Cardinals History on This Date
- The Brooklyn Dodgers, in 1940, traded John Pintar (minors), Gus Mancuso and $65,000 to the Cardinals for Mickey Owen
- The Cardinals purchased Ray Mueller from the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1941.
- The Dodgers trade Gino Cimoli to the Cardinals in exchange for former Rookie of the Year Wally Moon and right-hander Phil Paine in 1958.
- In 1959, the Cardinals traded Bill Smith and Bobby Smith to the Philadelphia Phillies for Carl Sawatski.
- The Cardinals traded Boots Day in 1969 to the Chicago Cubs for Rich Nye.
- The Detroit Tigers traded John Murphy (minors) and Bob Sykes in 1978 to the Cardinals for Aurelio Lopez and Jerry Morales.
- In 1995, as part of a 3-team trade: The Cincinnati Reds sent Mike Remlinger to the Kansas City Royals. The Cincinnati Reds sent Luis Ordaz to the St. Louis Cardinals. The Kansas City Royals sent Miguel Mejia to the St. Louis Cardinals. The St. Louis Cardinals sent Andre King (minors) to the Cincinnati Reds.
Cardinals History -Birthdays
Jesse Burkett 1868– He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1890 to 1905 for the New York Giants, Cleveland Spiders, St. Louis Perfectos / Cardinals, St. Louis Browns, and Boston Americans. Burkett batted over .400 twice, and held the major league single-season hits record for 15 years] After his playing career, Burkett managed in the minor leagues. He was elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946. Burkett holds the record for the most inside-the-park home runs in MLB history, with 55.He is also regarded as one of the greatest bunters of all time/
- Joe Corbett (1875) -breaking into the major leagues in 1895. He went 3–0 with a 2.20 earned run average for the Baltimore Orioles in 1896 and then won two games in the Temple Cup series. He had his best season in 1897 when he posted career-highs in wins (24), strikeouts (149), ERA (3.11), starts (37), complete games (34) and innings pitched (313.0). However, Corbett had gotten angry over a dispute with manager Ned Hanlon, and he refused to report to the team the following season. Hanlon welched on a bet and refused to buy Corbett a new suit for winning 20 games.
- John Farrell (1876) –was a professional baseball player who played infielder in the American Major Leagues from 1901-1905. He would play for the St. Louis Cardinals and Washington Senators. A .261 lifetime hitter.
- Ray Sanders (1916) –Sanders was originally signed by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1938. From 1939 to 1941 he was named to his league’s all-star team as either a starter or honorable mention each year.Following the 1941 season, Cardinals general manager Branch Rickey traded future Hall of Fame first baseman Johnny Mize to the New York Giants, opening a spot for Sanders. Sanders made his MLB debut for the Cardinals on April 14, 1942. He and Johnny Hopp split time at first base through mid August, with Hopp receiving the lion’s share of playing time from that point on, as well as starting all five games in the 1942 World Series, which the Cardinals won over the New York Yankees. Sanders became the Cardinals full-time first baseman in 1943, with Hopp moving to a utility role. The Cardinals won their second straight National League pennant, but lost a rematch with the Yankees in the 1943 World Series in five games. In their lone win in Game Two, Sanders followed Whitey Kurowski’s home run with one of his own, which wound up being the margin of victory in the 4–3 win. In 1944, Sanders had his best year, finishing 15th in the voting for the National League Most Valuable Player Award. He set career highs in batting average, home runs, and runs batted in, helping the Cardinals to return to the 1944 World Series. This time playing against the St. Louis Browns in their only World Series appearance, Sanders hit a home run in Game Five to help the Cardinals to a 2–0 win, with the Cardinals also winning Game Six to close out the Series. In 1945, the Cardinals lost several of their star players, most notably Stan Musial, to World War II service, and failed to return to the World Series, finishing three games behind the Chicago Cubs. When Musial returned in 1946, the team intended to make him their regular first baseman. To make room, Sanders’ contract was sold to the Boston Braves for $25,000.
- Dick Ricketts (1933) – Ricketts was the No. 1 overall pick of the 1955 NBA draft by the St. Louis Hawks out of Duquesne University. Ricketts played professional basketball and baseball simultaneously and retired from basketball to play baseball. He pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1959 and had a 10-season pitching career. He is one of 13 athletes to play in both the NBA and MLB.Ricketts signed as an amateur free agent pitcher by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1955 and pitched 10 seasons professionally, from 1955 to 1964. Ricketts pitched for the Allentown Cardinals (A) (1955-1956), the Rochester Red Wings (AAA) (1957-1960).In 1959, Ricketts pitched in 12 games for the St. louis Cardinals, including 9 starts. He had a 1–6 record, with a 5.82 ERA in 552⁄3 innings. On June 14, 1959, Ricketts debuted against the Cincinnati Reds. He was the starting pitcher and pitched 7 innings, allowing 3 runs, in a 3–2 loss. In his next start against the Pittsburgh Pirates on June 19, he pitched 7 innings, allowing 2 runs. He won his only game on June 28, pitching 6 2/3 innings against the Reds for the victory. In his last start against the San Francisco Giants on July 22, Ricketts pitched 6 innings, allowing 3 runs. He gave up 7 runs in two subsequent relief appearances.On September 20, 1960, the St. Louis Cardinals sent Ricketts, Jim Frey, Billy Harrell and Wally Shannon to the Philadelphia Phillies to complete a deal made on September 19, 1960, when the Cardinals sent players to be named later and Bob Sadowski to the Phillies for Don Landrum.
