Cardinals March Madness Match-up #1 – (1) 1942 vs (32) 2001
It’s day one of St. Louis Cardinals March Madness. Over the next few weeks, we will be conducting polls to determine who the Cardinals community feels is the greatest squad of all-time. Today’s matchup pits the World Series champion 1942 squad against a 2001 team that tied Houston with the National League’s best record, but lost to the eventual World Series champion Arizona Diamondbacks. Team details after the jump.
1942
The 1942 Cardinals finished the season with a league-best 106 wins and 48 losses and defeated the New York Yankees in the World Series in 5 games. The team featured league MVP Mort Cooper and two future Hall of Famers in left fielder Stan Musial and right fielder Enos Slaughter. The outfield trio of Musial, Slaughter, and Terry Moore is considered one of the best outfields of all-time. The team featured the league’s fourth best offense and number one pitching staff. This unit was managed by Billy Southworth
2001
The 2001 St Louis Cardinals finished the season tied with a National League best record of 93-69. They were seeded as the Wild Card due to the Houston Astros having a better head to head record. In the divisional round, the squad lost to the eventual World Series champion Arizona Diamondbacks 3 games to 2. This team featured Rookie of the Year and MVP runner-up Albert Pujols. Pujols made the squad after a red-hot spring training thanks to an injury to Bobby Bonilla. The team also featured Gold Glove winners Fernando Vina and Albert Pujols. This team was managed by Tony LaRussa.
Tale of the Tape
1942 | 2001 | |||||||||||||||||
Batting Order | Batting Order | |||||||||||||||||
Player | Pos | R | HR | RBI | BAA | OPS | OPS+ | Player | Pos | R | HR | RBI | BAA | OPS | OPS+ | |||
1 | Jimmy Brown | 2B | 75 | 1 | 71 | 0.256 | 0.635 | 80 | 1 | Fernando Vina | 2B | 95 | 9 | 56 | 0.303 | 0.775 | 100 | |
2 | Terry Moore | CF | 80 | 6 | 49 | 0.288 | 0.754 | 114 | 2 | Placido Polanco | 3B | 87 | 3 | 38 | 0.307 | 0.725 | 88 | |
3 | Enos Slaughter | RF | 100 | 13 | 98 | 0.318 | 0.906 | 156 | 3 | JD Drew | RF | 80 | 27 | 73 | 0.323 | 1.027 | 161 | |
4 | Stan Musial | LF | 87 | 10 | 72 | 0.315 | 0.888 | 151 | 4 | Albert Pujols | LF | 112 | 37 | 130 | 0.329 | 1.013 | 157 | |
5 | Walker Cooper | C | 58 | 7 | 65 | 0.281 | 0.761 | 115 | 5 | Jim Edmonds | CF | 95 | 30 | 110 | 0.304 | 0.974 | 149 | |
6 | Johnny Hopp | 1B | 41 | 3 | 37 | 0.258 | 0.716 | 103 | 6 | Mark McGwire | 1B | 48 | 29 | 64 | 0.187 | 0.808 | 105 | |
7 | Whitey Kurowski | 3B | 51 | 9 | 42 | 0.254 | 0.717 | 103 | 7 | Edgar Renteria | SS | 54 | 10 | 57 | 0.26 | 0.685 | 77 | |
