1953 St. Louis Cardinals season

1953 St. Louis Cardinals
League	National League
Ballpark	Busch Stadium I
City	St. Louis, Missouri
Record	83–71 (.539)
League place	3rd
Owners	August "Gussie" Busch
Managers	Eddie Stanky
Radio	WIL (Harry Caray, Gus Mancuso, Stretch Miller)
Stats	ESPN.com Baseball Reference
Seasons

The 1953 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 72nd season in St. Louis, Missouri and the 62nd season in the National League. The Cardinals went 83–71 during the season and finished in a tie for third place with the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League.

Prior to the start of the season, August A. Busch, Jr. of Anheuser-Busch bought the team from Fred Saigh. That started a reign that would last until March 1996, when William DeWitt, Jr., Drew Baur and Fred Hanser bought the club. Realizing the Cardinals now had more resources than he could possibly match, Bill Veeck, owner of the St. Louis Browns decided to search for another city to which to move the Browns. As a first step, he sold Sportsman's Park to the Cardinals. He would have probably had to sell the park in any case; the park had fallen into disrepair over the years, and the city had threatened to have it condemned. With the Browns' declining revenues – despite collecting rent from the Cardinals – Veeck could not afford to bring it up to code. Busch heavily renovated the 44-year-old park and renamed it Busch Stadium. Within a year, Veeck also sold the Browns to Jerold Hoffberger and Clarence Miles, and the new owners moved them to Baltimore as the Orioles.

Offseason

• December 3, 1952: Grant Dunlap was purchased by the Cardinals from the Shreveport Sports.

Regular season

Season standings

National League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Brooklyn Dodgers	105	49	.682	—	60‍–‍17	45‍–‍32
Milwaukee Braves	92	62	.597	13	45‍–‍31	47‍–‍31
Philadelphia Phillies	83	71	.539	22	48‍–‍29	35‍–‍42
St. Louis Cardinals	83	71	.539	22	48‍–‍30	35‍–‍41
New York Giants	70	84	.455	35	38‍–‍39	32‍–‍45
Cincinnati Redlegs	68	86	.442	37	38‍–‍39	30‍–‍47
Chicago Cubs	65	89	.422	40	43‍–‍34	22‍–‍55
Pittsburgh Pirates	50	104	.325	55	26‍–‍51	24‍–‍53

Record vs. opponents

1953 National League record Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team	BR	CHC	CIN	MIL	NYG	PHI	PIT	STL
Brooklyn	—	13–9–1	15–7	13–9	15–7	14–8	20–2	15–7
Chicago	9–13–1	—	12–10	8–14	9–13	5–17	11–11	11–11
Cincinnati	7–15	10–12	—	8–14	9–13	12–10	15–7	7–15–1
Milwaukee	9–13	14–8	14–8	—	14–8–1	13–9–1	15–7	13–9–1
New York	7–15	13–9	13–9	8–14–1	—	9–13	11–11	9–13
Philadelphia	8–14	17–5	10–12	9–13–1	13–9	—	15–7	11–11–1
Pittsburgh	2–20	11–11	7–15	7–15	11–11	7–15	—	5–17
St. Louis	7–15	11–11	15–7–1	9–13–1	13–9	11–11–1	17–5	—

Notable transactions

• May 18, 1953: Billy Johnson was released by the Cardinals.
• May 23, 1953: Jackie Collum was traded by the Cardinals to the Cincinnati Reds for Eddie Erautt.
• June 14, 1953: Hal Rice was traded by the Cardinals to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Pete Castiglione.

Roster

1953 St. Louis Cardinals
Roster
Pitchers 25 Dick Bokelmann 27 Al Brazle 28 Cliff Chambers 22 Mike Clark 32 Jackie Collum 32,25 Eddie Erautt 41 Jack Faszholz 42 Harvey Haddix 36 Stu Miller 33 Vinegar Bend Mizell 32,21 Joe Presko 39 John Romonosky 47 Willard Schmidt 14 Gerry Staley 26 Hal White 43 Eddie Yuhas		Catchers 38 Ferrell Anderson 17 Les Fusselman 16 Dick Rand 18 Del Rice 17 Sal Yvars Infielders  5 Steve Bilko  1 Pete Castiglione  7 Solly Hemus 11 Ray Jablonski  1 Billy Johnson 15 Fred Marolewski  2 Red Schoendienst 19 Dick Schofield 15 Dick Sisler 12 Eddie Stanky		Outfielders 10 Grant Dunlap 10 Harry Elliott 37 Peanuts Lowrey  6 Stan Musial  8 Rip Repulski  9 Enos Slaughter Other batters 19 Vern Benson 20 Eddie Phillips 39 Hal Rice  3 Virgil Stallcup		Manager 12 Eddie Stanky Coaches 29 Johnny Riddle 35 Mike Ryba 30 Dixie Walker

