Cardinal Madness! Match-ups 9 and 10

In today’s match-ups, we will see the 2 seed 1944 team against the 31 seed 1947 team. It will be interesting to see the roster composition as, unlike today’s game, there wasn’t a lot of team swapping back in the 40s. The second pairing is the 15 seed 1928 team against the 18 seed 1987 team. Remember that you can vote on all match-ups until the end of this week and round two will start on Monday. Details for today’s match-ups will follow after the jump.

1944

The 1944 Cardinals led the league in 105 games and beat the St Louis Browns in six games in the World Series. Shortstop Marty Marion won the MVP, marking the third year in a row that a Cardinal won the award following Mort Cooper and Stan Musial. Marion was also the first shortstop to ever win the award. Surprisingly from a team so good from top to bottom, Stan Musial was the only future Hall of Famer.

1947

The 1947 Cardinals won 89 games and took second place in the National League. What a difference three years makes. The Cardinals went from a juggernaut top to bottom lineup to a lineup anchored by the 2-5 hitters. There were no award winners on this team, but Stan Musial, Joe “Ducky” Medwick, Red Schoendienst, and Enos “Country” Slaughter went to become Hall of Fame players.

Tale of the Tape

1944		1947
Batting Order		Batting Order
	Player	Pos	R	HR	RBI	BAA	OPS	OPS+		Player	Pos	R	HR	RBI	BAA	OPS	OPS+
1	Johnny Hopp	CF	106	11	72	0.336	0.903	150	1	Red Schoendienst	2B	91	3	48	0.253	0.636	66
2	Ray Sanders	1B	87	12	102	0.295	0.812	125	2	Ron Northey	RF	52	15	63	0.293	0.908	135
3	Stan Musial	RF	112	12	94	0.347	0.990	174	3	Stan Musial	1B	113	19	95	0.312	0.902	134
4	Walker Cooper	C	56	13	72	0.317	0.855	136	4	Whitey Kurowski	3B	108	27	104	0.310	0.964	150
5	Whitey Kurowski	3B	95	20	87	0.270	0.790	118	5	Enos Slaughter	LF	100	10	86	0.294	0.818	113
6	Danny Litwhiler	LF	53	15	82	0.264	0.755	109	6	Terry Moore	CF	61	7	45	0.283	0.708	85
7	Marty Marion	SS	50	6	63	0.267	0.686	90	7	Marty Marion	SS	57	4	74	0.272	0.686	79
8	Emil Verban	2B	51	0	43	0.257	0.580	62	8	Del Rice	C	28	12	44	0.218	0.722	87
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	35	6	37	0.249	0.717	99	1	Joe Garagiola	C	20	5	25	0.257	0.814	113
2	Augie Bergame	OF	35	2	19	0.286	0.779	117	2	Dick Sisler	IF	4	0	9	0.203	0.491	28
3	George Fallon	IF	16	1	9	0.199	0.547	53	3	Erv Dusak	OF	56	6	28	0.284	0.756	98
4	Debs Garms	IF	17	0	5	0.201	0.487	36	4	Joe Medwick	OF	19	4	28	0.307	0.840	118
5	Pepper Martin	OF	15	2	4	0.279	0.781	118	5	Chuck Diering	OF	22	2	11	0.216	0.748	96

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	252.1	22	7	2.46	97	60	145	1	Murry Dickson	231.2	13	16	3.07	111	88	134
2	Max Lanier	224.1	17	12	2.65	141	71	135	2	Red Munger	224.1	16	5	3.37	123	76	122
3	Ted Wilks	207.2	17	4	2.64	70	49	135	3	Harry Brecheen	223.1	16	11	3.30	89	66	125
4	Harry Brecheen	189.1	16	5	2.85	88	46	126	4	Howie Pollet	176.1	9	11	4.34	73	87	95
5	Red Munger	121.0	11	3	1.34	55	41	268	5	Jim Hearn	162.0	12	7	3.22	57	63	128

Bullpen		Bullpen
Pos	Pitcher	IP	W	L	ERA	K	BB	ERA+	Pos	Pitcher	IP	W	L	ERA	K	BB	ERA+
CP	Freddy Schmidt	114.1	7	3	3.15	58	58	114	CP	Ted Wilks	50.1	4	0	5.01	28	11	83
RP	Al Jurisch	130.0	7	9	3.39	53	65	106	RP	Al Brazle	168.0	14	8	2.84	85	48	145
RP	Bix Donnelly	76.1	2	1	2.12	45	34	169	RP	Ken Burkhart	95.0	3	6	5.21	44	23	79
RP	Bud Byerly	42.1	2	2	3.40	13	20	106	RP	Gerry Staley	29.1	1	0	2.76	14	8	151
RP	Harry Gumbert	61.1	4	2	2.49	16	19	144	RP	Johnny Grodzicki	23.1	0	1	5.40	8	19	77

1928

The 1928 Cardinals led the league with 95 wins but were swept by the Yankees int he World Series. “Sunny Jim” Bottomley won the league’s MVP award and went on to become a Hall of Famer. Joining Bottomley in the Hall of Fame were Pete “Grover Cleveland” Alexander, Frankie Frisch, Chick Hafey, Jesse Haines, and Rabbit Maranville.

