1970 St. Louis Cardinals season

1970 St. Louis Cardinals
Major league affiliations
Location
1970 information
Owner(s) August "Gussie" Busch
Manager(s) Red Schoendienst
Local television KSD-TV
Local radio KMOX
(Jack Buck, Jim Woods)
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The 1970 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 89th season in St. Louis, Missouri and the 79th season in the National League. The Cardinals went 76-86 during the season and finished fourth in the National League East, 13 games behind the Pittsburgh Pirates. The season was also the first of 26 seasons for AstroTurf at Busch Memorial Stadium.

Contents

Offseason

Curt Flood

Curt Flood, because of a salary dispute with Gussie Busch, was traded after the 1969 season but refused to go to the Philadelphia Phillies and on January 16, 1970, filed a civil lawsuit to challenge baseball's reserve clause. The case eventually reached the Supreme Court and, though he lost, paved the way for free agency to change the game.

Regular season

Bob Gibson won a Gold Glove and the Cy Young Award this year, with a 3.12 ERA, 23 wins, and 274 strikeouts. The Cardinals won only 76 games, their lowest total since the days of the 154-game schedule. Vic Davalillo had 24 pinch hits, breaking the National League record, and tying the Major League record set by Dave Philley in 1961.[4][5][6][7]

Third baseman Mike Shannon was limited to 52 games and soon would retire because of a kidney disease that threatened his life.

Season standings

NL East W L Pct. GB
Pittsburgh Pirates 89 73 .549 --
Chicago Cubs 84 78 .519 5
New York Mets 83 79 .512 6
St. Louis Cardinals 76 86 .469 13
Philadelphia Phillies 73 88 .453 15.5
Montreal Expos 73 89 .451 16

Opening Day starters

Notable transactions

Roster

1970 St. Louis Cardinals
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

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 Torre, JoeJoe Torre 161 624 203 .325 21 100
1B Allen, DickDick Allen 122 459 128 .279 34 101
2B Javier, JuliánJulián Javier 139 513 129 .251 2 42
3B Shannon, MikeMike Shannon 55 174 37 .213 0 22
SS Maxvill, DalDal Maxvill 152 399 80 .201 0 28
LF Brock, LouLou Brock 155 664 202 .304 13 57
CF Cardenal, JoséJosé Cardenal 148 552 162 .293 10 74
RF Lee, LeronLeron Lee 121 264 60 .227 6 23

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
Hague, JoeJoe Hague 139 451 122 .271 14 68
Simmons, TedTed Simmons 82 284 69 .243 3 24
Taylor, CarlCarl Taylor 104 245 61 .249 6 45
Crosby, EdEd Crosby 38 95 24 .253 0 6
Ramírez, MiltMilt Ramírez 62 79 15 .190 0 3
Meléndez, LuisLuis Meléndez 21 70 21 .300 0 8
Rojas, CookieCookie Rojas 23 47 5 .106 0 2
Cruz, JoséJosé Cruz 6 17 6 .353 0 1

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
Gibson, BobBob Gibson 34 294 23 7 3.12 274
Carlton, SteveSteve Carlton 34 253.2 10 19 3.73 193

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
Briles, NelsonNelson Briles 30 106.2 6 7 6.24 59
Culver, GeorgeGeorge Culver 11 56.2 3 3 4.61 23
Bertaina, FrankFrank Bertaina 8 31.1 1 2 3.16 14
Guzmán, SantiagoSantiago Guzmán 8 13.2 1 1 7.24 9

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
Campisi, SalSal Campisi 37 2 2 4 2.92 26
Abernathy, TedTed Abernathy 11 1 0 1 2.95 8
Johnson, JerryJerry Johnson 7 2 0 1 3.18 5
Hartenstein, ChuckChuck Hartenstein 6 0 0 0 8.78 9
Norman, FredFred Norman 1 0 0 0 0.00 0

Awards and honors

1970 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

Team award winners

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Tulsa Oilers American Association Warren Spahn
AA Arkansas Travelers Texas League Ken Boyer
A Modesto Reds California League Jack Krol
A St. Petersburg Cardinals Florida State League Joe Cunningham
A Cedar Rapids Cardinals Midwest League Roy Majtyka
Short-Season A Lewis-Clark Broncs Northwest League Fred Hatfield
Rookie GCL Cardinals Gulf Coast League Tom Burgess

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Lewis-Clark[13]

References

External links