October 7, 2004
The Decade of the 1940’s The Cardinal’s Best
With war and terror raising its ugly head, a nation finds itself in the throes of spooling up its military and industrial might in response to a deadly sneak attack. The population was desperate for diversions that would take their minds off the growing threat of global war. Midwestern fans are well-entertained by the exploits of their baseball heroes in red. That team, the St. Louis Cardinals, would win a World Series that year. Whoa! Thought I was talking about the 2004 Cardinals with a look into the crystal ball? Try the 1942 Cardinals on for size, and appreciate how good the teams of the 1940’s really were.
The 2004 Cardinals won 105 games during the course of their 162-game season, a feat bested in franchise history only by the 1942 edition. In that year, the Cardinals won 106 games in the course of the old 154 game season.
It was a time of passage for America and for the Cardinals. The transitions were many and quick – Depression to full employment – peacetime to world war – Johnny Mize and the Gashouse Gang to Stan and Red. The comings and goings of nations, soldiers, workers, and players would boggle the mind. Winning 106 games during such a tumultuous period makes the achievements of the ’42 Cardinals all the more remarkable.
First, let’s look at just how dominating the Cardinals were during the decade of the 1940’s. In the ten year period from 1940 through 1949, they averaged 96 wins per season. During three of the first five years of the first half of the decade, they won 106, 105, and 105 games. During that stretch, they won the World Series twice (’42 and ’44), lost another Series, and placed 2nd in the NL once.
Johnny “The Big Cat” Mize, the scrappy first baseman through the Gas House years and future Hall of Famer, was concluding his service with the Cardinals. His last year in red was 1941. During his Cardinal years, he batted .327 with 158 home runs and 653 RBI’s. He was the putative leader, the throwback to the old Gas House Gang that so richly entertained St. Louisans. As Mize left, a young pup laden with potential showed up for the 1942 season. His name was Stanley Frank “Stan” Musial. Cue the harmonica.
Stan Musial’s career and later service as an Ambassador-in-Red are and should be the stuff of legends, but Musial had company in 1942. With Walker Cooper catching, Johnny Hopp taking over The Big Cat’s first base, Creepy Crespi on second, Whitey Kurowski on third, Marty Marion at short, and Enos “Country” Slaughter and Terry Moore joining Musial in the outfield, the Cardinals racked up the wins. The leading pitchers were Mort Cooper with a 22-7 record and a miniscule 1.78 ERA and Johnny Beazley at 21-6, 2.13. The Cardinal bench was rich with the likes of Harry “The Hat” Walker and Buddy Blattner.
The Cardinals won the 1942 World Series 4 games to 1 over a Yankees club that included Joe DiMaggio, Phil Rizzuto, and Lefty Gomez. The Bronx Bombers returned the favor in the 1943 October classic, defeating the Cardinals 4 games to 1. The Cardinals were favored having finished the season with 105 wins, but the Yankee’s 98 wins proved that you have to play the games to win the Series.
In 1944, there was never any doubt that St. Louis would win the Series. The question was would the winner be the Browns or the Cardinals. Your answer – the Cardinals 4 games to 2 in a city-splitting series. 1945 would be memorable in that, although the Cards missed the series, they introduced a slick-fielding red-headed kid name Schoendienst who would eventually find his way into the Baseball Hall of Fame. In 1946, the Cardinals were back in the Series under Eddie Dyer. The world was finally at peace and all was right with Cardinal Nation.
The 1946 Series was a 7 game classic. The Cardinals won the final game 4-3 at home over the Boston Red Sox. Offensive stars were Joe Garagiola (.316 BA with 4 RBI), Enos Slaughter (.320 BA with a .414 OBP), and Harry Walker (.412/.524 with 6 RBI’s. Harry Brecheen finished off the mound with a 3-0 record, a 0.45 ERA, and 2 complete games. Ted Williams didn’t see his bat smoke too much, hitting a paltry .200 during the Series.
The Cardinals would finish a respectable 2nd place in each of the last three years of the decade, still under the watchful eye of Dyer. They would finish with records of 89-65 in 1947, 85-69 in 1948, and 96-58 in 1949.
The St. Louis Cardinal franchise is one of the most storied and venerable organizations in all of professional baseball. Dating back to 1882, the Cardinals and their predecessors have won 10 World Series out of 19 appearances. Clearly, though, the 1940’s were the most dominating decade in Cardinal history. They played through Pearl Harbor, Midway, D-Day, and atomic horror, providing the nation with an entertaining diversion from the catastrophe of global war. They played through peace, welcoming returning soldiers back to normalcy as families started and baby-boom prosperity began.
The Cardinals of the ‘40’s set a standard for excellence unmatched to this day. There are far more professional baseball teams today than in the 1940’s. There are far more players. Given the possible dilution of talent that has occurred with the explosion of franchises since, it may be impossible to improve upon the accomplishments of that period. The Redbirds of the1940’s set the bar higher to a potentially unreachable level. Their achievements deserve to be studied and appreciated.
Rex Duncan
