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.Vic Harris page at Baseball Reference 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.Pat Scanlon page at Baseball Reference November 6, 1976: Lee Richard was released by the Cardinals.Lee Richard page at Baseball Reference November 21, 1977: Luis DeLeón was signed as an amateur free agent by the Cardinals.Luis DeLeón page at Baseball Reference December 6, 1976: Roger Freed was selected by the Cardinals from the Montreal Expos in the rule 5 draft.Roger Freed page at Baseball Reference 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.Jesse Orosco page at Baseball Reference He would later pitch for the club in 2000. February 28, 1977: Mark Covert (minors) was traded by the Cardinals to the Chicago Cubs for Buddy Schultz.Buddy Schultz page at Baseball Reference March 24, 1977: Tom Walker was released by the Cardinals.Tom Walker page at Baseball Reference March 28, 1977: Bill Caudill was traded by the Cardinals to the Cincinnati Reds for Joel Youngblood.Joel Youngblood page at Baseball Reference March 30, 1977: Doug Clarey was traded by the Cardinals to the New York Mets for Benny Ayala.Benny Ayala page at Baseball Reference March 31, 1977: Ken Rudolph was purchased from the Cardinals by the San Francisco Giants.Ken Rudolph page at Baseball Reference
Regular season
Opening Day starters Lou Brock Héctor Cruz Pete Falcone Keith Hernandez Don Kessinger Bake McBride Ken Reitz Ted Simmons Garry Templeton
Season standings
Record vs. opponents
Notable transactions May 17, 1977: John D'Acquisto and Pat Scanlon were traded by the Cardinals to the San Diego Padres for Butch Metzger. 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. June 7, 1977: Neil Fiala was drafted by the Cardinals in the 32nd round of the 1977 Major League Baseball draft.Neil Fiala page at Baseball Reference 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.Bake McBride page at Baseball Reference June 15, 1977: Joel Youngblood was traded by the Cardinals to the New York Mets for Mike Phillips. August 20, 1977: Don Kessinger was traded by the Cardinals to the Chicago White Sox for Steve Staniland (minors).Don Kessinger page at Baseball Reference 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.Nyls Nyman page at Baseball Reference
Roster 1977 St. Louis Cardinals Roster Pitchers Catchers
Infielders Outfielders Manager
Coaches
Game log Regular season Legend Cardinals Win Cardinals Loss Game postponed Eliminated from playoff race Boldface text denotes a Cardinals pitcher
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 150 516 164 .318 21 95 1B 161 560 163 .291 15 91 2B Mike Tyson 138 418 103 .246 7 57 3B 157 587 153 .261 17 79 SS 153 621 200 .322 8 79 LF 141 489 133 .272 2 46 CF 95 292 85 .291 3 41 RF 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 Jerry Mumphrey 145 463 133 .287 2 38 Mike Anderson 94 154 34 .221 4 17 59 134 32 .239 0 7 43 122 32 .262 4 20 66 114 30 .263 1 16 48 87 21 .241 0 9 49 83 33 .398 5 21 Rick Bosetti 41 69 16 .232 0 3 Dane Iorg 30 32 10 .313 0 4 13 31 7 .226 0 2 25 27 5 .185 0 1 Taylor Duncan 8 12 4 .333 1 2 Ken Oberkfell 9 9 1 .111 0 1 Jerry DaVanon 9 8 0 .000 0 0 Mike Potter 5 7 0 .000 0 0 4 4 0 .000 0 0 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 34 233.0 11 17 3.48 120 Bob Forsch 35 217.1 20 7 3.48 95 26 149.2 8 8 4.51 60 27 124.0 4 8 5.44 75 Tom Underwood 19 100.0 6 9 4.95 66 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 John Urrea 41 139.2 7 6 3.16 81 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 Al Hrabosky 65 6 5 10 4.38 68 Butch Metzger 58 4 2 7 3.11 48 51 4 2 4 2.50 34 41 3 7 4 4.70 30 40 6 1 1 2.32 66 John Sutton 14 2 1 0 2.59 9 2 0 0 0 15.43 1
Awards and honors Lou Brock, Lou Gehrig Award Garry Templeton, National League leader, triples (19)Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p.96, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York,
Farm system
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Arkansas, GastoniaJohnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007
References
External links 1977 St. Louis Cardinals at Baseball Reference 1977 St. Louis Cardinals team page at www.baseball-almanac.com