1926 St. Louis Cardinals season explained

St. Louis Cardinals
Season:	1926
Misc:	World Series Champions National League Champions
League:	National League
Ballpark:	Sportsman's Park
City:	St. Louis, Missouri
Record:	89–65 (.578)
League Place:	1st
Owners:	Sam Breadon
General Managers:	Branch Rickey
Managers:	Rogers Hornsby

The 1926 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 45th season in St. Louis, Missouri and their 35th in the National League. The Cardinals went 89–65 during the season and finished first in the National League, winning their first National League pennant. In the World Series, they defeated the New York Yankees in 7 games, ending it by throwing out Babe Ruth at second base in the ninth inning of Game 7 to preserve a 3–2 victory. This was Rogers Hornsby's only full season as manager for the team.

Catcher Bob O'Farrell won the MVP Award this year, batting .293, with 7 home runs and 68 RBIs. Led by RBI champion Jim Bottomley, the offense scored the most runs in the NL.

Regular season

September 22, 1926: Tommy Thevenow hit the second and last home run of the season, and of his career. Thevenow would play for another 12 seasons and set a major league record by not hitting a home run in 3,347 at-bats.^[1]

Notable transactions

June 14, 1926: Heinie Mueller was traded by the Cardinals to the New York Giants for Billy Southworth.^[2]

Roster

1926 St. Louis Cardinals
Roster
Pitchers		CatchersInfielders		OutfieldersOther batters		ManagerCoaches

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	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	147	492	144	.293	7	68
1B	154	603	180	.299	19	120
2B	134	527	167	.317	11	93
3B	155	581	189	.325	17	100
SS	156	563	144	.256	2	63
RF	99	391	124	.317	11	69
LF	107	416	127	.305	8	43
CF	139	530	163	.308	3	52

Other batters

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
OF	78	225	61	.271	4	38
OF	52	191	51	.267	3	28
OF	55	144	41	.285	0	21
2B	64	88	22	.250	0	9
IF	40	74	20	.270	3	9
C	24	51	10	.196	0	4
C	9	14	5	.357	0	2
PH	1	1	0	.000	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
34	258.0	20	7	3.21	72
34	234.2	16	12	3.49	59
32	183.0	13	4	3.25	46
26	152.0	10	9	4.56	29
23	148.1	9	7	2.91	35

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
27	143.0	10	5	4.22	26
27	85.0	6	6	3.18	27
19	56.2	1	4	3.65	28
19	49.0	0	3	4.22	10

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
15	3	3	0	4.22	19
9	0	4	0	4.24	9
6	1	0	0	11.57	4
1	0	0	0	22.50	0
1	0	1	0	0.00	0

Awards and honors

League top five finishers

Les Bell

#3 in NL in RBI (100)
#4 in NL in home runs (17)

Ray Blades

#4 in NL in on-base percentage (.409)

Jim Bottomley

NL leader in RBI (120)
#2 in NL in home runs (19)

Taylor Douthit

#3 in NL in stolen bases (23)

Flint Rhem

NL leader in wins (20)

1926 World Series

See main article: 1926 World Series.

Game	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Score	Record(NYY-STL)	Attendance
1	October 2	St. Louis Cardinals	1	New York Yankees	2	1–0	61,658
2	October 3	St. Louis Cardinals	6	New York Yankees	2	1–1	63,600
3	October 4	New York Yankees	0	St. Louis Cardinals	4	1–2	37,708
4	October 6	New York Yankees	10	St. Louis Cardinals	5	2–2	38,825
5	October 7	New York Yankees	3	St. Louis Cardinals	2	3–2	39,552
6	October 9	St.Louis Cardinals	10	New York Yankees	2	3–3	48,615
7	October 10	St. Louis Cardinals	3	New York Yankees	2	3-4	38,093
St. Louis Cardinals win 4–3

Farm system

External links

Notes and References

Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 334, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York,
https://www.baseball-reference.com/m/muellhe01.shtml Heinie Mueller page at Baseball Reference
Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007