1969 St. Louis Cardinals season

The 1969 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 88th season in St. Louis, Missouri and its 78th season in the National League. The Cardinals went 87–75 during the season and finished fourth in the newly established National League East, 13 games behind the eventual NL pennant and World Series champion New York Mets.

This article is about the Major League Baseball team. For the National Football League team, see 1969 St. Louis Cardinals (NFL) season.

1969 St. Louis Cardinals
Major League affiliations
Location
Results
Record87–75 (.537)
Divisional place4th
Other information
Owner(s)August "Gussie" Busch
General manager(s)Bing Devine
Manager(s)Red Schoendienst
Local televisionKSD-TV
Local radioKMOX
(Harry Caray, Jack Buck)
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The resurgent Chicago Cubs, featuring players such as Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, and Billy Williams and helmed by fiery manager Leo Durocher, led the newly formed NL East for much of the summer before faltering. The Cardinals put on a mid-season surge, as their famous announcer Harry Caray (in what would prove to be his final season of 25 doing Cardinals broadcasts) began singing, "The Cardinals are coming, tra-la, tra-la". However, to the surprise of both Chicago and St. Louis, the Miracle Mets would ultimately win the division, as well as the league championship and the World Series.

Offseason

Regular season

Pitcher Bob Gibson and outfielder Curt Flood won Gold Gloves this year.

1969 also marked the final season for the Busch Stadium grass before the installation of AstroTurf, which would be their home surface for the next 26 seasons.

After the season, long-time broadcaster Harry Caray's contract was not renewed. At a news conference shortly afterward, Caray pointedly and conspicuously drank from a can of Schlitz beer, at the time the main competitor to the brands of Anheuser-Busch (A–B), who owned the Cardinals. He said he did not know why he had been let go, but doubted the team's claim that the decision was made because he was hurting beer sales. Instead, he suspected that people believed rampant rumors that he had been having an affair with Susan Busch, daughter-in-law of team president and A–B CEO Gussie Busch.[8][lower-alpha 1]

Caray would be a broadcaster for the Oakland Athletics in 1970, before spending 27 seasons in Chicago with the White Sox (1971–1981) and the Cubs from 1982 until his death prior to the 1998 season.

Season standings
NL East W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Mets 10062 0.617 — 52–30 48–32
Chicago Cubs 9270 0.568 8 49–32 43–38
Pittsburgh Pirates 8874 0.543 12 47–34 41–40
St. Louis Cardinals 8775 0.537 13 42–38 45–37
Philadelphia Phillies 6399 0.389 37 30–51 33–48
Montreal Expos 52110 0.321 48 24–57 28–53

Record vs. opponents
1969 National League Records

Sources:
Team ATL CHC CIN HOU LAD MON NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL
Atlanta —3–912–615–39–98–44–86–68–413–59–96–6
Chicago 9–3—6–6–18–46–610–88–1012–67–1111–16–69–9
Cincinnati 6–126–6–1—9–910–88–46–610–25–711–710–88–4
Houston 3–154–89–9—6–1211–110–28–43–910–810–87–5
Los Angeles 9–96–68–1012–6—10–24–88–48–412–65–133–9
Montreal 4–88–104–81–112–10—5–1311–75–134–81–117–11
New York 8–410–86–62–108–413–5—12–610–811–18–412–6
Philadelphia 6-66–122–104–84–87–116–12—10–88–43–97–11
Pittsburgh 4–811–77–59–34–813–58–108–10—10–25–79–9
San Diego 5–131–117–118–106–128–41–114–82–10—6–124–8
San Francisco 9–96–68–108–1013–511–14–89–37–512–6—3–9
St. Louis 6–69–94–85–79–311–76–1211–79–98–49–3—

Opening Day starters

Notable transactions

Roster
1969 St. Louis Cardinals
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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
CFCurt Flood153606173.285457

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
Vic Davalillo639826.265210
Byron Browne225312.22617
Jerry DaVanon164012.30017

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
Bob Gibson3531420132.18269
Nelson Briles36227.215133.52126

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

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
Sal Campisi71000.937
Vic Davalillo1000∞0

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Tulsa Oilers American Association Warren Spahn
AA Arkansas Travelers Texas League Ray Hathaway
A Modesto Reds California League Joe Cunningham
A St. Petersburg Cardinals Florida State League Jack Krol
A Cedar Rapids Cardinals Midwest League Roy Majtyka
A-Short Season Lewis-Clark Broncs Northwest League Bobby Dews
Rookie GCL Cardinals Gulf Coast League Tom Burgess

[13]

Notes
  1. Susan Busch denied this on the single occasion she has addressed it on the record. Caray also denied it whenever the subject came up, but less consistently, in one interview suggesting the affair had happened while in another quickly changing the subject to say he was flattered that anyone thought she would be attracted to him.[9]

References
  1. Coco Laboy page at Baseball Reference
  2. Pedro Borbón page at Baseball Reference
  3. Bo Belinsky page at Baseball Reference
  4. Byron Browne page at Baseball Reference
  5. Orlando Cepeda page at Baseball Reference
  6. Dennis Ribant page at Baseball Reference
  7. Tommy Cruz page at Baseball-Reference
  8. Knoedelseder, William (2012). Bitter Brew: The Rise and Fall of Anheuser–Busch and America's Kings of Beer. HarperCollins. pp. 111–112. ISBN 9780062009272. No, I gotta believe the real reason I was let go was the someone believed the rumor that I was involved with young Busch's wife
  9. Knoedelseder, 106–107
  10. 1969 St. Louis Cardinals Roster by Baseball Almanac
  11. Sonny Ruberto page at Baseball Reference
  12. Bill Madlock page at Baseball Reference
  13. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007
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