1977 St. Louis Cardinals season

1977 St. Louis Cardinals
Major League affiliations
National League (since 1892)
Eastern Division (since 1969)
Location
Busch Memorial Stadium (since 1966)
St. Louis, Missouri (since 1882)
Results
Record	83–79 (.512)
Divisional place	3rd
Other information
Owner(s)	August "Gussie" Busch
General manager(s)	Bing Devine
Manager(s)	Vern Rapp
Local television	KSD-TV (Jack Buck, Mike Shannon, Jay Randolph, Bob Starr)
Local radio	KMOX (Jack Buck, Mike Shannon, Bob Starr)
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The 1977 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 96th season in St. Louis, Missouri and its 86th season in the National League. The Cardinals went 83-79 during the season and finished third in the National League East, 18 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies.

Vern Rapp took over as the Cardinals' manager this year, after the twelve-year reign of their longtime manager Red Schoendienst. On August 29, Cardinals left-fielder Lou Brock broke the modern-day stolen base record, by stealing bases 892 and 893 in a game against the Padres in San Diego.

Offseason

• October 20, 1976: Willie Crawford, John Curtis and Vic Harris were traded by the Cardinals to the San Francisco Giants for Mike Caldwell, Dave Rader and John D'Acquisto.^[1]
• November 6, 1976: Bill Greif, Ángel Torres and Sam Mejías were traded by the Cardinals to the Montreal Expos for Pat Scanlon, Steve Dunning, and Tony Scott.^[2]
• November 6, 1976: Lee Richard was released by the Cardinals.^[3]
• November 21, 1977: Luis DeLeón was signed as an amateur free agent by the Cardinals.^[4]
• December 6, 1976: Roger Freed was selected by the Cardinals from the Montreal Expos in the rule 5 draft.^[5]
• January 11, 1977: Jesse Orosco was drafted by the Cardinals in the 7th round of the 1977 Major League Baseball Draft, but did not sign.^[6]
• February 28, 1977: Mark Covert (minors) was traded by the Cardinals to the Chicago Cubs for Buddy Schultz.^[7]
• March 24, 1977: Tom Walker was released by the Cardinals.^[8]
• March 28, 1977: Bill Caudill was traded by the Cardinals to the Cincinnati Reds for Joel Youngblood.^[9]
• March 30, 1977: Doug Clarey was traded by the Cardinals to the New York Mets for Benny Ayala.^[10]
• March 31, 1977: Ken Rudolph was purchased from the Cardinals by the San Francisco Giants.^[11]

Regular season

Opening Day starters

• Lou Brock
• Héctor Cruz
• Pete Falcone
• Keith Hernandez
• Don Kessinger
• Bake McBride
• Ken Reitz
• Ted Simmons
• Garry Templeton^[12]

Season standings

NL East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Philadelphia Phillies	101	61	0.623	—	60–21	41–40
Pittsburgh Pirates	96	66	0.593	5	58–23	38–43
St. Louis Cardinals	83	79	0.512	18	52–31	31–48
Chicago Cubs	81	81	0.500	20	46–35	35–46
Montreal Expos	75	87	0.463	26	38–43	37–44
New York Mets	64	98	0.395	37	35–44	29–54

Record vs. opponents

1977 National League Records Sources:
Team	ATL	CHC	CIN	HOU	LAD	MON	NYM	PHI	PIT	SD	SF	STL
Atlanta	—	5–7	4–14	9–9	5–13	6–6	7–5	2–10	3–9	11–7	8–10	1–11
Chicago	7–5	—	7–5	6–6	6–6	10–8	9–9	6–12	7–11	7–5	9–3	7–11
Cincinnati	14–4	5–7	—	5–13	10–8	7–5	10–2	8–4	3–9	11–7	10–8	5–7
Houston	9–9	6–6	13–5	—	9–9	8–4	6–6	4–8	4–8	8–10	9–9	5–7
Los Angeles	13–5	6–6	8–10	9–9	—	7–5	8–4	6–6	9–3	12–6	14–4	6–6
Montreal	6–6	8–10	5–7	4–8	5–7	—	10–8	7–11	7–11	5–7	6–6	12–6
New York	5–7	9–9	2–10	6–6	4–8	8–10	—	5–13	4–14	6–6	7–5	8–10
Philadelphia	10-2	12–6	4–8	8–4	6–6	11–7	13–5	—	8–10	9–3	9–3	11–7
Pittsburgh	9–3	11–7	9–3	8–4	3–9	11–7	14–4	10–8	—	10–2	2–10	9–9
San Diego	7–11	5–7	7–11	10–8	6–12	7–5	6–6	3–9	2–10	—	8–10	8–4
San Francisco	10–8	3–9	8–10	9–9	4–14	6–6	5–7	3–9	10–2	10–8	—	7–5
St. Louis	11–1	11–7	7–5	7–5	6–6	6–12	10–8	7–11	9–9	4–8	5–7	—

