The 2001 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 120th season in St. Louis, Missouri and the 110th season in the National League. The Cardinals went 93–69 during the season and finished tied for first in the National League Central with the Houston Astros. Because the Cardinals and Astros were best two teams in the National League, both from the Central, and both finished five games ahead of the third-place Chicago Cubs, the Astros were awarded the NL Central champion and the number 1 seed in the playoffs due to winning the season series 9–7, and the Cardinals were awarded the wild-card.
In the playoffs the Cardinals lost to the eventual World Champion Arizona Diamondbacks 3 games to 2 in the NLDS.
Third baseman/Outfielder Albert Pujols won the Rookie of the Year Award this year, batting .329, with 37 home runs and 130 RBIs. Second baseman Fernando Viña and outfielder Jim Edmonds won Gold Gloves in 2001.
This was also Jack Buck's final season as the team's broadcaster.
Offseason December 22, 2000: Quinton McCracken was signed as a free agent with the St. Louis Cardinals.Quinton McCracken Statistics Baseball-Reference.com January 5, 2001: Bobby Bonilla was signed as a free agent with the St. Louis Cardinals.Bobby Bonilla Statistics Baseball-Reference.com January 5, 2001: John Mabry was signed as a free agent with the St. Louis Cardinals.John Mabry Statistics Baseball-Reference.com March 28, 2001: Quinton McCracken was released by the St. Louis Cardinals.
Regular season Albert Pujols made his major league debut on April 2 against the Colorado Rockies. He appeared in three at-bats and collected one hit.
On September 3, Bud Smith became the ninth Cardinal and eighteenth rookie to hurl a no-hitter.
Season standings
Record vs. opponents
Transactions April 9, 2001: John Mabry was sent to the Florida Marlins by the St. Louis Cardinals as part of a conditional deal. June 5, 2001: Dan Haren was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2nd round of the 2001 amateur draft. Player signed June 20, 2001.Danny Haren Statistics Baseball-Reference.com June 5, 2001: Joe Mather was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 3rd round of the 2001 amateur draft. June 5, 2001: Skip Schumaker was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 5th round of the 2001 amateur draft.
Roster 2001 St. Louis Cardinals Roster Pitchers Catchers
Infielders Outfielders
Other batters Manager
Coaches
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 Mike Matheny 121 381 83 .218 7 42 1B Mark McGwire 97 299 56 .187 29 64 2B Fernando Viña 154 631 191 .303 9 56 SS Édgar Rentería 141 493 128 .260 10 57 3B Plácido Polanco 144 564 173 .307 3 38 LF Ray Lankford 91 264 62 .235 15 39 CF Jim Edmonds 150 500 152 .304 30 110 RF J.D. Drew 109 375 121 .323 27 73
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 Albert Pujols 161 590 194 .329 37 130 Craig Paquette 123 340 96 .282 15 64 Eli Marrero 86 203 54 .266 6 23 Kerry Robinson 114 186 53 .285 1 15 Bobby Bonilla 93 174 37 .213 5 21 Larry Sutton 33 42 5 .119 1 3 Miguel Cairo 27 33 11 .333 1 7 Stubby Clapp 23 25 5 .200 0 1 John Mabry 5 7 0 .000 0 0 Luis Saturria 13 5 1 .200 0 1 Bill Ortega 5 5 1 .200 0 0 Keith McDonald 2 2 0 .000 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 Darryl Kile 34 227.1 16 11 3.09 179 Matt Morris 34 216.1 22 8 3.16 185 Dustin Hermanson 33 192.1 14 13 4.45 123 Bud Smith 16 84.2 6 3 3.83 59 Woody Williams 11 75.0 7 1 2.28 52 Rick Ankiel 6 24.0 1 2 7.13 27
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 Andy Benes 27 107.1 7 7 7.38 78 Mike Matthews 51 89.0 3 4 3.24 72
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 Dave Veres 71 3 2 15 3.70 61 Steve Kline 89 3 3 9 1.80 54 Mike Timlin 67 4 5 3 4.09 47 Gene Stechschulte 67 1 5 6 3.86 51 Mike James 40 1 2 0 5.21 26 Luther Hackman 35 1 2 1 4.29 24 Jason Christiansen 30 1 1 3 4.66 19 T.J. Mathews 10 1 0 0 3.07 10 Alan Benes 9 2 0 0 7.36 10 Jeff Tabaka 8 0 0 0 7.36 3 Jason Karnuth 4 0 0 0 1.80 1 Chad Hutchinson 3 0 0 0 24.75 2 Bobby Bonilla 1 0 0 0 18.00 0
NLDS
Arizona wins the series, 3–2 GameHomeScoreVisitorScoreDateSeries1Arizona1St. Louis0October 91–0 (AZ)2Arizona1St. Louis4October 101–13St. Louis3Arizona5October 122–1 (AZ)4St. Louis4Arizona1October 132–25Arizona2St. Louis1October 143–2 (AZ)
Awards and honors Jim Edmonds, OF, Gold Glove Award Albert Pujols, 3B, National League Rookie of the Year Award Fernando Viña, 2B, Gold Glove Award
All-Star Game Matt Morris, P, reserve Albert Pujols, 3B, reserve
Farm system
Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
References
External links
2001 St. Louis Cardinals at Baseball Reference 2001 St. Louis Cardinals team page at www.baseball-almanac.com