4
Vern Benson	13	46	12	.261	1	7
Dick Cole	15	36	7	.194	0	3
Don Richmond	12	34	3	.088	1	4
Eddie Kazak	11	33	6	.182	0	4
Harry Walker	8	26	8	.308	0	2
Bob Scheffing	12	18	2	.111	0	2
Rocky Nelson	9	18	4	.222	0	1
Don Bollweg	6	9	1	.111	0	2
Jay Van Noy	6	7	0	.000	0	0
Larry Ciaffone	5	5	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
Gerry Staley	42	227.0	19	13	3.81	67
Tom Poholsky	38	195.0	7	13	4.43	70
Max Lanier	31	160.0	11	9	3.26	59
Harry Brecheen	24	138.2	8	4	3.25	57
Cliff Chambers	21	129.1	11	6	3.83	45
Joe Presko	15	88.2	7	4	3.45	38

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 Munger	23	94.2	4	6	5.32	44
Cloyd Boyer	19	63.1	2	5	5.26	40
Jackie Collum	3	17.0	2	1	1.59	5
Howie Pollet	6	12.1	0	3	4.38	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
Al Brazle	56	6	5	7	3.09	66
Dick Bokelmann	20	3	3	3	3.78	22
Ted Wilks	17	0	0	1	3.00	5
Jack Crimian	11	1	0	0	9.00	5
Erv Dusak	5	0	0	0	7.20	8
Bob Habenicht	3	0	0	0	7.20	1
Kurt Krieger	2	0	0	0	15.75	3
Dan Lewandowski	2	0	1	0	9.00	1

Awards and honors

• Stan Musial, National League leader, triples. It was the fifth time in his career that he would lead the NL in triples.^[4]

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Columbus Red Birds	American Association	Harry Walker
AAA	Rochester Red Wings	International League	Johnny Keane
AA	Houston Buffaloes	Texas League	Al Hollingsworth
A	Columbus Cardinals	Sally League	Hal Anderson
A	Omaha Cardinals	Western League	George Kissell
B	Winston-Salem Cardinals	Carolina League	Harold Olt
B	Allentown Cardinals	Interstate League	Whitey Kurowski
B	Lynchburg Cardinals	Piedmont League	Skeeter Scalzi
B	Tri-City Braves	Western International League	Charles Peterson
C	Fresno Cardinals	California League	Larry Barton, Sr.
C	Pocatello Cardinals	Pioneer League	Norm Shope and Bob Comiskey
C	St. Joseph Cardinals	Western Association	Gene Corbett
D	Johnson City Cardinals	Appalachian League	Ben Catchings
D	Goldsboro Cardinals	Coastal Plain League	George Ferrell
D	Albany Cardinals	Georgia–Florida League	Sheldon "Chief" Bender
D	Hamilton Cardinals	PONY League	Vedie Himsl

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Houston, Winston-Salem^[5]