- Dick Billings (1942) -In August 1974 his contract was purchased by the St. Louis Cardinals and was sent to the minor leagues to play for the Tulsa Oilers. He was called as a back up to the major leagues late in the season where he appeared in only one game on September 11.
- David Green (1960) –Green was part of a major trade between the Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals, who later went on to face each other in the 1982 World Series. On December 12, 1980, the Brewers traded Green, Dave LaPoint, Sixto Lezcano, and Lary Sorensen to the Cardinals in exchange for Rollie Fingers, Ted Simmons and Pete Vuckovich For the 1981 season, Green was promoted to the Class AAA level as a member of the Springfield Redbirds. In 106 games with Springfield, he tallied a .270 batting average, 10 home runs, and 67 RBI. He was called up by the Cardinals during the September roster expansion that year, and made his MLB debut on September 4, 1981, at the age of 20, entering as a pinch hitter and being held hitless in two plate appearances in a 7–2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Green was the youngest player in the major leagues that year, and batted only .147 during 21 appearances for the Cardinals.[He earned his first MLB hit, an RBI single off Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Luis Tiant, on September 26.[Green split the 1982 season between St. Louis and the Louisville Redbirds, who had relocated from Springfield. He batted .345 in 46 games with Louisville, while recording a .283 average in 76 appearances with the Cardinals. While facing Pirates pitcher Randy Niemann on August 15, Green hit the first home run of his MLB career. The Cardinals would go on to defeat the Brewers in the World Series that season, with Green batting .200 during the Fall Classic.After splitting the 1981 and 1982 seasons between the Cardinals and their Class AAA affiliate, Green would not return to the minors until 1987.[3] In 1983, he saw action in a career-high 146 games. He posted a .284 batting average, 8 homers, and 39 RBI, and he also recorded 34 stolen bases and 10 triples. Green played in 126 games during the 1984 season. His average fell slightly to .268, and his stolen bases and triples decreased to 17 and 4, respectively. However, his home run total nearly doubled from the previous year, as he connected for 15 home runs and drove in 65 runs. On February 1, 1985, the Cardinals traded Green, Dave LaPoint, Gary Rajsich and Jose Uribe to the San Francisco Giants for Jack Clark
- Lee Smith (1975) -Serving mostly as a relief pitcher during his career, he was a dominant closer, was the first pitcher to reach 400 saves, and held the major league record for career saves from 1993 until 2006, when Trevor Hoffman passed his total of 478. He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2019 by the Today’s Game Era Committee.Smith made his St. Louis debut on May 6, 1990] allowing two runs on three hits in an inning of work during a 5–1 loss. He made 53 appearances with the 1990 Cardinals, registering 27 saves with a 2.10 ERA while striking out 70 batters in 68+2⁄3 innings.] He also had a stretch of 16 consecutive appearances without allowing a run, spanning late June to early August. The team, however, finished at 70–92 and in last place.In 1991, St. Louis improved to 84–78, while Smith recorded a career-high 47 saves.[He surpassed the National League record for saves on October 1, previously held by Bruce Sutter and set in 1984 when Sutter also played for the Cardinals. With Smith’s salary roughly doubled to nearly $2.8 million,[this was the first of four consecutive seasons during which he had over 40 saves. Smith won his first Rolaids Relief Man Award,[66] received the most significant consideration for league MVP in his career (finishing eighth in NL MVP voting),and finished second in Cy Young Award voting behind Tom Glavine. Smith again led the NL in saves in 1992, registering 43. In 70 appearances, he struck out 60 batters in 75 innings, while recording a 3.12 ERA;] he also won his second Rolaids Relief Man Award. In a game on September 23, 1992, Smith committed an error;[69] he had last committed an error in a National League game on June 30, 1982, while with the Cubs. This span of 546 appearances was the NL record for consecutive errorless games by a pitcher[ until broken by Heath Bell in 2013.
In 1993, Smith passed Jeff Reardon in MLB career saves on April 13 with save number 358,[73] and passed Bruce Sutter on April 14 for the National League’s career saves record, recording NL save number 301, compiled with the Cubs and Cardinals. In June, Smith had 15 saves, which set an MLB record for the most saves in any month. On August 31, with St. Louis 10 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies,[seemingly out of contention, and with Smith poised to become a free agent after the season, the Cardinals traded Smith to the Yankees for reliever Rich Batchelor. With St. Louis, Smith recorded 43 saves in 55 appearances during 1993, striking out 49 batters in 50 innings, albeit with a 4.50 ERA. He left the Cardinals as their all-time save leader (160) until Jason Isringhausen passed him on June 13, 2006.[78] Smith’s NL single-season record of 47 saves was bested by both Rod Beck of the San Francisco Giants and Randy Myers of the Cubs two years later, with 48 and 53 saves respectively.
- Jerome Williams (1982) -Was in the league for 13 seasons and finished his career with the Cardinals.On June 3, 2016, the St. Louis Cardinals signed Williams to Minor League contract. He was immediately added to the rotation of the Memphis Redbirds, their AAA team.
Cardinals History -Deaths
- Red Murray 1958
- Joe Willis 1966
- Former Player/Manager and Hall of Famer Roger Bresnahan died on this date at the age of 65. He was in the league for 17 seasons.