1987

The 1987 Cardinals won the National League East with 95 wins. They defeated the Giants in the NLCS before losing to the Twins in seven games in the World Series. It would be their last World Series appearance until 2004. Infielders Ozzie Smith and Terry Pendleton won Gold Gloves and Smith and Jack Clark won Silver Slugger awards. The team featured a future Hall of Famer in Ozzie Smith and fan favorites Vince Coleman, Willie McGee, and “The Secret Weapon” Jose Oquendo who went on to become the Cardinals third base coach.

Tale of the Tape

1928		1987
Batting Order		Batting Order
	Player	Pos	R	HR	RBI	BAA	OPS	OPS+		Player	Pos	R	HR	RBI	BAA	OPS	OPS+
1	Taylor Douthit	CF	111	3	43	0.295	0.756	96	1	Vince Coleman	LF	121	3	43	0.289	0.721	91
2	Andy High	3B	58	6	37	0.285	0.744	92	2	Ozzie Smith	SS	104	0	75	0.303	0.775	105
3	Frankie Frisch	2B	107	10	86	0.300	0.815	110	3	Tommy Herr	2B	73	2	83	0.263	0.677	80
4	Jim Bottomley	1B	123	31	136	0.325	1.030	162	4	Jack Clark	1B	93	35	106	0.286	1.055	176
5	Chick Hafey	LF	101	27	111	0.337	0.990	152	5	Willie McGee	CF	76	11	105	0.285	0.746	94
6	George Harper	RF	41	17	58	0.305	0.955	145	6	Terry Pendleton	3B	82	12	96	0.286	0.772	103
7	Jimmie Wilson	C	45	2	50	0.258	0.678	75	7	Curt Ford	RF	32	3	26	0.285	0.733	92
8	Rabbit Maranviille	SS	40	1	34	0.240	0.652	68	8	Tony Pena	C	40	5	44	0.281	0.589	55
9	P								9	P

Bench		Bench
	Player	Pos	R	HR	RBI	BAA	OPS	OPS+		Player	Pos	R	HR	RBI	BAA	OPS	OPS+
1	Bob O’Farrell	C	6	0	4	0.212	0.600	58	1	Steve Lake	C	19	2	19	0.251	0.636	67
2	Wattie Holm	IF	61	3	47	0.277	0.728	87	2	Jose Oquendo	IF	43	1	24	0.286	0.743	99
3	Tommy Thevenow	IF	11	0	13	0.205	0.575	49	3	Dan Driessen	IF	5	1	11	0.233	0.625	65
4	Wally Roettger	OF	27	6	44	0.341	0.878	125	4	Jim Lindeman	OF	20	8	28	0.208	0.640	66
5	Ray Blades	OF	9	1	19	0.235	0.769	99	5	John Morris	OF	22	3	23	0.261	0.721	88

Starting Rotation		Starting Rotation
Pos	Pitcher	IP	W	L	ERA	K	BB	ERA+	Pos	Pitcher	IP	W	L	ERA	K	BB	ERA+
1	Bill Sherdel	248.2	21	10	2.86	72	56	143	1	Danny Cox	199.1	11	9	3.88	101	71	108
2	Pete Alexander	243.2	16	9	3.36	59	37	121	2	Greg Matthews	197.2	11	11	3.73	108	71	112
3	Jesse Haines	240.1	20	8	3.18	77	72	128	3	Bob Forsch	179.0	11	7	4.32	89	45	97
4	Flint Rhem	169.2	11	8	4.14	47	71	99	4	Joe Magrane	170.1	9	7	3.54	101	60	118
5	Clarence Mitchell	150.0	8	9	3.30	31	38	124	5	John Tudor	96.0	10	2	3.84	54	32	109

Bullpen		Bullpen
Pos	Pitcher	IP	W	L	ERA	K	BB	ERA+	Pos	Pitcher	IP	W	L	ERA	K	BB	ERA+
CP	Hal Haid	47.0	2	2	2.30	21	11	179	CP	Todd Worrell	94.2	8	6	2.66	92	34	157
RP	Syl Johnson	120.0	8	4	3.90	66	33	105	RP	Ricky Horton	125.0	8	3	3.82	55	42	110
RP	Fred Frankhouse	84.0	3	2	3.96	29	36	103	RP	Bill Dawley	96.2	5	8	4.47	65	38	94
RP	Art Reinhart	75.1	4	6	2.87	12	27	143	RP	Pat Perry	65.2	4	2	4.39	33	21	96
RP	Carlisle Littlejohn	32.0	2	1	3.66	6	14	113	RP	Ken Dayley	61.0	9	5	2.66	63	33	158

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