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	135	419	99	.236	6	37
1B	Steve Bilko	154	570	143	.251	21	84
2B	Red Schoendienst	146	564	193	.342	15	79
SS	Solly Hemus	154	585	163	.279	14	61
3B	Ray Jablonski	157	604	162	.268	21	112
OF	Stan Musial	157	593	200	.337	30	113
OF	Enos Slaughter	143	492	143	.291	6	89
OF	Rip Repulski	153	567	156	.275	15	66

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
Peanuts Lowrey	104	182	49	.269	5	27
Harry Elliott	24	59	15	.254	1	6
Sal Yvars	30	57	14	.246	1	6
Pete Castiglione	67	52	9	.173	0	3
Dick Sisler	32	43	11	.256	0	4
Ducky Schofield	33	39	7	.179	2	4
Ferrell Anderson	18	35	10	.286	0	1
Dick Rand	9	31	9	.290	0	1
Eddie Stanky	17	30	8	.267	0	1
Grant Dunlap	16	17	6	.353	1	3
Les Fusselman	11	8	2	.250	0	0
Hal Rice	8	8	2	.250	0	0
Billy Johnson	11	5	1	.200	0	1
Vern Benson	13	4	0	.000	0	0
Eddie Phillips	9	0	0	----	0	0
Fred Marolewski	1	0	0	----	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
Harvey Haddix	36	253.0	20	9	3.06	163
Gerry Staley	40	230.0	18	9	3.99	88
Vinegar Bend Mizell	33	224.1	13	11	3.49	173
Joe Presko	34	161.2	6	13	5.01	56
John Romonosky	2	7.2	0	0	4.70	3

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
Stu Miller	40	137.2	7	8	5.56	79
Cliff Chambers	32	79.2	3	6	4.86	26
Willard Schmidt	6	17.2	0	2	9.17	11
Jack Faszholz	4	11.2	0	0	6.94	7

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	60	6	7	18	4.21	57
Hal White	49	6	5	7	2.99	32
Mike Clark	23	1	0	1	4.79	17
Eddie Erautt	20	3	1	0	6.31	15
Jackie Collum	7	0	0	0	6.35	5
Dick Bokelmann	3	0	0	0	6.00	0
Eddie Yuhas	2	0	0	0	18.00	0

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Columbus Red Birds	American Association	Johnny Keane
AAA	Rochester Red Wings	International League	Harry Walker
AA	Houston Buffaloes	Texas League	Al Hollingsworth and Dixie Walker
A	Columbus Cardinals	Sally League	Sheldon "Chief" Bender
A	Omaha Cardinals	Western League	George Kissell
B	Winston-Salem Cardinals	Carolina League	Jimmy Brown
B	Peoria Chiefs	Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League	Whitey Kurowski
B	Lynchburg Cardinals	Piedmont League	Dick Landis and John Sullivan
C	Fresno Cardinals	California League	Roland LeBlanc
C	St. Joseph Cardinals	Western Association	Harold Olt
D	Dothan Rebels	Alabama–Florida League	Homer Ray Wilson
D	Johnson City Cardinals	Appalachian League	Jim Hercinger
D	Sanford Cardinals	Florida State League	J. C. Dunn
D	Hazlehurst-Baxley Cardinals	Georgia State League	Arnie Riesgo
D	Albany Cardinals	Georgia–Florida League	Russ McGovern
D	Paducah Chiefs	KITTY League	Lee "Pete" Peterson
D	Hannibal Cardinals	Mississippi–Ohio Valley League	Tince Leonard
D	Hamilton Cardinals	PONY League	Harold Contini
D	Ardmore Cardinals	Sooner State League	Bennie Warren

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Dothan, Hazlehurst-Baxley, Paducah

External links

• 1953 St. Louis Cardinals at Baseball Reference
• 1953 St. Louis Cardinals team page at www.baseball-almanac.com