December 16 in Cardinals History
Trading History and Transactions
1940– The Cincinnati Reds purchased Tot Pressnell from the St. Louis Cardinals
1988– The St. Louis Cardinals traded Curt Ford and Steve Lake to the Philadelphia Phillies for Milt Thompson.
1988– The St. Louis Cardinals signed Bob Tewksbury as a free agent.
1997– The St. Louis Cardinals signed Kent Mercker as a free agent.
1999– The St. Louis Cardinals released Darren Bragg.
2002– The St. Louis Cardinals drafted Andy Cavazos from the Texas Rangers in the 2002 rule 5 draft.
2003– The Tampa Bay Devil Rays traded a player to be named later and Evan Rust (minors) to the St. Louis Cardinals for Tino Martinez. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays sent John-Paul Davis (minors) (December 16, 2003) to the St. Louis Cardinals to complete the trade.
2013– The St. Louis Cardinals signed Mark Ellis as a free agent.
Birthdays
Jack Barnett (1879) – A lifetime .238 hitter who played outfield in the major leagues for the 1907 St. Louis Cardinals. He died after being accidentally shot while hunting.
Fred Wiginton (1897) –a pitcher who played in 1923 with the St. Louis Cardinals.ans was a very successful amateur and minor league pitcher before his brief Major League career. In 1922, he led the Nebraska State League with 261 strikeouts. He had a reputation for having an effective curveball but less remarkable fastball.
Tony Kaufmann (1900) – He played in 260 Major League games, primarily as a pitcher, for the Chicago Cubs (1921–27), Philadelphia Phillies (1927), St. Louis Cardinals (1927–28, 1930–31 and 1935) and New York Giants (1929). The native of Chicago stood 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 m) tall and weighed 165 pounds (75 kg). He led the National League in hit batsmen (11) in 1923 and home runs allowed (21) in 1924. In 11 seasons and 202 games pitched, he had a 64–62 record, with 123 starts, 71 complete games, nine shutouts, 12 saves, 1,086+1⁄3 innings pitched, 1,198 hits allowed, 587 runs allowed, 81 home runs allowed, 368 walks, 345 strikeouts, 39 hit batsmen, 15 wild pitches and a 4.18 earned run average. As a competent hitting pitcher, Kaufmann also played 18 games in the outfield during his late-career stints with the Phillies, Giants and Cardinals. In 414 Major League at bats, he collected 91 hits, with 19 doubles and nine home runs, for a batting average of .220
Bryan Anderson (1986) –The Cardinals selected him in the fourth round (140th overall) of the June 2005 First-Year Player Draft. Following the draft, Anderson was assigned to big league camp and was one of the youngest non-roster invitees in the organization history. He was then assigned to the Johnson City Cardinals, the Cardinals’s rookie league team in the Appalachian League. He played 51 games in 2005 for Johnson City and hit .331. In 2006, he began with the Single-A Quad Cities River Bandits in the Midwest League. He played the full year and batted .302. In 2007, he was advanced to the Springfield Cardinals, the Double-A affiliate in Missouri of the Texas League. He did very well and hit .298. He began 2008 in Springfield, hitting .388 with two homers and 14 RBIs in April. He was then promoted to the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds of Pacific Coast League (PCL). He spent 2009 in Memphis as well, and many argue he should have been given a spot on the big league roster. In 2010, Anderson was a non-roster invitee to Cardinals spring training. On March 15 he was optioned to Memphis. In April 2010, Anderson was recalled from Memphis when back up catcher Jason LaRue was placed on the 15-day disabled list. He made his Major League debut on April 15, 2010.He saw limited action, appearing in 4 games, and was reassigned to Memphis on April 27 when LaRue was reactivated. Anderson battled Tony Cruz during spring training for the backup catcher for the Major League Cardinals. He ended up starting the season at Triple-A Memphis, under trade speculation as he was a hot commodity and on many trade table talks, but remained in Memphis and was eventually called up to the big league club during the summer. Anderson went 3-for-12 in limited at-bats for St. Louis, while batting .255 in one hundred plate appearances for Memphis. In November, 2012 St. Louis cleared space on the 40-man off season roster by outrighting Anderson and two others back to Memphis. He subsequently elected to become a free agent, which allowed him to search for teams that could possible offer an immediate big league job.
Other Notables
Former players that died on this date are:
- Debs Garms 1984
- Ferdie Schupp 1971
- Jack Himes 1949