8 | Marty Marion | SS | 66 | 0 | 54 | 0.276 | 0.718 | 103 | 8 | Mike Matheny | C | 40 | 7 | 42 | 0.218 | 0.581 | 51 | |
9 | P | 9 | P | |||||||||||||||
Bench | Bench | |||||||||||||||||
Player | Pos | R | HR | RBI | BAA | OPS | OPS+ | Player | Pos | R | HR | RBI | BAA | OPS | OPS+ | |||
1 | Ken O’Dea | C | 22 | 5 | 32 | 0.234 | 0.656 | 85 | 1 | Eli Marrero | C | 37 | 6 | 23 | 0.266 | 0.751 | 92 | |
2 | Creepy Crespi | IF | 33 | 0 | 35 | 0.243 | 0.58 | 65 | 2 | Craig Paquette | IF | 47 | 15 | 64 | 0.282 | 0.791 | 102 | |
3 | Ray Sanders | 1B | 37 | 5 | 39 | 0.252 | 0.73 | 107 | 3 | Bobby Bonilla | IF | 17 | 5 | 21 | 0.213 | 0.647 | 68 | |
4 | Harry Walker | OF | 38 | 0 | 16 | 0.314 | 0.753 | 113 | 4 | Ray Lankford | OF | 38 | 15 | 39 | 0.235 | 0.841 | 114 | |
5 | Coaker Triplett | OF | 18 | 1 | 23 | 0.273 | 0.735 | 108 | 5 | Kerry Robinson | OF | 34 | 1 | 15 | 0.285 | 0.674 | 75 | |
Starting Rotation | Starting Rotation | |||||||||||||||||
Pos | Pitcher | IP | W | L | ERA | K | BB | ERA+ | Pos | Pitcher | IP | W | L | ERA | K | BB | ERA+ | |
1 | Mort Cooper | 278.2 | 22 | 7 | 1.78 | 152 | 68 | 194 | 1 | Darryl Kile | 227.1 | 16 | 11 | 3.09 | 179 | 65 | 140 | |
2 | Johnny Beazley | 215.1 | 21 | 6 | 2.13 | 91 | 73 | 162 | 2 | Matt Morris | 216.1 | 22 | 8 | 3.16 | 185 | 54 | 137 | |
3 | Max Lanier | 161 | 13 | 8 | 2.96 | 93 | 60 | 117 | 3 | Dustin Hermanson | 192.1 | 14 | 13 | 4.45 | 123 | 73 | 97 | |
4 | Ernie White | 128.1 | 7 | 5 | 2.52 | 67 | 41 | 137 | 4 | Bud Smith | 84.2 | 6 | 3 | 3.83 | 59 | 24 | 113 | |
5 | Harry Gumbert | 163 | 9 | 5 | 3.26 | 52 | 59 | 106 | 5 | Woody Williams | 75 | 7 | 1 | 2.28 | 52 | 19 | 190 | |
Bullpen | Bullpen | |||||||||||||||||
Pos | Pitcher | IP | W | L | ERA | K | BB | ERA+ | Pos | Pitcher | IP | W | L | ERA | K | BB | ERA+ | |
CP | Howie Krist | 118.1 | 13 | 3 | 2.51 | 47 | 43 | 138 | CP | Dave Veres | 65.2 | 3 | 2 | 3.7 | 61 | 28 | 117 | |
RP | Murry Dickson | 120.2 | 6 | 3 | 2.91 | 66 | 61 | 119 | RP | Mike Matthews | 89 | 3 | 4 | 3.25 | 72 | 33 | 134 | |
RP | Howie Pollet | 109.1 | 7 | 5 | 2.88 | 42 | 39 | 120 | RP | Steve Kline | 75 | 3 | 3 | 1.8 | 54 | 29 | 241 | |
RP | Lon Warneke | 76 | 6 | 4 | 3.29 | 31 | 15 | 105 | RP | Mike Timlin | 72.2 | 4 | 5 | 4.09 | 47 | 19 | 106 | |
RP | Gene Stechschulte | 70 | 1 | 5 | 3.86 | 51 | 30 | 113 | ||||||||||
RP | Andy Benes | 107.1 | 7 | 7 | 7.38 | 78 | 61 | 59 |
So the question for you, loyal readers, is simple: Who ya got?
You can ‘Like’ Redbird Rants by clicking here. You can follow Redbird Rants on Twitter at@FSRedbirdRants and you can follow Justin McClary on Twitter at @jmcclary22.