- 1915 – The St. Louis Cardinals try to prevent outfielder Lee Magee from playing for the Brooklyn Tip-Tops of the Federal League. Like most such suits, it will fail. Magee will play and manage in the rival major league.
- The Cardinals borrow $10,000 to purchase the contract of Jesse Haines. He will become a Hall of Famer and will pitch for 18 seasons for the Cardinals beginning in 1920.
- The Cardinals, in 1941, purchased Bill Brubaker from the Pittsburgh Pirates.
- The Cardinals purchased Hy Vandenberg from the New York Giants in 1941.
- The Tigers traded Dick Egan to the Cardinals in 1965 for Glen Hobbie and Bob Lipski.
- In 1991, the Cardinals signed Alex Trevino as a free agent.
- The Cardinals signed Rich Loiselle and Jason Simontacchi as free agents in 2002.
- The Cardinals, in 2003, signed Nerio Rodriguez as a free agent.
Birthdays
Steve Melter (1886) – right handed pitcher that has a 0-1 career record in Major League Baseball who appeared in 23 games, all but one in relief, for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1909.
Joe Lotz (1891) – a pitcher that played for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1916 with a 0-3 career record.
Royce Clayton (1970) – into the 1996 season, Ozzie Smith remained on a perpetual contract with the Cardinals. He was 41 years old and only batted .199 in 44 games during the 1995 season due to a shoulder injury. Cardinals manager Tony La Russa and general manager Walt Jocketty sought to acquire another shortstop as insurance in case Smith could not compete. They attempted to sign Walt Weiss and Greg Gagne, but neither wanted to play in a platoon with Smith, an all-time great. The Giants traded Clayton and a player to be named later to the St. Louis Cardinals for Doug Creek, Rich DeLucia, and Allen Watson on December 14, 1995.The Giants sent Chris Wimmer to the Cardinals in January 1996 to complete the trade. Eligible for salary arbitration for the first time, Clayton signed a $1.6 million contract with St. Louis for the 1996 season, more than tripling his 1995 salary.
In his first year as the Cardinals’ manager, Tony La Russa announced that Smith and Clayton would compete for the starting job in spring training in 1996.[Though Smith had better statistics during spring training than Clayton, La Russa gave the starting role to Clayton prior to Opening Day and gave Clayton the majority of the playing time during the season.[ Cardinals’ fans booed Clayton because they preferred Smith. Clayton batted .277 with 33 stolen bases and a .972 fielding percentage, the fourth-best among National League shortstops, in 129 games played. Smith announced in June that he would retire at the end of the season. The Cardinals reached the postseason; they defeated the San Diego Padres in the 1996 National League Division Series and lost to the Atlanta Braves in the 1996 National League Championship Series. Clayton had a .346 average during the 1996 postseason. After failing to come to terms on a multi-year contract, Clayton and the Cardinals agreed to a one-year contract with a $2.6 million salary for the 1997 season. He was selected as a representative for the National League in the 1997 MLB All-Star Game as an injury replacement for Barry Larkin. At the time, he was batting .261 with six home runs and 19 stolen bases, and had already exceeded his 1996 season totals in RBIs and extra-base hits with 36 and 31, respectively.[Clayton batted .266 in 154 games for St. Louis in 1997. He led all National League shortstops with 452 assists. Before the 1998 season, the Cardinals signed Clayton for a $3.5 million salary in his final year before becoming eligible for free agency. He began the season batting .234 in 90 games for the Cardinals
Garrett Stephenson (1972) – played his final game n September 23, 2003 in a Cardinals uniform. He finished at .500 from the mound with a 39-39 record.
Jeff Suppan (1975) -The Cardinals signed Suppan as a free agent in 2004, and he embarked upon a career year, posting a 16–9 record and a 4.16 earned run average, with 110 strikeouts, 65 walks, and 192 hits allowed in 188 innings. Suppan helped lead the Cards to the 2004 World Series, where he started Game 3. His baserunning blunder in Game 3 was one of the defining moments of the Series.
In 2005, he improved on his previous year’s performance, going 16–10 with a 3.57 ERA. He started Game 4 of the National League Championship series against the Houston Astros, allowing one run over five innings but came away with a no-decision after the Astros took the lead later in the game.
Suppan has hit two career Major League home runs, both off Steve Trachsel of the New York Mets. His first was on September 10, 2005. The Cardinals won the game 4–2. He hit his second in Game 3 of the 2006 National League Championship Series. The Cardinals would win the game 5–0 to take a 2–1 lead in the series.
Suppan started Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS against the New York Mets. He did not factor in the decision, giving up only one run in seven innings, but the Cardinals won 3–1, earning him the National League Championship Series MVP. Suppan in the 2006 NLCS had a 0.60 ERA in 15 innings pitched.
Eric Fornataro (1988) -The St. Louis Cardinals selected Fornataro in the sixth round, with the 185th overall selection, in the 2008 MLB Draft from Miami-Dade Community College. Fornataro was added to the Cardinals’ 40 man roster after the 2012 season. He made his major league debut on April 21, 2014. He was claimed off waivers by the Washington Nationals on November 3, 2014
Former Cardinals-Deaths
- Harry Atkinson 1885
- Denny Lyons 1885
- Kid Gleason 1888
- Daryl Spencer 1959
- Bert James 1959
- Glenn Crawford 1972
- Gordon Slade 1974
- Bill Beckmann 1990-
- Gerry Staley 2008