Marty Marion is named NL MVP and also Player of the Year by the Sporting News in 1944. He was the first Cardinals player to receive this honor.
- After Pirates manager Danny Murtaugh rejects the A’s offer in 1959 to deal Roger Maris for shortstop Dick Groat, Pittsburgh obtains Gino Cimoli along with Tom Cheney from the Cardinals for right-hander Ron Kline.
- The Cardinals purchased Danny Breeden from the Chicago Cubs in 1964.
- The Cardinals purchased Rick Honeycutt in 1995 from the New York Yankees.
- Alan Benes was granted free agency in 2001.
- So Taguchi in 2004 was granted free agency.
- In 2005, Bo Hart, Sidney Ponson, and John Riedling were granted free agency.
- Cardinals signed Jeremy Hefner as a free agent in 2015.
Birthdays
Bill Werle (1920) -He was traded to the Cardinals on May 1, 1952, for righthanded pitcher George Red Munger. In a game against the New York Giants on June 16 he relieved Eddie Yuhas in the ninth inning with two men on base. He walked Whitey Lockman before he was removed for Willard Schmidt. Schmidt gave up a grand slam to Bobby Thomson, who hit his first pitch over the left field roof just inside the foul line at the Polo Grounds, to win the game for the Giants
Joaquin Andujar (1952) –After starting the 1981 season at 2–3 with a 4.88 ERA, Andújar was acquired by the St. Louis Cardinals from the Astros for Tony Scott on June 6, 1981,[11] just before the players’ strike. MLB.com Cardinals beat writer Jenifer Langosch wrote in 2013 that it was one of the five best in-season trades in franchise history. He returned to a starting role with the Cardinals and responded by going 6–1 for the rest of the 1981 season. In 1982, he pitched a career high 265+2⁄3 innings. He won his last 7 decisions and had a 1.64 ERA down the stretch to finish the season at 15–10. He pitched a three-hit shutout of the Philadelphia Phillies at Veterans Stadium on September 15 that put his team 1+1⁄2 games up on the Phillies in the National League East, a lead they held for the remainder of the season. The Cardinals swept the Atlanta Braves in the 1982 National League Championship Series, with Andújar starting and winning Game 3. He started two games in the 1982 World Series against the Milwaukee Brewers, winning both with a 1.35 ERA. He was taken off the field during Game 3 after he was hit in the leg by a line drive. St. Louis manager Whitey Herzog later said that he thought Andújar had been killed by the batted ball, but Andújar recovered in time to start Game 7.Andújar had a career year in 1984, going 13–6 with a 2.90 ERA at the All-Star break to earn his third All-Star selection (though he was unable to attend). He ended the season at 20–14 with a 3.34 ERA; he led the league in wins, innings pitched (261.1), and shutouts (four) while winning the Gold Glove Award at pitcher. In 1982 and 1984, he led the Cardinals in wins, ERA, games started, complete games, innings pitched, shutouts, and strikeouts.[
Tom Henke (1957) -Henke, age 37, signed with the Cardinals for the 1995 season after two years with the Texas Rangers. The closer converted his first 22 saves for the team in 1995 ending with 36 total saves for the year. Henke was honored with the St. Louis Chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Association (BBWAA) J.G. Taylor Spink Award as the St. Louis Baseball Man of the Year Award. Despite having just finished one of the best seasons of his career and 22nd in MVP voting, Henke decided to retire at the end of the 1995 season. “I’ve always admired guys who have gone out at the top of their game,” Henke said. “Sometimes you have to look at what’s the most important thing in life. I’d like to see my kids grow up.
Andy Van Slyke (1960) -Called up from the AAA Louisville Redbirds, he made his Major League debut with the Cardinals on June 17, 1983, collecting a double, a run batted in (RBI) and making three putouts in the outfield without an error.The first two years of his career Van Slyke played first base, third base and all three outfield positions. He mostly played right field the next two years on the strength of his throwing arm, occasionally platooning with Tito Landrum, sometimes substituting for Willie McGee in center field. On September 21, 1986, he hit a rare inside-the-park home run.
Dustin Hermanson 1962 –He played for the Padres and their Triple-A affiliate, the Las Vegas Stars, in 1995 and 1996. He then played for the Montreal Expos for four seasons before moving around to the St. Louis Cardinals, Boston Red Sox, San Francisco Giants, and Chicago White Sox. With Montreal and St. Louis, Hermanson was mostly a starting pitcher, while he moved . It was also during his first season with Montreal that he had his first ever at-bat, hitting a home run off Shane Reynolds in the fifth inning, one of only a handful of pitchers to achieve this feat.
Ed Easley (1985) -In 1986, he led the Redbirds with 15 saves (second in the league) in 52 pitching appearances (third in the league), while topping the league with 42 games finished. Overall, his 15 saves were the most by a Cardinal AAA pitcher since Mike Proly, who saved 17 games in 1975.
Cody Stanley (1988) -The Cardinals added Stanley to the 40-man roster on November 19, 2014. He made his major league debut on April 26, 2015, in a 6–3 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, and singled in his first at bat. Stanley spent most of the 2015 season with the triple-A Memphis Redbirds, batting .241 with seven home runs, 45 runs batted in (RBI) and a slugging percentage (SLG) of .359. He returned to the Cardinals in September when MLB rosters expanded and garnered four hits in ten at bats in his first major league season. On September 12, he was suspended 80 games after testing positive for 4-Chlorodehydromethyltestosterone, also known as Turinabol, a prohibited substance under MLB’s drug policy. It was the second such suspension in his professional career. On December 2, 2015, the Cardinals elected not to tender him a contract for the following season, thereby making him a free agent. Weeks before he was due to appeal, MLB announced on July, 2016, that Stanley was suspended for 162 games for violating the league’s drug policy a third time after again testing positive for Turinabol, before he had completed his second suspension.
Deaths
Jack Warner 1943
Tony Jacobs 1980
Jack Lamabe 2007
Bud Bloomfield 2011