Notable transactions

• May 17, 1977: John D'Acquisto and Pat Scanlon were traded by the Cardinals to the San Diego Padres for Butch Metzger.^[2]
• June 7, 1977: Mike Jeffcoat was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 30th round of the 1977 amateur draft, but did not sign.^[13]
• June 7, 1977: Neil Fiala was drafted by the Cardinals in the 32nd round of the 1977 Major League Baseball Draft.^[14]
• June 15, 1977: Bake McBride and Steve Waterbury were traded by the Cardinals to the Philadelphia Phillies for Tom Underwood, Dane Iorg, and Rick Bosetti.^[15]
• June 15, 1977: Joel Youngblood was traded by the Cardinals to the New York Mets for Mike Phillips.^[9]
• August 20, 1977: Don Kessinger was traded by the Cardinals to the Chicago White Sox for Steve Staniland (minors).^[16]
• August 31, 1977: Clay Carroll was traded by the Cardinals to the Chicago White Sox for players to be named later. The White Sox completed the deal by sending Nyls Nyman to the Cardinals on September 2, and sending Dave Hamilton and Silvio Martínez to the Cardinals on November 28.^[17]

Roster

1977 St. Louis Cardinals
Roster
Pitchers 26 Doug Capilla 33 Clay Carroll 34 John D'Acquisto 36 John Denny 49 Larry Dierker 26 Rawly Eastwick 41 Pete Falcone 31 Bob Forsch 39 Al Hrabosky 34 Butch Metzger 42 Eric Rasmussen 22 Buddy Schultz 35 John Sutton 40 Tom Underwood 38 John Urrea		Catchers 14 Dave Rader 23 Ted Simmons 12 John Tamargo Infielders 16 Jerry DaVanon 16 Taylor Duncan  7 Roger Freed 37 Keith Hernandez 11 Don Kessinger 24 Ken Oberkfell  5 Mike Phillips 44 Ken Reitz  1 Garry Templeton 10 Mike Tyson		Outfielders 27 Mike Anderson 15 Benny Ayala 21 Rick Bosetti 20 Lou Brock 25 Héctor Cruz 11 Jim Dwyer 19 Dane Iorg 21 Bake McBride 29 Jerry Mumphrey 43 Mike Potter 30 Tony Scott 19 Joel Youngblood		Manager  9 Vern Rapp Coaches  8 Jack Krol  4 Mo Mozzali 18 Claude Osteen  3 Sonny Ruberto

Player stats

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	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Simmons, TedTed Simmons	150	516	164	.318	21	95
1B	Hernandez, KeithKeith Hernandez	161	560	163	.291	15	91
3B	Reitz, KenKen Reitz	157	587	153	.261	17	79
SS	Templeton, GarryGarry Templeton	153	621	200	.322	8	79
LF	Brock, LouLou Brock	141	489	133	.272	2	46
CF	Scott, TonyTony Scott	95	292	85	.291	3	41
RF	Cruz, HéctorHéctor Cruz	118	339	80	.236	6	42

Other batters

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

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Kessinger, DonDon Kessinger	59	134	32	.239	0	7
McBride, BakeBake McBride	43	122	32	.262	4	20
Rader, DaveDave Rader	66	114	30	.263	1	16
Phillips, MikeMike Phillips	48	87	21	.241	0	9
Freed, RogerRoger Freed	49	83	33	.398	5	21
Dwyer, JimJim Dwyer	13	31	7	.226	0	2
Youngblood, JoelJoel Youngblood	25	27	5	.185	0	1
Tamargo, JohnJohn Tamargo	4	4	0	.000	0	0
Ayala, BennyBenny Ayala	1	3	1	.333	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Rasmussen, EricEric Rasmussen	34	233	11	17	3.48	120
Denny, JohnJohn Denny	26	149.2	8	8	4.51	60
Falcone, PetePete Falcone	27	124	4	8	5.44	75
Dierker, LarryLarry Dierker	11	39.1	2	6	4.58	6

Other pitchers

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

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
D'Acquisto, JohnJohn D'Acquisto	3	8.1	0	0	4.32	9

Relief pitchers

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

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Carroll, ClayClay Carroll	51	4	2	4	2.50	34
Eastwick, RawlyRawly Eastwick	41	3	7	4	4.70	30
Schultz, BuddyBuddy Schultz	40	6	1	1	2.32	66
Capilla, DougDoug Capilla	2	0	0	0	15.43	1

Awards and honors

• Lou Brock, Lou Gehrig Award
• Garry Templeton, National League leader, triples (19)^[18]

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	New Orleans Pelicans	American Association	Lance Nichols
AA	Arkansas Travelers	Texas League	Buzzy Keller and Tommy Thompson
A	St. Petersburg Cardinals	Florida State League	Hub Kittle
A	Gastonia Cardinals	Western Carolinas League	Hal Lanier
Rookie	Johnson City Cardinals	Appalachian League	Dave Ricketts
Rookie	Calgary Cardinals	Pioneer League	Johnny Lewis

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Arkansas, Gastonia^[19]

References

1. Vic Harris page at Baseball Reference
2. Pat Scanlon page at Baseball Reference
3. Lee Richard page at Baseball Reference
4. Luis DeLeón page at Baseball Reference
5. Roger Freed page at Baseball Reference
6. Jesse Orosco page at Baseball Reference
7. Buddy Schultz page at Baseball Reference
8. Tom Walker page at Baseball Reference
9. Joel Youngblood page at Baseball Reference
10. Benny Ayala page at Baseball Reference
11. Ken Rudolph page at Baseball Reference
12. http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/roster.php?y=1977&t=SLN
13. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/jeffcmi01.shtml
14. Neil Fiala page at Baseball Reference
15. Bake McBride page at Baseball Reference
16. Don Kessinger page at Baseball Reference
17. Nyls Nyman page at Baseball Reference
18. Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p.96, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
19. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007

External links

• 1977 St. Louis Cardinals
• 1977 St. Louis Cardinals team page at www.baseball-almanac.com